USS Missouri Night at the K

Boulevard announced a while back that they'd be supporting the commissioning ceremony for the new USS Missouri this summer. The sub, which will enter active duty at the end of this July, will join her Virginia class sister ships in replacing the clearly inferior Los Angeles class subs. I couldn't reach Tom Clancy for a comment so I'm just going to assume this is a significant step forward in the fight against the heartless Commie menace. KC Meesha better watch out.

Tonight's game at the K is officially USS Missouri Night. I don't know exactly what that means, other than a patriotic montage of American flags on the jumbotron and possibly a fly over set to the Scorpion's 1984 hit 'Rock You Like a Hurricane.' There will be a Boulevard presence at the K, hopefully they'll bring some pilsner with them so I get a taste of 'merican freedom while the Royals embarrass themselves in front of the Mariners. Oh, and it's Buck night, so if you're at the game you might see me standing in line for $1 Twinkies...

To help foot the bill for the commissioning ceremony, which will be held in Connecticut, Boulevard is donating a portion of the proceeds from the sale of Boulevard Pilsner during the months of May, June and July to the USS Missouri committee. The committee needs to raise about $300,000, which is a lot of Pilsner... so do your part to help our boys put Uncle Joe and his ice hockey playing bears in their place.

If you're in the market for Boulevard Pilsner, be on the lookout for new pilsner 12 packs coming soon. The new boxes will carry a picture of the new submarine which is sure to elicit jokes about seamen, long tubes and the crisp refreshing taste of pilsner beer.

Anchor Brewing sold to investment group

You've all seen Anchor Steam, you've probably all had a pint or two of it. Most of you probably even know the story of Fritz Maytag, heir to Old Man Maytag's washer and dryer fortune. Maytag bought the fledgling Anchor Brewery in 1965 and became a legend in the craft beer world. I never quite got why people revere him so much (he seemed like a complete dweeb in Michael Jackson's Beer Hunter), but I can respect a guy who was in craft beer before there was craft beer. Say what you will about Anchor Steam, but I actually like their Porter. Anyway, Fritz decided to get out of the beer business today. After 45 years at the helm of Anchor Brewing, Fritz Maytag is turning the keys to the shop over to The Griffin Group.

This evil sounding investment group is made up of Skyy Vodka veterans and owns the US distribution rights to UK based BrewDog, makers of Tactical Nuclear Penguin and Sink the Bismarck. The Griffin Group, unsurprisingly, says they are a committed to growing the Anchor brand and blah, blah, marketing and blah, blah, mind share...

So enjoy that Fritz and Ken's you've got in your fridge, it'll probably be your last.

Red Ale Diaries

I once read in GQ around 1995 that a fan at the Meadowlands threw a sandwich at a guy that looked like Rich Kotite (who was busy making the Jets an NFL laughingstock). It always struck me as funny that someone would dislike someone so much they would throw a sandwich at somebody whose only offense was looking like their nemesis. I have a tough time getting worked up enough to throw a sandwich (or bag of urine) at someone I actually dislike let alone their lookalike.

I should have written, I had a tough time, because now I can work up the anger necessary. Lagunitas Imperial Red gave me that anger. It was so good and enjoyable that coupled with the Odell Red I had last week, I found that I really love a good red ale. The Lagunitas Imperial added a little alcohol punch that makes it difficult to drink more than 2 in an evening, but you want to so much. It's refreshing, a little hoppy on the back end with a taste of brown sugar and candy on the front end. Honestly, it tastes an awful lot like Lagunitas Pale Ale and the IPA* but has the extra roasted malt flavor of a red. The Odell red was the same way only a little more hoppy. It was the hit of our spring seasonal/bock tasting last week.

*Lagunitas beers are a lot like Freddie Prinze Jr (but in a good way). I've seen nearly all of FPJ's movies and can't distinguish between them (other than Summer Catch because it's about baseball and has a character from Wichita State). All the movies are the same with the same twists and turns and FPJ mailing in a performance. Lagunitas beers all taste an awful lot alike to me with the hop flavor being the star of the show only in this case the star of the show has some depth and flavor.

