Who took Latin in High School?

520 West 75th St. Kansas City, MO

816.523.4677

Ex Desparatus

Tonight at 5:00pm

What's in a name really? The first time the Master Brewers at 75th Street Brewery sampled this beer, they realized that a simple or clever name would never do this beer justice. "Ex Desparatus, a votum pro spes" is a Belgian style pale ale that pours a dark copper color with an aroma of coriander, malt and a slight hint of yeast. The taste profile reveals a higher than normal carbonation followed by coriander and a touch of noble hops. A malty finish rounds out the taste to complete an ensemble several times more laudable than the name the brewers have chosen for it.

Ex Desparatus, a votum pro spes...

Out of desperation, a prayer for hope.

What does that mean? That's for you to decide. Everybody finds a different meaning after trying this belgian style pale ale, and that's just the way the brewers want it.

Cheers!

Let the Sun Shine

I owe Lee so much. This guy is one of the coolest beer bloggers ever, and you have no idea how shamefully I’ve treated him. Because I am self-absorbed. And lazy. Which is hurtful to others. And whatever else it was that my second grade teacher said I didn’t want to grow up to become. Actually, I was sick as a dog, and had just started my new gig, so time-strapped and exhausted doesn’t even begin to cover it. We met in the parking lot of Boulevard, where they were about to begin a tour. Because I couldn’t make it to hang out with them at Grinders. I, being me, made them late for the start of the tour. God, don’t you want to be friends with me?!

Lee is this most amazing person. He lives in Austin, the capital of cool, and the lucky man got to visit the exotic location of Kansas City while on vacation. OK, well, that wasn’t so hot. But his wife? Is adorable. And the man actually brought a COOLER, full of TX beer, all the way to KC, just for me. How do I repay him? By not even talking about it for over a month. Shameful!

Lee brought me many beers. One of them was the limited edition Shiner 98 Bavarian Style Amber Ale. In bottles, of course. The fact that it had “Amber” printed right on the label meant that it was the first one I tried. Honestly, as soon as I got home. Congested head meant that even the husband got in on the beer review, noting the nose and confirming taste for me.

The beer poured golden-red into a room temperature pint glass, with a thin head of lacy froth. It smelled familiar, a little like the Shiner Bock I drank too much of at a conference in Austin. A little hoppy, a little malty, a little generically beery. (Man, can you believe that I don’t write for a living? What a grasp on the English language.)

The taste is slightly dry, and the hops really aren’t as aggressive as a hop-fearing light beer drinker might think. The carbonation is higher than I expected, with the low level of head it poured out of the bottle, but I liked it. Still has that "thick" beer mouthfeel. Better than Shiner Bock. Some of the Beer Advocate peeps thought it was not as nice as previous years’ releases, but this being my first, I thought it was quite nice. I had absolutely NO problem drinking the rest that were in the fridge, after beating the husband away from that shelf with a broom.

Lee, I owe you more reviews. I promise that they will come. Hopefully before Boulevard releases that new Belgian saisson farmhouse ale you got to try. Because you had better believe that I will make good on at least that promise.

Something for Saturday

Flying Monkey Brewery gives free tours and samples every 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month. It's the third Saturday of July, so it is time for another round of brewery tours and beers. Get some friends together and come out!


FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE
Noon-3pm this Saturday!


FLYING MONKEY BREWERY
311 N. Burch St
Olathe, KS
913-599-0563
(two blocks west of I-35 and Sante Fe)

Map of 311 N Burch St Olathe, KS 66061-3649, US

Field Trip!

Our employee summer party is taking place this afternoon in the kind-of-still new Muelbach Suite at the Boulevard Brewery. There will be trivia, and beer, and like, 300 co-workers. OK, probably not all 300 will show. Because some people actively avoid fun and beer and other people. They cannot be helped. It should be a lovely afternoon. I'm hoping to get a sneak peek at whatever is brewing and bubbling down stairs in those giant silver vats. If I do, you know, I'll share.

The Inevitable Return Of The Great White Dope

Part of my hiatus from blogging has been my hiatus from tasty brews. It's hot, and I have been quaffing watery mass-produced stuff in ice cold bottles. It is cheap, works well at BBQs, is low in calories, and for some reason, all of that has been very compelling. Shhhh. Don't tell. Gotta maintain this facade. So instead of talking about how I am not really worthy of beer snobbitude, let's talk about why no one else is drinking beer these days. What the heck is going on?

