When it comes to Scotch, at some point I’m sure you’ve heard the term “single malt”, meaning the malt came from one distillery. If the malts came from multiple distilleries, it’s commonly referred to as “blended Scotch.” If you’re seen the movie Spy Games (great movie), you’ll know to never order anything but a single malt Scotch aged no less than twelve years, and personally, I agree!

Blending beer on the other hand is another story…and a short one at that. For beer, it doesn’t matter. You either like it or you don’t. The End!

In the case of the beer I had the privilege of tasting tonight, I’d have to go with blended if forced to make a choice. From The Lost Abbey, I had a beer called “Deliverance“. It’s a blend of two beers they make called Angel’s Share (American Strong Ale) and Serpent’s Stout, which are aged in brandy barrels and oak bourbon barrels respectively. The outcome is amazing and I can’t wait to get my lips on the edge of a glass filled with it’s magnificent aromas and flavors! And something I hope for even more than that is to someday have a bottle of Brandy Barrel Angel’s Share, Bourbon Barrel Serpent’s Stout and Deliverance all together for a side, by side, by side tasting.

OK, I’m not really going to talk about cotton blends, but it made the title seem warm and soft, right? I simply wanted to share something about beer that isn’t all to common.

Cheers!

While out for dinner with good friends last Friday, my girlfriend and I had the honor of meeting Jenna, the chef at Amore Trattoria Italiana. (We also had the pleasure of tasting some of the best Italian food we have ever had.)  Our good friend Chad is a home brewer and lover of beer, so naturally between the two of us, it didn’t take long before beer entered the conversation with Jenna. As they usually do, the normal questions came up regarding favorite beers, like have you had this one or that one and so on.  Somehow a conversation about beer led to something more important:  “Wiggin’ out! A fundraiser for Scooter’s Mom”.

This Wednesday, February 1, 2012, Amore is holding a five course Italian wine/beer dinner. Their goal is to help the one of the bartender’s mothers as she not only goes through a few surgeries and chemotherapy, but also has to miss work along with her paychecks as her monthly bills keep coming.

If you love great beer, wine and food along with supporting a wonderful cause, be sure to check out this event on Facebook. If you can’t attend, please consider a donation to help with their silent auction.

At the very least, be sure to check out Amore for a phenomenal dinner sometime. You will not be disappointed!

Cheers!

This is probably the craziest thing I’ve done to get my hands on a few amazing beers…thus far in my life.

On November 12th of last year, 3 Floyds Brewery (FFF) celebrated their 15th anniversary and did so in Fabulous Fermented Fashion. In order to attend this event, you had to be lucky enough to have purchased one of the 2,500 tickets online that sold out in about 60 seconds or purchase one of the 700 sold at the brewery. I was lucky the day they went on sale.

On that fine Saturday back in November, I made the two and a half hour drive down to Munster, IN, where I waited in two different lines for a total of about four hours. Fortunately, the weather was absolutely gorgeous that day. As I waited in line, I quickly made friends with the two groups of people directly in front of me. Just as I did, they brought a few beers to share while patiently waiting in line. And because they were from different states, we all got to try a few different beers we had never tasted before.

When all was said and done, I made a few new friends and I got exactly what I hoped for in that trip along with a few other beers available that day I didn’t know would be (pictured below).

Would I do something like this again? Absolutely!!!

Cheers!

Not too long ago, I wrote about four oak bourbon barrels that I acquired from Founders Brewing Co. that were used to age maple syrup and then a beer from Founders called Curmudgeon’s Better Half, which will be released in bottles for the first time ever on February 13th. Today, Founders posted pictures of that beer on the bottling line.

I can’t wait to get my hands on a bottle or two of a beer that was aged in oak bourbon barrels that now sit in my kitchen.

Cheers!

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Less than two weeks ago, my girlfriend, knowing my love and passion for beer, took the initiative and created The Beer Truck on my behalf. That in itself is a fun story I’ll share sometime…if you’re lucky. Early this morning my sister, Sara, sent me a message with a few suggestions that she thinks would be fun to read about. One of them stood out above the rest: “Best beer memory ever”. Tonight, my friends, I bring you that memory. And yes, I really do remember it…here you go:

In July of 1999, I moved from Muskegon to Grand Rapids to an apartment with my best friend, Nick. Why in the world we did this in July, I’ll never know. It was HOT!! And what better to drink at the end of an extremely hot day of moving lots of furniture and boxes than good cold beer. That’s right, I said “cold beer”. Once the moving was done, we went down the street and picked up a six-pack of beer for each of us, came back home and kicked up our legs with a cold one in hand. Prior to living together, we hardly ever drank, so needless to say, a six-pack for each of us…well, I’ll just say we were lightweights at the time.

Nick and I have known each other since the fourth grade and on this night, all those years of friendship were revealed in true “hoppy” fashion. What conversations exactly led to the following, I don’t recall exactly and I don’t think it really matters. All that really mattered was we were both sitting next to our “long time buddy” and those six-packs forced us to say such things as “I love you, man” and “when I get married, you’ll be my best man”. The rest is history and history in the making.

In August of 2005, Nick married his best friend and I was there as his best man. And someday, I hope to have the honor of having him as mine. This is one of many, many, many, many stories painted across the history Nick and I have created together, and whether he’s there or not at the time, he’ll always have a positive impact on how my life turns out. Nick, I love you, man! Thanks for everything.

