Though all of Avery's beers are pretty solid, this second post will talk about the best stuff they have to offer. Let's just jump right in! Avery produces a ton of limited time, special edition brews that I am not going to go into here as some are no longer available, others are very hard to find and still others I have personally not tried and so shouldn't talk about. A few of the special addition ales I have tried and enjoyed include Ale to the Chief! (A pale ale brewed in honor of the new president of the company), their Anniversary ales that are put out every year, and Collaboration, not Litigation Ale. Collaboration, not Litigation Ale has a great story behind it. Both Avery and Russian River had a Beer named Salvation. Both were intricate Belgian-style ales. As, at the time, they were distributing in mostly different markets, so they didn't realize this until the brewers of both companies met. Instead of changing either name, they decided to blend the two brews. Thus, instead of fighting (litigation) over the name, they collaborated to make a great ale! Good times, I bet both sets of brewers would be fun to hand out with. Moving on...

The rest of the beers I am going to talk about are all parts of different series that Avery has put together. Each series has a theme and makes for great naming of beers, easy to put together flights or at the very least a good laugh. The Dictator's Series (What a hilarious thing to name your series after) has a beer named for Maharaja, The Kaiser, and The Czar; all titles given to different types of rulers in their respective cultures during their reigns. Maharaja is an Imperial India Pale Ale (what else?) with a straight punch in the face of hops! At roughly ten percent ABV, Maharaja holds 102 IBUs (the description of the ale says it has a "deranged amount of hops" ....awesome), and will rock the world of any hop-head (ME) out there. The Kaiser is a very unique style, an Imperial Octoberfest Lager. Leave it to Avery to basically rip the traditional Oktoberfest style a new one. This is pretty much a malt-bomb that evens out with the spiciness and heat. Very sticky and very tasty brew. The Czar is an Imperial Stout, 11 percent ABV, is an inky black, very cellar-able brew. Not the best Imperial Stout out there (and there are a ton), but one you won't regret having. The dictators theme is advertised as the spirit behind pushing these types of ales farther then they have wanted to go in the past.

Next we have Avery's "Demons of Ale" series, three extreme brews and I hope they keep going with it. Samael's Oak-Aged Ale has the lowest ABV of the three....14.5 percent. Samael, oftentimes refereed to as the destroyer (the fallen angel, no the beer....well, it could be said about the beer too though), has a very carmel-like sweetness to it with apparent oak character. All in all, a good brew but not my kind of beer for that price. The Beast, 'a suducer,' is a Grand Cru comes in at just under 15 percent ABV. Grand Cru is a growing style among American craft brewers and you can tell why when drinking this beer. I'm not too up on this style yet but it is very powerful, with some of the same characteristics as quality rum and is cellar-able for very long periods. "Mephistopheles is the crafty shape shifter, the second fallen angel," and the taste backs up this description whole heartily. This 15.1 percent ABV stout (I don't know why they don't call it an Imperial Stout) is extremely complex. At 107 IBUs, and with everything going for this beer, I promise that after your first drink, you will stare at the glass and say, "wow." If you drink this brew slightly chilled (please don't drink cold) you will find new flavors in every sip. Did you see how I said sip? Yea, this beer begs to be taken in slowly and consistently. I found myself hard pressed to focus on anything but the beer while it was in my glass. I may have to do a full review on it in the future as there is just too much to go over...and the nose! Lord, you can smell this beer from s couple of feet away! Alright...moving on...

Next we have the Holy Trinity Series, which if I am not mistaken has been around a lot longer than the other two series. Hog Heaven Barleywine Style Ale, complete with flying pigs on the bottle, is a "dangerously drinkable" but aren't most brews like this? or is that just me? Anyway, Hog Heaven is probably closer to a Imperial Red style ale than a barleywine and boy is it tasty. ABV 9.2 and 104 IBUs in a 22 oz. bomber...what more can you ask for? Dry hopping you say? Well it has that too. The Reverend, "Created by God, Feared by Satan, Loved by all," is a wonderful quad I have mentioned a few times before. At 10 percent ABV, The Reverend can be a bit much. I say this not so much because of the percentage of alcohol, but because this beer can be pretty damn sweet. It has little to no hop character whatsoever but is still balanced with spices and heat. I love cracking the Reverend open when I'm drink double IPAs or reds or anything else with a ton of IBUs, as sort of a rest for the palate. It isn't the best quad out there but it is very solid for the price. The final brew in the Holy Trinity Series is Salvation, the previously mentioned beer that was have of Collaboration, not Litigation Ale. I have not had this beer outside of it's combo with the other Salvation Ale but I'm sure it is a good brew to have survived so long.

