A beer sort of day

KC Hop Head and OregonAmy were nice enough to let me host July's Brew Day, and despite some ungodly humidity, I think a good time was had by all. I know I learned a lot, just by watching them do their brews. I chickened out, because I still had yet to figure out how to properly carbonate my Questionable Cream Ale in the keg, and am not loving the results I get from extract brewing. KC Hop Head managed to get my beer all set, so it was tested, and deemed drinkable if not delicious. :) The brews brought by Amy and her husband quite awesome, and I am freshly motivated to move on from "kit" beer. It doesn't look quite as scary and difficult, when everyone else can knock it out while hanging out on my back deck. So thanks for the fantastic company and examples to follow. I'm personally interested in the oatmeal raisin stout that was smelling so nice while boiling! Friends showed up all day and evening, and I thank you all.


Everyone brought summertime brews to share, from home brew to special finds. I think my top favorites were the Belgian Cherry that Average Jane brought, the Founder's Scottish Ale brought by Tim, and the IPA brewed by Amy & her husband. Good stuff!

My dog is so exhausted from yesterday that he has only woken up twice so far - both times to eat. Ha!

Edited to add that I inherited both a tan Coleman cooler with one unmarked bottle of homebrew, and a hula hoop after everyone left on Saturday. If you'd like to claim either, let me know!

If you're gonna drive me crazy, drive me to drink

I am in the middle of closing out my company's fiscal year, so I've been a little caught up. (I know, it doesn't even sound cool. It isn't. Imagine spreadsheets and accounting software and budget projections and nail biting. I fear the tax man. I really do. Did you ever see Stranger Than Fiction? I wanna pull a Maggie Gyllenhaal and scream, "Get BENT, Tax Man!") Soooo, anyway...I haven't been doing the old blogging thing well. There are reviews a-brewin, I promise, so hang in there with me until October. There's a silver lining, and it happens to be good beer.

MillerCoors keeps a beer blog

And it all about beer industry news. It can be found here.

Today's news is that Bud Light Lime is the top growth brand in supermarkets during the first half of the year, according to beer sales statistics from Nielsen. (Yes, that says supermarkets, meaning that this doesn't necessarily account for TOTAL sales. In some states, you can ONLY buy beer at supermarkets, while in others you cannot at all. SO the kind of people that pick up beer at the grocery store, tend to like Bud Light Lime. I don't buy beer at the grocery store, but I AM a fan of Bud Light Lime.)

The new lime line extension -- (which follows MillerCoors is quick to note debuted WELL after Miller Chill) -- moved nearly 1 million cases in the period ended June 28, according to beer market analysis from Nielsen. What makes that more impressive is that Bud Light Lime didn’t hit the market until late April.

Overall, A-B placed nine brands among the fastest growing brands in the first half of the year. Besides Bud Light Lime they were: Michelob Ultra (5), Busch Light (6), Land Shark Lager (7), Bud Light Clamato (8), Michelob Golden Draft Light (12), Bacardi Silver (16), Bud Clamato (17) and Busch (19).

MillerCoors placed seven brands on the list, including three of the top five. They are: Coors Light (2), Keystone Light (3), Miller Chill (4), Blue Moon seasonals (5), Blue Moon Belgian White Ale (13), Coors Banquet (14) and Miller Genuine Draft Light (24).

Mexican imports had a strong showing: Tecate Light (18), Tecate (20), Modelo Especial (22), Coronita Extra (23) and Dos Equis (25).

Other brands on the top 25 include: Yuengling (10), Stella Artois (11), Heineken Premium Light (15) and Samuel Adams seasonal (21).

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Summer beers

The deck is open for the season at the Casa de Soseman. Which means you're welcome anytime, just bring a sixer of something interesting with ya! I have a stockpile of beer koozies, and a yard that dogs love to play in.

