Sour - Fruited - The Beer Thrillers https://thebeerthrillers.com Central PA beer enthusiasts and beer bloggers. Homebrewers, brewery workers, and all around beer lovers. Mon, 08 Jan 2024 20:41:04 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.2 https://i0.wp.com/thebeerthrillers.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/cropped-The-Beer-Thrillers-December-2022-Logo.jpg?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 Sour - Fruited - The Beer Thrillers https://thebeerthrillers.com 32 32 187558884 RAR Brewing Brings the Nostalgia with Muppets Out of Order Series https://thebeerthrillers.com/2023/08/20/rar-brewing-brings-the-nostalgia-with-muppets-out-of-order-series/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rar-brewing-brings-the-nostalgia-with-muppets-out-of-order-series Mon, 21 Aug 2023 03:33:45 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=12271
RAR Brewing gives The Muppet’s the Out of Order treatment

A Sucker For Nostalgia

I’m a sucker for nostalgia items.  I think I’ve been looking back a lot on poignant items from my childhood since having Scarlet.  Combine that with my love of drinking beer and of course I was drawn to desire the newest Out of Order series that RAR Brewing company just released. (See our article here – RAR Brewing – Out of Order – Muppet Series Can Release.)

The purchase of the RAR series spoof of the Muppets was a surprise for my Birthday next week.  I’ve managed to drink two of these tasty treats since being lucky enough to acquire my present early.  I was even lucky enough to be gifted the sweet glass they make with every out of order series drop. 

(Interjection by Ben: Quick shout out to Ryan Bushman for hooking us up. Ryan is a great dude and was going to RAR Brewing the day of the release and grabbed us the five – pack as well as the awesome glass and brought it back to Central PA for us. He let me get this as a wonderful surprise birthday gift for Amy a few days early…. psst…. she turns…. *muffled sounds*…. on the 22nd.)

Wocka Wocka Pie

Out of Order: Wocka Wocka Pie by RAR Brewing

My first choice Friday evening was the Wocka Wocka pie.  It is described on Untapped as “Our lactose base conditioned over bananas, graham crackers, cake batter and whipped cream.”  I was desperate for a sweet treat after a long week and this one stood out to me.  Maybe I could hear Fozzy Bear saying “Wocka Wocka” as I read it and that made me smile.  You smell the bananas before you taste them.  There is that subtle graham cracker taste lingering in there.  I am not sure I could tell the difference or the blending of the cake batter and whipped cream was just a sweet taste for me.   A few reviewing on Untapped also tasted hints of coconut.  I missed those too.

It is on untapped with a 6% ABV and at a 4.22 overall rating with 27 total ratings since the August 12th release.  This one made me dig out my old Fozzy, Kermit and Piggy stuffed animals that came out way back in 1988.  And you better believe I own all three. 

Holiday Huggable Muppet Babies – Muppet Wiki

Beer: Wocka Wocka Pie
Brewery: RAR Brewing
Style: Sour – Fruited
ABV: 6%
IBU: N / A
Untappd Description: Our lactose base conditioned over bananas, graham crackers, cake batter, and whipped cream
Global Untappd Rating: 4.22 (as of 8.20.23)

Resident Daredevil

Out of Order: Resident Daredevil by RAR Brewing

The second Birthday present I cracked open was the Resident Daredevil.  It is described on Untapped as “Our lactose grape jelly, and raspberry with a splash of creaminess for the body.”  Right away I smelled the sweet grape and berries with a creaminess at the end.  I am not sure I got any of the peanut butter in the taste.  Was it just me?  One rating from Untapped describes RD as “needs more PB, still very good though.” 

I am immediately catapulted back to the scenes of the “Great Gonzo” Most notably the scenes of him being shot out of a cannon.

https://youtu.be/WngfzIRdXJY
Gonzo Shoots Himself Out of a Cannon

Resident Daredevil also comes in on Untapped with a 6% ABV and an overall rating of 4.08 and a total of 21 check ins.

Beer: Resident Daredevil
Brewery: RAR Brewing
Style: Sour – Fruited
ABV: 6%
IBU: N / A
Untappd Description: Our lactose base conditioned over peanut butter, Concord grape jelly, and raspberry with a splash of creaminess for the body
Global Untappd Rating: 4.08 (as of 8.20.23)

Ben’s picture of him finishing Gonzo’s “Resident Daredevil” by RAR Brewing

Birthday Week

I’ll be celebrating my birthday week in style and I plan to finish out the series by next Sunday.

