Founders Brewing Company - The Beer Thrillers

14 Great High Grade Octane IPAs You Should Be Trying

B. Kline — Tue, 07 Nov 2023 17:55:00 +0000

14 Great High Grade Octane IPAs You Should Be Trying

Fall is Fading Away

As autumn’s pumpkin spice craze gives way, it’s prime time for beer aficionados to circle back to the hop-infused delights that sparked our love for craft brews. With winter’s cozy warmers on the horizon and the decadent season of barrel-aged stouts soon to impact our holiday budgets and merry spirits, this November interlude is ideal for an IPA detox.

The craft beer scene might witness a feigned weariness towards hop-centric beverages, yet India Pale Ales remain the reigning choice for the discerning crowd. The rise of the ‘session IPA’—a lower alcohol iteration designed for extended hop enjoyment—has skyrocketed, becoming the trendiest addition to the craft beer repertoire.

Conversely, the high-alcohol end of the spectrum is where IPA artisans excel, infusing maximum flavor into every bottle. While double and triple IPAs fetch top ratings and prices, a discerning choice in this premium category ensures a rewarding experience. Below is a curated list of twelve exceptional, potent IPAs that perfectly complement the shorter days and cozy evenings of the season.

14 Great High Grade Octane IPAs You Should Be Trying

Here are fourteen examples of some high octane (high ABV) IPAs you should be trying this fall / winter season. They will certainly keep you warm in the cold months, and keep the hop heads amongst all of us happy.

Avery Maharaja (Boulder, CO, 10-12% ABV):

Avery Maharaja (Boulder, CO, 10-12% ABV)

Avery’s Dictator Series offers the Maharaja, a giant among IPAs, crafted with traditional hops like Centennial and Columbus, and paired with the contemporary Simcoe. This concoction delivers a symphony of citrus, tropical, and pine notes, harmonized with a caramel malt foundation. With time, the Maharaja’s complexity unfolds, revealing almond and toffee nuances, setting it apart in the ultra-IPA market.

Green Flash Green Bullet (San Diego, CA; 10.1% ABV):

Green Flash Green Bullet (San Diego, CA; 10.1% ABV)

This seasonal offering from Green Flash utilizes New Zealand hops to deliver a spiced-up IPA experience with a classic pine resin profile.

Other Half All Green Everything (Brooklyn, NY, 10.5% ABV):

Other Half All Green Everything (Brooklyn, NY, 10.5% ABV)

All Green Everything is a testament to Other Half’s reputation as New York’s buzzworthy brewery. This modern hop behemoth, while acknowledging the virtues of moderation, predominates with grapefruit, mango, and pineapple flavors, crowned with a resinous finish. Its less sugary profile elevates it above its East Coast imperial IPA counterparts.

Stone RuinTen (Escondido, CA, 10.8% ABV):

Stone RuinTen (Escondido, CA, 10.8% ABV)

Stone’s triple IPA, RuinTen, balances the tartness of Citra hops with Columbus’s spicy notes and Centennial’s floral essence. Despite its strength, it’s not overwhelmingly bitter, offering layers of brown sugar and chocolate amidst the expected fruity and resinous undertones. This harmony distinguishes RuinTen within Stone’s acclaimed IPA lineup.

Dogfish Head 120 Minute (Milton, DE, 15-20% ABV):

Dogfish Head 120 Minute (Milton, DE, 15-20% ABV)

The iconic Dogfish Head’s Minute IPA series is headlined by the 120 Minute IPA, a trailblazer in the extreme IPA category since its debut in 2003. At an arresting 18% ABV, its potent alcohol content is expertly paired with a bitter yet fruity hop profile. Regarded as a beer that matures well, the 120 Minute is an investment in both flavor and a spirited buzz.

MadTree Galaxy High (Cincinnati, OH; 10.2% ABV):

MadTree Galaxy High (Cincinnati, OH; 10.2% ABV)

MadTree’s imperial IPA taps into Southern Hemisphere hops to present a fruit-forward flavor palette, marked by notes of peach, orange, and mango, balanced against a backdrop of pine.

Port Hop 15 (San Marcos, CA; 10% ABV):

Port Hop 15 (San Marcos, CA; 10% ABV)

Port’s Hop 15 is a masterpiece, blending 15 hop varieties added at 15-minute intervals, producing a complex brew where tropical and citrus notes meet biscuit and caramel for a balanced taste.

Founder’s Devil Dancer (Grand Rapids, MI; 12% ABV):

Founder’s Devil Dancer (Grand Rapids, MI; 12% ABV)

Released annually, Founder’s Devil Dancer is a testament to the longevity of hoppy beers, offering a rich tapestry of tropical, earthy, and citrus hop flavors supported by a robust malt base.

Oskar Blues Gubna (Longmont, CO; 10% ABV):

Oskar Blues Gubna (Longmont, CO; 10% ABV)

Oskar Blues’ Gubna, an annual changing brew, is notable for its unique combination of spicy rye malt and Sorachi Ace hops, offering a distinctive taste worth trying even out of season.

Ballast Point Dorado (San Diego, CA; 10% ABV):

Ballast Point Dorado (San Diego, CA; 10% ABV)

Known for the popular Sculpin IPA, Ballast Point’s Dorado is a gift to hop lovers, with a resinous, fruity profile and a smooth finish, concealing its alcohol content with finesse.

Starr Hill Hopfetti (Crozet, VA; 10.2% ABV):

Starr Hill Hopfetti (Crozet, VA; 10.2% ABV)

Celebrating Starr Hill’s anniversary, the Hopfetti is a harmonious mix of six hops and golden oats, resulting in a creamy, slightly sour tropical profile with a hint of vanilla.

Harpoon Leviathan (Boston, MA, 10% ABV):

Harpoon Leviathan (Boston, MA, 10%ABV)

With its roots in the East Coast IPA movement, Harpoon’s Leviathan is a powerful double IPA that combines classic and modern hops for a citrus-pine flavor blend.

Aslin Pinkies Up (Alexandra, VA, 18.4% ABV):

Aslin Pinkies Up (Alexandra, VA, 18.4% ABV)

Aslin’s Pinkies Up Quadruple IPA has an alcohol by volume (ABV) of 18.4% If you’re seeking an IPA that breaks from tradition and offers a unique tasting adventure, Aslin Beer Company’s Pinkies Up is a must-try. This innovative brew captures the imagination with its unexpected twists on the IPA genre. Crafted with a blend of premium hops and a creative twist of ingredients, Pinkies Up tantalizes the taste buds with a symphony of flavors that both challenge and delight. Each sip delivers a sophisticated profile of nuanced hop bitterness, complemented by an undercurrent of subtle fruit and floral notes. It’s a beer designed not just for casual sipping but for those moments when you want to indulge in something a cut above the ordinary. As the name suggests, Pinkies Up is about elevating your beer experience, inviting you to enjoy a brew that’s crafted with a touch of finesse and a nod to the connoisseurs of the craft beer world.