To date, our backyard tastings have included the following fluffy beers:

Bud Light Lime - Domestically produced, sweeter Corona, good with Tex Mex
Coors/Blue Moon Honey Moon Summer Ale - Sweet, lightly carbonated, good with spicy BBQ
Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy - Totally tastes like lemonade & beer. Dangerously easy to drink. Light and not too sweet.

Most of these are borderline beer cocktails. Light, girly, sometimes fruity or sweet, but always refreshing and kept well chilled. They all seem to go well with KC humidity and fresh off the grill eats. They also make good use of the limited hops available this year.

Here are all the beers I still want to consume before this deck season gets much later:
Boulevard's Zon
Pyramid's Curve Ball
Sam Adams Summer
Sierra Nevada Harvest Fresh Hop Ale

So what have you seen lately you want to try? What have you tried and want to share with the class?

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Fit me with an ankle bracelet or something

I think it's just the time of year when I fall off the face of the blog. It seems to be fairly consistent. It's not like I got off the grid entirely. You social media 2.0 peeps know where to find me. It's just spring time. Dusting off the old, prepping for the new, outdoor activities, talk talk talking, whatever. I'll be at the Saucer this weekend, with the broseph. I'll take some new beer inspired pics. He'd kill me if he knew that was posted anywhere. he looks a little - umm - special needs, in that one.

Happy long weekend to you all!

Is it spring YET?

The winter depression is so deep in my office right now that there were actual, audible moans, coming from cubes all over the floor, when it was announced that it seemed to be snowing again this morning. Only a flurry, mind you, nothing real. But what used to be pretty is now cause for grief. We're all just so OVER winter.

I noticed the beer industry has heard our cries. While it just isn't appropriate to think about beach beer yet, they are slowly inching us into seasonal mindsets. Here's the start of a decent to do list:

Sam Adams released the White Ale this year for spring. It is a milky, unfiltered, Belgian wheat.

New Belgium is bringing back it's Springboard Ale for the second year, another Belgian pale ale with a little zestiness built right in.

Old faithful, Boulevard has released it's seasonal Irish Ale, my long-standing favorite.

Sierra Nevada has already released it's ESB for 2008 spring.

Winter warmers

It is beyond cold here, and while I typically enjoy a good winter storm, I am really only looking forward to my post-Christmas trip to Mexico at this point. I usually have an entirely too romantic viewpoint of ice storms (because I got married during the worst one KC has seen in a while) but this week I am over it. This was taken by my camera phone in my front yard this morning. Blerg.
All the cool beer bloggers are covering the holiday/winter special brews. Don't you want to be cool? Sadly, I am too busy to be cool. So I will introduce you to the cool kids.

KC Beer Blog does Schlafly, New Belgium, & Breckenridge
The Cure For What Ales You does Magic Hat
Beer Haiku Daily ponders winter brews in 5-7-5 format
Hail The Ale suffered a bottle mishap

And I bet there are a lot more that I haven't had time to read via my completely chock full RSS reader, that poor, underused receptacle of unread feeds. Have a good beer for me, k?

These are a few of my favorite things

I love coffee. I love beer. I love DARK, PORTER beer. I am now singing Maria's song, while dancing around my office:
"When the dog bites
When the bee stings
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad."

Copied & pasted from my inbox:

Get your jolt by the pint at 75^th Street Brewery

UP ALL NITRO ESPRESSO PORTER will be on tap starting

Monday 11/12 @ 5:30p.m

It's got our brewers running circles around the other guys - literally. This is a brew that will give you stamina...

Power to the pint!

This espresso porter began simply enough: a beautiful, dark-brown brew with hints of red on the sides of the glass. The aroma is all grown up: an perfect balance of roasted coffee and toasted malts. The taste has go power: it is a complex blend of nine malts and two varieties of local Roasterie espresso beans. The sweetness of the malt is trailed by a smooth bite of coffee.

We're pouring this beer with our own nitro system to add a tasty, creamy texture that rounds out the flavor.

If you like exquisite coffee and quality beer [why settle for less?], we dare you to be disappointed by this brew - it's for you.

