Pop Culture Beer Reviews - The Beer Thrillers

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

BKline — Wed, 19 Jan 2022 13:08:28 +0000

Out of Order – RAWRGWAWGGR by RAR Brewing

Feeling a lot like Hoth lately

If you are in the Central PA, its been feeling a lot like Hoth lately. We’ve had two recent snow / mix storms and just really cold temperatures in general. The picture above was taken from the first snowstorm a bit ago, and you most likely saw the pictures on our Instagram (The Beer Thrillers on Instragram) if you are a follower. And if your not…. why not? Check us out!

It was a perfect day for snow shoveling and using the newly acquired Hoth Lego sets to build up a little scene. Did some shoveling, drank a great beer, and played with Legos taking some fun nerdy Lego pics… like I was a six year old all over again.

And speaking of Star Wars and Legos, be sure to check out my buddy’s YouTube page – and Facebook page (which he just started up). He does Lego builds (primarily Star Wars) as well as all kinds of other videos. Give Josh a subscribe and check him out. MasterMind X Studios.

The Book of Boba Fett

Switching gears now, going from the snow covered planet of Hoth to the desert planet of Tatooine, lets go back to The Book of Boba Fett. As per usual on Wednesdays now, we’ve been doing a weekly Star Wars themed beer review. Some past ones have been:

This is the fourth episode (S1: E4 – “The Gathering Storm”) and thus will be the fourth of this series. But don’t worry, its far from the only Star Wars beers we’ve reviewed on here. You’ll be able to check out all of the others at the end of this article.

As per usual, I’ll also link up to some of the various Book of Boba Fett discussion pages that I follow along with:

And now, just for some interesting background information about Tatooine, a YouTube video by Star Wars Explained:

The Oceans of Tatooine by Star Wars Explained

Just some nerd insight into Tatooine and Star Wars for everyone before we move on to the beer review itself. So how about we get right down to it and actually do that beer review that I say I’m gonna do right?

Beer Review

Out of Order: RAWRGWAWGGR by RAR Brewing

Beer: Out of Order: RAWRGWAWGGR
Brewery: RAR Brewing
Style: Sour – Fruited
ABV: 6%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Our lactose sour base conditioned on Blueberries, Strawberries, Raspberries, Blackberries, Black Currants, Vanilla Cake, and Cream Cheese Icing.

First, quick discussion on RAR Brewing. They are a micro brewery (according to Untappd) from Cambridge, MD. They have 634 unique beers and a total of 404, 881 ratings (as of 1.19.22). They have a global average rating of exactly 4. Their Untappd Description reads: Based in Cambridge, MD on the banks of the Chesapeake Bay. Their link on Untappd is – RealerRevivalBrewing (just as an FYI).

Now let’s break down the beer.

Appearance is a juicy colored fruit drink. Looks like it could be a light cranberry juice or something similar. It looks sweet, looks tart, looks like juice you could pour straight from a carton out of the fridge. Its a slightly reddish hue, transparent mostly, with the thinnest carbonation based head.

Aroma smells like juicy, tart, and definitely a fruited sour. You get the notes of the blueberries, the strawberries, the raspberries, the blackberries, and the black currants all kind of swirling together into one big fruity berry mixture. No real notes (as far as aroma goes) of vanilla, cake, or cream cheese icing.

This is a juicy juicy juicy boi right here. Chewbeccca definitely knows how to get down with the berries. Be it on Hoth, Tatooine, or Endor, and no matter what berries or where they come from; Chewbacca … gets… down. This is a fruity punch of a beer right here. There is some definite tartness to it, there is a lot going on with the flavor profile too. You get everything the Untappd description lists. You get ‘all the berries’. The Blueberries. The strawberries. The raspberries. The blackberries. The black currants. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. Five berries. Five checks. Done and done. There is a hint of vanilla cake and cream cheese icing I suppose, in the lactose thats added to the beer. I don’t think its more than just the lactose giving it some kind of creamy feel and taste; than it is exactly vanilla or cream cheese icing per say. But you get this creamy hint to it all. Its still got the tartness and the juiceness, so its not like that lactose takes away from that. The mouth feel could maybe be a bit heavier, but I think its still right on with the beer, and there’s nothing cloying or any real bad aftertaste. It pairs well with shoveling and cold Pizza Boy pizza, as well as reading books and playing with Legos on a day off (natural day off; not a day off due to snow). All in all its another impressive outing from RAR Brewing and the Out of Order series, and in particular the Star Wars Out of Order series.

My Untappd Rating: ****.25
Global Average Untappd Rating: 4.31 (as of 1.19.22)

The Book of Boba Fett – Episode 4 Thoughts

So, just finished Episode 4 thoughts, and will give you some quick spoiler free thoughts on it. I enjoyed it, and thought it was one of the better episodes of the season. Light years better than the horrific episode last week, which I honestly thought was out and out drek. Some cool scenes in this episode, but nothing crazy, and definitely a ‘building’ episode, a “calm before the storm’ episode.

Here’s another YouTube video for any interested:

Temuera Morrison Interview

Popular Culture and Nerd Culture Beer Reviews

Now moving on…. to listing and showing all of pop and nerd culture beer reviews:

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

Well, we only got three episodes left for ‘The Book of Boba Fett’, so please stay tuned each Wednesday for another Star Wars themed beer review for at least the next three Wednesdays. Who knows…. maybe I’ll extend it past that. Because I still got plenty of Star Wars themed beers.

As always, thank you everyone for reading! Leave your likes, comments, suggestions, questions, etc, in the comments section. Or use the Feedback – Contact Us – page, and we’ll get right back to you!

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

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Beer Review: You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out! (Eight and Sand Beer Co)

BKline — Sat, 25 Dec 2021 02:50:00 +0000

You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out! by Eight and Sand Beer Co. (A red lager).

That Time Again

Ahhh…. its Christmas time again. That time of year where we put on TBS and just let it loop ‘A Christmas Story’ on repeat for 24 hours straight. Where even babies fresh from the womb can spout every line from the movie. Talk of ‘frag-il-e” and “the soft glow of electric sex” or singing the song at the end of the movie that now comes off as pretty insensitive, or sticking your tongue to a cold metal pole, or the myriad of other quotes and lines from the movie…. the most common and obvious one of course being:

“You’ll shoot your eye out, kid!” (Or some variant of it therein.)

It was exactly a year ago today I did another Christmas themed beer (gee, go figure, on Christmas Eve) – and it was also ‘A Christmas Story’ themed beer. Beer Review: The Soft Glow of Electric Sex (RAR Brewing). Maybe this will become a yearly tradition; doing an ‘A Christmas Story’ themed beer each year.

I know there’s no shortage of beers themed on ‘A Christmas Story’, so it won’t be a problem. (I could probably do a 25 days of Christmas leading up to Christmas day with just beer reviews based on this movie alone. If I was able to get beers from all across the country – or world.)

Intellectual Property Shenanigans

Something I’ve been wanting to write up, but as a very large article, for quite some time now is ‘intellectual property’ in the craft beer industry. I feel like its a very big topic that really needs to get explored (and yes, I know many have explored it in the beer writing world, but I haven’t, and I would like to).

I know I use a lot of intellectual property related beers for my beer reviews, partly because their more fun to write, partly because their easier to make a bigger article around them, partly because its easier to get them noticed and recognized and gets people to click the articles – in a similar fashion to why the beers are named what they are – to drum up attention and notice.

If there’s two beers – everything seems identical between them when reading the description (same hops, same malts, same ABV, same IBU, same brewery), but one is a Star Wars, or Simpsons, or Futurama, or Seinfeld, or whatever reference, and the other is a more generic sounding name “The Cold Lantern IPA”; I’m going with the “The Lower Human Horn” IPA. Just out of sheer recognition, namesake, and name value. Its an old school tactic, one that’s been done since advertising began.

