BEER #56: PUMKING ALE, SOUTHERN TIER BREWING COMPANY

I’m having too much fun handing out candy to little kids and forcing them to tell me jokes in order to get candy to be blogging about Pumking Ale from Southern Tier Brewing in New York.

All you need to know is IT’S FREAKING DELICIOUS – GO BUY IT if you ever end up on the East cost during the fall. On a little more detailed note, you get a lovely mix of nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice and of course pumpkin mixed in rather than just artificial disgusting sweetness.

Happy Halloween friends!

P.S. Here’s a sample of what jokes I’ve gotten so far:

1. Your mom’s so fat she’s the reason they invented double doors.

2. Your mom’s so hairy she’s got afros on her nipples (12 year old girl)

3. What stays in a corner but still moves around? A stamp.

If that wasn’t birth control for you, I don’t know what is.

ABV: 8.6%

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BEER #55: DOUBLE WIDE IPA, BOULEVARD BREWERY

I am super tired and had a long day, so this is going to be extremely brief.

Tonight, I had a Double Wide IPA, part of Boulevard Brewery’s Smokestack series out of Kansas City, Missouri. The color is a nice amber, and a nice frothy head and lacing is left along the glass. It’s FILLED with a delicious hoppy flavor that will keep you coming back for more. While the bitterness stings your palette, this is still a very medium-bodied drinkable beer in my opinion. There is a nice mixture of a variety of citruses and caramel mixed into the body of the beer.

Overall, one of my favorite IPAs.

That is all, goodnight friends.

ABV: 8.5%; IBU: 71 

BEER #54: HOP JACK ALE, FREE STATE BREWERY

Tonight, I grabbed a fresh Hop Jack Ale off the tap from Free State Brewery in Lawrence, KS. I was delighted to see this on the beer menu as this is one of my favorite brews they make that pops up every now and then.

The color of the beer was a nice orange amber. The head was frothy & thin, and little lacing was left along the glass of this delicious brew. There was a good amount of carbonation in this beer as well. The aroma and the taste of the beer are filled with waves of malt. However, there is also a wash of floral, citrusy hops – grapefruit like. This beer also has a “tang” to it – it’s not a bad, sour taste, but there is a little acid in it.

I think I read on their menu a long time ago when I first had this beer that they actually use the same malt base for this beer and the IBUs of the end product of the beer is always the same, but the hops added into the beer differ from batch-to-batch, really allowing the taster to focus in on the diverse flavor of the hops infused into each batch. Who knows, maybe I dreamed this up, but it’s a good idea right? (too good to be mine, so it’s gotta be theirs.)

Lastly, I forgot to look at the ABV & IBU of this beer on the menu, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend it if you are to ever pass through good ‘ol Lawrence with it on the menu.

BEER #51, #52 AND #53. (lazy blogger fail)

Yes, I know, I failed this last weekend at updating the blog with the beers that were consumed. Keeping up and writing about these beer endeavors have actually proved to be a little more difficult than I thought!

Anyway, 2 days ago, for Beer #51, I enjoyed Pursuit of Hoppiness by Grand Teton Brewery out of Idaho. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the name of this beer, but I am mildly obsessed with hops and IPA which may explain my weird obsession. The color of the beer is a nice orange amber. The head has a beautiful froth to it. One of the first things you notice upon pouring this beer is the immense amount of carbonation and bubbles that line your pint glass. The aroma and taste deliver a wow factor when it comes to citrusy/piney hoppiness, but there is also a light, malty caramel-like sweetness that lines your taste buds. I definitely recommend this IPA if you are a fan of the hoppiness.

ABV: 8.5%; IBU: 100 (WOW!) 

Yesterday’s beer was 8-bit Pale Ale from Tallgrass Brewing Company out of Manhattan, KS. Old school nintendo fans unite! The color of the beer is a nice amber that has a fluffy medium head floating above it. I really enjoy the flavor of this beer. You get a nice mixture of floral hops, pine, citrus and malts. It finishes with a crisp dry bite. Overall, this is a solid APA that offers great flavors, plus the design on the can is definitely a conversation starter.

