jacks abby hoponius union

It's been a while. I have a shit ton of stuff to catch up on, but I'll start with something recent. I spent this Christmas in Boston and was able to try some stuff that had been on my radar for a long time, but I'd never got around to trying. Hoponious Union is an awesome IPL, it may have unseated Victory's Prima Pils as my current favorite. It smells amazing and tastes even better.

surly wet

Another wet hop beer. This years uses Centennial and Cascade hops. Grassy, floral and piney, this is a very well done IPA. It may be a little subdued compared to Surly's other hoppy beers, but I highly recommend it.

stillwater premium

This is a brett beer made with pilsner malt and adjunct grains (rice and corn). It's very light at 4.5% and very funky. I really enjoyed this beer.

founders harvest ale

Fresh hop beers are in season and that's a very good thing. Piney and tropical hop flavors with balanced malts make this as good as every other year I've had it.

prairie 'merica

The Prairie house yeast and and Nelson Sauvin hops make for an awesomely earthy, funky saison. For a single hop, single malt beer it's pretty complex. Prairie has been killing it and this is no exception.

beer geek breakfast

Haven't had this in a long time. Loads of coffee, hops and chocolate flavors. I really missed this beer.

tallgrass ethos ipa

Some citrus, resin and it's not too malty. Overall pretty solid.

4 hands no place like home

This is an imperial red ale aged in Cabernet barrels. Fruity, with some nice oak and slight tannic flavors from the barrels. Really complex, unique and definitely worth seeking out, even though it's long gone from shelves.

maine beer company peeper

Peeper is an excellent pale ale and I was very happy to get a fresh bottle. Very nice citrus in the aroma, not much in the way of malt sweetness, which I definitely prefer in pales and IPA's. It finishes nice and dry with a good bitterness level. Maine Beer Co.'s IPA's and pale ales that I have had have all been stellar. Lunch was definitely my favorite of their offerings that I have had, but Peeper is a nice crisp pale that I will gladly pick up again.

evil twin hipster ale

Originally Evil Twin used the 'Hipster' beers to showcase the spirit of hipster neighborhoods across different cities and countries spanning both Europe and the US. Beers brewed in the series included: Williamsburg, Mission, Södermalm, Istedgade and Shoreditch to name a few. Each beer was unique, some pale ales, IPA's and even one white wine barrel aged pale ale, Sønderho Hipster, that was dry hopped with citra, cascade and summit. It was a spectacular beer that I forgot to write up on here, but will track down again for sure.
As far as this incarnation goes, it has ditched the specific neighborhood and become just 'Hipster Ale'. There isn't really too much to say about this beer, but that isn't a bad thing. It's a very solid pale ale, good citrus aroma and not too malty. It finishes with a nice bitterness, too. I'm glad to see the price dropping on some of the Evil Twin beers as they are always a pleasure to try.

half acre beer hates astronauts

Lucky for me I happened to be in town the weekend that Half Acre was releasing this awesome beer. This single hopped citra IPA is the official beer of the comic God Hates Astronauts by Ryan L. Browne. Browne also provided the excellent label artwork. I was unfamiliar with the comic until I picked up this beer and checked it out. It's funny, weird and definitely worth checking out. The beer is great. I love citra and as mentioned earlier, it's a single hop IPA that also uses only vienna malts. It is pure unadulterated citra goodness. The citrus flavors and bitterness are well complimented by a light malt profile, coming in at a very easy drinking 7% ABV. Half Acre's hoppy offerings are some of the best around and this is no exception.

half acre over ale

This is a brown ale/ESB hybrid. It's got some nice caramel malt flavors and slightly grassy hops. It's a well done beer and another great offering from Half Acre.