Miller Light recently debuted Chill, a Mexican Vacation themed beer, based on the michelada, which is apparently a popular drink at Mexican resorts. They test launched it in Texas, so I am not really sure if they want the people who vacation in Mexico, or the people who came here from Mexico to drink it. But either way, they want someone, to drink something brewed by Miller, and soon. They be hurtin'.

UK beer sales are down, so naturally, analysts blame the rain (…?) Really? Do people in the UK really drink more beer when it is nice outside? Do they drink more OUTSIDE than inside? Do they not go to pubs when it rains? Or it is because so much of the consumption of beer happens during big events?

Even Guinness is struggling. The company that owns the brewer may even shut down their historic St. James brewery in central Dublin. (NOOO! I haven't visited there yet!!) Why? Smoking bans are driving beer drinkers out of the pubs. They are buying beer at the supermarket and taking it home, but a Guinness is tied to the idea of a pint from a tap. Huh. Sales are still strong in the US due to our infatuation with anything imported.

Japan isn’t drinking beer this year, either? Notably, the young people stayed away, so what ARE they drinking? Oh, apparently imported wine is making a big surge there now. Huh. So yay for California wines, I guess.

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I actually have overdue drafts of reviews of TEXAS beers, saved on another ‘puter. I swear they will be coming soon. “Soon,” loosely translated as, “whenever I get off my lazy summer keister and edit them.”

I've gone all ADD again

The new job, setting up our next house projects, vacation dreaming & booking, birthday party planning and piles of social events stacking up across my outlook calendar, combined with the thick hazy air of summertime demand me to sloooooow it all down. I have notes on beers, and owe reviews, especially to Lee. I'm just so darn lazy that the nagging guilt hasn't eaten away at me yet. So until I am appropriately ashamed and come back to be responsible, or feel a spark of inspiration, I am on beer sabbatical.

Quick announcement

I've been AWOL. For that I apologize. I have lots to share, but I have to save it for another day. I changed jobs, I met Lee, he gave me beer (!!), I've been sick, and I have a whole bunch of TX beers to report on soon. Stay tuned...I'll be back soon, I swear.

Standin' outside on a Friday, Livin' on tha edge

I am *pretty* sure it is going to rain tonight, so the First Friday Bob Schneider concert might get rained out. I hope not. But either way it is still warm and summery and it is a nice evening to pop down to the Crossroads, see some art, and drink a good beer or two.

Blood is thicker than beer...wait, what?

My Dad got married this weekend, so I had the privilege of having both of my brothers, one sister-in-law and one long time girlfriend over to my house last night. This required beer, so we ran to the friendly neighborhood liquor store. We picked up a selection of things, but the most popular by far was the six-pack of O'Malley's Irish Cream Ale. I only got one myself. And when it was gone, everyone begrudgingly drank my youngest bro's Warsteiner. His girlfriend liked the Schlafly's Raspberry I had left in the fridge, so overall, we cleaned out my beer stock.

But back to the Irish Cream Ale, brewed by a little local brewery in Weston, MO, that recently reopened. I had been to the underground pub in Weston before, but they didn't have the brewery back up and running when I was there. If you have a chance to go, you should. It is quite the experience, sitting in the giant cellar, listening to live music bouncing off the stone walls. When you order an Irish Cream Ale at a bar in town that serves it on tap, you get the whole nitro tap experience, like with Guinness. This is my best Caffrey's replacement! Much more so than Boddington's, love it as I do.

Hey Y'all! Miss me?

I just came back from a work/ad/media/conference jaunt right outside of Austin, TX that was fun and interesting and oh-my-god humid. But since this is the beer blog, I thought I would tell you about what I drank. In quantities far too large, by the way. I drank Shiner Bock, brewed by the Spoetzl Brewery, which is located somewhere around Houston, Austin and San Antonio.

Shiner Bock has been brewed at this brewery since 1913, but used to be a seasonal beer for Lent. (Huh? Keep reading...) Today Bock makes up 80% of all the beer sold by Spoetzl, who used to keep their business within a 70 mile range, but now are actively growing distribution. They just started appearing in parts of Missouri.

I drank many bottles of Shiner, like this one. For a random point of reference, one of the friendly Texas bartenders who we kept hopping during our cocktail hours told me that she thought Shiner Bock tasted kind of like Sam Adams. It might, maybe, to some people, but not really to me. Sam Adams is more of a dark lager, while a bock is a style all on it's own. BeerAdvocate is at the ready with a description:

The origins of Bock beer are quite uncharted. Back in medieval days German monasteries would brew a strong beer for sustenance during their Lenten fasts. Some believe the name Bock came from the shortening of Einbeck thus "beck" to "bock." Others believe it is more of a pagan or old world influence that the beer was only to be brewed during the sign of the Capricorn goat, hence the goat being associated with Bock beers. Basically, this beer was a symbol of better times to come and moving away from winter.

