The Ministry of Brewing was a definite ‘need to check out’ brewery for me. I’ve watched and read about their opening and the cathedral that they took over on their Facebook page as well as other places. So I knew this was a definite must see, must check out brewery. Only problem (for me) – is it’s in Baltimore. Meaning its not just a simple drive to visit place, especially with everything going on in my life as it is. That’s roughly an hour and a half drive just to check out the brewery, and then a hour and a half back, so I knew if I was going to get to check out the brewery, it’d be a part of a destination day that included being in the Baltimore area.

So, as luck would have it, on Friday the 14th (of August, 2020) the day before my oldest would turn 13, I asked her where she wanted to go, what adventure she wanted to have to celebrate her birthday. Just me and her. Daddy / Daughter day. She chose the Baltimore Aquarium. I said certainly. (She could have said the Amazon rainforests and I would have said yes…. albeit with some trepidation maybe.)

So I picked her up, around 11:30AM, we stopped at the Kondu restaurant in Harrisburg, one of her favorite places, got our food to go, and we were on the road heading to Baltimore and Inner Harbor.

We arrived in Inner Harbor, parked at one of the parking garages pretty close to Pratt Street and Inner Harbor, and walked to the Aquarium. Purchased our tickets (39.99$ for adults, and adults are 11 and up), and sat down and ate our Kondu that we had picked up.

My daughter has always been an animal, fish, insect, whatever person. She absolutely lives for and loves nature and all of the animals therein. Outside of spiders, I don’t think she’s met an animal, mammal, bird, insect, slug, or what have you that she doesn’t love in some capacity. (When she was little, she would collect slugs, and even kiss them. If she ever reads this, she will be completely pissed that I included this little factoid in it.)

So needless to say, we had an absolute blast in the Aquarium. We had been there a few times before (at least two that I can remember) as a family (me, her, her sisters, and her mom). But that didn’t change it, everything still felt ‘new’ and ‘interesting’ and we still loved it. Plus, spending the time with her, and just listening to her talk and tell me all the factoids she was reading, completely made the day.

After the Aquarium, we walked the Inner Harbor, looking at the boats, the Trade Building, and stopping at the Barnes and Noble, where as part of her birthday ‘celebration’, she got to pick out some books. She picked out Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, as well as a few others that I’m currently blanking on.

But now it was time for dinner… …..or so we thought.

She agreed that checking out the Ministry of Brewing sounded interesting and beautiful, so we decided on going there. Not knowing enough, and not seeing anything, that they didn’t do food. We arrive, and park on a side street and walk about a half-block to get there. We get there and are asked if we have reservations…. uh oh… we didn’t, but luckily they still had seating and we were allowed in, after a long spiel about the do’s and don’ts during the pandemic at their brewery, as well as a temperature check. Which Olivia-Grace impressed the bartender who did it by timing her ‘death shot’ acting with his temperature check perfectly. I foresee a career in theater.

Now, I want to start this off – this isn’t a negative brewery review. It may sound it, and it may sound like I’m upset, but ultimately I’m not, and I enjoyed the time I spent with my daughter there. This is kind of a review of a ‘lack of good service’ or at least, being attentive in their service.

Due to walking there, I had my walking app on and it kept on while we were inside the place. That’s primarily how I know the amount of times for things. We were seated at the 10 minute mark on the app. We were quickly given a portable sign for a few seconds placed in front of our table, that we could read the beer list on, and I picked Esmeralda – a tart berliner; that could have syrups added to it – but I chose it plain, and Olivia-Grace got a birch beer. They also gave us waters, and then they took the sign away.

While in there, we chatted, and talked about the Aquarium, the upcoming school year, Baltimore, etc, etc, etc. (We did have a bit of excitement at the harbor, where apparently there was a shooting at some point in the day, and there was even a Ballistics Forensics police unit on the scene.) I finished my drink around the 35 minute mark on my phone’s app. I told Olivia-Grace since they didn’t have food we would go somewhere else in the city to get something to eat. Because we were running out of time to get home at a relatively decent time to do birthday cake and presents with my parents. I said to her I was going to get one more on draft, and get a growler (buy a growler of their’s and have it filled) with another beer. I was looking at the one IPA (an Oats IPA) to have in house, and to fill the growler with a chocolate stout.