Drink more beer!

  • Amy

RAR Brewing

You can check out our other articles about RAR Brewing below:

For more information on RAR Brewing, the following comes from Untappd. RAR Brewing is a micro brewery from Cambridge, MD. They have 754 unique beers and over 470,000 ratings with a global average rating of 4 (exactly 4) (as of 8.20.23). Their Untappd description reads: Based in Cambridge, MD on the banks of the Chesapeake Bay.

You can find them on the following social media pages:

(Stay tuned for in the future we have a lot more Out of Order series beer reviews to post – featuring the other Star Wars beers, as well as the Christmas ones, and the Muppets ones.)

Amy’s Column Series

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

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

All of Our Nerd Content

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

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

Star Wars:

Futurama

Lord of the Rings:

Magic the Gathering:

Zelda:

Rick and Morty:

Space Balls:

Game of Thrones:

The Simpsons:

Back to the Future:

Scrooged:

Groundhog Day:

A Christmas Story:

The Peanuts:

Pro Wrestling:

Soccer:

World Cup:

Phillies:

Matrix:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:

HP Lovecraft / Cthulhu:

Seinfeld:

The Muppets:

Other:

Thank You For Reading

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

Cheers.

Thanks again for reading everyone. Take some time to check out the site, we greatly appreciate it. We have affiliates and sponsors with Pretzels.com and Beer Drop.com, which can save you money on their products if you are interested. Check out our articles on them. Make sure to check out our beer reviews, brewery reviews, Amy’s weekly column, book reviews, hike reviews, and so much more.

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! You can also reach out to us at our direct e-mail address: thebeerthrillers@gmail.com

Thank you for visiting our blog. Please make sure to follow, bookmark, subscribe, and make sure to comment and leave feedback and like the blog posts you read. It will help us to better tailor the blog to you, the readers, likes and make this a better blog for everyone.

We are working on a massive project here at The Beer Thrillers. We are creating a map of all of the breweries across the United States. State by state we are adding maps of all of the different states with every brewery in each state. (We will eventually get to the US Territories, as well as the Canadian Provinces, and possibly more countries; as well as doing some fun maps like a map of all the breweries we’ve been to, and other fun maps.) You can find the brewery maps here:

We are also working on a project of creating printable and downloadable PDFs and resources to be able to check and keep track of all of the breweries you’ve been to. So stay tuned for that project once we are finished with the Brewery Maps of the US States.

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

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – Facebook, Facebook Group, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Influence. As well as our brand new Tumblr page. 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!

You can now find us on our Discord Server here: The Beer Thrillers (Discord Server). We’ve also joined LinkTree to keep track of all of our social media pages, as well as hot new articles we’ve written.

The Beer Thrillers on LinkTree can be found here: The Beer Thrillers LinkTree.

We have partnered with an affiliateship with Beer Drop.com. You can check out that partnership and receive great discounts, coupons, and more here: Beer Drop. Going here and logging in and ordering will help you receive your discounts and coupons as well as help support our page. Thank you for helping to support The Beer Thrillers and to help us maintain the site and blog and to keep it running.

The Beer Thrillers are a blog that prides itself on writing beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, news (especially local to the Central PA brewery scene), as well as covering other topics of our interests – such as hiking, literature and books, board games, and video games which we sometimes stream with our friends over at Knights of Nostalgia. We are currently listed as #7 on FeedSpot’s “Top 100 Beer Blogs” and #8 on FeedSpot’s “Top 40 Pennsylvania Blogs”. (As of January 2023.) Thank you for reading our site today, please subscribe, follow, and bookmark. Please reach out to us if you are interested in working together. If you would like to donate to the blog you can here: Donate to The Beer Thrillers. Thank you!

You can also check out our partnership and affiliation with Pretzels.com, where ordering pretzels and using our affiliate code – AFFILIATE CODE IS THEBEERTHRILLERS20 – will help you get wonderful pretzels and help us maintain and keep this blog running. Thank you!

If you would like to reach out to us for product reviews, beer reviews, press release writing, and other media – please contact us at thebeerthrillers@gmail.com. Thank you.