Troegs Independent Brewing – Scratch 501: Triple Perpetual IPA (Hershey, PA, 12% ABV)

Tröegs Independent Brewing’s Scratch #501, also known as Triple Perpetual IPA, elevates their esteemed Perpetual IPA to new heights. As part of their momentous Scratch series, this iteration arrives as their boldest yet, boasting a robust 12% ABV. This Triple IPA amalgamates a myriad of beloved hops, resulting in a sticky, citrusy hop explosion that delivers an artisanal and mechanical marvel. It’s a brew that commemorates the journey from their first Scratch offering to this 501st creation, embodying a craft that’s as audacious and complex as it is grounded in brewing tradition. They released it at the same time as Scratch 500 – Double Perpetual IPA. It is a limited scratch beer, so no word on if they will re-make or re-brew it. It is still currently available in their tasting room and general store on draft; and for crowler and growler fills.

High Octane IPAs

High-octane IPAs stand as titans in the craft beer landscape, catering to those who seek both intensity in flavor and potency. From the aromatic hop fields to the artful brewers’ tanks, these robust IPAs—like Avery Maharaja’s complex citrus notes, Stone RuinTen’s balanced bitterness, and the innovative hop profiles of Other Half All Green Everything—have defined a new pinnacle of beer craftsmanship. Including the unparalleled strength of Aslin’s Pinkies Up and the boldness of Tröegs Triple Perpetual IPA, these brews are not just drinks but experiences, crafted for moments of bold indulgence and savoring the zenith of brewing alchemy.

Check Out Our Recent High ABV Article

Looking for other brews that are high ABV? Then check out our recent article:

Sipping on the Edge: Exploring the Top 5 Highest ABV Beers

A Series of Craft Beer Articles

This is just one of several in a series of over arching ‘craft beer’ related articles. Several alone in a ‘flagship’ series. In the next few weeks there will be some more that come out as well. I would like to have this general level of different ‘craft beer articles’ that everyone can kind of jump to and read and use for informative purposes, and give a better understanding for the other articles on the site.

Some of these articles are about definitions (like “What is Craft Beer?“) and others are about Craft Breweries in general like the Top 50 Producing Craft Breweries, etc.

Thank You For Reading

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Cheers.

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MAPS OF BREWERIES

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Founders Brewing Company Sued for Racial Discrimination (Again) Just Before Detroit Taproom Shut Down

B. Kline — Wed, 03 May 2023 14:13:58 +0000

Founders Brewing Sued for Racial Discrimination Again

In the run up to their announcing their immediate taproom closing in Detroit on May 1st, that Founders Brewing Company is once again being sued for racial discrimination.

This happened previously in 2019, and they temporarily closed the Detroit taproom. This time the taproom is being closed permanently.

(For more information on their previous time being sued, see later in this article.)

As per Detroit Fox News 2:

The Grand Rapids-based brewery abruptly shuttered Monday, citing the impact Covid closures that it said made it difficult to regain foot traffic.

In a statement from Founders, the brewery said the decision to close the taproom was announced to employees Monday morning, and they were not aware of the lawsuit until a reporter contacted them that evening.

…

That announcement came the same day a lawsuit was filed claiming racial discrimination at the taproom.

The suit, brought against Founders by a Black employee who worked there from June 2021 until April 2023, claims that the “environment became so objectively racially hostile that she had no choice but to resign.”

This is the second racial discrimination lawsuit filed against Founders because of alleged conduct at the Detroit taproom. In 2019, a former employee sued the company.

The employee behind that lawsuit said he was fired in 2018 after telling his supervisor that he planned to meet with the company’s human resources department to discuss the alleged racist work environment.

After that lawsuit became public, Founders closed the Detroit taproom for several months. The company eventually settled with the former employee. When the taproom reopened in 2020, it said it was creating a diversity and inclusion strategy.
Founders Brewing again sued for racial discrimination just before announcing Detroit Taproom closure

In October 2019 they announced that the Detroit taproom would be ‘temporarily closed’, citing that they were going through internal revitalization, and changing their diversity programming and working to ensure a better future for their company and employees.

The tap room soon re opened a few months later, just before COVID – 19 and the coronavirus pandemic hit, causing further issues to the tap room and to Founders Brewing Company.

On May 1st they abruptly shuttered the Detroit tap room again, this time posting on social media that it is permanent and citing COVID – 19 and pandemic related issues as the cause.

According to the new lawsuit, the former employee who worked there until April of this year said she was promoted to a part-time management role with no focus area, while white managers had a focus work area.

While she was a manager, she allegedly was still required to work server shifts and would not receive her managerial pay during those shifts. The lawsuit claims she was the only manager required to work server shifts.

Other instances of alleged racial discrimination were also described in the lawsuit, including someone telling the employee to be careful that her toddler doesn’t “steal any money,” and her allegedly being told that she hasn’t “struggled enough to be black.” She also claims that her name would be intentionally mispronounced.

According to the lawsuit, the employee reported the discrimination. She alleges in the suit that her complaints were dismissed or her hours were cut.

Eventually, she resigned. The lawsuit says that a white manager also resigned because they did not want to “be part of the ongoing discrimination she was being subjected to.”
Founders Brewing again sued for racial discrimination just before announcing Detroit Taproom closure

Statement From Founders Brewing Company

Founders Brewing Company issued the following statement about the lawsuit:

“We are deeply saddened and concerned to learn of the recent accusations that have been brought against the Detroit Taproom. We take these claims very seriously, and we are conducting a thorough internal investigation.

Since 2019, we have instituted mandatory bias, discrimination and harassment training throughout our organization. We have reexamined our policies and enacted new policies, along with implementing new procedures for the reporting of workplace concerns.

Closing a business is a difficult decision, and this decision was made after a several year evaluation of the Detroit Taproom’s financial performance that began prior to COVID and was made worse by the pandemic. During the closure of our Detroit facility on Monday, we were unaware of the filing. We announced the closing to all of our Detroit staff on Monday morning, and did not learn about the lawsuit filed against Founders until that evening when a reporter contacted us. As with any closure, there was a lot of work that needed to be done to prepare for the loss of this extension, including redistribution of internal assets, conversations with our landlord and pulling together a comprehensive severance plan, all of which take time.

As to the pending lawsuit, we are sorry that this individual did not have a good experience with us, and to the extent it was due to our actions or inactions that contributed to that, we are deeply sorry.”
Founders Brewing Company

Founders Brewing Company Announces Detroit Taproom Closure

Founders Brewing Company Announces the Closure of Their Detroit Taproom

For more information on the topic – see the original article here: Founders Announce Closure of their Detroit Taproom.

