All is not lost; the unconquerable will, And study of revenge, immortal hate, And courage never to submit or yield; (And what is else not to be overcome?) That glory never shall his wrath or might Extort from me, to bow and sue for grace With suppliant knee and deify his power, Who from the terror of his arm so late Doubted his empire[.] (I, 106–114)

– Satan
John Milton’s Paradise Lost

While writing the review for the ‘Gotta Get Up to Get Down’ WISEACRE Brewing Company‘s beer last night, I drank this up, quickly, easily, and very happily. Getting home from work, and writing up the review, and reading over AJ Brechbiel’s first entry with Default Brewing: Cheers from Default Brewing! I had my first can. Walked my dog Leela across town, and came back to watch the Survivor Series and the latest Rick and Morty episode, I had my second can of this. Wish I had an entire four pack, or six pack, or eight pack, or twelve hundred pack of this delicious, super tasty, super juicy, fantastic brewski.

The beer mail that contained Southern Prohibition’s Paradise Lost, as well as the several others that I’ve reviewed: Crosstown Brewing’s “Boat Drinks: Pina Colada“, WISEACRE’s “Adjective Animal” and “Gotta Get Up to Get Down“. (I didn’t show the duplicates in the picture.) And for reference point, that’s Leela providing protection for the beers in the background. (She is a border collie pure breed, rescued, and she is named after Turonga Leela from Futurama.)

So now, as I sit watching another Flyers game and also switching back and forth with the Monday Night Football game of Rams vs. Ravens (go Rams I guess…..) and even jumping to RAW occasionally, I’m sipping on another Southern Prohibition beer – CROWD CONTROL – a double IPA. The green can in the above picture.

“The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven..”

John Milton, Paradise Lost

For this review, I’m reviewing the Double Dry Hopped version of Paradise Lost. They have released cans of both the Doubled Dry Hopped and the regular version of Paradise Lost. The both have similar, but different can artwork.

Beer: Double Dry Hopped Paradise Lost
Brewery: Southern Prohibition Brewing
Style: IPA – American
ABV: 8.1%
IBU: None Listed
Untappd Write-Up: Like the title says, Paradise Lost that’s double double dry-hopped.

The Non-Double Dry Hopped Untappd Write-Up: Deep golden and opaque, Paradise Lost is our hoppiest beer to date. Massive tropical fruit and pine aromas escape the top of the glass thanks to the dose of Lupulin powder and a heavy handed double dry-hop. Clinging to the flaked oats like a life preserver, hop oils remain in suspension creating full flavors of peach, mango and pineapple. This is a beer celebrating our fondness of hops and how we utilize them, and like all IPAs it is meant to be drank fresh.

Fallen Cherub, to be weak is miserable, Doing or suffering: but of this be sure, To do augh good never will be our task; But ever to do ill our sole delight: As being contrary to his high will Whom we resist[.] (I, 157–162)

– Satan
-John Milton, Paradise Lost

Firstly, I could go all day quoting Paradise Lost, as its an incredibly easy book and piece of work to quote; plus its just a fantastic piece. So much so that many Christians believe much of whats written in it as Christian faith through and through. Similar to Dante’s Divine Comedy (aka Dante’s Inferno) where the imagery is so succinct, so profound, and so deep, that many Christians believe much of what Dante and Milton wrote are on the same level as The Bible itself.

But I’ll digress from Paradise Lost; the book and piece of fiction, and instead describe and review Paradise Lost – the beer, the fantastic, juicy, dank, tasty beer.

Appearance is very much keeping with the tradition of New England styled IPAs. Bright orangy glowing deep yellow to golden orange juice looking beer. Its hazy, its juicy, its dank looking. Its completely non-see-through-able. There is no sediment, and its probably filtered, but just the process makes it look so deep and dank and heavy. This is just one of those beers that looking at it you know its going to taste good.

Then you get to the aroma, and you are definitely sure its going to be good. It is just a straight up juicy punch of hops in your face. This is a very fruity, very juicy hopped up beer. All kinds of notes of peach, mango, pineapple, full on upfront assail and assault you. Then just to keep you on your toes, you get hit by some pine and zest with just a wee bit of earthy hop notes.

