KOTBR #25 - Good Beer Show (or Sorry About Your Car, Chris)

I'll start my story the day after where I spent about an hour deodorizing the back of Chris' car.

Yeah, I know. It's gross and kind of embarrassing. There's no excuse for that at my age. Thankfully though, Mike was there to take care of me and he did an amazing job. Hopefully the car bears no memory of the event anymore either.

So, yeah. Onto the Warmup Beer Thing:

Upland -- Ard Ri

This is Upland's version of an Imperial Irish Red. It was indeed a beautiful brownish red color. But neither 'Imperial' nor 'Irish' came to mind when I was drinking it. I'd give it 2 Mugs if I had to rate it.

Onto the reviews:

Two Brothers -- Hop Juice -- 3 Mugs

Now I've had Hop Juice on tap and I remember it being very good. And while I was a little less impressed this time, I still liked it and I could see myself drinking it on a muggy summer evening. The taste was smooth and surprisingly not alcoholic even though it is a near 10% A.B.V.

Stone Brewing Co. -- Oaked Arrogant Bastard -- 3 Mugs

If you were expecting the usual (very powerful), you may be disappointed. The beer is a more oaky and mild than the Arrogant Bastard and tastes very smooth.

Three Floyds -- Fantabulous Resplendence -- 2.5 Mugs

This beer had initial punch, but the taste fizzled out. Three Floyd's beer to me overall (with the exception of the Dark Lord) is kind of like a big, dumb, slobbery dog. You still love it even if it never brings you what you really want. Instead of the newspaper you get a dead squirrel or instead of a balanced, full-flavored finish you get a shallow one. I know Three Floyd's is pretty high on many lists so maybe I'm missing something. Maybe someone can help?

We also brought Brasserie des Rocs Abbaye and the De ProefBrouwerij Lochristi Lozen Boer to the party and they were both Belgian-tastic, of course.

After that was a little fuzzy. We went to the Heorot and then towards home where things were, well...gross.

Anyways, we had a great time with the folks from Good Beer Show. Thanks for inviting us!

Random summary of beer

I recognize that I'm not so good about posting much anymore. When work and school doesn't have my attention, it goes to my family. And rightfully so. But I still love beer, and bringing you news about good beer. I have to apologize to my fellow Knights for not being so prompt on stuff these days.

So this is my summary of what should be several different posts.

1. Muncie rocked. We had a great time hanging out with our friends on the Good Beer Show. We're show #128, which I'm guessing will go up sometime this week. We drank a lot of high ABV beers, none of which I thought were bad. Mike told you what they are in his post. The Fickle Peach and the Heorot are both cool, and you have to check em out. Thanks Jeffrey T., Traci and the Gang! And thanks Mike for driving home!

2. I'm not too sad that I didn't get to participate in the Retro Beer Challenge Round 1. Although, Rolling Rock was the very first beer that I liked enough to finish. 11 years ago - how's that for retro? How sad is that? Dos Equis was the 2nd. Thanks Old Latrobe, PA!

3. BadaBoomz has almost free valet parking now. It's free if your bill is $30 or more. Otherwise, it's only $2. Thanks Mike!

4. Deano's is hosting Brat-toberfest on Saturday, September 15th. Music, beer, brats. What more could you ask for? Oh, yeah, we'll be there, too. On a side note, I've now hung out a Deano's the last two Friday nights, and I've just come to re-appreciate what good shits they are there. Thanks Deano, Jody, Nick, Laura, and Michelle!!

5. The Hop Shop has Bell's Batch 8000 in six packs for $13.49, Two Brothers Heliocentric Bragot in a 22oz. for $6.49, and Upland Lambics in 750 mLs for $14.99. If you don't know, The Hop Shop also has free beer tastings every Saturday until 8pm. Thanks Courtney!

6. When Jason and I were in Chicago on Monday for a Cubs vs. Cardinals, White Sox vs. Royals double header, we first stopped at this fantastic beer store in Wrigleyville. It was awesome! My favorite purchase was something I can't get in Indiana, but is one my new top three favorite beers in the whole world - Racer 5 IPA by Bear Republic in Healdsburg, CA. I bought a lot of beer. So did Jason. We now have a lot of beer. Thanks Binny's and Bear Republic!

