REVIEW: Laughing Dog Alpha Dog

Today's beer comes from a recommendation from my brother, Cart. We were talking beer recently, as we often do, and I asked him what good beers he had had lately. This one was at the top of his list. He compared it to Avery's Maharaja. Now when you go around comparing a beer to one of my all time favorites my curiosity is piqued. So the last time I went to Jungle Jim's I grabbed a bomber. To the beer!

REVIEW: Sun King/ Oskar Blues Chaka

Well, this is the end of the Sun King, at least for now. But we're going out with a good one. A Belgian Style collaboration ale from Sun King and Oskar Blues. Oskar Blues is probably the brewery that I am most disappointed does not distribute to Ohio. Their Dale's Pale Ale and Mama's Little Yella Pils are both tremendous beers that I wish I could get more often. But for now I'll just have to settle for this. I'm always excited to see what concoctions emerge from collaborations between talented beers. This beer is also notable for the type of can it's contained in. Oskar Blues and Sun King both can all of their beers but this is the first time either brewery has used this 16 oz resealable can. It's similar to what you may ahve seen being used by Miller Lite or Coors Light. I think it's a safe bet that the beer contained in this can will be quite a bit more tasty than those two. Let's find out. To the beer!

REVIEW: Sun King Wee Mac

I'm keeping the Sunk King love coming. I mentioned in my post on their tasting room that I got a couple of their four packs in addition to the growler of Sky Cake. Today's post is the first of those: Wee Mac Scottish style ale. I had a chance to try each of Sun King's house beers in their tasting room, Wee Mac, Sunlight Cream Ale, and Osiris Pale Ale. All three were tasty, but I enjoyed Wee Mac the most. How does it taste out of that gorgeous can though? To the beer!

REVIEW: Sun King Sky Cake

The week (ish) of Sun King continues! I mentioned in Monday's post that I tried each of the seasonal/ specialty beers that Sun King had on tap when I visited. The Naptown Brown, the Indians Lager, and this one, Sky Cake. I enjoyed all three, but this one was by far the most interesting. Sun King has dubbed this beer an aleger. Sky Cake (what a great name) is a beer fermented with lager yeast at ale temperatures. Ale + lager = aleger! Now to know what exactly this means you need to know a little bit about brewing and fermentation. Ales are usually fermented at warm temperatures. Ale yeast ferments best at temperatures around mid 60s to mid 70s degrees. Lager Yeast ferments at much cooler temperatures. Since this beer is fermented with lager yeast at ale temperatures it combines the characteristics of the two. To the beer!

Sun King Tasting Room

This past weekend I found myself in Indianapolis for a friend's wedding. I took the opportunity to check out Sun King, a brewery that I had heard a lot of great things about but whose beer I had never had as they don't distribute very far outside of Indianapolis. So while my girlfriend, Meredith, was occupied with bridesmaid duties my friend, BJ and I headed to downtown Indianapolis to check things out.

REVIEW: North Peak Vicious American Wheat IPA

Here's another interesting one folks. If you've been reading this blog for any time, you know I love the IPAs. You may have also noticed that I haven't featured any wheat beers, if any. Not that I don't enjoy them, they just aren't my favorite. They are good summer beers though. And with the weather in Cincinnati getting nicer and nicer, I figure it's time to break out some wheat ales. And what better way to get into wheat beers on the blog than with a wheat IPA. And how awesome is that stubby little bottle? To the beer!

REVIEW: Williams Bros. Kelpie Seaweed Ale

Today's beer is out of left field. I tried to go out of my comfort zone a bit in my latest trip to Jungle Jim's. I  got a bunch of wheat beers, which aren't usually my favorite, and also decided to try a handful of foreign beers. I want to mix things up. I can't review Imperial IPAs every day. In the spirit of trying new things I bring you today's beer. Scotland's own Williams Bros. Brewing Company's Kelpie Seaweed Ale. Now I'll be honest with you. I have never had a seaweed ale. I don't even know what a seaweed ale is! I know nothing of this beer other than the fact that the name intrigued me and it has a cool label. I don't know what the hell I'm getting myself into here, folks. To the beer!