Now, about the anger, I want to punch George Killian in the balls for turning me off of red ales. In my college years I drank quite a few sixers of Killian's Red because I thought it was cool. Killian's Red was about the closest thing to a microbrew that could be found at the liquor stores around Wichita State (interestingly, Tiger Woods' uncle worked at a liquor store near campus, I spent about 30 minutes talking to him one night about his nephew Eldrick whom they called "Tiger", he thought I was just the kind of whipsmart kid who could help Eldrick out when he went pro. I wrote the guy off as a loon). I never really liked Killian's Red, I liked the way it made me seem interesting to the ladies (not one girl ever talked to me while I drank it). I blamed the bad taste of the beer on it being a red and I haven't had one (other than clearance beer at Boomers) since college. For that, George Killian is my enemy. Since I'm pretty sure George Killian is a name Pete Coors made up while banging a hooker, I'm pretty sure I'm out of luck in finding him and punching him. So I'm going to settle for the next best thing, throwing a sandwich at anyone I ever encounter named George Killian.

In the meantime, I'm going to settle for drinking Odell Red and Lagunitas Imperial Red this spring until Odell and Lagunitas bring out their summer seasonals. And I'm only going to think good things about red ales.

The Canifesto

Like every other industry, craft beer is no stranger to trends. From going crazy with hops to aging in bourbon barrels, there's always something new that initially takes fans by storm and is completely overdone 6 months later. One trend that may weather the storm is canning beer, and we're about to see quite a bit more of it in Kansas City.

This afternoon, Tallgrass Brewing Co. out of Manhattan, KS, released their "Canifesto" on Twitter and their official (redesigned) site. Reciting a story involving one of their rural customers looking for a way to return/recycle cases of empty bottles, Tallgrass is looking to minimize their environmental impact while also likely seeing a decrease in cost. Tallgrass will be going to market with larger, 16oz cans that they hope to have out in stores this May. The Wine & Cheese Place out of St Louis recently reported word that Schlafly will have their Summer Helles available in 12oz cans this summer.

You can already find a number of canned craft beers in the Kansas City area. Breweries like Caldera and Ska have various brews available, while some of the larger breweries like New Belgium and Leinenkugal have single offerings like Fat Tire and Summer Shandy, respectively. Restaurants are even getting into the act, as Prairie Village's BRGR Kitchen & Bar has an extensive list of craft and mass produced beers available in cans.

While some people may debate that beer tastes better from a bottle, a lot of people will tell you the beer should be poured into a glass regardless. Can technology moved from risking a metallic taste a long time ago. As the craft beer industry continues to grow, it's important for our regional breweries to find ways to minimize the impact on both environmental and financial resources. Compared to bottles, cans weigh significantly less while blocking out larger amounts of light and air. The days of cans being filled only with cheap swill are quickly fading. Time to get your koozie ready and enjoy a summer of canned, craft refreshment.

Apocalypse Juju

I was going to the worst place in the world and I didn't even know it yet. Weeks away and hundreds of miles up a river that snaked through the mountains like a main circuit cable plugged straight into Kurtz. It was no accident that I got to be the caretaker of brewer Walter E. Kurtz's memory any more than being back in Africa was an accident. There is no way to tell his story without telling my own. And if his story really is a confession, then so is mine.

I met with the brewers and they told me to infiltrate his brew team by whatever means necessary and terminate Kurtz's command. He's out there operating without any decent restraint, he started out using ginger in a beer and now he's brewed an IPA without a strong hop bitterness. He has to be stopped. He must be terminated. Kilgore wanted to stick to the standards.

If that's how Kilgore brewed the beer, I began to wonder what they really had against Kurtz. It wasn't just hops and malt; there was enough of that to go around for everyone. No wonder Kurtz put a weed up Anheuser-Busch InBev's ass. The brewery was being run by a bunch of Siebel brewers who were gonna end up giving the whole circus away by sticking to the basics.

It was a long arduous trip up the river. I had plenty of time to think. Part of me was afraid of what I would find and what I would do when I got there. I knew the risks, or imagined I knew. But the thing I felt the most, much stronger than fear, was the desire to confront him. Along the way we met a journalist who had met Kurtz and quite frankly, had drank many of Kurtz's brew concoctions.