If you would like to help keep the blog running soundly and smoothly, you may donate to us to help us keep the costs of the blog to a minimum. We greatly appreciate it. Thank you. (Clicking this link will take you to the page to make a donation. Thank you very much for helping us stay afloat!)

(Thank you for reading. The opinions, thoughts, and expressions of each article posted on The Beer Thrillers represents the author of the content and only themselves. It does not express the opinions, beliefs, or ideas held by The Beer Thrillers or any company in which the author themselves work for. Each piece of written content is written by the creator(s) listed in the authorial section on each article unless otherwise noted. Their opinions, comments, and words on screen do not represent any company in which they work for and / or are affiliated with or any non – profits that they contribute to. Thank you.)

 

 

]]> 12271 Cox Brewing Company: Back to Their Roots https://thebeerthrillers.com/2023/04/16/cox-brewing-company-back-to-their-roots/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=cox-brewing-company-back-to-their-roots Mon, 17 Apr 2023 00:56:06 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=11070
Our trip to Cox Brewing Company

Our Trip To Cox Brewing Company

It was in between rain downpours we got to stop by the Cox Brewing Company yesterday.  It was the hardest weekend to try to plan with this everchanging weather in Central Pa.  But somehow it worked out in our favor and we got to enjoy a quick afternoon in CBC.  With our 5-month-old in tow we decided to stop in. 

We tried the Tropic Lightning and The Big red one.  You know me, I couldn’t resist a snack to go with the brews.  We shared the Gene Wenger’s meats and fine foods snack pack.  It was the perfect combination of sweet bologna and Colby jack cheese.   This was part of the offering for the “garage snacks” menu.

Tropic Lightning

Tropic Lightning (beer closest to Amy and Scarlet)

From Untappd:

Beer: Tropic Lightning
Brewery: Cox Brewing Company
Style: Sour – Fruited
ABV: 4.3%
IBU: 11
Untappd Description: This tropical fruity kettle-sour ale made with passion fruit, mango, and pineapple purees (contains lactose).

The Tropic Lightning was light and fruity.  From Untapped: This tropical fruity kettle sour ale made with passion fruit, mango and pineapple purees (contains lactose).  With a 4.3% ABV it doesn’t kick your butt much.  And on the muggy day it was on Saturday it was incredibly soothing.  And while snacking it paired very well with the sweet bologna.

The Big Red One

The Big Red One (beer closest to camera)

From Untappd:

Beer: The Big Red One
Brewery: Cox Brewing Company
Style: Strong Ale – American
ABV: 7.5%
IBU: 68
Untappd Description: (Blank)

The Big red one was a good change from the kettle sour, this was strong and tad higher of an ABV at 7.5% according to Untapped.  It had a great combo of tastes that tossed me back and forth between malty but roasty at the same time. 

Cox Brewing Company – The Garage

Cox Brewing Company – The Garage – Rheems

We have been to the Elizabethtown (Pizza Town) location a couple of times, and Ben has been to the garage a few times in the past, but this was my first time visiting the garage in Rheems.

Enjoying our nibbles and the brews we were tucked in a garage bay in Rheems, PA.  There was pub style seating, seating at the bar and some regular seating as well.  It brings you back to the feelings of kicking back in your friends’ garage and enjoying some beers together.  Their spot at the garage is friendly and you feel like you are part of their cheers meet choppers vibe.

From Ben’s article:

The garage in Rheems is their original location, and for many old school Cox Brewing Company fans and patrons they’ll remember it fondly. Its a big large open venue with an inside garage that feels very much like Cheers meets Choppers. I have fond memories of some of their anniversary events hanging out with Ron Bell and others at the garage. Looking forward to getting to come back out to the old shop.

You’ll be able to find the brewery up on the hill, back behind the house, in a garage / building bay. The address is:

276 Heisey Quarry Road, Building 1 – Bay 5
Rheems / Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania

Cox Brewing Company Returning to Their Roots

We decided to end our visit with a B-52 Belgian Dubbel and this was a decision we knew we made very well.  To top off the visit with the toe-curling B-52 was perfection.  It is listed on Untapped with an ABV of 8% and it is so smooth you’d never know.  And to quote our long lost writer, Josh Doncevic: “For having such heavy flavors and notes, this is a beer that disappears from your glass and you’re left wondering where it all went and why it’s all gone.”  I sit here regretting my choice to not get a crowler fill before we left. 