As for the beer itself in modern day, it is a bottom fermenting lager that generally takes extra months of lagering (cold storage) to smooth out such a strong brew. Bock beer in general is stronger than your typical lager, more of a robust malt character with a dark amber to brown hue. Hop bitterness can be assertive enough to balance though must not get in the way of the malt flavor, most are only lightly hopped.

Average alcohol by volume (abv) range: 5.5-7.5%

So it comes with a little ABV kick. And as I said, I drank many bottles of Shiner, maybe one too many. I never poured it into a glass (because I am classy!) so I can't note anything about color, or head, etc. All I can tell you is that it smelled sweet, kind of malty, tastes smooth, sweet, and only has a little bit of carbonation.

The Demon You Know

I ate so MUCH. I could have kept a whole village alive on the food I consumed this weekend. It is actually quite astounding. I only managed to try 2 beers. (Hey, cut me some slack, this weekend was all about MOM, not all about beer.)

I tried one of A-B's newest brews, the "craft" types they are brewing for different regions. I had a Demon Hop Yard IPA at Westbrook Lobster in Clinton, CT. I didn't expect much, so I wasn't surprised when it poured a clear and filtered amber color into the pint glass. I was suprised to detect a fair amount of hops, and a taste that actually bit back! I wouldn't say that it was anywhere near the BEST IPA I've ever had, but it was pretty darn good. So...wow. Good job.

My brother & sister-in-law were up for a beer last night, so we cruised to New Haven and hit up the Bru Room at BAR, in the Yale neighborhood. We didn't have any (thank god) but I saw the HUGE pizzas they were bringing to the tables, and I think we'll have to do that sometime. They looked & smelled wonderful. I had a pale ale, which seemed nice and balanced and went down easily. My brother had a thick and sticky stout, which was sweet and delicious, but I was far too full to appreciate it all. The bar started to get crowded around 11:30-midnight, full of Yalies in ironic t-shirts, and we had to get home early to get up for the big family brunch the next day.

Moms Day Hiatus

I'm going on my own mini vacation, and vacation to me always means fresh seafood, time spent on the water, and grabbing a new beer or two. It's Mother's Day weekend, and I am going to visit my own little madre. As additional benefits there will be the Long Island Sound, my brother and sister-in-law, my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. I'll try to grab some interesting beer to talk about here. In the meantime, have a great weekend, and do something nice for your mom, the mother of your children, or yourself if you are a mom.

B.Y.O.B.

Sneaky sneaky. Here's a way to save money, make friends, and quite possibly enjoy attending college sporting events a tiny bit more. For the dudes, the BeerBelly. If you already have a large "natural" beer belly, I guess you won't really mind it sticking out a little bit farther for one day, right?

Never fear ladies, they're working on a Wine Rack right now, so you don't have to look like an alcoholic pregnant chick. You know. Unless that's the look you are going for.

Flava In Ya Ear

It is Friday and I've got this in my head. I can't explain everything, sometimes I can only report the news. (But whoa, Busta looks so young!)

So I was purusing some other beer blogs, and came across Hail the Ale. (Hey looky, they have sponsors!) I saw this post about Michelob's flavored beers coming out soon. And I remember writing a post that was similar, but I forgot that it was NOT about Michelob, but rather about Anheuser-Busch, and apparently I had saved it as a draft for a while, and never published it. Curious. Am I losing my mind already?

So read about A-B's fruit beer here, and Michelob's there, and get ready for a summer filled with girly beers.

Grind it out

I love Grinder's, the sandwhich/pizza shop in the Crossroads. They have great food, wonderful beers, and they've actually opened a gigantic outdoor music venue. Last week they had hometown groups Pomeroy and Anything But Joey, but this Friday they've got Robert Randolph and the Family Band, AND Ziggy Marley. On Wednesday the 9th, George Clinton & the Parliament Funkadelic and Four Fried Chickens and a Coke are playing. I am so excited.

Bob Schneider is playing on June 1st, and that's a FREE show! Love First Fridays. So go reserve your G.A. tix now.

This picture from Grinder's MySpace cracks me up. Yay. Scooters. Really.

Its Fruity!

You'll have to try them for yourselves. I've realized that I am a strict no-fruit-in-my-beer-sort-of-girl.

Anheuser-Busch last week unveiled “fruity“ pilsners as the latest brews in its Michelob family. The debut comes as the summer grilling season is set to get underway, coinciding with the top selling season for alcohol.