I told him I wanted to talk to Kurtz. He said “Hey, man, you don't talk to the Colonel. You listen to him. The man's enlarged my mind. He's a poet brewer in the classic sense. I mean sometimes he'll... uh... well, you'll say "hello" to him, right? And he'll just walk right by you. He won't even notice you. And suddenly he'll grab you, and he'll throw you in a corner, and he'll say, "Do you know that 'if' is the middle word in life? If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, if you can trust yourself when all men doubt you"... I mean I'm... no, I can't... I'm a little man, I'm a little man, he's... he's a great man! I should have been a pair of ragged claws scuttling across floors of silent seas..” .

I tried to defend myself against the journalist and said he can't use those ingredients in beer. You can't make an IPA without a heavy hop flavor. You can't brew beer with ginger and make it taste good. The journalist was appalled. He said “Man, you haven't got a clue, he's a great man. He's a great brewer. He can do things to hops you wouldn't believe. He can mellow the ginger's harsh. You don't know, man. You can't know. How could you? You came from them.”

He was right, I couldn't know, I wouldn't know until I got there. How many beers had I drank and loved? There were those six that I knew about for sure. The ones I had in Europe when I was out of their grasp. But these were brewed by an American. That wasn't supposed to make any difference to me, but it did. Liking an American beer with ginger was anathema to being American. Kurtz had gotten out of America and he split with the whole f...in brew scene. But I had taken the mission. What the hell else was I gonna do?

When we finally got to Kurtz's outpost it was a true hell, there was no beer that was familiar. He had beers brewed with cacao, cloves, guava and an interesting one using miracle fruit (you could eat a lemon with the miracle fruit beer and the lemon tasted sweet) in addition to the IPA and ginger flavored beer. I sampled them all and loved them all, especially the IPA and ginger flavored beer.

Then I got to meet the man behind the beer, the new way of thinking. He asked if I enjoyed his beer. I said I did but I didn't understand what he was doing.

“Did they say why they wanted to terminate my brewery?”

“They told me that you had gone totally insane, and that your methods were unsound.”

“Are my methods unsound?” Kurtz asked.

“I don't see any method at all” I replied.

“ I worry that my son might not understand what I've tried to be. And if my brewery were to be terminated, I would want someone to go to my home and tell my son everything. Everything I did, everything you tasted, because there's nothing that I detest more than the stench of beechwood aging. And if you understand me, you will do this for me.”

“I do undersand you. Now. I think we can come up with another solution. Even without methods, you are brewing great beers, beers that are complex, yet simple and wonderful. Anheuser-Busch InBev isn't ready for this but I know someone who is.”

Kurtz and I worked on finding a brewer who did understand and we found it in Left Hand. They decided to buy the IPA and the ginger flavored beer saying that there are no other beers like them. “Any monkey can throw a bunch of hops into a beer and call it an IPA. But does it taste good? No, it tastes like hops. What you have done, Kurtz is nothing short of astounding, you've balanced the hops and the malt in an IPA and made it taste wonderful.” They decided to call this beer 400 lb. Monkey.

On the one they call Good Juju, they said “It's nothing short of remarkable how Kurtz has made a beer with ginger and get a light, fruity taste yet full flavored with malt and hops. A more complex beer that tastes so simple can not be found. This beer is equally good for a beer connoisseur or a beer novice. We never knew ginger could be so refreshing”.

I helped give Kurtz a life. All he wanted was to be appreciated for being unconventional. Kurtz was able to reconnect with his son and they collaborated on the label and six pack art using the African influence the beer was brewed with. For now, Good Juju is only a spring./summer seasonal. 400 lb. Monkey is a year round beer. Look for the African inspired sixers and you too can taste Kurtz's madness.

The Goose Ax

KC Wort Hog has some interesting Goose Island news.