Welp, that's Avery for you! I want them to come out with another series of some kind! Maybe "Patron Saints of Beer." That'd be pretty cool. I know certain ones have been over done but there are a bunch out there that are as of yet, untapped. Welp, see ya later!

Cheers! 

If you aren't in over your head, how do you know how tall you are? ~T. S. Eliot

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If you were to ask me who my favorite brewery was, I would tell you Lagunitas with Surly at a close second. There are a lot of great breweries out there and the ones that push the envelope the most in their beers catch my attention a lot easier. That being said, if you were to ask me to pick one brewery, and their beers were the only beers that I could drink the rest of my life, I would say Avery without hesitation. Though I REALLY hope this never happens to me, I can tell you I wouldn't second guess my decision. (Pictured, the approximate amount of money it would take for me to switch to just one brand of beer)

Avery Brewing has a wide variety of beer styles, both common and uncommon and though there are brewers out there who have much more, Avery brews never disappoint and they are always releasing new stuff. They may not shock you with every beer but you can always depend on them to make a solid brew.  Don't know much about them? Well you will know what they have to offer after this post.

Avery's year round six-pack selection of beers consist of their IPA, White Rascal, 14'er ESB, Redpoint, Ellie's Brown, and Out of Bounds Stout. Their IPA is a classic west coast IPA with generous amounts of cascade and centennial hops (along with Columbus and chinook). The Belgian style wheat ale, White Rascal, is unfiltered (yeast on the bottom) and spiced to form a very refreshing brew. 14'er ESB (ESB is an unappreciated style if you ask me) is an easy going session beer, nothing special to it but it's to style and won't disappoint. Redpoint is an amber ale that I am quite fond of. That doesn't seem like much as I usually only talk about beers I enjoy on here but I do not often pick up Amber ales as more often than not, they like any hop character. Redpoint balances malty sweetness with a cascade type hop presence quite well. Ellie's brown is a solid brown, not too sweet, and Out of Bounds Stout is roasty and a little bitter, never a bad thing.

Avery also has three seasonals that they put out in six-packs throughout the year. New World Porter is available from January to April. It is a traditional black porter that the dry hop (for his pleasure?) and is a real treat in the colder months.  Karma (April-September), a Belgian Ale, is fairly light and though I can see what they are trying to do with this beer, I have to say that this is probably my least favorite of the beers they offer. Old Jubilation on the other hand rocks my world, and coming out from September to December, comes out at the perfect time of year for this kind of beer. At 8 % ABV, this English Strong Ale combines five variety of malts to offer a dark toffee taste that is very nice. Besides their lines of "big beers" that I will be talking about down below, Avery also produces a Barrel-Aged series of experimental brews that are "one and done." This means that each beer is brewed, bottled and shipped and they don't plan on making that beer again. The latest in this series at this point is a Wild Ale called Brabant,and I'm looking for it!

Next post, I'll get into the really good Avery beers!

Cheers!

You can never live a perfect day until you do something for someone who will be unable to repay you. ~ John Wooden

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Surly released Abrasive Ale today, a beer that was formally only on draft at local bars in MN. Then it was known as 16 grit, a double IPA, extremely bitter, high ABV... all in all, heaven. Anyway, now they released it in cans and I am 400 miles away from the closest place selling it........ It's a bittersweet feeling to say the least. That said, I do have someone shipping me some soon but I would have loved to of been at the release.

Anyway, I may get a post in tomorrow but if not, I will be gone until Monday and I'll be having Utopias at some point in there! Welp, see ya later!