And I’ll admit to being burnt a few times in the past over this. With clear cases of beers that were probably bad or ‘less than good’ and so they were given a pop culture or nerd culture reference or name just to sell or to move kegs or to attract some kind of attention.

So this is certainly something that will need addressed. Especially in the way some breweries are so proud of their Cease and Desists and treat it almost like awards to flaunt around. Its an interesting flex. “Here’s a piece of paper that nearly cost us a ton of money all because we drew a likelihood of Homer or Bart Simpsons nearly spot on to the T of the character on TV… ha ha ha…. had to change a bunch of labels and change the beer names on these….”. Seems like a lowest denominator type flex, but to each their own, or as the cool kids say nowadays ‘whatevz’.

Beer Review

You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out by Eight and Sand Beer Co

Beer: You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out!
Brewery: Eight and Sand Beer Co.
Style: Lager – Red
ABV: 6.5%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: This brand new red lager greets you with light caramel, honeycomb candy and citrus followed by a hint of pepper at the finish.

Eight and Sand Beer Company is a brewery out of Woodbury New Jersey. According to Untappd they are a micro brewery with 172 unique beers and a total of 56,105 ratings. They have a global average rating of 3.77 (as of 12.24.21) and their Untappd Description reads: We’re two buddies from South Jersey that are fully devoted to quality craft beer brewed with patience, brewed with care, and brewed with our local community in mind. The phrase “Eight and Sand,” was used to wish train crews a quick and safe journey and we felt it a fitting name for our brewery!

This is a fruitier smelling lager. You can certainly tell its a lager based on nose alone, but there is definitely a lot more going on with it. You get a strong good whiff of grapefruit, rind, and a honeyed sweetness, emboldened with some caramel notes.

Appearance is a pretty dark red see through, translucent, uncloudy beer. Not unlike some amber ales, this is right down that vein, just with a much more frothy head to it. It left fantastic lacing on the glass as it went down, and it was a wonderful frothy head with nice interspersed bubbles.

This is a pretty tasty beer from beginning to end. Thoroughly enjoyable all throughout with nothing bad or horrible about it. A fruitier, juicier lager, you get lots of different notes. And much better than plain or typical lagers that are ‘lesser quality’. I do overall feel this was just lacking a little ‘something’ to make it better. Perhaps it was because I expected more out of it due to the pop culture reference on it and knowing that it needs to be ‘real good’ to justify itself and its usage of the reference and intellectual property and to dispel my idea that sometimes beers are named after things to push and sell them, I dunno. There is a lot to like about this beer though. It has a very good flavor profile, and it has a lot going on with it that I do like. And I was a bit hesitant and worried about the ‘grapefruit’ mentioning, as I am not a fan of grapefruit. There is a good amount of honeyed candy, with some fruity notes and citrus elements behind it, I also get a lot of sweetened caramel and that really adds to the flavor. I don’t taste any pepper despite what the Untappd description reads as. There’s enough going on to keep you busy as you drink it, and at 6.5% its not a super light lager but its also not a booze fest either. Despite all the flavors and everything, it felt a little on the watery / thin side, surprisingly for its appearance and for the more full flavors, I was actually a bit curious how this was, especially given its appearance looking so full and rich – with that big frothy head to boot. All in all its a good beer, its nothing super crazy to write home about, but it is tasty, original too, with interesting flavors, just a bit on the watery side, and just not fully grabbing me – worth a try, but not worth a four pack.

My Untappd Rating: ***.75
Global Untappd Rating: 3.65 (as of 12.24.21)

Pop Culture / Nerd Culture Beer Reviews

Like I said earlier, we have covered our fair share of popular culture and nerd culture references and themed beers here on the blog. Certain breweries do a lot of them so you’ll see their names pop up more often. If you enjoy these themed beer reviews, check out our extensive list here:

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:

Beer Review: The Soft Electric Glow of Sex (RAR Brewing)
Beer Review: You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out! (Eight and Sand Beer Co)

Pro Wrestling:

Matrix:

Matrix Monday

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:

Beer Review: Terpenes in Time (BAREBottle Brewing Co)

Seinfeld:

Other:

Thanks For Reading

This was a bit of a late post, but it was a long day. And sorry for not throwing in a ton of references or GIFs and really doing the whole thing up into a big extravaganza. Woke up early this morning to do last second cleaning and preparing for my girls to come over, then ran and donated blood (which took forever due to a lady passing out, and what normally takes 25-35 minutes ended up taking an hour and 15 minutes), and then we celebrated Christmas a day early due to my having to work tomorrow. Celebrated with my girls at my house, then went over to my parents and celebrated with them and my sister and brother in law and son. Then had to run to my ex-wife’s church to take my youngest so she could sing in the choir for their Christmas Eve service. So its been a long day. But it was nice to finally get home, relax, unwind, watch A Christmas Story (yearly tradition obviously), have a few beers (I followed this beer up with Z. Morris by Black Flag – just to keep pop culture references going).

Merry Christmas to everyone tomorrow. Feliz Navidad.

I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday and are able to enjoy it with their family and friends. Be kind to each other out there, be safe, Omicron is still looking out there, but enjoy your time with your family. Just take precautions. Hopefully this will be the last Christmas where its all a worry and by Christmas 2022 we are back to having everything to normal (…then again, I said that this last Christmas too) – (but lets hope and have some optimism).

We’re winding down the year here on the blog and gearing up for a huge 2022 here at The Beer Thrillers. I’ll cover it more in our end of the year recap and our look forward to 2022 posts, but theres lots of big things on the horizon here. (Podcasts, videos, home brewing – guides, videos, etc; streaming, etc.). So definitely subscribe, like, comment, and follow us, to be on top of it all.

Cheers and Merry Christmas, Happy Festivus, and Happy New Year!

-B. Kline

Beer Review: Airing of Grievances (Black Flag Brewing Co.)

BKline — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 16:52:10 +0000

Airing of Grievances by Black Flag Brewing Company in Columbia Maryland

Happy Festivus

Happy Festivus everyone! Its finally here!

Happy Festivus

Its always a joyous time of year, to get together with friends, and family, and celebrate Festivus! December 23rd is the day to honor the rest of us, with the best holiday thats ever happened – Festivus. Its the time to spend with family, friends; to gather around your table and enjoy a small feast, set up an aluminum pole with a good strength to weight ratio, and to air all of those grievances you’ve had with everyone… before you select one person for your feats of strength.

So grab your aluminum pole, get your friends together, air your grievances, call H&H Bagel and tell them you’re on strike, and await a Festivus miracle – because who knows, you might be called out for the feats of strength and you might need it.

Airing of Grievances

What are some of your grievances you need to air? With family and friends? Or with the beer industry? Or with life in general? COVID-19 is still getting a large share of my grievances in 2021. Especially this new Omicron variant. Human beings are definitely getting a large amount of my grievances as well. The craft beer’s misogynistic worldview that is slowly changing (but not fast enough) is a large grievance for many in the industry (myself included). The lack of diversification. Etc. Etc. Etc.

So what are yours?

Black Flag Brewing Company

Black Flag Brewing Company has been on my radar for a long time now. Known for using pop cultural and nerd culture references for a while, they first hit my radar when they did a Final Fantasy series a while back, particularly their ‘Black Mage’ beer. We first got to check them out back in October when we did our travels through Columbia Maryland after the Brewfest for MS.

You can read more about our travels that day here: Going Hysteric Through Columbia Maryland – Brewfest for MS, Hysteria Brewing Company, Sapwoods Brewing, and Black Flag Brewing.

So leading up to this week, we had a couple of choice places to go and get some ‘Festivus’ or ‘Seinfeld’ style beers. Second Sin Brewing in Bristol released a Seinfeld themed beer – “Cherry Seinfeld”. And Icarus Brewing released a Feats of Strength stylized beer called ‘Treats of Strength’. And of course, Black Flag released ‘Airing of Grievances’. I did the online ordering of Icarus Brewing Company’s ‘Treats of Strength’ along with their Festivus glass – and it got delivered to a friend’s cousin’s house. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to get it from them until after Christmas break. But don’t worry – we’ll definitely be doing a review of it.

