Short Beer Review: Leinenkugel Berry Weiss

Here’s a really short review of Leinenkugel’s Berry Weiss, as spoken by Jason while watching the football game (and if you don’t know which one I’m talking about, just watch SportsCenter, a little) and transcribed by me.

Jason Quote #1: This beer sucks.

Jason Quote #2: I’ve finally met a Leinie I don’t like.

Jason Quote #3: This is, seriously, the first beer I think I’ve ever considered throwing out.

My interpretation — He doesn’t like it. It’s a good thing this was one of the singles we bought. You can trust his love of Leinenkugel when he got SO excited that we found Sunset Wheat on tap at Buffalo Wild Wings, today.

Beer Review: Third Coast Beer

I went to a magical place, today, called Jungle Jim’s. I’ll post more detail at another time, but I’ll sum my love for this grocery store up by saying that the beer section, alone, was the biggest I’ve ever seen, maybe an entire acre devoted to alcoholic beverages. Something I loved (among many things) was that there were a number of beers for sale as individual bottles. I like this because there’s not a huge commitment to the unknown. If I hate a beer, there aren’t five more wasting away in my refrigerator until I can convince myself that I really need to make room for more important items.

The first single I’m trying is one brewed in Michigan by Bell’s Brewery called Third Coast Beer. The label originally caught my eye because of the map on it. I’m a map lover. Yeah, how geeky is that? I don’t care. Here’s the label:

Bell’s describes this one as “A golden beer brewed with pale malts. Large American hop additions contribute a crisp refreshing bitterness. A tribute to the Great Lakes, T.C.B. is a truly quaffable beer.”

The stats from their website are:

Original Gravity: 1.048

Alc. by Vol.: 4.8%

Avail. Pkgs.: 4/6/12 oz bottles (case), 15.5 gl keg

Dates Available: Year Round

As I’ve written in other beer reviews, that I like hoppy beers. Jason isn’t a fan of them and we’ve firmly established that, if it’s hoppy, I’ll like it, he’ll hate it. If it’s dark and stout, then the opposite occurs.

Let me leave this review by saying that this beer is even too hoppy for me. They aren’t lying when they say that the hop additions are “large.” After each drink, I’ve said, “whooo…man.” Jason just laughs.

Beer Review: Bluegrass Brewing Company American Pale Ale

I’ve always been reluctant to try BBC beers, for some reason. I think it stems from the fact that someone once shoved a bottle of BBC Nut Brown Ale in my grill and forced me to drink it. Nut Brown Ale is not to my liking. Also, BBC is headquartered in Louisville and I just have a rough time with that city. I’m trying to let go of the dislike, I promise.

On to the review. Saturday night, some friends and I dined at Ramsi’s Cafe on the World, an excellent restaurant that prides itself on “offering unique and healthy cuisine at an affordable price.” They do a great job of that, housed in a mishmash of rooms on Bardstown Road decorated in such a way that is as eclectic as the people dining and working there. It was a great time with plenty of great food. Check out the menu if you’d like something to drool over. The Caramel Apple Cheesecake was very nearly orgasmic.

While dining there, many of us tried out some new beers. I ordered the BBC American Pale Ale. I like IPAs, so I figured APAs couldn’t be much different. To my uncultured palate, it really wasn’t a ton different from an IPA, just brewed in America. BBC’s APA is a full-bodied, hoppy beer, so hoppy that many of my dinner mates didn’t enjoy their sample of it. It won the 1998 Real Ale Fest, Best of Fest Award. It was a great accompaniment to my Fattoush salad and will definitely be added to my beer repertoire, as it is easily purchasable at my local grocery and liquor stores.

The BBC APA was the only beer I drank, that night. I sampled Jason’s Kasteel Brown and it was okay, but too sweet for my liking. The flavor was good, but I’m not sure that I could ever drink more than a few sips and it would be hard to find a food that complements it well. Nickie’s Jacob had a few of the other BBC offerings, but were of the stout variety.

If I had a Mixed Drink Review feature, I’d rate the Outlook Inn’s (on the corner of Christie and Bardstown) Bloody Mary as right up there with the best I’ve had. They add a pepperoncini to the drink for a different twist. It was verrrry good.