7. My very favorite beer of all-time is the Optimator. Thanks Spaten!

I think that's all for now.

KOTBR #25 - Good Times with The Good Beer Show

Saturday marked another milestone for Hoosier Beer Geek as we celebrated our quarter century roundtable in Muncie Indiana as guests of the fine folks at the Good Beer Show. Although Chris had appeared on the show before, it was a new experience for Gina and me. I've been listening to the Good Beer Show a lot lately, so it was definitely interesting to put faces with voices.

On to the beer: We had been asked to bring a few selections along with us, and the folks at The Fickle Peach (Studio B) were great to us in that they didn't mind. We had stopped at The Hop Shop on the way up and picked up some Two Brothers Hop Juice and Stone's Oak Aged Arrogant Bastard. The folks at the Good Beer Show brought Three Floyd's Fantabulous Resplendence (X). As if that wasn't enough, Gina and I brought some of our private home stock - a Brasserie des Rocs Abbaye and a De ProefBrouwerij Lochristi Lozen Boer. Reading the list now, I find it hard to believe that we didn't realize what sort of night we were in for.

For a warm-up beer, I went with a BBC Jefferson's Reserve Bourbon Barrel Stout (on tap at The Fickle Peach); If you read me regularly, you're probably wondering why I went with a style I claimed I was tired of just two months ago. The answer? Sometimes you come around. And it was really cold in the car. Combined with a newfound (and hopefully short-lived) fear of all things hoppy, the Jefferson's Reserve seemed to have my name all over it. I found the beer to be a bit milder than other bourbon barrel stouts I've had in the past, and would give it 3.5 mugs if we were officially reviewing it. But we're not.

We were reviewing the Hop Juice, a double India Pale Ale made in Warrenville, Illinois by Two Brother's Brewing Company. If you listen to the Good Beer show you might hear me say that this beer has a buttery, biscuity nose, followed up with a hoppy punch and a full rounded out flavor. It's a smooth beer that I'd give 3.0 mugs.

Next up was Three Floyds Fantabulous Resplendence. I know that Three Floyds is Godhead for many fans of craft beer, but there's something there that's lost on me - I feel like the brewery's focus is on overpowering the pallet, and that subtlety is lost in the effort. Resplendence did nothing to change that opinion; It's a grapefruit/pineapple punch in the face. My initial thought was that this was a 1 mug beer, but then Chris asked me to check that score against Fat Tire. I have, but I'm still going with a 1.0 mug rating. I couldn't finish this beer, nor did I have any desire to.

Last up as far as reviewed beers go was Stone's Oak Aged Arrogant Bastard. Unlike the baseball bat to the face that was Stone's Double Bastard (or the smaller bat to the face that is regular old Arrogant Bastard), Oak Aged Arrogant Bastard is a milder beer. But it's also a one dimensional beer - a straight oak taste that reminded me of mulch and state parks and yardwork. But it wasn't an entirely bad experience - in fact I thought that Oak Aged Arrogant Bastard was worthy of 3.04 mugs.

At that point we were finished with our Good Beer Show appearance, but since we had brought more beer from home, we started into them. Both the Brasserie des Rocs Abbaye and the De ProefBrouwerij Lochristi Lozen Boer were your typical Belgian style beers - big and fruity, with a high ABV. I didn't take enough notes to give a full review, but I would like to note that I preferred the Abbaye, and I'd like to revisit it.

We had a fantastic time with everyone in Muncie - we actually visited the Heorot after our GBS appearance, where we got to see what Indy is missing - a giant beer hall with skulls and swords and an endless amount of taps. I wish I could have partaken a little more in the selection, but I was operating as designated driver.

It was great to see the Good Beer Show haunts, and well as meet everyone. My thanks go out to Jeffery T, Vickie, Randy, Charlie, and our personal Muncie beerhall tour guide, Traci. We had a great time - at least until we got in the car for the drive home.

Cross-fermentation

As mentioned the other day, Mike, Gina & I are heading to Muncie on Saturday to check out the Heorot. We confirmed today that we're also going to be the guests on The Good Beer Show, and they're letting us pick the beer. Now these guys know beer - we're mere amateurs next to them. So, as Mike said in an email today, we're going to need to break out our A game.

