Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
Does anyone truly need a Death Star liquor cabinet? No. But does everyone who grew up in the ’70’s truly want one? Yes.
Obviously, you would need the right space and vibe for such a large statement piece to work and no HGTV designer would ever sanction it but it sure is cool.
I am not usually swayed by public opinion as gospel but I do use it to see which way the wind is blowing when it comes to beers and breweries.
In that spirit, let’s take a look at the Untappd 5 Star beers in 2024…
You have the “Not Surprised” category with Heady Topper, Pliny the Elder, Zombie Dust, Westvleteren 12.
Then there are “classics” like Yuengling Amber Lager, Duvel, Spotted Cow.
Then there are the ones that made me think twice with Augustiner Helles, Shiner Bock, Weihenstephan Hefeweissbier on that list.
Beer at airports cannot all be great and varied choices like in Portland or Denver, sometimes you have to settle for one place or maybe just one beer.
Such is the case for Mitchell Airport serving Wisconsin and Northern Illinois. You can go to the Miller Brewing restaurant and bar or you can head to Baron’s Beer Garden where you can quaff a Spotted Cow from New Glarus along with a small handful of other craft choices.
The aroma hop HS16660 now has a name, Erebus™ . Not the worst name around but I do not think that “the primordial deity of darkness in Greek mythology” would be into the aroma therapy of blueberry, citrus, candied fruit, and floral rose. But maybe Hopsteiner knows something about it that I do not.
I do not know about you but beer on / in my jeans is a bug and not a feature but apparently conservative Republicans think that Each Beer Wash Jeans “outfitted with a unique tag that features a Coors Banquet bottle opener and a patch kit for fans to customize their jeans” is cool.
I will be taking a pass, if I was going to have beer jeans, I would prefer to choose the beer I want scraping my skin myself.
Not Needed – but keep those wacky ideas coming your crazy marketing kids.
I would love to head back to Bardstown Bourbon Co. in Kentucky again and even more so when I heard of their collaboration with Blackberry Farm Brewery. The result is “a custom blend of 6 to 14 year old bourbon, then finished it in their signature Oxheart stout barrels for 17 months.” I do like a cask finished bourbon and this sounds tasty.
Amburana is used quite frequently to finish bourbon but The Bruery is taking their Black Tuesday base to create Amburana Noir, a double barrel-aged imperial stout aged in both Buffalo Trace Bourbon barrels and Amburana wood barrels. The beer will register at a super high 20.7%.
Every once in a while I will get a happy email from the Rare Beer Club wanting to highlight some of their great beers that you can get.
This is the second review of the month and if it sounds good, you should check out the club.
This is the Prodigal 2024. It is a biggun in abv at 11.5% but also large in syrupy stoutness. An Imperial Stout with cacao and vanilla and it is slick and big on caramel to me more than either of the featured adjuncts. It is halfway to being stout gravy. There is also a truckload of sugar coming to the fore as well. I would net hesitate to say that this would be good as a cooking ingredient. Little too extravagant for my taste.
Wow, the aroma on this hop water from Highland Park Brewery when the can is opened is large. I am getting mint initially. That settles into straight up lupulin cone flavor. Like tearing a hop apart. That is really good. It just tastes like being in a hop field. I had low hopes since most hop waters are only so-so but this is a winner. Gonna need more of these.
I along with several fellow NAGBW members heard a lively virtual happy hour led by podcaster and writer Dave Infante with guest, the sociologist and author Dr. Eli Revelle Yano Wilson. Wilson’s latest book is Handcrafted Careers: Working the Artisan Economy of Craft Beer.”
Here are my takeaways from the discussion: