Our Tastes-- Mikeller Black Tie

Promised Junk I'd save this one for him and FINALLY we sip on Mikkeller Black Tie. Great wafts of vanilla oak and honey. Absolutely opaque. Deep brown tight froth. The hint of peat smokiness is light and an awesome complexity. Alcohol is undeniable at 11.5%. Currently rips a 99 at ratebeer.com. From what I can gather stouts are Mikkeller's "go-to". And the brewing with honey is not only somewhat cheaper and more easily managed than grain on the small scale, but enticing to replicate over and over again utilizing subtle changes in aging or recipe to create "one offs". From what I read this may or may not be retired. I'd spot $20 to have it again, but for now it has become an Avogadro's constant of me.

Giving Props

I've learned that beer drinking/brewing sometimes go hand-in-hand and when you do it, you need a good T-shirt to do it in. The following are some shirts that I've gathered lately and man/lady, you just have to share it with others when it's good.

Picked most of these up at shirtpunch.com or my fav driving T for long trips, which is, "Looking for Love in Alderaan Places.." But then again a good google search will do the same. However, Alan Ashcraft was the original designer on my favorite T. Other notables in the side bar.

Crowners and Cappers Only Please

Ever needed the perfect crown but didn't have the perfect tool to make sure it came off the bottle unscathed? It only costs 25¢!

Our Tastes-- Samuel Adams Hazel Brown

An old recipe from the 96' World Homebrew Contest (Hazelnut Brown Ale), Sam Adams kicks up the marketing notch once again by offering this brew in the Harvest Collection sampler. This is a straight brown pouring beer with a butterscotch toffee nose. Hop are nonexistent. The palate afterwards is fully consumed by the hazelnut profile. A great beer to throw in the fall/winter lineup. Haven't done an NBA in a while. Grains were two-row pale malt blend, Caramel 60, Dingeman's biscuit, Paul's roasted barley (who is Paul?) along with Hallertau Mittelfrueh Noble hops, East Kent Goldings hops rounded with a 5.2%abv and 174cal/longneck.

Out of the Closet

I'm not big on looking into another man's closet but Junk finally came out of his:)

Our Tastes-- Danktoberfest

Part of the Dank series of beers from Sweetwater.  I received a package while out in Collbran, CO from Junk and within it was a nice bomber of this brew. Under pressure to share the above shown box o' libation, I shared my 1st bottle with the owners of Vega Lodge. However, The Enabler also had my back and picked up a little love for me at Derk's Filet & Vine. So now I get to relive my introduction to this brew using my notes form the first tasting for quality control. It pours a medium brown with a cereal nose and flat creamy head. Heavy Munich malt and Noble hop. Ron, the owner's brother-in-law, said it had a nice sweetness at the end on his palate and had an assertive grainy-ness.  8.5%abv and the story of Dank here.

Our Tastes-- Fat Jack

Another small batch series offering from Sam Adams, Fat Jack is a truly awesome pumpkin beer.  I can't remember pumpkin beers being this broadly offered, but I have drank my weight in them as the orange spring of fermented bevvy spews forth from microbrews across the nation. Damn, I think I'm turning orange from all of the beta carotene left over in my skin! The aroma, conversely of others, is of more malted grain than pumpkin or all-spice. Color is right on, and blends into the melancholy of all of the gourd-related brews I've swigged down this fall. Not complaining, just stating the truth. From what I understand Sam Adams has wanted to try brews of this kind, but not spend the money on smaller packaging and availability, hence all of these specialty beers in bombers, one at a time, with more volume dispensed and only one label with no cardboard six pack wrapper. Well, I could stand a 6er of this, the only thing stopping me is the 8.5%abv. Harvest Pumpkin is more in-line with the pie session offerings. Taste brings forth a sweet pulp to the sides of the tongue and a hint of smoked malt. I tried all season to find this and finally picked it up at an old watering hole at Mike's Handy Foodmart. Ask for Denny. Btw, 288cal/12oz, in other words, a bomber is a meal.

Brew Batch #48 Honey Kölsch (aka Jake's Juice)

Well this one went to bottles/keg today and yielding 30 or so long necked browns with traditional golden crowns. Thought my builder would get a kick out of them looking "traditional". Also kegged about a gallon to sample and draft off for him into a growler, so he can have a couple pints without bottle involvement. The chilling Red told me about dropped it so beautifully clear that only the true color of the brew shines. A great almost bourbon-esque color with slight red hue. FG 1.002+0.001 @67F to yield a 5.7%abv. Been a long time since I bottled (thanks to The Enabler for the donation). It was fun but keggin' and bombers is where it's at for me. For batch #50, I'm thinking I can do Reinke's and dry-hop the stink out of it this year, an Über IPA or do I throw it back to a style I shared with the Wolf Pack in 10' for the first time and limb it out on a Black IPA? Man, I wish I knew how to do a poll on this website. Maybe I'll look into that.

Brew Batch #49 Smashed Pumpkin

Inspired by Red, and his success at BlackStone Brewing with their 3rd offering (I think) of their Pumpkin beer, I've decided to try my hand at it. I had to do as much research into properly preparing for this beer as I did for Wicked Merry's Berry or even Reinke's Revenge that was over raspberry. The reading and prepping has been half the fun, I just hope it yields a palatable beer! After a labor intensive brewing OG 1.058+ 0.000 @58F. Smells great.