297. Flossmoor Station – Panama Limited Red Ale Draft
The last time I was at my favorite local liquor store, I saw some fancy new bottles from Flossmoor Station. I had heard of them from members of my local homebrew club, as they have had the chance to stop there. It’s south of Chicago by a little bit. Since I’ve had a lot of the other beers on tap here at Medici in Normal, I thought I’d give this one a try. Their site says, “Our Panama Limited Red is a hoppy,...
296. Stone Brewing – Cali Belgique IPA Draft
Last night I was at the Stone Brewing kick off event at Fat Jack’s. I found out they also had an event at Medici in Normal, and tonight I’m at Medici for a “Tweetup” for an upcoming social media conference – @Midwest – I’m participating in. The last Belgian IPA I decided to try here – Flying Dog Raging Bitch – I really, really liked, so I thought I’d give the one from Stone...
295. Stone Brewing – Smoked Porter Aged in Bourbon Barrels Draft
I’m still at the Stone Brewing event, as we finally get this beer here in Central Illinois. I’ve already had (this evening) their Double Bastard and the Sublimely Self Righteous Ale, and wanted to get something that might be a little more rare than these. When I sampled this, it had some really interesting flavors, so I capped off the evening with this one. Numbers: 6% ABV Appearance & Aroma: It was deep brown/black...
294. Stone Brewing – Sublimely Self Righteous Ale Draft
As I mentioned in my last post, Stone Brewing found a distributor here in Central Illinois, and they were partnering with a local bar for the launch. I was looking through the list of 12 different Stone beers on tap, and there were certainly some great sounding beers to try. I had a few samples of beers that weren’t too great (I guess I built up Stone’s reputation a bit too much in my mind). However, when I sampled this...
293. Stone Brewing – Double Bastard Ale Draft
After everything that has been going on, I really needed a night out. Fortunately, I found out that a local distributor had picked up Stone Brewing and we would now be able to get it in our area. A local bar, Fat Jack’s, was having a “tap takeover” (like they did with Goose Island a couple months ago) with several Stone beers. I had several of their beers when a friend from San Diego shipped me a few last year,...
292. St. Louis Brewery – Schlafly Reserve Imperial Stout 2010
As I mentioned in my last post, my mom unexpectedly passed away on March 18. As you can imagine, it has been a tremendously difficult time. We’ve not only been dealing with her death, but all of the other things you don’t think about until something like this happens. My wonderful wife went out to do some shopping and came back with this beer for me. She figured I needed something big to relax and help deal with...
Mom
In my last several posts, I talked about being in Austin, TX for a few conferences, including SXSW. While I was at SXSW, I found out that my mom was having some heart issues again, but they were trying to treat it without surgery. The last day of SXSW, my dad called and said she was going into surgery and I needed to get home immediately. I jumped on a plane and was back that night while she was in surgery. We went through...
SXSW and New Beers
As you can tell by my last several posts, I was at SXSW Interactive in Austin, TX. During the 5 days, I got a chance to try several new beers that I could have added to the list. Looking back on my untappd tab, I had Rio Blanco Pale Ale from Real Ale Brewing, Lone Star from Pabst, and several others. However, I promised myself that I wouldn’t post a beer unless I took a picture of it and was able to jot down a few notes about it...
291. Ranger Creek – OPA, Oatmeal Pale Ale Draft
When I had my cuisinternship in Oregon, I met @kfinsand from @taplister on Twitter before coming out there. It was great to finally meet up with him at the Oregon Brewers Festival and chat. I found out that he was also going to be at SXSW and was helping to put together a beer lovers get together. I couldn’t turn down the chance to meet other beer folks, and try some local brews, so we met up at Opal Divine’s in Austin....
290. Great Divide – Espresso Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout Draft
My friend Robert (seen in the background here) and I were still hanging out at The Gingerman in Austin, TX, getting ready for the beginning of SXSW. We had both met Beverly the week before at the iMedia Brand Summit, who was also sticking around in town for SXSW. She joined us for a drink. Unfortunately, she’s not much of a beer person, and ordered a glass of wine. As you can imagine, the wine at a beer bar doesn’t see...
289. Jester King Craft Brewing – Commercial Suicide Draft
After having the Live Oak Brewing Liberation Ale at The Gingerman in Austin, TX, I wanted to try another local beer. Before coming to SXSW, I had done some research and found out about Jester King Craft Brewing. It’s a new brewery near Austin, and it looks like they’re making some interesting beers. This one appeared to be no exception. Their site says, “A true “session beer”, Commercial Suicide is an authentic...
288. Live Oak Brewing – Liberation Ale Draft
After a long day, I wanted to stop at The Gingerman for a few beers. It’s a beer bar in Austin (they have a few other locations) that has a ton of beers on tap. For me, it’s a good opportunity to try some new and local stuff. I didn’t even know what this beer was, but it was local, so I wanted to give the Liberation Ale from Live Oak Brewing a try. At liveoakbrewing.com, it says, “Liberation Ale is light in...
