new belgium kick

i wasn't sure about this one, but since new belgium has made some of my favorite sours i gave it a shot. it's a pumpkin and cranberry ale blended with a barrel aged ale. definitely my favorite pumpkin beer ever. a little sour, hint of pumpkin, not much cranberry. for the price i will definitely be picking up a couple more.

route 113 ipa

had to dig into my dwindling  pennsylvania beer stash to support the owls. it's a little malty and sweet for my taste in ipa's. not my favorite offering from sly fox, but still decent. i wish more brewery's canned.

new belgium belgo

opened this to watch the temple v. penn state game. a nice belgian style ipa, i never had it in the bombers as a lips of faith release but i'm glad it's in six packs and under 8 bucks. it's safe to say this will probably make it into my regular rotation. 

rauch geek breakfast

it's my second time with this beer and i was debating between this and an expedition stout. i'd forgotten how smoky this was. not as much smoke as a schlenkerla, but it's definitely smoky. it's a little sweet and the coffee is just in there. as a smoked stout i like it, but i do prefer the mikkeller's other beers under the 'breakfast' moniker.

blind pig

nice piney bitterness and very well balanced. i may actually prefer this to pliny the elder. looking forward to my next one, whenever that may be.

deschutes obsidian stout

poured nice and dark. tastes like a good stout should. can't wait for this to be available in missouri.

surly hell

a great example of how american lagers should be made. nice hop presence and just a real delight. i'm enjoying lagers and pilsners a whole lot at the moment, i just wish there were more readily available in missouri.

that's it. caught up. now i have no excuses to not keep on top of this.

various things

had the pleasure of sharing some fine beers with colin as he passed through here on the way back to pennsylvania. new glarus's unplugged smoked rye ale, surly cynicale, mikkeller nelson sauvin and a 2011 founders imperial stout.

the new glarus was a great smoked beer, but i didn't pick up a lot of rye in there. the surly was a very nice american saison, dry and not too bready. the mikkeller was a nice wild ale. it had the aroma of passionfruit, which i'm told is a characteristic of brett c. a bit pricey, but i'd get it again to sit on for a while. the founders imperial stout was great as always, the only bummer is that it was my last one.

mikkeller yeast series

did a little tasting with my friend jon last week. these are billed as strong pale ales made with different strains of yeast. an interesting idea. the lager, american and hefeweizen were all interesting, but nothing spectacular. the belgian was fruity and very typical of a strong belgian pale. unsurprisingly the brett was the hi-light of the bunch. definitely glad i tried these, you do get a nice clear sense of what the yeasts bring to the table.

mikkeller chipotle porter

i wish it was called 'texas ranger' over here. a fantastic porter, roasty, a bit of chocolate in there and the most incredible finish. it takes a few sips, but you definitely get that heat. love this beer.

russian river supplication

what can i say? it's a sour from russian river. one of, if not the best american brewers of sours and wild ales. this certainly did not disappoint. specific details are lacking since it has been a few weeks since i had it.  i do have a well traveled bottle of sanctification in the basement waiting for a special occasion courtesy of colin.

end of the summer

there was a backlog of beers from the end of the summer that i forgot to put on here, so i'm going to run through the most memorable. this is one of my all time favorites. it had a couple of years on it and was absolute perfection. everything a gueuze should be. i just wish it was a bit easier to get nowadays.