European Christmas - Day One

Hello Folks, I have been meaning to start blogging again for a few months now. (The last blog post was over two years ago!) Dang, time flies. Earlier this week, C and I got home from our nine day trip to Europe. So, now that I have some fun and interesting items to post on the blog, I figured I will try to get the blog up and running again. Hopefully, I can divide the Europe trip into a few different blog posts complete with pictures and links to more pictures. The Europe blogs will also tie in nicely with the previous beer posts because there was plenty of indulging in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. Our trip: We left Saturday December 22, 2012 to visit our friends Megan and Todd, who are living in Eindhoven in the Netherlands for the next 16 months. Thanks to our tour guide (Megan), we had a full itinerary set a couple weeks in advance. Our flight from Chicago arrived in Amsterdam early Sunday morning, and Megan and Todd were there to pick us up and drive to Eindhoven, which is about an hour and a half away. C and I obviously took the obligatory photo of the "I am Amsterdam" sign at Schiphol airport.

Basically, we dropped our bags at their house (more on their awesome rental down the road). We immediately took the Autobahn to Dusseldorf, Germany to wander the Christmas markets and take in the sights. The Christmas markets are essentially collections of wood sheds with vendors selling everything from food and drink to crafts and clothing. There are little clusters of vendors scattered through the city. We indulged on some traditional German fare...see below.

Without a doubt, the best potato pancake I have ever had, and I have had plenty. Winter in Europe apparently also brings Gluhwein. Nearly every street corner in Dusseldorf had a vendor selling this hot alcoholic beverage. It was described to me by Megan as hot wine; however, after a quick google search, I found that it specifically tends to be Port that is heated and then spiced with various holiday spices (cinnamon, sugar, vanilla, cloves etc.) Unfortunately, C could not partake given her current situation (baby on board) but Megan and I certainly did. Evidence is below:

Todd took a pass because he is not a fan, and after trying it, I see why. It tastes like cinnamony old cider. I'll stick to beer. At least it was hot! Once we completed the Christmas markets, we took in some of the sights around Dusseldorf. Here are a few of my favorite pictures.

Moving onto the beer portion of the blog. Dusseldorf is known for producing altbier. The internet information, at least in English, regarding altbier is pretty sparse because it is pretty rare to find outside the Dusseldorf area. From what I have been able to gather, brewers in the region began using top-fermenting yeast but then storing the beer at cooler temperatures for relatively long periods of time before enjoying. Dusseldorf is littered with pubs creating their own brands of altbier. Most of them only carried their traditional altbier and possibly one variation. During our night in town, we tried altbiers from Fuchschen, Uerige, Schumacher, and Schlussel. The beers generally carry the same flavor profile with slight variations of hoppiness. Alts tends to be easy-drinking and range from 4%-5% ABV. The best Alt in my opinion was on tap at Fuchschen. It is relatively hoppy up front but has a solid malt character throughout. The finish has a caramel quality that is quite pleasant. It paired extremely well with the Pork knuckle and the wienerschnitzel. Salivate below.

Once we finished dinner, we drove back to Eindhoven to catch up on sleep after basically being awake for 48 hours. I plan to post another blog in the next week or so with the next little bit of our European Christmas. If you cannot wait until then, here is the link to all of our photos from the trip https://plus.google.com/photos/116574417469700558183/albums/5828513222030173265?authkey=CIj4ttOJ3LrilgE Until then, feel free to comment or ask questions. Happy New Year!

BWBB

Hello Friends,

I am finally getting some time to sit down and write the latest installment of the BWBB. Geez, there have been numerous new, interesting, bad and great beers since my last BWBB. Here are a few I remember:

Sofie - Goose Island
Rosie - Lakefront
Picnic Ants - O'so
Lilja's Hopnest Monster - Sand Creek
53212 - Stonefly
Shine On - Central Waters
Hopdinger - O'so
Alpha King - Three Floyds
Bridge Burner - Lakefront (ok, I've had this one on many occasions, but it's just that good.)

I should also mention that I tried my hand at brewing a batch of beer. I'm hoping this one turns out about 100x better than the last one..because my first attempt was an epic failure. This latest batch has been bottled and is currently being conditioned. Soon, it will be moved to the fridge for a little bit of cold conditioning***fingers crossed***

On a related beer note, everyone should watch the new show Brewmasters on Discovery Channel. The show follows the owner of Dogfish Head Brewery as he travels the globe in search of traditional and unique brewing methods. New episodes are Sunday nights. It is pretty entertaining.

For this BWBB, I am going to review Picnic Ants from O'so Brewing Co in Plover, WI. Picnic Ants is O'so's Imperial Saison. A saison is a type of pale ale that originated in Belgium. In the past, saisons were simply refreshing pale ales that were usually drank by farm workers during the Summer. For that reason, it is common to see modern beers brewed in the saison style referred to as "farmhouse ales." Picnic Ants is referred to as an imperial saison because it has approximately 7% ABV, while typical saison are generally low in alcohol, near 4%.