half acre daisy cutter pale ale

This past weekend we took a trip to Chicago for a friend's wedding and took the opportunity to sample some of the cities beers. Our first stop was the Half Acre Tap Room. I won't talk about the space or atmosphere, because I didn't take any photo's. Trust me when I say that it is really nicely designed and has a very good vibe. I did sample some of their special release beers while there, including the Mikkeller collaboration 'Guest Lager' and the 3 Floyds collaboration IPA 'Anicca'. They were both awesome, but the photo's were terrible. I did pick up some beer to bring home, this one, Daisy Cutter Pale Ale and a special release IPA called 'Beer Hates Astronauts'.
Daisy Cutter has a lot of citrus and a grassy hop aroma. Some malt is present in the aroma and taste, but it's a much more hop forward beer that has a really nice dryness and touch of bitterness in the finish. This is a perfect everyday beer and I wish I could get regularly. It's without a doubt one of the best pale ale's I've had the pleasure of trying.

stillwater classique

I love this beer. It's a tribute to the adjunct lagers like Natural Bohemian from Stillwater's founder Brian Strumke's native Baltimore. On the can it's described as a 'post-modern beer' and I think that is the most accurate description. The 4.5% beer is made with the malt bill of an adjunct lager (pilsner malts, corn and rice), Cascade hops and a farmhouse yeast. The resultant beer is a not overly sweet, fruity 'farmhouse ale'. It's not quite a saison by the traditional measure, but then again it's not really meant to be. It is an awesome 'everyday' beer and one that has already become a mainstay in my fridge.

new glarus berliner weiss

This is an excellent berliner weiss. Tart, refreshing and at 3.5%, it checks all the right boxes. New Glarus always creates excellent versions of traditional styles and this continues that legacy.

hill farmstead phenomenology of spirit

This is the first barrel aged saison I've had from Hill Farmstead and hopefully not the last. It is a dark, spontaneously fermented and wine barrel aged saison named after philosopher G.W.F. Hegel's book. I am unfamiliar with Hegel's work, but if this beer is any indication, I'm sure it's pretty interesting. Funky and sour, with some sweetness from the dark malts. The wine barrel aging shines through and melds well with the flavors from the wild yeast. It is a very dry beer and I really enjoyed it. Very glad that I still have another bottle. Shaun Hill knows how to make phenomenal beers.

heady topper

Not sure what I can say about this beer that hasn't already been said thousands of times. I love this beer and have been lucky enough to have had it very fresh and on many occasions. It is probably my favorite IPA that I've had and if I could crawl into the can and live in there, I would. The aroma is incredible, so many tropical fruits. The malt is there, but it takes a back seat to the hop flavors. Perfection in a can. Having had it from glass and can, I prefer the can, I just poured a little in for the photo. It isn't the prettiest beer, but it is basically perfect in every other way. Does anyone actually give a shit how a beer looks?

stone 17th anniversary götterdämmerung ipa

This is an interesting beer. It uses pilsner malts and German hops, eschewing Stone's usual affinity for American hop varieties. I appreciate what they were trying to do, but I wasn't a fan of this one. There was a weird peachy taste to it. I didn't enjoy this as much as the R&R Coconut IPA. I am glad that Stone keeps pushing styles and making beers that are out of the usual, without getting too weird.

crooked stave vieille saison artisanal

A bit sour, funky and refreshing. Some oak flavors from the barrel, but these aren't overpowering. Excellent wild saison. Not a whole lot else to say, otherwise. I've enjoyed every beer I've had from Crooked Stave. Looking forward to tracking down some of their special releases.

hill farmstead nelson sauvin pale ale

This beer is awesome. Pair Hill Farmstead's skill with brewing pale ales and IPA's with an interesting hop varietal like Nelson Sauvin and you get a fantastic beer. 'Earthy' is one of the best descriptors I've heard for Nelson hops. There is certainly citrus and tropical flavors present as well as a spiciness at the end. This is a very refreshing and incredibly drinkable beer. Once again, Hill Farmstead doesn't disappoint.