Cheers!
What the world needs is more geniuses with humility, there are so few of us left. ~Oscar Levant

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Wow, what a week. Dominated the GMAT, repaired an oil leak on my car, worked out a lot after being out of the gym with too much GMAT studying, went out a few times for birthdays and what not, and read "Changes," the newest Dresden Files novel by Jim Butcher. AWESOME book yet again, a fact in which I had no doubt though it does end on a bit of a cliffhanger that will make this year's wait a lot worse than most until the next book comes out (for any Dresden fans, I hear the working name of the next novel is "Ghost Stories").

Anyway, Not sure if I've mentioned it on here before but this coming Thursday, I get to sample a bottle of Utopias, an extremely rare 27 percent ABV Sam Adams brew. You know that tingly feeling you got in your stomach just before you had your first kiss or something else like that... yea, well that is what I am getting when I think about drinking this brew. Very excited needless to say. Some buddies of mine will all be bringing a bottle of something nice and one is bring it! I think I'll bring a quad (maybe Sixth Glass or The Reverend).

Today, I am happy to be having Maximus IPA from Lagunitas. Maximus is an American double or Imperial IPA which Beer Advocate tells us about here: "Take an India Pale Ale and feed it steroids, ergo the term Double IPA. Although open to the same interpretation as its sister styles, you should expect something robust, malty, alcoholic and with a hop profile that might rip your tongue out. The Imperial usage comes from Russian Imperial stout, a style of strong stout originally brewed in England for the Russian Imperial Court of the late 1700s; though Double IPA is often the preferred name. You can thank west coast American brewers for this somewhat reactionary style. 'Thanks!'"

I've had this beer on several occasions (just like most of the beers I am starting out with in this blog) and it is one that you should not be drinking very cold. I would recommend 45-55 degrees or so, as the aroma and hop flavors really come out when it isn't so cod, but that is just a guess at around where I like to drink it as I do not keep a thermometer around. It pours copper with a low head that nonetheless coats the glass. The aroma has grapefruit, pine and those awesome citrus hops, all of which are present in the taste. The pleasant citrus-y hops stick with you well after the beer is gone. Though I do love the flavor, I think its fault is being a little too drinkable(That doesn't sound too bad you say? I'll explain, don't worry). As beer advocate explains above, these double IPAs should be ripping out your tongue and as bad as it sounds to some people, others look for the most bitter IPAs they can find in this style (myself included) and Maximus, like a ton of the brews in this style, could use a little more tongue ripping.

That said, I do love this beer and it probably sells to a larger audience due to the fact that everyone still has their tongue intact. It is funny though because though it may not mess up your tongue it is advertised to mess you up, "At the height of the heat in the heart of the summer, we felt the only cure was a raging mouthful of fresh Hops and Malt. Caution: May remove enamel from teeth." This is just an example of the hilarity that is on each bottle of Lagunitas various brews. They brew like brewers should, listing all their ingredients on each bottle, "Ounces and ounces of Malt, Hops, Yeast, and water." They keep it simple and I have yet to find a Lagunitas brew I do not like as in all of their beers, they are not stingy with the hops and are serious about brewing (their taproom is called The Beer Sanctuary). Also, check out their caps and most of their labels at that if you like dogs.

If you like Lagunitas, their pint glasses are only 2 dollars a pop if you use the number on their website (much cheaper than I have found with other brewers). Anyway, it's been fun but alas, it is time we say goodbye. Until next time, same beer time (not a guarantee) same beer place! Anyone hate winter or another season as much as I do?

Cheers!

I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts, and beer. -Abraham Lincoln

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Hey there, back already? I knew you were as excited about this as I was. The next thing I think about and one of the only things I'd plan outside of the main destinations is what kind of beer can I pick up that I can't find in the STL (I know, crazy that I am thinking about beer right?). Having a phone with google maps and different search features, I will probably just find specialty beer stores along the way so I can be surprised about what I find in the various spots but I have and will do a bit of research on the good stuff before I head out. However, I will probably talk about my findings post trip so I won't do it now and just get to the other details...

