Great Divide Brewing Company - YETI, YETI, YETI!!!

Yeti, Yeti, Yeti!!!  Holy cow, this brewery could be the sole reason why I would visit the great state of Colorado, (okay, so Colorado also has some great skiing and phenomenal outdoor sports opportunities, good sports teams and other great breweries like New Belgium) but  Great Divide Brewing Company is producing some truly legit beers that rival the best craft breweries in the U.S.A.

Total Wine (a retail beer, wine and liquor store) was running its $1.00 off 22 oz beer special this month so I decided to try Great Divide's Yeti Imperial Stout.  When I poured the stout into my frosty mug it looked as if I was pouring oil into my glass.  The beer had a very smooth and rich look and finished with a nice caramel colored head.  The beer has a somewhat thick taste and includes the aroma and flavor you might expect from an imperial stout - toffee and caramel notes.  But the pleasant surprise is that this stout has a hoppy element to it.  It weighs in at a hefty 75 IBU's.  The Yeti is strong in both alcohol content (9.5%) and aftertaste (but a good one).  The best way to describe this beer is it is truly a flurry of flavor and aromas.  Very tasty!

Dark Cloud Munich Style Dunkel Lager - Ja, natürlich!

I have walked by the shelf containing the selection of Mother Earth Brewing Beers several times and have often wondered if they were any good.  This eastern North Carolina brewery has a great story and is worth the read - click on the link above.  Their focus on organic farming, down home/small town living, and the love of craft beer contributes to the fresh unique flavors they create.  

Dark Cloud is a Munich Style Dunkel Lager that is dark yet very mild.  This dunkel could easily be an every day beer and can go with almost any food paring including Eastern North Carolina BBQ.  I find it very comparable to German imports that I have tried.  There is nothing overly stand-out about this beer, but it is definitely a solid dark lager.  Pick up a six pack and let me know what you think.

Dogfish Head does Stout

So here is another stout I highly recommend for the colder months of the year that are now upon us...Dogfish Head Brewery's Chicory Stout.  This is a great stout with plenty of roast chicory and coffee flavor.  They use organic Mexican coffee for this delicious ale and a surprising, unexpected flavor - licorice root.  My advice is to pour this bold stout into a British style tulip pint glass.  Pour the beer at a 45 degree angle until you have just a little beer left in the bottle.  Give the bottle a little swirl and pour it directly into the middle of the upright glass to create a nice bone white head.  Before your first sip, inhale deeply and collect all of the strong aromas that this beer has to offer.  It may even make your eyes water a bit.

I have enjoyed everything that I have tried from Dogfish Head.  As I have mentioned before, their Punkin' Ale is my favorite pumpkin flavored beer on the market and their 60 minute ale is one of my go to beers.  I am waiting for the Discovery Channel to air another season of Brew Masters that showcases Dogfish Head Brewery and takes you along on the their adventures to find new flavors and collaborations (such as the making of a traditional Peruvian drink, Chicha, into a beer - there is a strange element to this drink that includes people's saliva).   Definitely "Off centered ales for off centered people" like me!  You can find back episodes here - Brew Masters.

Stouts for the Season...

I love stouts!  Guinness was my first experience (as I am sure was most people's) with stouts and it started me on the path of enjoying this dark libation and searching for other worthy breweries who match up to the pride of Ireland.

Tonight for the first time, I am trying Boulevard Brewery's Dark Truth Stout.  I have never had a beer from Boulevard Brewery (www.boulevard.com) out of Kansas City, MO, but I am definitely now a fan.  This 9.7% high gravity stout encompasses all of the important characteristics of a great stout.  Unlike most beers with high alcohol content, this stout is very smooth and the alcohol taste is not overpowering.  The roasted espresso flavor is very pronounced and is counter-balanced by a sweet, but not too sweet, finish.  There are plenty of spice and herbal notes to this stout and they have done a great job of adding a smoky element that makes you want to pop open another...but be careful because after two you may find yourself on the floor!

Pumpkin Ales...Mmmm!

So I am a bit behind in my write up on pumpkin ales.  I look forward to the pumpkin ales coming out each Fall and try my best to enjoy the offerings from multiple breweries before it is all done.  Last year, the clear winner in my book was Dogfish Head Brewery Punkin' Ale.  Punkin' Ale is a great pumpkin ale with the perfect amount of spice to pumpkin ratio and a great finish.  I find that a lot of pumpkin ales rely too much on the spices that are supposed to complement the pumpkin to the point that they overpower the pumpkin flavor all together, but not the Punkin' Ale.

This Fall, I tried a handful of pumpkin ales.  Dogfish Head still remains at the top of my list, but I wanted to branch out and see if there were any contenders.  The first one I tried was from one of my favorite breweries, Terrapin Beer Co.  I am a Bulldawg, so this Athens brewery tugs at my heartstrings, but unfortunately I found their Pumpkinfest to be much too floral.  Perhaps is was also the malt that didn't agree with me, but it was just not my favorite.  I still love their their Rye Pale Ale, Hopsecutioner IPA, and Wake n' Bake which includes Jittery Joe's coffee (a local Athens coffee shop brew).  I will definitely revisit Terrapin in a later post.  It is a great brewery (terrapinbeer.com).

The pumpkin ale that truly knocked my socks off this year was Foothills Brewery's Cottonwood Pumpkin Ale.  Cottonwood has done a great job of balancing real pumpkin flavor with the complementary spices of Fall.  This ale is very smooth and is enjoyable straight from the bottle or in a frosty mug.  Pumpkin brews may be hard to find at this point in the season, but if you can still find a six pack of Cottonwood's Pumpkin Ale I highly recommend picking one up.  Enjoy!

Sweet Water LowRYEder IPA

For my first review, I am starting with a brewery located in my hometown - Atlanta, GA.  SweetWater Brewery (www.sweetwaterbrew.com) is a brewery that truly lives by its motto "Don't Float the Mainstream".  I became acquainted with SweetWater beer in college at the University of Georgia.  We would often drive into Atlanta on Thursday afternoons to enjoy their patio, live music and SweetWater brews.  

Their 420 Extra Pale Ale is one of my "go to" beers for any meal or occasion.  In fact, before they started distributing in North Carolina, I had to pick it up over the boarder so I could enjoy it at home.  I have also enjoyed SweetWater's Motor Boat, Georgia Brown, Happy Ending, and Festive Ale. I am not a big fan of SweetWater Blue, which possesses a slight blueberry aroma and taste to it - much too sweet.  And, although I am typically a huge fan of IPA's, their IPA is just too sweet for me as well.  

This week, I had the opportunity to enjoy the newest addition to SweetWater's line-up, LowRYEder IPA.  I was hesitant to purchase this Rye IPA because I thought it would be too sweet like their regular IPA, but to my pleasant surprise the 25% shot of rye malt truly dialed in a smooth, hoppy and malty taste - definitely not too sweet.  Personally, I really enjoy when brewers substitute rye for barley.  Fall has definitely set into Charlotte, NC and this Rye-PA is a perfect afternoon brew to enjoy outdoors in the crisp afternoon weather.  Pick up a six pack and enjoy!

Craft Beer!

Hello fellow craft beer lovers.  Did you know that craft beer only makes up a little over 5% of the total beer consumption in the United States?  If you are like me, you probably agree that life is too short to drink boring, watered down, tasteless beer.  Through this blog, my goal is to try an educate the general public (or whomever actually reads this) about the growing craft beer trend that is happening in the United State.  There are so many breweries and so little time.  Let's get started!