Goose Island has been full of news lately. First, news that they're killing distribution of their Nut Brown & Oatmeal Stout.
...
Additionally, Goose Island explained on Facebook that "in the competition for fermentation capacity, tap handles, and shelf space, Nut Brown and Oatmeal Stout have been disadvantaged by the increasing popularity of hoppy, wheat, sour, and barrel aged beer styles. We are grateful for the few loyal aficionados who have enjoyed our old friends until the end. To you, we can offer only assurance that the Goose Island brewpubs will continue to brew regular batches of both beers and offer them by the pint and by the growler to enjoy at home."

Damn, this is a blow. I love the Nut Brown ale, there just aren't that many nut brown ales and Goose made a great one. I'm assuming they're still going to be distributing Summertime.

I'm not a huge sour beer fan. I love Matilda, but their other big beers don't do much for me. I need to be better about trying them.

This is also interesting because Anheuser-Busch owned a stake in them which Goose only agreed to in order to take advantage of AB's distribution. Now they're saying they're pulling beers because it's tough to get shelf space? It doesn't make much sense, they have the advantage that most brewers don't have. Plus, the beers they're pulling are good, solid beers that are accessible to the beer novice.

Another interesting aspect is that Boulevard is going the other way courting beer novices with an Amber brew. This means that the average little neighborhood liquor store will have at least 6 Boulevard facings (Pilsner, Amber, Wheat, Pale Ale, Single Wide and Seasonal) with as many as 11(Variety Pack, Pale Ale and Wheat 12 packs, Dry Stout and soon to be released Pilsner 12 packs). This is great for Boulevard but it does squeeze out some beers that are as good or better. Boulevard did expand by going all Smokestack on us, but they also have release Pilsner and soon Amber expanding both ways. It's just strange that Goose isn't doing that as well.

I'll get by, but I'm going to miss the Nut Brown Ale, a beer that was my favorite for some time in 2001 and 2002. If I wouldn't have Bully! Porter, I'm sure that Nut Brown would have been my gateway beer. It will be nice to get more of the higher end beer from Goose, but I don't like that it comes at the expense of a very good session beer.

Free State Weekend

I worked my shapely little buns off last weekend. Friday morning I dropped the kids off at their grandparents' house to spend the weekend. I got home and mowed, laid down and raked 100 bags of dirt in a dead spot in my yard, fertilized and seeded it. By the time Stella got home I was pretty wiped out and we went to dinner at One Bite Japanese Grill. It was such a nice night we wanted to hit a bar with a patio to sit down and relax for the evening. Our first thought was the new patio at RJ's Bob-be-Que in Mission. Then I had a brilliant idea to go to The Well in Waldo.

We'd never been to The Well, the only thing I knew was that they have a great rooftop deck. It was nearly a perfect night to be outside, maybe a little bit chilly. We found a place to sit, which wasn't an easy task and I found that they had Free State on tap. The menu didn't say which Free State it was, but I have a simple rule right now, if Free State's on tap, I'm drinking Free State. So I ordered one and Stella ordered some form of martini. The Well has a pretty good tap list so I was a little surprised to see nearly every jackass douchey, under 25 Waldoan drinking those ultra douchey Budweiser and Bud Light painted bottles. What are those things? Do they sell them in liquor stores? I was pretty disgusted by the whole display of a bar with pretty good to excellent tap selection and 75% of the patrons are drinking macro brewed bottled beer.

I'm the first to admit that I'm not really the target demo for the Waldo late evening crowd, but The Well's patrons were quite douchey and turned me off. Maybe it was the clubby remixed music playing that draws this sort of crowd. I was particularly interested in this one girl who tried to steal a chair from Stella as we were going for a table. She must have sucked down 5 Miller Lite bottles and a pack of Marlboro Lights in the time we were there. The only time she glanced at the Royals - Red Sox game (the one with the Ankiel game winning hit) was when the Jersey Shore looking guy she was talking to cheered for a Royals run. She started clapping unconvincingly to gain favor from her prospective guido. I'll bet anything that she owns a drawerful of Rock Chalk shirts. I don't get why The Well has "No Smoking" signs posted all over the posts on the rooftop deck, yet everyone under 25 was smoking, sometimes in front of the waitresses. I'm no expert on the KC smoking ban, but that seems like a violation (it shouldn't be, after all we were outside, but common sense has never been a part of anti-smoking zealots' game plan).