Stop in Monday @ 5:30p.m. for a pint of UP ALL NITRO ESPRESSO PORTER. Then change the world.

Cheers!

How much beer would you have to drink to get a $300 bar tab?

One.

OK, I've never personally had a $300 bar tab, but that is not unheard of with a group, especially at an overpriced club in Vegas. But what if you spent $300 on ONE bottle of beer? Dustin, who pokes me with a stick every now & then to see if I am still alive, sent me an email today about this. Sam Adams releases a special edition called Utopias each year, and this year it is just in time for the holidays. It is dark, uncarbonated, 25% ABV, and very spicy, earthy and more like a port than a beer. You are supposed to drink it like a fine liquor, in a brandy snifter, at room temperature. It has a suggested selling price of $140 per bottle, but everywhere I have noticed it, it has never been for less than $279. So, you know, if you are racking your brain, trying to figure out what to get me for the next gift giving holiday...ha ha.

Things I Fall For

I not-so-secretly love fall. Everyone I know seems to love the season they were born in, probably because as a child it meant good things, parties, presents, etc. I whine about having to rake roughly 10 million leaves, but I'd gladly rake my yard forever, if it meant I wouldn't be shoveling snow in 10 degree weather or mowing the grass in mid-August when it is 110. I had the best weekend, and it wasn't that exciting. We cleaned up the yard, trimmed trees, attempted once again to murder my neighbors out of control vine collection, cleaned the house top to bottom, had friends hang out on the deck, drank dark beers and went furniture shopping. (We didn't buy anything. We shop past the point of it being fun, then impulsively buy things on the internet. That's how we roll. )

We drank Paulaner's Oktoberfest, Boulevard Bob's 47, Lowenbrau Original, and a healthy dose of Gentleman Jack was administered amongst the guys. Somebody brought some 12 year Elijah Craig, and this was a wonderful development, I was told. I am more of a beer sort of girl, regardless what tales anyone has told to you, related to vodka or tequila. I was young and foolish once too.

Next weekend my mom is coming to visit, and then after that I am off to Vegas to celebrate turning 31. It just sounded like the good, adult, responsible thing to do.

It's September - time for Oktoberfest!

I have Oktoberfest on the brain today, and came across these articles that give all kinds of detailed advice for people attending the festival in Munich.

Guide to the tents
Don't look like a tourist

It isn't really the kind of advice about where to stay or where to eat, but practical tips on navigating the beer tents and what not to do. If you're headed out there, color me jealous. Someday, my friends. Someday.

In the meantime, all I have to look forward to the local KC version. It is Sept 21-23, held in Crown Center, and it only costs a measly $5 to get in the door, listen to some oompah music, see grown men in lederhosen, and watch a few women, fresh from the local Ren Fest display their ample bosoms in corsets and peasant blouses. Although between you & me, most of those women have overly ample everything.

I haven't reviewed an Oktoberfest in a while. I think I'll have to grab a few bottles and do a little tasting party at the beer sort of house. I'm thinking that we'll need some Augustiner, Hacker-Pschorr, Hofbrau, Lowenbrau, Paulaner, Spaten and the local, Bob's 47.

Hey! Why don’t you bang your head against this?

I went to the beer tasting on Friday. I like Cellar Rat’s store a lot, and I had a nice time. It would have been more fun if more of you were there. But that’s ok. I had a going-away get together to go to afterwards, so I couldn’t stay anyway. On the way out the door, I snagged a 6 pack of Schlafly’s more recent seasonal releases, a Raspberry Hefeweizen. “Light, summery, girly, to be drank cold," were the types of things I imagined as the lovely man behind the counter rang up my purchase.

I stuck the 6 pack in my car, and went on a later-than expected, Friday-fueled bar crawl of sorts. I didn’t crack into one of the bottles until later on Saturday. Turns out that I should have grabbed the Summer Kolsch instead. And I really should have known better. I don’t do fruit beers.