And finally, we get to drinking this beaut. And a beaut it is! Firstly its looked delicious, secondly its smelled delicious, and finally – well hot falling angel – it is delicious! There is a whole lotta flavor happening in this beautiful beer. A full glass of this bright orange juice will gift you with a whole lot of wonderful juicy, fruity, flavors. Peach, mango, pineapple attacking your tastebuds like a bunch of angels revolting. (See all of the allusions, and these great literary call-backs I’m doing? There’s some industry, zopes and tropes, and other crap I’m doing here, its like I’m trying to do something great and literary here…. something epic….. something so massive… that it would be like discussing Heaven, Hell, and the beginning of everything leading the end times…… Nawwwwwwww…… I’m just doing a silly beer review; disregard all of that.) Carrying on… this is a very delicious New England stylized IPA. Its very juicy, its very hoppy. You get lots of juice and dankness right up front, with the fruity hops taking the forefront, with the peach and mango in spades with some pineapple. This tails off into a little bit of bitter and interesting pine and earthy hop notes. Making for just a full well rounded, delicious IPA. The 8.1% ABV slowly creeps up on you and by the end of the 16 ounces it lets you know its there. (Just try drinking two of these with no food and having taken a dog for a walk; that 32 ounces of 8.1% ABV will really let themselves be known!)

My Untappd Rating: ****.25
Global Untappd Rating: (Regular Version) – 4.1 – (Double Dry Hopped Version) – 4.29 (as of 11.25.19)

“Better to reign in Hell, than to serve in Heaven.”
– Satan

― John Milton, Paradise Lost

The count down to the end of the month continues. Still going strong with the blog. And still going strong with my new beer a day. 25 days down, and 25+ new beers, and 25 blog posts done. 5 more to go. With one being Thanksgiving, and depending on any cool “Black Friday Stout” events I’m able to make it to on Friday, a possible special Friday event.

I’d like to try and get out to a new brewery before the month’s end. But with work, and the holiday, I’m not sure I’ll be able to. We’ll see though, and fingers crossed, hopefully I will.

For more great quotes from Paradise Lost you can check out the following sites:
* Good Reads – Paradise Lost Quotes
* SparkNotes – Satan’s Best Quotes from Paradise Lost
* Top 10 Favorite Quotes from Paradise Lost

Hopefully you all enjoyed this more literary bent beer review. I enjoyed writing it. I love getting to combine two of my great passions, reading and and books and beers. So finding a beer that is so literary bent on its own (well, on its namesake anyway) made for an easy choice to review. Now to find a beer named ‘Of Mice and Men’ or ‘Flowers for Algernon’ or perhaps a Star Wars themed ones…. or…. a Space Balls one….. like…. say the “Moon of Vega“. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge, hint, hint on a future beer review there….

Also, always on the lookout for beer or nerdy themed beers. So if you know of any, let us know in the comments. I’d love to see some different beers I haven’t had or heard of yet and to do beer reviews of them.

Hopefully you all liked the review, let us know in the comments, let us know on FaceBook or Twitter. Let us know by clicking the subscribe so you can read more reviews. Or let us know by clicking the like or rating this post. We, all of us here at The Beer Thrillers, appreciate all the feedback we can get. It’ll help us grow and get bigger and better, so please let us know!

Cheers and enjoy everyone!

-B. Kline

It has been a long and tiring day, so I’m sitting in bed, doing a fantasy draft, watching the Chappelle special, and drinking an entire 22oz bottle of barleywine by myself. Welcome to being 34!

This was part of the beer mail package, and being a huge barleywine fan, I figured I’d save it for my birthday and plow through it. So thats exactly what I’m doing. And damn is it good!

This is going to be a quicker, breezier blog, than the previous ones in recent history (like yesterday’s), mainly because I’m starting to get tired, its the long end of a birthday, and I figure it’d be nice to write a short, succinct beer review, rather than a long one dragging on about all kinds of other things.