almanac farmer's reserve No. 3 & 4

I hadn't had anything from this brewery until I came out here this time. The first one i had was the Dogpatch Sour on draft at Toronado. It was very impressive. Aged on local cherries in wine barrels, it was definitely one of the better sours I've had in recent times. Sour and funky, but the cherry is definitely there. Not too oaky, either.
These two, No. 3 & 4 in the Farmer's Reserve series were both aged on local fruit and again in wine barrels. No. 3 was made with strawberries and nectarines from local farms and aged in wine barrels with various wild belgian yeasts. The result is an awesome sour ale that is dominated by the strawberry. There is a bit of oak in there, too at the end, but the strawberry and nectarine win the day. It's a very chunky beer, as can be seen in the photo, but that doesn't detract from it at all. I don't need my beers to look pretty, especially if they taste like this.
No. 4 is aged on local lemons, citrons and oranges and has a very herbal quality along with the strong citrus flavors. It's sour, with some oak, but the citrus flavor really make this. I can't recommend the beers from the Farm to Barrel series stuff highly enough, excellent.

pliny the elder

A standby that I will get most of the time it's available. There are a few other IPA's that I prefer, but this strikes a very good balance of grapefruit hop flavors and malt backbone. It's not too sweet and isn't a full on hop assault, it's just a really well balanced, incredibly drinkable IPA.

2nd shift brewing el gato grande

This is one of my favorite local beers and one I will definitely miss from the area. Amazing aroma, nice tropical/citrus flavors and a bit piney at the end. It's not that bitter and has a slight sweetness, but not too much. Alcohol taste is non-existent. Between this and Katy, a barrel aged brett lambicus fermented saison 2nd Shift are doing some of the best beer in the St Louis area.

4 hands prunus saison

Prunus is a sour cherry saison by 4 Hands. This year's version of Prunus by 4 Hands uses a different recipe to last year. Most notably, the addition on Brettanomyces C yeast. Before, this was a nice saison with flavors from the cherries coming through. With the addition of brett, this has rounded the beer out nicely. The cherry is still very present, but not overwhelming and the brett seems to have dried it out a bit in the finish. It's definitely worth seeking out and I'll be getting more of this in the future.

ode to berliner weisse

Ah, berliner weisse. This might be my favorite beer style of all in the summer. The other night, while grilling, I opened a Bayerischer Bahnhof Berliner Style Weisse. It's the first time I've had this one, but it definitely won't be the last. It's probably the most tart berliner that I've had to date, which is something I really enjoy. They aren't 'sours', but are tart enough, extremely refreshing and generally have low ABV's, making them perfect for the summer.
4 Hands released their Berliner last week, Prussia and I picked up a bottle at the brewery. Again, this is a great, refreshing beer at 3.5% ABV. It's not as tart as I would have hoped, but still a good representation of the style. They will be brewing a ruby red grapefruit version soon, which I am seriously looking forward to.
Two other St Louis breweries have also recently made Berliner's. Perennial's Tart Hopfentea is a collaboration with Hopleaf in Chicago and is brewed with a special tea blend. I had this a few weeks ago at their tap room. Refreshing, slightly tart with some tropical fruit flavors. I realize that with these descriptions I'm a bit of a broken record, but they hold true.
Ku'Damm by Urban Chestnut is another, more traditional Berliner. I won't describe it again, but you know the drill. The one thing all the local Berliners do have in common is that I wish they were more tart, like the Bayerischer. I'm very happy to be living in a place where local breweries are making beers outside of the normal realm.

stone ruinten ipa

RuinTen IPA is Stone's Ruination 10th Anniversary beer from last year brought back by popular demand. Stone holds a special place in my heart because their beers are such good value for money. Any one of their special releases would sell at twice the price and this is no exception. Having recently had Enjoy By a couple of times over the last few months, this is a very different animal. Enjoy By has a very vegetal hop  aroma and flavor, where as RuinTen has citrus in spades. It's pretty malty and a little as well, but that is offset by the sheer amount of hops used. I am a sucker for Citra hops and you can tell that they used them generously in the dry hopping of this beer. At 10.5% it's not something you want every day, but this is my third time having it from this years release and I love it. 