Part of their COVID-19 pandemic rules was no leaving the table, unless you followed the direct path to the bathrooms and exit. This meant you couldn’t go near the bar, where all the employees were congregated. The employees did come out from behind the bar area and went to various tables to check on them.

They, never, once, came back, to our, table. Not once. In the entirety of the time we were there, after ordering our initial drinks. We were also in a table somewhat near their bar area, so I tried my best to flag them down, by either gesturing that I was putting my mask up (one of their rules was nobody was allowed to come to your table unless you had your mask up), staring at them, and even waving to them. All of this was ignored.

We reached the fifty minute mark, a full fifteen minutes after I finished my drink (Olivia-Grace was nursing her birch beer and it was half full yet). Still nobody approached us, checked on us, talked to us, anything. And despite a good fifteen minutes of me trying to get their attention.

At this point, I called off the idea of getting a second pint and a growler to go, mainly because til I would drink that, it would be far later getting back to my parents (since we had an hour and a half drive from their brewery to home). So sadly, I only got the one pint, and no growler, or anything, and was unable to give them more business like I wanted, and to get a better review here for the blog.

I wanted to give this a good full review, with at least two beers tried in house, a growler to try at home, etc. But they didn’t do flights, they didn’t have in-house food, so there’s obviously some parts of a typical brewery review that I just couldn’t do. Which is fine, and not fully their fault given everything going on. I understand this fully. My annoyance is more the lack of service, and how that then further impeded me on getting to try more of their beers, and to even give them a better review.

Like I said earlier, I don’t want this to come off as a negative review, or that I didn’t like them. I loved the atmosphere of the brewery. Its beautiful. Gorgeous, and a great usage of the building. The Esmeralda beer was absolutely fantastic and I loved it. (I’ll do a small mini-review here in this review, as well as a full beer review of it to be posted soon on Let Us Drink Beer’s blog, and then copied here on my own blog as well.) But, I do feel compelled to call out their service, especially in these difficult times. Because with the rules of not being able to approach their bar, we as guests were even more reliant on their service, and its even more apparent and responsible on their end to provide that service. So to have us go for 35 minutes without even checking on us while we had the first… and then another 15 minutes after that drink was finished and still no one to approach us, thats 50 minutes in total, with no one even checking on us, saying ‘hi’, or anything.

So, finally, I get up and DO approach the bar, despite the warnings. What else was I supposed to do? Nobody acknowledged us. They didn’t respond to us practically staring at them from a distance of 20 feet or so, they didn’t respond to us waving or gesturing towards them etc. I didn’t want to approach this way, but at this point, its now 55 minutes or so, and its getting late, and we need to get going. I can’t keep wasting time with an hour and a half drive home. So I approach them, get a glare, and an evil stare for ‘breaking protocol’ though nobody outright said anything or called me out on it. I ask for the check, which is a moderate and small check, (one pint, one birch beer).

At about an hour and seven minutes, we have the check finished and tip left and we are leaving. And, really, like I’ve said before, in this, and with other people, I don’t like to be negative. I typically am not with this blog. I typically will promote everything, and will talk up the positives. So please don’t misconstrue this. We had a blast, we enjoyed the atmosphere, we liked the artwork on the walls, and ceiling. The building inside and outside is beautiful. It was just a lack of good service, thats all. And hopefully, if anyone from their brewery reads this, they recognize that, and work to make it better. I really genuinely hope and assume we were an exception. A man and his daughter who was unable to drink, so we were probably relegated and forgotten about, in comparison to other tables that had two or more potential drinkers. I don’t know, maybe we were just a blind spot and forgotten about and they didn’t see my gestures or waving, or us looking. I don’t know. I know I enjoyed the beer, the atmosphere, and the building. Its just a shame that the service was less than adequate (from my perspective and our experience). I don’t think its unreasonable to be at least checked in on, or to assume that in an hour and seven minutes, I’d have more than two interactions – one of which I prompted by approaching them.