Their announcement, which was posted at 6:30 PM (EST), and which nearly immediately afterwards they turned off and cancelled commenting on, reads:

It is with with great sadness that we announce that the Founders Detroit Taproom will be permanently closings its doors today.

Unfortunately, our Detroit location has not been immune to the struggle to regain foot traffic after temporary Covid closures that have impacted restaurants and bars across the nation. We are working diligently to find new positions within the company for the employees impacted by this closure.

We would like to thank all of our loyal customers, Mug Clubbers, and friends for your support and business over the years. It has been a great pleasure to serve you.
Founders Brewing Company – Facebook Post

The Detroit Free Press also broke the story shortly thereafter, and in their article stated:

The Grand Rapids-based brewery, Michigan’s largest, cited “an ever changing craft beer market, coupled with the struggle to regain foot traffic after temporary COVID-19 closures” as the reasons for shuttering its second location, which originally opened in late 2017 at 456 Charlotte in Midtown Detroit.

“This decision involved a lot of careful consideration of each aspect of our business, and ultimately, what we felt was best for the company and our employees overall,” said Founders CEO Elton Andres Knight in a statement. “We explored every possible avenue to course correct the business and gave it as much time as we could. We are now working diligently to find new positions within the company for the employees who are displaced upon this closure.”
Founders Brewing Co. closes Detroit taproom, cites ‘ever-changing’ craft beer market

Founders Brewing Company states that they made the decision to close their brewery ahead of any news or knowledge of the lawsuit filed against them. It is interesting to note that they posted their announcement at 6:30 PM, despite their stating they told employees that morning. The comment section was immediately deleted and blocked, which I can only imagine was filled with a lot of interesting choice comments that they wished not to be seen.

Initial Racial Discrimination Case

In October of 2019, Founders Brewing Company announced that they were closing the Detroit taproom “until further notice”.

Michigan’s largest brewery sent an email to ticket-holders of this weekend’s highly anticipated Canadian Breakfast Stout release and party in Detroit that it’s canceling said release and party while closing the popular Detroit taproom indefinitely “in light of the recent events” and due to safety concerns for its employees.

Those “recent events,” of course, include the pending racial discrimination lawsuit that reached national news this week when a leaked deposition first posted by the Detroit Metro Times sparked a social media firestorm and led to some Detroit shops, bars and restaurants pulling Founders products from their shelves.

Founders co-founder and president Dave Engbers told the Free Press on Friday afternoon that the brewery closed its Detroit taproom out of an abundance of caution for employee safety and that it has “every intention” of reopening the taproom.Founders Brewing closes Detroit taproom indefinitely amid racial discrimination lawsuit

Founders, which had announced a majority-stake sale to Spanish beer company Mahou San Miguel just weeks earlier, temporarily closed its Detroit taproom in October 2019 after a racial discrimination lawsuit a former employee filed against the company made national headlines and caused a social media firestorm. It reopened the taproom in February 2020 with plans to donate 100% of the profits from the taproom to charities and community organizations through “at least 2022” (it continued that commitment through Sunday, the company said). The COVID-19 pandemic began a month later.

Mike Stevens and Dave Engbers co-founded Founders in 1997 and, along with Larry Bell and Bell’s Brewery, helped lead the Michigan craft beer boom into the 2000s and 2010s. Founders became best known for its sessionable All Day IPA, which represents more than half its output, as well as its Kentucky Breakfast Stout, Dirty Bastard scotch ale and Centennial IPA.

Stevens stepped down as CEO in 2022. Engbers is still with the company as president.Founders Brewing Co. closes Detroit taproom, cites ‘ever-changing’ craft beer market

Founders Brewing Company

Founders Brewing Company was certainly one of the early craft giants of the 2010s, but their market share, and value has greatly declined over recent years. While still greatly available and distributed, they have fallen off many ‘favorites’ lists.

Their controversies and issues have also certainly caught up to them over the years.

Lawsuits, racial discrimination cases, employee issues, and much more has caused them heartache throughout the late 2010s and early 2020s.

COVID-19 and the coronavirus has probably been the least of their issues in recent years.

For further information on craft beer market share, check out our two articles here:

For More Information About Founders Brewing Company

The following comes from Untappd. Founders Brewing Company is a macro brewery, and a subsidary of Grupo Mahou-San Miguel, from Grand Rapids, Michigan. They have 975 unique beers, and over 7 million ratings, with a global average rating of 3.96 (as of 5.1.23). Their Untappd description reads: We don’t brew beer for the masses. Instead, our beers are crafted for a chosen few, a small cadre of renegades and rebels who enjoy a beer that pushes the limits of what is commonly accepted as taste. In short, we make beer for people like us. Founders. Brewed for us.

You can follow them on their social media pages here:

Articles we have written:

Beer Reviews: Green Zebra (Founders) and Next Coast (Goose Island)

Reddit Thread About the Lawsuit:

Founders Brewing again sued for racial discrimination just before announcing Detroit Taproom closure ( /r/ CraftBeer)

Brewery News

Interested in finding out about many other brewery openings, new locations, closings, movings, and in general brewery news? You can check out our links below:

Thank You For Reading

Tomorrow is May 4th. “May the 4th Be With You.” Anyone planning on doing any fun silly Star Wars stuff? Any breweries you are hitting up for some fun beer releases? I know Bottle Logic is releasing some Star Wars beers. RAR Brewing has hinted that they are doing a Star Wars Out of Order drop soon. (But haven’t given any details as of this morning.)

Lots of places are turning their normal Thursday night trivia into “Star Wars Trivia” nights.

So what all are you getting into?

Then, Friday is Cinco de Mayo (May 5th). And THEN – its the Craft Brewers Conference May 7th – May 10th. What a busy grouping of days!

Thank you for reading everyone. We are gearing up for the Craft Brewers Conference (CBC) this upcoming week. We are traveling down Saturday and Sunday, and going to be at the conference late Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

We are totally psyched and cannot wait.

Will you be there? What do you hope to see, learn, do? Anything cool we should check out? Let us know in the comments!

Cheers All!

-B. Kline

You can check out our different directories here: Beer Reviews, Hike Reviews, Book Reviews, Brewery News, Brewery Openings, Brewer Interviews, and Travelogues.

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – Facebook, Facebook Group, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Influence. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

If you would like to reach out to us for product reviews, beer reviews, press release writing, and other media – please contact us at thebeerthrillers@gmail.com. Thank you.

Founders Announce Closure of their Detroit Taproom

B. Kline — Tue, 02 May 2023 00:05:00 +0000

Founders Brewing Company’s Announcement

Founders Brewing Company Announces Closure of Their Detroit Taproom

Founders Brewing Company – Detroit Taproom

Just a little bit ago (about a hour and a half ago) (at 6:30PM EST), Founders Brewing Company posted on their social media accounts that they are closing their Detroit Taproom.

