Blue Milk - The Beer Thrillers

Halloween Candy and Beer Pairings

AmyMWolfe — Thu, 02 Nov 2023 01:45:08 +0000

Leftover Halloween Candy

We all know we have leftover Halloween candy. Either from buying too much to give away, or from your kids going out and getting it (and you ‘trick or treating’ yourself using their bags while their asleep). Or just using your 11-month old dressed up as an Ewok to get candy that she can’t even eat yet….

….not naming names…

But so, we all have leftover Halloween candy. So lets have some fun and pair it up with some beer!

Amy is here with a mid week hump day column, to give you some beer and candy pairing advice.

Halloween Candy

Admittedly I drink lots of beer and admittedly I have a sweet tooth. Absolutely a beer pairing with the Halloween candy is in order. I mean, how many pieces of Halloween candy have you gotten into? Pair it with a beer and let’s enjoy the mixed flavors

So what candy do you have left?

Candy and Beer Pairings

Let’s break it down by styles and what can pair up with each style.

Stout or Porter

King Crunch by Manayunk Brewing Company

Stout or Porter – Pair it with the peanut butter cups! I’m going to start here because my favorite are the Reese’s peanut butter cups. Pairing the creamy peanut butter cup with a dark and rich stout or Porter takes you on a flavor rich joyride.

(See Beer Review: King Crunch by Manayunk Brewing Company.)

Hefeweizen

Hawley Hefeweizen by Wallenpaupack Brewing Company

Hefeweizen – Pair it with the Twix or anything caramel. Something about the breadiness of a hefe and the taste of the shortbread and the caramel. I thought it was still there with most other caramel candies too.

(See Beer Review: Hawley Hefeweizen by Wallenpaupack Brewing Company.)

Sour

RAR Brewing – Out of Order: Blue Milk

Sour – Pair it with the Hot Tamales! They still make those, right? Or an Atomic Fireball. The sweet and sour from the beer. Anything spicy pairs perfectly with a good sour beer.

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

Pilsner

Pulisic Pilsner by Jackass Brewing Company

Pilsner – Pair it with the red licorice or anything similar to twizzlers. Ok don’t laugh but use the twizzler like a straw. I know, I know, don’t roll your eyes at me. Try it! That sweet biscuit-like taste of a pilsner meshes perfectly with the sweetness of red or cherry licorice.

(See Beer Review: Pulisic Pilsner by Jackass Brewing Company.)

Brown Ale

Fing-Longer by Turning Point Beer

Brown Ale – Pair it with the snickers or anything that has both a sweet and a salty. The depth of flavor in a brown ale pairs perfectly with the sweet and salty fight going on in your mouth!

(See Beer Review: Fing-longer by Turning Point Beer.)

Cream Ale

The White Russian (forefront) by Jailbreak Brewing Company

Cream Ale – Ok, hear me out; pair it with Candy Corn. You need a refreshing cream ale to wash down all the sugar from the candy corn. I mean, who really eats candy corn?

Whats Your Favorite Candy?

Whats everyone’s favorite candy? Mine is Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (…just in case you need to dispose of any, you know where to send it). Ben loves Kit-Kats and Twix. What is your favorite? Let me know in the comments!

What have you found to be the best beer and candy pairings? Let me know in the comments as well! Can’t wait to hear from ya’ll!

Drink More Beer!
Amy

Amy’s Column Series

Since getting back to writing for the blog after a short hiatus, Amy has started up a weekly column style writing for the blog. You can find these articles here:

(And please take a moment to fill out Amy’s survey on her ‘Holiday Weekend and Bomber Bottles‘ column.)

Thank You For Reading

If you like this article, please check out our other many articles, including news, beer reviews, travelogues, maps, and much much more. We greatly appreciate everyone visiting the site!

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RAR Star Wars Can Drop (2023)

B. Kline — Wed, 03 May 2023 23:50:00 +0000

RAR Star Wars Can Drop – May The Fourth Be With You – 2023

May the Fourth Be With You

Its that time of year again – when all the Star Wars nerds and geeks can come out and celebrate. Its also the time when certain breweries are known for their Star Wars themed beer releases.

RAR Brewing is notable for their ‘Out of Order’ series and their yearly Star Wars can drop.

(See 2022’s RAR Brewing’s Star Wars Can Drop.)

RAR Brewing waited a bit on their announcement, only announcing the five beers that would make up their Star Wars drop this year a little bit ago (6:54 PM EST on Facebook). In past year’s they announced it early in the week and did the drop on a Saturday. This year the drop is on May the Fourth – Thursday. (ie. Tomorrow.)