Anyway, I'm sure there were 30 stories just like that up on the rooftop. What's important is that I got to enjoy a couple of Ad Astras and Stella had a couple of martinis. I propose, though, that us older folks take this place for ourselves and let the under 25's take over a bar that doesn't care about a good beer selection.

The next day was spent outside again. I built a garden wall from about 160 pavers, cleaned the leaves out of the gardens and ripped out a big tree stump. That night we were set to meet my brother Camo out at The Legends where he was staying. We had decided* on The Yard House so we could treat ourselves to a good beer selection. I was quite hot from all the yard work so I decided upon a Copperhead Pale Ale from Free State. Stella was annoyed that they didn't have Schlafly No. 15, so she got a Blue Moon (she really loves Blue Moon when she can get the orange slice in it). Camo got there late (but not as late as he normally is which was shocking because parking was a pain because of the Wizards game across the street) and got an Ad Astra. He, too, was disappointed there wasn't more of a Schlafly selection. Camo is a huge Schlafly fan and counts the Extra Stout as one of his favorite beers. He goes to the Schlafly brewpub every time he's in St. Louis which is pretty frequently. Every time we're down to Wichita (which is rare) he always brings Schlafly products to our family get togethers.

*We were going to go the Royals - Red Sox game that night (Greinke V. Beckett) but good tickets couldn't be had for under $40. I love baseball but the Royals have chased me away from them and I can't justify giving them $100 of my money for an evening of the substandard baseball stylings.

The Yard House does a good business, even though their food is pretty mediocre. I get the crab cake sandwich when we go, but it was a preposterously bad choice after a long hard day in the heat. I really wanted to get the walnut pear salad, but I still can't get myself to order a salad for dinner (the only exception is the Dave's Ragin' Cajun Chicken Salad at Governor Stumpy's). My second beer was another Ad Astra. Ad Astra wasn't the best choice for how I felt, yet it was still enjoyable, a true testament to a good beer.

After dinner, Camo was set to go out to Weston to spend an evening at O'Malley's with his work friends. They lucked out and Bob Walkenhorst was playing O'Malleys. They didn't know that going in. The Rainmakers, Walkenhorst's orginal band, was Camo's favorite band in his high school and college days. He was so excited he called me from O'Malleys, no small feat since you have to go outside to get reception there, to tell me. It was tough for me to be too excited about it because as he was telling me about it, I was watching a drunk 300 lb. woman swing on a light pole outside of The Flying Saucer.

We lucked out at The Flying Saucer. Free State Stormwatch was the Fire Sale. $2.75 for a really good beer was all the luck I needed. It's nice that I don't worry about the UFO club anymore because I can enjoy multiple glasses of the same beer. As we sat, a guy unveiled his plate for his 200 beeers. He was having his little party and one of his guests was drinking a Coors Light bottle. I don't think I would have allowed that guy at my plate unveiling party. One of the reasons I love the Saucer is because I can escape from this sort of person. You can go to The Saucer multiple times and not see anyone drink a Bud Light, Coors Light or anything of that ilk. They're not even listed on the beer menu. I wish more balls would have the balls to shun these type of people. I really wish The Well would do it, but they were packed so maybe they know what they're doing. Unlike The Well, though, The Flying Saucer denied entry to the fat drunk girl. I think The Well may have just let her in and serve her a Bud Light bottle.

I love that Free State is now available in so many places. I'm getting to the point now, that I may feel comfortable ordering something other than Free State when it's available. I hope that more people will seek it out rather than ordering the frighteningly boring and bad Bud Light. You can certainly do well to only order local beers like Free State, Schlafly and Boulevard. There are better beers available, but we should encourage the Bud Light drinkers to drink local, maybe that'll learn dem younguns.

Bock Off

I think it's fair to say that while the warm weather makes life a little more tolerable, the spring and summer bring an underwhelming slew of seasonal beers. Off the top of my head I can think of only one warm weather seasonal beer that I really enjoy and seek out, Goose Island Summertime (which should be hitting store shelves within the next week). So when the tasting panel and I decided on our theme for another get together I was a bit underwhelmed when we decided on bocks and spring seasonals. I think I'd feel happier as a dark skinned immigrant at a Tea Party rally or as a rich white guy at a Democrat rally. But the masses spoke so we picked a date and time and everyone went forth to seek the bockiest and springiest of the KC beer offerings.

