Now this one is pretty obvious....

Saturday night, at the Malthouse. The Malthouse has been giving away a pair of tickets to the Great Taste each Friday and Saturday. One of Duane's friends from Epic decided that he would like his girlfriend to go to the Great Taste (if possible). We agreed to attempt to win tickets for him, as he was driving furiously to Canada to bring her back to Madison. We didn't win.

Guess where?

This evening at the Malt House

Duane was crabby after a couple of Ambergeddons at Madison's (it was a work thing, normally we wouldn't set foot in there) and we walked out of Restaurant Muramoto (the waitress made fun of Duane's Charlie Daniels t-shirt) SO we ended up at the Malthouse. They still have Dancing Man Wheat on top, which Duane loves. I find it to be a little boozy for a wheat, which is probably why Duane likes it. I had the Ayinger Brau Weiss, still a summer fav for me. Luckily one of our favorite pizza places delivers to the Malthouse, so we had some awesome cheesebread and pizza for dinner. Duane had another fav, Ale Asylum Big Slick Stout while I tried out the Petrus Dubble. The Petrus is not quite as good as the Atomium, but still pretty tasty. I really need to start going to the gym.

Oak > No Oak

This was a happy surprise at Sahara Mart today when I went in to beg for some more empty boxes for packing. Great Divide 15th Anniv Wood Aged DIPA. A pimped out Denver Pale supposedly, this is pretty amazing. It has the vanilla smell and taste initially that makes me think I'm about to have a stout, and then, BAM, it's an IPA. Even ignoring the oak-ness, it has a nice malt/hop balance and is both smooth and biting at the same time. Pretty cool. I like this a lot. Nice job GD.

A+

Sposborth Surprise

Sposborth R 9/15 (whatever that is) is amazing. This is my favorite Sposborth yet. It has a tiny hint of Red (I'm guessing that's what the R is?) but is also REALLY sweet like a Dubbel. I'm going to 'dub' it Sposborth Red dub edition. If I start homebrewing, this is a recipe I'd want. Nice job Peter. Too bad you're eating weird noodles and unmentionable animals with chopsticks at the moment and may never receive these accolades.

Lucky 13

Stone 13: Pretty killer. It starts with a thick maltiness kind of like an Arrogant Bastard or Double Bastard, then finishes with a hop attack like a Runination. Has that thick, redish look like an American Strong Ale...still not sure what style this is supposed to be...Imperial Red maybe? I think I'd call it an Indian Strong Pale Ale. Best of both worlds perhaps?
Solid A

Imperial Hatter

Two words: MALT BOMB

This is pretty good, but is one of the maltiest things I've ever tasted in an IPA. Are there hops in here? I suppose there must be somewhere, but that's more logic than taste buds. This may have something to do with the Dreadnought that it's following on my tongue, but I'd like to think that even without that I'd have a similar opinion. Think Dogfish 90 min + 25% more malt.

A-

Cink Stinks

Hipster?

On a non-beer related note, is reading, referencing, talking about, or having knowledge of McSweeney's a possible sign of being a hipster? I'm still trying to figure them out (hipsters, not McSweeney's. Although I'm slightly baffled by that, too). From some article or another: "The ideal McSweeney’s reader (or writer) lives in Brooklyn, wears interesting T-shirts, has a blog he works on in coffee shops, and knows it’s cool to oppose globalisation but uncool to go on too much about it." Is that a hipster?

PDX haul

Here's what I'm bringing back:

The challenge is to name as many beers as you can, based on my grainy ass cell phone photo :)

Afternoon Delight

New, fresh Barryborth IPA.

Boo-yah

Pissed in Portland

Thank God I learned the bus route to the appropriate bars in Portland. It is Puckerfest at Belmont Station this week, so straight off the plane, I have:

Cascade Nightfall Blackberry Ale
Cascade Gold Yeller
New Belgium La Terroir

Then to the Horse Brass for:
Stone XIII

Then to Bailey's Taproom for:
Firestone Walker Double Jack

Tits!

Grumpy Troll....meh

Ok, so we have given the Grumpy Troll 3 tries and it has outright sucked or been just ok all 3 times. The food is terrible and not worth trying. This time I had their Wit, which was drinkable but barely. Duane had an IPA that was a winner of a homebrew contest and a stout which he said were both good. I think it was a great brewpub when brewpubs were few and far between, if you are in Mt. Horeb stop by but don't make a special trip.

New Glarus Brewery

New Bottle, worse taste

Well, they've ruined my favorite beer. This is a yeasty saison now, just slightly better than that Stone from yesterday... gone is the candi sugar, caramelocity of the old version. I'm nearly in tears. Damn you, whoever you are!