KBS and more bourbon beer barrel goodness

In the realm of craft beer, barrel aged beers specifically from bourbon barrels seems to be all the rage. Many are made, much of them seasonal and come out with much anticipation. Sometimes though, a beer will be released with a limited production and high demand, but also touted by many as the best ever. Often the production of how that beer is made seems to give it more mystique, and one beer that seems to be wrapped up in it is from Founders, called Kentucky Breakfast Stout, or KBS for short.

KBS, is a 2 year aged imperial stout, made to rest in bourbon barrels. Besides the fact that it sits for 2 years, the brewery mentions that the beer is actually "cave aged", because the barrels are actually stored in an old abandoned gypsum mine. Does that make a difference? Does that impart a certain flavor? A sort of I dunno what? Regardless, whatever Founders is doing they are doing A) something right B) making some dam good beer while doing it.

Watch the video review to see more:

Cheers!

Frolicking through Flanders... not red this time but old brown!

Enter, new imbibing territory. Some time ago while discovering the world of beer I learned mostly from my wife who spent some time in Belgium, that beers could actually be sour.

I thought, no you're joking right? Actually it was a big eye opening experience to hear of beers from Belgium that are called Lambics, Kriek, Gueuze and so forth. These beers while being varied in their own right are almost always some degree of sour, and filled with wild active yeast to impart a dramatic taste and flavor. Many of them feel like crisp champagne.

I was given a style recently made by a small American producer in Utah named Squatters Pub Brewery, who made a beer called 529 in the style known as Flanders Oud Bruin. This beer was a one time brewing offering. A brown Flanders style ale in the Flanders Red tradition it seemed, to take on perhaps an American flavor? With that I cracked open my first Oud Bruin, and imbibing pleasure commenced.

Watch below to fine more. Cheers!!

Wandering back in Maine... revisiting the imbibing beer trail

Last Christmas, I was up in Maine and hit a beer store in Waterville called Jokas. My intention then was to buy some local craft beer, and to partake of a simple winter weekend on the off chance I'd get to sit down and have a beer. Turned out my trip to the beer store was even a smarter plan than I imagined since a giant blizzard rolled in and I was stuck inside with nothing to do but well.... drink... Good thing I was ready.

However, when I returned back home to DC I was left with a beer on my mind that I saw on the shelves there that I didn't buy while I was up there. It had a cute little simple smiley face, on a tiny bottle... and it looked and reached out to say to me... you sir... with my plain simple label do not ignore my bland surroundings... please come and drink me.. I remember glancing at its purple ink and thought.. this looks really interesting, but having coddled bottles of Cadillac Mountain, Dogfish and Sebago in my hands the bottle sat. But somehow I never forgot about it.

The beer I am referring to is an Amber Ale called Zoe from Maine Beer Company. When I got home I actually researched it a bit and found that it was actually very highly received, and thus started really kicking myself for not trying it while I was up in Maine. In the end... I acquired some, with some help of a trade. After that, I got into my Maine beer imbibing mode below.

To see how the imbibing went, check the video below.

CHEERS!

Acquiring one of the most desired American Doubles, Pliny the Elder and Double Trouble Founders imbibing fun!

In beer land, there is an American Double IPA that many try to seek it out. It is available year round, but only available mostly in California. If you live like I do on the East coast, your chances of finding the beer on store shelves are slim to none.

The beer is called "Pliny the Elder" from Russian River brewery. It comes in a very non descriptive bottle with a basic red dot logo which doesn't seem to leave a lot to imagination. However, it is the contents inside that are what is really important.

I put Pliny in comparison with another favorite brewery of mine, Founders and tried Double Trouble side by side. To have even more fun with this tasting, I slept on this and awoke the next morning and cracked open both bottles at 10:00 AM with a very rested palate having nothing to eat or drink for at least 14 hours. How did this turn out? Well check out below.

CHEERS!

When 70 degrees hits in February It's time for some light and crisp imbibing Pilsner joy

We got some stupidly warm days all of a sudden here in my area. When that happens my mind turns to things of light air, crisp summer days.. and great things to imbibe on such as a great light beer. Nothing satisfies like a Pilsner to hit the spot.

I had some German style pilsner lying around. One is from Germany the other is an American made beer out of Pennsylvania called Victory Prima Pils. Both of these beers while being of the same style are VERY different from each other in taste and feel, but they would be just the perfect thing to imbibe on a warm summer day.

In my latest video I pair these two in a taste test for great tasting goodness. To see how it went, watch the video below.

CHEERS!!!

Finally a glass made for tasting whiskey, and how to christen it properly. Whistlepig does the trick!

As I began tasting whiskey I sort of went with what I could get on hand to make it an enjoyable experience. I needed some small glasses with a little taper, and found some simple standard cognac/brandy snifters. They were inexpensive, and I could buy a few knowing that if I ever broke one I wouldn't shed a tear. As time went on and I ran around looking at whiskey, it was something I read about when tasting brandy that made me think I might be missing out on the tasting experience because of my glassware. The person said "When evaluating brandy never use a snifter, use a tulip glass". What??!? I thought.. you mean these so called glasses called "cognac/brandy" glasses should NEVER be used for as there name says... "brandy"?

Well it made me think if whiskey was the same. Certainly two revered products should be capable of a good glass right? So I was talking about my rye experience online with some very knowledgeable people on StraightBourbon.com, and on a lark someone pointed me to a Canadian Whiskey aficionado, and there stood in his hand on his webpage... something I hadn't seen before that was to me... very unique. What was that thing?! I asked myself.. and before I knew it I discovered he had in his hand a glass SPECIFICALLY for tasting WHISK(E)Y which is called a "Glencairn".

Long story short, I bought four of them finding a good online deal I think. Many times a single Glencairn glass can be a little pricey (not too bad), but also I would be peeved if I broke one of these (the glass is a little fragile). I am very excited to try the four glasses out on my next bourbon tasting, but I figured it made sense to evaluate it with something good. I used the glass while hunkering down and evaluating a bottle of Whistlepig rye whiskey, a 10 year aged straight rye whiskey made in Canada and bottled in Vermont.

The glass made some interesting surprises for me. To see how, take a look below at the video. Cheers!

A gin fizz and an egg are much fun to have together

When I got into making cocktails, I always enjoyed using egg white and making frothy drinks. Unfortunately the by product of an egg white, is of course the egg yolk. I would stare at the white blob and say to myself, "Ok.. so what do I do with this now?" Well the reality is you can still use it in a cocktail, and a good way to show off an egg in a cocktail, is to make a fizz.

A fizz is a cocktail that has a standard base, mostly gin and lemon and some type of sweetener (simple syrup) with soda water. However, when you add an egg you can have three different types of fizzes. Adding egg white to a basic fizz makes a silver fizz, add only the yolk, and it's a golden fizz. If you add the entire egg you get a royal fizz. This is just a real basic fizz, and there are THOUSANDS of fizz recipes adding many ingredients. You can really go nuts with this type of cocktail in varying it.

This is actually a refreshing, but sometimes messy drink. It's fun to make a lot of froth and foam and feels like a good thing to have in the summer on a hot day. Watch below to see how to make one.