401. Rock Bottom North Indianapolis – Merry Prankster Red IPA
We’re in Indianapolis for the weekend, celebrating my wife’s birthday by taking the kids to the Indianapolis Children’s Museum. We had a great lunch at Bazbeaux’s Pizza, along with a few local craft beers, and then a great day at the museum. We checked into our hotel and watched the my Mizzou Tigers take on the kansas jayhawks. After a tough game, the Tigers lost and it was time to find dinner at a place...
382. Destihl Restaurant & Brew Works – Bourbon Barrel Aged Deadhead Double Red
We were out getting our Christmas photos done at the local pack ’em in, rush ’em through, up-sell them like crazy photo studio. Talk about an incredibly stressful afternoon! Fortunately, the photo studio is right next door to the local brewpub Destihl Restaurant & Brew Works. We decided to relax and enjoy a beer or two while waiting on our photos. I decided to go for the biggest thing on the beer menu to help...
363. Green Flash Brewing – Hop Head Red Ale
I’m still at Bruegala beer festival in Bloomington, IL, and I’ve taken the opportunity to try a few new beers. This is one I’ve had before, but didn’t get a chance to review it. Ever since I got a recommendation on Twitter from@Lauren_BILLYves – who as it turns out, is Lauren Hinkley, the daughter of Green Flash Brewing founders Mike and Lisa Hinkley, I’ve tried several of their beers, including...
332. Grand Teton – Pursuit of Hoppiness
After hitting Urban Chestnut Brewing and Six Row Brewing in St. Louis, I asked my friend if we could stop at The Stable, a craft beer bar and nano brewery. My sister bought me a gift certificate to this bar for Christmas, and this was one of the few chances I had to use it. After having Grand Teton’s Sweet Grass APA a couple weeks ago, and having a craving for another hoppy beer (after finishing off a double IPA at both Six...
326. Rogue Ales – Captain Sig’s Northwestern Ale
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m vice president of the ABNormal Brewers homebrew club here in town. Tonight we have our monthly steering meeting to discuss our plans for the next meeting. It’s a great chance to get together to discuss topics for the meeting, as well as try some of the good beers on tap at Fat Jack’s. Location: On tap at Fat Jack’s in Bloomington, IL. Numbers: 6.2% ABV, 80 IBUs, 75...
315. Molson Coors – Killian’s Irish Red Draft
If you’ve been reading this blog, you can tell I’ve been doing a ton of traveling for work lately – Nashville, San Jose, Miami, Dallas, etc. An hour or so ago I arrived in McAllen, Texas, and right next to our hotel is a Tony Roma’s. At least it was a place where we knew we could grab a steak and a beer. I was hoping the beer list would be more diverse, but I decided to go for this Killian’s Irish Red...
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,...
242. Blackstone Brewing – Dry Hopped Red Draft
My family and I have made our annual trek to St. Louis to visit my parents for the holidays. I brought along a few Christmas beers to enjoy, but was nicely surprised that my sister had brought a growler back for me from Blackstone Brewery in Nashville. She was there a couple weeks ago, and called to see what kind I wanted, this one sounded good. I was only nervous that it was in the growler for a couple of weeks before I got it. ...
170. Walnut Brewery – St. James Irish Red Draft
Today we ended our day in Boulder, CO while working on something related to the wildfires in the area. We couldn’t find a hotel in the area, but thought we’d have dinner there before heading back toward Denver to our hotel. As always, I searched the GPS for the nearest brewpub and found the Walnut Brewery. The St. James Irish red was very clear and was obviously, red. The head was thin with some soapy bubbles and the...
157. Laurelwood Brewing – Organic Free Range Red Draft
I’m at the Portland airport after an incredible week in “Beervana” – and I mean that as both a location and as an experience. I had to take one last chance to have another local Oregon brew at the airport. Fortunately, there was this Laurelwood Brewing location in the terminal. The menu says, “This red blends 100% organically grown barley malts with loads of fresh Cascade hops. The result is a medium...
150. Natian Brewery – Destinatian
I was having some issues with hoppiness, so I decided to go for something a little more balanced, and evening leaning a bit in the mellow-malty direction. The Destinatian seemed to be what I was looking for, since it was brewed with honey, and it was from a local Portland brewery. It was brown in color and it had a nice, creamy head. The aroma was fairly nutty and roasty with a malty, caramel-like sweetness to it. The body was...
134. McMenamins Concordia – Lucky Charms Irish Red
On the day I arrived, I had a friend tell me about McMenamin’s Edgefield which had a brewery. As I learned during my trip, the McMenamin’s fix up old buildings and other areas and turn them into breweries and other fun event spaces. The beer at Edgefield was fairly good, so I thought I’d give this one a try. It was a reddish brown color and had a creamy tan head. There was a nice, slightly caramelly malt aroma to...