So we've decided to man up with Hop Juice, a limited run 9.9% Double IPA from Two Brothers Brewing Company in Warrenville, IL. Self-described as "for Hopheads only", Hop Juice has a lot of positive buzz out in the beer geek world. We'll see if we need more beer after that . . .

Look on both sites next week for the cross-collaboration!

Ready Heorot, here we come!

We're jumping off the schedule this Saturday and taking a little road trip up I-69 to Muncie to check out the fabled Heorot Pub and Draughthouse, home to hundreds of beers on draft and in the bottle and the usual home for The Good Beer Show. I've been to the bar before on several occassions when hanging out with my friend Traci from the GBS, and it really is awesome. It's got great chartacter & atmosphere, and a beer list that will blow your mind. We've been talking for months about starting to roadtrip out of Indy for some reviews, and due to the fact that I'll be a childless bachelor this weekend, at least Mike, Gina, and I are seizing the opportunity.

2007 Indiana Microbrewers Festival | Film at 11

Video from the Indiana Microbrewers Festival, courtesy of Jeffrey T. of the Good Beer Show. We make a few appearances in the video. Jason needs to get a Screen Actors Guild card.

Warning: Probably not safe for work.

A Little Help For Our Friends at the Good Beer Show

Here's a little news from our friends at The Good Beer Show:

Nominations are open for this year’s podcast award. Please give us a nomination from July 1st through 15th at podcastawards.com for the “Food and Drink” category.

The folks over at the Good Beer Show do quality work, and they're hoping to be a 3 time winner of the award this year, so stop by podcastawards.com nomination page and help our friends out when you get a chance.

Shout out to GBS

Just wanted to quickly say thanks to JeffreyT at the Good Beer Show - our award-winning, podcasting, beer geek compatriots up in Muncie - for putting up our new logo on their site.

FYI, JeffreyT and I are trying to find a mutual good date for us to do another cross-collaboration up in Muncie. We'll let you know when we have something worked out.

I'll take a Coors Lite, please!

I got the chance to hang out with an old friend last night, who you all know as Traci on The Good Beer Show, who has been in town all week for a conference. We had planned to do a special guest review - a little cross-collaboration between new beer media. Unfortunately, I woke-up yesterday morning so congested that I could barely breathe. I went through an entire box of Puffs yesterday. So I needed a beer, yet I couldn't taste it. I told Traci that I may as well have ordered Coors Lite because I couldn't taste it anyway, but I was afraid someone would come in and see me.

We started the evening off at Deano's (where, apparently, the rest of the Knights of the Beer Roundtable are meeting tomorrow evening to review the season's first batch of Oberon without me, following the tapping of the keg party tonight), but Nick wasn't there, and the place was pretty dead. So we each finished off a Two-Hearted, and hit the road to MacNiven's. Traci was immediately impressed with MacNiven's when she found out that Dreadnaught, her Precious, was on tap. By the time I finished my Dreadnaught, I was finally feeling a little more lively, and plunged into a Dogfish 60. So in all, I had 3 very hoppy beers, each with a decidely distinct aftertaste, and couldn't taste one damn drop of it!

It's Up!

Good Beer Show #99, featuring Jason and myself, has been posted and is available for download. Check it out!

Helluva Week for the Good Beer Show

Our friends over on the Good Beer Show are simply our heroes. Not only have the devised a system for getting their drinks for free (which we got to partake in last week), they are truly darlings of the media. On Thursday, the GBS is going to be featured on WISH-TV here in town on the 6:00pm segment. And to top that, they got a mention in yesterday's Wall Street Journal, under an article on craft beers.

These guys (and girls) really know their shit when it comes to good beer. We're amateurs in comparison. If you haven't ever downloading their show, check out their site and do so. In fact, download episode #99, which should be up in the next day or two. It's the one we taped with them on Thursday night. We had a blast doing the show, and I think we're going to do a joint show/review between them and us coming up in mid-December.

