New Busch Marketing - Class it up!

The drunk hunter couldn't find where he set his beer!

I saw a case of this at the grocery store yesterday and didn't have the heart to take a picture of it so I stole this one.

What's next, a Wal-Mart version of Natty?

Tasting Night

Come all beer geeks! Some friends and I organized a nice little tasting on Saturday night downtown and a thanks to Rian for hosting. I'll give the quick and dirty run down: We started the night off with some wheat home brew and moved into some Missouri beers with the Seeyoulator and Schlafly Tripel. AleSmith's Horny Devil was the next victim. Then a rare brew called "L'Ange Tombé" Fallen Angel brewed once by De Proefbrouwerij for Julios liquor store. At this point I can't remember which order, but we dove into a 120 minute IPA from Dogfish Head which is over 21% abv. This is a love/hate beer and I tend to appreciate the flavor. You can't hide alcohol at that point but the sugars and hop flavor are great. This is basically an overdone American Barleywine and a slow, slow sipper. Of course I had to finish some of the tasters as I was not driving. A Pliny the Elder (no explanation necessary) and then to Smoke From the Oak from Captain Lawrence Brewing in New York. This was extremely sour and not pleasant to me. Matt from the Flying Saucer brought a Stone's '07 Old Gaurdian Barleywine that was probably my favorite of the night. At this point we had to call it a night even though there were several other amazing brews that were brought to the table.

Heard it Through the Grape Vine

If you follow my blog posts, you'll know that I brewed up an Oatmeal 'Raisin' Stout for the latest KC Irishfest Stout competition. Then I see this picture today. Maybe FCB was reading my blog (probably not):

Not Your Uncle's Back Pocket Chew

Unfortunately this is not bottled for distribution.
Check out the interesting process of making Chicha from DFH.
Now that's a beer adjucnt!

Boulevard Hop Day gets 9 out of 9

Today was 9/9/09. A very, very rainy day in Kansas City, but a very fun day for myself. It all started a few days back when KC Worthog met Steven Pauwels (brewmaster) at a Boulevard dinner. He invited her to a special day at Boulevard for wet-hopping the Nutcracker Ale. She was gracious enough to invite me (hophead) along. The Chinook hops were picked just yesterday in the Yakima Valley in Washington. They were overnight shipped (as they have been for years) to Kansas City where Steven and crew quickly get them into the secondary fermentation tanks to dry hop (or wet hop in this case). We showed up promptly at 8 a.m. to meet Steven. He showed us around the brewery from place to place but I think he was just pacing in anticipation for the hops to arrive. 8:30 and still no hops. We made our way to the microbiology lab where we learned about how tasting panels work and the quality control checks in place to test for off-flavors. There was another lab where new equipment is used to measure alcohol content and other consistency issues.

Once we made it to Steven's office he plucked up a couple of extremely rare bottles for us to try. A Rye aged in Templeton Rye Whiskey barrels. I thought it was a nice tribute to our neighboring state, Iowa. This is unblended so should be pretty raw with oak. Also donated was a bottle of trial Wheatwine that was aged with Pinot and Chardonnay. Now this brew also came from a barrel and was primed with grape juice. More on these bottles after the tasting...

Because the hops did not arrive on time, we headed back to our places of work in waiting for a call from Steven. The hops arrived and I darted back over to the brewery during lunch only to find a large crew of beer-loving fellows beginning to bag the hops. Once the door opened up you could smell the lupulin right away. Steven found me a pair of gloves and with my nice work clothes on, I dove right in with my free labor. I found myself stuffing hop bags full of these 2 inch cones and prepping them for the fermentation tanks. This lunch hour was far from some reheated leftovers at my desk.

As time was running out for me, I collected some left over hops from the ground to smell back at work. After it was all over I met up with Jeremy from Boulevard who came to our 3rd Big Brew Day to get a hardy send off back to work. It was a great day that even all the rain could not get me down.

GO TIGERS!

Two things I like, beer and Mizzou. Two things I don't like, bad beer and poor marketing. Anheuser-Busch decided to go for a new marketing scheme by offering up Bud Light in college colors to promote "Team Pride". If you take pride in your beer you will not take pride in this terrible decision. This article mentions Purdue, but we all know the black and gold represents the University of Missouri for the St. Louis, MO based company.

September Drought

I promised myself to not purchase any alcohol or alcohol related items for the month of September. The reason behind this is my compulsive demeanor to where I see something I want and all of a sudden I have to have it. I could use a month off of collecting bottles, finding rare beers and purchasing brewing equipment. This should give me more time at home and less stress on my wallet. If you'd like to join in with me, I won't be so lonely. I already have one person who is interested.

Now this does not mean I can't drink. It has nothing to do with drinking too much at all. So I have plenty in my fridge to get rid of and if I go out and someone buys me a round I will not complain.

The end and the beginning: Yesterday was the last day to purchase any beer so I went to Barley's in Overland Park where they hosted a Beer School. The good people from Freestate Brewery came out and did a tasting where they spoke about the ingredients and processes used. Most everyone there was a homebrewer so I enjoyed the pace of the class. My only complaint was there were so many people that I could hardly hear what they were saying. Good job though and next month will be Steven Pauwels (and someone else from Belgium) to discuss Belgian beers. You should definitely chip in to allow me to go on my drought month. :) The first day in October will be a glorious comeback as a keg of Canadian Breakfast Stout will be tapped at Flying Saucer. People from all around are sure to show up for this event and I truly hope to be there.