RAR’s Star Wars Can Drop

RAR Brewing’s Star Wars Drop

So tomorrow is Thursday, May 4th, 2023, and that means its “May the Fourth be With You” day. Or “Star Wars Day”. RAR Brewing in the past has done their Star Wars themed Out of Order series drop on the Saturday closest to it, but this year they are doing their drop and release right on May 4th.

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:

RAR Brewing’s Facebook announcement of their drop tomorrow:

FIVE NEW OOO’s AVAILABLE TOMORROW AT 11AM May The Fourth

“SITH SAUCE”

– Our lactose-infused sour base conditioned over Raspberry Puree, Strawberry Puree, and Sweet Cherries. We then blended the finished product with our House Pastry Cream.

“GOING SOMEWHERE, SOLO?”

– Our lactose-infused sour base conditioned over Double-Banana Puree, Lime Juice, and a Hint of Fresh Mint.

“BLUE MILK”

– Our lactose-infused sour base conditioned over Bantha Milk.

“DROID JUICE”

– Our lactose-infused sour base conditioned over Strawberry Puree, Guava Puree, Loads of Cake Batter, and Fresh Hydro-Glycolic Fuel straight out of a Droid.

“WHO’S SCRUFFY LOOKING?”

– Our lactose-infused sour base conditioned over Black Cherry Puree, Strawberry Puree, Bing Cherry Puree, Graham Crackers, and Vanilla Ice Cream.

Local release begins tomorrow, May the 4th at RaR. Outside distribution will begin now, and over the coming weeks to these areas:

– Delaware

– Montgomery County, Maryland

– Arizona

– California

– Las Vegas, Nevada

– Ohio

– Georgia

– New York

– Wisconsin

– Coastal North Carolina

– Oregon

– Washington State

United Kingdom jumped on this release as well if you’re across the pond. For those of you enjoying the availability on Tavour you’ll get some of the goods like always. We offer these up in advance to our distribution partners, and it’s first come first served just like retail sales. Beyond that we have little control over where these products land once they leave our warehouse. Just wanted to clarify that to avoid any further confusion or ill will.

Mood Mats $40/ea (huge at 17”) will be available and limited to (3) per person. Glassware $12/ea are the same at (3) pp. Allotments are looking really solid as of this evening. Lots of product for walk-ups. We’ll update tomorrow morning as things progress!

RAR Brewing – Facebook Post

RAR Brewing’s 2022 Star Wars Drop

(Read more here – RAR Brewing’s Star Wars Can Drop this Saturday.)

Last year’s can drop:

Out of Order: Blue Milk
Out of Order: Green Milk
Out of Order: As You Wish
Out of Order: Shooting Womp Rats

RAR Brewing’s 2021 Star Wars Drop

Two years ago the Star Wars (Out of Order) series drop included:

RAR Brewing

RAR Brewing is out of Cambridge Maryland. Down at the very bottom of Maryland (well, now VERY VERY bottom, but near the bottom, especially if you’re like me and traveling from Harrisburg). (Google Maps says its currently a 2 hour and 57 minute drive from my house.)

You can find out more about RAR Brewing and the drop at their Instagram page: RAR Brewing (Instagram) and their Facebook page: RAR Brewing (Facebook).

The following comes from Untappd. RAR Brewing is a micro brewery from Cambridge, MD. They have 734 unique beers, and over 450,000 ratings, with a global average rating of 4.00 (as of 5.4.23). Their Untappd description reads: “Based in Cambridge, MD on the banks of the Chesapeake Bay.”

You can find them on the following social media:

Our articles about RAR Brewing:

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

Thank you everyone for checking this out. Tomorrow being May the Fourth / Star Wars day, I will do my annual “May the Fourth Be With You” post. I’ll be highlighting the different breweries doing special can drops (there is some real notables this year – like Second Sin Brewing, J Wakefield Brewing, RAR Brewing, Bottle Logic Brewing, etc.), as well as highlighting our past beer reviews and such.

So be sure to check that out.

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

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

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

So what all are you getting into?

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

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

We are totally psyched and cannot wait.

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

Cheers All!

-B. Kline

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

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.

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

BKline — Thu, 06 Jan 2022 03:52:14 +0000

Out of Order: Tatooine Tart (by RAR Brewing) – Part of their Star Wars Out of Order Series.