From Jason: A Stop at The Hop Shop

I have great admiration for young adults who are not afraid of taking a chance and investing in themselves and their ability to make a concept work. My college friend Adam is 29 years old and has his own successful urban planning and design firm. My drinking buddy Chris is also 29 and has helped create a not-for-profit that focuses on fatherhood in Central Indiana . And then there’s my new hero, Mr. Courtney, who is 27 and owns and operates a specialty liquor store.

I’m referring to him as Mr. Courtney because a.) a success like this deserves the respect of being constantly referred to as “mister” and b.) Courtney is his first name and you should not mistake him for a woman. Mr. Courtney is the proprietor of the Hop Shop on 96th Street . And being the generous man that he is, the Hop Shop hosted a fundraiser for Chris’s not-for-profit Dads Inc. The fundraiser was a beer sampling event and silent auction. I’m hoping they make this a monthly event.

The samplings include 8 beers from Cavalier Distributing and World Class Beverages. These beers were: Founders Black Rye, Breakenridge Christmas Ale, Bison Gingerbread Ale, Cumberland Pale Ale, Bell ’s White Ale, Barley Island Black Majic Java Stout, Anchor’s 2006 Christmas Ale, and Avery Old Jubilation. My favorite were the Black Rye, the Java Stout, and the Anchor Christmas. Also at the tasting were fellow knights Jim and Kelly. We all agreed that events like there are great opportunities to expand your tastes in beer.

There were also wines and liqueurs to sample. I sampled the three whiskeys that were available: a California single malt, a blend scotch, and a single malt peaty scotch. The single malt scotch burned like hell, the California single malt was okay, and the blended scotch was my favorite. In general, I prefer bourbons and blends. I don’t have enough chest hair to drink single malt scotch, especially of the peaty variety.

The event was a success, beating attendance and dollars raised expectations. It is almost certain that we will see this become an annual event.

Chris and Mr. Courtney had invited the Good Beer Show to come down and do their show live from the Hop Shop after the event was over. GBS is an award winning podcast based in Muncie that includes beer reviews by a group of intelligent beer geeks and music. And Chris, Mr. Courtney, and I were invited to sit in, drink, and contemplate with them.

As a warm up, Chris and I started with 3 Floyd’s Dreadnaught, a hoppy IPA with a strong citrus smell and flavor. On the show, we reviewed six beers. Unibroue 10 and 11 were the first beers. These are anniversary beers that contained 10 and 11 percent alcohol respectively. Both remind me of good, sweet, bubbly wines with the 11 being the better drinking beer of the two. That was followed by Samichlaus and Olde Suffolk, both great old-world style beers that are better served at room-temperature. And it was followed with Bell ’s Hopslam and Devil Dancer. Quite a bit of time was spent comparing Hopslam and Dreadnaught. While some said they tasted almost the same, I argued that the Dreadnaught’s fruity taste and smell was more overpowering than the Hopslam’s. And the Devil Dancer was also a very hoppy beer, but with no overpowering fruit flavors or aromas. The last two beers consumed were my favorite of the six. Mr. Courtney was very generous with his beers last night (he did stop short of my recommendation that we open a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle’s 20 Year Aged Bourbon. Can’t say I blame him; it’s $139 a bottle).

I learned several things from last night. There are many people with more ambition and guts than I. There are many people who are more intelligent about beer than I (the crew from the Good Beer Show were great…we’ve been invited up for future broadcasts). I’m not anti-hop as much as I am anti-fruity. And when I go out for beer “tastings”, I should always have a D.D.

Last Chance For Beer!

This is the final reminder about tomorrow night's A Taste of Good Beer & Fine Wine (& a Silent Auction) at The Hop Shop. Tickets are only $10, and you can get them at the door. Included in the ticket price is the alochol you sample and some light snacks. All proceeds from ticket sales and the silent auction will go to benefit the programs of Dads, Inc. All Knights of the Beer Roundtable will be in attendance, as well as Jeffrey T. and the gang from The Good Beer Show. It's also a great opportunity to get a jump start on your holiday shopping with some very unique and interesting packages at the silent auction. Hope to see you there!

Good Beer Show is Golden (Again!)

Congratulations to Jeffrey and the gang of The Good Beer Show for their 2nd consecutive People's Choice Podcast Award for the Food & Drink category!