Blackstone Stout Night! I’ve Got A Golden Ticket!

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blackstoneblackstone1If there is any better way to throw a beer tasting event by handing out “Golden Tickets” I have yet to see one. Blackstone restaurant in Iowa City, IA held their Stout Night last night by giving golden tickets to customers who paid $25 to enjoy different stouts. Which leads to this:

A great lineup of brews to accompany a few appetizers made for a great night of fun. The lineup of beers was headlined by North Coast brewings’ Barrel-Aged Old Rasputin XV. At 11.9% ABV it was definitely a sipper but the scary thing about this beer is how smooth and drinkable it is. Nice chocolate flavor that goes perfectly with the vanilla flavor that comes from the barrel aging. Terrific beer to go with Blackstone’s chocolate ganache cupcake. Before I jumped on the North Coast pour I started with Toppling Goliath Brown Sugar. Not a stout, I know, but I’m really glad Blackstone decided to have this in the lineup to showcases some Iowa beers. This brown was a bit different from most browns I’ve had as it had a much deeper roasted flavor than others. Very enjoyable and I hope to have access to this brew in the future. Next, I moved on to Green Flash Double Stout. I had yet to have this beer and to enjoy it on tap was very rewarding. This is what a stout should be like; rich, smooth, creamy, and very blackstone2drinkable. Not boozy like some double or imperials, just bold and flavorful.
Bell’s Expedition Stout was up next and beside the Old Rasp this was probably the highlight of my night. Roasted malts, chocolate, and coffee dominate the palate with this beer. 10.5% ABV is in the aroma more than the taste making this dangerously drinkable. Awesome beer!

blackstone4Overall, my wife and I give this a big thumbs up and are looking forward to more events at Blackstone. The wait staff, the menu, the beers all make this a great place to enjoy an evening of eating and beer drinking.

Beer Release News: Founders, KBS, Double Trouble, Stone

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old guardianSome new releases hitting the shelves this week and an update on Founders much anticipated release of their KBS. Hitting shelves, (or already on) this week we have a one from Stone. Old Guardian should be on your shelves currently. Here is the description of Old Guardian from Stone:

A beautiful bold barley wine. Massive malt and hop notes. Silver Medal winner at the 2000 Great American Beer Festival in the Barley Wine category. Gold Medal winner at the 2002 World Beer Championships in the Barley Wine Category. Look for it in the first quarter of each new year. Can be cellared or enjoyed upon its release.

Later this week be on the lookout for Founders All Day IPA. If you don’t see itallday by the weekend it should be hitting by the following Tuesday unless distribution gets delayed. Brewery description of All Day IPA:

The beer you’ve been waiting for. Keeps your taste satisfied while keeping your senses sharp. An all-day IPA naturally brewed with a complex array of malts, grains and hops. Balanced for optimal aromatic and a clean finish. The perfect reward for an honest day’s work and the ultimate companion to celebrate life’s simple pleasures.

kbsA lot of beer lovers are anticipating the release of KBS which I’ve heard can be hitting shelves as early as the middle of March. A Hy-Vee in Cedar Rapids has reported that they will be getting their double troubleshipment in by April 1st. I will let you know more when I hear about the earliest time that it will be available. One more note on Founders, Double Trouble will only be a 2 month release this year and should be available in May/June.

Anything I missed? Let me know! Cheers!

Beer Release News: Leinenkugels

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leiniesIf you are a fan of Leinenkugels Summer Shandy you will be in luck, as this summer they are releasing Orange Shandy along with a few more new beers in 2013. The following comes from www.beerpulse.com.

 Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company is set to introduce some new brands in 2013, according to the Inside Eau Claire podcast.

Representative, CJ Leinenkugel, made a brief appearance and discussed some of the company’s new brands in addition to a new keg system that it installed at the end of January.

First up will be Orange Shandy this spring. BeerPulse just reported on this one last week. Leinenkugel didn’t give too much away in terms of specifics but did mention that it will be part of a summer sampler pack of cans (sounds like this may be a new shandy sampler pack with Summer Shandy and Lemon Berry Shandy but we’ve reached out for clarity).

The Big Eddy Series will bring with it two new offerings in 2013, expanding the line’s portfolio to six.