The Picnic Ants I had was on tap and served in a tulip glass. I was not overly impressed. It pours very bubbly, almost over carbonated. It has nearly zero aroma. As soon as it hits your mouth, it has a sour, citrus taste. Unfortunately, not in a good way. There are a bunch of off flavors, and the the aftertaste is acidic. I have had good sour ales in the past, but Picnic Ants fails.

I have yet to try an O'so beer that I really enjoyed. The clerk at my favorite liquor store told me their "Rusty Red" is good. The brewery must be doing something right though, because all of a sudden, you can find their beer on tap at various locations throughout the city. However, I won't be having Picnic Ants again. Just a funky ale that is not refreshing in way.

For all of those reasons, Picnic Ants gets 2 pints out of 10. I would definitely not recommend it to any of my readers.

Well, that's all I've got to say for this BWBB. Until next time...

Josh Ritter

Hey Everyone,

I went back and forth between another beer blog or a Josh Ritter blog. Ultimately, Josh won out..so BWBB still to come.

Saturday was a good day. Started out with an "ugly" yet beautiful Michigan victory over Purdue. For those of you keeping track, that's seven Michigan victories, and we will finally be going back to a bowl game. Our last two regular season games are this weekend against Wisconsin and next weekend versus Ohio st. If we can win either of those, I am totally 100% content with our season.

So after watching that game, C and I headed off to Madison to see possibly our favorite musician, Josh Ritter. A few months ago, I posted a blog about his latest album "So Runs the World Away." Yes, it is an amazing album...just like all his others. C and I have only had the pleasure of seeing Josh one time. That was 2006(?) in Ann Arbor, and Josh played the entire show solo acoustic. It was the bomb. More than four years later, we were finally going to see him again.

Sidenote: Before the concert, we went to The Old Fashioned, which is right near the Capitol. Anyways, this place looks pretty much like any old fashion Wisconsin bar: lots of fried food, tons of beer and a bunch of Badger fans. But, I will certainly be back to The Old Fashioned because they have 50 taps....all from Wisconsin. It's pretty much like my heaven, or wet dream (depending on how graphic you want to be). Needless to say, I tried about four new Wisconsin beers on tap...so the next BWBB will include mini reviews of each. Start looking forward to that right now.

After some drinks at the bar, we headed over to the Majestic Theater. Let's just admit right now that the Majestic kinda sucks as a venue. There are definitely better places to see a Josh Ritter show (plus the beers were $6), but I digress.

Moving on to the show itself, the opening act was decent. The first two pictures in the slideshow are Thieving Irons. They didn't wow me but certainly acceptable. At about 10pm, Josh Ritter took the stage. He played songs from a whole variety of albums. Some were old (Idaho). Some were new (said it was his newest song). He also mixed in old favorites with new hits. For a stretch in the middle, Josh played about 4 songs solo acoustic, but most of the show was relatively "heavy" by Josh Ritter standards. The band was really impressive. No complaints. To hear some tunes and be amazed click here.

A few pictures can be seen here.

Highlights for me, in no particular order, were: Temptation of Adam, Folk Bloodbath, Kathleen, Wolves, Girl in the War, Change of Time, Idaho, and Lantern. (I probably missed a few) Anyways, he left the stage around midnight, having played almost 20 songs. Tough to be disappointed with that. Then we exited the theater into 38 degree blowing winds, and Christina had to put up with me saying, "Damn, that was amazing" the rest of the night. But, it was amazing, so I don't feel bad.

Alright, that's all for now. Like I said, look forward to a new BWBB soon. Until then...go listen to some good tunes.

BWBB

Hey everyone,

Geez, already time for another BWBB?! Where does the time go? I have a couple of thoughts on Andy's comment from the last blog, but I'll save those for a different time...hopefully later this week. (I'm also still bitter because Andy's fantasy team seemed to score multiple cheap tds yesterday against my team...but I'm over that.)

Side note: Huge Michigan victory this weekend. What a crazy/awesome/rollercoaster of a game. Phew!

Moving to the beer. Saturday night, I went to Sugar Maple. This is the same bar that had the Local Acre launch party. It's a cool place because it has 60 American craft beer taps, and they are constantly rotating in new stuff. One of their newest taps is from Furthermore, which is a brewery in Spring Green, Wisconsin. I am not overly crazy about the few Furthermore beers I have had, but they aren't bad either. Regardless, I decided to try their latest brew, Hopperbolic.