What we decided to do, was go do a tour of Maryland again. Which you can read here: Ambling Around Annapolis Rocks, Frederick, and Columbia Maryland: Annapolis Rocks, Attaboy Beer, Idiom Brewing, Steinhardt Brewing, Smoketown Creekside, The Brewer’s Art Tavern, and Black Flag Brewing.

I also got to pick up the new Star Wars themed beer – “Let the Haze Flow Through You” while at Black Flag as well (though, the other Star Wars themed beer – “This Isn’t the Haze You’re Looking For” was sold out), so it was certainly a double win, and a wonderful trip. (I can guarantee you will see a beer review of that on the blog as well, don’t you worry.)

But enough preambling, let’s discuss the brewery itself.

The back wall at Black Flag Brewing Company

Black Flag Brewing Company is a micro brewery from Columbia, Maryland. (An hour and 30 to hour and 45 minutes south of Harrisburg Pennsylvania.) According to Untappd it has 432 unique beers with a total of 157,180 ratings, and a global average rating of 3.87 as of 12.23.21. They have no brewery description listed on Untappd.

They are known for a lot of unique and nerdy beer names, such as ‘Nerd Herder’, ‘Black Mage’, ‘Airing of Grievances’, ‘Z. Morris’, ‘K. Kapowski’, ‘Let the Haze Flow Through You’, etc. They definitely have a ‘geeky’ or ‘nerd – chic’ (or ‘geek – chic’ or whatever cool modern hipster naming they use nowadays) vibe to their brewery. I’ve gotten to get to the brewery twice now, and have enjoyed all of the beers, and definitely dig the vibe. The first time we went was a late Saturday night, and loved sitting at the bar, and the second time we went was on a Thursday during the dinner hours and got a table and it was a jumping full bar. Both were great experiences, and both times we left with beer to take back to PA.

Beer Review

Alright, alright, arlight. Lets finally get to the beer review… its why you’re probably here anyway right?

So lets do it then!

Airing of Grievances by Black Flag Brewing Co.

Beer: Airing of Grievances
Brewery: Black Flag Brewing Co.
Style: Stout – Imperial / Double
ABV: 9%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: This amped up version of our classics gingerbread stout features deep chocolate and coffee notes inherent to the malt build with a robust addition of nutmeg, gingerbread, and milk sugar to give ample flavor.

This smells like you just kicked over and stomped on some poor little kid’s gingerbread house. Or you just bit the head off your little sister’s gingerbread man and play – acted like it had no head and was now a headless zombie wandering around the countryside looking to zombify the townsfolk on Christmas morning…. ….not that I would ever have done anything like that. Just saying…. But anyway, yes, the aroma on this bad boy is strong nutmeg, strong cinnamon, strong stout notes,

Appearance is a dark black, a Nietzsche ‘staring into the void’ black, a ‘Razor Ramon hair’ black. Black as my ex-wife’s soul black. (Oooh… that might be a bit too dark, huh? Maybe thats somebody’s grievance to air this year… aha! See how I segued that right back to the beer? Boom! Nailed it…. moving on….) This is a dark, creamy looking stout, with a very full heavy brown to tannish head. The bubbles are varied and interspersed, and it left lovely lacing down the glass. Even when I had it as a taster in the brewery it had a lovely head to it, and looked overall creamy.

This one is gonna hit you strong and hard and fast with that nutmeg and ginger and cinnamon. You are getting a hammer to the face Thor style with strong waves of gingerbread house goodness. It might be a bit too intense for some, and it is a bit heavy. There’s also a bit of a coffee bitterness to this that underlies it all as well, so that really seems to kick up the ante on the ginger and cinnamon and nutmeg, making this a bit strong for some. The milk sugar does add a creaminess to this, a light, softening to it, but the nutmeg, ginger, and coffee really hits hard and strong and powers through it. The stout base is very good, its strong, and its a heavy hitter, but at 9% its not too powerful as to kill you on the booziness or make your head swim. There is nothing cloying or too sweet, nothing off putting, and the mouthfeel is just right, a heavy dense beer with no papery watery-ness to it. There’s no off flavors or anything off putting. No horrible aftertaste, but you will get strong ‘ginger burps’ from this (and possibly even hiccups as my friend did). This is the perfect beer to cozy up to on a cold Festivus night after you’ve defeated the weakest family member in a feat of strength, and you’ve aired all of your grievances with everyone, and finally kicked them all out of your wretched home, to get to sit down and relax. Possibly watch the newest Matrix movie on HBO Max (which will most likely get added to your grievance list for 2022), or watch the Thursday Night football game, or just avoid all human contact due to the Omicron variant running rampant. No matter how you celebrate Festivus this year, this would be a welcomed addition to it, as its a terrific and wonderful stout. I imagine it would pair perfectly with cookies and hurt feelings (due to the grievances being aired). Just make sure that pole has a strong strength to weight ratio. As you might need it if you kill a four pack of these bad boys on your own.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Average Untappd Rating: 3.79 (as of 12.23.21)

Lets Celebrate

So what’s everyone doing today to celebrate Festivus? I’m wrapping this article up (11:29AM), and will soon be heading out to finish getting the last second stuff for my daughter’s stockings. (Already got their gifts, have no fear, I won’t be reaching for a doll, and fighting a man for it, and coming to the conclusion that there has to be another way…). What brewery or beer shenanigans is everyone getting up into?

In the meantime, enjoy some of these Festivus related GIFs. (I had to include them in the article. Had. To. Just. Plain. Out. Had. To. Its like a law or something. Seinfeld and Festivus by extension was made for GIFs at a time when there really wasn’t even GIFs. Oh, to go back to the 90s and watch Seinfeld again as a young teen and fall in love with it, before the internet was what it is now. Back in the days of AOL dial-up sounding like a beached whale getting stepped on, or before AIM and leaving some kind of ridiculous ‘BRB’ message, etc.)

Anyway, I present to you some Festivus GIFs:

Its a Festivus Miracle! A bunch of Festivus related GIFs!

Icarus Festivus

For those curious about the Icarus Festivus beer I mentioned earlier – Treats of Strength – my friend’s cousin has picked it up, along with the Festivus glass. They will be returning after Christmas, so I should be able to get my grubby little hands on it sometime before the new year, and will hopefully have a review of it up before then. (Crazy to think that just tomorrow will be December 24th – Christmas Eve – already, and after that Christmas, then a week until News Year Eve / New Years Day).

Anyway, here is a picture Icarus Brewing posted today to celebrate Festivus:

Icarus Brewing – Treats of Strength

Want More Seinfeld?

Want more Seinfeld? (Don’t we all! And obviously Netflix did considering the huge deal they signed just to have it on their network!) Want to know some background history on Festivus? Well here you go.

This is an article from Mental Floss about 9 things you didn’t know about Festivus:

9 Grievance Worthy Facts about Festivus You Might Not Know About (Mental Floss)

Our review of a Seinfeld related beer:

Beer Review: Jon Voight’s Car (RAR Brewing)

Happy for Christmas, or are you a Scrooge? Here’s two more Christmas themed beers we’ve reviewed:

For More Pop Culture / Nerd Culture / Popular Beer Names

Looking for more interesting beer names? References to something obscure and different? Well, we’ve covered plenty here on The Beer Thrillers. Check them out below:

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:

Beer Review: The Soft Electric Glow of Sex (RAR Brewing)

Pro Wrestling:

Matrix:

Matrix Monday

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:

Beer Review: Terpenes in Time (BAREBottle Brewing Co)

Seinfeld:

Beer Review: Jon Voight’s Car (RAR Brewing)
Beer Review: Airing of Grievances (Black Flag Brewing Company)

Other:

Thanks For Reading

As always, thank you everyone for reading. Do you have comments, suggestions, questions? Airing of grievances? Issues with the blog? Is the site working good? Something you’d like to see us review, write about, read, etc? Let us know in the comments section here on the blog. Also be sure to check out all of our social media pages (listed below).