Now that the main destinations have been picked out, it is time to talk about the importance of the little details that will make for a great ride when the sights along the road aren't that exciting (I'm looking at you Iowa). First thing is first, you can chat and play driving games only so long before you start stabbing each other in the eyes. Stopping for random potty breaks and snacks is a given but you should always pack munchies before you go so you will never have to go without! Licorice seems to be a favorite and it is more of a constant energy that doesn't make you crash like candy bars. Dried fruit is another great choice, especially when you mix it into a trail mix with nuts, granola, seeds, all the favorites and if you make a big bag, it lasts for a long time. More ideas include chips, bags of cookies, anything you love munching on.

The next thing that is essential to entertaining yourself is tunes! Tell everyone in your group to load their I pods with all their favorites. There are lists all over the place if you search for them that are great for road trips, go crazy. Songs that everyone knows and will rock out to always make for a great ride. Depending on how long you plan to be on the road, however, you are going to want more than that. I pack my I pod with lists of comedians who everyone enjoys. They make for the perfect break when music is getting old.

Besides the obvious, there are a lot of things you are not going to want to forget on your road trip. A camera is needed for documenting the experience, fooling around, and snapping shots of nature as you go by (don't forget the batteries!).  Maps are important if you don't have gps or if you are in a dead zone. Car chargers for your I Pod and phone, car tools, sunglasses, pillows, and possibly a first aid kit are some more things that could be useful.

Last and really, most importantly, make sure you have a great crew to enjoy the journey with. Grab your friends you don't get sick of and that are up for random adventures. Well that is all I have for now. I'll let you know how mine goes once I recruit a good crew and find a time that everyone can do. I'll catch you hear next time, happy road tripping!

 Cheers!


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I have been studying my ass off for this GMAT I am taking in a week and besides eating and showering in the small breaks I am giving myself, I have been mentally planning a road trip! I first had this thought while staring out the window, thinking about how awesome it was outside and how not outside I would be for the rest of the day/week. I thought, "when this is all said and done, I should go see some shit." Granted, my brain wasn't working the best but as simple as the thought was, it's a great one! Summer is the perfect time to get out on the road and just go see shit, don't you think?

Well you say, "I can see shit if I fly somewhere, take a cruise or maybe just look up pictures on the internet." I will admit that a cruise is tempting and I plan on doing that before I'm 30 but when it comes down to it, that is what everyone is doing these days and really all you see is a bunch of water most of the time. Flying is the easy way out and as with most easy way outs, not as fun. I like home James Brown said it (though he was probably talking about life here, not a road trip, haha), "Thank God for the journey." While I was in college, me and a bunch of my buddies went to Panama City for spring break and it was awesome, the best vacation of my life hands down and I've traveled Italy. Anyway, now when we talk about it, we have just as many stories and smiles to share about the road trip there and back as we do of things that happened on the beach.

For those of you who have never taken a road trip, think of it this way. Do you watch a movie or a television series just to find out what happens? No, that is what the news is! We watch the journey of plot, laughs, and mystery to be solved along the way. If you aren't experiencing the journey, you are missing at least half the experience! Okay, pro-road trip rant over.

A road trip is the perfect vacation when you are young, don't have a ton of responsibilities, and need to keep a budget in mind and the best way to do it is plan out the little details like the things (and people) you need to bring, the main destination or destinations, snacks, tunes, and clothes. After that, you can plan some of the places you are going to go and where you will probably sleep but the best thing about a road trip is the stuff that isn't planned. If you are going on a road trip, detours are a must. On the way to Panama City, we did all sorts of stuff but the best things were the signs we saw on the road, talking about attractions and we just went (Jack Daniels tour, worlds largest superman statue, Mexican restaurants galore (to name a few)).

