J. Wakefield Brewing - The Beer Thrillers

J. Wakefield Brewing Closing in Wynwood

B. Kline — Tue, 06 Aug 2024 22:30:53 +0000

J Wakefield Brewing Announcing Their Closing

J Wakefield Brewing Announces Bittersweet Closing

As a nerd, a Star Wars fan, and a geek, this brewery closing hurts. J. Wakefield Brewing has become one of the powerhouse breweries along the Eastern Coast, and one of the top and premier breweries of Florida. Known for their fun, quirky, nerdy beer names and can art, and a wonderful looking taproom with great murals all over it. Today, at 5 PM, J. Wakefield Brewing announced via Facebook (and as well as Instagram) that they will be closing their Wynwood location. (Located at 120 NW 24th St, Miami, FL 33127)

All is not lost, as it does look like they are actively trying to find a new location. Hopefully sooner rather than later. No word on where or when this might come to fruition, but we will keep you updated, when we get the information ourselves.

The Announcement

The announcement made on J Wakefield Brewing’s social media

The following is the announcement J. Wakefield Brewing posted to their social media:

BREAKING NEWS

It is with a heavy heart that we share some bittersweet news with all of you. After almost a decade of serving this beloved community of Wynwood, and everyone that traveled from afar to visit our taproom, we will be closing its doors. This decision has not come easily, but the ever-changing landscape of the neighborhood has presented challenges that we can no longer navigate effectively.

We want to extend our deepest gratitude for all your unwavering support and loyalty over the years. Your presence and enthusiasm have been the heartbeat of our taproom and each Wakefest that we’ve hosted. We have cherished every pint, and every story told within these walls. It has been a privilege to be part of such a vibrant community.

While we will be saying goodbye to our current location, we want you to know that our passion for brewing remains as strong as ever. We will continue to craft the same quality beers you have come to love and will stay actively engaged in the community through events, tap takeovers, and collaborations around the city.

To all the current and past employees- Your time and dedication to JWB have been invaluable, and your contributions have played a significant role in shaping our success, creating the vibrant atmosphere that have become the entire vibe of our establishment and brand. Whether you were with JWB for a season or for several years, your presence and hard work have left a lasting impact on our team and the community we’ve built together. THANK YOU for all you’ve ever done for JWB.

We’re excited to share that we are already working on finding a new location what will allow us to serve you even better. We’ll be keeping you updated on our progress and can’t wait to welcome you our new home when the time comes.

Thank you once again for being such a crucial part of our journey. We will miss you dearly, but we look forward to seeing you at our upcoming events, and of course, at our new location in the near future.

Our last weekend open will be October 26-27

Until then, we do have some special events lined up to make our farewell a memorable one. – STAY TUNED

#MadeInDade

#TheThirstIsReal

J. Wakefield Brewing Company – Facebook Post

J. Wakefield Brewing

J. Wakefield Brewing, founded by Jonathan Wakefield in 2015, is a renowned craft brewery located in the vibrant Wynwood Arts District of Miami, Florida. This brewery quickly gained a reputation for its innovative and flavorful beers, particularly its sour ales and stouts. Jonathan Wakefield, the founder, transitioned from a career in finance to brewing, driven by his passion for craft beer. His commitment to quality and creativity has made J. Wakefield Brewing a standout in the competitive craft beer scene.

One of the most notable aspects of J. Wakefield Brewing is its focus on creating unique and experimental beers. The brewery is famous for its Berliner Weisse series, which includes a variety of fruit-infused sours that have captivated beer enthusiasts. These sours are often made with exotic fruits like guava, passionfruit, and dragon fruit, reflecting Miami’s tropical climate and diverse cultural influences. This dedication to experimentation has helped J. Wakefield Brewing carve out a niche in the craft beer market.

The brewery’s physical space is a reflection of its artistic and community-oriented spirit. The taproom features vibrant murals and graffiti art, making it a popular destination not just for beer lovers but also for art enthusiasts. The Wynwood location, known for its street art, aligns perfectly with J. Wakefield Brewing’s brand identity. This unique ambiance enhances the overall experience for visitors, making a trip to the brewery an immersive cultural experience.

Collaborations with other breweries and local businesses have also been a key part of J. Wakefield Brewing’s strategy. The brewery frequently partners with other well-known craft breweries to create limited-edition collaboration beers. These partnerships allow J. Wakefield Brewing to reach a broader audience and introduce its beers to new markets. Additionally, the brewery engages with the local community through events, festivals, and charitable initiatives, further solidifying its reputation as a community-focused business.

J. Wakefield Brewing has garnered numerous awards and accolades over the years, cementing its status as a top-tier craft brewery. Its beers have received high ratings from critics and beer enthusiasts alike, and the brewery has been featured in various publications and media outlets. The combination of innovative brewing techniques, a strong community presence, and a commitment to quality has positioned J. Wakefield Brewing as a leader in the craft beer industry. As the brewery continues to grow and evolve, it remains a testament to the dynamic and creative spirit of Miami’s craft beer scene.

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:

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May the Fourth Be With You (2023)

B. Kline — Thu, 04 May 2023 13:30:00 +0000

May the Fourth Be With You

Yes, its that time again! Fourth year running of us mentioning it. (We started the blog in late May of 2019, so we’ve only gotten to tackle May the Fourth in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 now.)