I’m heading out to do some last second Christmas shopping, and to celebrate Festivus. I would like to wish everyone a very happy holidays, a wonderful Happy Festivus, a Merry Christmas, and everything else. I should have a post tomorrow night that will be Christmas related (you’ll have to wait and see!). And I’m back to work on Christmas day, but I might be posting something in the morning. Who knows. We’ll see.

Until then, I hope you are able to defeat your challenger(s) in the feats of strength today, so you can end Festivus.

Cheers!

-B. Kline

Airing of Grievances (taster at the brewery, and can at home)

Beer Review: Peace Among Worlds (Cushwa Brewing Company)

BKline — Sun, 20 Jun 2021 13:21:00 +0000

Peace Among Worlds by Cushwa Brewing Company

Happy Father’s Day

Well, let’s first get it right out of the way – Happy Father’s Day to everyone. To all the hard working, hard drinking, rooting, tooting, son of a gun’s….. or… well, you know…. just the dads. The everyday scmucks, the real slubs, the dads of the burbs. The men who work and the men who help. The men who just make it through each week somehow by the skin of their teeth.

No matter what – no matter how you cut it, thank you to all the dad’s out there. Because, let’s be honest, if it weren’t for them, in a biological speaking sense – we wouldn’t be here. Hopefully all the dads out there can sit back, relax today, watch a baseball game, or the US Open (the 121st US Open), have a beer (or two, or three), a cigar (if he so chooses), and some nice grilled steak or burgers.

…..Unlike me, who is spending the day working. Le. Sigh. x1000.

Anyway…. moving on….

Peace Among the Worlds

Can such a thing really happen? Can there be peace amongst the worlds? Can there be peace on our own world? Best we ask Rick and Morty, well, specifically Rick.

In the sixth episode of season two – “The Ricks Must Be Crazy” – Rick demonstrates that “flipping the bird” means “peace among worlds” to aliens. A basic synopsis of the episode can be described as such: “When Rick’s car breaks down, he and Morty go inside its battery. Morty discovers that Rick has created a miniature universe inside the battery.” (The Ricks Must Be Crazy – Rick and Morty Fandom – Wikipedia Page)

If you YouTube “Peace Among Worlds” you’ll see its Rick and Morty coming down into the cube to figure out why the battery is no longer working. Rick tells Morty to wait for the ramp to fully land, that the people love it, and then he tells Morty to flip all of the inhabitants off. Morty seems hesitant, but Rick tells him he explained it to the inhabitants as meaning “peace among worlds”.

Cushwa Brewing Company

You can read our brewery review of their original location (back on August 15th, 2019) here: Brewery Review: Cushwa Brewing Company. You can also read about me and Ming’s hike at Catoctin Mountain and then visiting several area breweries including Cushwa Brewing at their new location, as well as Homaide Brewing which is located at the OLD Cushwa Brewing Company’s building.

They are located in Williamsport, Maryland. Close to the Antietam Battlefield, and not too far from Pennsylvania and only a hop skip and a throw from Central PA where we are located here at The Beer Thrillers.

Their new location is a lot bigger than their old facility (A LOT BIGGER, and a lot more impressive, better looking, and all around better). Not to say that the old place is horrible, or anything, just to show the scale of how they’ve grown. Homaide is making good use of their old place.

On Untappd they list Cushwa Brewing Company as a Micro Brewery from Williamsport MD. As of June 20th, 2021 they have 263 unique beers and a total of 112,000+ ratings. Their average rating is 4.11. Their Untappd description reads: Cushwa Brewing Co. is located along the C&O Canal in Williamsport, MD. We are passionate in creating innovative beer offerings that we are proud for you to experience and share with friends. Our mission is simple: Exceptional Beer. Positive Impact. Respect.

I honestly cannot recommend them enough, having been to both brewery locations, as well as picking up several of their beers (be on the lookout for more beer reviews from them on the future here on The Beer Thrillers), I have loved every single one I’ve had from them. They are 100% a must-visit and must-try brewery.

Beer Review: Peace Among Worlds

Ok, so finally, if this is what you’ve been waiting for, we’ve arrived at it – the actual beer review. So let’s finally get to it then!

Peace Among Worlds by Cushwa Brewing Company

Beer: Peace Among Worlds
Brewery: Cushwa Brewing Company
Style: IPA – Imperial Double / New England
ABV: 8%
IBU: 35
Untappd Write-Up: Peace Among Worlds, our collaboration with White Rabbit Gastropub in Frederick, MD was brewed to commemorate our one year anniversary. This hazy DIPA is loaded with Citra, Mosaic, Vic Secret, and Enigma hops.

For those unfamiliar with my beer reviews, you can see and read more of my beer reviews (as well as Josh’s and LetUsDrinkBeer’s) through the tag / category at the link here – Beer Reviews. Basically I break it down into three categories – aroma, appearance, and taste, and I discuss each of these categories. So, cracking open the beer and pouring it out, and of course, got to keep the cartoon vibe going, so using a Bob’s Burger’s glass. (Keeping it classy.)

As soon as you crack this, you get a great whiff and instant aroma of hop. Its bright and juicy smelling hops straight through. The Vic Secret and Mosaic hops really pop out give a very distinctive aroma. Enigma hops are a relatively newer hop breed and variety coming from Australia. There is so many exciting hop varieties that are new from Australia and New Zealand, that are all so perfect for New England style IPAs. The Enigma adds a slight nuance to this with its ‘red fruit’ aroma and taste.

Appearance is pretty much on par with 99.999999% of the New England IPAs and DIPAs and even TIPAs that you’ve seen. There’s not a whole ton of variation in the style for New England IPAs really. Which isn’t a bad thing, but doesn’t leave much to say about it. If you’ve seen three or four NE-IPAs, you’ve seen ’em all just about. (Though I have had some interesting ones, and some poorly done funky ones that just looked bad.) That seems to be the easier thing, is finding which NE-IPAs are BAD NE-IPAs by the way they look. This one, is certainly, not bad. By, any, stretch, of any usage of definition. This is a bright orange hazy glow, not fully opaque, but definitely not transparent either. Some sediment and haze, but nothing too bad, no crazy floating chunks that make it look disgusting. Pretty beer all around. Small foamy head.

But let’s take a moment to appreciate the taste of this bad boy. And hmmm, this is a delicious beer. This is a juicy New England (Double) IPA bomb. Full juice, full taste bud explosion here. Happy Father’s Day. Happy Rick and Morty Season Premier day. Happy beer day! This is certainly fruity, citrus, and hoppy. The Mosaic, Vic Secret, and Enigma hops really shine and you get their full flavor profile in this intense beer. The Citra hops round out these and give it just a powerful citrus hop flavor profile. This is very tropical and juicy from the mosaic hops, with just a bit of earthy undertones; from the Vic Secret you get a bit more Vic Secret provides some notes of pineapple, passionfruit, it also helps gives some pine notes to the Mosaic’s earthy undertones, lending a bit of a resinous taste. The Citra hops are obviously providing a more heavy citrus flavor to the beer, lending it notes of grapefruit, melon, lime, and this just boosts the overall juicy flavor of the beer. The enigma hops are interesting in this, as they give off notes of red fruit and berry, you get somewhat of a white raspberry or even grape like taste from it, a bit of a wine – like flavoring profile to go along with the fruity and citrus and tropical juice notes of the other hops. It all makes for a really wonderful and interesting balance. The mouth feel for this is really good too, nothing is watery, nothing is too thin, it just tastes like a beer, proportionate and with a wonderful consistency. Nothing cloying, nothing off flavored, no off flavors or aromas or anything wrong with it. This is a really well crafted beer, not surprising at all coming from Cushwa Brewing, as I’ve yet to have anything less than even average or subpar from them. They know how to create their beers, that’s for damn sure. If you happen to be in the Williamsport (Maryland) area, or just want to make the drive, or find their beers on the shelf; do yourself a favor and stop in or pick up the beer and try them out. You won’t be disappointed at all.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 4.12 (as of 6.20.21)

Thank you everyone for reading. Hope you all have a wonderful Father’s Day today, and I hope the Rick and Morty Season premier tonight lives up to the hype. (I have no doubt it will.) Love me some Rick and Morty. Such a fantastic show.