Beer: Rye for an Eye
Brewery: Southern Prohibition Brewing
Style: Barleywine – American
ABV: 8.8%
IBU: No IBU
Untappd Write-Up:
Big rich malt flavors interwoven with a heft dose of spicy rye. Notes of caramel, fig, and spicy pumpernickel bread are balanced by a punch of Simcoe and Centennial hops. Finishes with a smooth malt goodness with a slight grapefruit and pine bite.

This is a wonderful barleywine. It poured beautifully brown and then filled in nicely and with a terrific head. The aroma is rye with notes of spices and smelled heavenly.

The flavor is right on for a barleywine. It is exactly a barleywine, and it feels heavy, boozy, and honestly feels and tastes like it should be a 10%+ minimum, but only clocks in at 8.8% which is shocking. Still a bit on the heavy side (especially solo’ing a 22oz) but its not as high as the taste would lead you to believe.

The flavor is very heavy spice, malt, rye (obvious by the name). There is a bit of a late punch by the hops that adds a nice flourishing touch.

Definitely worth seeking out from Mississippi for this gem!

My Untappd Rating: ****.25
Global Untappd Rating: 3.86 (as of 8.27.19)

Keep on sippin sumpin!

-B. Kline

Coming off the heels of the Lancaster Craft Beerfest I’m back and I think my liver has regenerated enough to begin some more beer reviews. (And slowly push and make a dent into the beer events, brewery activities, and hop harvests posts I need to do as well). This might be a bit of a long blog post, with some ‘non-beer’ related things, but stay with me, and it’ll all wrap up nicely, and tie in with the day as well (I think/hope). Also, lots of pictures in this one, so if you like pretty pictures, then here you go.

Firstly, let me just say that this is an absolutely fantastic beer. Makes me wish I had a lot more of these to power through the day. But, I think most of the activities I did today would have frowned on me drinking (even if it was a coffee beer, …and especially given that the largest activity today was work).

So, starting off the day, it was back to school day / first day of school. My oldest going into Middle School (dear god I’m getting old), and my youngest two entering 4th and 1st grade. So now that I’m officially old, I guess I need to start drinking coffee right?

Following getting all of the girls to their two different schools this morning, and following an extremely long day at work (some days, like roulette days, just makes you want to bash your head against very large solid objects – repeatedly) I stopped at the Hershey Public Library where the Central PA Blood bank was doing one of their blood drives. I cannot urge people enough to donate blood. It is beyond critical and in definite need for all kinds of patients. There is tons of different ways you can check into donating, the simplest is to find a blood drive at various places near you (libraries, churches, restaurants like Papa John’s often sponsor them, even some bars/breweries do). For the Central PA Blood Bank you can check out their website here: Central PA Blood Bank.

It is relatively easy, not too time consuming (~45 minutes), relatively painless (small prick, some soreness at the spot), but its more than worth it. One bag donated can help up to three patients. And certain blood types are in higher demand than others (though all are in high demand). So please look into donating if you are able to (there is some restrictions due to life style choices, tattoos, locations you’ve visited, medication, etc.).

Once home, I decided to treat Leela (my dog, who you may remember photo bombed my beer review: Beer Review: Boulangerie Imperial Churro (Tattered Flag) ) by taking her on a 2-mile walk around town. It is National Dog Day afterall, and she’s a very good trusty and faithful companion and dog, so why not.

Decided while walking through Hummelstown I would pass by what will soon(ish) become the new home for Rubber Soul Brewing Company, and took a picture, as it looks like their making even more headway on the endeavor.

They are still aiming for a November opening date. So fingers crossed everything goes smoothly and they get set up and running soon. But…. enough of all of this gibbering and jabbering and jibbering and gabbering, and get onto the actual brew review that you clicked on.

This was just fantastic, and a perfect beer for writing the blog (and probably explains why it got so wordy).

Beer: Rêve Coffee Stout
Brewery: Parish Brewing Co.
Style: Stout – Coffee
ABV: 7.2%
IBU: No IBU
Untappd Write-Up: Collaboration coffee stout between Parish Brewing Company & Rêve Coffee Roasters. Created with Columbia Java blend coffee & Madagascar vanilla beans. Beer: Rêve Coffee Stout
Brewery: Parish Brewing Co.
Style: Stout – Coffee
ABV: 7.2%
IBU: No IBU
Untappd Write-Up: Collaboration coffee stout between Parish Brewing Company & Rêve Coffee Roasters. Created with Columbia Java blend coffee & Madagascar vanilla beans.

