Founders Mango Magnifico

I missed my usual Tuesday stop in at the Kite & Key last week because of a really great event at the Bishop's Collar, but I made up for it the following Thursday. Lucky for me, everything from the previous Sunday's Savage Sixtel event was still available. I was psyched about it as it meant I would finally get to try Founders Mango Magnifico, their latest in the backstage series. I'm not sure what the base style of the beer was but it's a mango beer made with habanero peppers.

Sweet mango nose with the fruit overwhelming everything. Thicker than average body. Initially I got tons more of the mango sweetness then immediately after the burn from the habanero started. Each swallow had more and more burn with some fire lingering after each sip. Kind of crazy. Since the mango was strong, it wasn't terribly spicy but man it was pretty noticeable. I honestly didn't believe people when they said it burned but they were right. Crazy beer. Glad I didn't have a full 25oz bottle as 10oz was plenty so that is nice. Fun to try though as it was a unique experience.

The Return to Kite & Key with Founders Rubaeus

With Pax in daycare now, my days have smoothed out a bit and my schedule is a bit more like it used to be, at least until the evening. This means the triumphant return of Kite & Key Tuesdays! It works out really well that his daycare is right around the corner from there. For this week's beer, I went with Founders Rubaeus, a raspberry beer that replaced Cerise this year.

Jo and I have had bottles of this, but draft was actually a bit different. Sweet, jammy raspberry nose, lots of sweetness. Body followed with very sweet raspberries and sugar with not much else. If you like jam and sweeter beers, this would be right up your alley. I thought the bottles were a little more complex possibly because they had a bit more carbonation than the draft. Beers like this can be divisive given the sweetness, but I liked it.

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.

New Belgium Frambozen

So I was right and I was lazy today. Beer it is! One of the places we had dinner in Asheville was Barley's Taproom, a quite large and pretty nice pizza place. There was a decent number of drafts with quite a few local ones, but I started with one from New Belgium and then moved to local. Frambozen is a raspberry brown ale which I didn't know at the time but does make sense considering the flavors.

Basically smelled like raspberry iced tea with the raspberry overwhelming everything. Since I didn't know the style at the time other than it had raspberry in it, my notes say, "big raspberry flavor on top of a lager like flavor, a nuttiness if you will. Slightly odd finish too." Knowing it's a brown ale as a base makes some of those flavors make sense, but I still wasn't a big fan of this. The raspberry was nice but otherwise it was just eh and I didn't really like the base beer flavors. Win some, you lose some. Sorry New Belgium!

New Glarus Raspberry Tart

I was sent this a while ago by a friend of mine and Jo and I finally opened it last night at a BYOB. New Glarus is a brewery out of Wisconsin and the Raspberry Tart is a fruit beer.

Bright raspberry nose with a little bit of caramel sweetness and some tart notes. The raspberry smelled incredibly real. Thick mouthfeel, thicker than you'd expect and it just coats your mouth. More sweet raspberry in the first sip with a smooth caramel finish. Continued along that path throughout the glass. It may have only been lightly tart but there was just enough to keep it from being too sweet.

Really enjoyable beer and if it was available around here I'd definitely buy it again. Too bad it's not. I actually disappointed the waitress last night since she asked me where I'd gotten it and the answer of Wisconsin wasn't terribly useful to her. Ah well.

Philly Beer Week Day 2: Kite & Key

Originally for day 2 of Philly Beer Week we were going to go down to South Philly for the saison event at Tapestry, but we decided instead to just hang in our neighborhood for the evening. So around 5pm we wandered over to Kite & Key, missing the Gladiator games part of the event but in time for great beers. The real event looked like a lot of fun but maybe next year. The beers being poured were a combo of Allagash, Dogfish Head, and Yards and at least all of their beers were still pouring when we arrived.

I started with a glass of the Yards Bourbon Bart, the bourbon barrel aged version of their Olde Bartholomew.

Visit to Taproom Spring House

My wife and I finally had a free weekend and managed to combine it with a visit to the Spring House Brewing Company Taproom and the new Troegs brewery. I'm going to start with the Spring House taproom and make a post about the Troegs brewery in a few days. We've been trying to get out to Lancaster to visit Spring House for going on three months probably. I think we must have planned at least 2 or 3 other visits and had to cancel them all for one reason or another so lets just say I was excited.