Leave your favorite Rick and Morty quotes in the comments section! Also, be sure to check out our other Pop Culture and Nerd Culture beer reviews below.

Cheers!

-B. Kline

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:

Beer Review: The Soft Electric Glow of Sex (RAR Brewing)

Pro Wrestling:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:

Beer Review: Terpenes in Time (BAREBottle Brewing Co)

Other:

Thanks for reading everyone!

Beer Review: Mangolorian (Brewery Fire)

BKline — Tue, 04 May 2021 13:24:05 +0000

The Mangolorian by Brewery Fire

May the Fourth Be With You! Been waiting to post this beer review up here on the blog. Been keeping it on the backburner just for this day. (This review has been written and revised and edited and updated time over time, and I’ve just been waiting for the perfect time to upload it – and what more perfect time than May the Fourth?)

As anyone familiar with this blog will know, I am a huge Star Wars nerd and if there’s a Star Wars themed beer, then its gonna get reviewed as soon as I’m able to try it and review it.

Back in early January me and my friend Ming hiked in Maryland and visited Flood Zone Brewery and Brewery Fire (January 2nd). Turned out Brewery Fire is known for their pop culture beers (they had Simpsons referenced ones, like Eat My Shorts Dude, and Star Wars themed ones, etc.). I had grabbed this as a four pack and took it with me to go.

January 2nd, 2021

Going back to when we visited the brewery and everything, lets start with the day. You can read more about it here: “Catoctin Mountain Hike, Flood Zone Brewery and Marketplace, and Brewery Fire”. This was a day hike me and Ming did in Maryland on the Catoctin Mountain, which then led to us stopping at the Flood Zone Marketplace and Brewery for food and drinks, and then at Brewery Fire on the way home.

The hike was pretty and nice, but muddy (had rained two days prior). Flood Zone Brewery was very nice, and even had live music, which is always nice, especially back in January, where in Pennsylvania you wouldn’t have been even able to go into a brewery to sit and drink or eat (due to the second shut down of COVID-19), so that was a nice added treat. We then stopped at Brewery Fire on the way back home to Mount Joy – to drop Ming off before I headed home.

Brewery Fire Mural

We drank (well, I drank) outside, since Ming didn’t really feel like going inside and be around people more than he had to (can’t say I blame him on this really, COVID or no COVID). The coolest feature about the Brewery Fire venue was the large pop culture mural on their wall. Which you can see in this group of pictures I took here:

Brewery Fire Mural

How many pop culture references do you get? How many characters do you recognize? Hopefully it’s a lot. And its a pretty interesting and diverse grouping too, and I like the interchange of most of them. The artwork is also well done.

Sad to say, Ming only got a few of the references. Do you think you can do better than him? Hopefully, if not, I doubt you’d be reading this blog anyway with the sheer pop culture references and nerd-isms that I throw on here.

Brewery Fire

As I’ve done with past recent beer reviews, I’m devoting a section of each review to the brewery itself behind the creation. Brewery Fire is a pretty small venue and brewery located on the backend of a bowling alley. Me and Ming had to do a drive through the parking lot to find it, even with the sign at the road, the actual location and entrance is a bit tricky and hard to find.

According to Untappd, Brewery Fire is a nano brewery with 126 unique beers, and 6,480 ratings (as of 5.4.21). It has a global average rating of 3.89. The Untappd description reads: “Small batch craft brewery and tasting room.” They are located in Taneytown, Maryland. You can check out their Untappd page here: Brewery Fire (on Untappd).

While I was there, I had a flight of their beers, and grabbed the Mangolorian as a four pack to take with me. My flight consisted of: Black Ka’kaRYE, The Chrystal Calls, The Hero of Canton Drinks the Best Rum in the House!, and Eat My Shorts, Dude. My ratings for them: Black Ka’karye – 3.75, The Chrystal Calls – 4, The Hero of Canton – 3.75, and Eat My Shorts – 4.

Beer Review

As you can see this was a beer I got in January, but drank that night, as well as several other nights. The review portion of this post was written in March after the latest time I had the beer. (Don’t worry, the IPA held up, plus, I had the notes from the first times I had drank it, in case it didn’t.)

(This portion of the blog post has not been touched since it was written, the above sections were, and then the ending of the post was, but the actual review is as it was since March, with only the average rating changed to reflect the date and updated for any change in the overall score.)

The Mangolorian by Brewery Fire

Interesting note here – the beer on Untappd was originally The Mangolorian, as well as it saying so on the can, but if you look up the beer now, it is only just “Mangolorian” on Untappd. Not sure why the name change, but this is just an interesting fact that I’ve noticed from when I first drank it – January 2nd, til now – March 16th. So sometime in this period there was a name change at least insofar as Untappd goes.

Beer: Mangolorian
Brewery: Brewery Fire
Style: IPA – American
ABV: 6%
IBU: 40
Untappd Description: This beer is dry hopped with Vic Secret hops which is perfectly accented by a copious amount of Mango. This is the way.

Obviously, this better be Mango flavored and scented, otherwise… well… that would just be a fail right? And that is most certainly NOT THE WAY. Thankfully, this is very mango forward, so problem solved, and it fits all criteria, and thus, adheres to the way.

So lets start off with the appearance. It looks clean and crisp, it has a lighter color west coast IPA look to it, a bit bubbly and almost a champagne look to it with its effervescence. It is clear and see through with a nice amber hue. It has a decent small foamy head to it that retains for a fair bit of time, and it leaves some lacing on the glass.

Moving on to aroma, you certainly get its namesake – it smells just like a Mandalorian would…. I mean… it smells very heavy mango. Not very heavy Mandalorian. Which is probably a good thing, because I can only imagine what a warrior trapped in Mandalorian armor would smell like after an intense day of bounty hunting…. *shudders*…. poor Baby Yoda (Gogru!). If you are a mango fan, then this is a treat, if not, you probably should just pass on this beer altogether. It has a very strong and upfront nose of mango, that then gets a bit hoppy, but the mango still is the strongest nose to this bad boy.

I would best describe this as a ‘dry IPA’. Its the “old school” (god, do I feel old having to describe ‘regular’ IPAs as “old school”) West Coast style IPA. The mango is interesting in the flavor for this, compared to the nose of it. On the nose, I thought the mango was very strong and powerful, but in the flavor its a bit of a different story. And its almost a ‘by the can’ type thing. The one can I had, the mango flavor was pretty strong, but the other three, it was much more subtle and in the background. A friend who had visited the brewery before (unbeknownst to me, he had it at a different time, and I had never even heard of this brewery or knew he went there until we discussed it), he had it on draft and had two pints of it, he said it was subtle to slightly more upfront in draft. The first pint he said it was very much in the background instead of the forefront, and in the second it was a bit more forefront, but this could also be because it was his second draft of the same beer. It is a pretty light and crushable IPA, and not a hazard to drink the whole four pack yourself in one sitting. It only clocks in at 6% so it’s not too strong, and at 40 IBU’s, its not a palate wrecker. I wouldn’t label it a “Session IPA” but its certainly on the lighter side of things (for example – Troegs’ flagship IPA – Perpetual IPA – is a 7.5% and 85 IBU). This is sort of a dry IPA but still flavorful with a nice hoppy flavor and mango taste (be it forward or background). The Vic Secret hops are a nice combination with the dryness and the mango flavor. It has some champagne characteristics (possibly champagne yeast?) that ties in with the dryness. Nothing is off flavored, and nothing is too strong or overpowering or cancels out anything else, there’s no cloying, or poor taste, and the mouthfeel feels right on, not too heavy, not too slick or light. No bad aftertaste and nothing off putting.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Average Untappd Rating: 3.94 (as of 5.4.21) (Originally: 3.96 as of 3.17.21).

