REVIEW: Tröegs Mad Elf (2012) & Elf

I'm back, baby! I'm sorry about the month I've taken off. The new job has not left me with much time to write on here. And honestly I've been struggling what to do with this blog anyway. The review format that I've been plugging away at for almost two years has started to feel awfully stale. I'm still not quite sure where I'll end up taking this blog, but in the meantime I think I've got something pretty cool up my sleeve. Probably the most fun I've had on this little old blog-o-mine was last year when I looked at all those Christmas beers. This year I'm going to do the same but with a bit of a twist. In lieu of pairing all of these beers with food I'm going to pair each beer with a Christmas movie! Or a TV special or episode what have you. So, seasonal beer and seasonal programming, two great tastes that taste great together!

If you'll remember, last year I took a look at Tröegs Mad Elf. Before you keep reading refresh your memory on my thoughts, here. When I bought that sixer last year I had the foresight to stow a couple of bottles down in my parents basement. Today I have a 2012 bottle of Mad Elf, and the movie to go along with it, maybe a bit of a predictable choice, the Jon Favreau directed Elf!

REVIEW: Tröegs Mad Elf

Today's beer is a bit of a popular one. Mad Elf from Hershey, Pennsylvania's Tröegs Brewing Company,  a brewery that I quite enjoy but have yet to take a look at a beer from here on the blog. Mad Elf is an 11% ABV Belgian Style Strong Dark Ale brewed with honey and cherries. Mad indeed! This is what I like to see. A brewery going a bit outside the traditional seasonal box. Tröegs, it seems, has moved way outside of the box. To be fair though, this is certainly the time of year for 11% ABV beers. It finally feels like winter and I need a heart brew to fight off that chill. To the beer!

Dogfish Head/ Stone/ Victory Saison du BUFF

Today's beer is a collaboration between not two, but three great breweries. Dogfish Head, Stone, and Victory got together to hatch up a recipe, and quite the interesting recipe too. Saison du BUFF (Brewers United for Freedom of Flavor) is a belgian style saison with an interesting twist, it's brewed with rosemary, sage, thyme, and parsley. The recipe was first brewed at Stone then later brewed at the other two breweries, the one I have here today is, obviously, from Dogfish Head. To the beer!

REVIEW: Stoudts Scarlet Lady ESB

Today's beer is an ESB. ESB is an English style of beer that stands for extra special bitter. And contrary to the name, is not that bitter at all. Most ESBs are much more malt forward rather than bitter hoppiness. This ESB is from Stoudts, a brewery that I have never tried before. But I dig ESBs and I like the label, so I picked it up. To the beer!

REVIEW: Weyerbacher Double Simcoe IPA

I usually try to start of these posts with some little anecdote. A story about my history with the beer or the brewery, interesting circumstances behind how I got or chose the beer, something like that. I've got nothing today. I love IPAs. This is an interesting looking imperial IPA. I felt like giving it a shot. That's about it. To the beer!

REVIEW: Yuengling Bock

In honor of this weekend's Bockfest I knew I had to review a Bock. A staple of Cincinnati's German beer heritage and my favorite lager variety hands down. A lot has been made of Yuengling finally coming to Ohio, and that once you could get it without crossing state lines if the sort of mystique that it had would be lost. And to an extent I think it has been. I haven't bought that much Traditional Lager or Black and Tan since it's come to Ohio. At the same time however, it's a welcome addition to the beer aisle, and a great inexpensive option. While I haven't bought a lot of Yuengling's flagship beers when I saw a sixer of their bock on the shelves had to give it a try. To the beer!