Sheetz and Goose Island Beer Co. Collaborate

Sheetz has done several beer collaborations now. Like the original one they did with Neshaminy Creek Brewing back in May 2020 – a hot dog flavored beer. (Sheetz collaborates with Pa. brewery on beer made with hot dogs – PennLive.com) They’ve also done a collab with Rusty Rail Brewing Company, Evil Genius Brewing Company, and Wicked Weed Brewing Company; and now this collaboration with Goose Island Beer Company. (This marks the second collaboration with a subsidiary of AB InBev – Wicked Weed Brewing Company and Goose Island Brewing Company.)

This time their collaboration is a Milkshake IPA. 6.8% ABV, so in that medium to moderate range (for comparison sake – Perpetual IPA by Troegs Independent Craft Brewing; their flagship – is 7.5%). According to the Untappd page, the description reads: “Brewed in partnership between Goose Island Beer Company of Chicago and Sheetz, Project I Scream, Brew Scream is brewed with Sheetz Bros. strawberry and banana puree. A light and fruity beer with a kiss of hop to balance the strawberry sweetness.”

From American Craft Beer:

Sheetz, a legendary mid-Atlantic gas/convenience store chain, announced a bigtime collaboration with Goose Island Beer that should pair perfectly with the long Memorial Day Weekend.

Here’s the deal…

Established in 1952 in Altoona, Pennsylvania, Sheetz is one of America’s fastest-growing family-owned and operated convenience store chains with more than 20,000 employees.

The company which operates more than 600 store locations throughout Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Ohio and North Carolina has evolved into much more than gas stations that sell snacks into outlets with award-winning foods and their own limited release beers.

Sheetz And Goose Island Beer Release Special Milkshake IPA – American Craft Beer

Beer Review

Beer: Project I Scream, Brew Scream
Brewery: Goose Island Beer Company
Collaboration: Sheetz
Style: IPA – Milkshake
ABV: 6.8%
IBU: n/a
Untappd Description: Brewed in partnership between Goose Island Beer Company of Chicago and Sheetz, Project I Scream, Brew Scream is brewed with Sheetz Bros. strawberry and banana puree. A light and fruity beer with a kiss of hop to balance the strawberry sweetness.

This is certainly an interesting IPA Milkshake. First off, I think IPA Milkshakes are interesting to begin with. They can certainly walk that fine line of interesting, good, and horribly nasty. We’ve covered a few Milkshake IPAs here on The Beer Thrillers before, like – Abbra Collabra 6 Way Banana Split Milkshake IPA – by Tattered Flag, Abomination Brewing, Pilger Ruh Brewing, Rotunda Brewing Company, Collusion Tap Works, and Snitz Creek Brewery.

So let’s get to the review.

Starting with appearance, this looks like a fine Milkshake IPA. It has the golden hue of a typical hazier style IPA (like New England IPAs, Milkshake IPAs, and the similar ilk). Distinctive look, appearance, and smoothness from the lactose. This looks exactly like a model Milkshake IPA. Good head, good retention, and good lacing.

This has a very strawberry and banana nose. Not a hop profile in the aroma and nose, but certainly banana, strawberry, and a bit of sweetness from the lactose in the milkshake department. It certainly nails that.

There is a sweetness right out the gate in the first sip. You can tell this is a Milkshake IPA right off the bat. I always enjoy a beer that I know immediately what I am getting as soon as I start sipping it, nothing hidden, nothing coy or cutesy, just a well descriptive beer that delivers on its description. There is a creamy, smooth, milky profile to this, you get the lactose, and it makes it smooth. This kind of tastes like a strawberry – banana bubblegum flavor from when we were kids, like Bubbalicious or something similar. Its fruity, its pretty strong, but the taste does mellow off pretty quick. There is a bit of a hop kick at the end of this, but its not super hoppy, and not as strong as some in the group I was drinking with this thought (personal opinion I suppose). Speaking of personal opinion, I’m not a very huge fan of strawberry, so the beer loses a bit of enjoyment for me on that – but I recognize that as a personal opinion – the beer does do a good job of presenting the strawberry flavors with the banana flavors. I wish there was a bit more of a hop punch, but all things considered thats not a huge problem. The beer is a little watery thin for me, its got a slight cloying nature to the tongue, possibly due to the lactose and cream like flavor to this, not a hundred percent sure on that. All in all its not bad for a relatively large scale production aimed for cheap at gas stations, and especially given that its produced by an AB InBev subsidary to boot.

This is nothing thats going to be blowing anyone away, but its certainly getting the job done. Cheap four packs at Sheetz gas stations and easy to find is always a beautiful thing. Would be nice to see Sheetz do more collaborations like this but with local true independent craft breweries, ones like Troegs Independent Craft Brewing, or Tattered Flag Brewery, or Iron Hill Brewing, or New Trail Brewing Company. Or even smaller ones (less likely) like Boneshire Brew Works, Moo – Duck Brewing, Wolf Brewing Company, or Hemauer Brewing Company.

My Untappd Rating: ***.75
Global Untappd Rating: 3.66 (as of 4.17.23)

Conclusion

Its been a while since I’ve done a beer review, but I’ve had several in the works, and need to get them posted and uploaded. Josh (of Mastermind X Studios) told me about an upcoming video and asked me to make sure I get this review up for him. There is lots of more content coming, from beer reviews, to articles, to news, to Amy’s weekly columns, to the Maps of the US States, and much more.