Star Wars

How is everyone else planning on spending May the Fourth? Last year I posted an article (a listicle) of some of our various Star Wars themed beers and activities – which you can see here: “May the Fourth Be With You (2020)“.

Since then I’ve done quite a few more Star Wars themed beer reviews, and to see them, you can look at this list here:

I’m sure there will be plenty more in the future. If you know of any Star Wars themed beers that should be on my horizon and on my wish list, please make sure to leave me a comment, and if you can help me track them down, all the better! I guarantee I’ll review them here on the blog.

So how is everyone spending their Star Wars day? I’m currently working my way through Alexander Freed’s book 1 of the Alphabet Squadron trilogy “Alphabet Squadron” (aptly named huh?). I’ve been slow reading it, but it’s been pretty good.

Also today – Bad Batch airs on Disney+, so I’ll be checking that out after work, as well as hopefully posting up a Star Wars themed book review. So be on the lookout for that this evening. (Fingers crossed.)

To see the Bad Batch trailer, check that out here: Bad Batch Official Disney+ YouTube Trailer.

Hope everyone has a tremendous Star Wars day! May the Fourth Be With You! And cheers everyone, there is light at the end of this tunnel of COVID, and its looking like we’re getting through it. People are getting vaccinated, places are opening up, the dawn is breaking. Like Star Wars always espousing about hope, so we are hopeful here too at The Beer Thrillers. Enjoy a delicious Star Wars beer today, speak like Yoda all day, and Be Kind to everyone and have a great day!

Cheers!

-B. Kline

Thanks for reading everyone!

The various pop culture / nerd culture beer reviews we’ve done here on The Beer Thrillers:

Star Wars:

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:

Beer Review: The Soft Electric Glow of Sex (RAR Brewing)

Pro Wrestling:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:

Beer Review: Terpenes in Time (BAREBottle Brewing Co)

Other:

More Info:

Beer Review: The Death of Civilization in Slow Motion I (Ghost 907) (Adroit Theory)

BKline — Thu, 04 Feb 2021 16:42:38 +0000

The Death of Civilization in Slow Motion by Adroit Theory

Another streaming session with my good friend Drew of Knights of Nostalgia means me drinking some fine craft beers and of course, that also then means, future beer reviews of said fine craft beers. And I couldn’t think of a finer craft beer I had that night than Adroit Theory’s ‘The Death of Civilization in Slow Motion I’ (Ghost 907).

My buddy and co-writer here at The Beer Thrillers – Josh Doncevic – absolutely loves and raves about Adroit Theory and is constantly pushing their beers. And I can see why! I’ve had a few in the past, but sadly not many, and hopefully now in the future I will be getting to try plenty more!

(See Josh’s Adroit Theory reviews here):

Lets Have a Discussion on Can Art….

First, lets have a discussion on can art. I think Adroit Theory is absolutely nailing it. (Here is an article I found from January 31st, 2015 about the can labels for Adroit Theory: Shawn Johnson Signs Can Labels for a Contest). If you are a fan of Warhammer 40K, or steampunk or futuristic dystopic landscape looking art, Mad Max, Fury Road, stuff like that, you’ll love these can labels. Here is a link to The Death of Civilization in Slow Motion I on Adroit Theory’s page, it gives some of the same information thats on the can label here; such as pairings, ingredients, percentages, etc. (It is for a different version of this beer, but the artwork and information mostly holds up.)

For those unaware, Warhammer 40K is a massive tabletop miniatures game that has been around since at least the 90s (back in the day when I used to play it at Omnidon’s in Hummelstown, and then when they moved to be Twilight Games in Paxtonia). My faction of choice was the Chaos Space Marines and the Chaos army in general with the Chaotic God of Korde. Warhammer 40K has gone on to be a massive book library with hundreds of books, as well as some video games, and I believe there is a movie or a Netflix TV show in the works.

Here is a sampling of artwork from Warhammer 40K courtesy of “Inside the Artwork of Warhammer 40K”:

A small sampling of Warhammer 40K artwork

For comparison sake, here is a small sampling of Adroit Theory artwork:

A sampling of Adroit Theory artwork

You can definitely see some interesting comparisons between the two. And I absolutely love it. Its gorgeous artwork and deserves all the praise it can get. I also love how Adroit Theory does dabble a bit into the pop cultural realm (they’ve sported GI Joe and Cobra beers this past summer over quarantine / COVID-19 as well as the above Cthulhu reference. Interesting note to point out, in the past I did a beer review about Azathoth – see above reference to Cthulhu for why I am mentioning this. You can find that review here: Beer Review: Azathoth (Edmund’s Oast Brewery)

But keeping this to a discussion on the can art, I have to continue my gushing and say about how much I love it. I can admit to being guilty and buying quite a few beers based on can labels and beer art – usually due to some pop cultural or nerd culture reference (and oh boy, is there a long list of them that I’ve reviewed here on The Beer Thrillers; I’ll post the full list of links at the bottom of this post), but I am also just as guilty of buying beers based on beautiful artwork as well. And this can be a hit or miss practice. I’ve been burnt many a time, as well as been uplifted and surprised by how good a beer is. Thankfully this provides a wonderful segue here, speaking of beautiful can art…. ….and beautiful can liquid…..

Beer Review: The Death of Civilization in Slow Motion I (Ghost 907)

The Death of Civilization in Slow Motion by Adroit Theory

Beer: The Death of Civilization in Slow Motion I (Ghost 907)
Brewery: Adroit Theory
Style: IPA – Imperial / Double New England
ABV: 8%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: A pillowy texture, slight bitterness, and an aroma of tropical fruit with Pineapple and Mango forward notes and Berry and Pine on the finish.

Appearance for this is a beautiful orange, golden glow, and very hazy. Holds up perfectly to the style. Nothing transparent or translucent here, this is pure golden, hazy, dank New England (D)IPA goodness. Wonderful head to it as well, nice carbonation, head retention, and lacing on the glass, with nice dispersed and varied bubbles.

Hmmmm hmmmm hmmm the aroma on this smells just perfectly wonderful. Like a beautiful fruity hoppy aromatic dream. You get a great hop nose-kicking aroma right as soon as you crack open the can, and it mixes in with mango, pineapple, and a wee bit of pine notes from the hops, edging and giving the tropical fruits something to combine with.

Good great Wilbur’s ghost this is a wonderfully smooth beer! It is delicious, tasty, smooth, all the main characteristics of a great New England (D)IPA. There is a wee bit of hop burn at the end, some nice hop bitterness with those pine notes, that makes this not a completely full juicy bomb, and thats just perfect. It compliments the overall hop experience so perfectly well. You get mango, pineapple, berry notes, and the pine notes from the hops, providing a very nice, smooth, fruity, flowery, fluffy like New England (D)IPA. This is (or should be) a standard for the New England IPA and DIPA and TIPA style, like textbook, “Oh you want to learn how to make a New England DIPA? Or you want to know what a really good New England DIPA tastes like? Well here you go!” Textbook definition excellence. The mouthfeel is on point, not too heavy, not watery, not thin, no cloying notes to stick to your tongue or mouth, just a well drinkable beer. The 8% ABV is very nice too; thats a good middle ground. Its not substantially high and its not terribly low either. (For comparison’s sake – Troegs Brewing’s Perpetual IPA – their flagship IPA – is a 7.5%, and Nugget Nectar – their flagship Amber Ale / Red Ale is a 7.5% as well.) So this is really only .5% higher than those two beers, and with how smooth this is, its probably a good thing it’s not much higher. Sometimes too smooth and high ABV just don’t go well together…. especially the next morning. This is a beautiful beer too, well crafted and well made, and an exceptionally terrific smelling beer. The hops work really well in this, and the flavor profile is perfect and on point. The mango, pineapple, pine, and berry are all superb and work so well in conjunction with each other that this is just so extremely tasty. Perfect for a video game session with a buddy.

