Tag: Half Acre Brewing

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Featured Beer Review – Two Coffee beers

Who will reign caffeine supreme between Half Acre Beer and Bellwoods Brewery?

Starting with the latter first, A Stout with Coffee from Bellwoods has a real big coffee aroma to it that is real nice. There is a creaminess to it as well that works really well. Thirdly, there is a bit of honey sweetness as well so you get a bit of an iced latte effect. The only downside here is that this is really thin to me. At 5% this is closer to being a brown ale than a stout.

Big Hugs pours with a lovely espresso head. There is less coffee on the nose and double the ABV of the Bellwoods beer. There is a creaminess to this as well but punctuated by an anise like sharpness. I have to admit that I like the black can as well. It fits with both coffee and imperial stout. This is a simple beer. Not getting layers of flavors. Would not label as a coffee beer actually and that is why, the winner is Bellwoods.

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Review – 3 Festbiers

Who will be the Fest Winner? California, the U.S. or Germany?

The Contestants

Smog City Smogtoberfest – dark orange in color. smells hoppier than the other two. simple and crisp. lots of malt flavor here with a bit of a spice kick.

Half Acre Lager Town – pours a dark orange with a malty and orange peel taste. a bit heavy to me with caramel notes. minerality here too as well as a viscousness.

Weihenstephaner Festbier – the lightest of the trio. bubbly in the glass. a bit of malty sweetness with a tiny touch of minerality. very clean and crisp.

The Winner

I think I have to choose the SmogtoberFest. It is the lowest ABV but also the fullest of the three beers.

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Beer Cage Match – Review # 6 – Double Daisy Cutter from Half Acre

Next is review number five from the City Beer Store of San Francisco beer purchase. By the end of the month, I will rank all six.

Currently Side Pull is one with IPL is Dead second, Lenticular Cap third, Working for Tips at 4 and pulling up the rear, I Feel Better Now hazy IPA. Where will the final beer rank?

The final beer comes from Chicago and Half Acre. It claims to be fully saturated, whatever that implies. The aroma is bright and right there when you pop open the can. I get a fifty-fifty combo of pine and candied orange peel. The ABV shows its full 8% and there is a big wallop of bitterness.

I am going to put this at #3. I almost went second place but the other two were just more unique.

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Beer Cage Match – Review # 1

I am loving the fact that City Beer Store of San Francisco ships anywhere in California. My most recent platypus purchase is a wide mix of beers that I thought, I should rate not in a 1v1 format but WWE style.

Here is review 1. By the end of the month, I will rank all six.

We start with Side Pull a Czech-style pale lager from Fair State and famed lager makers Bierstadt Lagerhaus from Colorado.

SP pours a super light yellow color. Did my best to get the best glassware for such traditional beer. Aroma is beautiful. Brings to mind walking around the old Weinhard plant in Portland. A sweet malt air. This is a really delicate beer to the point of whisper thin. Has a stern bite to it though that really lingers on the roof of the mouth. I hate the word crushable that is used on the label because this is just not something to throw back, this lager has a spine to it.

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A Book & A Beer – Dark Matter by Black Crouch


There are books that you read and when the end is reached, your first utterance is, “Well, I can see that being made into a movie.”

Such is the case with Dark Matter and in this case, that is not a disparaging remark. The author, Blake Crouch, has TV in his writing background, Wayward Pines so when the hero (more on that later) starts jumping from parallel earth to parallel earth, you can see the special effects in your minds eye.

The tale starts with one Jason Dessen a professor at a small Chicago college who us abducted and shot up with chemicals and deposited not in his world and has to find his way back.

If you are a time travel nitpicker, then this is probably not for you. The villain of the piece, well I can’t spoil that reveal since it doesn’t come until a bit later in the book is a bit problematic until later in the book.

But if you bought Matt Damon as Jason Bourne, you might shell out movie tickets to see him portray this Jason. It’s right up his alley.

Beer Wise – The label design and names from Bottle Logic in Anaheim fit this book to a T. Get a Recursion IPA or an Ocularity DIPA and become bitter with the villain. Better yet, pick up their GABF winning Lagerithm Black lager.

Since the book is set in Chicago, you can search out some Half Acre beer and enjoy a Pony Pilsner while going through the pages.

Or if you want to keep a science theme going. Get a growler from L.A. Aleworks from their SpaceX line of hoppy beers.

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Tall Boys

The can movement is picking up steam. How do I know? Tall boys are back.
“We’re pleased to announce that Half Acre will be installing a canning line at the end of this month. Craft beer and cans are a great combination and we’re eager to make this change. What does this mean for you? Once we’re rolling out cans from the brewery we will begin to transition from six-packs of 12oz bottles to four-packs of 16oz cans. That’s right, Tall Boys! We’ll begin by canning two beers, Daisy Cutter Pale Ale and Gossamer Golden Ale. That means Half Acre cans will be a reliable friend come late April.”
Now craft beer is pushing it’s way into another industrial beer stronghold.
half-acre-gossamer-golden-ale

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Half Acre + 3 Floyds =

a Helles?
half-acre-three-floyds-invasion
Yes, indeed. I have yet to try Half Acre, but after watching them on HopCast, I really want to sample their line-up. The two 3 Floyds beers that I have had were fantastic so this should make for a great beer.