A not-so-secret thing about me: I don’t like coffee. It smells just fine to me but once I taste it, yuck. Needless to say, I don’t frequent Starbucks. However, I don’t usually have a problem with beers that taste like coffee as long as the coffee flavor isn’t overwhelming. Thus, I’m trying Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout. You also may remember that Katie hated this last year. I forgot all about it, texted her, and she went berserk all over again. Lagunitas made this  [ Read More ]

Karbach is back with F.U.N. Series #002 with a bourbon barrel aged version of Yule Shoot Your Eye Out. Thus, the references to A Christmas Story continue. I couldn’t find a good copy of this scene on YouTube, so we’ll just have to do with this awkward rendition. Ralphie has more to say on the side of this bottle. The old man sure had it rough that year. Those damn dogs ate the Turkey, the boiler kept acting up, I  [ Read More ]

If you haven’t checked out the craft beer selection in the Italy pavilion lately, you are really missing out on some great new offerings.  Wait…craft beer?  In the Italy Pavilion?  Yes, you heard us right!  While down in Disney World for the Food & Wine festival, we were able to get an overview of the Italy beer program from Eric Bandauski. Eric works for the Patina group (who runs all of the Italy restaurants) and is directing the beer program  [ Read More ]

I’m going to get straight to the point on this beer to save you some time. If you like bold rich and dark stouts, then stock up on as many of these 4-packs as you can. This beer is malty enough that you can age it for years to come so don’t worry about buying too many and not being able to drink it right away. With that being said I’m going back to the store asap and getting some  [ Read More ]

That’s right, we’re back with another installment of the Brewsies! Today is our two year anniversary and it’s time for everyone’s favorite fake awards! Here we go… Furthest trip to visit a brewery: Katie traveled all the way to Petaluma, CA to visit the Lagunitas brewery! Shortest trip to visit a brewery: Scott stayed in Houston and visited the Saint Arnold brewery. The “Newest Unibroue Convert” Award: Patrick tried La Fin du Monde and is ready for more! Beer found in World  [ Read More ]

Trappist ales, brewed by monasteries mostly in Belgium, are created and sold by the monastery to support itself and charitable causes. These monasteries tend to produce delicious beer, the most widely known of the eight official trappist breweries being Chimay. Brasserie de Rochefort is the brewery located inside the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Saint-Rémy near Rochefort, Belgium. The brewery has been producing ales since 1595, and its most popular is Rochefort 10. The water used for brewing comes from a well located inside  [ Read More ]

Jenn and Estelle aren’t surprised by this article (let’s be honest, who is?); it’s time to taste the 2012 edition of Abita’s Christmas Ale. The recipe changes annually (here are 2010 and 2011), so I’m never quite sure what to expect when tasting this one. This year’s is a dark brownish beer with reddish highlights. The head is thin and quickly dissipates. Lighter scents of spices and caramel. Spices, caramel, lemon, pine are the flavors that come to me. A  [ Read More ]

Ken was right; bottling is basically the worst. This kit didn’t come with a secondary fermenter, so the fermentation all occurred in the primary fermenter over two weeks. I brought the fermenter out and put it on the counter, opening the lid. It smells pretty good, but first the bottles and equipment need to be sanitized. Clean bottles are fairly easy to sanitize; just put them in the dishwasher. The heat of the drying cycle is enough to sanitize the bottles. 38  [ Read More ]

Mischief. It’s one of those crazy English words that looks like it should be pronounced “mis-cheef”, but it’s not. Merry Mischief is a gingerbread stout by Samuel Adams and is one of their small batch creations. This particular bottle is from batch #1. Merry Mischief is also the name of an “acoustic traditional duo“. There was also this video on YouTube from Norway in World Showcase at Christmas time. This duo is the Holiday Storytellers from Norway. The Santa-looking guy  [ Read More ]

Now that it’s after Thanksgiving, it’s really the Christmas season! Our tree is already up. But that’s not the only reason for this post; on with the beer! Named after one of the famous lines in the movie A Christmas Story, Yule Shoot Your Eye Out is Karbach Brewing Co.’s Christmas brew. A Christmas Story, however, is not really one of my favorite Christmas movies. This is more my cup of shugga’: Here’s “R’s” Christmas letter to Santa printed on the side  [ Read More ]