Tour the City

Right upfront, I usually do not buy beer in the mail. There are a couple places that I check out but your Tavours of the world just aren’t my cup of tea. Mostly because I am super picky and prefer to choose the beers that I want in the quantity that I want and I just enjoy the experience of in person shopping and looking through the coolers.

But….City Brew Tour has an interesting hook to it. It is the ubiquitous subscription model and yes stickers and koozies seem to be a big part but what I like is that each month focuses on a different city and not just big cities or easily known beer cities.

For example, Bend, Oregon has been a stop but not Portland. New York hasn’t been hit nor Asheville or Denver. Yet. Instead you get Mikwaukee, Grand Rapids and Lexington as stops. And they already have Cincinnati lined up for June.

Needed or Not? – The Krakin

Welcome to Red Flag City, our first guest will help you shotgun your beer faster. Wildman Drinking presents Krakin.

Big tip off #1 is Wildman Drinking. Do I want to be Wildman Drinking? I think I am drinking fine. Next is Krakin, spelled wrong to avoid NHL lawsuits from Seattle.

If you are in shotgun land, stay there and please do not come out. So, not needed.

2 Better Than 1?

If this is a belated April Fool’s, then count me as got…

Here is what the design firm says, “The first tab – labelled “1” – opens the lid only slightly but creates a concentrated level of pressure inside the can, which activates the bubbles in the beer.

This allows the user to pour their desired amount of foam into a glass, before opening the second tab, labelled “2”.

This tab opens the can’s lid to its fullest and creates a smooth and foamless flow of beer, according to Nendo.”

When I am at my beer geekiest, I might do this but on a Friday after work, heck no.

Sealed

Back in the day when bottles were the craft rage, I bought reusable bottlecaps made out of a soft plastic-y material.  After many years of cans, maybe I need to buy full can bottletops.  Just not from Amazon.

Lego My Glassware

I will state upfront and for the record that I have too much glassware. But, this glass is really kinda cool…

…the website is Benshot and they have a few different beer glass and spirit glass designs to choose from if Legos are too sore a subject from stepping on one.

Unlabeled

I am not your go-to guy for blind tastings. Too much beer out there for me to drink which precludes honing in on a specific beer. Maybe this easy game would help….

You just need to be able to count and have enough beers on hand to taste blind.

1 Point – identifying a simple beer characteristic (ALE OR LAGER?).

2 Points – identifying the beer’s general category (PORTER OR STOUT?).

3 Points – identifying the specific beer type (OATMEAL STOUT OR IRISH STOUT?).

Full Points – Naming the exact brewery and beer. If you guess wrong, you lose the other points gained.

Kinda Charm Offensive

When I heard the news that Sam Adams Boston Lager had a recipe overhaul, part of me thought, in a Bostonian accent, what’s the big deal.

Recipes morph and evolve as the years pass, especially such a legacy beer like Boston Lager. But Sam Adams (maybe using some Truly money) has added a fun marketing twist to the change by tying the bright (supposedly) new taste with a brighter Boston attitude.

And it is funny, especially…

Needed or Not? – Brewsy

Or, and hear me out, I could buy a bottle of wine or can of cider in less than an hour at, say, Trader Joe’s. Instead of straining a pour little cranberry into un-natural positions.

Or, you could head to a home brew shop and learn how-to make your own wine and cider in probably the same amount of time.

Leave poor Ocean Spray out of it.

So very Not Needed.