I first learned about Spring House a few years ago, probably in August of 2009 or so, when I bought a case of their Kerplunk Chocolate Stout. Previous to this past Saturday, I had managed one visit out to the brewery which is actually a barn next to the brewer's (Matt Keasey) house but it must have been over two years ago at this point since I didn't write about it. I imagine if I had started the blog I would have written something. That visit was quite cool just because the brewery was so rustic. I mean it was in a barn, how much more rustic could it get? However Matt finally realized he needed to do something about the large number of people that were visiting the barn and parking on his tiny street and so he opened the Taproom to alleviate the crowds. I'm glad he did since it was quite impressive and well put together.

Blue Dog Wealth of Riches

Sometimes I think I may have issues with my obsession getting the better of me, but then I just shrug and get over it. This past Saturday was definitely one of those times when I decided to head out to Chalfont, PA to go to the Blue Dog tavern. First, if Google maps is telling you it's going to take two hours by public transportation, it's probably right. Second, if you are going to the suburbs and Google maps says you need to walk a mile from the train station, there probably aren't going to be sidewalks and so people are going to look at you like you're a psycho when you're walking down the side of a road on the shoulder. Oh and some of the sidewalks do this.

Hanging with PhillyTapFinder

My wife was out of town this past weekend which means time to go out! Since PhillyTapFinder's wife was out of town, we decided to meet up after work and hang out for a while. And, well, a while turned into almost seven hours.

We started out at Prohibition Taproom. Jo and I went there once a while ago but haven't been back since. The most unique part of the place is the oddly shaped bar which is shaped like an E with seats all around it. The inside is really nice looking though and it's a really comfortable place to spend time. When I arrived, Jared had already ordered a glass of Hill Farmstead Abner and was tweeting about how good it was so that's how I started.

A Night at Moe's

Just before Hurricane Irene, Jo and I took a short trip to Western Massachusetts to see her dad. It was supposed to be a weekend trip but we didn't want to drive home in the middle of the storm so we left early on Saturday. However, thanks to her dad's suggestion of heading to Moe's on Friday night after we arrived, I still managed to continue my tradition of always going there when I'm in town. Moe's is a really great bar in little old Lee, Mass. and if you are ever in the Berkshires you should be sure to stop there.

Founders Blushing Monk

After many years, Founders is once again bottling beers in 750ml bottles. The first in their special line was named Blushing Monk, a Belgian Style Ale brewed with a ton of raspberries.

The aroma was all raspberry, all the time. Just crazy strong smelling. Not cloyingly sweet, but strong. Very thick mouthfeel. Starts very sweet with clean raspberry flavors. Just really sweet. No tartness to counteract the sweetness either. However, things changed as the 9% alcohol started to come to the front. I drink stronger beers way more often so it wasn't particularly noticeable to me, but my wife found it became overwhelming quite quickly.

Originally I bought it to share with Jo because she sometimes likes the sweeter beers, but because of the alcohol notes she found, I ended up drinking both glasses. Big sacrifice, I know. Although I enjoyed it, I don't think I'd buy another bottle considering the price. However, I'd seek it out again on draft and hope to find it somewhere in the city. Also can't wait until Founders announces their next in the 750 line as I'm sure it will be something cool.

Abita Strawberry Harvest Lager

While all of the bottles I've tried so far that my friend Chris brought have been good, the Abita Strawberry Harvest Lager unfortunately wasn't.

Very fruity, sugary sweet nose, reminiscent of fruit extract and corn syrup.  Similar sugary strawberry flavor up front on the first sip followed by a really bizarre and slightly unpleasant corn (or something sort of gross) finish.  The aftertaste is also not particularly enticing.  It fades a little as the sugary sweet fruit flavor begins overpowering everything but it still doesn't really make you go back for more.  Sorry Chris but I'd avoid this one in the future.  Some how though I feel like my friend Jeff will say his girlfriend likes this one too just like when I said I didn't totally care for the Ithaca Apricot Wheat and it turned out to be her favorite beer.