 

Beer Review: Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat

A little background before the review:

I’ve gone through phases in my drinking life. As a kid, my dad and grandfather and uncles drank things like Pabst Blue Ribbon, Miller High Life, Stroh’s, Schlitz, that kind of stuff. I would gleefully go and get them new beers when their cans were empty. Alcohol was always around, and it wasn’t a big deal. That’s probably why I didn’t start drinking until after most of my friends did. When I did, I, for some reason, decided I’d be a beer girl.

Most anyone who started drinking before the legal consumption age pretty much was happy with whatever kind of beer was around. That meant that I drank my share of traditionally low-brow beers. I was happy with it. I was poor. Bud Light was cheap and consumable. I became a Bud Light girl.

In the past year, though, I’ve branched out. I’m trying new beers, mostly craft beers and microbrews. Some I like, some I don’t. Now, I sort of know what types of beers I like. Pale ales, lagers, some wheat beers are for me, while stouts, reds, and darks aren’t. Last week, Jason and I discovered a liquor store that has a monthly-rotating selection of beers on tap for tasting. That’s great, because we’ve bought some rather pricey six-packs that were not to our liking. Hopefully, this new find can help us save some money and our tastebuds.

Finally, to today’s beer review: Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat beer.

Goose Island Beer Company is Chicago-based and you can read about their history and their different beers in the link, above. They also make sodas, and I hear their Root Beer is excellent. This 312 Urban Wheat was the first Goose Island beer I tried, and it was at The Duchess’s house. I was a wee bit worried, when she offered it to me, knowing that Blue Moon is a wheat beer and that it is definitely not to my liking. This one, however, has a very good taste. It’s refreshing and not too heavy. It’s smooth and, I found out last night, tastes good with pizza. I make no claim on refined tastebuds. I can’t describe to you the “spicy aroma of Cascade hops, followed by the crispy, fruity ale flavor delivered in a smooth, creamy body, the result of blending barley malt with torrified wheat.” (goose island website) However, I can tell you that it is cloudy because it’s unfiltered and that the fruity ale flavor isn’t overpowering. It’s just right.

Alcohol by Volume: 4.2%, Hop Bitterness (IBU): 15 – Moderately Low, Color (SRM): 4 – Hazy Straw, Availability: Draft and Bottles Year Round

And, there we have it! The first beer review.

________________________________________________________________________________

Interesting fact (about me) of the day:

I’ve been on two bourbon distillery tours (Buffalo Trace and Labrot & Graham), but never a brewery tour. Perhaps when we go to Chicago? (hint, hint)

Random Thoughts.

Really quickly, thoughts from the weekend:

• Friday was the last of the downtown summer concerts. The fact that this heralds the end of summer (sort of) doesn’t bother me. I don’t like summer, anyway (favorite seasons, in order, fall, spring, winter, summer). What does bother me is that I feel like the summer concerts aren’t as fun as they used to be. Nothing is as fun as it used to be, but maybe that’s just my mood, today. Since the friends moved out of The Best Apartment Ever and it was subsequently burned to the ground, nothing downtown has seemed as cool. I did have fun at the concert, though, more for the company and the people than the music.

• I can’t drive…a six-speed, anyway. My fellow drivers should be happy to know that I’ll probably never attempt that, again. Add this to the list of things that are hard: driving a Ford F350 dually six-speed.

• September Saturdays can still be really hot in Kentucky. Saturdays late sleeping didn’t really pan out. I was awake at 8:30 and cooking. Yeah, there’s definitely something wrong with that picture. Anyway, Saturday was hotter than hell and I made poor wardrobe choices. Thank goodness for friends who let me wear their clothes.

• Kentucky may very well be a football state. I did my now-weekly favor to the Kentucky football ‘Cats and didn’t manage to watch the game, this week. In addition to their talent, I believe my personal non-watching must be helping them to win. 5-0, baby! Up a game on Florida for the SEC East?!? Number 8 in the nation?!? In which parallel universe am I living in?

• Drunk relationship-oriented conversations aren’t a great idea. Somehow, in the last few years, I’ve forgotten this golden rule of relationships. Don’t drink and discuss.

• Big screen TVs are heavy. (just in case you didn’t know)

• Sleep is good. (in case you didn’t know that, either)

And, finally, BIG NEWS to start off October…This will be a no-alcohol October. Thanks for your support.