ABV: 5.2%; IBU: 40 

Picture from googleimages search

And onto tonight’s beer: Dark Truth Stout by Boulevard Brewery in Kansas City, Missouri. This beer is part of their famous high-alcohol content Smokestack series. The color of this beer, as you would expect from the name, is a pitch black. The head is smooth with a tan tint. The beer is very smooth and offers a richness of malts and roasted coffee, but it also has floral hops transforming the roasted flavor. The beer finishes very smooth and dry with a lingering smoke. I feel like I should be drinking this in front of a fireplace! It’s a full-bodied beer with almost 10% alcohol, so be careful with this baby! Lastly, got this picture off of a GoogleImages search as my camera phone did not do the presentation of this beer any justice whatsoever (not that my other pics are that great either…)

ABV: 9.7%; IBU: 60

 

BEER #50: VOODOO DOUGHNUT BACON MAPLE ALE

WOOOO! We’re celebrating making it to 50 beers on the blog!

In celebration, I am about to crack open Rogue’s Bacon Maple Ale influenced by the  famous Voodoo Dougnut shop’s bacon maple doughnut both out of good ‘ol hipster Oregon. I’m not going to lie…I may like beer but I HATE bacon. So I’m a little bit scared to drink this creation…and it comes in a bright pastel pink bottle, my least favorite color of all time. But hey, it is October aka Breast Cancer Awareness month, so we’ll just pretend it’s for that and this drinking is for a good cause. Anything to justify alcohol consumption, right?

Just opened the bottle of beer…it smells like hungover breakfast from IHOP aka a ridiculous amount of smoky bacon aroma is infiltrating the air. I know, this sounds fabulous to you, but I’m scared poopless right now. The beer is a hazy amber with a bit of blush. The head is thin and frothy and little lacing is left along the glass. Okay, now onto the moment of truth…the taste. Okay, it literally tastes like liquid smoke. It doesn’t taste like bacon…apparently bacon = smoke. I mean, there is a little bit of syrupy taste at the end, so it’s like a smoky pancake with syrup but I definitely don’t taste too much sweetness or maple.

I think possibly this beer would go well with a slab of BBQ ribs, but I currently don’t have that, so I cannot finish this thing. Not a fan…but also not a fan of bacon, so take this with a grain of salt.

ABV: 6.5%; IBU: 30 

BEER #49: SWEETGRASS AMERICAN PALE ALE, GRAND TETON BREWING COMPANY

Tonight’s beer is Sweetgrass APA from Grand Teton Brewing Company out of I-da-ho. Yeah, I’ll never get sick of the immature play on words that come along with this state name.

This beer actually won a gold medal at the 2009 Great American Beer Festival for APAs, so I was intrigued to try it. The color of the beer is an orange hazy amber, and a nice medium foamy head is beautifully fluffed on top of the brew. It immediately smells of citrus hops. The taste of the beer does not disappoint either. You taste an immense amount of citrus and a medium bite of hops; however, nothing extremely bitter like that found in traditional IPAs. There is a nice earthy, bready, malty goodness layered throughout the flavors in this brew as well. There is a medium amount of carbonation flowing throughout.

This is not a bad APA at all. It delivers on flavor with the taste of hops breaking through in a nice harmony with the other flavors of this beer.

ABV: 6%; IBU: 60

P.S. Don’t miss out on Beer #50 tomorrow…hint: it’s donut AND bacon influenced…

BEER #48: SÁGA IPA, SUMMIT BREWING COMPANY

Tonight’s brew is Sága IPA from Summit Brewing Company out of icy cold St. Paul, Minnesota.

This beer is the newest edition to their year-round offerings. The color of the beer is a nice hazy gold. The smell and taste of this beer is absolutely FULL of sweet citrus character. It is honestly a pretty light-bodied beer for being an IPA with a decent amount of hop and very little malt taste. In fact, one of my non-loving IPA friends tried this beer and actually really enjoyed it. It honestly reminds me of yesterday’s beer, Free State Brewery’s Endeavor IPA. Although there is a good bite of hop, there is also a very strong citrus that helps break up the bitterness that a lot of people have a hard time enjoying. However, the citrus is SWEET. Think kiwi, honey, grapefruit maybe some orange…very tropical. The carbonation in this beer is also fairly high. I think this is a great IPA that offers a beautiful bite of citrus hops that will delight the palate of a variety of beer drinkers due to its surprising sweetness – however, the classic bitterness of an IPA is still beautifully preserved.

Cheers!

ABV: 6.4%; IBU: 80

*bar was too dark for a pic…picture courtesy of someone found on Google images. (can you tell I’m all about giving credit for the actually clear pictures found on this blog?)