I am curious for those ‘in the industry’ what do you think of this? How long do you give a person for a pint? How often should a person be checked in on? Twenty minutes, thirty minutes, for a drink and then check in on them and see if they want a second or a check? I don’t know. I’m sure there’s a lot more knowledgeable or experienced people out there who could give a better answer than what I have, or at least some suggestions.

I want to say this, don’t NOT go to Ministry of Brewing because of this. I know if I am in the area again and will be able to – I will visit them again myself. I will hope for better service, but I do know that the beer was great, so I’m looking forward to at some point getting to try more from them.

As I said earlier, this was a brewery I was really looking forward to checking out. So maybe that factored into things, a bit of over-hyping in my own brain? Who knows. I know I enjoyed my time with my daughter, the atmosphere, and the one beer I did have. I would still recommend checking them out, if you are in the area. Like I said, I’m hoping I was the exception, not the rule on this.

But when doing a review, I’d be amiss not describing my experience, in how it happened, and not talking about it, or sugar-coating things. I haven’t embellished or changed facts, I did enjoy my time, it was a longer service time than it should have been, but the beer was genuinely delicious. So there’s my review in a nutshell. And hopefully others have had a different experience, I genuinely hope so. I want only the best for this brewery (as well as all breweries), especially in these very difficult times right now.

So, moving on to a small mini-review of the Esmeralda beer:

Beer: Esmeralda
Brewery: Ministry of Brewing
Style: Sour – Berliner Weisse
ABV: 5%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Refreshingly tart wheat ale.

They are definitely not lying, this is a refreshing, tart wheat ale. It’s not crazy puckering tart, but there is a nice, clean, crisp, refreshing, tartness to this that provides a nice flavor. Would be interesting to try this with the different syrups to see how much change there is and how much flavor those various syrups add to it.

The base, plain Esmeralda, that I had was delicious. And at only 5% I could easily see this being a day drinking beer. A growler fill of this at a baseball game or while watching a baseball game or a summer picnic sounds perfect. Not enough to get you too drunk, but still full in flavor, with a nice refreshing coolness for a hot summer day, is exactly what you want in a beer at a time like that.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 3.61 (as of 8.20.20)

Be sure to see my full review for the Let Us Drink Beer blog. I will be sure to click back on this and edit it to include the link once that gets posted (hopefully Saturday or Sunday).

For more information on Ministry of Brewing, you can check out their Untappd page: Ministry of Brewing on Untappd. Which says they have 18 unique beers with a global average rating of 3.64. Their Untappd description reads: “Baltimore’s newest craft brewery located in the historic St. Michael’s Church in the Upper Fells Point-area. Opening fall 2019.”

You can also find out more about them on their Facebook page: Ministry of Brewing on Facebook.

Likewise their Twitter page: Ministry of Brewing on Twitter.

Like I’ve said, I definitely recommend them, and would check them out. The beer I had was fantastic, and hopefully everything will be wonderful when you get to visit. If you do get to visit them, or have in the past, please leave a comment. Would love to hear how your experience was!

Be sure to check out my other travel blog posts here:

August (2019) Road Trip Series:

• Going on the Road
• The Trip: Day 1 Recap
• The Trip: Day 2 Recap
• The Trip: Day 3 Recap

Rickett’s Glen (2020) Road Trip Series:

• A Road Trip to Rickett’s Glen
• The Trip to Rickett’s Glen

Monocacy Battlefield Road Trip:

• Impromptu Two-Day Trip to Frederick Maryland
• Road Trip to Monocacy Battlefield (June 19th – June 20th, 2020)

Other Brewery Hopping Articles:

• Brewery Touring York and Hanover PA
• Brewery Hopping – 12.27.19
• Breweries Around the Outskirts of Harrisburg – 9.6.19