Its that day again. A nerd day of celebratory and galactic proportions. A day to jump on Nintendo Switch Online, on LEGO.com, on Star Wars.com and who knows how many other fan sites and branding sites to get tons of Star Wars related deals.

By now I’m sure you’ve seen it all over Facebook already, every brewery from near and far posting a picture of their workers in costume or a Star Wars movie still with a beer on the picture, usually with the branding of “May the Fourth Be With You” somewhere on the image.

I bet you are probably even within about a 20 mile radius of a brewery or bar doing “Star Wars trivia” tonight.

Its also a day here to celebrate Star Wars in general, and on The Beer Thrillers we are definitely doing that! We definitely love covering Star Wars here on The Beer Thrillers, and I think it shows with our sheer number of Star Wars themed beer reviews, Book of Boba Fett review, and even Star Wars book reviews. On our Facebook page you can find us often linking and sharing to various new beer releases by different (somewhat nearby for me) breweries that are Star Wars themed.

So with the idea of the fact that nearly every brewery is doing some kind of Star Wars themed day or releasing a Star Wars themed beer, I’m going to present a small list of near – ish to me places doing Star Wars beer released themed for this year’s May the Fourth Be With You. (I’m not going to run down a list of every place doing just Star Wars trivia, but the breweries that are at least doing a Star Wars themed beer release, or have a Star Wars themed beer on their menu. And of course, if I miss any, be sure to mention it in the comments section.)

May the Fourth Beer Releases

Star Wars meme our friend Josh at Master Mind X Studios made up for us.

Yes, its that time of year when brewers take their beers they’ve made, and decide to give it a Star Wars themed pun and shoot it out on May 4th or nearby arounds to great critical acclaim (and for people like me, who love Star Wars, to grab up and drink up).

(This is also when the mulers come out in droves, charging you 80$ for two four packs that are being sold for 22$, and willing to ship. I have stretches of DMs from yesterday of Floridians telling me “its totally the acceptable price to sell 40$ for a 4 pack”, and even though S&H doesn’t go up if you ship 4 or if you ship 8, still charging 40$ per pack, so 80$ for 8 beers.

Yea, actually, don’t get me started about the insane DMs I got from mulers and re-flippers specifically from the Miami area, trying to get me J. Wakefield Beers of their Star Wars release. I even had one guy DM and tell me that 105$ for a mixed four pack [two of one beer, two of the other], is a very generous offer.)

(Various Facebook posts about Star Wars themed beer releases.)

Star Wars Day Beer Releases

There is a lot of Star Wars day beer releases for today, the biggest notable one is typically RAR Brewery. Who does a Star Wars themed Out of Order beer release every year. This year they are releasing five Out of Order Star Wars themed beers.

RAR Brewing – Out of Order Star Wars

The RAR Brewing Company Out of Order series is one of their most notable series, and they typically do thematic four, five, six pack releases.

(For the full article click here: RAR Star Wars Day Drop)

This year is a five – pack (not a typical four pack or six pack) that contains two old favorites as well as three new ones; also a new glass and a new ‘mood mat’.

The beers in this year’s drop are:

Out of Order: Sith Sauce (new)
Out of Order: Going Somewhere, Solo? (new)
Out of Order: Blue Milk (returning)
Out of Order: Droid Juice (returning)
Out of Order: Who’s Scruffy Looking? (new)

We have reviewed both the Blue Milk (first batch) and the Droid Juice before. You can find those reviews here:

Mispillion Brewing – Vader

Mispillion Brewing Company is re-releasing Vader for May 4th.

You can find our review here:

Beer Review: Vader (Mispillion Brewing Company)

Neshaminy Creek Brewing – Bantha Fodder

Neshaminy Creek Brewing is releasing a Vienna Lager (German Style Lager) called Bantha Fodder today.

It’s time for MAY THE 4TH STAR WARS TRIVIA NIGHT! We’re pre-gaming our Revenge of the Sixth festivities with a night to flex your intergalactic intellect TONIGHT at 7pm. We’re also tapping Bantha Fodder – our new Spring Bock that is a Croydon Taproom exclusive.

There will be 3 rounds of 10 questions sure to test all you moof milkers out there! Prizes will be awarded to the top 3 teams and the team with the best name so you better come correct. Don your best Star Wars gear and enjoy the soothing sounds of the Cantina Band on repeat! Our friends from the Moocheeze Food Truck will be here all night with a menu full of galactic goodies too. This IS the event you’re looking for.

And tickets are still available for Saturday’s Galactic Empire show – fulfill your destiny and get yours today: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/569816385147
Neshaminy Creek Brewing Company – Facebook Post

Magnify Brewing – Blue Milk

Magnify Brewing Company is releasing their Blue Milk (Smoothie Sour Ale).

Black Flag Brewing Company – Nerf Herder

Black Flag Brewing Company is re-releasing Nerf Herder (as well as also releasing a Zelda themed beer called Mouteka’s Mask, a parody of Majora’s Mask.)