Citing COVID-19 related issues and other economic related causes. (Founders Brewing Company also disabled comments on their Facebook and Instagram announcement posts.)

Their announcement reads:

It is with with great sadness that we announce that the Founders Detroit Taproom will be permanently closings its doors today.

Unfortunately, our Detroit location has not been immune to the struggle to regain foot traffic after temporary Covid closures that have impacted restaurants and bars across the nation. We are working diligently to find new positions within the company for the employees impacted by this closure.

We would like to thank all of our loyal customers, Mug Clubbers, and friends for your support and business over the years. It has been a great pleasure to serve you.
Founders Brewing Company – Facebook Post

The Detroit Free Press had more information as per their closure.

The Grand Rapids-based brewery, Michigan’s largest, cited “an ever changing craft beer market, coupled with the struggle to regain foot traffic after temporary COVID-19 closures” as the reasons for shuttering its second location, which originally opened in late 2017 at 456 Charlotte in Midtown Detroit.

“This decision involved a lot of careful consideration of each aspect of our business, and ultimately, what we felt was best for the company and our employees overall,” said Founders CEO Elton Andres Knight in a statement. “We explored every possible avenue to course correct the business and gave it as much time as we could. We are now working diligently to find new positions within the company for the employees who are displaced upon this closure.”
Founders Brewing Co. closes Detroit taproom, cites ‘ever-changing’ craft beer market

Racial Discrimination

In October of 2019, Founders Brewing Company announced that they were closing the Detroit taproom “until further notice”.

Michigan’s largest brewery sent an email to ticket-holders of this weekend’s highly anticipated Canadian Breakfast Stout release and party in Detroit that it’s canceling said release and party while closing the popular Detroit taproom indefinitely “in light of the recent events” and due to safety concerns for its employees.

Those “recent events,” of course, include the pending racial discrimination lawsuit that reached national news this week when a leaked deposition first posted by the Detroit Metro Times sparked a social media firestorm and led to some Detroit shops, bars and restaurants pulling Founders products from their shelves.

Founders co-founder and president Dave Engbers told the Free Press on Friday afternoon that the brewery closed its Detroit taproom out of an abundance of caution for employee safety and that it has “every intention” of reopening the taproom.
Founders Brewing closes Detroit taproom indefinitely amid racial discrimination lawsuit

Founders, which had announced a majority-stake sale to Spanish beer company Mahou San Miguel just weeks earlier, temporarily closed its Detroit taproom in October 2019 after a racial discrimination lawsuit a former employee filed against the company made national headlines and caused a social media firestorm. It reopened the taproom in February 2020 with plans to donate 100% of the profits from the taproom to charities and community organizations through “at least 2022” (it continued that commitment through Sunday, the company said). The COVID-19 pandemic began a month later.

Mike Stevens and Dave Engbers co-founded Founders in 1997 and, along with Larry Bell and Bell’s Brewery, helped lead the Michigan craft beer boom into the 2000s and 2010s. Founders became best known for its sessionable All Day IPA, which represents more than half its output, as well as its Kentucky Breakfast Stout, Dirty Bastard scotch ale and Centennial IPA.

Stevens stepped down as CEO in 2022. Engbers is still with the company as president.
Founders Brewing Co. closes Detroit taproom, cites ‘ever-changing’ craft beer market

Founders Brewing Company

Their controversies and issues have also certainly caught up to them over the years.

Lawsuits, racial discrimination cases, employee issues, and much more has caused them heartache throughout the late 2010s and early 2020s.

COVID-19 and the coronavirus has probably been the least of their issues in recent years.

For further information on craft beer market share, check out our two articles here:

For More Information About Founders Brewing Company

You can follow them on their social media pages here:

Articles we have written:

Beer Reviews: Green Zebra (Founders) and Next Coast (Goose Island)

Brewery News

Interested in finding out about many other brewery openings, new locations, closings, movings, and in general brewery news? You can check out our links below:

Thank You For Reading

We are totally psyched and cannot wait.

Will you be there? What do you hope to see, learn, do? Anything cool we should check out? Let us know in the comments!

Cheers All!

-B. Kline

You can check out our different directories here: Beer Reviews, Hike Reviews, Book Reviews, Brewery News, Brewery Openings, Brewer Interviews, and Travelogues.

If you would like to reach out to us for product reviews, beer reviews, press release writing, and other media – please contact us at thebeerthrillers@gmail.com. Thank you.

End of the Year – 2019

BKline — Tue, 31 Dec 2019 14:46:39 +0000

(Just a quick note, late addition on this, this is going to be a two-part article. First part a look-back at The Beer Thrillers articles of 2019, and the second part about our top beers, top breweries, and other happenings of 2019 for myself personally and the blog, and some of our friends in general. So make sure to check out both parts.)

So its the end of the year… end of decade even…. and thus its time to reflect back on where we came from, how we got to where we are, and where we are going. Humanity, since the inception of time, and creating of calendars and years and New Years Eves and New Years Days have always taken the last few days of each year to look back on their year, their life, and reflected, and thought about how they could better themselves, come up with “resolutions” for the upcoming year, and join in with friends and families as they ring in the new year. “New Year New You.”

We here at The Beer Thrillers are going to do something …. similar. Not fully introspective though, because we don’t take ourselves that seriously. But just a fun look back at the year that was 2019. I can’t speak for my co-writers, but I can say for me, personally, 2019 had its fair share of ups, downs, in-betweens, lefts, rights, diagonals, crosses, bounces, turns, jukes, and jives. But I’m still here and better for it all. But I’m not going to go on and on too much about myself personally.

Rather, I’m going to write about how the blog has done, where we started from, where we’re headed, etc. And yea, I’ll probably get a little personal. But nothing deep or philosophical or introspective. More along the lines of what were some of the best beers, breweries, or events I’ve done of the year. So don’t worry, the blog will uphold the Seinfeld idea of “Nobody learns, nobody grows, nobody hugs”.

Scratch 375 – CocoNator by Troegs Independent Craft Brewery

I started this blog back on May 17th, 2019. (This year!) It was a Thursday, my girls (my daughters) were at school, I was bored, and trying to figure out what I’m doing / was doing. I needed something for my days off while the kids were at school, something that was fun, something I was passionate about, something that let me feel like I was being creative, using my talents, and something I knew about. I’ve been reading blogs, and news sites, and all kinds of things about beer for so long, and I have a lot of experience drinking… …and writing… that I figured why not combine the two? I was feeling like I was in a rut, my job is the same its been for the past seven years, I wasn’t doing anything outright ‘creative’ and needed an outlet for it, and we are in a review culture. I do all kinds of reviews all the time, in small nondescript and unimportant ways. Like reading books when I’m finished, I write up a review of them when I check them off on GoodReads. Same with Untappd, when I drink a beer, I write up a small (Tweet size) review of it. I also felt, I was in a unique spot to start this up. I was getting to a spot where I knew enough people “on the inside” or “in the business”, and I was also doing stuff beyond just being a consumer; like home brewing, growing hops, helping can at Tattered Flag, being engaged in conversations with home brewers and professional brewers a lot, that I felt like I could provide some interesting conversations and articles to the world.