Out of Order – Star Wars Series

While, this might not be as popular as RAR Brewing’s Out of Order Blue Milk, this was still a very good beer. That has become one of the most popular beer reviews I’ve done here on the blog. They initially released it as a solo beer release, and then included it again in their Star Wars series of Out of Order beers. (Don’t worry, I’ll be doing all of the Star Wars series as reviews here.)

The others in the RAR Out of Order Star Wars drop include: Blue Milk, Tatooine Tart (both mentioned here), Green Milk, Droid Juice, Yub Yub, RarwgWawggr, and Dark Side. The drop was a big deal and event at RAR Brewing back over the summer when they did it. I made sure to get my hands on the full drop (had a proxy there to get me the beers). Glad to be now getting to drink through the series.

The Book of Boba Fett

I’ll cover this more later, but as I did with last week, I’ll be releasing a weekly Star Wars themed beer review every Wednesday to coincide with the release of a new episode of ‘The Book of Boba Fett’. Last week I traveled to New Jersey to go to Bolero Snort Brewery to pick up a crowler of BoBull Fett just to review for the premier. You can read the review here: Beer Review: BoBull Fett (Bolery Snort Brewery).

I’ve already watched episode two this morning (just finished it actually), and so will give my thoughts on it at the end of the beer review. In the meantime, you can check out this interesting YouTube video by the Templin Institute:

Make sure you come back to the blog (of course!) after watching it.

Now… onto the beer review!

Beer Review

Out of Order: Tatooine Tart by RAR Brewing

Beer: Out of Order: Tatooine Tart
Brewery: RAR Brewing
Style: Sour – Fruited
ABV: 6%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Our lactose sour base conditioned on Passionfruit, Limes, Simple Syrup, and a splash of our House Pastry Cream.

RAR Brewing is a brewery out of Cambridge Maryland, which I got to visit late last year. (Check out my travelogues through Maryland to read all about it.) It is a very hipster vibing place, very cool, sleek, and I absolutely loved it. There’s a Fett on the wall that looks spray painted (made to look that way), and several other nerdy nods. The laboratory add on is really neat and a great taproom sitting area. According to Untappd they are a micro brewery, with 630 unique beers and 403 thousand ratings. They have a global average rating of exactly 4 bottle caps as of 1.5.22. Their Untappd description reads: Based in Cambridge, MD on the banks of the Chesapeake Bay.

Cracking this one has a wonderfully sweet aroma, a nectar like sweetness to it. It smells sweet, like a juicy syrupy sweetness, almost perfume like in a way. Sniffing close hand in the glass I get hints of the passionfruit and the limes like the description says, with kind of a soft vanilla to it.

Appearance is very mellow juicy overlook to it. It looks like a more darker, moodier version of pineapple juice. Like a darker, not quite cloudy, but heavier looking fruit juice – some kind of organic juice (maybe like a pineapple or passionfruit looking dark juice). It definitely gives off ‘sweet’ vibes from the look of it.

This is a very sweet, juicy beer. There’s a slight tartness to it, but its so remote that I feel like its barely perceptible and its probably more a case of a ‘mileage may vary’ type of thing. It is a syrupy juicy. Borderlining too sweet, but not out of the realm of being completely too sweet (and definitely not near ‘undrinkably too sweet’). I get strong notes of passionfruit, a citrusy lime or zest, a syrupy juice, and a creamy, vanilla, undercurrent to it. It has a bit of a bite at the end, with just a hint of tart at the beginning, and mostly a very juicy middle, with each sip. It kind of rolls with your tongue on a sweet and then hits you with a bit of a sucker punch of sour / tart / pucker. I can see this possibly being ‘too sweet’ from some, especially those who might be hoping for or expecting some sour or puckering tartness, which they might feel is underwhelmed with this, but I think that sample size will be smaller. I think the Out of Order series is a bit of a niche market, and not true or genuine of beer consumption or drinkers overall. Its a bit of following the hype machine to some extent, but not 100%. There is definitely some leaning on the market and branding and cache of the namesake and series (ie. going from a Sandlot Out of Order series to a Star Wars Out of Order series to a Halloween Villains Out of Order series to a Christmas Movie Out of Order series, etc). There is some good flavors to this, and in comparison to the Out of Order Blue Milk, this is far more of a normal beer, but still pretty far from ‘normal beer’ if that makes any sense. You get some distinct flavors here, but they also tend to blur and blend together and make for a melting pot of flavors as well. Out of the two Out of Order beers so far, I want to say I like the Blue Milk one more, maybe more for novelty’s sake, but also more for distinctiveness too. This blends a bit too much with other similar beers to be somewhat completely distinguishable other than being able to say ‘it was tasty’ and ‘a good beer of its style’. Which it is all of that. There is nothing wrong with this beer, nothing is made off flavored, and no bad aftertaste, and nothing is wrong in its production or craft either. So in those aspects its what you want out of it. I certainly enjoyed this and it made for a great sipper while watching the second episode of The Book of Boba Fett.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Average Untappd Rating: 4.16 (as of 1.5.22)