Bolero Snort Brewing Company

Bolero Snort Brewing Company is going all out. They are releasing in cans – Rancow Attack and Ahsocow. They are also having the following on draft:

New To The Taps

Never Tell Me the Odds Sour – Fruited

6.1% ABV

Zoochberry Surprise inspired Sour Ale with Blueberry, Strawberry, Raspberry, Lemon, Graham Cracker, Cheesecake and Vanilla

12oz Draft $8.50

4pk 16oz To Go $20.00

Try Not Do Or Do Not There Is No Try Sour – Fruited

5.8% ABV

Cliff Dweller inspired Sour Ale with Ginger Ale, Orange, Pineapple, Coconut Cream and Lime

12oz Draft $8.50

4pk 16oz To Go $20.00

Rancow Attack IPA – New England

6% ABV

Thiol Amplified Hazy with Phantasm, Galaxy and Strata fermented with some sleek new thoil enhancing yeast! Watch out for an attack on your taste buds!

8oz Draft $5.00

16oz Draft $8.00

4pk 16oz To Go $18.00

Coruscant Crusher Gluten-Free

4.5% ABV

AKIRAN INSPIRED VIOLET SELTZER WITH LAVENDAR, ORANGE ZEST, CLOVE AND GRAINS OF PARADISE

12oz Draft $8.50

32oz Crwl $15.00

I Have Spoken Stout – Imperial

11.3% ABV

Mando Uj’alayi Cake inspired barrel aged Imperial Stout with Toasted Walnuts and Hazelnuts, Cinnamon, Black Peppercorns, Dried Currant and Orange Zest

5oz Draft $5.00

500ml To Go $19.00

Maz Kowata’s Watering Hole Crispy Fizz Lager – Other

4.5% ABV

PHOTON FIZZ INSPIRED AQUA LAGER WITH GINGER BEER, LIME, ROSEMARY

11oz $6.00

32oz Crwl $14.00

Dagobah Downpour Sour – Other

6% ABV

BLURRGFIRE INSPIRED SOUR ALE WITH LEMONADE, LIME, POMEGRANATE AND HABANERO

12oz Draft $8.50

32oz Crowler $16.00

Ahsocow Sour – Fruited

5.8% ABV

Sour Ale with Orange, White Chocolate and Vanilla Beans

12oz Draft $8.50

4pk 16oz To Go $20.00
Bolero Snort Brewing Company – Now on Tap

Second Sin Brewing Company – Obi Wan Jabroni

In probably my favorite mash up; Second Sin Brewing Company (Bristol, PA) is releasing Obi Wan Jabroni. A mash up of The Rock and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Crooked Crab Brewing Company – Crabdalorian

Always enjoy the pun twists like this one – Crooked Crab is releasing the “Crabdalorian” today in celebration of Star Wars Day / May the Fourth Be With you. (Similarly, Tattered Flag in the past released “The Pandalorian“.)

Brewery Fire – Hoth: Mangalorian

We’ve covered Brewery Fire’s “The Mangalorian” before, but this is a new take on it. A Cold IPA version of it, appropriately titled: Hoth: The Mangalorian.

Allusion Brewing Company – Stay on Target

Our Battle of the Breweries 2023 champion – Allusion Brewing Company – still has their “Stay on Target” on draft.

Divine Barrel – I Did It For the Wookie

Divine Barrel has a re-release of their “I Did it For the Wookie” beer.

Bottle Logic – Three Releases

Bottle Logic Brewing Company is releasing three beers for today, but as of time of writing, they have only announced two. “Tatooine Sunset” and “Unlimited Power”.

J. Wakefield Beer

The last I’m gonna highlight here is J. Wakefield Beer’s two releases for today. Dagobah Downpour and Max Rebo’s Sour Ale. Who doesn’t love Max Rebo? Honestly. Coolest musician ever. Other than maybe Droopy McCool who was a Jizz Whailer. (And yes… thats a real term in Star Wars before you get mad at me!)

Help A Brother Out

Here’s gonna be my call out. Help a Brother Out! If you ever see a Star Wars themed, Futurama themed, Zelda themed, Lord of the Rings themed, Seinfeld themed, Simpsons themed, pretty much anything nerdy pop culture themed, beer, shoot me a message. Maybe we can work out a deal or sale or trade or something.

Always looking to get my hands on Star Wars and other nerd themed beers to review for the site / blog. So if you know of any – let me know! I wanna check them all out!

(An incomplete list of beers I’m looking for on BeerAdvocate – ISO – Star Wars Themed Beers.)

Star Wars Timeline

Just a quick fun video, if you are interested in the complete timeline of Star Wars up to this date, here you go.

https://youtu.be/BvL68ZwWIHQ

A Highlight of Our Star Wars Beer Reviews

May the Fourth be full of memes

(Some of the following comes from my “May the Fourth Be With You” 2022 article and 2020 articles.)

In this article, I broke down what Star Wars Day is (May the Fourth) and discussed what Star Wars articles I had written up to that point. (Don’t worry, there have been PLENTY of new Star Wars content since then.)

Beer Review: This is the Way (Broken Goblet)

This is the Way by Broken Goblet

One of the first Star Wars themed beers I reviewed here on the blog, and one of our most popular beer review articles. A good friend (Roy Ge) picked it up for me and Drew to drink at his place while we did a podcast about The Mandalorian. Was an absolutely wonderful beer. They have released a few variants since. One of which I am covering in the upcoming weeks with the Obi-Wan Kenobi show.

