Founders at Kite & Key

This past weekend, Kite & Key put on a whole lineup of Founders beer for us to try. Starting with the ever popular KBS, they also had Bolt Cutter, Devil Dancer, Imperial Stout, Frangelic Mountain Brown, and quite a few others that I can't remember. All in all, a very impressive list missing only a few offerings from the Founders lineup.

Just like a lot of people already sitting at the bar, I started with KBS, their coffee and chocolate stout aged in bourbon barrels.

Bottle Share at Han Dynasty

This past Sunday, Mat from PhillyBeerScene and Jared from PhillyTapFinder presented their third bottle share. I made it to the first one, but missed the second, so I was excited to be able to make it this time. Each time it's been held somewhere different, too, and the 3rd was being held at Han Dynasty in Old City, a place I've heard a lot about but never been.

To spread out the crowd a bit this time, they split up each table to hold a couple styles. Things like 'Stouts & Porters', 'American Wild Ales', 'IPAs', etc. Considering the way the room was setup, this was a real good idea. When I arrived, not much was on the tables yet.

Cisco Brewing at Barcade

Last week, I kicked off my two weeks of beer events with my second trip to Barcade, located in Fishtown. The point of Barcade is the ability to drink great beer while playing old school arcade games. Of course, I sat down and then never got up to play any of those games, but the option is there if you want it. I went because they were having Cisco Brewing in the house with them taking over quite a few of their taps. I was excited to be able to try the sours without committing to spending $20-$30 on bottles.

Not knowing what to try first, I decided on the Monomoy Kriek, a barrel aged sour with cherries.

Magnolia Brewing in San Francisco

I was recently in San Francisco and since we were there to visit my sister in law and not for me to go around drinking everywhere, I didn't get a chance to get to too many places. A shame I know, blame my wife. However, I did get her to agree that we'd have lunch at Magnolia, a brewpub I've been meaning to visit for a while now but never had the chance. Lucky for me, February is also strong beer month for them so they had a whole lineup of unique stuff for me to try! I mean, look at this list, very cool right?

Return to Tired Hands

Not exactly the most timely post, but, well, it's finally done and that's what counts. After visiting to pick up my bottles of HandFarm, a few days later I saw that Jean tapped MotherAnimal, a beer I really wanted to try. It's a coffee and vanilla English style barleywine and boy doesn't that sound delicious. So, I decided I'd take another trip on Septa to Ardmore to visit sooner than I figured but that's not a bad thing.

When I arrived, I saw they had some other new beers available and considering the strength of MotherAnimal, decided to start with one of those instead. The Singel Hop Saison made with Amarillo just seemed too interesting to be second.

Dock Street Barrel Aged Prince Myshkin

Okay so I lied about not being lazy the other day. I probably should write a longer one since I have more time today but we'll manage to get over our disappointment, right? A week or two ago I drank one of my two bottles of Barrel Aged Prince Myshkin from Dock Street, a beer that's definitely getting a little long in the tooth at this point. It's from 2010 at least so it's no real surprise.

A mix of red wine, roast, and chocolate in the nose. Still as interesting as the last time I had it and pretty intriguing. Thick mouthfeel but a thin body. I know that sounds weird, but that's how it felt. Chocolate, roast, a little oxidation (sort of a cardboard flavor), and some apple fruitiness. As the flavors blended more, a molasses like flavor came out as well. Pretty flavorful still, but the age really is starting to show in the body structure and the added flavors from oxidation. Probably better off drinking my last bottle soon, though maybe I'll bring it to the upcoming bottle share instead. We'll see.

On a separate note, a bunch of really cool events are coming up. This Thursday is Cisco at Barcade with some great sours, Saturday is Founders at Kite & Key, Sunday is the PhillyTapFinder and PhillyBeerScene bottle share, and next Thursday is Goose Island at Prohibition. Busy busy busy!

Cigar City Marshall Zhukov

Even with working from home now, I'm still continuing my weekly trips to Kite & Key disregarding the month I just missed because it was unrelated to that. This time I was excited to see that Marshall Zhukov, an imperial stout, was still available. It was put on for the Superbowl but considering it's strength, no surprise it was still here. In fact, I went yesterday and it's still available, so go now since it was tasty.

Big nose. Very strong smelling. Chocolate, molasses, and sweet sugar along with a little nuttiness. Lots of chocolate sweetness started things off with a little brown sugar and a lot of molasses. Strong tasting too. Definitely a bit sweet but pretty great in the small amount I ordered. Apparently the word treacle (a blend of molasses, invert sugar, and corn syrup used as syrup) would fit really well here. I'll admit I only know it because I just read it in a BeerAdvocate review. So, yeah, tasted like that a bit too. Regardless, go to Kite & Key and get a pour of it while it's still on if you like sweeter imperial stouts. Well worth your time. They might still have Bell's Hopslam on from yesterday too. Win win.