My Article for Breweries in PA:

• Touring Breweries Around Harrisburg

My Podcast About Breweries in Central PA:

• Beers with Strangers – A Beer Thriller in Hershey

Some other brewery tour and road trip articles:

• A Sneak Peak at the New Rubber Soul Brewery in Hummelstown
• A Brewery Tour of Mellow Mink
• Brewery Review: Battlefield Brew Works
• Brewery Review: Cushwa Brewing
• Visiting Inner Harbor Baltimore and Brewery Review: Ministry of Brewing
• A Trip to Gettysburg and Beer Review: This is Nut the Fluff You’re Looking For (Fourscore Beer Co)
• Beer Review: Road Trip Snacks (Panther Island Brewing)

Also, please welcome me in officially welcoming Olivia-Grace to the world of being a teenager (she turned 13 on August 15th, 2020). She is my oldest, I still have two more daughters to get to teenage years (God help me). But, Happy Birthday Olivia-Grace!

Cheers everyone, please be safe when out traveling, social distance, wash, and wear your masks. Soon, oh so soon hopefully, we can get back to enjoying pints together at our favorite breweries!

-B. Kline

This was originally posted to Let Us Drink Beer, a blog I (B. Kline) guest write for (about once a month). You can view the original article here: Let Us Drink Beer Blog: Beer Review: Esmeralda (Ministry of Brewing). I highly recommend checking out their blog. They are Georgia and Atlanta based and have a lot of great articles, especially if you are visiting that area of the country.

Onto the review:

Hello everyone, its me, B. Kline, from The Beer Thrillers back with another post (my usually monthly post). I took my daughter to the Baltimore Aquarium and we stopped at the Ministry of Brewing in Baltimore. A gorgeous former Cathedral turned brewery, that I had been seeing stuff about on Facebook and really wanted to check out. So I was originally going to do my brewery review for my post… but, felt it would be a bit too negative to do as a guest blog spot, so I’m doing a review of one of their beers instead. I did do a review of the brewery for my blog, which you can check out here: Brewery Review: Ministry of Brewing. Spoiler: I didn’t hate the place or the beer; just the service. But, please check out the review either way, after you’re done checking out the beer review here.

But let’s not dwell on the negatives and instead talk about the positives, like this delicious beer. So that’s why I decided to use this for my monthly guest blog spot on Let Us Drink Beer.

Beer: Esmeralda
Brewery: Ministry of Brewing
Style: Sour – Berliner Weisse
ABV: 5%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Refreshingly tart wheat ale.

They had a few variants of this through the usage of syrups; typical for Berliner Weisse’s. Some breweries will have the plain tap, and then add a cherry, or raspberry, or strawberry syrup to give it a different, more fruity flavor. I had just the original plain.

Appearance is exactly what you expect and what you are looking for in a berliner weisse. Wheat looking, ‘beer looking’ golden hued yellowish beer. A nice white thin lined foam to the head, so you know its well carbonated. Its got a good crisp, clean look that you want in a nice cold refreshing beer.

Aroma is a nice, ‘tart’ ‘funky’ smell. Pretty much once again spot-on or right on target for what berliner weisse’s and other similar style (farmhouse ales, saisons, etc.) should be. It has that distinct ‘sour’ smell, with the notes of wheat, hint of spices, and just a nice smell. Nothing out of the ordinary, nothing unpleasant, nothing wrong.

Flavor is refreshing, tart, crisp, relaxed, and not too ‘lethal’ at 5%. They are definitely not lying, this is a refreshing, tart wheat ale. It’s not crazy puckering tart, but there is a nice, clean, crisp, refreshing, tartness to this that provides a nice flavor. Would be interesting to try this with the different syrups to see how much change there is and how much flavor those various syrups add to it. 5% is a great middle-road ABV that lets you enjoy several of these without it becoming overwhelming or too much; that refreshing area where you can have a few and still drive home safely, enjoying them out in the sun at a picnic or baseball game. I believe they had a cherry, strawberry, lime, and blue raspberry for their flavors (though I might be misremembering). I would be interested in trying the lime and blue raspberry (not a huge fan of cherry or strawberry).