Beer Review: This is Nut The Fluff You Are Looking For (Fourscore Beer Co)

This is Nut the Fluff You Are Looking for by Fourscore Beer Co.

Picked this big bad boy of a bottle up when I was in Gettysburg with Ming and Don and brought it back to drink with Drew. As you can see on the blog, you’ll be able to find several Fourscore Beer Co reviews (you can even find Amy’s latest beer review right here – Phantomania). They are a phenomenal brewery that loves delving into Star Wars themed beers. We just picked up a four pack of soft swerves from them that were Star Wars themed, and can’t wait to dive into them here for the blog.

Beer Review: Out of Order – Blue Milk (RAR Brewing)

Out of Order: Blue Milk by RAR Brewing

One of our most popular articles on the blog (right up there with our yearly March Madness tournament posts, our review of Yuengling’s Hershey Porter, and with the Broken Skulls IPA by Stone Cold). This was the first of the Out of Order series I’ve reviewed, and it was a solo one they originally did, but then brought back when they did their Star Wars release in 2021. You’ll find others from that series down below.

Beer Review: Wookie Monster (Fourscore Beer Co)

Wookie Monster by Fourscore Beer Co

Another excellent beer, and another Star Wars themed beer by Fourscore Beer Co. Had to work to get this one because I missed out on their initial release and it sold out quickly. Got it through a trade chain through the Central PA Whalerz group, and was I ever so grateful. Delicious beer.

Beer Review: The Pandalorian (Tattered Flag)

The Pandalorian by Tattered Flag

From our good friends at Tattered Flag comes this mash-up parody beer called The Pandalorian. This is a very juicy, tasty New Engand IPA that hit the spot on a warm sunny day in November. Soon after my trip back from Indianapolis, (as you can tell by the Vonnegut glass), I got lucky and still had some nice warm November days, and I took full advantage of it laying out and drinking in the sun while reading.

Beer Review: Java the Stout (Jackie O’s Brewery)

Java the Stout can art by Jackie O’s Brewery

One of the beers I picked up on my trip to and from Indianapolis was Java the Stout by Jackie O’s. It was a delicious stout that “lived up to its name”. Also, the can art is absolutely phenomenal. Its worth checking out just for that.

Beer Review: This is the Whey (Bolero Snort)

This is the Whey by Bolero Snort

One of the first Star Wars themed beers I’ve reviewed by Bolero Snort, and a fantastic beer. The other was BoBull Fett and I reviewed that for the premier episode of ‘Book of Boba Fett‘.

Beer Review: The Mangalorian (Brewery Fire)

The Mangolorian by Brewery Fire

In early January I hiked with Ming in the Catoctin Mountain area of Maryland. Afterwards we stopped at Brewery Fire and I picked this up to go. This was my May the Fourth review last year. Wonderful beer, and a great brewery that loves their nerd and pop culture references.

Beer Review: BoBull Fett (Bolero Snort)

BoBull Fett by Bolero Snort

Another beer review from Bolero Snort, and this time a crowler. We traveled out to New Jersey to pick this up the day of the premier for Book of Boba Fett and then reviewed it for the show as our first of the weekly beer reviews for our “Star Wars Wednesdays”. A fantastic beer.

Beer Review: Out of Order – Tatooine Tart (RAR Brewing)

Tatooine Tart by RAR Brewing

Back to RAR Brewing and their Out of Order series. Part of their Star Wars batch of the Out of Order series (along with Blue Milk making its return). Jabba’s Palace scene on the background on the computer from Return of the Jedi. As you can also see with the BoBull Fett beer review, the beginning of all the Star Wars LEGOs being shown in the beer pics.

Beer Review: Out of Order – RAWRGWAWGGR (RAR Brewing)

Out of Order – RARWWARRGGRGR by RAR Brewing

On a cold wintery snowy day in January (January 19th), and another Star Wars Wednesday, I took this Hoth like scene pic with another great Out of Order series beer from RAR Brewing.

Mead Review: The Meadalorian (Space Time Meadery and Cidery)

The Meadalorian by Space Time Meadery and Cidery

Our first Mead review on the blog, and it was a fantastic mead. Check out Space Time Meadery and Cidery if you are in the Scranton PA area. You won’t be disappointed.

Beer Review: Let the Haze Flow Through You (Black Flag Brewing Co.)

Let the Haze Flow Through You by Black Flag Brewing Co.

One of several Black Flag beers we’ve covered on the blog. A top notch brewery we love to hit up whenever we’re able to in the Maryland area. (Its about an hour and a half – plus – drive from our location near Harrisburg.) It has quickly become one of Amy’s favorite breweries. In the background you an also see Troeg’s Double Nugget Nectar which we have reviewed as well.

Beer Review: Wookies and Cream (Tall Tales Brewing Co.)

Wookies and Cream by Tall Tales Brewing Co.

On another of our brewery trips (this time making our way from Burley Oak over to Cushwa for their 5th Anniversary Brewfest) we stopped at Tall Tales Brewing Co, where I couldn’t help trying out a Star Wars themed beer… especially a stout!

