6 Beers.

Tonight we talk about 6 brews that came in the form of 6 oz samplers. These are all drafts so I will just talk about the taste. Lighting was low in this bar so I couldn't get a great pic of the colors.
1.  Depot Street- Ride the Rails-  This pale ale was nice to drink. It gives you a smooth taste all the way through. Normally a small brew pale ale gives me a bad taste at the end. (Think gym socks) This one held true with a solid hoppy taste throughout.
2.  Mayday- Velvet Hustle-  Maybe they meant I.P.A.  because that's what I'm tasting here. No standard pale. Much more bleh.
3.  Laguintas - Pale Ale--  Stop it......... just stop it.......  like a really bad lime meets a beer opened for 3 days with a little fizz. Yeah. It really is as bad as it sounds. Maybe the Brown/Red/Amber will make up for it.
4.  Stoudt's- Revel Red. A good try at a red. Very roasted. Really roasted. Almost over roasted. And you really taste it on the back end. Doesn't help that it had gotten a little warm.
5.  Jackalope - Beerwalker - ok it tastes as bad as the name.
6.  New Holland- Sundog- Rounded out very nice. Very smooth. No end bite and no after taste. I will end with a pint of this.

The tour of the independent brewer is an interesting. Some have walked the test of time and have perfected their blend. Others certainly have not.  The journey of discovering all of them is fun as heck non the less.

Happy sipping. Please sip responsibly.

Hops+Crafts tap room & growlers

I had the opportunity to visit this place while traveling to Nashville, TN. I was on business and bored in my hotel so I figured I would find a beer bar. This is exactly what I found. Big on beer. Featuring over 50 beers, all primarily local.  They had 3 stouts so I decided to try them all.  I will get into those later.

First I want to talk about the service, which in a word, GREAT. The bartender came from around the counter to show me the beer menu and gave me the breakdown of where they all were from. This struck me as pretty cool. They were busy, but not so much and yet he took the time to do this.

The decor of the place is metro/industrial. Makes you feel like man....... but a cool man.

I was hungry..........  sausage pizza on wheat. Smelled great.....  tasted great.

Now for the beers:
1.  Good People- Coffee Oatmeal Stout-  Good beer. Didn't feel heavy. No yeast aftertaste and I think I tasted a little oatmeal.  I will have another.
2.  French Broad- Anvil Porter - This French broad must have been a dirty where. YUCK!!!!!!
3.  Left Hand- Milk Stout- Pretty good. Nothing special about this one. Tasted like a standard local brew.

No pictures of the tap because I couldn't sit at the bar. But the bartender was nice enough to hand write and place them in the proper order.

All in all I look forward to coming back and completing the list.  

Ended the night with a Sprecher Hard Root Beer. My goodness. This smelled and tasted just like real root beer...... but at 5%  this packed a PUNCH. Definitely good beer. 

Yazoo Hefeweizen

It's been a while but I think it is time to get the journey back on track in a documented form. I've still been on the journey, just haven't been talking much. Now back to this next Yazoo creation:  Hefeweizen.  This is actually a pretty good beer. Yazoo brewing company is out of Nashville, TN. This 5% alcohol creation comes in tasting almost like a nutty chocolate banana. Can't say I'm mad at the taste on the front end. The back side, however has a little taste of over yeast. Not too bad, but........  4 or 5 down and that will probably hurt.

Guinness Family

I must take the time to post about what is certainly my favorite beer line.

I remember my first Guinness Stout ever.  I was in the U.S. Navy stationed in Gulfport, MS.  I had a friend that consistently drank the dark, milky beer.  From the sight of it, I couldn't understand how anyone could actually like that crap.  It was dark (my first introduction to a black beer), and thick as a freshly melted milkshake.  I can remember sitting on the back of my friend's jeep as he would always say, "You have to acquire the taste, but once you do, you will be hooked for sure".  My response was always.... "Man, whatever!  Give me a Red Stripe!".  Finally my day came.  I was out of Red Stripe (my favorite beer at the time), and he was still going strong on the Guinness.  I decided to be lazy.  I would just drink one.... or two.. or three of his beers and go get more for myself tomorrow.  "Heck.  Can't be that bad... He's drinking it." That was my logic, and with that I asked for a Guinness.  First taste was just as I imagined it would be... milky, slightly oily, and musty..... Once my mouth finally straightened out.... and my friend stopped laughing at said face..... I decided to have another sip.  I found myself liking the beer more and more with each passing sip.  They also went amazingly well with bidis (my chosen smoke of the time..... Man I miss those things sometimes!).  Needless to say, I was hooked.  I soon became a fan of the black beer that I had scoffed for so long.  My friend would later, and consistently, remind me about how he told me that it was a good beer.

I have been a regular fan of Guinness from that point, enjoying the Extra Stout (cold and room temp), the Draught (remember when they had the little ball in the bottle), Foreign Extra Stout (fantastic), and the Black Lager.  I can honestly say that I have enjoyed each and every one of them immensely.  This is the beer that I ask for first when I go anywhere.

Where do you buy: Any major beer retailer
Taste:  9 of 10 (taster's choice!)
Alcohol content:  Strong I'm sure!
Guinness Brewery St. James Gate Dublin

Yazoo Pale Ale

Now here is a nice flavor.  Yazoo's Pale Ale.  The brew is a little fruity, light and has a very minimal after taste.  Yazoo is a Nashville, TN brewer (obviously, the specialty beer store I chose this time is very partial to Nashville!).  The beer itself is one that allows you to certainly drink more than one.  I certainly could.  The strength of the beer is not one that will make you regret tasting it.  It may not become your daily driver, but it can certainly hold it's own among the APA's.

Now, for the alcohol content. 5.8% ( or so.) it certainly comes in with a little kick at the end (or maybe it was the Remy 1738 that I was enjoying along with it...... DON'T JUDGE ME!!). The beer can certainly give a kick within 4 if you are a serious beer consumer.

Purchased - Beer Specialty Store
Alcohol %- 5.8%
Taste Rating: 8 of 10

Shiner WILD HARE Pale Ale

Obviously, it doesn't take much to make me go for a beer.  Shiner's Wild Hare is just another example of this.  The pale ale is just that, a pretty straight forward pale ale.  Nothing extraordinary about the brew, simply a solid, well made brew.  Perhaps the only knock on this one is that it has a slight bite at the end of each sip.  I had this one while I was outside sanding my bike....... it did the trick to refresh when I needed it (oh, I'll share a pic of my fixie in progress too!)

The brew itself is an American brew coming from Spoetzl Brewery, Shiner, TX.  Overall, I wouldn't make this one my daily beer, but I wouldn't turn it down if offered it either.

Taste Scale  6
Alcohol Content 5.5% (Good times!)
Purchased from a beer specialty store.

Here's the bike in progress...... trust me..... I know what I'm doing! I left the chain and the bottom bracket because I'll be replacing them anyway.  I'll remove them right before paint.

The Collection Begins

So, I'm collecting the tops of all of these new beers that I try.  I have no idea what I am going to do with them.  It seemed like a pretty good idea at the time.  I'm committed to it now.  I'll find a purpose for them later.  Typing this, I've been able to rationalize:

1. It's a good way to track the beers I have had already.
2. It could be described as art in the right person's hands.... (certainly not mine!)
3. The pretty colors.

Don't judge me!!!!