Beer!

[Ryan Ruck]

Not quite that high, it is 7% though.

Twelve Percent LLC is Evil Twin's distributor I believe.

[MinutemanCO]

Gotcha. My eyesight ain't what it once was.

[Ryan Ruck]

Going to do two reviews tonight as well.

First up is Bell's Cherry Stout.



Poured pitch black with some red around the edges into a Shaker. Moderate brown head that faded fast. Aroma of cherry, roasted malts, and a little coffee. Tastes like smokey malt and tart cherries. A slightly sour, boozy after taste. The cherry is very dominant in this but I think the smokiness gives it an interesting compliment. I know I'm a little biased and it gets repetitive but, here's another good beer from Bell's.

[Ryan Ruck]

Second tonight is an offering from Southern Tier, their Eurotrash Pilz



Poured a light, clear gold into a Flute glass with a bit of head that faded to a film. Lots of malt and wheat on the nose. Yeasty and hoppy with slight citrus. Crisp and bubbly. Nothing overly special about this but nothing offensive, a safe drink. Even though it is just a Pilsner, it is still light years ahead of any macro Pils.

[Ryan Ruck]

Two reviews tonight!

The first is Weyerbacher's Insanity Barley Wine.



First thing I noticed pouring this out is that it is viscous! Poured into a Snifter a cloudy chestnut with almost no head. Smells of dark fruits, brown sugar, and oak. A little dank. This is as thick as it looks. Tastes like a good bourbon! Sticky sweet. Malt and alcohol on the back side. At 11%, it packs a decent punch. A sipping beer for sure. Very tasty brew!

[Ryan Ruck]

The second review tonight is a brew I've been pushing to the back of my fridge because I haven't been sure what it has in store.

This is Mikkeller's 1000 IBU DIPA.

Yeah, 1000 IBUs...



As soon as I cracked the cap on the bottle I was immediately hit with a heavy piney hop smell before I even began pouring it! Poured a thick red-brown into a Shaker glass with a massive light tan head, a very long-lasting head. Normally with IPAs you'll get citrus or pine. This one you get both! Some peach and/or mango to go along with it. On the first sip prepare to be smacked in the mouth with the bitterness! This really lives up to the 1000 IBU name. Even though the bitterness is overwhelming I can pick out some malts. The bitterness just lingers and lingers in your mouth. Wow... This certainly wouldn't be a frequent drink but, damn, pick one up to say you tried the most bitter IPA in existence!

Gack! I WILL finish this even if it kills me!

[MinutemanCO]

Parked myself behind a Ruthless Seasonal Rye IPA from Sierra Nevada yesterday evening. Had a spicy, hoppy flavor. Enjoyed it thoroughly, but after an entire day replacing the struts on my V70R, I was asleep after my first beer within 30 minutes.

You ever notice how projects, no matter the length and depth of your planning, never go quite as expected?

[Ryan Ruck]

LOL! I love when that happens!



As the saying goes, "No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy."

[MinutemanCO]

That's the phrase I was trying to remember. So true.

[Ryan Ruck]

Boy, cows sure seem to be behind a lot of news recently. Land grabs, food prices, now this...

Regulation Nation: Breweries Fight Back Against New Government Grain Rules

April 15, 2014

A fight is brewing between American beer makers and the federal government over happy hour ... for cows.

For centuries, brewers have given or sold the leftover grain from the brewing process to local ranchers and dairy farmers for cattle feed. But new regulations proposed by the Food and Drug Administration threaten to end that relationship.

"The whole brewing community was shocked about it," said Josh Deth, co-owner of Revolution Brewing in Chicago, Ill.

Deth, whose title is "Chairman of the Party," says it's always been a great deal for both sides. The ranchers get the grain, and the brewers get those leftovers removed from their facilities for free.

"We're trading, giving something of value to each other and working it out. I think that's one of the really great things, and people really hate to see the government get involved in something where they can just as easily stay out of this."

Under the FDA's proposed regulations, so-called spent grains would be regulated the same as pet food.

Deth said the regulations would make it far too costly for him to prepare the grains to be passed along to farmers. The only remaining option would be sending it to a landfill, which would cost more than $100,000 a year.

That would be bad for dairy and cattle farmers like Jim Minich, who gets 30 tons of spent grain from Revolution Brewing each week. Not only does the grain save him more than $100,000 a year in feed costs, his 750 cows also produce more milk after chowing down on their "happy hour."

"I mean it's just basically grain and it's got a lot of yeast in it and it's wet, so it adds to the palatability of the feed so they eat more," he said.

The regulations are part of the FDA's Food Safety Modernization Act, a sweeping new food safety reform law signed by President Obama in 2011. According to the FDA, the purpose of the law is to improve the safety of animal food.

There's no record of spent grains causing any problems for cows or humans, though, according to Chris Thorne, a spokesman with the Beer Institute.

"We already meet or exceed the goals that the FDA would like us to see. So we see these regulatory procedures as completely unnecessary," Thorne told Fox News.

The FDA was flooded by comments from brewers, distillers and cow farmers when the proposed rule was announced.

Several members of Congress have since added their voices as well to those asking the administration to reconsider the law.

Responding to the outcry, the FDA said in a statement it is now looking to revise the language for the rule this summer before issuing a final decision sometime next year.

"We are working to develop regulations that are responsive to the concerns expressed, practical for businesses, and that also help ensure that food for animals is safe and will not cause injury to animals or humans," the FDA said.

