Modelo Especial

Nothing goes better with Mexican food than beer. Most Mexican brews are light, crisp, and slightly more sophisticated than the light beer brewed to the north. That's still not saying much. But this Modelo went quite well with my couscous tacos for dinner. Thanks to TK for leaving in my cooler after the USA game.

PS-The foil drives me nuts. I always have a piece that finds it's way into my glass.

The Kolsch

I brewed the beer that started it all. A Kolsch. It's all we drank while in Germany, and it's delicious stuff. This was the first time I used Wyeast activator yeast. The yeast is in a sealed in a pouch with a little bag of activators for the yeast. You smack the activator bag so it mixes with the yeast and in a few hours the bag bulges as the yeast eats the sugars and produces CO2. After I pitched the yeast I put the batch in the closet to ferment. Two days later the lid was blown off the bucket. Fermentation was so vigoruous that the airlock was clogged with foam and I guess the pressure kept on building until it popped. The lid was resanitized and i put it back on. The fermentaion continued, so I hope that a good sign that it didnt get contaminated. I do now have a closet with beer crud all over the walls though.

Whole Foods Lincoln Park Has a Bar!!!

I love good food and beer. Now at the new Whole Foods in Lincoln Park I con combine those two things. There a bar that will serve you so you can walk around the store and shop while drinking. Why has no one thought of this before??? Just think of the impulse buys after two Dragons Milk's. The tap list was pretty good. With goose shwill, Mad Hatter, Founders, Oberon, Dragons milk and to top it off they had a keg of FFF Calumet Queen. That's their Kolsch that never makes it out of their brewpub. Plus there was a special PBR tallboys (or mancans if your from the south) for $2.

Arcadia- Scotch Ale

I grabbed this at one of those mix and match 6 pack places. Man was I quite surprised with it. Much better than I expected. A good amount of malt and dark fruitiness to it. The description on their website says plums, coffee, toffee, and roasted chestnuts. I don't know it I get all of that out of this. Maybe just the plums and a slight toffee note. Still a good solid scotch ale.

Jolly Pumpkin-Oro De Calabaza

As you can see from the pic, we were celebrating. It was my 30th bday. Alex made me a delicious Spanish tortilla. Along with the meal we shared a bottle of the Oro De Calabaza. This Biere de Garde from Jolly Pumpkin is great. It has a light fruity tartness. There's a citrus note and some pepper at the same time. Very light and crisp. It was a complete surprise that it complemented the meal so well. Those guys make some good stuff.

Lagunitas-Pils

I can't say that I drink allot of pilsners, but I really liked this one. My friend Tom brought this over. It's a great session beer. Nice and light, with a mild hop and malt flavor. i'll be drinking more of this when the weather gets hotter.

Sprecher-Scottish Style Ale

Whooo. This one has some bourbon in it. Its a Scottish ale that was aged in bourbon barrels. I wasn't too impressed. You can't really taste the scotch too much, the bourbon flavor takes the whole beer over. Allot of maltyness too. Hey it was worth a try and I got a bottle that will be reused when brewing.