I wanted to try several other beers from them, or at least one more, while there, and take another home with a growler, but unfortunately due to them not paying me attention even after being there over an hour, and having strict rules (due to COVID) about getting up, I wasn’t able to get anymore. But… I did really enjoy this beer. Hopefully their other beers are just as good. Maybe some day I’ll get back down to Baltimore and try them out.

As for this, Esmeralda is completely on point, hitting all of its marks. Nothing completely amazing, but does exactly what you want the beer to do, and thats far more than can be said about a lot of beers.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 3.62 (as of 8.20.20)

Please check out my full review of The Ministry of Brewing. And as always everyone, thanks for reading, and you can check out my blog – The Beer Thrillers – where Let Us Drink Beer also guest blogs and posts. So be sure to give us both some reads and shares and likes and follows, etc. We greatly appreciate it!

Cheers!

-The Beer Thrillers
-B. Kline

A while back I did a local for local trade with a guy from the deep dirty South. I sent him Boneshire Brew Works, Tattered Flag, and Pizza Boy, in return I received New Heights Brewing, Heist Brewing, WiseACRE, and Southern Prohibition Brewing. This was actually an old can though that he sent me. Dated on the bottom – Canned on December 28th 2018, and I received the beer mail back in August 2019. (Luckily as a sour, its not a big deal, and I even ended up waiting until January 2020 to actually drink it. I don’t think aging affected it too much; but at the same time I do want to mention it for the purposes and sake of the review.)

You’ll notice in the package all of the other beers have been already reviewed here on the blog. Paradise Lost, Adjective Animal, Pina Colada, and Gotta Get Up to Get Down. I enjoyed the group, and this really is no exception. Its not my favorite of this batch of beer mail, but its certainly not the worst beer I’ve ever had before.

I’m not a huge cherry person, in beer or in food, or flavor. Most times it reminds me of the horrible children’s medicine we all took when we were younger, Robitussin and the like, and that always brings up bad memories. (Like thinking about tequila or jaegermeister or shots the day after a horrible binge and hangover due to said drinks.)

Cherry is just too all over the place. Especially if its used as a syrup in the brewing process. Puree isn’t much better, but its some. Maraschino cherries seem to be the ones that most remind me of the old Robitussin bad medicine and just induces the shivers at even the smell.

Luckily that isn’t the case here. There isn’t that ‘yucky’ Robitussin medicine taste, and luckily the sour is more tart than sweet or cloying and syrupy. But lets save this discussion for the full review….

Beer: I Cannot Tell a Lie
Brewery: New Heights Brewing Company
Style: Sour – Berliner Weisse
ABV: 8.7%
IBU: 5
Untappd Write-Up: Imperial Cherry Berliner Weisse

Not the most descriptive of Untappd write-ups / descriptions, but its apt enough I do suppose. New Heights Brewing Company is a micro brewery from Nashville Tennessee, and on Untappd they have 191 unique beers and a 3.97 global rating (as of 2.17.20).

Appearance on this is a bright yellow – golden hue. Sunshiny and bright. Not fully clear and translucent but definitely not opaque. Filtered. Little head, nice carbonation. Nice glowy look to the beer especially in the light.

Aroma is a ‘tart smell’. Its easy to notice it, but a bit harder to define it. If you’ve had a Berliner Weisse or Kolsche or similar tart smelling beers, you can pick it up right away. The cherry notes are there, and you can already tell its not going to be the syrupy medicinal cherry. It has a nice aroma with nothing unpleasant or overpowering.

This is certainly a sipping beer, not a gulping beer. There is good degree of tartness to this. No extreme mouth-puckering sourness, but a definable tartness. The cherry taste is nice and flavorful, definitely not the syrupy or even puree like cherry in some beers (and drinks). Definitely no Robitussin taste. There is a dryness to this, almost akin to champagne, not quite wine dry, but champagne-like to some degree. There is also a bit of an acidity to this, comes possibly with the yeast strain that makes it dry and gives that ‘tart’ smell to the beer. There is just a wee bit of cloying to this and with it a bit of sweetness, especially at the end of the beer that also leaves a bit of an ending aftertaste, though it fades quickly enough.