Big Eddy Rye (Wheat) Wine will come out in June. Big Eddy Imperial Oktoberfest will come out in August.

Rounding out the new releases in the first few quarters will be Leinenkugel’s Hoppin’ Helles. He wasn’t certain whether this would be a mid or late summer release but to expect to see it debut sometime between July and September.

 

Beer Review #97: 3 Floyds Gumballhead

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gumballheadAmerican-style wheat beers had become relatively insignificant to me as I delved deeper into the craft beer world. I would often run into watery, flavorless, trivial American-wheat beers still wanting to give them a fair shake and then after trying, realizing why I should avoid them. I started my love of craft beer drinking Boulevard Wheat and I will still go back to that beer, it is maybe one of the most popular American wheats out there and a great stepping stone from the Buds, Coors, and Millers, have the world into the realm of craft beer. That all changed on a Saturday in Chicago, IL.

My wife’s family had a weekend planned in the Windy City and since my Dodgers were in town to face the Cubs it was the perfect opportunity to take the kids to a ball game. Beautiful weather, a couple of beers, the smell of stale piss, and hot dogs, made for a great day. Towards the end of the game my brother-in-law, Clem, asked if I would be interested in hitting a few bars around Wrigleyville. He was familiar with the area, and I wasn’t, so we got the ok from the rest of the family and started our wonderful beer journey. We hit up Goose Island and then went to what is known as an Iowa bar?, Merkles (www.merkleschicago.com). Seeing a sign advertising $3 draws of Dogfish Head Aprihop made it a relatively easy decision. Anyway……. after a few Aprihops I decided to try Gumballhead, this was before 3 Floyds blew up as a brewery, and I was blown away by it! Calling it an American-wheat is kind of misleading as this beer packs a pretty amazing hop punch, not much wheat present in this beer, maybe a bit on the palate at the end of the beer, but I don’t care, this a very drinkable, thirst quenching, brew. From the brewery:

An American Wheat Beer brewed with red wheat and boat loads of amarillo hops gives this summer brew a lemony finish. The slight haze in the bottle is from the bottle-conditioning, where yeast is added to the bottle for a secondary fermentation. Gumballhead is a Skingraft Comics hero. Check out Skingraft Comics and Records at http://www.skingraftrecords.com. Cheers!

I realize I brag up 3 Floyds a lot on this blog, but I think it is totally justifiable by the product they put out. Nothing is half-assed, just full-out great beer. If you haven’t tried their products yet, buy whatever you can and just appreciate the fact that you can get your hands on their products because they are one of, if not, the best thing going today.

REVIEW

Style: American Wheat

ABV: 5.5%

Purchased at: Merkle’s bar, but now head to Madison or Chicago or just go to Munster, IN.

Pour: Cloudy yellow pour with a thick white head.

Aroma: Citrus hops stand out.

Flavor: Citrus hops stand out, a tad bitter but mellowed by the malt. Not much wheat flavor.

Ratebeer.com rating: 98/100

Beeradvocate.com rating: 94/100

Overall: A-

My recommendation: Like I said above, buy any and all 3 F’s products.

Toppling Goliath Naughty Temple Delivery Update

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naughtyWith continued anticipation of Toppling Goliath’s beers hitting the bottling line; the first one that they are sending out, Naughty Temple, should on shelves within the next few days, weather depending. The following is a list of locations of where you can find this brew! This list comes from www.tgbrews.com. 

Below is a list of locations where Naughty Temple bottles will be delivered this week!

Tentative Delivery Schedule*
Tues: LAX/Madison
Wed: Des Moines/Cedar Falls
Thu: Iowa City/Cedar Rapids
Fri: Eau Claire/Hudson

*Keep in mind there is a snow storm coming our way, delivery schedule may change.

Beer Review #96: Sun King Osiris Pale Ale

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sun kingMy first trip to Indy was a few years ago during the Big 10 basketball tournament and one of the most memorable parts of that trip was a visit to the brand new Sun King brewery (www.sunkingbrewing.com). What made this place stick out to me was that they were just starting out and happened to be having a tasting event that day. For $10 we got 10 tickets, which means 10 drinks, as well as the opportunity to sit and visit or look around the brewery. As people were leaving they would give us their tickets which meant more beers for us. Needless to say, we got a little bit of buzz going but I remember the beers being very good.