Mainly…. I was looking to not be bored, and to do something I love doing – writing and drinking beer.

So I started the blog up on May 17th, 2019. Basically having no clue what I was doing. I started up using WordPress and here we are. Its still WordPress, albeit the ‘weaker’ version (fingers crossed come sometime the new year, I switch over to the more advanced version, where I have more control over the site and the appearance). I did a little bit of research, chose a name – which to be frankly speaking – the name “The Beer Thrillers” just popped up to me. Nothing too deep or crazy or interesting behind it. I was honestly conjuring up the idea that it would be me, and a few of my friends writing, thus the “Thrillers” and not “Thriller”. I thought me, Drew, Dan maybe, and a few others would all writing all kinds of blog posts and contributing. Maybe some of the insiders in the business I know too… …while this hasn’t happened exactly; I have enlisted friends and other writers over the year to help out. (More on that as I get to their participation.)

Outside of creating the home page and starting up the site, my very first article on the blog was a beer review of Troegs’ Scratch 375 – The CocoNator. As far as first time articles go, I have no problems with it. Counting the writing of my colleagues and fellow contributors and cowriters to the blog, we’re now up to 130 blog posts (this being #131). I definitely think I’ve come a long way from that first blog. But I also like to think I laid the foundation there. I set up a system for how the beer reviews (I do) are written, presented, and I hope they are written in a fun, interesting, educational, and most importantly entertaining way.

Boulangerie Stout – Imperial Churro by Tattered Flag and Wolf Brewing Co.

When I started this in May, I had just gotten a couple of cans from my shift manager at work – Jordan and used them a the base for my first few beer reviews. The CocoNator was quickly followed by two South County beer reviews – Painting with Light (May 19th) and Sundrifter (May 30th). Also during this time, from my recent volunteer work helping can at Tattered Flag I worked with and gotten quite a few of their cans (hard work and sweat at their brewery resulted in many cans of whatever beer was being canned that day, as well as lots of other cans they still had from past canning runs). Two of these resulted in the beer reviews of Boulangerie Stout – Imperial Churro (May 22nd) which was a collaboration between Derek Wolf of Wolf Brewing Co. and Tattered Flag and You Hoppin’ On Me? (May 24th).

Canning Day at Tattered Flag

I was trying to write fast, furiously, and get some articles out there as a starting blog, I knew content was going to be the main driving force (and still is). Quality content even better. Hopefully I provided the quality content. I guess thats all up to you guys to decide, but I like to think I did (or at least, like I said, hope I did). As you can see from my picture of the Imperial Churro; often times in the background or foreground or beside the beers you’ll see some of the recent books I’m reading, as well as my dog Leela – especially if I’m drinking at home where she typically has to get her nose into the business of all involved. On May 27th, I conducted a bit of a science experiment when I found an old (over a year old) Black and Blue Tastee from The Veil. I had gotten a four pack from one of my favorite bartenders – Chris – who had traveled down and muled some back up. I wrapped up May, my first month of writing for the blog, with my first beer review from a bar – Warwick Hotel – on May 31st with a beer review of Cinnamon Toast Crunch by Collusion Tap Works.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch by Collusion Tap Works

May finished, and my first month done; even if I had only started late in the month on the 17th, I felt accomplished with the blog. I published 9 total blog pages; which included the home-page, the author-bio page, the contact page, and other necessary background pages. Word was slowly trickling out about the blog, I was up to 59 visitors and 121 views. Not a bad first month – especially considering it was basically just two weeks (the 17th through the 31st). Lets say I was “pleased as punch” with the start of the blog. June was looking bright!

June started with a beer review from the Bissell Brothers Brewing Company – Baby Genius on June 3rd. Followed up by a bottle of LazerSnake by Three Floyds on June 9th.

Baby Genius by Bissell Brothers

On June 13th, I did my first multiple beer review, and my first beer flight review – from Troegs Independent Craft Brewing – of course. What other place would I do my first beer flight review? Troegs was basically my initiation into the craft beer scene when I was ….cough turning 21…. and was the start of my craft beer love. Troegs is still a wonderful brewery, a fantastic venue there in Hershey, and overall holds a definite soft spot in my craft beer loving heart.

A flight of beers from Troegs Brewery

June 14th ended up being my first “double blog post” day. Earlier in the day I had stopped in at Tattered Flag to pick up a four-pack, had a beer, and when home, wrote a review, and later that night, with my daughters, I stopped in at Boneshire Brew Works, had a beer, and did a review before bed. At Tattered Flag I had the Abra Collabra beer, and at Boneshire I had the Sunburst beer. A week later I did my first brewery review, when I took my oldest daughter to Gettysburg for the day to visit the battlefields and monuments. Before visiting the sites, we stopped for lunch at the Battlefield Brew Works. A day later I was back at Warwick for another beer and review – Manayunk’s King Crunch.

An interior picture of the Battlefield Brew Works brewery.

Around this time, looking to expand, I enlisted the help of a buddy and fellow craft beer aficionado and enthusiast, and Boneshire lover – Josh Doncevic. We had a few talks at Boneshire Brew Works, and we chatted on the Central PA Whalerz group, and discussed this and that and everything beer related, and I thought he’d be a perfect fit for the blog – and he is and still has been. And on June 27th, he took his plunge into the world of blogging with his first beer review Northmont by Yellow Bridge.

Northmont by Yellow Bridge, J. Doncevic’s first beer review here on The Beer Thrillers.

A flurry of beer reviews followed – Should Have Put Him in Custardy, a beer flight from Hershey Biergarten, helped close out June and start July with Josh’s review of Ectogasm. June saw the blog grow by massive leaps and bounds, we went from 59 visitors in May to 848 visitors in June with 1100 some views. July was looking to be a great month for The Beer Thrillers, and it certainly delivered some amazing beer reviews! Pink Guava, Inexplicably Juicy, Miami Vice, Old 51, Dillston, Saison and Hurry up and Wait, a beer flight from Tony’s travels up north at the Black Gryphon, Wolf Prints, and Mango Guyabano sWheat Tart.

On July 19th we launched our Twitter page. Which just a few days ago, we hit our 100th follower! (Time for me to plug in here and suggest everyone head over there briefly to follow us, then come back here.) On July 23rd we also started our Instagram page. I will be the first to admit that we don’t do as much with Instagram, primarily because I don’t know enough about it yet. Looking to learn more about it in 2020 and get that page going a lot more.