My Untappd Rating: ***.75
Global Untappd Rating: 3.69 (as of 2.17.20)

That was the last of the batch from the South. I do have the beer mail from California to start drinking up and reviewing. Also, and fingers crossed, hopefully, tonight I’ll do the Intemperance beer by Tree House and complete that series.

Thank you all for reading. Please follow and like and check us out on Facebook and Twitter.

Peace and cheers all!

-B. Kline

I know I said I was going to do the flight I had at Tattered Flag, but I’m pushing that off til tomorrow (when I’m off). Its late, its cold, and I worked all day, went to the library, stopped at Sheetz, and currently am drinking some cheap crappy malt liquor I picked up there on a whim (Johnny Bootlegger Beverage Company). They had a couple different “bootlegger” / “mafia” themed ones, and I’m a sucker for anything Mob related (loved Mario Puzo’s novels, The Godfather movies, Goodfellas, Scarface, anything done by Scorsese, …really looking forward to seeing The Irishman, hopefully on Friday the 22nd me and my friends will get to see it). So I’m not really finding myself in the mood to do the massive 5-beer flight review. So I’m doing a bit of a simpler one in the meantime. So, sorry for anyone who read my Cox Brewing Company’s 556 Stout review where I said I’d do the Tattered Flag flight review – that will have to wait til tomorrow. (Early in the day though, so it won’t be too much longer.)

I had this Berliner Weiss from Crosstown Brewing Company last night while typing up the review for the 556 Stout. It was a nice easy breezy drink (fitting for its name), so I figured I’d do the review. I’ve never had anything from them before, and had gotten the beer in a trade through the mail.

According to Crosstown Brewing Company’s Untappd page: ” When you eat, sleep, breathe, and drink beer like we do, average just won’t do. Every detail has to be considered. Grain, hops, water and yeast have to be delicately balanced to achieve the desired flavor. We’ve been working on these recipes for years to get them just right. Now that we’ve got these beers ready to go, we need someone to share them with! Let us bring the exciting flavors we’ve developed to you. At CBC, we know you can find pale, fizzy beer just about anywhere. If you’re like us, though, full bodied and flavorful beer is worth searching for. We’re proud to provide Memphis with a local source for beer that we can all be proud of. ” They have 61 unique beers and a global rating of 3.64.

Let’s take a look at this beer:

Beer: Boat Drinks: Pina Colada Berliner
Brewery: Crosstown Brewing Company
Style: Sour – Berliner Weisse
ABV: 4.5%
IBU: None
Untappd Write-Up: Berliner weisse brewed with pineapple and coconut .

This is certainly not a November – oh my god its freezing so bad that parts of my body are falling off – kind of beer. But, when have I ever done beer at a normal or right time? (I’m the guy sitting outside and doing yard work with a 16% Stout in 94 degree weather.)

Appearance is a light yellowing brownish hue. A normal sour, or berliner weisse style coloring. Not a fruited sour or a thick milkshake or thick smoothie sours, but just a general weisse light brown and yellow color.

Aroma smells like a pina colada. Shocking right? It would be a bad thing if it didn’t! But thankfully it does. Heavy pineapple and coconut aromas abound with this one.

Taste is definite berliner weisse, a nice sour tartness, with notable flavors. The coconut and pineapple fight here, kinda with neither taking prominence but both being there, and neither being as prominent as I wish. They are definitely there though, just seems muted or subtle when it should be more upfront on it. This is meant to be like the beer name suggests – a boat drink, a nice summer beer, relaxing on a beach or on the deck of a boat, or even in your backyard rather than mowing. Drinking it then would probably up it a bit in rating, just due to how the mind works, but its still not a bad beer.