[American Patriot]

That's a load of BS!

lol

[Ryan Ruck]

I just opened up a Southern Tier brew I've been looking forward to for a while. I'd missed the last two releases of this but finally got some this last week!

It's Southern Tier's Mokah Imperial Stout



Poured a thick black, like motor oil, into a snifter with a moderate dark brown head. Head disappeared to trace pretty fast. Heavy nose of chocolate and coffee with some caramel on the side. Taste is a lot like the nose on it, though the chocolate is almost chocolate milk like. Yum! A bit of alcohol to it as well. Not a huge surprise since this baby clocks in at almost 11%! This has a 100% rating on RateBeer for good reason. Definitely recommend grabbing a bomber.

[Ryan Ruck]

Last night I had one of a couple of new brews I had picked up earlier last week.

This one was Rogue's New Crustacean Barleywineish Imperial IPA Sorta.



First, here's the review...

Poured amber with a small, white head into a snifter. Aroma of citrus hops, some malts, and alcohol. Hoppy bitterness and alcohol jump out in the taste. This is 10.8% ABV and it shows. Taste is definitely more DIPA than barleywine, in my opinion. The bitterness wasn't too bad for the most part but near the end of the bottle it did start to get a little cumbersome. Definitely one for the bitter fans.



Now for the PSA and why I'm glad I didn't have a chance to review this last night. It gave me time to fully take in this beer. I have a warning for all readers about this one!

To be honest, a bomber of 10.8% brew isn't much of a challenge to me, especially with a belly full of chicken wings. Went to bed with a bit of a buzz but nothing too epic. About half way though the night I woke up with the splitting headache of a bad hangover! How could this happen with a single bomber? I have no idea... Something in this beer just did not agree with me. No idea what it was but wanted to put this warning out there in case anyone else decides to try this one.

I ended up going to the kitchen to perform my typical hangover recovery (toss down a couple aspirin and Tylenol with a huge glass of water) so I could finish off the night. Got back to bed with no problem and woke up feeling fine otherwise. Definitely an odd occurrence...

[Ryan Ruck]

Tonight is one of the others I had picked up last week.

This is another one from Rogue, their Rogue Creamery 80th Anniversary (Imperial Brown) Ale. Hoping this one is a little more well received than last night's Rogue.



This is a limited release, limited availability beer. Last time there was a Rogue Creamery Anniversary brew was 5 years ago with their 75th anniversary version and, so far there's only one review on RateBeer for this one.

Poured a very dark red-brown with a light brown sizable head. Head took its time fading to a thin coating. This smells very sweet with malt and caramel notes. Taste is as sweet as the smell but not overly so. Tastes like brown sugar and malt with a little bit of cocoa and some nuttiness on the backside. No bitterness to speak of. This is a really tasty beer. It is 8.5% but you won't get any of the alcohol. Give this one a try if you can find it!

[Ryan Ruck]

A couple nights ago I had the last of my previous round of newly purchased beer. Didn't have a chance to post it but had made some notes so here's the review now.

This one was Two Brothers Polar Vortex Dunkel.



I've had a couple Two Brothers brews before. Don't recall offhand which ones they were. I seem to remember they were okay, nothing special but not bad either.

The name of this one caught my eye with this hysteria over the POLAR VORTEX this past Winter and since it is a dunkel, which I happen to like, I figured I'd give it a try.

Poured clear, dark brown into an English Pint with a substantial off-white head. Head took it's time to fade to a bit of a topping. Malt chocolate aroma with a little caramel. Tastes of roasted malts, a bit of yeastiness, and a very slight hoppy bitterness. Kind of sweet... 5.9% ABV so nothing too potent but a nice drink nonetheless.

[Ryan Ruck]

Even though I should still be trying to wade though the remaining beers in my fridge, I made another beer run earlier this week.

One of the ones I picked up was Left Hand's Oak Aged Widdershins, which I'm having tonight.



This one thickly poured a deep amber into a snifter with almost no head. Aroma of dark fruit, caramel, malt, and alcohol. Sweet fruit and smoke are prominent in the taste. Oak and bitter hoppiness. Fairly boozy as well. Not much of a surprise since this is 10.7%! This is pretty tasty. I like the smoke flavors. What I don't much care for is just how bitter this is. They could stand to dial it back a little. Not bad other than that though.

[MinutemanCO]

I should be able to get that one. Sheesh. It's made about ten miles from my house.

[Ryan Ruck]

Haha! Nice!

I've had other Left Hand brews before but like Two Brothers I can't say I've had anything from them that has really wow'd me however this one was good.



Tonight I've opened up Stone's Smoked Porter With Chipotle Peppers.



This poured a deep, dark, clear mahogany into an English Pint with a substantial light tan head. Head receded to a 1/4" topping and stayed there. Very first impression of the aroma on this is the smokey charcoal/pepper smell! Very cool since this is a scent you don't normally get out of a beer. Smokey hops are the predominant taste. Very moderate heat on the back end that hits your throat and lips. Much more civilized and drinkable than Stone's Crime. Just enough kick to get your attention but not too much to overwhelm. Would pair excellently with some Mexican food. This one is definitely recommended!

[MinutemanCO]

Yeah, Left Hand has always been a good go-to brew. Not outstanding. I just like giving patronage to a local shop on occasion.

[Ryan Ruck]

That's always a great thing to do. I do like to support my local breweries as well.

Thankfully Quaff Brothers is local and they do outstanding brews. Great Lakes is kinda-sorta local and they're also great. Listermann has some really good brews too.

The other locals I can think of like Mt. Carmel, Rivertown, and Christian Moerlein aren't too bad either.