Beer Review: Out of Order – Droid Juice (RAR Brewing)

Out of Order – Droid Juice by RAR Brewing

Back to RAR Brewing’s Out of Order series for our next Star Wars beer review, another of our weekly Book of Boba Fett “Star Wars Wednesdays” beer reviews. A wonderful sour from RAR in line with their others from the series (and their Out of Order series as a whole).

All of Our Nerd Content

Here’s all of our nerd content, served up best in one single place. Enjoy!

I know ya’ll here for the nerd reviews. So check out our other nerd reviews below:

Star Wars:

Lord of the Rings:

Rick and Morty:

Beer Review: Peace Among Worlds (Cushwa Brewing Company)

Space Balls:

Beer Review: Moon of Vega (Equilibrium Brewery)

Game of Thrones:

The Simpsons:

Back to the Future:

Beer Review: Back to Reality (Three 3s Brewing Co)

Scrooged:

Beer Review: Scrooge IPA (Iron Hill Brewing)

Groundhog Day:

A Christmas Story:

Pro Wrestling:

Soccer:

World Cup:

Phillies:

Drunk Phils Fans and Rotunda Brewing Company Collaborate Together on Jam the Batter sWheat Tart

Matrix:

Matrix Monday

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:

Beer Review: Terpenes in Time (BAREBottle Brewing Co)

HP Lovecraft / Cthulhu:

Beer Review: Azathoth (Edmund’s Oast Brewing Company)

Seinfeld:

Other:

Thank You For Reading

Seeing all the different brewery releases everywhere on a day like this always gives me big time FOMO feelings. Like I’m missing out on a ton of beer. I have reigned that in a lot in my older years, I no longer due to line waiting, and I tamper down mule buying too much (doing more per cost, not willing to give mules a ton of extra money, etc.). Because deep down we all know – beer is beer. As long as you enjoy the beer, it could be called “Zapp Branigan’s Fart” or it could be called “The Death Star IPA” or “IPA”, and it would all taste the same. I think its good to keep that all in perspective when getting that “FOMO” feeling.

Thank you everyone for checking this out.

Also, make sure you stay up to date on the latest of the Founders Brewing Company’s current ‘saga’:

Today (obviously) 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?

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.

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.

May The Fourth Be With You

BKline — Tue, 05 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

By now I’m sure you are all sick of your friends on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or even by text or phone or SnapChat or WhatsApp or Zoom or Flim-Flam-Floom or Blue Milk or Bantha Fodder or whatever telling you “May the Fourth Be With You” or some such ‘garbage’ or nonsense right? Maybe you don’t know the difference between a Dianoga and a Ronto? Or remember that the green Nautalan Jedi Master that attacked Chancellor Palpatine / Darth Sidious in Episode III – Revenge of the Sith was Kit Fisto (c’mon…. with a name like that how couldn’t you remember him?), or that the Prune Face guy from Return of the Jedi when they attack the Bunker on the Endor moon was Orriamarko…… Maybe sportsball is more your thing. Either way, pro-Star Wars or anti-Star Wars, or Luke-Warm (ah, see what I did there?) to Star Wars, there is still good beers to be had about Star Wars or similar nerdy things.

So as any reader here to the blog will know, I am a huge Star Wars nerd. Starting back to when I was in 6th grade. Over at a sleep over a friend had Star Wars cards (Decipher’s SW:CCG – Star Wars Customizable Card Game) and he taught me to play. This led me to fall in love with Star Wars by watching the movies, and got me going to a local card shop called Omnidon’s in Hummelstown. This is where I ended up meeting friends D. Scott and R. Dibeler and a whole host of other people too numerous to even begin to list.

As I grew older, I watched the Original Trilogy (OT), the Special Edition Original Trilogy (SE-OT), the Prequel Trilogy (PT) and reading a list of books longer than I have time to type out here. (Authors like Timothy Zahn, Michael Stackpole, Matthew Woodring Stover, James Luceno, etc, etc, etc.). I even named my youngest daughter Mara (those who know – will know).

Flash forward to Disney buying the franchise, and at the time my oldest daughter was 7. I was ecstatic to get to watch new Star Wars movies with her in theater. In preparation we watched episodes 4 (A New Hope), 5 (Empire Strikes Back), and 6 (Return of the Jedi). We saw Episode 7 – The Force Awakens in IMAX at the Whitaker Center. She was hooked. She loved Rey, she loved BB-8 (she was already hooked by Star Wars, already loved R2-D2 and Chewbacca and Yoda). Over the years we saw Rogue One and The Last Jedi in theaters as well, and even Solo before it went to Netflix. (Last day possible in theater to see that one). Sadly, her love for the saga waned a bit after The Last Jedi (she’s not alone there), so we didn’t see Episode 9 – Rise of Skywalker in theater. But, that is part of our “May the Fourth” today – getting to watch it on Disney+ (uploaded to the streaming service today).

Fun trivia fact: my oldest daughter was featured on TV at a Phillies game (Star Wars night). She wore her Rey costume to the game and they had her dance with the Phillie Phanatic and some of the 501st Legion (cosplayers) who were there dressed as Rey, Stormtroopers, Kylo Ren, Vader, Leia, Chewbacca, and Luke.