All this in mind, I hit google maps not ten minutes ago to plan out a the trip outline. If you are going to pick multiple destinations to where you are going to go in more of a circle or something than a straight line back and forth, and you have a few choices on which way to start the circle first, choose the place that is furthest first. Starting a road trip right is starting it with a long stretch on the road to set the tone for the rest of the trip and so everyone on the trip can talk about how awesome it is going to be and where they want to hit up along the way so far. From the St Louis area, my first choice is going to Omaha, Nebraska. What the hell is there you say? Well, actually a lot of shit is there I've found but most importantly, one of my best friends from college lives there along with his girlfriend who is another good friend and I know that the people I would get going with me on this trip would want to see them as much as I do. Google maps shows me that the shortest distance there goes through Kansas City, a place where I know a lot of people and in which I love doing things so that is always a nice stop along the way. Another thing about going through KC is that with just a 20 minute detour, you can add Kansas to the state that you went through on your road trip. Hitting a many states as you can, when conveniently close, is a lot of fun.

I had to think for a while about my next destination because I have most of the rest of them already picked out in my mind but the trip doesn't seem long enough to me without another addition. That is when it hit me, Canada! I lived in Minnesota for a time and never made the fairly short drive (in comparison to now) up to say I had been there. Canada, for sure, is my next pick. Being a classic American who just wants to say I've been there, I picked the closest big city straight up from Nebraska, Winnipeg. Now, not having a specific reason for going there besides just wanting to say I did, I am not going to plan out anything so that on the way there, my fellow road trippers and I can brainstorm and maybe look up on our phones the shit we want to do. Besides getting to say we took a road trip to Canada, the route from Omaha is ripe with states to drive through. Iowa (sarcastic yay!...), South Dakota and North Dakota are along the route, with possible big cities to stay in (Sioux Falls and Fargo) and surely tons of shit to see!

My next destination choice is most certainly the twin cities in ol' Minnesota. I personally know a ton of people there and my God I miss the beer! This is for sure an overnight stay as we will party it up with my crew there and will have to spend an hour at a liquor store so that I can figure out a way to pack all the beer I'm going to buy in my car. From there, a quick stint across the border to Wisconsin to add a state to the tally and pick up some more beer (exclusive to WI) and we are off to our next stop!

The important thing about a road trip is not to see the most popular stuff, it is to go to places you want to visit and that means something to you. That being said, our next stop is Kirksville, MO. Most people reading this will have no idea where this is but it is where I went to college and if you want to have a good time, there is plenty of stuff to do. That will bring us through the windmills and flat land of Iowa (sorry if you are from there, both for ripping on it twice now and for the fact that you live there) so we will be ready for the nostalgic  "Water park" (glorified pool) and nightlife Kirksville will most assuredly offer us. From there it is back home, good times, I can tell already! That is the skeleton of the trip as it stands right now! As this post has gotten a little out of hand due to my excitement of the topic, I am going to cut it into two posts, see you back in a few!

Hey everyone, I'm glad to see you again! Let me start today with a question to break the ice, what kind of drunk are you? You know the situation. You're at someone's place, a bar, a wedding, whatever..It doesn't matter who you are, after a certain amount of drinking everyone's personality changes in one way or another. I'm the guy that you can't tell is drunk unless you know me pretty well. I still make my rounds and talk to everyone and stay in a normal state of mind overall. My one give away is that if this is not my first time meeting you, you are probably going to get a hug, maybe two or more if you are lucky.

Well anyway, moving on... Today I am having Boulevard's Sixth Glass, a quad from their smokestack series with a great story behind it.

But first, Let us take a look at what Beer Advocate tells us about a quad (Quadrupel): "Inspired by the Trappist brewers of Belgium, a Quadrupel is a Belgian style ale of great strength with bolder flavor compared to its Dubbel and Tripel sister styles. Typically a dark creation that ranges within the deep red, brown and garnet hues. Full bodied with a rich malty palate. Phenols are usually at a moderate level. Sweet with a low bitterness yet a well perceived alcohol."

Thank you Beer Advocate, you are a delight. Compared with other high alcohol by value(ABV) styles such as Imperial Stouts or Barley Wines, well made quads are much more approachable to the casual beer drinker. Sixth Glass weighs in at 10.5 percent ABV. Truthfully this isn't like most of the quads out there, but who wants that? I like this one much better. it pours a deep copper with a nice tan head that laces the glass. The aroma hits me with plums, clove, some banana, and spice, more spice than other quads I frequent such as Avery's The Reverend. The flavor hits with a hearty dose of toffee with dark fruits like raisins and plum and then the whole experience ends with a nice clove and spice finish with the alcohol note (my favorite thing about it). The alcohol note lingers along with some of the spices a bit longer than other Quads, something that would probably change some after cellaring for a while.