From the moment you pop bottle and begin to pour it, you can smell the rich delicious notes of the coffee. Once its done pouring and you smell the beer and swirl it, you get the instant notes of coffee, vanilla, nutty earth notes. It just smells incredible.

Pouring it comes out very dark black, and has a lovely dark brown – golden halo of a head to it, with nice, large bubbles forming out of the top that pop and slowly fade away. There is the right amount of carbonation, and the head lasts just long enough before you dig into this bad boy.

And sipping this is even better. Very strong coffee notes, but with a very rich, smooth, heavy backbone, that actually makes you feel like the 7.2% is lighter than it should be. Not saying its boozy, but it just as a ‘heavyness’ to this that makes you feel and think it should be a higher ABV than it is. This is a strong, rich, decadent beer, but not too sweet, not too decadent, and not too strong. Its in the goldilocks range of being. There is a bitterness with the coffee, but the vanilla covers and masks most of that. There is a nuttyness to it, but it becomes more subdued and subtle as you drink. The coffee gives you a bit of a nice pep and creative boost to really push you to do some writing or doing whatever it is that your doing.

I must say, I am definitely glad I was given two of these in my beer mail trade, because I can’t wait to dive into the second one. Strangely enough, I am honestly considering to say that this might be better than the beer everyone “knows” Parish for – Ghost in the Machine; though this might be just due to my preferred style of beer being stouts and the like moreso than IPAs, but take this for whatever you think its worth, this is a damn good beer and rivals Ghost in the Machine as Parish’s best beer.

I could waver back and forth on the rating I gave it, from a 4.5 to a 4.25, but I ultimately went with a 4.25 primarily due to wanting it to linger a bit more in my mouth after drinking it, and not wanting to come off too much as ‘style bias’.

My Untappd Rating: ****.25
Global Untappd Rating: 4.27 (as of 8.26.19)

And since this is National Dog Day, I tried to get Leela (a “red” border collie) in the pics, but kind of failed, here’s one of her by my one hop arbor, don’t mind the uglyness of the picture, it was 10:30PM, had to use the flash which I hate, and I had just finished this beer, and she was panting from the 2 mile walk.

For those of you wondering, she is named after Turonga Leela from Futurama. I have several cats in the house, that have been named after other Futurama characters as well (Zoidberg, Hermes, Fry, Hattie, and Kiff) —- (and yes… thats 5 cats….).

Also, for those wondering, the books in the background are:
* Foxtrot: The Best of Foxtrot vol. 1
* The Joker: Endgame
* Best. Movie. Year. Ever. : How 1999 Blew Up The Big Screen
* Brief Answers to the Big Questions
(Yes, that means I finally finished Master & Apprentice).

If you want, you can always check out my GoodReads and what I have been reading here: GoodReads – Profile – B. Kline.

Alright everyone, I think I’m gonna have another beer, and get to sleep. Oldest will have to be up soon for school anyway and besides, in 18 minutes it’ll be my birthday. I work tomorrow, but who knows, maybe afterwards I’ll have a ‘birthday beer review’. I also have the tons and tons of other event blog posts to do yet, don’t worry, I haven’t forgot! I’m making a mad dash push to get them all done by the end of August, so fingers crossed I do it!

Take care all, peace, love, and donate some blood! You’re not using it all anyway damnit!

-B. Kline

Another one of my beer mails, and this time from Southern Prohibition out of Hattiesburg Mississippi. The only can of the bunch I got, so seemed perfect to enjoy with the can shaped Rotunda Brewing glassware I have. Also since Pilsners can be hit or miss with me, seemed like a good beer to try out on a dreary rainy Friday (dreary rainy days can always be hit or miss too, you never know what you are gonna get). And as a mid-day treat it pairs nicely with the pot pie from Rutter’s. Not a bad lunch if I say so my self (and you can’t beat the pot pie at Rutter’s; you can’t really beat the food there in general really).