(You can read Josh Doncevic’s B-52 Belgian Dubbel review here: Beer Review: B-52 Belgian Dubbel (Bottle-Conditioned, 2017) – Cox Brewing Company (CBC).)

It’s 2017 and a friend of mine has asked me to join him and his father at a small brewery in Rheems, PA. Back then I had never heard of Cox Brewing Company, much less tried any of their beer. However, it’s local brewery and I’m more than willing to check a new place out. We pull into an industrial and farm looking part of town and up to what appeared to be a hole in the wall. The kind of place that only those that were “in-the-know” frequented. And there we were, walking into a crowded and cramped garage that was abuzz with conversation. The whole time I was wondering just how good the beer was, but after the first sip, all doubt fled through that same garage door and I began enjoying myself. Spent a few moments scanning the chalkboard menu and spotted something very interesting. I was going to choose by name, and then I noticed the style. WOAH! “Dubbel” Now there’s something you don’t find very often. While being very happy to see the style, I have to admit I was still a bit of a sceptic. My personal experience with US brewed Belgian styles has been a bit spotty at best. Not many breweries seem to be able to replicate the unique taste found in Belgian beers. So naturally, I did what any beer nerd would do: I ordered a pint. I remember being very glad I was sitting down as much fresher versions of the flavors I’ll depict later washed over me. I enjoyed it so much that I vowed then and there that I would be back to buy two bottles, because only a fool would buy one. I returned a week later, making good on my promise. One of those bottles was had two years ago, and thought it unlikely that it would get any better.

Beer Review: B-52 Belgian Dubbel (Bottle-Conditioned, 2017) – Cox Brewing Company (CBC)

I would recommend to put CBC on your list of brewery stops and more than once.  With the friendly atmosphere, slamming beers and yummy snacks it is good parts of what we all hope to find in a brewery.

Drink More Beer!
– Amy

For More Information on Cox Brewing Company

For more information on Cox Brewing Company – check out their Social Media Platforms. But first, Untappd describes Cox Brewing Company thusly:

Cox Brewing Company is a micro brewery from Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania. It has 144 unique beers and over 13,300~ ratings. It has a global average rating of 3.76 (as of 4.16.23). It’s Untappd description reads: “Cox Brewing Company (CBC) is a veteran-owned brewery located in Elizabethtown, PA in the village of Rheems.”

Find them on social media at the following:

For More Articles From The Beer Thrillers

For more articles from The Beer Thrillers that we’ve written about Cox Brewing Company, check out the following:

The Battle of the Breweries (2023)

Cox Brewing Company had a fantastic showing in this year’s Battle of the Breweries; losing to fellow veteran owned brewery – Tattered Flag Brewery and Distillery in the Conference Finals.

Voting is still going on (for about three more hours) for the tournament finals. You can vote here:

Amy’s Column Series

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

Thank You For Reading

Thank you for reading everyone! (B. Kline jumping in again to close out the article.) We always greatly appreciate everyone reading our posts, and Amy has been so thrilled by the responses and comments her column posts have been getting.

I want to once again point out The Battle of the Breweries (2023) is wrapping up tonight at 11:59:59 PM EST. But you can still vote (well… until midnight anyway), check out the following to vote:

We have lots of great new articles here on the blog, a detailed look at each of the breweries involved in the Finals Fatal Four Way:

We’ve also wrapped up the Map of Vermont breweries, so that brings us up to three maps done so far. You can find them here:

Thank you all very much for reading. If you enjoyed the article, don’t hesitate to like, share, or comment, and make sure you subscribe and follow and bookmark the blog and site!

Cheers All!

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! You can also reach out to us at our direct e-mail address: thebeerthrillers@gmail.com

Thank you for visiting our blog. Please make sure to follow, bookmark, subscribe, and make sure to comment and leave feedback and like the blog posts you read. It will help us to better tailor the blog to you, the readers, likes and make this a better blog for everyone.

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

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

You can now find us on our Discord Server here: The Beer Thrillers (Discord Server). We’ve also joined LinkTree to keep track of all of our social media pages, as well as hot new articles we’ve written.