Though admittedly a great beer, the story behind the name of this beer is even better. "Do you know what dwells in the glass?" asked Ole, an eccentric character in the short story "The Watchman of the Tower" by Hans Christian Anderson (linked is the section I am talking about but you can google the title to find the full short story). Each glass is spoken of in terms of what it does to a man when he drinks it. It is a very delightful and comical representation of the levels of drunkenness one goes through. The sixth glass is the last one that is mentioned:

"The sixth glass! Yes, in that glass sits a demon, in the form of a little, well dressed, attractive and very fascinating man, who thoroughly understands you, agrees with you in everything, and becomes quite a second self to you. He has a lantern with him, to give you light as he accompanies you home. There is an old legend about a saint who was allowed to choose one of the seven deadly sins, and who accordingly chose drunkenness, which appeared to him the least, but which led him to commit all the other six. The man's  blood is mingled with that of the demon. It is the sixth glass, and with that the germ of all evil shoots up within us; and each one grows up with a strength like that of the grains of mustard-seed, and shoots up into a tree, and spreads over the whole world: and most people have no choice but to go into the oven, to be re-cast in a new form."

If you check the photo, you'll see that there is a demon face on the front of the Sixth Glass bottle. It is a heavy beer so you will be pretty far gone if you have six glasses of this one. If you have time, read the whole section involving the glasses. HC Anderson is more famous for his less adult stories such as The Little Mermaid. Also, if you haven't yet, start trying the smokestack series beers. I promise you'll jump on the bandwagon, they are the real deal.

Cheers!

Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut. -Ernest Hemingway

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I'm going to do you a favor and devote a post to talking about myself. I'll give ya let's say...17 random facts about myself as they come to my mind, because hey, I am pretty awesome, and I figure if you are going to read my blog, you might as well get to know the man behind the "genius."

1-As you can see, I love life and hell, being me. If I could let you try it, I would, it's a good time.

2-I get REALLY excited to the point of giggling and fidgeting when watching action scenes/other cool scenes in movies, reading or listening to battles/big moments in books, or when playing video games with good story lines. It isn't something I can seem to hide.

3-I like to work with my hands, as I said, I taped drywall for a time but I really like building or refinishing furniture. It is very soothing if you do it as a hobby.

4-My whole motto on life is pretty much this quote, "Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense." ~Emerson

5-Another one to live by is simply, "stop learning, start dieing." You can never stop bettering yourself. If you do, what else is left? the long roll back down the hill, that's all.

6- I was an English major in college. I love to write though I don't do it as much as I use to and that is the main reason I started doing some of these blogs lately.

7-I have a love hate relationship with caffeine. Actually, it's mostly hate, but I can't stop anyway. *

8-Favorite bible verse: A man hath no better thing under the sun than to eat and to drink and to be merry. - Ecclesiastes 8:15

9-The best superpower would be: the ability to manipulate time (stop it, travel it, etc.) I won't hear arguments on this and to the people that say flying, you haven't thought this through, I promise.

10-There is nothing more relaxing than grilling on a hot day, beer in hand, country or classic rock playing, nothing.

11-I love seasons that aren't winter (Minnesota jaded me).

12-Back to the future is the best trilogy, sure I love Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and the others but Back to the future takes it.

13-I love good beer, I would rather eat cheaper food with good beer than the other way around. My favorite beer? I cannot choose unless you give me a style. Lagunitas, Surly, and Schlafly are my favorite breweries though.