The details of the beer are a little unclear. A quick google search doesn't reveal much information at all, other than the fact it's an IPA and it's new. I also learned at Sugar Maple that it's made with hops from Gorst Valley. Gorst Valley is trying its best to popularize the use of Wisconsin grown hops in Wisconsin beer. Gorst provides varying amounts of hops to breweries such as Lakefront, Furthermore, Capital and Potosi. The trend of utilizing local ingredients in beer seems to have really helped Gorst Valley, and I anticipate we will hear more from them in the future.

Needless to say, I was pretty excited to try Hopperbolic. It pours a pale copper color. The aroma is mildly hoppy but not strong by any means. The first thing I noticed when taking a sip was how "light" the beer is. Depending on your perspective, that might be a good thing; but for me, it fell short. Hopperbolic also isn't all that hoppy. The prevailing flavor is an odd spice that I can't put my finger on. The spice flavor is not bad, but it's just a bit unexpected from an IPA. In contrast to most IPAs, this brew doesn't taste all that strong. It tastes more like a regular pale ale, than an IPA. On a positive note, the beer is certainly easy-drinking. It might be a good starter IPA for someone who is trying to experiment a bit. For me however, it was just fine....not bad, but not great.

Because of my ambivalence, I am going to give Hopperbolic 5 pints out of 10. I could drink it if necessary but would not choose to do so. I appreciate Furthermore's effort though.

I will hopefully have a non-beer blog up at some point in the near future. This weekend, C and I are going to see one of my favorite musicians, Josh Ritter, in Madison...maybe I can get some good pictures up.

Until next time...

BWBB

Hey everyone!

I promised a new BWBB, and it is finally here. This, however, is a very special edition of the BWBB. First, this is my 50th blog! When I started, I thought I might hit 10 blogs....20 was probably stretching it...but 50?! Second, this isn't just one of those BWBBs where I drink some beer and give my thoughts; this BWBB was more of an event. So with that kickass intro, here it is:

I'm not sure how many of you remember, but one of the very first BWBBs featured Local Acre from Milwaukee's Lakefront Brewery. I was a big fan. The concept behind Local Acre was to brew a beer that used entirely Wisconsin ingredients. The barley and hops came from Wisconsin farmers, which is rare nowadays. Most brewers in the United States use hops from the Northwest. I read somewhere that a region of Washington produces about 75% of the hops grown in the United States. So beers with local hops are hard to find. The disappointing thing about Local Acre was its limited supply. A few months ago, Lakefront just ran out, and liquor stores slowly sold their remaining supply. It was a sad couple of weeks. One night Local Acre was on tap at Tess, and the next it wasn't. But, in life's typical fashion, good things were just around the corner.

Friday night, Sugar Maple (this cool bar in Bayview that has 60 American Craft taps) had the Local Acre Wet Hop release party. Wet Hop is basically what I have dubbed "Local Acre 2.0." The concept, idea and style of the beer are similar to Local Acre 1.0 but with some slight modifications. Still using all Wisconsin ingredients. Still a high alcohol content lager. Still only available on tap or in 22oz bomber bottle. And still really delicious.

In all honesty, I had no idea what the term "wet hop" meant until Friday night. Basically, the vast majority of hops are harvested, dried and then shipped to breweries around the nation. The idea behind "wet hops" is to get the hops from a local source and skip the drying. Wet hops usually have to be used within hours of harvesting otherwise their quality quickly deteriorates. Obviously, this poses many difficulties for brewers. But, people claim that wet hops have a fresher hop flavor and aroma. If Local Acre is any indication, these people are right.

I apologize for the poor picture quality above, but it was the best I could do with my phone in a dimly lit bar. $4 for the pint, and today I saw the 22oz bottle at Whole Foods for $4.99. Wet Hop is a bit less hazy than its counterpart, but it still pours a dark copper color. The aroma is extremely hoppy. I believe the beer is still around 7.0% ABV; however, it does not taste overly strong and is easy to drink. As far as flavor, Wet Hop still tastes like an intense lager, but the hop flavor is very pronounced. In that way, I think 2.0 is a bit of a step up from 1.0. The taste of Wet Hop is super fresh. No bad aftertaste that sometimes plagues hoppy beers. I was ecstatic that 2.0 lived up to my hopes. I will certainly be buying numerous 22oz bottles of Wet Hop before it inevitably runs out. I urge you all to do the same.

I am going to give Wet Hop 9 pints out of 10. Awesome.

To be fair, I should also mention that Sugar Maple was releasing another beer on Friday night as well. The beer called "Hop Harvest" is from Central Waters Brewing Company in Amherst, WI. Obviously, I had a pint of that as well. I've never had any
Central Waters beer before, and unfortunately, I don't think I'll be going out of my way to have any more. Hop Harvest is brewed as an American Pale Ale. It has almost no aroma and is equally lacking in taste. I did not enjoy it. I am giving Hop Harvest 2 pints out of 10. Fortunately, Local Acre Wet Hop more than salvaged the night. A brew that is certainly worthy of the 50th blog.

Until next time...