The beers are “light and refreshing with a subtle hint of real fruit,” the company said.
The new beverages come in three flavors: Pomegranate Raspberry, Lime Cactus and Tuscan Orange Grapefruit.

"Adults who live an active lifestyle will appreciate the subtle fruit flavors and light effervescence found in these beers," said Jill Vaughn, Anheuser-Busch brewmaster. "Michelob Ultra Fruit Infused beers are perfectly balanced and best enjoyed when paired with bold ethnic dishes and lighter fare such as grilled chicken."

"Anheuser-Busch has had great success with Michelob Ultra and Michelob Ultra Amber and we wanted to provide consumers with a refreshing summertime offering," said Eduardo Pereda, director of Michelob Family, Anheuser-Busch, in a statement.

The brews are now available through Labor Day in grocery and convenience stores in 12-bottle variety packs or single-flavor six-packs.

Rogue Agent

I have a big bottle of Rogue American Amber chilling in the fridge at home. It was my name on it. Literally. 5:45ish this evening. There might be a review. There likely will not. But I promise that it will be enjoyed.

It's only Tuesday. I can't be so Loverboy already.

Dustin knows ALL of the good stuff! He says that the Parkville Brewfest is coming up, that he's been to it in the last few years and that its a good time.

Event Details:
April 28th - Micro (brewers) Festival

English Landing Park, Parkville, Missouri
Saturday, April 28th 2007 from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Sample beers from Regional Craft Breweries at this festival, including:

Boulevard Brewery, Kansas City, MO
75th Street Brewery, Kansas City, MO
Free State Brewing Co., Lawrence, KS
Blind Tiger Brewery, Topeka, KS
Little Apple Brewery, Manhattan, KS
McCoy's Public House, Kansas City. MO
Power Plant Brewery, Parkville, MO
23rd St. Brewery, Lawrence, KS
Weston Brewing Co., Weston, MO
O'Fallon Brewery, O'Fallon, MO
Schlafly Bottleworks, St. Louis, MO
Upstream Brewing Co., Omaha, NE
River City Brewing Co., Wichita, KS
Augusta Brewing Co., Augusta, MO
Granite City, KC locations but it is a chain
Flying Monkey Brewery, Olathe, KS
and more!!

Guests will be supplied with a commemorative logo tasting glass, a custom tasting note sheet, and live Blue Grass music.

Learn home brewing techniques from the Kansas City Home Brew club.

Admission is $20.00 per person payable at the gate, and guests are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and blankets to enjoy a relaxing day in the Park. Beer will be available at the festival, but cannot be taken out of the park. Outside alcohol will not be allowed into the festival site.

For more information contact:
Angelo Gangai - Event Co-Chairperson
Warren Crouse - Event Co-Chairperson
PARKVILLE MICROFEST
Ph: 816-505-2227

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The Power Plant Brewery and Stone Canyon Pizza are reason enough to visit Parkville again. This festival just puts it over the edge for me. Plus, have you seen the forecast?!

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!

Friday Happy Hour

A neighbor in the Crossroads district of KC, Cellar Rat Wine, is hosting a few tastings this week. They are primarily a wine place, so the first tasting is for those of you:

Thursday April 19th, 5:30pm - 8:30pm
20 Great Wines all priced under $20!

There are so many great values out in the wine world right now. We have chosen 20 wines that we feel represent some of the best bargains that are currently available. You may recognize some of them, but most of them are smaller production, up and coming wineries, newly discovered regions or just wines that have gotten overlooked. Come see for yourself why some of the best wines in the world can still be had for less than $20 per bottle.

Here are some of the wines we will be sampling:
Agricolas Costamolina, Pillar Box, Trevor Jones, Las Rocas, Gran Feudo, Galida Cava, Juan Gil, Clara Benegas, Qupe, Crios, Gianni Gagliardo, Regusci, A to Z, Zaca Mesa, Vega Sindoa, Altos de la Hoya...

*cost for the tasting is $10 - and you get to take home a Cellar Rat engraved wine glass.

For the beer people (my people!) they are hosting a FREE beer tasting on Friday. Yeah!

Friday April 20th, 5:30pm - 8:30pm
Handcrafted & Specialty Brews

Join us for our first ever tasting of handcrafted & specialty brews. No Budweiser, Miller or Coors' products here! We will be sampling some of the hottest brews in the market, both domestic and imports. Here is a partial list of brews we will be pouring:
Boulevard Lunar, Rogue Imperial Stout, Pilsner & Pale Ale, Schlafly, O'fallon, St. Peters, Houblon Chouffe just to name a few...this is a free tasting!