July continued with some more beer reviews like Enigma, Green Zebra and Next Coast, Good Walk Spoiled, another beer flight from Troegs, and Road Less Traveled. I ended the month by discussing my upcoming road trip with my daughters.

July also saw some fun and interesting events I got to do for the first time. I lost my Ffej of July cherry, getting to make it out to possibly the biggest, baddest, most sickest birthday bash / lawn party ever. Me and Drew also attended the Moo-Funk Home Brew event as well. July was certainly a fun month, but August was looking to be even better.

Straub’s Brewery in St. Mary’s

August started off with a bang, I took my daughters up north PA to visit Elk Country, then we visited Straub Brewery, then we went to Kinzua Bridge and after that stopped at Logyard Brewery and next door to it was Twisted Vine Brewery. That was Day One. Day two saw us hitting the Pittsburgh area. First at dawn we hiked McConnell’s Creek, then went to ShuBrew before going into Pittsburgh proper and visit the city where we did a whole slew of things like see Fort Pitt, take the Duquesne Lift, check out medieval Catholic relics, stop by a Jewish synagogue, see the outfield wall still standing, and we also checked out a few breweries like Cinderlands Warehouse, The Church Brew Works, and we finished the day staying at a motel right next door to Yellow Bridge Brewing. Day Two was a lot busier than day one, but just a much fun.

The altar at Church Brew Works

Olde Bedford Brewing in Bedford PA

We didn’t slow down for Day Three. We had a whole host of driving to do on day three. We started at Bushy Run to watch the reenactment and check out the events, then went to the Alleghany Portage and Railroad Museum, and then went into Johnstown to see the Johnstown Flood Memorial and there we checked out the brewery Stone Bridge Brewing. From there we Staple Bend Tunnel Trail and then we stopped and paid our respects at the Flight 93 Memorial. On the way back home to the Hershey area we stopped at Olde Bedford Brewing.

Was a fun three days where we got to see lots of cool places, museums, memorials, monuments, and nine breweries to boot. Can’t beat that!

The beer reviews weren’t going to slow down in August either. Ghost in the Machine by Josh , a beer flight at Twisted Bine, Juicy Fruit sWheat Tart, and Caucus Race 6.0. Then shortly before my oldest daughter’s birthday I took her and my second oldest down to Antietam to see the battlefield there and on the way back home we stopped at Cushwa Brewing. Which I did a brewery review of.

Cushwa Brewing in Maryland

They have since moved out of that building but they are still close by to the location. August still had plenty more beer reviews for you guys starting with Harrishire, Kettle Sour Series – Raspberry, Ghost in the Machine by B. Kline, Good Vibrations, and then I did a dual beer review from two beers I had at a Harrisburg Senators game – a Pineapple Kolsch and a Dry Irish Stout, Reve Coffee Stout, Rye for an Eye (my birthday blog post and beer), and that closed out the month of August. As for events in August, me and my friend Ming went to the Lancaster Brewfest and afterwards went to Mad Chef Brewing (my first time there) which was an overall fun event.

Taco and a Beer – a fantastic birthday treat, even belatedly

Moving onto September started with my cashing in my birthday taco coupon at Newfangled Brew Works and had a really tasty Kettle Sour from them. In September I wrote a piece for Breweries in PA and also posted it on my blog – the version on the blog is found here: Breweries Around the Outskirts of Harrisburg (9.6.19). It has become one of the most popular pieces on our blog, and I believe it has done very well for the Breweries in PA crew as well. Beer reviews certainly didn’t slow down: a flight of Levante and Tattered Flag beers, a flight of Troegs beers, Fresh Fest and Trail Day Pale Ale, a flight of beers from Mount Gretna Brewery, and Spundae.

September also saw me do our first listicle articles. With two – one celebrating our oldest posts – and one celebrating our most viewed posts. Followed by, as always, more beer reviews – Key Lime Pie, They Burn Them All Away, AuZealand, a flight of Ever Grain beer, Vanilla Ice Cream Stout, and a Sour Blueberry wrapped up September.

October started off with a couple of Boneshire Brew Works beers – Tried and True (Mango) and Iscariot. I then got to attend Dr. Alison Feeney’s seminar and event at Mid-Town Scholar “For the Love of Beer“. Afterwards I went to The Millworks and had a flight. I did a book review of Dr. Alison Feeney’s book – For the Love of Beer. We finally joined Facebook on October 17th, you can find our Facebook page here. We are now up to 154 followers on Facebook, hoping to grow more! Did a beer review of Salted Caramel Moo-Hoo next.

Midwest Coast Brewing

I was contacted back in September by Midwest Coast Brewing Company to do an advertisement article and announcement article about their brewery opening. And I think it turned out very well. This was the first time a brewery reached out to us and asked us to do a piece for them and I think it turned out very well. I did a bit of an interview with the owners / brewers, and talked about their brewery’s opening. This has led to Mellow Mink reaching out to us and inviting us to their place to check them out and do an article (January 2nd we’ll be doing that).

J. Doncevic did a review of Ekaunot by Barebottle. We then covered Rotunda Brewing Company’s rebranding of Irv’s Pub into Rotunda Brew Pub. Also did a news article on Pennsylvania breweries that won at the 2019 GABF. That was my first straight up news article for the blog.

More beer reviews: Athena, Sour Me Peach, Irish Table, Envie and Envie 4X, Yuengling’s Hershey’s Chocolate Porter, and to wrap up the beer reviews of October I did Fatum Series: Member Berries. We also covered Boneshire Brew Works’ 3rd Anniversary Celebration.

November was a crazy month for me. I challenged myself to doing 30 blog posts, one per day – MINIMUM, and I am proud to say I achieved that and met my goal. It was certainly daunting a task, but I did achieve it.

Here’s the list of my articles in November: Pumpkin Stout, St. Thomas, Walker Station Stout, a flight by ZeroDay, King Sue, Intergalactic Warrior, s’Mores LazaRIS, There’s Nuttin Butter Than a Nice Pair of Camo Pants, Secret Machine, Broken Heels, Animal Adjective, 556 Stout, Boat Drinks, a flight of Tattered Flag – Newfangled Brew Works – and Cox Brewing beers, Alpha Abstraction, Double IPA, Lager, Birra Di Levante, Tickle Parts – Passionfruit, a flight of beers from Appalachian Brewing Company, Default Brewing, Darwin’s Salted Forehead, Newfangled Pils, Gotta Get up to Get Down, Paradise Lost, Moon of Vega, Citraquench’l, Azathoth, a flight of Troegs including Mad Elf, and finally a review of Official BBQ and Burgers – Pizza Boy’s second location. WHEW! That was a lot to get out, you can read about it in the November Recap.