…So…. whats all this got to do with beer right? Well, yesterday, me and my oldest two daughters made the trek down to Gettysburg to Fourscore Beer Co. For the weekend they were doing a Star Wars themed menu, including the release of ‘Wookie Monster’, a 9% oreo cookie stout; as well as food items – Sarlaac Fries (french fries, beercheese, and cole slaw on top), as well as Mynock Gravy and Biscuits (chipped cream rib-eye gravy and butter biscuits), as well as a cherry tomato and mozzarella salad. We stopped; and I got a food item of each (Lily got the Sarlaac fries and loved them, Olivia-Grace got the salad and ate it as we did the Auto-Tour, and I got the Mynock Gravy and Biscuits – fantastic). Unfortunately, the Wookie Monster was sold out. (As you can imagine, that was going to be a big feature of today’s blog post). [Sigh]. I did get a crowler of the Mango Marshmellow Jahmba. Can’t wait to crack that open and devour it. I’ve yet to have had a bad beer from them.

From left to right: menu items – fries and turkey sub with Wookie Monster and This is Nut the Fluff You’re Looking For; sarlaac fries; Wookie Monster on canning day. (Photos from Fourscore Beer Co’s Facebook page)

Here on the blog however, I have done several beer reviews of geeky, nerdy, Star Wars, and other similar movie franchises. Pop cultural references always plays a big role in a lot of breweries beer names and even branding.

My most recent Star Wars themed beer (and beer review) was the above mentioned ‘This is Nut the Fluff You’re Looking For‘.

This is Nut the Fluff You’re Looking For by Fourscore Beer Co.

This was an absolutely amazing 15% Imperial Double Stout by Fourscore Beer Co. Easily a contender for Top 10 (New) Beers I’ve had for this year (granted; this year will probably see me drink less NEW beers than previous years just due to everything going on). The Untappd Description reads: “Brewed with a British Maris Otter base, loads of malted oats and a variety of roasted and crystal malts with a touch of lactose. Heaps of peanut flour were used in the whirlpool and the wort was racked onto a ton of marshmallow fluff prior to fermentation. More marshmallow is added at the end of fermentation along with peanut butter powder. Huge aromas and flavors of fresh peanut butter and marshmallows straight from the bag. A rich malty base of caramel and chocolate tones carry the flavors to the finish. Brewed with Founders Club member Eric Acumen.” If you like peanut butter beers; this will definitely be right up your alley. There is still bottles for sale at Fourscore Beer Co (as of 5.4.20). To read my full review of it, click here: “Beer Review: This is Nut The Fluff You’re Looking For“.

This is the Way

Another fun beer I did a review of was “This is The Way” by Broken Goblet. Another Star Wars themed beer, though this time based off the hit Disney+ show ‘The Mandalorian’ rather than from the movies.

This is the Way by Broken Goblet

Jokingly calling it a ME-IPA (Mos Eisley IPA) rather than NE-IPA (New England IPA) Broken Goblet made one delicious IPA, be a ME-IPA or NE-IPA or whatever you want to call it. This is a juicy, tasty, easy drinking IPA. No bitter bite, slight creamyness to it, nice flowing beer. You can read my review of it here: “Beer Review: This is the Way“.

President Skroob says Good Day

And where would I be if I didn’t mention Equilibrium’s “Moon of Vega”. If we’re talking Star Wars, we have to talk Space Balls! If you only ever see two space or sci-fi parody movies (and so far, you only really need to see these two) it best be Space Balls and Galaxy Quest. Anything else is inferior.

Moon of Vega – a collaboration beer by Equilibrium Brewery and J. Wakefield Brewing

Moon of Vega is a collaboration NE-IPA by Equilibrium Brewery and J. Wakefield Brewing; and they absolutely nailed this out of the galaxy. This was a super tasty, delicious NE-IPA that was creamy, hoppy, juicy, dank, and all the things you look for in a NE IPA. A 4pk of this just wasn’t enough. As you can see, I had this during one of our podcasts for “So A Mexican and A Scott Walk Into a Bar…” a podcast ran by some of The Extended Beer Thrillers family – D. Scott and Esteban. To read my beer review of Moon of Vega click here: “Beer Review: Moon of Vega“.

So a Mexican and a Scott Walk Into a Bar….

Below is a list of the Star Wars related podcasts we did for So a Mexican and a Scott Walk Into a Bar… (I’m featured on all of these). (Warning, language is Rated R and might not be safe for work.)

Don’t worry, there will be plenty more Star Wars podcasts in the future, I guarantee that!

Star Wars Movie News

Star Wars announced some big movie and TV show news today too. Taika Waititi is to direct his own feature film for Star Wars. This is super big news. Click the following news article link from Star Wars (dot com) to read more: Taika Waititi to Direct, Co-Write new Star Wars Film.

Blue Hippo by Boneshire Brew Works

While not a Star Wars beer, I did enjoy reading a Star Wars book and drinking a wonderful beer in the nice sunny afternoon earlier. The beer was Blue Hippo by Boneshire Brew Works (look for a review of that soon) and the book is Star Wars: Rebel Rising by Beth Revis.

