Beer!

[Ryan Ruck]

Tonight I decided to have the bottle of Stone's RuinTen IPA that I picked up recently.



This is a brew celebrating the 2012 10th anniversary of Stone's Ruination IPA. Ruination is a pretty robust IPA and this purports to be even more so.

This poured out a cloudy red-gold with a decent sized off-white head. Head faded fairly quickly. Aroma is piny citrus, not an overwhelming scent. Taste is very interesting. I get a creamy, grapefruit taste. It is very hop heavy and pretty bitter but it comes across as balanced by the 10.8% alcohol and a little bit of a malt taste. It is fairly smooth but the pronounced bitterness does make drinking this challenging for someone like me that doesn't have a preference for bitter beers. Definitely a good pick if you like the challenge of bitter beers.

[MinutemanCO]

Trying a new, rather off the wall brew tonight.

Opened a bottle of Rogue's Voodoo Doughnut Chocolate, Peanut Butter, and Banana Ale.

You are a brave man. Just thinking of the combination made my face go green.

[MinutemanCO]

Also, for someone who doesn't consider himself an IPA drinker, you are downing a pretty fair amount. I love the stuff, so keep the assessments coming.

[Ryan Ruck]

Also, for someone who doesn't consider himself an IPA drinker, you are downing a pretty fair amount. I love the stuff, so keep the assessments coming.

I know! It is funny how it has worked out like that. I suppose it is because IPAs are as popular as they are and that's what everyone brews a bunch of.

Volumetrically, I'm sure I drink more Oberon than anything.

[MinutemanCO]

Oberon. I can't get that stuff in Colorado. Closest they come is Arizona. It's a good thing there are a bunch of microbreweries here.

[Ryan Ruck]

That really sucks.

Time to start a petition!

[MinutemanCO]

Yeah! Damn it! I want my Oberon!

Harpoon too. Can't get that either.

[Ryan Ruck]

Losing easily available Oberon will be the one downside of me moving out west.

I WILL have family helping me perform an "Oberon Air Lift" every Summer if I don't end up making trips back east myself.

I will not be denied my golden, carbonated, nectar of the gods!

[American Patriot]

You are a brave man. Just thinking of the combination made my face go green.

We made that Mint Chocolate-Chip milk stout. That was awesome.

[Ryan Ruck]

Wow, that must have been an interesting brew.

[MinutemanCO]

Ryan, you're moving out west? Where to?

[Ryan Ruck]

I'm planning on Northern Idaho, hopefully in the next 1.5-2 years if all the pieces fall into place.

[MinutemanCO]

I spent some time for work in Kallispell, Montana. I would imagine Idaho, just 80 miles west of there is beautiful country as well.

[Ryan Ruck]

That area was actually on my short list. From my research, the two areas are fairly similar. Northern Idaho won out because of slightly better (mostly firearms) laws.

[Ryan Ruck]

Tonight is light drinking because I'm on call this weekend so I'm having a bottle of Rogue's Honey Kolsch (It's only 4.8% ).



It poured out a very light gold with a moderate white head. My allergies are acting up a bit so my sense of smell isn't fully up to snuff. With a little effort I'm picking up honey and flowers though. With my sense of smell off, my taste might be affected so for what it's worth I'm getting some wheat and a little bit of honey. Not as much of a honey note as the name would indicate. Otherwise it is sweet, dry, and crisp. Very approachable and refreshing but I don't think it is overly memorable.

[Ryan Ruck]

My normal course of action in the lead up to the cooler months has been to gradually stock up on Oberon clear through October, that way I get the freshest possible bottles up through the end of winter.

Well for some reason Oberon has been getting quite scarce recently! I suspect an increase in popularity. Last week I had picked up a 24 pack (4 6-packs in a single box, sold at a case price discount) from Party Source and had seen they had a good supply remaining. This week I was going to go ahead and pick up another 12 pack since I was near the local Jungle Jim's. They ended up being completely out of 12-packs and mini-kegs with only a few 6-packs left! Last night I decided I had better go back to Party Source (which is helpfully open until midnight on Saturdays) and do my stocking up in one trip lest I be left high and dry (pun intended! ) right in the middle of Winter. Turns out my order ended up selling Party Source pretty much out of Oberon!

Here is what 156 bottles of Oberon look like, plus one mini-keg which is about 14 bottles (I have another mini-keg and partial 12-pack in the beer fridge ):



(They only had loose 6ers left after the 4 cases so they stuck them in those Great Lakes boxes. Which is a pretty decent brew on it's own, by the way.)

[American Patriot]

If I had time and a place to store it, I'd collect a few cases of beer.

As it was my wife and I went to Denver this weekend for a break, stayed in a huge, expensive hotel, walked around and hit all the Rock Bottoms in Colorado (ok, we hit three out of seven, lol) and tried to get over to Bubba Gumps but I ran out of space to fill my belly lol

We ended up stopping and ordering a case of some special mead from a place in Castle Rock (I'll have to drive up to get it this weekend probably).

[Ryan Ruck]

Haha! Sounds like a good time!

[American Patriot]

I did buy a six pack of "Full Sail Ale" yesterday and the requisite "Shock Top" for the ladies of the household. The six pack was mine. They were drinking the wheat beer.

I hadn't had that particular ale before, but it was pretty decent. Like you I have problems smelling anything (cold for the past 10 or so days) so I can't really give you a good description. I liked the taste (what I could taste of it). Saved a couple for later tonight.

[Ryan Ruck]

This one's for you MMCO!

I'm on vacation and tonight I'm having Harpoon's Imperial Pumpkin Stout.



Poured into a snifter as recommended because of the 10.5% ABV. It came out as black as Halloween night () with a dark tan head that came and went. This one has a very pronounced nose! Strong pumpkin with a bit of chocolate and a number of spices like ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon (this is very consistent in the other reviews out there). Taste is definitely pumpkin and cinnamon with some malt. The alcohol isn't in your face but gives a nice warming sensation.

I like this beer a lot. It's not as big a contender as Pumking but I'd put it right up there with Dogfish's Punkin, maybe even a slight edge over it. It is also priced very economically at about $5-$6 for a 22oz bomber.

I could easily see this as a beer paired with Thanksgiving dinner.