We have partnered with an affiliateship with Beer Drop.com. You can check out that partnership and receive great discounts, coupons, and more here: Beer Drop. Going here and logging in and ordering will help you receive your discounts and coupons as well as help support our page. Thank you for helping to support The Beer Thrillers and to help us maintain the site and blog and to keep it running.

The Beer Thrillers are a blog that prides itself on writing beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, news (especially local to the Central PA brewery scene), as well as covering other topics of our interests – such as hiking, literature and books, board games, and video games which we sometimes stream with our friends over at Knights of Nostalgia. We are currently listed as #7 on FeedSpot’s “Top 100 Beer Blogs” and #8 on FeedSpot’s “Top 40 Pennsylvania Blogs”. (As of January 2023.) Thank you for reading our site today, please subscribe, follow, and bookmark. Please reach out to us if you are interested in working together. If you would like to donate to the blog you can here: Donate to The Beer Thrillers. Thank you!

You can also check out our partnership and affiliation with Pretzels.com, where ordering pretzels and using our affiliate code – AFFILIATE CODE IS THEBEERTHRILLERS20 – will help you get wonderful pretzels and help us maintain and keep this blog running. Thank you!

If you would like to reach out to us for product reviews, beer reviews, press release writing, and other media – please contact us at thebeerthrillers@gmail.com. Thank you.

]]> 11070 Beer Review: Green Milk (RAR Brewing) https://thebeerthrillers.com/2022/05/27/beer-review-green-milk-rar-brewing/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=beer-review-green-milk-rar-brewing Sat, 28 May 2022 01:07:00 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=9346
Green Milk by RAR Brewing (Taco Thursday)

Taco Thursday

As you can see, last night was Taco Thursday at Bender Braus Brewing (or Casa De Kline). Deciding on which Star Wars themed beer (out of so many options currently in my fridge) to have along with the meal, I decided on Green Milk – namely because I know I’ll be picking up a second tomorrow at RAR’s Star Wars Day Drop. (Along with Blue Milk coming back, as well as new beers such as “As You Wish” and “Shooting Womp Rats”.) But here at the home of The Beer Thrillers we find any reason to have a taco night, and so last night – Thursday was as good as any. And not to humble brag too much, but we make some banging tacos too.

And of course, with making tacos, and eating tacos… comes drinking some beer. And since the next day (ie. today) was going to be the release of the Obi-Wan Kenobi show, and needing to do a Star Wars review; what better than one of the Star Wars beers from RAR Brewing?

RAR’s Upcoming Star Wars Can Drop

Well, tomorrow’s Star Wars can drop to be exact. I’ve covered it pretty extensively in this article: RAR’s Star Wars Can Drop. We will be there for it, not sure what time, but we’ll be there. Planning on leaving the Carlisle area (have an early morning obligation in Carlisle) around 9:30 – 10 AM, so hopefully getting there around noon to one’ish. We might be leaving Carlisle even earlier (I was hoping to leave at 8 AM but I don’t think that will happen.)

The article covers the beers they are releasing and the time of the drop (spoiler – its 11 AM when they open). They will likely have some on tap, but not all, and maybe not even any, I’m not sure.

So I figured Thursday night would be a great time to check out the Green Milk (Batch 1) before the new release, and review it for my Star Wars day.

RAR Brewing

We’ve got several RAR Brewing’s beers here on the blog. Notably their Out of Order series – specifically for my Star Wars days (as well as just covering Star Wars beers in general on here). You can find our list of RAR Beer Reviews here:

RAR Brewing is out of Cambridge Maryland. Cambridge Maryland is near the bottom of the state, bayside.

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

Their Out of Order series is one of the most popular series of beers on the East Coast (up there with Burley Oak’s JREAM series, Dewey Beer’s Thrills, and Fourscores Jahmbas and Swerves). According to Untappd, there is 268 Out of Order (unique) beers.

According to Untappd, RAR Brewing is a micro brewery from Cambridge, MD. They have 672 unique beers with an exact global rating of 4 (as of 5.27.22). Their Untappd bio reads: “Based in Cambridge, MD on the banks of the Chesapeake Bay.”

Beer Review

Green Milk by RAR Brewing

Beer: Out of Order: Green Milk (Batch 1)
Brewery: RAR Brewing
Style: Sour – Fruited
ABV: 6%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Our lactose sour base conditioned on Thala-Sirens Milk.

