More Tired Hands!

I hope you aren't getting tired of hearing about Tired Hands because I'm not getting tired of drinking their beers or writing about them. Helps that it's easy to never drink the same beer twice given their penchant for never creating the same beer twice. Jo and I stopped in this time since we were right down the street at the hospital. It's super handy that the hospital we chose is like two minutes from here. I'm sure my wife thinks the same thing!

The day before they tapped a new beer, Mrs. Pigman, and I was real excited about the timing. Mrs. Pigman is a triple IPA coming in at 11.5%.

Founders Devil Dancer plus Brewer's Plate info

Because of their fantastic lineup on Saturday, there were still quite a few leftover Founders still on at the Kite & Key when I returned on Monday. Funny enough, other than the KBS, the only one to kick was the Pale Ale. Definitely shows a trend in their clientele. I decided to go with one I didn't try over the weekend and ordered a Devil Dancer, their 11% monster ipa.

I've had it once before and it was pure dank hops, nearly assaulting the nose. This one wasn't quite the same though with more caramel and some milder citrus hops. The body followed with more caramel and a little chocolate with a finish of some bitter, earthy hoppiness. The chocolate was probably the caramel mixing with the hops and not a direct ingredient but it was nice regardless. It tasted like a barleywine to me and not a triple IPA anymore but even so it was still pretty good. Just to make sure I wasn't crazy, I asked and found out the keg was from mid November so that explained the difference in flavors from the previous instance. This is a big, hoppy beer and even a scant four months can change it a ton as a result.

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?

Wedge Brewing Company

The other brewery we visited while in Asheville was Wedge brewing. This time Jo decided it would be easier to just drop me off there and go do something else rather than sit there watching me drink. Probably a good idea I'd say considering the whole not drinking thing. Wedge wasn't located in an industrial park like Pisgah but it still didn't seem located in an active part of Asheville. Also, slightly hard to find since the entrance is behind a building but I found it so most people shouldn't have a problem. It has a large outdoor area and a tiny bar area. Again, during the summer, I bet it's super cool considering it had a whole bunch of games like cornhole and other stuff out there.

When I arrived just after opening, there were already quite a few people there and in line. It was Friday, but it was just before New Years Eve, so I'm guessing a lot of people had the day off. I settled into a seat near the taps and ordered their Vadim Bora, a raspberry imperial stout on nitro.

Russian River Pliny the Younger 2012

Another February brings another year of Russian River's triple IPA Pliny the Younger. Unlike last year, I was not lucky enough to be at the actual brewpub to sample it straight from the source or saunter into an uncrowded St. Stephen's Green to get a glass. Since we were heading to San Francisco in the beginning of March (which is when Younger finally reaches Philly), I had actually given up getting to have a glass this year. Lucky for me, a chance presented itself at Tria Washington West and my wife was awesome enough to buy me a ticket before they sold out in 17 minutes.

The New Troegs Brewery

After spending a great hour and a half or so at Spring House, Jo and I headed on to the new Troegs brewery in Hershey, PA. For those that don't know, Troegs used to be in an industrial park in Harrisburg and was pretty much a medium size with a smallish taproom and a retail store about the same size. I always liked it since it still felt personal at that size but things change as places get more popular and I'm pretty sure Troegs was getting mobbed on the weekends so a change was definitely needed. Plus they needed a bigger brewery to keep up with demand which is probably the main reason for the move.

The new brewery is absolutely enormous with a gigantic taproom, a retail store about the size of the old brewery building itself, an enclosed barrel room, and a really impressive self-guided tour. Here's a picture that should give you some idea of the size of the taproom.

Hmm, or not after looking at the picture. I don't know how many people the taproom fits but it was packed when Jo and I arrived on Saturday. The bar has got to be like 100 people long and you can see tables that run through the middle of the room in the picture. There are also some more tables on the other side of the wall on the left that you can't quite see I think.

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.

Dark Horse at Hawthorne's Plus some Time

Wednesday of Philly Beer Week was pretty busy for me. I needed to fit in a visit to Hawthorne's cafe to drink a bunch of rare Dark Horse beers and then meet my wife for dinner. All without getting wasted since, well, it was Wednesday and I'm not an alcoholic. Tough, I know, but I figured I could manage it.

I arrived at Hawthorne's around 4:30 and it was still basically empty which was nice. I figured it would fill up at some point but all I needed was one seat so success! It was really difficult deciding what beer to order first, but I decided on the one sour on the list, Lambeak Wants Raspberry.

San Francisco - Russian River

I'll admit when we first decided we were visiting San Francisco, my first question was probably, "Can we visit Russian River?"  I've been enjoying their beer for quite a while now and being able to get nearly everything they make all in one place was just too great an opportunity to pass up.  Jo and I visited San Francisco a couple years ago and I wish we had went then too.  It's located about an hour up 101 in Santa Rosa.

San Francisco - Moylan's Brewpub

While I may have said our trip to San Fran wasn't all about beer, as Stina pointed out in the comments, there was definitely still a lot of it for me to enjoy.  Our first stop of the trip was Moylan's Brewpub in Novato, California straight up highway 101 from San Francisco.  I'm glad this was our first stop as it was the most generic of the three places but since it was first it didn't affect my experience much.  Honestly though it was still pretty good with decent food and good beer.  It basically reminded me of an Irish pub restaurant that brews its own beer.

Weyerbacher Winter & Fegley's Brew Works Hop'solutely

I had the Weyerbacher Winter Ale some time last week.  Jo and I got a growler of it when we visited the brewery for the Riserva release party.  The Winter Ale is a Winter Warmer.

It had a slight smell, sweet and malty.  Leads into caramel, toffee, and malt flavors with no hops or bitterness present at all.  Pleasant and drinkable as long as you like sweeter beers.  Jo enjoyed this a lot.  We both thought it tasted quite similar to Yards Brawler which isn't a bad thing.  It's also an inexpensive case so if you're looking for something to session, this is a great choice during the winter.

Last Friday night, I popped the bottle of Brew Works Hop'solutely I got from being super early to The Institute.  Brew Works claims it's a Triple IPA and I'm denoting it as such but really it's a Double IPA since the Triple IPA style doesn't really exist according to the mysterious groups that create beer styles.

I expected a huge hop smell, but it was surprisingly mild.  No head with very little carbonation.  Initially, I got some hop flavor with some caramel flavors along with it.  As I drank more, the hop bite grew and grew until it was all I was tasting during and after each sip.  I took a short break between the two glasses which helped me recover a bit, but man was it strong.  Reminded me quite a bit of Stone's Old Guardian.  I liked this, but next time I'd probably try to split it with someone as the full 750 was a little much for me.  Considering its ABV, I'd honestly call this a barleywine or what I want to call it, a Hopwine.  Hell, we have Barleywine and Wheatwine, why not Hopwine?