And yes I still have my return to Tired Hands and some other stuff to write about. I'm lazy, so sue me. If you didn't know, though, Tired Hands is having another bottle release on Sunday. Happily I'm in the believer's club so don't have to worry about lining up just yet. Hurray!

Olde Hickory Irish Walker

This is another bottle I picked up when Jo and I visited Asheville. Saw it was a barleywine and knew I had to have it. Since I'm trying to not stock up too many things, it went right into the refrigerator when we got home.

I was looking for something a bit sweeter and took a chance that this was more of an English style barleywine and boy was I correct. For those that don't know, there are two general types of barleywines: Enlgish and American. Just like a lot of other beer styles, American style barleywines are very hoppy and similar to double IPAs but with a higher malt bill giving them a real backbone. Meaning they have a hop character, but there is a bit more going on than just that. English style is generally sweet and fruity with the hops there for balance and not to be noticeable.

With that, back to Irish Walker. Wonderful nose. Sweet with notes of raisins, plums, and an almost port like quality. Medium to thick body which is how I like this style. Makes you feel like you are drinking something with heft and helps hide the alcohol. Started with caramel, a slightly burnt, almost smoky character, and then moved into the fruit with plums and raisins. Finally finished with a light touch of chocolate and a little more smokiness. For what I was looking for that night, this was just lovely. So many complex flavors that blended super well and just the perfect amount of sweetness. Solid barleywine and real glad I picked it up.

Tiger Beer

This was another in the random collection of beers someone sent me over the holidays. I think Tiger is actually owned by MillerCoors or ABInBev at this point though I'm not sure. It's some sort of plain lager basically and I'm too lazy to look up specifics.

If you couldn't tell from my short introduction, I, uhh, wasn't terribly impressed by this. Not too surprising. Smelled a bit like corn and a little fruity. No real flavor in the beginning of a sip and then a faint malty sweetness in the finish. It wasn't horrific or anything, just incredibly boring. Little to no flavor. Ah well, not like I was expecting anything big from it but it didn't have to be terrible.

New Belgium Tart Lychee

This was sent to me by my buddy from San Diego. I'd heard that it was pretty good and was real happy to see it in the box when I opened it. Totally why I like not knowing everything before it arrives since surprises make receiving beer even more fun. Tart Lychee is an American Wild Ale.

Smelled quite tropical with a little sourness. Inviting. (I say this a lot don't I? Oh well.) First sip was a nice mix of sweet and sour balanced with some tropical fruit. Continued that way throughout the whole bottle, never becoming too sour or too sweet. Nothing mind blowing, but considering it was relatively cheap, it's totally solid. Probably a great way to slowly introduce people to a sour beer, too. My wife enjoyed this which is always a plus as well. This is basically what I expect from a New Belgium sour, well balanced and not overwhelming. I'm not sure if that sounds sarcastic, but I mean it as a positive since it means you know what you'll get. Always a good thing when buying new beers.

Recent Trip to Tired Hands

This post is overdue but that's okay. It had been like a month or two since I went to Tired Hands and I knew that had been too long. Plus, they just had their first bottle release and I needed to go to pick mine up anyway. So, win win. With the release just happening, there was a lot of talk about one of their new beers, The Light that Spills out of the Hole in your Head. And, yes, I randomly capitalized some parts of that name since I couldn't decide how to write it. You'll just have to live with my grammatical decisions. Sorry! The Light was a double IPA brewed with orange peel I believe. Maybe some other stuff, too, but I don't remember. I'm so helpful.

Epic Big Bad Baptist

And I'm finally back. Still getting used to my new schedule so I may still not be 100% consistent again, but we'll see how things go. Moving on, a while back I bought a bottle of Epic Big Bad Baptist while in Asheville and drank it pretty soon after.

Bourbon nose with some alcohol bite in the back. Not too thick but not too thin either. Body had chocolate, a little bourbon, and some slight vanilla. The finish had a light alcohol burn and a nice roasty finish. The only weird thing about it was that the alcohol stayed around for most of the bottle and caused a kind of weird oaky burn that wasn't super enjoyable. Sometimes the roast or chocolate overpowered it but for the most part it was ever present.

For a bourbon barrel stout, it just didn't impress me very much. I mean, at least it wasn't very expensive so it wasn't disappointing in that way, but I think I'll probably stop picking up Epic stuff since I haven't been very impressed with them. Oh well.