As has become tradition at Hoosier Beer Geek, we like to wrap up our roundtables with a summary review to make things easier to sort out later. We've been so busy recently that the roundtables have run into each other, but I'm about to tie them all together in a nice little bow in hope that the confusion is behind us.
Roundtable #24 - Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA - All six knights made it to Deano's Vino for our one year anniversary - we were all lucky to make it back out Deano's door alive. + Vomit.
Chris - 5 Mugs, Jason - 5 Mugs, Jim - 5 Mugs, Kelly - 5 Mugs, Mike - 5 Mugs, Gina - 5 Mugs. Our first ever perfect score. 5.00 Mugs average.
Roundtable #25 - The Good Beer Show - Chris, Gina, and Mike take a trip up to Muncie to visit the Good Beer Show folks at the Fickle Peach and the Heorot. Chris sits out the mug ratings, which probably explains why they're so low. + Vomit.
Two Brother's Hop Juice: Gina - 3 Mugs, Mike - Mugs. 3.00 Mugs average.
Stone Oaked Arrogant Bastard: Gina - 3 Mugs, Mike - 3.04 Mugs. 3.02 average.
Three Floyd's Fantabulous Resplendence: Gina - 2.5 Mugs, Mike - 1.0 Mugs. 1.75 average. Sorry Floyds. I'm going to try to make it up to you.
Roundtable #26 - The Retro Beer Challenge - Jim, Kelly, Mike, and Gina visit the Melody Inn to begin a series of beer tastings to find the best of the worst. Scores are then weighted in a method unlike anything we've done before because this is a tournament. Surprisingly enough, this review was minus vomit.
Budweiser: Jim - 2 points, Kelly - 2 points, Gina - 3 points, Mike - 3 points. 10 points total.
Rolling Rock: Jim - 3 points, Kelly - 3 points, Gina - 2 points, Mike - 2 points. 10 points total.
Pabst Blue Ribbon: Jim - 1 point, Kelly - 1 point, Gina - 1 point, Mike - 1 point. 4 points total.
Budweiser and Rolling Rock advance in the tournament.
There! I've done it. A complete summary of our last three roundtables. It's a miracle. Hopefully we'll never be this disorganized again.
Showing posts with label Hop Juice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hop Juice. Show all posts
27 August 2007
26 August 2007
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!
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!
20 August 2007
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.
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.
16 August 2007
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!
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!
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