Posting This Article

So… I woke up today at 4AM to be able to watch the episode and do this article. I wanted to write up most of it the night before, but went to Tattered Flag, had a few, and got home super late, and a bit too tired to write. So I woke up early to tackle it. Got to watching the new episode as I started working on this, and couldn’t finish in time before heading to work. I clocked out of work at 6PM, and was hoping to go home and get to finish this before 8PM and upload it… but my mom asked me to meet her at Rubber Soul, since my dad had a meeting. So who was I to say no to my mom? So, I met my mom at Rubber Soul, had dinner, and a few drinks, and then walked home (won’t lie… it was a bit chilly for a walk home tonight), and only at 8:45PM when I got home, did I get to start to finish this. (Well, I got home at 8:45… but then I had to clean up after my dog, who decided she would “go” in the kitchen while I was gone…. *shakes his fist at Leela*…).

But anyway, here I am getting to finish this up. Been a long day, and nearing 10PM, but its getting done. Hopefully next week’s article will be done before I go to work so I can upload it early.

The Book of Boba Fett – Episode Two

So, if you don’t want to read any spoilers for Episode 2 (and Episode 1 if you haven’t watched that), skip down a few sections. Because here I am going to give my thoughts on Episode Two – and by extension my thoughts on the show so far. I had actually written this all up this morning after watching the episode, and which is primarily why I didn’t get this article done until now. So, without further adieu, here’s my thoughts.

The Book of Boba Fett – Episode Two – The Tribes of Tatooine

Boba Fett

Is your typical “train the village” episode (in the flashbacks). The idea of “a little of the present” with a lot of the past (via dream/flashback) to show how he went from “Fett” to “New Fett” is an interesting storytelling model for Star Wars – albeit cliche in regular storytelling. I’m not so sure it works here with Star Wars/Fett/this story though. Mainly because their doing it with a character that people didn’t really want to see change. I might be speaking for too general a base here, but I feel like, most Star Wars fans wanted to see Fett be Fett. The old Legends Fett while not perfect, at least was still a Bounty Hunter, was what we saw on screen… didn’t take a complete 180 and went in a different direction of his character.

They even end it with a peyote / spiritual quest style ending.

I enjoyed the episode for what it was… and what they were going for. But… I dunno, I just don’t ‘want’ it. I guess is the best explanation for what I can give to this. We’ve seen a “train the villagers” episode in Mandalorian, we’ve seen it (a few times I think) in the Clone Wars show, we’ve seen it done on Rebels…. and… so this makes it roughly the 4th or so time its been done in Star Wars. The Ewoks/Rebels were kind of a shortened version of it too, to some degree. Its a trope, and a Star Wars/Western trope, thats becoming quite overused I think.

And I get that its integral to Boba Fett’s character, and his transformation from Bounty Hunter to Survived Man, to Respectful leader….

…but again, for lack of better explanation…. its just something I don’t want, and thats why I don’t like or care for it/about it.

When I think of Fett’s character, I don’t want to think of “Most Feared Bounty Hunter” “nearly dies stupidly” “resurrects himself as the Outsider coming in, and revamping the Natives and becoming Respectful Leader” type…..

Maybe that’s me? Maybe others will enjoy this ride. I hope they do, and I’m certainly going to finish out the show (there’s 5 more episodes). But so far, its not my cup of tea.

I also don’t feel like the writers/creators quite get logistics of things. Like how a planet with two suns and all desert, would be, ecologically, at night, at full day, etc. The things Fett survives through in Episode 1 is pretty…. uhh, lets just call them miraculous, and the way they depict people traversing the ground no problems, or walking through sandstorms, or just being outside in the desert at night (which would become absolutely freezing, especially on a twin sun planet that shows no moon and both suns are set)….. all of this just really makes me feel like they are going 100% for storytelling over logistics, rationality, etc.

Getting to the present day stuff…. I did ‘mark out’ / ‘geek out’, etc, over the Hutts appearing, and thought that was pretty cool. I wanted a lot more of the present day stuff in this episode (whereas last week, I thought the present day was a lot more weaker). Fett still comes off as comically naieve though in his interactions with EVERYONE. From the Hutts, to the Twi’lek bar owner, to the Mayor, to the Ninja himself, etc. The opening scene in Jabba’s Palace was also predictable and borderline ‘fan fiction’ level writing. “We want to show the Ninjas as being crazy, but … we still need him to give up the information…. so here we go”.