So be sure to stick around, like, subscribe, and follow. Bookmark the homepage so you don’t lose us.

Some other beer reviews you can check out are:

• Beer Review: Terpenes in Time (BAREBottle Brewing Co)
• Beer Review: B-52 (Cox Brewing Company)
• Beer Review: Dunkel Shaun (Great Barn Brewing)
• Beer Review: The Death of Civilization in Slow Motion I (Adroit Theory)
• Beer Review: Chocolate Covered Pretzel (Braxton Brewing Company)
• Beer Review: Dúlachán IPA (Lavery Brewing Company)
• Beer Review: Abbra Collabra 6 Way Banana Split Milkshake IPA (Tattered Flag)
• Beer Review: Broken Skull (Stone Cold IPA) (El Segundo Brewing Company)
• Beer Review: Furious IPA (Surly Brewing Company)
• Peanut Butter Eggs, Easter, Beer, and Yah Brew’s Shimmy Shake (Beer Review)
• Beer Review: Pulisic Pilsner (Jackass Brewing)
• Beer Review: Snow Tracks (New Trail Brewing Co.)
• Beer Review: Super Villain (Urban Village Brewing Company)
• Beer Review: Isolation Anniversary Beer (Aslin Beer Company)
• Human Robot: The First Milk Tube Race in the World: USA vs. The World – Oktoberfest Invitational Beer Fest

Thank You For Reading

Thanks to Josh for getting me off my butt and getting these beer reviews finished up, edited, and written. I have about twelve or so articles in nearly done states, that just need editing and uploaded. So I appreciate the kick in the pants. Thanks man!

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed the article, quite a few new articles from this weekend, from Friday, and from Amy’s weekly column, as well as tonight, are going up, so make sure you follow along with us.

Cheers All!

-B. Kline

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The Original Bourbon Barrel Aged Stout

Many stouts try to compare or use lingo that suggests a stout was aged in a bourbon barrel but when this one punches a thick bourbon barrel in your nose you start to question all the others before this one.

That quick warm cozy feeling you get when you sip on a snifter of port by a fire is what this stout aged in bourbon barrels will fill you with.  Don’t confuse it with the warm fuzzy slippers feeling Homer has you imagining https://youtu.be/0oAZZK3AD6I Although, I too enjoy a snifter of port at Christmas.

Fuzzy slippers on, let’s drag our feet across the carpet for static electricity AND review a favorite

Beer: Bourbon County Brand Stout
Brewery: Goose Island Beer Co.
Style: Stout – Imperial / Double
ABV: 15.2%
IBU: 60

Untappd Description: Originally brewed in honor of the 1000^th batch at our original Clybourn brewpub. A liquid as dark and dense as the black hole with thick form the color of a bourbon barrel. The nose is an intense mix of charred oak, chocolate, vanilla, caramel, and smoke. One sip has more flavor than your average case of beer.

On the bottle it is described as “Notes of Vanilla, Toffee, chocolate, burnt sugar and dried fruit” Also the bottle I have says it yields a 14.7% ABV.

It’s like a Christmas morning for stout lovers. I almost hung up on a phone call with my boss to gallop over to the closest spot selling it on Monday. No varietals near me unfortunately but my taste buds are just as pleased with the OG.

I even shared a bit of this with my mom. She is quite adventurous and entertains all my crazy alcohol adventures, surprisingly. I guess the apple didn’t fall far from the tree or hop vine. Her first reaction was shock. She also felt that punch I talked about earlier as she sniffed her beer. One little sip and she lets out a mellow “mmmm”. This is the kind of “mmmm” this is accompanied by a warm hug and sets your mind at ease. Her eyes popped open again as if coming back from a quick hallucination. I can only assume she had a similar fantasy of sipping on it by a fire like I did. She quickly reached her glass out for another pour. I am my mother’s daughter after all. The bottle was emptied very quickly.

The only thing I want to add to the description from Untapped is the coffee aroma and flavor. Maybe it’s the charred oak that makes me think of coffee, my mom agreed. If it’s the oak taste and flavor I am enjoying, why do I loathe it so much in my wine? My mom and I both wonder this and can only agree we must drink more to draw final conclusions and give fair reviews.

After it hits your tongue the deep richness of caramel and vanilla lay on your tongue like a nice warm bath. The chocolate and dried fruit tastes dance on your tongue. It’s crazy that you can taste chocolate and a rich dark chocolate at the same time. That mix makes me feel like I am drinking an adult desert beer but not a confectionary sugar taste or flavor. The vanilla flavor from the barrel is why it so tasty compared to stouts with vanilla added, although there is nothing wrong with those either.

The release and sale of the bourbon barrel aged stout is the “Black Friday” kick off to the holiday season that I really enjoy celebrating. As I’m sure any fellow beer drinker still ready this would easily agree. Happy Thanksgiving!

Drink more beer! Cheers!

-Amy

(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”.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

#1. Sundrifter by South County Brewing Company

#2. Enigma by Anchorage Brewing Co.

#3. King Crunch by Manayunk Brewing

#4. Battlefield Brew Works

#5. Painting with Light by South County Brewing Company

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

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

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

#9. Cinnamon Toast Crunch by Collusion Tap Works

#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

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.)

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)

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