14- The Dresden Files is my favorite book series. I know I have BA in English and therefore should say "Anything by Poe", To Kill a Mockingbird, or some other rubbish but I am not a liar. All that stuff may be good but the best reads I have had in all my time doing it are the books in Jim Butcher's Dresden Files. Book 12 of the 21 case books (Then there is going to be a 3 part conclusion) is going to come out next month and I couldn't be more excited. Anyway, read them if you are a reader and do that sort of thing for fun, and if you have read them and don't like them, please leave my blog. I am a nice guys but you should leave, you really are not welcome here.

15-If I could make good money doing so, I would write for a living. I do love it but I have no illusions as to how hard it is to get started and make it as a writer so I choose not to try it as a career.

16-My family is a big Irish one and I love having that heritage, family and a fun holiday to go with it.

17-hmm, what else...I'm 5"11, 200, and can still place both hands on the ground in the classic standing hamstring stretch. Though I think that was from years of sports, lifting combined with major stretching before and after.

*Sort of sounds like a girl I dated in college.

Anyway...Cheers!

You know what it is that frightens ants the most? It's not the anteater, and it's not the steamroller. No wait, it is the steamroller. I got mixed up. ~Jack Handey

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What's with mother nature and ensuring that I hate her?... I mean it has been on and off cold, teasing us with warm days here and there for a month now and right when the weather is getting to where you are like, "Hey! I'll break out my shorts and sandals, maybe run outside a bit (if I did that sort of thing) or observe nature as I drive around in my car with my sunroof back,"  the freaking spring showers start coming down on you, laughing the whole time cause we never expect it.

Well, been studying up for the GMAT... A little worried about taking the test but I'm sure it'll be fine. With this economy and after spending a lot of time applying for jobs with not too much luck, I figure I will get a part time job at a non-profit or something else that will look better than being a bartender or something and get my MBA. When I am done, hopefully the economy will be all better, the job market will be flourishing and (hell, while I am wishing for things that probably won't happen) I'll have won the lottery!

Baseball season is starting up! I always act excited as it is expected. And while I do catch Cardinals games when they are on, the season is so damn long that it doesn't get excited until the time Football is coming around and by then I am completely enthralled to my fantasy football league. It does however, get much better when you are drinking beer. You don't have to be a beer drinker to like baseball, but it helps.

I am having Boulevard's Tank number 7 tonight, a wonderful Farmhouse Ale from their smokestack series (full of good beers) for the first time! I hadn't been able to find it in St Louis until recently. Strangely, it is listed as a wheat wine on Beeradvocate.com so I am sure it holds those qualities. Either way, great stuff. If you are reading this and you are thinking about grabbing some, know that it is an ale that has much more taste and complexity when it isn't freezing cold.

I'm helping a good friend of mine move here from KC this weekend and I am pumped to have him. I don't know why, because there are a lot of guys from school that have moved here and are planning to move here but I feel as though I have sort of personally appointed myself to trying to get more of them here sort of like I am building a crew. Anyway, back to the beer of the post before I sample the Tank 7.

"Younger's Special Bitter" from a solid brewing companies, Rouge.

Younger's is an ESB (Extra Special Bitter) with 35 IBUs (International bitterness Units...they tell you how bitter a beer is going to be, to put it simply).

Beer advocate tells us that: "ESBs are essentially more aggressive and more balanced Bitters, both in alcohol and hop character, but nothing overpowering. Color range will be similar, though leaning towards the darker end of the scale; dark golds to copper. Low carbonation. Malts tend to be more pronounced, often toasty and fruity, with maybe some notes diacetyl. And despite "bitter" being in its name, ESBs are not really all that bitter. The key to an ESB is balance."

Well said my beer advocate friends. Younger's is a wonderful example of an ESB, very balanced. It pours a dark copper, slightly hazy with a small creamy head that leaves a bit of lacing on the side of the tumbler. It smells of sweet malts, caramel and a bit of fruitiness. It has a medium body with balanced carbonation, sweet maltiness, caramel notes on the side of the tongue that play off of the fruit notes and sweetness. Then a pleasantly hoppy finish with a light bitterness that makes you want to take another drink every time you put the glass back down. Outstanding brew overall and one that frequents my fridge.