So right off the bat, you can see this one foams up big time, regardless of how I poured it, it foamed up quick and gave a huge head (…..insert whatever you want here…), even when re-filling the glass and to top myself off, trying to pour different ways, it still had a lot of carbonation and foamed up big time. This is not necessarily a bad thing, and the head on this is nice and pillowy and fluffy and tasty in its own right. Also the bubbles are nice, interspersed, and popping regularly, a sign that the beer has been well made.

So I find myself at noon, enjoying Rutter’s pot pie, listening to Bach, sitting on the front porch, while the girls are inside devouring their hot dogs and wrap from Rutter’s (8$ total, not bad!) spending their last free friday before school season, while I listen to the soft but still somewhat steady beat of rain drops hitting and dripping off the Nugget and Saaz hop arbor in front of me (you can see it slightly in the background of the pic), and enjoying a tasty subtle pilsner.

Beer: Good Vibrations
Brewery: Southern Prohibition Brewing
Style: Pilsner – Other
ABV: 5.6%
IBU: No IBU
Untappd Write-Up: Good Vibrations is a new dry hopped Pilsner. A simple base of Pilsner malt, Vienna, and flaked Rice was used to create a crisp, dry, and bright backdrop for a dry hopping consisting entirely Motueka Beer: Good Vibrations
Brewery: Southern Prohibition Brewing
Style: Pilsner – Other
ABV: 5.6%
IBU: No IBU
Untappd Write-Up:

This is a pretty simple, basic pilsner, spiced up some with the dry hopping. Dry hopping has become such a huge thing in the past few years, that breweries have begun to dry hop just about every style possible, starting obviously with IPAs, and Pale Ales, to Pilsners, to Belgians, and even to Stouts and I even saw a Brown Ale advertised as dry hopped. I’m not super sold on the non-IPA/non-pale ale dry hopping, but I think of the various off-styles for it, pilsner works probably the best. I’ve had a few pilsner dry hopped beers and they’ve been pretty good and the dry hopping typically makes up for some of the things I don’t find enjoyable in pilsners. (And this is merely a “me” thing, not a “pilsner” thing or a “style” thing or “this or that beer was off” thing, its a “me” thing. We all have our styles and tastes that just don’t work with out tastebuds and mouth chemistry, and pilsners are in that range for me sometimes. I do and have enjoyed some, and I will continue to try them out and taste them, I just know going in that I have about a 50/50 on them. Sadly.)

Pouring this out, its a light straw, yellow “beer looking” beer. As I mentioned earlier, lots of carbonation, lots of head, lots of foam, but all looking good.

Aroma is not as ‘hoppy’ as I imagined being dry hopped. I was expecting a lot of hop forward aroma with the subtle backbone of a pilsner, but this really didn’t have the knock out hop aroma.

I’m enjoying this as I sip it. The hop characteristic is very subtle but a bit diffusing of the pilsner notes. There is no punch in the mouth knock out hop characteristics, but it is there with a subtlety. Unlike the Ghost in the Machine Parish Brewing beer I had yesterday, this isn’t an instant gulper, its a much more laid back, relaxed sipper.

This is in the category of pilsners I “like”. Its nothing outstanding or mind blowing or amazing, but it is a great summertime sipping pilsner, thats light, airy, and not high ABV either to really wreck your day, and going with food it won’t hit you at all. It has some of the pilsner bite, so if you don’t like that stay away, but its not as noticeable and subdued most likely due to the dry hopping, that its barely noticeable (except as a bit of an aftertaste).

My Untappd Rating: ***.75
Global Untappd Rating: 3.76 (as of 8.23.19)

As some of you may have noticed, the blog has gotten a small makeover. On the bottom of every page, instead of just a Top 5 recent Author posts and the Calendar, it now has several new features. As well as the calendar being completely removed. The Author’s “Top 5 most recent” has been expanded to the most recent 8 (so now you can see more!), there is also a few new widgets, including a ‘hit counter’ (which I labeled “drunks” and “drinks”), as well as a social list icons, where you can click on all of our various social accounts (more to be coming soon!), and alongside the revamped author’s most recent, is our Twitter feed with up-to-date posts from our Twitter feed). Hopefully the new changes will add to the blog and be welcomed!