My Untappd Rating: ***.75
Global Untappd Rating: 3.42 (as of 11.13.19)

And don’t worry folks, I promise to have that Tattered Flag beer flight review up tomorrow! Until then…. keep drinking and rating and commenting and liking and following and subscribing and sharing and doing all kinds of other cool people social media stuff!

Cheers.

-B. Kline

If you are from the Central PA area, as you can tell, this picture was not taken from today, but it is me finally getting the review up and done, and its also nice to look at a more beautiful time than the ugly rainy dreary day we had today. So while sipping on just a Perpetual IPA (nothing too fancy I’m afraid) and watching the World Series (have to give a shout out to the Houston Astros, pulling for them since my beloved Phillies didn’t even make the playoffs) as I type up this review.

So I drank the beer, took the picture, and all that back on October 11th. And I’m sure I planned to type up the review and post it then. I know I have many backlogged beer reviews to do (several from Troegs, Tattered Flag, and Rotunda, as well as some from Boneshire, and some from the beer mails I’ve received), and this was most likely planned that night or the day after. Trying to recall what I did that night that led me to not posting the review… and I don’t remember, but I’m going to bet I got drunk. Probably went out drinking with D. Scott or something similar.

But have no fear, as this World Series Game 1 heats up, I’m posting the review up now.

Beer: Athena
Brewery: Creature Comforts Brewing Company
Style: Sour – Berliner Weisse
ABV: 4.5%
IBU: No IBU
Untappd Write-Up: A refreshing, gently tart, German-style wheat beer. Our take on the classic Berliner has a blend of citric and fruit notes with nods to cider and sauvignon blanc.

Its the 8th inning now, and we got a game on our hands, 5-3 Nationals. My prediction for this game ahead of time was 3-1, so I was way off base. I’m still predicting Astros in six, so we’ll see how that goes.

Anyway, back to the review…

This is a beautiful beer. On a gorgeous sunny day like the 11th was, instead of mowing, I sat and drank this while reading, and it was lovely. Its tart, refreshing, not heavy, not boozy, just a perfect mid-day drink.

From as soon as its poured it bubbles up and it doesn’t stop bubbling until you finish drinking it. It is pretty much a champagne beer with a tart and dry finish that leaves you wanting more.

Appearance is straw yellow and clear. Its effervescent with a champagne like bubbling and carbonation that continues until the glass is drained.

Aroma is almost grape and wine like. Some stone fruit smell and notes, but mostly it just has a dry and tart wine-like smell.

Taste is a dry, champagne finish. Its tart, its crisp, its refreshing. Its very crushable and would be an easy all-day sipper on the back patio reading rather than mowing or hedging or weeding. A perfect procrastinator beer. There is a grape-wine/champagne taste, and a bit of a yeasty-taste, but overall its just tart and rereshingly clear and crisp.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 3.8 (as of 10.22.19)

Sorry this might not be the most comprehensive review, time has slipped on me with this one, and I also don’t think this is as complex a beer for a super deep introspective review.

The Astros just made it 5-4 in the bottom of the 8th, getting some life in them to make a late run here it looks like. Fingers crossed!

I really don’t know how this one got away from me, and how the time spaced out on this as well, felt like I just drank this last Thursday or Friday, but here it was a Friday the week before. Time skips? Like the Futurama episode? No idea.

But I do have plenty of beer reviews that I need to upload. Every Thursday/Friday I tell myself I’m going to post them, and get to them, …and then life happens and it all gets pushed back, so I apologize for that. Thursday and Friday are my days off, and hopefully this week I’ll actually stick to my idea of making it a “writing weekend”.

End of the 8th and its 5-4, so we’ll have to wait and see what the 9th has in store! Exciting start to the World Series this year!

For those wondering, in the picture, the books I was reading that day were:

* AftershocK
* The Killing Joke

I recommend both, definitely recommend The Killing Joke, as any true Batman nerd will tell you, its tremendous.

Ok folks, keep your fingers crossed for the ‘Stros and keep drinking!

-B. Kline