Sun King doesn’t distribute outside of Indiana, yet, but my brother-in-law would bootleg Sun King products back to Iowa when they would return home to visit. Osiris isn’t a pale ale that is lighter in flavor, this pale ale bites back a bit with a nice resinous hop presence followed by some sweetness to balance it out. From the brewery:

Osiris Pale Ale is an assertive American Pale and is not meant for the timid. Crafted by our Brewers for our Brewers, Osiris blends three choice varieties of American hops to create a spicy, citrus hop punch that is sure to satisfy any hop head. Every batch of Osiris is dry-hopped towards the end of fermentation for maximum hop flavor, aroma and character.

Sun King products come in 16 oz cans with very cool artwork. Like the description says, an assertive American Pale. Nice citrus hops flavor with a nice bitter finish. A very easy beer to drink, well crafted by Sun King. I’m hoping they continue to push out great beers and eventually make it to a closer market for Eastern Iowans to enjoy.

REVIEW

Style:  American Pale Ale

ABV: 5.6%

Purchased at: Somewhere in Indiana

Pour: Light orange pour, nice white head.

Aroma: Citrus hops, a little pine, a bit of yeast.

Flavor: Reisinous hops, citrus, and a nice bitter touch.

Ratebeer rating:91

Beeradvocate rating:90

Overall: B

My recommendation: Once again, they don’t make it this far west but hopefully they will be able to make it to Chicago soon.

Talking with Toppling Goliath Brewery; Bottles on the shelves

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toppling goliathWe are getting close to the moment when we can head to our beer fridge, open the door, and stare in awe at a bottle of Pseudo Sue or maybe even Golden Nugget from Toppling Goliath. Yes, the bottles are coming! and they should be here soon. Nothing would be better than spending my time watching March Madness and downing a six (or 12) bottles of Pseudo Sue along with some grilled food or pizzas. With their bottling line operational I decided to ask them some questions, and they were polite enough to take the time to respond. Let’s get to know Toppling Goliath!

Hello Toppling Goliath!

1.The most important question: Which beers will be available in bottles and where can we pick them up at?

 – We will start out with pseudoSue and other hop partrol IPA’s and Pale ales.  We will fit Dorothy’s in at some point too.  Normal points such as Hy Vee and Dirty Johns…..Benz in CR.

 2. What is the story/background of Toppling Goliath brewery?

  -Started the brewery after messing around with home brewing and falling in love with the creation process of brewing and the detail required to produce a consistent, high quality ale that is hop forward yet balanced.

 3. Where did the name for the brewery come from?

 -We started a company called Toppling Goliath Inc in 2002 that helped start up businesses get over perceived and real obstacles such as business plans, financing, government regulation, etc.  Unable to achieve our goals with that, we kept the corporation active because we liked the name.  When we decided to start a brewery in 2009, after a 26 year career in the beverage industry, we did a dba because the named just seemed to fit in with our mission that goes against the global consolidation of beer, and focuses on the local dedication to full flavored, explosive beers that are fresher than anything produced for shelf life.  Cutting edge and ever changing, instead of pump the supply chain full, we are not worried about how much beer we ever make.  We are concerned that you find all our beer to be our best effort we can muster!

 4. You have been compared to many of the best breweries in the country and are quite often referred to as the best in the state of Iowa if not the midwest and beyond; what is your recipe for success? Do you try to use other breweries as inspiration?

   -I admire so many breweries, New Glarus is only a couple hours away and they have been pretty inspiring.  And the list of breweries I admire is basically a never ending smile in my history.  Our head brewer Mike Saboe joined me early and although like myself he has a long list of breweries he admires and draws inspiration from, we both really wanted to cut our own path with an extreme edge to existing styles and create styles of our complete own. 

 5. What led to your decision to put in a bottling line?

 -Our fans have requested to drink our beer in their homes.  We have to listen to them because they are, after all, our bosses!  Some day we will can as well.

6. Will seasonal be bottled?

   -Yes.

 7. Q: Would you classify your beers as traditional or more of a unique style?

  -A few of our beers are traditional, but more of them are our new unique style of hop forward, bold pale ales and IPAs unlike many of those similar styles in the world. 

Thanks for your time! 

