Some brews and upcoming events

Had these two beers the other afternoon with a buddy to celebrate, well, Sunday daytime.



Cali-Belgie IPA by Stone Brewing of Escondido California. Now, this is Stone's always amazing India Pale Ale brewed with Belgian yeast, creating a whole new monster of delicious proportions. It's bitter and tangy- more hop than barnyard in flavor with a nice piney finish. It bubbles against the lips the same way champagne does on the first couple of sips and bubbles straight up from the center and leaves nice rings on the glass. The IPA nature of this really comes out as it approaches room temperature and grows more bitter as it does. This is a really nice twist on an already good thing. ~7% ABV



Raison D'être A raisin brown ale from Dogfish Head of Milton Delaware. Belgian beet sugars and green raisins give this beer most of it's flavor- heavy and sweet. It drinks like a sweet, almost floral, New Castle Brown Ale. Pretty dark in the color wheel of beer and not very heady. I guess it was a cute idea to name this one after the French expression for "reason for existence", it was named "American beer of the year", whoever awards that title. This brew is great, don't get me wrong, very easy to drink, but I can't get behind it as the best thing I've had all year from this country. It feels too much like wine to be beer. 8% ABV.

And now, somethings that are happening!

Proof

Terrapin Cask Ale and Glassware Giveaway
Wednesday, January 12th @ 8pm
Mike Wallace of Terrapin Brewing will be on hand and as Proof serves up a very special treated cask of Terrapin Wake & Bake Stout. Other great Terrapin beers on tap include Moo-Hoo Chocolate Stout, Big Daddy Vladys Russian Imperial Stout, Wake & Bake Stout, So Fresh & So Green Green and more.

And...I was going to list a Craft Beer Fest happening down on the Space Coast, but I haven't been able to confirm the info. But I'll get on it.

See, i said I wouldn't forget about you

I am fortunate enough to have a family that hates beer (dad lives by the notion that he'd drink beer everyday if he could find something available in Florida that mimics The Walking Man Brewery's Old Kentucky Homo bourbon barrel aged Homo Erectus special batch to a T) but loves that I love beer and have this seemingly insane need to write about it. It's a clever ploy to encourage aloholism, really.

But getting back to the point, while attending Epcot's International Food and Wine Festival my younger sister found a hidden away beer treasure chest, and picked up this first beer:



Viru of Estonia brewed by A. Le Coq who brews Estonia's favorite beer...which is not Viru...The bottle, is cool, though I've always been a sucker for abnormal glassware and most especially when it's presented as though I'm getting it for free. A 5% ABV pilsner and to quote wikipedia (i know, shut-up) "The beer is brewed with malted barley from Lithuania, water drawn from artesian wells at the brewery, and Saaz hops from the city formerly Austrian named Saaz (since 1918 Žatec, today in the Czech Republic).Hops have been produced here for more than seven centuries."

I personally am not a fan of pilsners, there's something in that skunkiness I just can't get behind. However, Viru has a very nice hint of sweetness to it that did find very unique about it...But a pislner, is still a pilsner, there's just something about that hop varietal. This is a beer I'd drink if it was offered to me, but I can easily say I'd never go out and buy it for myself. This was also my very first Estonian beer, and while I can't say I was wowed, I would venture to say I'd like to see what else folks drink there.



400 Lbs. Monkey by Left Hand Brewing of Longmont, Colorado. An English India Pale Ale that ranks in at just under 7% Alcohol By Volume. Made with three types of hops and four varieties of wheat, it smells like biscuits and tastes like amazing. Very unique in flavor, it almost tastes like it was made from some shit you'd find in your backyard, yet finshed with a refreshing citrus undertone. Balanced with it's bready tang from so much wheat, this is a beer I could drink all the time.