I am also seeing zero reason why Fett isn’t killed. Why isn’t the Mayor killing him? Or the Hutts? Or anybody else? Hes dispensable. Its not like he’s some kind of irreplaceable piece, or cog in a wheel. He has no real powerbase. All they show him to have is Fennec Shand, and two Gamorrean Guards, and 8D8 (the droid). So what retaliation happens from killing him? None it would seem. The Mayor could pinpoint kill the Ninja, why not have done that to Shand and the guards and attacked Fett? Why not have done all this in the street?

Which then begs the question, what was even the purpose of the street ambush last week? If it wasn’t just to further the plot along? We need Fett to come into contact with the Mayor in an adversarial way, here it is, and we need the Mayor to be the smaller fish to the bigger fish (ie. the Hutts). So lets do that. Fett gets ambushed, captures guy, guy gives intel, Fett goes to Mayor, Mayor gives intel on the bigger fish. Problem solved.

But none of that really makes sense. Especially given how easily Fett could be removed if they really wanted to. And they’ve shown us no reason why they SHOULDN’T do it.

Same as the past thing. The logistics of the train and everything makes no sense. So… they are bringing in Kessel Spice to Tatooine via the Syndicate. The Syndicate lands somewhere in Mos Eisley, Mos Espa, Anchorhead, wherever. And are train hovering it to somewhere else… most likely Jabba’s Palace for Bib Fortuna whose attempting to run Jabba’s old empire.

Why? Why do it in such a circuitousness way? And why provoke Natives just out there? For the * and giggles of it? Which also brings up the Biker Gang bit. So Fett attacks a Biker Gang that just happens to be in the area being all “Biker Gang from the 80s Cop Shows” and attacking local citizens, and Fett waltzes in, kills them/injures them, and steals their bikes, just to bring down this train.

If the train could be taken down this easily…. why was the Syndicate using it this way? There had to be a better way for them to do what they did.

I really did want to enjoy this episode, and what they are trying for this show, and I’ve loved Fett’s character in the past (…which might be the bigger problem here). But…. how they are doing it, and the logistics and rationality of what they are trying to do…. seems almost Sequel Trilogy level of poor planning, or skimming the surface level of storytelling.

As if they said to themselves:

We want to make a show about X (in this case – Criminal Underworld in Star Wars)
We want to use a main character people are riveted about
We want to use Boba Fett because we have been off/on planning on using him since we bought the property
We need to set it in a way that all people will be familiar with it (ie. set it on Tatooine, set it with Jabba’s Palace, use Boba Fett)
Lets combine all the above into one thing – so we’ll take the character (Fett) and making him a Godfather esque criminal lord (not quite a 1 for 1 apt analogy though), and do it based on his surviving the Sarlaac and doing it on Tatooine

Boom, thats what we got here. It feels surface level storytelling. Like their just not thinking everything out. Why wouldn’t character X do this? Why would Character Y do that? Why don’t they just do -this-? Why aren’t they just doing -that-? Etc.

I feel like I’m kicking it too hard here, because it looks like a lot of people love it, and enjoying it. And I do find it somewhat bare bones enjoyable. But I feel like there’s just no depth, and no real understanding to the material underneath it. As much as we want it to be. As much as we say “their doing so much Star Wars world building”… it feels like their not REALLY doing that. Their doing ‘member berries’ type world building for our own head enjoyments. “Remember Max Rebo… here he is…. again in a new cantina!” That one person’s long winded post on the TFN Jedi council forums about world building and stuff… all feels superficial here, even moreso. “Omg, they kept the same architectural structures of Tatooine buildings”…… well yea…. of course they would. Why wouldn’t they? Thats not so much as paying attention to detail, as just being smart. I don’t buy that as huge world building. Having Max Rebo there is not world building either — he was afterall on the giant barge that just FREAKING BLEW UP — but it all feels surface level storytelling stuff. Like what they did with the sequel trilogy. And I think thats where my annoyance level is here.

At the end of this, we might look back and go “this is similar to the ST” where it started off decently well, and they did some things like “remember that one guy…” but at the end of it, the pieces just don’t line up. That was part of my issue with Episode 1 of this… it felt not like a fluid, congruent thing, it felt like little veneer cracks, and things just didn’t align up, like pieces didn’t fully form together or fit. Like a puzzle where you purposefully manipulate the pieces to fit together rather than how their supposed to.