REVIEW: Homebrew Smoked Porter

If you've been reading this blog for any amount of time you may be wondering what happened with my homebrew. You can read more about the brewing/ bottling process here. I haven't talked about my homebrew since I made the macaroni dish using the smoked porter and Stone Arrogant Bastard. There's a reason the homebrewing discussion has been back burnered. The first time I tried the beer, when it was used in the macaroni, it was very flat. The carbonation was almost nonexistent. I decided to let the beer sit for another few weeks to let the yeast build up a bit more carbonation. The second time I tried it the carbonation problem had been fixed but I had discovered a new problem. The beer had an overpowering yeasty flavor. I'm not sure if I was just too rough with the bottles, stirring up the yeast before drinking, or if I just poured too vigorously. I decided to put another bottle in the fridge, wait, and then when the time came to drink it, pour it extremely carefully, trying as best I could to keep all of the yeast at the bottom of the bottle. OK, let's see if my beer is any good. To the beer!

REVIEW: Blue and Gray Fred Red Ale

Here we go. The last of the birthday beers. This one, like Wednesday's, DC Brau is another east coast brew. Fedricksburg, Virginia's Blue & Gray Brewing Company and their Fred Red Ale. Irish style red ales are not something I see a lot of. Let alone drink. Red ales, I imagine, are usually foregone in place of ambers. The styles are similar, but after drinking this beer, I'm not sure going with an amber instead of a red is such a good idea.

REVIEW: DC Brau The Corruption IPA

Another birthday beer! This one comes to me from my brother and sister-in-law who are in Quantico Virginia while he is at TBS. I've been bugging them to bring me back some east coast beers and they certainly came through! This is my first beer from DC Brau proper. I reviewed their collaboration pumpkin porter with Epic Brewing a while ago. It was quite tasty. I'm very excited to see how this IPA stacks up. To the beer!

REVIEW: West Sixth IPA

I have my lovely girlfriend to thank for this one. She gave me this six pack as well as the pint glass for my birthday. Thanks, Mere! She lives in Lexington, Kentucky which has recently become home to a really exciting and burgeoning craft beer community. Today's brewery, West Sixth, and Country Boy Brewing are both new craft breweries that have opened in the past few months. There are also a number of great restaurants and bars that specialize in extensive craft beer selections. Any of my Cincinnati readers owe it to themselves to make the hour and a half drive down I-75 for the weekend. It's a good time. Anyways, today's beer is the flagship from West Sixth and is currently the only beer available from them in six packs. I had the pleasure of trying their very tasty brown and amber ales the last time I visited the brewery but today we look at the IPA. To the beer!

REVIEW: Mikkeller Citra Single Hop IPA

Sorry today's post is getting up a little late. Full disclosure: I just got back from seeing The Avengers. It was in-freaking-credible. Go see it. Anyways, what were we talking about?  Oh yeah, beer. So lately a trend that I've been noticing more and more of is single hop IPAs. What this means is that a beer has been brewed using only one hop variety. Most beers are brewed using a combination of different varieties to add different aromas, flavors, and bitterness. A single hop IPA really showcases the flavors of a specific hop variety. The most prevalent example is probably Founders' Centennial IPA which is brewed with, you guessed it, Centennial hops. Sixpoint, with their Spice of Life series, brews a different single hop for every month of the year. Today's beer comes from Mikkeller and is brewed using only Citra hops. To the beer!

REVIEW: Mt. Carmel Third Shift Imperial Coffee Stout

We've got a special one today folks. If you read Monday's post you know I headed down to Mt. Carmel and came home with a growler of this beauty. This is the latest in Mt. Carmel's Snapshot Series, their limited run brewery exclusive beers. Prior beers in the series included Hopton Golden Ale, Barrel Aged Drifter, and Squirrel Bite Imperial Brown Ale. I knew I had something cool in store for all you blog readers when my buddy Alex and I came home with this growler. At the same time though, it's downright mean of me as the vast majority of you will never have a chance to try this tasty beer brewed with coffee from Cincinnati's La Terza Artisan Coffee Roasterie. But I did get to try it, and isn't that really what's important? To the beer!