My Untappd Rating: ****.25
Global Untappd Rating: 4.14 (as of 2.4.21)

Adroit Theory

Ah, don’t worry, I didn’t forget to include it. Previously, in my last beer review I did – Dunkel Shaun (by Great Barn Brewery) I mentioned that going forward, in each beer review, I will devote a section to the brewery behind the beer. In the above mentioned, previous, beer review, I did it before getting to the review, but due to my beautiful segue in this review, I figured I’d post it at the end. So here you have it.

The following stats all come from Untappd. Adroit Theory is located in Purcellville, Virginia. They are labeled a micro brewery and they have a total of 139 unique beers and just a few shy of 354K ratings. They have a global average rating of 4.04 (as of 2.4.21). Their Untappd description reads: “PUSHING BEER BOUNDARIES IN LOUDOUN COUNTY VIRGINIA Located in Purcellville, Virginia, Adroit Theory makes esoteric + style challenging beers with an emphasis on Hazy IPAs, Fruited Sours, Pastry Stouts, and Barrel Aging Projects. CONSUME LIFE x DRINK ART We typically have 16 beers on draft plus 10-20 options in bottles or cans. Be sure to check our constantly changing Tap List and our full Menu. Message of the Day: METAL + EVIL = DESTRUCTION.”

You can find their social media and website links below:

Thanks For Coming

Thanks for checking us out here at The Beer Thrillers. We really appreciate everyone reading our beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, hiking adventures, book reviews, and all kinds of other news and notes we post here on the site and blog. If you have any questions or comments, be sure to leave us a comment here. You can also contact us through our FEEDBACK – CONTACT US page. And as always, be sure to like, follow, subscribe; here and on our social media pages.

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

I’m off to Breski’s Beverage to take advantage of their mix – a – six double discount for the remainder of the week (leading up to the Super Bowl Sunday), as well as picking up the New Trail collaboration expedition pack. I’m sure you’ll see quite a few of these beers up here on the blog soon reviewed.

As always everyone, stay safe out there. (Here in Central PA it looks like their calling for another snowstorm Sunday or Monday or Tuesday, possibly giving us another foot of snow. So be careful!)

Cheers!

-B. Kline

Pop Culture Beer Reviews

As promised, here is all of our “pop culture” / “nerd culture” / etc. beer reviews:

Star Wars:

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:

Beer Review: The Soft Electric Glow of Sex (RAR Brewing)

Pro Wrestling:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:

Beer Review: Terpenes in Time (BAREBottle Brewing Co)

HP Lovecraft / Cthulhu:

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

Other:

Beer Review: The Soft Glow of Electric Sex (RAR Brewing)

BKline — Thu, 24 Dec 2020 23:17:41 +0000

It is Christmas Eve and there is no greater tradition on Christmas Eve than TBS airing A Christmas Story nonstop for the next 24 hours straight. TBS started this back in the fertile Nile Delta River Valley around 3996 B.C. and they have continued it every year since, all the way up to – and including – 2020. Not even a global pandemic could stop them from airing it for a continuous 6016 years. Thank God!

This one comes flying in right into the “IP” (Intellectual Property) theft debates I’ve been having with a lot of friends, from both in and out of the industry, on my personal Facebook page. Hershey’s recently sued a brewery over their marketing of Jolly Ranchers used in a beer they made. Their lawsuit was for 8,500$, which was the amount the brewery made on the beer made and sold. IP Theft has been a big issue I’ve been thinking about a lot lately with the craft beer industry, and is something I’d like to do an article on, and the Hershey’s lawsuit has given a lot of ammunition to the idea of the article (perfect timing in a way…. well… not perfect if you are the brewery in question I suppose). This is an interesting topic, and I think there’s a lot of merit to both sides. Look at this beer in question – the quote is a direct quote from the movie, and the can / bottle logo for the beer and packaging for it is spot on too, so do you consider that IP Theft? RAR Brewing is no stranger to using pop culture, nerd culture, mainstream, etc, for their beers. Look at their lineups of the “Out of Order” series. One of which I reviewed – Beer Review: Out of Order: Blue Milk (RAR Brewing). Or take a look at another one I reviewed from RAR Brewing, Jon Voight’s Car. This one has an exact replica of George Castanza on the can label, as well as having the car in question in the background. You can see that review here – Beer Review: Jon Voight’s Car (RAR Brewing).

Here is the can and bottle label for “The Soft Glow of Electric Sex”:

The Soft Glow of Electric Sex

It has the “fragile” box in the background, the lamp itself, and of course the iconic quote from the movie (which is the beer title). Where do you all stand on this – does this look like IP Theft to you? Is this fair ground? Is it just a cool and fun little cultural nod? A way to sell beers? I’d love to hear from all of you and your thoughts on this.

Like I said, I love diving into pop culture named and themed beers here for the blog. I have done – a TON – of them. (As with most of the pop culture beer reviews, I’ve included a section at the end of the review listing all of the other ones for you to easily find them, as well as tagged it so you can search through the blog itself easier for them). I’ve done beers from The Simpsons, Seinfeld, Star Wars, Back to the Future, Space Balls, etc. Josh has also done a few, with one recently being a play on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Beer Review: Terpenes in Time (BAREBottle Brewing Co), and there is no shortage of beers out there to review. My most recent beer review (before this beer of course) was “This is the Whey” by Bolero Snort, a play on “This is the Way” which is a catchphrase from The Mandalorian. (Which, I also did a This is the Way beer review, by Broken Goblet). You can see those here: “Beer Review: This is the Whey (Bolero Snort)” and “Beer Review: This is the Way (Broken Goblet)“.

I have been wanting to get out a lot more articles than I have recently, and I apologize for that, life has taken a bit of a crazy turn in recent days. I figured with the local (Pennsylvania Mandates and Shutdown) that we had starting on December 12th and lasting until January 4th, I would be able to get out a lot of beer reviews, and other articles, and I wanted to do a lot of local ones. But sadly, my life has gone ‘full crazy’ right before the Christmas season. So I sadly haven’t gotten as much written as I have had wanted to do. I have gone through a bout of several health related things, some familial things, dealing with my own second unemployment of the year, and fighting with unemployment itself, as well as a host of other things. (Firstly, let me just say, I would never wish insomnia on the worst of my enemies, that is honestly one of the worst things in the world, and its not nearly as “productive” as you might think, writing with insomnia is no where near as easy as you would imagine.) I haven’t even gotten much reading done, something I figured with a snowstorm, snowy and cold weather, as well as lockdown, that I would, but sadly, I haven’t. I’ve found my hours becoming less and less productive and more and more just me staring at walls, more and more of me just trying to figure out whats going on, and working to get past a lot of blocks in the road. Hopefully this writing and getting this beer review out will help with that. Fingers crossed anyway. Tomorrow is Christmas afterall, and we all need to be in the festive spirit, even if I am quarantining and unable to see my family and being all alone for Christmas, I am keeping my head up high, and will be wishing all of you out there a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holidays.

Ok, so lets move on. Lets get past that crap, and get to why we’re here. A beer review about a beer named after a holiday staple and a holiday tradition. My daughters have grown up with A Christmas Story playing on loop in the background of our Christmas’s in the house starting on Christmas Eve when it first airs. Its how I’ve fallen asleep every Christmas since I was probably 16 or 18, whenever TBS first (legitimately) did start airing it.