Ehh….. I’ll stop rambling here.

Whew…. that was long winded, and probably longer than the actual beer review, and completely altered and changed this entire article, hahaha. (I think I was under compliance for the grammar, SEO, and other algorithm things, until I posted that whole block in here).

Let me know what your thoughts are in the comments section, would love to hear what everyone else thinks of the show so far. Am I over analyzing it? Am I being too critical? Am I not being a fanboy enough? Let me know what you think!

Some Discussion Forums

For some more discussion on The Book of Boba Fett, you can read these discussion forums:

More Star Wars Fun

Well, just had a delivery van drop off my Lego.com order. On January 1st, they dropped several new Star Wars sets, (amongst lots of other new sets), and several were Hoth themed sets. So I picked up the Hoth AT-ST (Blizzard Scout 1) and the Hoth Battle Pack. Super excited to put these together in the near future!

For More Reading

If you are interested in our other nerdy, pop culture, and branded beer reviews, you can check out the following:

Star Wars:

Rick and Morty:

Beer Review: Peace Among Worlds (Cushwa Brewing Company)

Space Balls:

Beer Review: Moon of Vega (Equilibrium Brewery)

Game of Thrones:

Beer Review: Game of Thrones: My Watch Has Ended (Omnegang Brewery)

The Simpsons:

Back to the Future:

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

Scrooged:

Beer Review: Scrooge IPA (Iron Hill Brewing)

A Christmas Story:

Pro Wrestling:

Matrix:

Matrix Monday

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:

Beer Review: Terpenes in Time (BAREBottle Brewing Co)

Seinfeld:

Other:

Thanks for Reading

If you like Star Wars and like our Star Wars themed beers, be sure to check out every Wednesday while The Book of Boba Fett is airing, as I will do a new Star Wars themed beer each week!

Thanks for reading, and cheers everyone!

-B. Kline

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

Beer Review: Up The Creek Extreme Ale (Thomas Creek Brewery)

BKline — Sun, 11 Oct 2020 02:32:26 +0000

Thomas Creek’s Up The Creek Extreme Ale

I always enjoy getting to review (and obviously drink) beers from out of state, ones that I most likely wouldn’t come in contact with. Don’t get me wrong, I love drinking and reviewing local beers and getting them some publicity, and I also love traveling and visiting breweries (just yesterday I was in Wellsboro Pennsylvania, visited the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon, and visited the restaurant and brewery – The Wellsboro House), but its also nice getting beers to review, from family, co-workers, and friends. (Hint…. hint…. for any friends, family, etc reading this…. )

A co-worker, Jam, was coming back from South Carolina, and he stopped at a bottle / can shop and grabbed a few beers for me and other co-workers. From Jam, I received a bottle of ‘Up The Creek Extreme Ale’, a can of Sidestepper (Charles Town Fermentary), a can of Pixels (Seminar Brewing), and a can of of a Red Ale / IPA by a collaboration with a radio station (the name eludes me and I left it in my friend’s fridge; but it had a tiger on it, thus why Jam got it for me due to me liking the Bengals). So this is the first of the South Carolina series of brews I’ll be reviewing. (I’ll be doing Sidestepper soon, because I just recently drank that; haven’t gotten to drink the others yet, will probably do the Pixels beer while streaming with D. Scott over at Knights of Nostalgia).

Quickly, before I go too much further, I want to throw a quick shout out to Josh; who is jumping back into the reviewing game (don’t call it a comeback son, he never left). He will have his first review since his Beer Review of Adroit Theory’s COLONIZATION back on November 11th, 2019. Stay tuned, I’m sure you won’t want to miss his newest beer review!

Also, in industry news, Howling Henry’s in Hummelstown just opened this week, as well as Rubber Soul, and Spigot Brewing in Ford City has announced they will be closing.

Now…. onto the review!

Up The Creek Extreme Ale (IPA) by Thomas Creek Brewery

Beer: Up The Creek Extreme Ale
Brewery: Thomas Creek Brewery
Style: IPA – Imperial / Double
ABV: 12.5%
IBU: 143
Untappd Description: Up The Creek is a hoppy behemoth of a beer with its 12.5% ABV well hidden under heavy layers of malt. The hops come through powerfully in the mouth, with rich roasted malt, sweet caramel, and a burst of vinous fruit. The finish is malty sweet and fruity, while the hops dissipate. Use caution or you’ll be Up The Creek!