Russian River at Capone's

I reserved a bottle of East End Gratitude at Capone's back in late January and had not managed to make it there to pick it up.  Once I read about the Russian River event on April 2nd, I figured that would be a good day to make my way over there and finally grab it.  While Pliny the Younger was available for the event, I decided to try  to avoid some of the crowd and arrived two hours after opening instead.  I was mostly interested in trying batch 1 Consecration anyway so it seemed like a good idea.

When I arrived, there was still a decently large crowd so I got my Consecration Batch 1 and stood out of the way for a while.

Random Sierra Nevada and Sly Fox Weekend

Jo and I planned to head to the Sly Fox brewpub in Royersford on Saturday so I figured I'd start the weekend off with a bottle of Sly Fox Black Raspberry Reserve Friday night in order to have a Sly Fox themed weekend.  However, we stopped in at Brigids and they just put on Sierra Nevada Fritz + Ken's Ale and I had to try it, ruining my theme.  The things I do for beer.

Sierra Nevada Fritz + Ken's Ale is the first of their 30th Anniversary beers.  It's an Imperial Stout (although Sierra Nevada calls it a Pioneer's stout, but that's not really a style so yeah.)

It's called Fritz + Ken's because of the people who brewed it.  Each of the first three 30th Anniversary beers were brewed with a guest brewer from some famous brewery.  This one was brewed with Fritz Maytag, the owner (or founder, not sure if he still owns it) of Anchor Steam brewing.  Ken is Ken Grossman, the owner (founder?) of Sierra Nevada.

I smelled some roasted notes plus a little bit of alcohol on the nose.  Basically reminds me of a Russian Imperial Stout which is probably a good thing since it basically is one.  Some roasted malts, a little sweetness, and a bunch of bitterness in the end.  Decently thick mouth feel.  As I drank more of it, the bitterness faded and each sip started with a burst of sweetness almost tasting like a milk shake.  This 30th Anniversary was quite good.  I still think I like the Jack + Ken's Ale a bit better but this was impressive.  I can't wait to try the last one though.  It sounds awesome.

After that, we came home with our food and I opened the Sly Fox Black Raspberry Reserve to start my theme.

First notice the color and head.  It's a dark ruby with a thick amount of violet head.  Decent carbonation.  As expected, it had a huge raspberry smell.  Very inviting.  Tasted sweet with some fruit flavors mixed into it.  The beer itself was pretty mild but the raspberries bring it from okay to quite good.  Very clean finish on it, no hint of any bitterness.  Jo took quite a few sips of this one and also enjoyed it.  If you're looking for something to drink while relaxing, this is a good choice.

Next up will be a write up on the Sly Fox Royersford brewpub and some other Sly Fox beers.  I'm excited for it.

Well's Banana Bread

I drank my last Well's Banana Bread the other day.

This is the third bottle I've had of it over the course of a couple months and this was the best of the three.  The flavors and smell seemed much stronger now than before.  The first thing I noticed was the huge smell of banana bread.  It's kind of amazing that a beer can get the smell so close.  Following that, the taste is all banana bread as well.  It starts out sweet and malty (the bread and caramel flavors) and ends with pure banana.  All together, drinking banana bread.  The only downside to this beer is all you get is banana bread.  There's nothing else to the beer.  I wouldn't want to drink more than one in a night just because of that.  Still, really interesting thing to try.

Not Every Beer is Good

Tonight I had a Bar Harbor Blueberry Ale.

And, yeah, as the title says, this beer just wasn't good.  The only good thing I can say about it is that at least it smells good.  Unfortunately, beer is for drinking and this beer was not good at that.  It even starts out with a pleasant blueberry flavor and I thought it was going to be at least decent.  Following that, though, is this bitter, cheap beer flavor that was just gross.  Jo thought it tasted a little like Amstel Light but all I remember about Amstel Light is that it sucks.  I realize that every beer in the world isn't going to be exceptional, but I expect everything to at least be drinkable.  This just tasted so blah and the after taste made me gag.  Since I can't help myself, I drank like half of it until I just couldn't stand it anymore.  Avoid!

Bell's Cherry Stout

Bell's Cherry Stout is what gave me the idea to do a fruit theme after I had it at Barclay Prime and really wanted to have a couple more bottles of it.