There is so many classic scenes, many of which remind me of my own childhood. I think I learned most of the words I now use as an adult from listening to my dad assemble various Christmas gifts (one of which was a basketball hoop we got for Christmas one year, that the instructions said could be done with the simple tools around the house; apparently my dad didn’t have a dowel rod, and he made sure to write to Huffy and explain to them in three page – five hundred or so word essay – how a dowel rod was not a common thing around the household; …they promptly shipped him a dowel rod and a 5$ coupon). I think this is why A Christmas Story stands the test of time for so many people. Its an agglomeration of stories, of all the ways Christmas can get screwed up, that it fills us with our own memories, like nostalgia. We remember the Christmas’s where things went helter skelter. I recall the time my Grandparents had a Christmas tree with worms and we could hear them eating the tree. Or my parents “Christmas Bush”. Its much like Christmas Vacation and Home Alone. The mistakes, the missteps, the crazy, is why we love it; because it reminds us of the various Christmas’s where things went off the rails in our own lives. I have often thought about this with my own daughters. The trips we have taken where things didn’t go as planned, have become more memorable than the ones where they went perfectly planned. Like our trip this year to Monocacy where I got sick and we ended up making it a two day trip, rather than a four hour trip.

But lets move on, and get to the beer review shall we? Enough about A Christmas Story, and enough about my own crazy Christmas’s in my past. Lets review some beer!

HO HO HO

The Soft Glow of Electric Sex by RAR Brewing

Beer: The Soft Glow of Electric Sex
Brewery: RAR Brewing
Style: IPA – American
ABV: 7.6%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Brewed with Mangos, Lactose, Citra, Amarillo, Ella, and Columbus. Tons of citrus and ripe mango juice flavors.

HO HO HO

Appearance is a bright glowing orange. This is probably much closer to a New England IPA, but when first created for Untappd they didn’t really have the New England designation for their IPAs on there, otherwise I’d imagine this would fit it. This is hazy, its orange juice in appearance, has a nice foam head, and well carbonated with nice lacing on the glass as well.

HO…. HO…. HO…..

Aroma is very heavy … very… very heavy mango. I love it. One of the few fruit flavors I really love, and its mango, and it works so well in IPAs (especially New England IPAs), that this is just wonderful. Theres a hint of peach to round it out, but its so much mango and so much upfront it just smells amazing.

Schwartz: Hey, smart ass. I asked my old man about sticking your tongue to a flagpole in the winter, and he says that it’ll freeze right to the pole, just like I told ya.

This is delicious. Maybe for some it might be too much mango, I don’t know, but I love it. Its so heavy mango flavored, but that fits most New England IPAs, and I love it. Very heavy citrus, some lactose, some creamy smoothness to it, a nice slick mouthfeel, but the hops shine through wonderfully here. Citra, Amarillo, Columbus, and Ella hops are used, and they are all lead towards that juicy mango flavor, with some peach, some stone fruit, some zest and citrus, but at the end of the day its all mango flavor all the time. I think the peach rounds it out a fair bit, but overall its very subtle, like a hidden note you can only find after unlocking all the mango flavor. Its a well rounded New England IPA too, it has a little hop bite to it, but nothing substantial, nothing too acidic, nothing cloying, nothing poor or off putting with this. No off flavors. No bad aftertaste, etc. This was the very first RAR Brewing beer I had, and I traded for it back in January 2018. When I first started to get into doing some trading for beers or buying and having people mule beers. I had gotten this and I had gotten the Jon Voight’s Car beer. Fell in love with both, and I’ve enjoyed RAR Brewing ever since pretty much, though I think their Out of Order series has been taken over and changed a bit too much over recent years, and I think they lean a bit too much on the gimmicks for that series (they just released a whole slew of Home Alone themed Out of Order beers, with the can art and the beers being slightly different in each, some representing Kevin, Marv, The Wet Bandits, Pesci, and the Shovel Slayer), but ultimately I think RAR Brewing still makes some fine good beers and they aren’t lacking in quality. The internet can be a bit harsher on them with respects to their Out of Order series, but thats also the internet for you, and who reads the internet anyway…….. (…oh….). But anyway, back to this beer, it is a bold, bright, beautiful, tasty Mango flavor bomb, and a wonderful New England IPA. Its juicy, its tasty, slight hop bitterness, but full on hop flavor, no off flavors, nothing cloying, nice mouth feel, no aftertaste, this is just a fine well made beer, with a cool logo and name, and definitely an eye catcher. And perfect for Christmas Eve and watching A Christmas Story on loop for 24 hours!

My Untappd Rating: ****.25
Global Untappd Rating: 4.01 (as of 12.24.20)

Thinking about how this was one of the first beers I traded for, makes me think back to the early days of trading for me, when I first started getting into that. When I was at Breski’s Beverages just last week preparing for the big snow blizzard we got, I saw Zombie Dust and Alpha Space Station from 3 Floyd’s on the shelf for 3.50$ each, and I remember trading and buying that from people in a Facebook beer group who muled it back. Crazy to seeing it being a “shelfie” now. Just like seeing JREAMS making it up into the Central PA midstate area and in places like The Fridge, Breski’s, etc for their crowler machines. Definitely not complaining about that! That’s for sure!

Well thank you all for reading this, and thanks for checking out another Pop Culture beer and “IP Theft” potential beer. I could almost make that its own category now on the blog. Like I said at the top, would love to hear everyone’s thoughts and opinions on that, and what they think is acceptable or not. Just in general, I always love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave comments, questions, etc, either here on the blog, or on our social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter. We recently hit 1K followers and likes on Facebook which is a pretty big deal and I love how its bringing all kinds of people together.

Also, AJ Brechbiel is likely to be writing some new posts for the blog again, so be sure to check out his stuff when he releases it. I’m eagerly looking forward to that.

Another note I wanna make, there is another beer that was released with the same title as this. “The Soft Electric Glow of Sex” by Turning Point Beer, which is a brewery from Texas, and I have done a beer review from them before (from a beer trade); that beer was: Beer Review: $#!+ Ton (Turning Point Beer) as well as a beer review of one they were collaborated with – Beer Review: Virtually Inseparable (Celestial Beerworks and Turning Point Beer). But anyway, they did the exact same name as this beer, but made it a stout, and with a very similar logo too:

Turning Point Beer – The Electric Glow of Sex (photo courtesy of Untappd)

Their beer is a 15.6% Stout. I would love to get my hands on it and try it out for a future beer review as well (…well… and just because I like to drink stouts, and because the beer sounds good).

If I wanted to be really proper with this beer, I should have went out and gotten the “leg lamp” beer glass to drink it in:

The Leg Lamp Beer Glass

Maybe if I get that stout, I’ll make myself buy this glass to review it in. Who knows. I wanted to get a Festivus beer for yesterday (Dec. 23rd, 2020; Festivus), but sadly, wasn’t able to get one in time to do a review here on the blog for it. Next year!

That Star is Crooked….

Thank you everyone for reading. And I am hoping to get a lot more reviews and articles out from here to the end of the year. I feel like I have about a thousand beer reviews to do, and no time to do them, despite being stuck at home on quarantine. I have so many things I need to do from now until December 31st, 11:59:59, and not sure if I’ll get it all done. The pressure and the anxiety is mounting up, but the stuff’s not getting done. Fingers crossed it will. Thank you all for putting up with it, and for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the beer review! Cheers! As someone who just took a COVID test today, please stay safe out there, mask up, wash your hands, and take care of each other and your local breweries, they need it! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Everyone! Happy Festivus!

-B. Kline

FRA-GEE-LAY

It’s a Major Award!

The Soft Glow of Electric Sex

The various pop culture / nerd culture beer reviews we’ve done here on The Beer Thrillers:

Star Wars: