666. Brewery Het Anker – Lucifer Belgian Ale
Well, here it is… The beer of the beast – number 666. So to mark this number, I went out and specifically bought this beer. I figured it was appropriate for the occasion, and safe – as it is, ironically, a Trappist monk brewed ale. I just had Russian River’s Damnation in preparation for this landmark, and it’s a good day to enjoy a few beers, since it’s a cold rainy/snowy day stuck indoors. The...
665. Russian River Brewing – Damnation Golden Ale
It’s a snowy and rainy Saturday afternoon, good for staying home and enjoying a few beers. As I approached the beer of the beast, #666, I was considering what I should have for that dark brew. This is definitely one I considered, but I thought it might be more appropriate to have it right now, signaling my impending damnation before I have #666. I picked up this beer during my trip to Seattle last year, and fortunately it...
664. Brauerei Beck & Co. – Beck’s Sapphire
It’s bitterly cold here tonight with -20 windchill, so we just settled down to watch some TV in the warmth of the house. It was kind of a rough end of the day at work, so I almost went for the bourbon rather than the beer. However, I snatched this at random from the beer fridge as I came in from work. I think I picked this up this past fall as part of a mixed 6 pack I got on vacation in Florida. Location: Poured into a slightly...
663. Ale Asylum – Hopalicious American Pale Ale
I’m sitting here working on work stuff with the GRAMMY awards on TV. A “polar vortex” is blowing in outside and the wind sounds incredibly intense outside. I just had Revolution’s Double Fist, which seemed to have a good amount of Cascade hops (I’m guessing), so I thought I’d have this one next, since the label says, “Eleven separate editions of Cascade hops give this American pale ale...
662. Revolution Brewing – Double Fist Double Pale Ale
It’s been a fairly relaxing weekend, cleaning up around the house and catching up on reviews from last weekend when we did a small tavern tour of Chicago. After working on some of those reviews, I had a craving for a beer. I picked up this one on a work trip to Chicago this past fall, when I was looking for local brews. I’ve heard good things about Revolution, so I was looking forward to trying their double IPA. I also put...
661. Pennsylvania Brewing Co. – Nut Roll Ale Winter Ale
I just finished dinner, along with a great dessert my wife made with crescent rolls and marshmellows. I’ve got several beer reviews to catch up on from our Tales, Taverns & Towns tour of Chicago last weekend, but I didn’t want that to stop me from enjoying one tonight. This beer was given to me by my sister and dad, from their trip to Pittsburgh a while ago. I’ve been waiting to enjoy this until the holidays, and...
660. Goose Island – Bourbon County Brand Barleywine
I’ve had multiple beers tonight during our Tales, Taverns & Towns tour of Chicago. Our last stop of the night was Sheffield’s, and I discovered the “Beer School” room, which had some awesome beers. Since I figured this was my last beer of the evening, I went big with this one. I love their Bourbon County Brand Stout, so I was looking forward to trying this one. Location: On tap and served in a small snifter glass...
659. Off Color Brewing – Apex Predator
Our last stop of the evening on the Tales, Taverns & Towns tour of Chicago was Sheffield’s. They had a lot of great beers on tap, and this one was recommended by our guide Liz. Off Color is one of the newer breweries in Chicago, and I’d also heard many great things about John Laffler and the barrel program he ran at Goose Island. So, I was looking forward to trying one of his beers. Location: On tap and served in a...
658. Spiteful Brewing – Spiteful IPA
We’re on our way to the final stop on the Tales, Taverns & Towns tour of Chicago. We ran out of beer on the trolley bus after our second stop, and Liz, our guide, picked up some more craft beers. I’ll admit, I hadn’t heard of Spiteful Brewing before, and saw they were another Chicago brewery, so I thought I’d give this one a try. I thought the can art was pretty cool, but as I’ve learned, that...
657. Three Floyds Brewing – Gumballhead
Our third stop on the Tales, Taverns & Towns tour of Chicago was Mrs. Murphy & Sons Irish Bistro. Our guide Liz told us a great story about this bar, a former funeral home, and what used to happen here in the days of gangsters and prohibition. This was probably the nicest place we stopped at, as it was decorated nicely and had a lot of local craft beers on tap. Since we aren’t able to get Three Floyds beers downstate,...
656. Metropolitan Brewing – Flywheel Bright Lager
Our second stop on the Tales, Taverns & Towns tour of Chicago was the Old Town Alehouse. The had a few local beers on tap, and so I picked a couple of them I hadn’t had yet – this one and Goose Island Green Line Pale Ale – and let my wife pick which one she wanted. So, I ended up with this one. We had a great time at this bar, which had some great artwork on the wall and a great intimate atmosphere, where we got...
655. Kona Brewing – Pipeline Porter
As I mentioned, my wife and I are on a Tales, Taverns & Towns tour in Chicago, and our first stop was the Green Door Tavern, where I had Morning Wood from Local Option. On the bus, our guide, Liz, had some beers available for us to drink on our way to the next stop. I saw this was a porter from Kona that was brewed with 100% Kona coffee, and since I knew we were in for a long evening, I thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to...