Not often do I get to go into descriptors of “green” and “milky” for appearance. But here, today, I find myself doing just that. It looks like someone ate a bowl of Lucky Charms with only the green marshmallows, ate all the cereal, and left the milk. It poured very bubbly, very carbonated, even after having sat in my fridge for a year. I did roll it before pouring, and it poured smoothly, and left a few chunks in the can.

Aroma is sweet, has a cereal like smell to it, but also a sweet… candy, cloying, weird smell to it. Not bad weird, but just an odd smell for a beer certainly. It smells like a sweetness, like a cereal, lactose, sugary, frosty pop, kinda smell. Its a bit hard to describe, and maybe my ‘sniffer’ ain’t up to snuff on this type of stuff (its a young kid’s game anymore, there’s no country left for us old men), but its hard to quite pinpoint the aromas.

Oh boy, lets dive into this one. I grab this quote directly from my review of Blue Milk: “The texture, consistency, and overall look follows suit. It has the texture, a light grittyness, but still overall smooth of a drink still, of melted ice cream. Everything about this just has the appearance of melted ice cream, which I think is the overall attempt of it.” And think it completely applies here…. just green instead of blue. It is very sweet, it is very juicy, and no real sourness to it. This is very smooth, silky, and sweet, and drinks easily enough for how its appearance is. It can be a bit cloying, and it is possibly overly too sweet. I would highly recommend not chugging this beer, thats 100% for sure. Its a slow sipping beer, probably best for desert and a long night, rather than to have as part of a huge group of beers, or to hang out, or maybe even with tacos. It might not have been the greatest combination. All in all, its a fun beer to drink and enjoy, would make great for sharing and having people over with, a full can isn’t horrible, but starts bordering on the ‘too much’ area. Recommend at least giving it a try if nothing else but for the novelty’s sake of it.

My Untappd Rating: ****.25
Global Average Untappd Rating: 4.08 (as of 5.27.22)

Spoilers Time

Ok, we’re now up to the spoilers portion of the beer review. I’m going to discuss Episode 2 of Obi-Wan Kenobi show. So if you want to stay spoiler free, you can exit out here, or fly down to the bottom of the review.

Earlier today I covered in a beer review – Vader (Mispillion River Brewing Company) and covered Obi-Wan Kenobi Episode 1. Check out the beer review to see my thoughts on Episode 1 (or Part 1) of the Obi-Wan show.

Some quick links for discussion:

I will right out say I enjoyed both episodes. Imminently, miles ahead of The Book of Boba Fett. Which I pretty much downright panned on here. And I don’t think that was just my cynical Star Wars fan, typical nerd nit-picking either. I just didn’t care for the show much at all. (I’ve expressed my thoughts on that show enough here on the blog that I don’t think I need to go into it any further.)

I will say that episode two is a bit weaker than episode one. The stuff on the streets and everything was interesting, but I feel its a bit straining to think nobody recognizes Obi-Wan, but then again, thats a bit personal bias since we know him, don’t live in a galaxy full of trillions, and its also been 9 years in the show since the end of Episode III (the movie).

The stuff with Leia was a bit overplayed and over dramatic, and forceful just to make it a full episode I think. I’m also not a fan of parkour in shows and movies when it doesn’t really outright need to be used. The shoot out scenes and stuff were fun and interesting, I enjoyed the giant crock head alien. I am a bit disappointed though that there’s not a ton of “Star Warsy” aliens. Like I said previously.

I was not a huge fan of the ending. With Reva turning, and stabbing The Grand Inquisitor, as well as the “big reveal”. I still think it was a very good episode, maybe a 7 out of 10 whereas Part I was 8.5 or 9 out of 10. I have high hopes for next week’s episode. Sad to see its only a 6 part series, but I think that will benefit it in the end. A quick, easy run time, for a straight linear story. And now we’re 1/3rd the way through already. And after next week’s episode, we’ll be 1/2 the way through.

Nerd Reviews

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

Star Wars:

Lord of the Rings:

Rick and Morty:

Space Balls:

Game of Thrones:

The Simpsons:

Back to the Future:

Scrooged:

Groundhog Day:

A Christmas Story:

Pro Wrestling:

Phillies:

Matrix:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:

Seinfeld:

Other:

Thanks For Reading

As always everyone, thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed this second edition of Star Wars friday! Check with us next friday for the next Obi-Wan Kenobi show episode and beer review!