JJSKCK was unable to make it this time but we added 2 more to the group, Paul A. Ner and Duff. The mainstays Yeti, Weston and Chimpotle were able to make it. After several emails it became clear that we were going to have too much beer for the group to drink, namely because of JJS' and an honored guest's late cancellations. To combat this, Weston was going to keep his beers and bring some snacks. I also popped some of my world famous popcorn, 3 flavors this time, garlic parmesan, white cheddar and Greek. Weston brought some fine bacon wrapped cocktail weinies, some sort of cream cheese dip and a blueberry cobbler. Not to be outdone, Yeti brought some nacho cheese Doritos in addition to his beer bounty.

The first beer of the evening was an Olde English 800 40. I declined, but everyone else had a sample. I think it was universally disliked. Yeti kept drinking it though. Like a hobo, he was seen for the next half hour drinking the 40 from the paper bag wrapped bottle. Yeti's evening was about to go downhill and his private thoughts were about to be aired.

Shiner Bock was the first official beer that met the theme. I thought it would be nice to start off with, perhaps, the lead selling bock. No one was very impressed and Chimpotle rated the OE 800 higher. Make of that what you will. I don't think I'll buy any Shiner Bock for myself again. It was never one of my favorites and I've drank 4 or 5 of them this week (I bought a sixer of it) and didn't enjoy one of them.

Next up was Abita's spring seasonal, Strawberry Harvest. Abita is interesting to me because they have a following and were one of the earliest entrants into the craft beer market in the Gulf area. I definitely think if it was 1989, Abita would be one of my favorite breweries, but it's not 1989 anymore and Abita seems to be stuck at that level of quality. Not to mention, I'm a little pissed at Abita because of their six pack packaging. I implore you to carry a sixer of it the way it is intended to be carried and not come away with a scraped knuckle. The last time I bought an Abita sixer, I had to use a Handy Manny band aid on my finger to sop up the blood. That being said, the Strawberry Harvest was pretty good. Duff said it smelled like a Strawberry Shortcake doll from when we were kids and tasted like a flat watery strawberry Shasta. When eaten with the chocolate that we had, it was quite nice. Our taste of it was a little north of cellar temperature so it may have been even better.

Breckenridge Pandora's Bock was next and was unanimously the favorite of the first 3 beers. Pandora's Bock compares favorably to the maibocks that I like, Glissade and Boss Tom's. It's probably not worth seeking out, but if you're entertaining a dirty German, a Pandora's Bock might be a beer that is interesting  to him. The dirty German might also be interested in my depraved sex act I thought up (and no, I would never ever do it, just like you wouldn't do a Cleveland Steamer). It involves an icicle, a dirty hole and an excretion running down the icicle into an icicle fellating mouth, I call it Cool Runnings and it will be the hit of Germany next winter.

The next beer was Sam Adams Coastal Wheat. I don't know what coast they're referring to, but this seemed like Arnold Palmer was involved in the brewing processs. The Coastal Wheat could just as easily be called Coastal Shandy. The lemon flavor was really prevalent. This isn't necessarily a knock. I can see a place for this one in the summer rotation, but I wouldn't want to drink more than a couple in a row. The Coastal Wheat might make for some fine outdoor drinking.

At this point things were starting to get a little bit rowdy. Chimpotle and Weston tried eating the blueberry cobbler as a dip with the Doritos. That was not a recommended pairing. At one point Stella sent one of the kids down with a bowl not thinking how "mommy wants some weiners" might sound to 5 guys a couple of beers into the evening might sound. Yeti started to open up, in his OE fueled haze, about some weiner related trauma he's suffered. Chimpotle and I shared a good laugh about how much Weston was looking like Kate Gosselin these days.