Ok…. so firstly, let me just say, this is the highest IBU we’ve reviewed here on the blog. Probably by a pretty far margin. The highest IBU I’ve ever had, according to the Untappd records of beers I drank is – Gyroscopes and Infrared by Broken Goblet. It was 174 IBU. After that it was the Mean Manalishi Double IPA by Hoppin’ Frog Brewery, clocking in 168 IBU, and in third place is Mango Bomb by Pizza Boy – clocking in at 162 IBU. Up The Creek Extreme Ale is number 7 on my list (according to Untappd), and if you count home brews (at a home brew event I had one that would be number 5 on my list; called Idiot Parade by McCarthy Brewing.)

IBU is a term for IPAs that means: “International Bitterness Units are a chemical/instrumental measurement of the number of bittering compounds, specifically isomerized and oxidized alpha acids, polyphenols, and a few other select bittering chemicals, that make your beer taste bitter. (Last Call for IBUs: Fact, Fiction and What They Mean in Your Beer – May 3, 2017). Overall, its a term that’s not being used as much in the industry anymore, and many brewers aren’t even bothering with testing it or listing it when listing their beers on platforms like Untappd or Beer Advocate. But its still a valuable tool and measurement when it is listed, and I still like to keep track of it, and include it when doing the beer reviews here. Its just not the be – all – end – all it used to be in terms of understanding IPAs (especially since New England IPAs seem to be more mainstream now, actually, being made more than regular old school West Coast style IPAs).

This is an old fashioned high octane ‘pushing the envelope’ West Coast style IPA. Appearance and look for this is on the malty end of IPAs (West Coast IPAs). It has a brown / amber hue, slightly transparent, but mostly opaque. Malt colored and malt looking like a malt bomb through and through. Caramel colored. It has a very rich, frothy, foamy head to it, thick, creamy looking with lots of bubbles.

Aroma is caramel, sweet roasted malt, and then pungent face-punching, nose walloping, hop explosion (can’t even call it aroma, its about as subtle as a sledgehammer to the gonads). You get the idea that this is going to be bitter just by the hop nose to it, and the malt sweetness does nothing to cover it past that initial whiff of the malt.

This doesn’t quite live up to the description provided by Untappd. The Untappd description gives you the impression there’s a bit of hype to this, that there’s more complexity to this than there really is. It starts off with the barest of traces of sweet, or caramel, malt. And then takes a very heavy swan dive off the cliff into a sea of hops. A sea of bitterness, of super hop flavor, super hop bitterness, super hop everything. Overpoweringly so. Too much so. A blend and cornucopia of hops, that doesn’t let you really even distinguish and unique hop flavors or notes. Its just straight hop bitterness in such an overwhelming display of raw power and hop (bitterness) that it doesn’t leave you tasting much of anything else. The malt taste is so minuscule and minimal you don’t taste any of it as soon as you get your first taste of the hops. Unlike the description, the hops don’t really ‘dissipate’, they stay there, punching you like a… like a… like a hop drinking punching bag…. yea… like that! There is definitely no dissipation here. I also don’t really get any ‘fruity’ ending to this. Maybe subtle stone fruit notes… but I think its so awash from the hop bitterness that its too hard to tell, and its too hard to differentiate between hop notes and fruit (stone or otherwise) notes. I think its all just a blend, and whatever notes are supposed to be in there, are so overpowered by the hop bitterness, that its too impossible to tell or to be able to pull them out and take note of them or actually savor them. Now… all of this is to say its not a bad beer; its just not… a great beer. And particularly not my style as much anymore. I do like West Coast style IPAs, and the New England IPA craze hasn’t diminished that; its just… this is too much. Too bitter, too hoppy, not enough actual flavor to it, and too hard to differentiate and tell the various hop notes apart from each other. I’m sure theres lots of ‘ultra’ or ‘uber’ hop heads or hop nerds or beer nerds out there who will love this, and all the better for it and for them, this just isn’t particularly my favorite or something I would outright pursue again.

My Untappd Rating: ***.50
Global Untappd Rating: 3.60 (as of 10.10.20)

Be sure to check out some of our recent beer reviews:

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

Peace, cheers, and prost!

-B. Kline

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

BKline — Thu, 17 Sep 2020 02:13:00 +0000

Blue Milk (Out of Order variant) by RAR Brewing

What a better time to review this than after the release of The Mandalorian season two trailer. ….What…. you haven’t seen it yet? How can you be reading this if you haven’t seen the trailer for the second season of Mandalorian yet? Go here now… quickly! And then come back and check out this review. I mean, seriously, read my review… but also seriously… check that trailer out and tell me you aren’t hyped and pumped for season two. The Mandalorian Season Two Trailer.