November also saw Default Brewing join us here at The Beer Thrillers. Headed by AJ Brechbiel, they are a group of home brewers who will be providing home brewing articles for the blog from time to time. They gave us a welcoming post in November: Cheers from Default Brewing.

I also started up a collaboration with Let Us Drink Beer blog. Where we would be guest writing and contributing to each other’s blogs occasionally. They are down south, and with us being here in PA, it seemed like it’d be a nice fit. Provide some information and beers and breweries that readers might not normally get to see. They posted their first article “Five Must See Breweries in Atlanta” in November.

Josh also wrote two beer reviews in November: Ghost 782 and Ghost 779.

December started off a little slower here for us, probably because I was a bit tired from November, or perhaps just because its the holiday season, I don’t know. But my first beer review was Ice Dreamz. I did a few more beer reviews in December – My Watch Has Ended, The Hog, Scrooge IPA, Sap, and Autumn.

Default Brewing gave us an introduction to their crew: “Meet The Crew at Default Brewing“.

I covered the guest blogging that was going on and Let Us Drink Beer gave us a review of Koki Bunni.

Finally, the last article posted in all of 2019 (outside of this one now) was a travelogue of me and Drew brewery hopping around Harrisburg. Starting at Boneshire Brew Works, and going to The Vegetable Hunter, The Millworks, The Sturges Speakeasy, and ZeroDay Brewing. Was a fun day jumping around from place to place.

Hopefully you enjoyed this look back on 2019 with The Beer Thrillers. The second part of this article will most likely be posted January 1st, possibly before work, possibly after work. I have to leave for work now, and work until (at least) 8PM, and will most likely be going right out to enjoying New Years Eve festivities with my daughters. Tomorrow I work 10-6, and afterwards will be doing a podcast with Esteban about LOST.

The second part of this series will cover top beers, top breweries, and other things about the year for The Beer Thrillers and myself. For example – podcasting.

So make sure you check out part two then as well!

As always, I hope you have a Happy New Year, enjoyed the blog, and continue to do so! Without you, we don’t need to write, so we hope you are having as much fun and entertainment with this as we are!

-B. Kline on behalf of The Beer Thrillers staff.

My hop arbor in the rain

Some Old Posts

BKline — Wed, 18 Sep 2019 12:21:58 +0000

Was taking a look at some of our older blog posts and articles on here, and decided to do a “here’s what you might have missed” post. These are ten of our older posts that some of our newer followers might not have seen.

Sundrifter by South County Brewing Co.

#1. Sundrifter by South County Brewing Company

Enigma by Anchorage Brewing

#2. Enigma by Anchorage Brewing Co.

King Crunch by Manayunk Brewing

#3. King Crunch by Manayunk Brewing

Gettysburg’s Battlefield Brew Works

#4. Battlefield Brew Works

Panting with Light by South County Brewing Company

#5. Painting with Light by South County Brewing Company

Some samplers at Hershey Biergarten, forefront is Blood Money by Cornshohocken Brewing Company

#6. Multiple Beer Review: Dark Skies (New Trail), Blood Money (Conshohocken Brewing Company), Lost Toys #3 (Wicked Weed), Medora (Wicked Weed)

Black and Blue Tastee by The Veil Brewing Company. (Notice the massive amount of head!)

#7. Black and Blue Tastee by The Veil Brewing Company

Green Zebra by Founders Brewing Company

#8. Two Beers – Green Zebra (Founders Brewing) and Next Coast (Goose Island)

Cinnamon Toast Crunch by Collusion Tap Works

#9. Cinnamon Toast Crunch by Collusion Tap Works

Inexplicably Juicy by Tattered Flag

#10. Inexplicably Juicy by Tattered Flag Brewing

Hopefully you all enjoyed this stroll down memory road, and for our newer followers, gotten to see some of our older beer reviews and brewery reviews. We love hearing from you guys, so make sure to comment on what beers you like or what beers you’d like to see reviewed, or what styles you prefer. Also, make sure to spread the word and help us get more people reading and enjoying our blog.

(Also, just as a FYI, we debuted on the Top 100 Beer Blogs list at #120… but as of this morning [9.18.19] we are currently listed at #11. So definitely check us out there and see some other great blogs as well. Very cool to see our blog explode to that high up on the list, and its thanks to all of you readers!)

Cheers!

-B. Kline

Beer Reviews: Green Zebra (Founders) and Next Coast (Goose Island)

BKline — Thu, 25 Jul 2019 12:18:52 +0000

Not every beer can be a “whale” and extremely hard to get and worth chasing down and dropping 20$ for some guy to mule it ontop of the 8$ the can costs. Some are going to be regular beers you drink at a bar while playing bar room poker. Some are going to be 3$ happy hour beers that you enjoy for the time being.

Thats the nature of the game and while they might not be the greatest beers you’ll ever have, there is still some decent beers, and doesn’t mean we can’t give them a little write-up and review.

So that’s exactly what I’m doing here. Giving two beers that most blogs and most reviewers will overlook a write-up. Why? Well, because I drank them, so why not? But also to highlight that there is so many different beers in the world, and so many different styles and ways to consume beers (draft, can, bottle, at home, away, at a bar, at a party, with friends, while playing poker, while doing trivia, etc.). Beer is just as much as the company you are with as it is the quality of the beer itself. The right company can make a Miller Lite taste acceptable. Or it can even make a JREAM or Utopias taste like swill. (And obviously there is times where the quality of the beer impacts the quality of the company as well. Everything is a two way street after all …..except one way streets…. they are just annoying.)

Green Zebra by Founders Brewing Company

Tuesdays at the Arooga’s on Rt. 22 means Poker Night. Many of the dealers and workers from the casino will drive (pretty much right down the road) and play. Its free. Its close. And happy hour is 5-7 so if you get early you can catch a beer or two to pre-game before the tournament starts (7:30) or grab one, then grab a second one at the last second (6:59 order for the win) to sip on while you play. (Key strategy right there.)

Despite this being a semi-regular from Founders and having been out for I believe a few years, its one I haven’t had yet, so when out at bars like this, that’s a plus for it right there, new Untappd check-in (and as it turns out has its own badge, so there we go, badge hunting at its finest), so double plus.

Let’s see what we got here:

Beer: Green Zebra
Brewery: Founders Brewing Company
Style: Sour – Gose – Fruited
ABV: 4.6%
IBU: 10
Untappd Write-Up: Subtly sour and a little sweet, this ale is a refreshing take on a nearly extinct German style, gose. Watermelon is the highlight of this lightly-hopped treat and gives it a hint of satisfying juiciness. The soft mouthfeel and dry finish comes courtesy of the addition of sea salt, a traditional gose ingredient.