It poured a pretty dark black color with absolutely no head.  The smell was almost all tart cherries with some slight roastiness.  The first taste of the beer is full of cherries but soon balanced by the stout side of the beer.  After swallowing, a nice roasted malt flavor comes through which keeps it from being cloying.  As I worked my way through the beer, the two flavors, cherries and roasted malts, basically alternated.  Once it warmed up a bit, the cherries weren't quite as tart and the beer was incredibly drinkable.  I'm really glad I did this theme just for this beer.  Really good.  It had a really nice mouth feel too as it was just thick enough that it was really enjoyable to drink.

Dark Horse Raspberry Ale

Had a Dark Horse Raspberry Ale today.

The beer was a mild brown color and poured with a small amount of head that dissipated quickly.  It's kind of funny having this raspberry ale after the Great Divide one.  The Great Divide had a huge raspberry smell with a tiny raspberry taste while this one had a faint raspberry smell but tasted strongly of raspberries.  In the end, I prefer the Dark Horse because the beer was more flavorful than the Great Divide.  The raspberry flavor tasted very natural, blended with the beer really well, and all the flavors were very complimentary.  For people who don't like bitter beers, this would be perfect as there wasn't a trace of hop flavor in it, just sweet malts.  Very good beer.

Friday Night Beers, Redux

I had two beers tonight.  One really really good one and one, well, wasn't so good.

The first beer was Dogfish Head's Festina Peche.

Dogfish Head bills this beer as a Neo-Berliner Weiss and while I don't know what the Neo part really adds, this is definitely a Berliner Weiss.  You can see it poured an orange - yellow color with very minimal head.  It smells of mild apple juice and other sour flavors.  The smell is very similar to the Flanders Red Ales I've been writing about.  The first taste follows the smell of apple juice but is quickly overtaken by the sour notes of the beer.  The taste continues to be mildly sour but has a very clean aftertaste.  The sour doesn't overwhelm your palate or make you pucker or anything, but it's very much the point of the beer.  As for the peach notes that are supposedly in it, I didn't really notice them very much.  It may be that the peach flavor is just so mild you don't notice it, but who knows.  All in all, though, this beer was really excellent.  I've been wanting to try it for a long time because of the style and I'm glad I finally got a chance.  While it is a bit sour, I feel like I could drink quite a few of these in one night without much of a problem.

However, the second beer I had last night wasn't quite so exciting as the Dogfish Head.  It was Ithaca's Apricot Wheat.

It poured a dark orange color with minimal head as well.  (Yes I'm too lazy to use a different style of glass for this even though I'm probably supposed to.)  The smell is all apricots, all the time.  Just totally fills your nose with it.  Following the smell, the taste is also completely of apricot flavor.  I say flavor because it tastes more like apricot syrup than actual apricots.  That leads to my biggest problem with the beer.  It basically tastes like a wheat beer that had a ton of apricot extract dumped into it.  It was thick, cloying, and way, way overly sweet.  While it did mellow out a little as it warmed up, this is definitely not something I'd suggest ordering at a bar.  Yes, some of my friends now have 3 bottles of it, but, well, at least it's only 3 bottles.  It's not undrinkable and maybe some people would like it, but I did not enjoy it very much.

Founders Cerise

I had the first of my set of fruit beers last night in Founders Cerise.

You can see the beer pours an orange - red color with very little head.  It smells faintly of cherries but mostly is pleasant and sweet.  The initial taste is of mild apple juice, kind of similar to the Flanders Red Ales I've been posting about.  However, immediately after, the flavor of cherries comes through and Cerise jumps to another level.  After the first sip, it continues to have a back and forth between the tart cherry flavor and the smooth ale flavor below it. The 12oz is incredibly easy to drink and absolutely delicious.  Still I don't think I'd have more than one in a row just so the flavors don't go from sweet to cloying.  However, it would be excellent to have some of this around for when I wanted a cherry beer like this.

If you like fruit beers, do yourself a favor and find this beer.  I was really impressed by it and thought it was just excellent.  I shouldn't be surprised because I have yet to find a Founders beer that wasn't great but even great breweries make some beers I'm not thrilled by so you never know.  As a side note, they make one of my favorite stouts as well in Breakfast Stout so you should look for that too if you like stouts.  So good.