founders rübæus

Fruit beers that aren't sour aren't usually something I enjoy. This, however is an exception. Excellent raspberry flavors, a little sweet, but it finishes dry. A great, refreshing summer beer that at 5.7%, would be easy to have a few. It's a little on the pricey side and only comes in a four pack, but I'm guessing this is to offset the cost of the raspberry's in production. Definitely a beer worth trying.

sierra nevada bigfoot ale '09-'13 vertical

July 4th I opened the '09-'13 Bigfoot Ales. I have enough left to do a few more and was thinking of expanding it to 10 years, eventually. I'm not sure it's worth it, though. Between the 5 years there is enough variation that I don't think it would gain all the much form the extra time. It did provide a very nice gradient of flavors.
Starting with  the '09 there were a lot of raisin and toffee flavors, with just a hint of hops still peeking through. Trying the '13 immediately after this was a shock, the piney hops heavily contrasted with the almost non existent hops of the '09. The '11 fell right in the middle and the '10 and '12 did the same. Nothing unexpected, just a great example of how a beer can change with time.
At the end there was about an inch left in each bottle, so we made a cuvée of them all. This was really fantastic. The malt forward properties of the older vintages really shone through, but was tempered by the fresh hops of the later years. It was a great experiment and I can't wait until the next one.

4 hands bona fide elijah craig

I'm making an effort tom actually update this in a timely fashion and improve the quality of photographs used on here. This is the first post since I've had my tripod. There will undoubtedly be some shitty cell phone pics, but I'll try and keep those to a minimum.

Now to the beer. The Wine & Cheese Place has been selecting their own barrels from various whiskey distilleries for a while and have been passing them along to local St Louis breweries to age special release beers in. I have been lucky enough to try most of these so far and will definitely miss them when we move. This particular beer is from last year and was 4 Hands first foray into the program. They have since aged more Bona Fide in a Dry Fly Whiskey barrel, which I will write about as soon as I open it.
The first batch of Bona Fide (2012) was an extremely hoppy coffee and vanilla imperial stout, a combination that I really enjoyed. The barrel aged version gives it an extra dimension, again. Even after a year in the bottle, there is still a significant hop bite, with the coffee and barrel flavors following close behind. The vanilla comes out at the very end. This is a great beer, I just wish it wasn't so limited. This years Dry Fly version and the non-barrel aged version should be up here soon.

goose island night stalker

This seems to be  a polarizing beer of late. Some forum talk mentioned that this batch was infected, but the bottle I had definitely was not. I personally loved this beer, it had such a strong piney hop flavor that works well with the char. Recently, I've realized that I very much enjoy super hopped imperial stouts and this certainly fits the bill.

a wild new years eve

it's a month late, but here it is anyway. on new years i opened some beers, one i'd never had before and two that i'd had a bunch. the monomoy kriek was so good. a great american wild ale. nice sourness, cherry and oak. i enjoyed this immensely. 

the nøgne ø tyttbaer, which sadly was my last bottle was also great. this beer was a collaboration with mikkeller and is made with lingonberries. a bit sour, funky and interesting. wish i had more.

the cuvee renee is a good, easily available gueuze. it's a great, somewhat affordable way to get into the style.

indra kunindra

My first post in what seems like forever. This beer is something else. I'm back in the Philadelphia area for the holidays and happened to find this beer. It's been something I was dying to try ever since I had first heard about it.
Indra Kunindra is a stout made with curry, cayenne pepper, toasted coconut and kaffir lime leaves. It sounds like a disaster, but Ballast Point pulled it off. The curry hits you before the first sip, the coconut and lime are the first things I tasted. The spiciness is subtle at first, but builds on the back end. This is a beer you must try at least once, the flavors are very well integrated, but it's definitely not a beer for everyone. I loved it.