Let us know your thoughts on the new changes and additions (and deletion) in the comments. Make sure to click the “Follow Us !” to subscribe to our blog and get our updates as soon we make a new blog. Also make sure to follow us on Twitter to see all of our blog posts as soon as their published (and more, like our visits to various breweries, brewfests, events, and other happenings!).

As always, keep drinking and keep reading, make Tyrion proud.

-B. Kline

Finally, my turn to get to review this wonderful gem of a beer. J. Doncevic got to review it first, and his review can be found here: J. Doncevic’s Ghost in the Machine Beer Review. It is an excellent read and if you are reading this I highly recommend taking the minute or two to jump over and read his perspective on the beer as well.

Whereas Josh got his Ghost in the Machine from Tavour, I was lucky and got mine in a beer trade (having traded some Boneshire Brew Works, Tattered Flag, Troegs, and Pizza Boy) to get locals from a wonderful lady in Mississippi (thanks Brooke!).

I’ve been dying to try this as its been a highly regarded beer by many people I know, in the industry, in trade and beer groups (like Central PA Whalers), even some of my co-workers who use Tavour and stuff have been gushing about it. It is just one of those “must try” sough after beers, and I am glad to have finally gotten to check it off my beer wish (bucket) list.

And thankfully, compared to some of my bucket list beers, this didn’t disappoint at all!

Beer: Ghost in the Machine
Brewery: Parish Brewing Co.
Style: IPA – Imperial / Double
ABV: 8.5%
IBU: 100
Untappd Write-Up: Welcome to the future. Our collective human consciousness, or Ghost in the Machine, has gained a tolerance for hops beyond what mankind has ever known before. This Double India Pale Ale is the necessary outcome.
Year: 2019

Firstly, this was way too easy of a drink on a super hot 95 degree mid-day when I’m supposed to be mowing. I drank it waaaaaaaaaaay too fast, it was completely crushable and I probably drank it in about 10 minutes while reading. Way too fast, and definitely makes me wish I had a whole six pack to fully enjoy just how good it is, because it is just that, way too good!

It poured wonderfully from the bottle, leaving a beautiful fluffy head with great retention. The look is just beautiful, straw color, golden hue, and just a gorgeous looking beer. The carbonation is perfect and the head is great with good bubbles.

Aroma is spot on Double IPA. Hoppy, very hoppy, just nothing but hops. And this is the non-DDH version. I can only imagine the hop aroma from the DDH version. (After drinking this, I instantly added the DDH version to my wish list / bucket list. Wink wink if anyone …you know…. wink wink….).

But taste is where this baby really shines. Its wonderful, so smooth, so fresh, so refreshing, so wonderfully delicious that I had this glass drained in ~10 minutes. Perfect on a hot day. Didn’t even feel the 8.5%…. for …. about fifteen minutes later, until the heat and booze kicked in and I just sat there reading thinking… do I really want to mow? (Sadly, the answer is, not “yes” but “need to”, and so I am, while writing this blog, interleaving the two to give my body and fingers a rest alternately.)

It has a fantastic hop profile that has no bitterness and just a wonderful pine and citrus at the same time that comingles and works perfectly and tastes absolutely delicious. Just a joyful drink that will make you wanting to go back for more and more!

My Untappd Rating: ****.5
Global Untappd Rating: 4.28 (as of 8.22.19)
2019 Variant Rating: 4.41 (as of 8.22.19)
And for comparison’s sake, J. Doncevic’s rating: ****.5

Definitely go and check out his review here: https://thebeerthrillers.home.blog/2019/08/04/beer-review-ghost-in-the-machine-parish-brewing-co/ to compare our two thoughts and reviews on the beer.

Amazingly, without even checking his beer review out (since the first time I read it when he published it) I ended up scoring this the same as he did, exact same rating. Do we have identical tastes and thoughts? Who knows, we’ll have to try and co-review some more beers in the future and see!

(And once again, for those curious, the books featured behind the beer this time are:
* Foxtrot : The Best of Foxtrot Vol. 1
* Master & Apprentice [still!]
* Brief Answers to the Big Questions
All from the Hershey Public Library.)

Keep on sippin on folks!

-B. Kline