Next was Abita Mardii Gras Bock. This was the beer that cut my finger up when I bought a sixer a couple of months ago. Despite the danger in buying sixers of it, Mardi Gras Bock is a very good and drinkable beer. I guess in New Orleans, a bock could be a good winter seasonal, but I would love for it to be a spring seasonal. It's still available at many stores in town. If I were you and I saw it, I would pick it up. It won't be the best beer you've had, but it will be enjoyable for you.

We got out the Odell Red Ale, their spring seasonal, next. Red ales have been ruined for me because of all the Killian's Red I drank in college. But this was a Red Ale that I can get behind. It was hoppy and very drinkable. Even the anti-hop crowd of Paul A. Ner and Chimpotle enjoyed it. We had extra bottles of it because a couple people brought it and we drank those a little later on. It's the only beer we doubled up on and I think was the find of the evening.

Boss Tom was next, I've covered what I think of Boss Tom before, but in this tasting, it seemed a little boring. Especially after drinking the Odell Red Ale, Boss Tom just didn't have a lot going on. Still, it's good and drinkable.

Someone brought Schlafly Scotch Ale even though it's a winter seasonal. We didn't really like it. It tasted flat and may have just been old. My experience in the past with Schlafly Scotch Ale led me to never buy it again. I stand by that assessment.

Chimpotle brought his favorite, O'Fallon Wheach. I'd never had Wheach before and wasn't really looking forward to it. I've been turned off of peach bears because of the unfortunate peach beer that McCoy's brews. I had one last spring at the Foundry and it tasted like bad peach cough syrup. Stella had ordered it and I think it's on the short list of beers that we've ever sent back rather than choke down. Wheach is definitely better than that. I will probably never buy it, but I definitely appreciate it. The peach taste is rather light and is more of an accompanying flavor than THE flavor. It definitely ranks high in the fruit beer category that is normally dominated by brewpubs.

My note for Founder's Cerise, which was our next beer, says "never again". I have a theory that I may have written about before and we talked about that night. My theory is that if you grew up with a certain kind of fruit tree in your yard and you spent your formative years eating that fruit, you hate that fruit as a grownup.I had a cherry (and an apricot) tree in my yard as a kid and I hate cherries (and apricots). Sam Adams Cherry Wheat is my least favorite beer of all time and I don't even really care for cherry flavor. After discussing my theory that evening, I'm willing to revise it to you either love or really hate the fruit that you grew up eating because of the tree in your yard, there is no middle ground. The Cerise was nasty with the cherry flavor. It's more of a lambic than the Wheach so the syruppyness of Cerise could be seen as a benefit. But for me, it was awful.

Lagunitas WTF was next. I love the WTF, but the anti-hop people didn't really care for it. It's a hoppy brown ale so if you like brown ales with a hoppy profile you'll be a fan.

Boulder Sweaty Betty was the unfortunate follower from the WTF. Sweaty Betty is a blonde. I don't know about you, but the only Betty I've ever wanted to see sweaty is Betty Draper. This Sweaty Betty was more like a sweaty Betty White. It was quite the lemon party with just a hint of banana. I won't be participating in the Sweaty Betty lemon party again.

Bell's Consecrator Dopplebock was next. I think this one deserves another taste because at this point in the evening, my buds were pretty tired. The Doppleblock had a sour note that wasn't that great and was real vegetable-y. I think drinking a couple of these could be enjoyable, but it had just a little too much going on to give it a fair shake here after drinking 10 other beers.

Paul A. Ner brought a beer we can't get in these parts, Moerlein Emancipator Dopplebock. Again, it had a lot going on and was liked by us all. If you see it somewhere, you should pick it up.

We also had Lagunitas Hairy Eyeball which I've written about before and generally like. The last beer we had not blind was Sam Adams Dopplebock. I've had one or two of these since then because they were left behind. It's way too sweet for my taste. I'll never buy it.

The last beer we had was blind. Paul A. Ner wouldn't reveal what it was, he only called it his mystery beer. When we cracked it open and drank it no one knew what to expect. Chimpotle went overboard calling it awful. I didn't like it, but it was drinkable. I believe it had a sour lime flavor in it that made the beer suck overall. The mystery beer was Weston Leapin' Leprechaun and Paul A. Ner won't be allowed in my house again. I'll say this about it, it's the best beer I've had from Weston.