This is my second Mandalorian themed beer review. Certainly not going to be my last I’m sure given the popularity of the show, and how craft breweries love using pop cultural references for can labels and beer names. You can read my review for This is The Way by Broken Goblet here. As many readers of the blog will have taken note by now, I am a big Star Wars fan, so any Star Wars themed beers I can find, I try my best to get my hands on them. Sometimes this is good… the beers are good …. sometimes this is bad… and the beers were bad and they used the name / label / reference as a means to sell their otherwise less than stellar beer. But thats a risk you have to take when trying beers by beer name / label rather than brewing company recognition or reviews or whatever. Its a risk I know going in and usually willing to take.

You can check out a few my other Star Wars (and one Space Balls) related beer reviews:

I was able to acquire this as a crowler in a trade. (Thats the only way RAR released this beer, was in crowler form, unlike their other Out of Order series of beers which they’ve done in 4pks – to the best of my knowledge). The second hand market on this beer was getting a bit ridiculous (had a guy offer to sell it to me for 48$ plus I pay the shipping for him to send it from VA to PA), so I was happy to find a decent trader on it.

Time to break down this crazy looking beer.

Blue Milk

Beer: Out of Order: Blue Milk
Brewery: RAR Brewing
Style: Sour – Fruited
ABV: 5.6%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Made in collaboration with Brad at Cold Stream Studios and Main Street Gallery, “Blue Milk” is made with milk from a Bantha, but also tastes like a blue raspberry float.

At least it’s from a Bantha and not that creature Luke drank from in The Last Jedi…

Luke and the Thala

Apparently its called a Thala… and Luke finds it delicious….

The best green milk Luke has ever drank.

Personally, I’d stick with the blue milk he had in A New Hope….

Blue milk from A New Hope

OR…. better yet…. I’d just try this beer here from RAR Brewing…. (Ahh…. such a good segue huh?)

Let’s start with the appearance… this is a beautiful light creamy looking blue. Like a hazy cloudy sunny day blue. Or if you had fruit loops or some other fruity sugary cereal and ate all the cereal, this is what your milk would look like afterwards. It has a creamy, almost like melted ice cream look and texture to it.

Aroma is interesting, it has a vanilla heavy smell, but you get a raspberry and berry heavy nose too. Kind of has the smell of melted soft serve ice cream that used the raspberry flavoring.

The texture, consistency, and overall look follows suit. It has the texture, a light grittyness, but still overall smooth of a drink still, of melted ice cream. Everything about this just has the appearance of melted ice cream, which I think is the overall attempt of it. Its like many of the sour fruited slushee like beers, but a bit smoother, more silkier, but still has some of that gritty texture to it. This has the taste of those yogurt drops, I remember my daughters loved them when they were babies, their small, almost Hershey kiss shaped drops of yogurt, smooth, fruited, and easy to digest for babies. This is similar in flavor to a raspberry one of those. If you had a berry, fruity bowl of raspberry (primarily raspberry) fruited flavored cereal, this is the milk from after you ate the cereal. This isn’t quite as powerful raspberry, its subdued, possibly the result of being “blue raspberry” versus whatever regular raspberries are called I guess. Not quite sure what the differences are between the two (if there is such a thing). This reminds me of sitting down to watch Saturday morning cartoons and draining the bowl of milk afterwards (though for me it was that bad lactaid free milk). Memberries and nostalgia galore here with this beer! I do like this beer overall. I think some might be put off by the color, the texture, even possibly the scent, and appearance, but overall I like it, and I enjoyed it. I think 48$+ is ridiculous for it, and the second hand market on this is driven by the label and logo (which I have noticed now, that some crowlers are coming without the label due to them running out). I think its worth the attempt to find and try if you are able to, especially if you are able to cheaply, but I wouldn’t go crazy searching for it at some of those second market prices.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 4.37 (as of 9.16.20).

I have had a few other Out of Order (OOO or OoO or OO) variants from RAR Brewing. I like the series and I do like RAR Brewing overall. I previously here for the blog reviewed Jon Voight’s Car, make sure to check that out.

As always please like, subscribe, follow, and share. Love hearing from you guys the readers in the comments section as well. So be sure to let me know what your thoughts are on the beer, the label, the brewery, Star Wars in general, or anything else on your mind’s.

Thanks for reading and cheers!

-B. Kline

Innocent Baby Yoda

Blue Milk