Sorry I didn’t have a new Star Wars beer to review for this, I hope you all still enjoyed the article. Let me know in the comments what your favorite Star Wars themed beers are (or even ones you’ve seen, heard of, or drank). I’m off to watch Rise of Skywalker on Disney+ with my daughter. Cheers, and May the Fourth Be With You. Always.

-B. Kline

May The Fourth Be With 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

Beer Review: Moon of Vega (Equilibrium Brewery)

BKline — Wed, 27 Nov 2019 03:58:30 +0000

Moon of Vega by Equilibrium Brewery and J. Wakefield Brewing

I had gotten a few of these from a mule through a Facebook group; and I will fully admit that it was based on beer name and label art. We’ve all done it. Walking through rows of beers for a mix-a-six at a distributor like Breski’s or even at Weiss while your significant other is getting groceries and you wander through the beer aisle and see an interesting beer name or some pretty or cool looking can art.

But the fantastic thing about this beer is; my decision to get it based on beer logo and name was backed up by (and reinforced by) the fact that its brewed by Equilibrium Brewery and J. Wakefield Brewing. Two fantastic, amazing breweries. Two top notch breweries. Breweries that are often discussed as elite, or great, or top tier, or fantastic, or wonderful, or amazing; in the same vein as Trillium, Tree House, Hill Farmstead, Dewey, Other half, Monkish, Great Notion, 450 North… etc…. etc…. etc…. etc. Yea, I could go on and on with a list of amazing breweries. But no matter how big my list, no matter how many I list, both Equilibrium Brewery and J. Wakefield Brewing deserve to be on that list.

Lone Starr: But Yogurt, what is this place? What is it that you do here?
Yogurt: Merchandising.
Barf: Merchandising? What’s that?
Yogurt: Merchandising! Come, I’ll show you. [to the Dinks] Open up this door. [Yogurt walks over to a wall filled with Spaceballs merchandise.]
Yogurt: Heh-heh. Come! We put the picture’s name on everything! [everyone is staring in amazement]
Yogurt: Merchandising! Merchandising! Where the real money from the movie is made. Spaceballs: the T-shirt, Spaceballs: the Coloring Book, [holds up a Transformers comic book] Spaceballs: the Lunchbox, Spaceballs: the Breakfast Cereal! Spaceballs: the Flame Thrower! [fires a blast from flame thrower]
Dinks: Ooohh!
Yogurt: The kids love this one. And last, but not least, Spaceballs: the Doll; Me. [Yogurt pulls the doll’s string]
Yogurt Doll: May the Schwartz be with you!
Yogurt: [kisses the doll] Adorable.
Space Balls (1987, Mel Brooks)

It is extremely hard to find someone who doesn’t like Mel Brooks, and it is even harder to find someone who doesn’t like Space Balls. I’m convinced these people don’t exist. Because I have yet to meet them. I’ve heard anecdotal evidence that they exist, but I’ve yet to see, hear, or talk to them. And even then, I’d question if their just pulling a prank on me or not.

Lone Starr: I wonder, will we ever see each other again?
Yogurt: Who knows? God willing, we’ll all meet again in Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money.

Since I could sit here all day quoting Space Balls and posting gifs of it… and sniffing this fantastic beer…. lets stop doing those things… and actually review it! Otherwise I’ll just get drunk and will end up finding myself re-watching Space Balls over and over and over and forget all about this blog.

Moon of Vega by Equilibrium Brewery and J. Wakefield Brewing as a collaboration.

Beer: Moon of Vega
Brewery: Equilibrium Brewery
Collaborator: J. Wakefield Brewing
Style: IPA – Imperial / Double
ABV: 8.7%
IBU: None Listed
Untappd Write-Up: J wakefield collaboration lactose & vanilla deliciousness

Lets start off discussing how this beer has aged a bit. My first time drinking it (top picture of this blog post) was just a mere two days after it was canned and released. Had it at my friend D. Scott’s house as we (D. Scott, Esty, and myself) did the podcast for El Camino and Breaking Bad. (I linked it in a previous blog post, but I will do so again here.) My second time having it, was today. (Still have one can left too.) I will say taste has changed a bit, appearance slightly, but mostly just taste has changed. Aroma has stayed consistent.

So with that said, the appearance originally was a more glowing orange, where as the more recent is a yellowing orange with a bit more cloudyness to it. There was definite haze both times, but I think there was a bit more cloudyness, a bit more dank, a bit more haze, the second time I drank this. Granted, there is a month and roughly a week, separating the two dates of drinking, and this being an IPA, its going to show some obvious change. Though, this doesn’t seem to have changed that much, with little depreciation from the first time to this second time. Both times it had a fine ‘helmet’ … I mean head… and retention was great, with good lacing.

Aroma is interesting for this. Its kind of a vanilla hop bomb of aromatic notes. Very heavy vanilla and very heavy citrus and fruit hop notes. A lot of mango, peach, and some citrusy hop notes to blend with the vanilla. Like the vanilla goes up one nostril and the hops go up the other and twist and combine in your brain somewhere. Probably back behind the cerebellum or something. (I dunno, one of you more learned people could explain this better to me.) Both the appearance and the aroma screams ‘milkshake IPA’ despite its not being labeled as such.

Ok, lets drink this…. chug it perhaps?