This is very slight on the sour side. No real tartness and no real crazy sour. It is very much on the sweet side of things. Not quite like their Lizard of Kaz where it was super syrupy and sweet, but this is sweet and clingy all the same, kind of like a hummingbird nectar that you could put out on the back patio and watch the hummingbirds swarm to and acts and other bugs bathe in.

That’s not to say this is a bad beer. Its a refreshing beer, and its very sweet, and a good sipping beer to start a poker tournament with. The aroma is very nice, heavy watermelon, heavy sweet fruit notes, and there is no bitterness to this at all. It is cloying and clinging and the mouthfeel is slick but sticks to you.

And for those of you fans of poker : started off the tournament doing pretty well. Some nice early hands, even getting pocket Kings followed by pocket Jacks as well as A10 and AQ and hitting a broadway with the A10 to double-up and knock a player out. The mostly dealer table got wiped pretty clean early and we began getting players from other tables, while I moved onto ordering my next beer.

My Untappd Rating: ***.75
Global Untappd Rating: 3.76 (as of 7.23.19)

Next Coast IPA by Goose Island Beer Co.

Yes, I am fully aware I’m doing a beer review for the dreaded In-Bev machine. And yes, I am also aware that its stupid to give them a shout-out and a review. Primarily because I hate a lot of the things they stand for, and their handling of craft beer and craft breweries. I will attempt to pass this off as a mistake thinking it was by Great Lakes (which I did), but its neither here nor there.

For those not in the know, Goose Island Beer Co. is a subdivision of In-Bev which owns Anheuser-Busch. The makers being Bud Light, Budweiser, etc. They have a notorious record in the craft beer market and community for basically attempting to destroy it. Through many ways (a lot of which are nefarious, though ultimately all legal). Things like buying up lots of smaller craft breweries (or at least regional/medium sized ones) like Wicked Weed, Blue Moon, Goose Island, Elysian, etc. They have also done some underhanded commercials aimed at craft beer and craft breweries with making stereotypes out of craft drinkers (hipsters, effeminate, etc.) as well as doing other shady things like attempting to buy hop farms in South Africa and other places. They also do a lot of practices of tap manipulation at bars to push craft breweries/beers off the tap lists as well as shelf space at grocery stores and gas stations.

So needless to say, they don’t exactly have the best reputation in the craft beer market. But I am going to overlook all of these things and review the beer impartially. (And besides, as some might have noted, I have done reviews on Wicked Weed in the past, so I’m not immune to having done reviews of In-Bev owned breweries and besides, I’ll most likely do Goose Island in the future, and I’m sure you can guess which one[s]).

Beer: Next Coast IPA
Brewery: Goose Island Beer Co.
Style: IPA – American
ABV: 7%
IBU: 40
Hops: Eureka, Nugget, Mosaic, Citra, 06277 Hop
Untappd Write-Up: It’s 7%, but totally crushable — it’s not quite like any other IPA you’ve had. Big, bracing, piney hop flavors meet a tropical bouquet of Eureka, Nugget, Mosaic, Citra, and 06277 hops. There’s a balanced bitterness that blends seamlessly into the light to medium body. Sip it or rip it. Whatever. We’re not your mom.

A total difference from the watermelon fruity nectar Green Zebra I just had, this is a hoppy West Coast traditional IPA. I think the write-up for this is a bit more marketing than actuality though (sadly) but its serviceable for what it is. (A 3$ last second happy hour grab.)

Its not really crushable like the description lists. The aroma is hoppy, piney, but not a crazy smack you in the mouth hop punch that it could be, especially given all the hops they list being in this.

(Brief poker interlude: table breaks down and we’re moving down to two tables. Sitting on a decent stack thats probably the upper of the middle, bottom of the top stacks.)

The taste is hop bitterness first and foremost. A bit overly bitter aftertaste thats not really representative of the hops (especially some of those listed like Eureka and Citra). Not familiar with 06277 Hop, I assume some proprietary hop that Goose Island has access to but most craft brewers won’t be able to access (again, one of the perks of being owned by In-Bev).

Sadly there isn’t much more to say about the flavor. Its a traditional piney hop west coast IPA that lacks any other distinguishing flavors or notes or interesting bits about it. There is a real aftertaste that is a bit overly bitter, again, especially given the hops involved, but its not too unpleasant to the point of making the beer undrinkable.

Would I order this again? Probably not. Am I upset I dropped 3$ on it at a happy hour while out with friends at a sports bar playing poker? No. So I guess it served its purpose? *Shrug*

My Untappd Rating: ***.25
Global Untappd Rating: 3.68 (as of 7.23.19)
(I wonder if its not an In-Bev beer if I would have given them the benefit of the doubt and went 3.5 on it, but I dunno, and really its not worth dithering too much on a .25 on an Untappd check-in for a beer that will be checked in uptowards 30K just due to brand/market share).

And so not to leave everyone in suspense, the poker recap.

14 players left, and get moved to down to two tables. First hand on the new table, I look and have pocket 10s (10H and 10C). First person to act folds, second folds, I make it 60 (blinds are 15-30). Call. Fold. Small blind goes all in at 75. Big blind calls. Leaving him with about 45 behind. I call the 15 more.

Flop comes KH-5S-9C. Rainbow flop and a bit all over the place. Not hitting anything I’m a bit hesitant with an over-card out. Big blind is first to act (small blind is all in). He checks. I check. Turn comes 10S. He checks. I make it 45 (forcing him to be all in.) He calls. Now that everyone is all in, all hands are flipped up, the small blind had A-J suited diamonds, big blind had KD-JC. So their sharing outs and I already have the set. River comes 5 (of hearts I believe?) giving me a full house, and knocking them both out. (Got my second full house of the tournament, and my second bonus 50 chip for it.)

A few hands later I do impressively well with back to back Ace-Rags hands. On one knocking out another player and taking a decent chunk from one before he folds, and on the other taking out a pretty good chunk from a fellow dealer before he folds.

But then I donkey off nearly half my stack right back to him a few hands later with another Ace-Rags where I didn’t hit my heart with both the turn and river to go. (Ace high flush draw vs. his two pair after the flop, I had several outs going into the turn, flush draw or runner/runner Ace or two pair).

Immediately after that, I’m all in with Jacks vs. Ace-Jack. Which is a good position for me (I have two of his outs, I just need to avoid him hitting his Ace, so he theoretically has 3 outs.) Of course he hits his Ace on the flop and thats all she wrote. 11th out of 33 I believe. Respectable (especially since I haven’t played in roughly 7-8 months).

Future upcoming blog posts:
* a flight from Moo-Duck Brewery
* the Moo-Funk Homebrew Event
* Ffej of July: 17
* Mango Guyobano sWheat Tart from Rotunda Brewing
* Fuzzy Nudge from Troegs Brewing
* my hop harvest at my house
* canning day at Tattered Flag

So until then, enjoy everyone!

-B. Kline