Lawrence Beer Tasting

The results of a recent beer tasting

Good times.

Beer People are the Greatest Kind of People

I started drinking good beer with complete naivete about a decade ago.  Just buying and drinking, pairing with food, getting some cool glasses, really just enjoying it.   Soon after I discovered a community of other people who enjoyed more than your standard supermarket discount case of beer.  What a world opened up that was full of information and wonderful people.  The one downside was a growing insight into beers that I may never get to drink.  The list of beer that I never thought I would get a sip of kept growing but something interesting happened.  At an apex, slowly but surely the list started shrinking and I was finding myself quaffing ales I thought were surely no longer in existence.   This was due in large part to the greatest people in the world, alcoho... I mean beer lovers.  People who wanted nothing more but to share their passions and hobbies with those of like mind.  Eventually, I learned that no beer, no matter how old or rare was out of reach.  Eventually, it would come across my smiling face.  I want to underscore that it is not the beer that I am most impressed with, on the other hand the beer was often disappointing, but it is the people behind the beer.  I consider these people some of the best individuals I have ever met (you know who you are).  The point is I think I finally drank the last beer that I thought I may never get to drink, so here is a pic of me making out with a bottle of Samuel Adams Millennium.

Another generous beer lover shared this at a recent hedonistic beer orgy (Ratebeer Winter Gathering).  Thanks Brad for sharing this awesomeness.  Only about 3,000 bottles of Samuel Adams Millennium were produced and each is signed and numbered by Jim Koch, the founder of Sam Adams. A bottle of Samuel Adams Millennium costs about two hundred dollars when it was first released.  This particular box now also bares the signature of son of Gravedigger.

Leaving Kansas

Moving to Chicago and need to create a Kansas beer bucket list, here is a start:

1. Visit Wichita (Wichita Brewing Co, River City Brewing, and Hank is Wiser) and of course go to Goebel Liquor

2. Mo's Place in the middle of nowhere

3. Kansas' newest brewer Broadway St Brewing and hit up the Tallgrass taproom

 Tallgrass Pub Ale

Here comes a new Tallgrass brew.

A rebrew of Tallgrass Ale that was one of the original beers released by the brewery.

Beer and Food Pairings

Garlic is so powerful it is often hard to match garlic-rich foods with beer. For such occasions I always recommend Duvel. Pictured is some pork fat on Russian black bread with some veggies and a little bit of young garlic accompanied by Duvel. I consumed this atop a roof in Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn, NY.

Duvel is considered the quintessential Belgian Golden Strong Ale by many and was a gateway beer for me. Duvel was one of the first Belgian ales I ever tasted and it was eye opening. The combination of pilsner malts and Saaz hops with a high alcohol ale was a revelation. Duvel is the flagship beer of the Moortgat Brewery, which was founded in 1871 and Duvel was first brewed to commemorate the end of WW!.

Moortgat also brews the Maredsous line of beers, which I adore. In the past few years, they have acquired Brasserie d'Achouffe and DeKoninck. Also, Moortgat invested in the Ommegang Brewery and has recently completely taken ownership of the brewery. Despite these numerous holdings Moortgat has been able to maintain the quality of their products (even if some beer geeks continue to protest that Duvel "used to be better").

Fun Game

Can anyone figure out what is wrong with this picture?