It doesn’t really taste like beer with a raspberry tang as much as it tastes like a beer cocktail with raspberry flavored soda. Remember the shandy? Yeah, it’s kind of like that. I didn’t hate it. I didn’t love it. I drank one, and left the other 5 in my fridge, hopefully to offer to a more girlier girl than me.

It smelled a little sweet, like raspberry candy, when I opened it. It poured into my glass pink (pink!) but with mild cloudiness and beer-like qualities, so it didn’t look like pink lemonade or anything. It settled to a orangey-pink color with a light pink head of foam. It reminded me of the green St. Pat’s yuck, and it turned me off a bit. The flavor of the beer wasn’t raspberry, as in fresh raspberries, but rather raspberry-flavoring, like Kool-Aid. Kind of artificial. There were underlying beer flavors, to be sure, like some yeast and malts, and the slightest twinge of wheat.

To be fair, I don’t like 75th Street Brewery’s Royal Raspberry either, and was never fond of any of the fruity beers the now-extinct microbrews around here offered. So yeah, I know. What was I thinking? I guess I was trying to keep an open mind. The answer is that I still don’t like it. But if you do, you know where to find some for free!

Happy New Year!

Omygod, I have to go back to work on Tuesday. It's been too long. I haven't gotten out of bed before 9 am in a long long time. Tuesday morning is going to be a little unpleasant.



We had a small Festivus shindig on Friday. The Feats of Strength were abandoned, and I was glad, because I really didn't want to see a bunch of late 20 to early 30 year old dudes wrestling in my living room. The Airing of Grievances were too late in the evening for me, and I was already nodding off. Or not speaking well. Or both. But it was fun, and I am so glad everyone came. Trey brought me a whole six pack of the New Belgium Brewery's 2 Below, which was really quite tasty. It was my first beer of the night, and I dug it a lot. I had tried to pick up some more Nutcracker Ale, but the store down the street was out, and the deadline for hiding the dishes was looming, so I thought I was out of luck. BeerAdvocate classifies 2 Below as an ESB, or Extra Special/Strong Bitter, which just means that it is a little more aggressive than your average beer in terms of hops and alcohol content, but nothing overpowering. It is really not bitter at all, but balanced between hops and malts. I drank it right out of the bottle, like a classy broad, so I didn't really look at color or head, but it is a basic copper colored ale, and it was quite quite tasty.



Mel & Nate (Melanie & Nathan? Sorry, I have an obsession with nicknames, because my name is nickname-averse...) brought me a bottle of this. Delirium Tremens. I cracked it open and immediately drank it all. (Except that little bit the Husband snagged.) Yummers. It is a Belgian Pale Ale, with 8.5% alcohol content. Whoo, but it didn't taste as strong as you would think. But I should have had more food at the party, this is for certain. I had to pour it into a pilsner glass, since that is what I had handy, and I had to share. The beer is straw-colored, almost golden, and the flavor is smooth, almost fruity. I thought that the mouthfeel was extremely light, but the Husband, who had been drinking Bud Light, called it a "thick beer." The head on this was super fluffy, and I caught some crap for bad pouring. Deserved, I am sure, but it had one heck of a head!


Nate/Nathan brought something dark and fierce and reminiscent of motor oil, from the Great Divide Brewing Co. I stole a sip and it was delish. Ah, here it is : Yeti Imperial Stout. I've seen their stuff pop up in KC stores lately, so I guess that will be my beer next adventure.


PLEASE be careful tonight, if you are headed out. It's amateur hour out there, so take cabs, be safe, and I hope that you greet 2007 with a tall glass of water and some quality time on the couch.

XXX-Mas

Mondays are hard. You deserve a beer for actually making it to work today. Since I can't make it, someone should enjoy this opportunity.

