REVIEW: Country Boy Session Wheat

I wrapped up my time in Cincinnati with a look at a Cincinnati beer. It seems only appropriate to begin my time in Lexington with a Lexington beer. Poetic even. My girlfriend Meredith and I headed over to Country Boy to grab a couple beers, watch a few innings of the Reds, and come home with a growler. I snagged 64 oz. of the beer you see above, Session Wheat. No need to waste any more time. To the beer!

No More Magic Hat

We're taking a bit of a break from our regularly scheduled program today. If you're at all tuned in to the craft beer world via Facebook or Twitter there's no doubt that you saw all of this mess between Magic Hat and West Sixth blow up yesterday. Now, if you've been reading this blog or following me on Twitter for any significant amount of time you've no doubt realized that I'm a huge fan of the guys at West Sixth and what they do. My girlfriend lives in Lexington so I spend a lot of time down there. They're a local beer as far as I'm concerned. I love hanging out at their taproom and drinking their beers. This is all a way of saying that when I heard about all of this lawsuit nonsense yesterday, it hit close to home, as it were. Now, I'm no lawyer, so I can't speak whatsoever to any of the copyright claims or any of that, but here are my thoughts nonetheless.

REVIEW: West Sixth Amber

Today's beer comes from a brewer that my Cincinnati readers may now recognize, Lexington, Kentucky's West Sixth. They have recently started to distribute their IPA in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. Unfortunately, the amber that I'm looking at today, for now, is only available in Central KY. I'm sure we'll see it in this neck of the woods pretty soon though. So anyway, the amber joins the IPA in their canned lineup. It's kind of odd that on the can it's just referred to as Amber Ale While at the taproom it's Deliberation Amber. I think I prefer the latter. Also, big time thanks to my girlfriend's parents for the rad monogrammed pint glasses that I finally have the chance to use! Enough of my rambling. To the beer!

REVIEW: Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Stout

I'm sure many of you are familiar with Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale. It's all over the place around here and in Kentucky. It's a good beer, I enjoy it whenever I have it, which is not very often. But I don't really love it. I think my biggest problem with it is that those bourbony notes of vanilla, caramel, and oak seem out of place in such a light beer. When a beer goes into a bourbon barrel I think it works better with a big hearty beer. So when they announced that they were going to barrel age a stout I was pretty excited. Also, one more note on this beer. This was actually a Christmas present! Thanks, Meredith! After almost a month I'm finally getting to it. To the beer!

REVIEW: Country Boy 3 Hos

Another Christmas post! So this morning's beer was somewhat of a disappointment. But Christmas presents are like that sometimes. Sometimes a gift doesn't fit, sometimes it's the wrong color, sometimes it's just downright lame. I can assure you that this beer is the exact opposite. I was in Lexington last weekend and made it a point to make a trip to Country Boy's tap room. I had read on twitter that they had recently released their. new Christmas ale, and knowing that it would likely make for a good post for the blog, i brought my growler along. I know i've said it before, but if you go to Lexington and leave without checking out Country Boy then you are a damn fool. Every time I go in there I am incredibly impressed by the quality and creativity of their beers. And as you will soon see, 3 Hos is no exception. To the beer!

Country Boy Jalapeno Smoked Porter Pork Tacos

So as you know from reading this blog, when we get together, my girlfriend, Meredith, and I enjoy cooking. Especially when it involves beer. She had texted me early last week about a recipe she had found that involved cooking meat in a crock pot with lager. Now that sounded pretty tasty, but I was a bit dubious as to what flavors might be imparted by a lager. I suggested we try it with something with a bit more oomph. After I grabbed the growler of Jalapeño Smoked Porter from Country Boy Brewing that I looked at on Monday, the decision as to what beer to cook with sort of made itself. Also the inclusion of the Jalapeño made making tacos out of all of this seem to be the logical choice. To the beer and food!

REVIEW: Country Boy Jalapeño Smoked Porter

If you follow me on Twitter you'll have no doubt seen me talking about Lexington's Country Boy Brewery. (If you don't follow me you really should. @QCBeerNerd) My girlfriend, Meredith, lives in Lexington and whenever I go down to visit we make it a point to check out Lexington's burgeoning craft beer scene. County Boy Brewery and West Sixth Brewing Company have both opened within the last year. This past weekend Meredith and I headed out to both. I looked at West Sixth's flagship IPA a few months ago, but have yet to look at a beer from Country Boy. So while we were at Country Boy I decided to take home a growler. There were a handful of delicious beers on tap but I had a feeling that this Jalapeño Smoked Porter would be something special. It was no easy choice though. Especially when they had beers like a habanero blonde and a peanut butter stout on tap. 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!