Rouge is a brewing company that reaches most of the US with their brews and is helping lead the trend towards better beers that stay accountable for themselves. Their bottles not only house their great beers but they give you everything you need to know about the brew you are drinking on the bottle (the ingredients, a message describing them and the beer, tasting notes, food pairings and brewing specs). Another good thing to know about their beers as stated on their website is, "Preservative, additives, chemicals: Never! Rogue does not pasteurize its products." Rouge's motto is that they brew their beers "for the rouge in all of us" which I personally think is awesome.

Thanks for having a beer with me and I hope you had a good time or possibly learned something. Check out Rouge's website if you get the chance because it is by far the coolest/funniest brewer's website I've seen...with a close second being Schlafly because of their funny news feeds that have to do with their founder. But I'll get to them another day.

Cheers!

Once, during Prohibition, I was forced to live for days on nothing but food and water. - W. C. Fields

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(Member of Beer Advocate - Dusty278)

My name is Dusty and I just moved back to St Louis, MO, from Minneapolis, MN.  I had moved there after I graduated college (Truman State) so as to get away from Missouri and see how it was somewhere else (Minnesota has an awesome craft beer community by the way).

I've wanted to get a blog going for a while now because I love to write. The problem was... What should I write about? Me? Though I am slightly narcissistic, I couldn't keep material going for regular and interesting posts. So I began to think about my passions and hobbies, I have many. That's when beer came to mind. I mean I am a young (spry) male, fresh out of college, and very into craft beer. I figure I'll write about what's going on with me, talk about some of my favorite beers and new ones I try, and my general beer/other thing related opinions, experiences, etc.

Well you might say, "You probably just binge dank ice cold cheap beer in college, and are trying to re-live those days/don't know what you are talking about." Wow, you're kind of a jackass. I did do my share of drinking in college and some of it was admittedly beer that had to be drank ice cold to taste good. If you didn't go through this 'rite of passage,' you missed out. Anyway, you have to start somewhere and as this is my first post of many and a lot of the posts will revolve around drinking and sampling beers, I'll show you where I came from.

I like talking with people about when they started drinking and how they evolved into the what/how they drink today. My first couple months in college were typical of most college students. Outside of class, I met people, started forming circles of friends to start hanging out with, got involved in sports and other things I was interested in, and of course, went to parties. The first time ever had a drop of alcohol was during a keg stand. It was funny because I couldn't hear the person asking me if I wanted to do one so I just nodded my head and so they hoisted me up! By the second semester, I had joined a fraternity, something I didn't see myself doing until I got there and found Beta Theta Pi, the one I joined. It wasn't a typical 'frat,' but I won't get into that. As I hadn't acquired the taste for cheap beer as of yet, I would typically drink rum and coke (Now days rum is the only thing I won't touch). In time I began to drink beer as it was easier to play games with and just more covenant in general. Over the years, I did start and continue to like any beer (even natural light and other cheap beers). Still today I can't see why people do not like most cheap beers, they don't have much taste to them at all and as such, there isn't much to dislike. However, I began to get into craft beer at that time as well.

Being Irish and proud, I would drink Guinness and Killian's Irish Red, thinking at the time that my tastes were very mature because I liked Guinness and it was very dark (oh my)! The local beer stores were packed with all this other beer that I had never heard of and they had a "You pick 6" deal where you could pick 6 single beers and buy it as you would a regular 6 pack. Being a curious person, I started trying everything. Fast forward to last year when I was living in MN, I was already very into the craft beer community in Missouri and listened to all the main podcasts and all that. During my time in MN, I missed having Schlafly around but I still had Rouge and Avery and found Surly, Summit, and Lagunitas (My current favorite brewer) along with brewpubs galore and an amazing craft beer community. Now that I am back in St Louis, I really miss all of that along with the few people I hung out with there and the lacrosse team I coached.

Welp, that's what I have for you for now, I'll see ya back here next time.

(The picture is an advertisement from one of my favorite brewpubs, Flatbranch, in Columbia, Mo. If you are driving through Columbia or going to a home Mizzou game, it is definitely worth your time to stop in.) 

From a man's sweat and God's love beer came into the world. - Saint Arnou (Arnoldus)

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