The 75th Street Brewery is holding a Sneak Peak Preview Party TONIGHT for their new seasonal brew, XXX-Mas Ale. 75th Street propaganda says that XXX-Mas Ale has a warm mahogany color and is brewed with five different spices. It has a malty-sweet taste and is a winter warmer at 7.2% alcohol. XXX-Mas Ale will be available for good on Friday, December 15th after 5 pm. So even if you don't make it today, you can have a glass starting Friday. (That's when I'll be there, after completing my shopping, on my day off. Yeah.)

75th Street Brewery
520 West 75th Street
Kansas City, MO 64114

Date Night is Beer Night

I haven't seen much of The Husband lately. We've both been a little busy. I've been out of town when he is around, and he's out of town or in town and working 15 hour days when I am home. Saturday we were both in town on the same day, so went out for beer. We were both so tired that we didn't stay long, but we managed to grab the last freakin' Sam Adams Octoberfest that Tom Fooleries had in the house. They didn't expect it to go so fast, the bartender said. Not so fast? Duh. I love this stuff.

This beer ours a redish/orange brown with a white head. The smell is mostly of malt and almost sweet. The flavor is rich and bold and is of mostly malt, with hardly any hops to be found. It has a great balance of flavor and carbonation. It is very smooth, medium body but the beer has a thick flavor. It has a long, lingering aftertaste that some sweet notes that just add to the character. I wish I could get it all year round.

Four Day Weekend

I love summer holiday weekends. BBQs, things exploding, bug spray and sunscreen. And beer. Frosty beer bottles plucked from the big metal ice bucket that lives on a deck. That sounds like it is a beer tree or something. Hmm, beer tree.

So anyway, I am actually making a list of beers I want to drink this weekend. Beers that go with hamburgers, spicy BBQ, lots of friends, and that are perfect for kicking back in a screened porch, doing the Sunday crossword puzzle with a ceiling fan lazily spinning overhead. (I don't do soduku.)

So without much further ado, here is the 2006 Fourth of July Weekend Beer Girl List:

Sam Adams Light
Spaten Premium Lager
Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat (with a lemon wedge, please)
Hefeweizen
Shiner Summer Stock

September

Beer is good, beer is great...

"They who get drunk on other intoxicating liquors fall on all parts of their body; they fall on the left side, on the right side, on their faces, and on their backs. But it is only those who get drunk on beer who fall on their backs and lie with their face upwards." -- Aristotle

"Beer is living proof that God loves us & wants us to be happy." -- Ben Franklin

I love beer. Today I love this beer: Harpoon's Oktoberfest.
Harpoon's site says this: Of all Harpoon beers, Octoberfest takes the most time to brew, adding to its complexity and smoothness. A blend of six malts imparts a smooth, medium body, balancing a medium hop bitterness. This legendary beer is brewed for celebrations. Prosit!

A reviewer on BeerAdvocate says this: Gorgeous Coppery orange color with 1/4" khaki colored head that faded a bit. Fruity malt aroma; sweet malt back is highlighted by fruity yeast smell, caramel, fresh bread, and black cherry notes. Good body. Crisp malt to start, malt is somewhat dry compared to the sweet aroma. Slightly bready but mostly toasty malt taste. Finish has a good earthy/ herbal hop twang with slow bitterness that makes the dry malt crawl off the tongue. I'd take this one over Otter Creek's Oktoberfest anyday.

Beer Girl says that I like a lot of oktoberfests, and while the above reviewer says he'll take it over Otter Creek anyday, I'm not so sure. Otter Creek was pretty darn tasty. Not having both in front of me, I can't really do the comparison, but this is good stuff, either way. Cheers!

Salsa de Noche

It's Cinco de Mayo. Ole! It's also my brother-in-law's birthday. Happy Birthday, little dude. I can't believe it's still going to be another year before you can have a beer on your birthday. ~sigh~ It's ok, I promise to drink one for you today.

Actually, since it is Cinco de Mayo, I am temporarily abandoning my beer platform. There are frosty margaritas for everybody right here. It's not Beer Friday yet, so I don't feel like counting up everyone's points. You lucky visitors, Margarita Thursday is for EVERYONE!


God, I could use a drink.