Cheers, brother!

From Nick’s wedding

Depending on where you buy your beer, you might see several different kinds of six-packs to select from in many different varieties. It’s great having so many to choose from, but buying a different six-pack to try something new each time can get pricey. What if you drink one and you don’t like it or your discovered a style you haven’t had before and want to try different breweries’ versions of that style? That can get pricey.

Did you know many stores now give you the option to make/mix your own six-pack? Whether you’re new to the world of beer or consider yourself a beer connoisseur (go ahead, call us beer snobs…it’s all the same to us), this is a fantastic option. If you just discovered you love stouts and want to try more, this allows you to pick out six different ones to try instead of buying six different six-packs.

If you’re in Grand Rapids, MI as I am, here are a few great places that let you pick your own: Art of the Table, Martha’s Vineyard, B&B Liquor, International Beverage and Siciliano’s. And that’s just to name a few in this area alone and that’s far from all of them. Do a search online to discover who in your area does that and give it a try. It’s a fun way to try and/or discover beers you might not have known about or thought you’d ever like.

Cheers!

Earlier this evening, my girlfriend and I made a random trip to Martha’s Vineyard, a local wine, liquor and beer store. Our original plan was simply to pick up a few things to snack on, but that changed before we fully made it through the door. I was immediately and kindly informed that they had six packs of Bell’s Hopslam for $12.49. Normally, it’s about $18-$20/six pack.

At first I thought this was kind of strange since I know this year’s release of Hopslam isn’t until the end of January or beginning of February (depending on your location). As I approached the cooler, my second thought was confirmed: it’s last year’s batch, which is why they have it at such a great price.

Is year old Hopslam a bad thing?  Not in my opinion. Knowing that a fresh batch is about to come out, I jumped at the chance to be able to have a side by side comparison of the two. And on top of that, the 2011 Hopslam still tastes great!! Thank you to Josh at Martha’s Vineyard for letting me know they had this beer. Get some before it’s gone!

In a previous post, I wrote about some beers tasting better when they are consumed within a few weeks of being bottled. Most of the time, those beers are IPAs or DIPAs (double IPA). Although Hopslam is a DIPA, this particular one has withstood the test of time as it is proving to my taste buds as I write this post; however, the true test is just a few weeks away. I’m looking forward to tasting both and I’ll be sure to let you know how it turns out.

Even more exciting than that is the possibility that my friend Steven will be in town from California and will be able to join in on this tasting. He’ll also bring with him several west coast beers we can’t get here in Michigan. One of which I’ll mention now is called Pliny the Elder (#4 on Beer Advocates top 100 beers in the world) from Russian River Brewing Co.

Cheers!

Photograph by Lizzie Photo

Earlier today, a good friend of mine told me he was going to bring me a bottle of King Henry, a bourbon barrel aged barleywine recently released by Goose Island. I then sent him a text message asking him to take it out of the fridge about 30 minutes before coming over so it can warm up a little and therefore release all the flavors offered by this magnificent brew. At the time, he happened to be at the house of a friend who is also a bartender somewhere that serves beers like this. That bartender said the place he works serves this beer in a frosted mug. Unbelievable!!! Frosted mugs are for root-beer floats!

Be wary my friends. It’s sad how many restaurants and bars brag about their huge tap selection and then ruin the beer by serving it in a frosted mug after it’s already stored at cold refrigerator temperatures.

Like good cheese and red wine, there are a lot of beers that display the most and best flavors when served closer to room temperature. If you order yourself anything that’s not a lawnmower beer and it comes in a frosted mug, thank them for it and then ask for a different glass that won’t diminish your beer’s flavor and aroma.

Cheers!

What’s my favorite part of flying to another part of the country? Access to beers I can’t get in Michigan…except for the trip when I got these six. I should probably say that my sister’s wedding was my favorite part of that trip. That aside, if you have luggage to check, make sure to save some room to securely pack a few good beers to bring home. I should probably mention that beers in your carry on won’t fly.

If you’re heading somewhere and want some suggestions for some good beers to look for, feel free to ask and I’ll be more than happy to throw some ideas your way, especially if you want to bring me back some.

My all time favorite “flying with beer” story is when my mother flew out to Portland, OR to visit my sister, who just happens to live about 15 minutes away from a guy I just set up a trade with. Much to my surprise…and delight, my mother packed my contribution to the trade in her luggage and met up with the guy on Mother’s Day to make the trade for me. I have a great mom!!!

Cheers!

Ahhhh…The Bruery

Located in in Placentia, CA, The Bruery is one of my favorite breweries. I love the beer, I love the Twelve Days of Christmas themed beers (along with every beer I’ve tasted from there) and I love how the owner, Patrick Rue, took his last name and turned it into a great name for a brewery.

In reference to an earlier post, the Twelve Days of Christmas series is part of a “vertical” series of beers that’s released each year around the holidays. Now in its fourth year, 4 Calling Birds was the most recent release. Some people get a bottle or two each year when they release the next one in the line and some people get at least two bottles so they can drink one now and save one for that magical day when they have all twelve from the series in their collection.

I know 2019 sounds like a LONG time to wait to drink a beer, but believe it or not, there are many beer lovers who are doing just that. I’ve been lucky enough to have 3 French Hens and now 4 Calling Birds, and someday, I hope to acquire the first two and start a collection of the “Twelve Days of Christmas” myself.

Cheers!