We were at it for 4 hours and had 15 different beers. We used 2 bottles for each 12 oz. beer we had. Next time we're going more food, less beer. After about 10 beers, it gets very difficult to not only taste everything correctly, but come up with something to say about every beer. The best beers of the night were the Odell Red Rye, Moerlein Emancipator, WTF and Lagunitas Hairy Eyeball (notice, none of these were the bocks). Of the bocks, Boss Tom, Abita Mardi Gras and Pandora's Bock were the favorites. Next time, we'll come up with a style that hits my taste a little better.

Coming Soon: Boulevard Amber Ale

If you've taken a Boulevard Brewery tour in the last six months or so you've probably sampled, or as least heard about, their "experimental" Amber Ale. The first I heard of this beer was back in November when it was in its second run. I wasn't too keen on the Amber Ale, then labeled "Test Brew #2," and just wrote it off as another amber. This is a style I'm a bit ambivalent toward... ambers aren't usually my first choice but I wouldn't pass one up just because it's labeled an amber. I didn't exactly take tasting notes of the second test batch of Boulevard Amber, but I do remember thinking it tasted a lot like every other amber I'd had, if a little less bitter. Not exactly a ringing endorsement.

Here we are six months later and I've gotten my hands on several bottles of Boulevard Amber Test #3. Aside from being 1 more than the previous iteration, these beers are bottled and came to me... I didn't have to stand in line and gamble away a tasting token to try something I'd sort of had before (and didn't really like). So far so good... My first impressions of the #3 were a bit lackluster. There isn't much of an aroma to this beer. It smells vaguely malty with only the slightest hint of caramel. That's all. There wasn't a whole lot going on to appease your nose, but this was a good looking beer. It's copper colored but not as filtered as you might expect. When poured into my pint glass it really looked like a Tripel, with its cloudy reddish orange body and generous off-white head.

Things got quite a bit better as I drank my way through this glass of Boulevard Amber. The flavor is much sweeter than I was expecting. I've come to expect amber style beers to be crisp, respectably bitter and a little hoppy. The hop arms race has lead to ambers being increasingly hoppy and bitter, something that has made me a little hesitant to drink more them. Boulevard's Amber, at least this 3rd test version, was very well balanced. The bitterness was quite subdued and the sweetness was bumped up several notches.

I ended up enjoying the Amber Test #3 quite a bit, so much so that I'm actually kind of excited about the pending release of the final product. I've heard that the bottles you'll see on shelves will be filled with a 4th batch of Boulevard Amber. I have it on good authority (I've always wanted to say that...) that the 3rd and 4th batches are pretty similar.

If you'd like to get your hands on a bottle of Boulevard Amber you'll have to wait 60(ish) days before they start showing up inside 12-pack samplers, even longer if you want a six pack of just Amber Ale. If you're looking to get this beer on draft you'll have to drive up to Omaha or Lincoln... I guess Nebraska is big on ambers because Boulevard will be using that as their test market. I don't have an ETA on when the Boulevard Amber kegs roll into the Cornhusker State so feel free to drop me a line or post a comment if you have any info.

Show Some Faith

New Belgium is currently promoting a Clips of Faith Beer & Film Tour of various cities in the US. Kansas City is currently tentatively scheduled to be the third stop on July 2nd. If that date doesn't work and you're really interested in the event, they are scheduled to stop in St Louis the week prior. What exactly is the Film being toured? That's where you come in.


New Belgium is asking you, America's professional beer drinkers and amateur filmmakers, to create a short film (10 seconds to 10 minutes) that you will submit to their YouTube group for a chance to have it cut in and featured along with other submissions. You need to be 21 and keep everything legit and clean to officially be considered. Your film needs to feature three things very important to New Belgium: craft beer, sustainability and whimsy. I might suggest just setting up your camera on a tripod pointed at Bull E Vard's back yard the next time his buddy Randy comes over to visit for a couple brews. There's no shortage of "whimsy" when those two get together.

If being featured in a film tour isn't enough for you, the top 3 will be rewarded with trips out to Fort Collins and the New Belgium facility.