Naw…. lets sip this and enjoy it! Because this is extremely tasty, extremely fun, and extremely drinkable 8.7% beer that will get us walloped quickly if we’re not careful with it. It’ll have us going….

….from drinking…. to light speed….. to ridiculous speed….. to ludicrous speed….. all the way to PLAID!

Ok, ok, before I make a….

….hole of myself…. I need to stop spamming you all with GIFs and continue with the actual review.

Taste…. that’s where we are. Ok, simply put, this is a delicious beer. When I first drank it back on October 18th, it was very green. The hops over powered the vanilla and lactose and it went from being more of a Milkshake IPA to more of a very heavy hoppy New England IPA. It wasn’t bad then, and its not bad now either. But now, it comes off more as a Milkshake IPA with the vanilla and lactose being more abundant, more upfront, more powerful, and the hops becoming more muted, more subtle, and less pungent (not in a negative way then or now). THEN – it tasted more bitter, more hop forward, with a very heavy dose of mango, peach, and some pineapple, with the vanilla and lactose smoothing it out as you drank. NOW – it drinks a lot more vanilla and lactose heavy, smoothie like, milkshake like, with no pineapple flavor, but a strong mango flavor to coincide with the vanilla and lactose, with some peach peaking out around the edges of it all. All around this is a fantastic Double IPA. The 8.7% will hit you, but it starts out subtle and picks up speed and then packs its punch in at the end after you drank the last sip, making sure every last drop falls out of the glass (or can) into your open mouth; even hungrily eating up the sediment. (Yes, I know you do that!)

My Untappd Rating: ****.25
Global Untappd Rating: 4.25 (as of 11.26.19)

Just like with my last review – Paradise Lost – I’m drinking (most likely) my next beer review on here: Heist Brewery’s Citraquench’l. While writing the ‘Gotta Get up to Get Down‘ review, I drank the Paradise Lost. And when I was drinking ‘Gotta Get up to Get Down‘ I was reviewing Newfangled Pils (by Newfangled Brew Works).

So, as I was saying before, when I first had this beer, as evidenced by the first picture of the blog (with Esty in the background), me, Esty, and D. Scott were doing our podcast for “WTF Was I Watching: El Camino and Breaking Bad”. It was a two part series (because we ended up talking for 4 hours just about, and even after editing it comes out to be about 3 hours in total). In the next two weeks we’ll be meeting up together again to review ‘The Irishman’ by Martin Scorsese – a movie I am super hyped to see. Even more hyped than Star Wars; so you know thats saying something.

WTF Did I Just Watch Podcast

You can find the two parts of the Breaking Bad and El Camino (and some Better Call Saul) podcasts here:

* WTF Did I Just Watch: El Camino, Breaking Bad – Part One
* WTF Did I Just Watch: El Camino, Breaking Bad – Part Two

The full listing for podcasts for ‘So a Mexican and a Scot Walk into a Bar…’ staring the ‘WTF Did I Just Watch” podcasts can be found here on BuzzSprout:

* So a Mexican and a Scot Walk into a Bar

The podcast is a collaborative effort of D. Scott, D. Arndt, Esty, and myself. With future guest appearances by many people. Probably too many people to even list here, and too big of a random cast list to even have a clue of who all will appear to even put here. There is some language that might be ‘R rated’ and some themes that would also fit into that mold, so just be awares.

(NOTE: We do discuss beers when I am on, otherwise its just the movie and some fun and humor bits otherwise. On the Breaking Bad / El Camino episode, we discussed the Moon of Vega beer as well as Boneshire Brew Works’ Tried and True.)

I know this was certainly a much different beer review, with a lot of gifs and what not, but I thought with the Space Balls themed beer, I’d make it a lot more light hearted, and fun, and introduce some great quotes and gifs from Space Balls. If you would like to read up more on Space Balls you can read here:
* Space Balls
* Space Balls Quotes

If you would like to read some of our more serious beer reviews here on The Beer Thrillers, I highly recommend the following:

We are currently running a POLL on Twitter, to try and find out you – the readers – thoughts and opinions and what you would like to see more of going forward. A direct link can be found here: https://twitter.com/thebeerthriller/status/1199305924000780293.

Stay tuned, as that poll ends at 8AM. I am most likely going to be re-posting the POLL but making it last longer than 24HR, probably have it last til Saturday, so plenty of people will get to see it and vote in it. I’m just learning how to do various functions on Twitter, so look for more in the future.

As always, make sure to like, subscribe, follow, and comment. It really means a lot to us. We have a lot of exciting stuff coming out. Like our brewery and behind the scenes visit of Mellow Mink coming up, some guest writers from different parts of the country promoting their local scenes, namely Let Us Drink Beer ; their most recent beer blog is a beer review of Akademia Skal Norwegian Wheat Ale. So I am definitely looking forward to their guest writing for us, and I will be doing a blog or two for them as well. So certainly be on the look out for all of that. We are also looking to do some guest writing for a Japanese beer blog and them helping us as well. So, like I said, lots of fun, cool, and interesting things coming out soon. So make sure you are here to check it all out!

And as President Skroob would say:

-B. Kline

Moon of Vega (by Equilibrium Brewery and J. Wakefield Brewing)

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Beer Review: Moon of Vega (Equilibrium Brewery)