                -You’re welcome, thanks for your business!

Clark Lewey

TG Chief

Dubuque Beerfest Review

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dubuqueSaturday February 16th brought the 2nd annual Dubuque Beer Festival located in the Mystique Ice Arena. Last year’s event was a huge success and from the looks of crowd yesterday, I would say year 2 was just as successful. Lots of high points from the day as well as some things that I think they can work on overall. Thanks to my brother-in-law Tyler for getting us the tickets!

The Good
*Live music makes beer events that much better, and the Lonely Goats did not disappoint playing a nice mix of music that paired well with the overall vibe of the day.
*Food- I think a must at any festival, and one thing that the Dubuque Beerfest did better than Coralville’s BrrrFest is having different meat and cheese vendors dishing out samples but also a restaurant parked in the back serving huge burgers, wings, and more.

*Bent River Brewing – stole the show again. Jalapeño Wheat, Uncommon Stout, Raspberry Wheat, Dry-Hopped Pale Ale, all sampled by me and overall the best beers available. I even asked one of their guys to mix their stout with the raspberry wheat for a 1/2 and 1/2 and they happily obliged to create a beer that was the best thing I tasted all day. These guys are the real deal and I’m looking forward to seeing their products on the shelves in Eastern Iowa.

*Potosi Brewing – I’ve been critical of their beers in the past and haven’t really enjoyed much of what they have offered but yesterday they had everyone of their beers on tap and also brought along their Hopsmith IPA, one of their newest offerings. The aroma of this beer was fantastic, with hops greeting you strongly. A very good brew.

*Grumpy Troll- Always like to try beers from these guys based out of Mt. Horeb, WI. Fun guys to talk with and always some fun beers to try.

THE NOT SO GOOD

*Bottled beer vendors- too much of this. I can go buy bottled beer from many of the vendors in the store, I was hoping to see a bigger selection of brewers bring in fresh kegs for us to try instead of opening bottles and giving us a very small sample.

*More Iowa and Wisconsin breweries – Coralville’s BrrFest had a ton of small Iowa breweries and while Dubuque’s had a few, I was hoping for more. I would have liked to see Madhouse, Worth, 515, Confluence, CIB, etc. coming from Iowa and Ale Asylum, Capital, Central Waters, New Glarus pulled down from Wisky, just didn’t happen.

*Toppling Goliath – they were advertised but were not there. My brother-in-law has yet to try their beers and I was bragging them up pretty good, but for whatever reason, they didn’t show.

Overall a great experience, caping the night off with a trip to Monk’s Cafe for a beer and I am looking forward to year 3 of the Dubuque Beer Festival.

Beerware: Dogfish and Sierra Nevada's New IPA Glass

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dogfishI consider myself an avid lover of all things beer, especially great IPAs. Dogfish Head brewery and Sierra Nevada brewery have collaborated on a glass design that is made to specifically enhance the taste of IPAs. The thin wall of the glass is made to keep the beer from getting warm too quickly and skinniness of the glass is made to bring out more of the hop aroma. I’m a firm believer in having the appropriate glassware for beer, sometimes it’s difficult to have all different vessels and the room to keep them but I think I’ll have room for one more. If you are interested in the glass check out the link for ordering info: http://www.dogfish.com/store/glassware/dogfish-ipa-glass.htm

So, what do you think? Is the proper glassware necessary? If you have tried the new IPA glass did you notice any differences in your drinking experience? Please drop a line letting us know!

Beerware: Dogfish and Sierra Nevada’s New IPA Glass

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dogfishI consider myself an avid lover of all things beer, especially great IPAs. Dogfish Head brewery and Sierra Nevada brewery have collaborated on a glass design that is made to specifically enhance the taste of IPAs. The thin wall of the glass is made to keep the beer from getting warm too quickly and skinniness of the glass is made to bring out more of the hop aroma. I’m a firm believer in having the appropriate glassware for beer, sometimes it’s difficult to have all different vessels and the room to keep them but I think I’ll have room for one more. If you are interested in the glass check out the link for ordering info: http://www.dogfish.com/store/glassware/dogfish-ipa-glass.htm

So, what do you think? Is the proper glassware necessary? If you have tried the new IPA glass did you notice any differences in your drinking experience? Please drop a line letting us know!