Tag: Esquire TV

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the final BrewDog TV review

brew-dogs

Onto Round 3 of the BrewDog TV review!

Sadly this was the final show of the year.  Why no visits to Chicago or New York?  Or Glendale?  A bit of a stretch but why not come to Eagle Rock or Golden Road.  Enough ranting, on to the review…

For some reason, the season finale in Boston was full of sexual innuendo and innuendo +, Over ten by my count starting with a Hummer Limo crack.  The other oddity was the beer.  This was, by far, the weirdest of the beers.  And that is counting the Declaration of Independence thing.  Lobster and clam with sour mash on top of a chassis of Scotch Ale.  Doesn’t sound very appetizing to me.  And again they took to the water to brew it because they hadn’t learned their lesson in the Portland episode.

But the like a good sports team, when one segment is flat the others pick up the slack.  The oyster pairing section was delightful and it is great to see seafood getting into the conversation with beer.  And the fact that they didn’t do the wine vs beer and instead made it wine vs. beer, cocktail vs. beer and spirit vs. beer was a great idea.  Also the locales for the craft beer virgins were unexpected but part of the community, a boxing ring and a bocce court.  Really cool.

Jim Koch from Boston Beer was game the entire episode and it was fun to see him be just as crazy as the Scots.  It made the episode pop a little more like when a great guest star arrives on a TV sitcom.

Now if I could just get the hot tub of beer image out of my head, I could give it a proper rating.

 

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Review – BrewDog TV (shows 4-6)

brew-dogs

Onto Round 2 of the BrewDog TV review!

This post revolves around the Seattle, Portland and Denver episodes.

Since I wrote a small piece about a coffee beer for November BeerPaper LA and I am writing a larger piece about coffee and brewing for December, I was glad to see that the show went with the obvious for the Seattle episode.  And though the molecular gastronomy was enlightening with the beer pairings, I would have skipped the added caffeine boost section and given more screen time to the chocolatier and the baristas and Elysian.  That’s a personal preference though.

The Denver / Boulder show scared me a bit with the meat smoked thing though I liked the choice of pale ale.  On the whole this one is probably the weakest so far.  Maybe because it was titled Denver, I was expecting more of actual Denver but no mention except for brief bits on Great Divide and Strange.  Plus they like Falling Rock which might be good outside of GABF but has a Toronado SF vibe that I don’t like.  I much prefer Freshcraft.  The gourmand section was fun too.  It is my favorite segment of the show by far.

I was really excited to see the Portland show seeing that it is my hometown.  A little strange to see them partner with Deschutes.  Nothing against them but they don’t scream Portland to me.  Much like my issue with the Denver show, call it Oregon or Colorado if you are going farther afield.  The beer style was inspired though and takes a play from the Beers Made by Walking idea.  My favorite beer that I won’t get to try.  The food section ranks second behind the Philly donut section.

Overall, the show really works for me though.  I enjoy the accents and the self-deprecating humor.  They seem to be enjoying themselves which helps the viewer to enjoy the show!