Cheers!

-B. Kline

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! You can also reach out to us at our direct e-mail address: thebeerthrillers@gmail.com

Thank you for visiting our blog. Please make sure to follow, bookmark, subscribe, and make sure to comment and leave feedback and like the blog posts you read. It will help us to better tailor the blog to you, the readers, likes and make this a better blog for everyone.

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

]]> 9346 Beer Review: Sorbetto 42 (Ever Grain Brewing Co.) https://thebeerthrillers.com/2022/01/16/beer-review-sorbetto-42-ever-grain-brewing-co/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=beer-review-sorbetto-42-ever-grain-brewing-co Sun, 16 Jan 2022 14:50:53 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=8553
Sorbetto Number 42 by Ever Grain Brewing Co.

Sorbetto

There is a secret Sorbetto dance I perform when I see Ever Grain post they came out with a new Sorbetto. I might do a similar celebration dance for the yinzbetto series and Drippity announcements too. Since it’s so darn cold out, this dance was effective at also warming up my cold bones.

Yes, I’m still obsessed with the Sorbetto series. I just feel like Ever Grain gets me when it comes to this series. It was everything I needed in my life and well…. still need! The forty second one in the series does not disappoint! Check out my other Sorbetto review – Beer Review: Sorbetto 40 (Ever Grain Brewing Co.) or my other beer review from Ever Grain Brewing (Beer Review: Missile Toad)

(You can find other Ever Grain beer reviews here as well: All Together, Peanut Butter Udder One, Multiple Beer Review: Barrel Aged Barleywine, You Think Darkness is Your Ally?, 3rd Anniversary Bourbon Barrel Aged Stout, Cinn-a-Bunn).

And now, time for the review:

Beer Review

Sorbetto #42 by Ever Grain Brewing Company

Beer: Sorbetto Series #42
Brewery: Ever Grain Brewing Co
Style: Sour – Fruited
ABV: 6%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Raspberry Swirl Sour Ale conditioned on raspberry, marshmallow, and vanilla.  *contains lactose.

Does anyone have images of the Kool-Aid man bursting through brick walls at different points in their lives?  Please tell me it isn’t just me!

Kool-Aid Man

That first sip of Sorbetto #42 I immediately visualize the Kool-Aid but in a Raspberry shape instead of the classic glass pitcher.  When he bursts through the wall instead of bricks flying there are raspberries flying at your head, aggressively.  I’m dodging the raspberries but then I get overpowered, and I’m soon buried by berries.

The Raspberry flavor is very much the HBIC in this Sour.  There is no doubt about it.  It’s a delightful mix of sweet and tart raspberries.  That first nose and that first sip don’t leave anything else for you to play with on your tongue but raspberries.  It’s just that moment when you think to yourself “ok, I’m about down with the raspberries…” the marshmallow and vanilla kick in and mellow out the fierce berry swirls.  That second sip will whip you right back in the face with the berries, watch out. 

Drink more beer,
Amy.

Ohhhhhhhhhh Yeeeeeeaahhhhhhhhhh

Thanks For Reading

Thank you for reading everyone. Have any questions, comments, or requests? Leave them for us in the comments section or on our social media pages! Thanks for reading! We appreciate you all checking in with us.

Thank you for visiting our blog. Please make sure to follow, bookmark, subscribe, and make sure to comment and leave feedback and like the blog posts you read. It will help us to better tailor the blog to you, the readers, likes and make this a better blog for everyone.

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

]]> 8553 Beer Review: Out of Order: Tatooine Tart (RAR Brewing) https://thebeerthrillers.com/2022/01/05/beer-review-out-of-order-tatooine-tart-rar-brewing/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=beer-review-out-of-order-tatooine-tart-rar-brewing Thu, 06 Jan 2022 03:52:14 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=8527
Out of Order: Tatooine Tart (by RAR Brewing) – Part of their Star Wars Out of Order Series.

Out of Order – Star Wars Series

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

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

The Book of Boba Fett

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

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

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

Now… onto the beer review!

Beer Review

Out of Order: Tatooine Tart by RAR Brewing

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posting This Article

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

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

The Book of Boba Fett – Episode Two

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

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

Boba Fett

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As if they said to themselves:

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

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

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

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

Ehh….. I’ll stop rambling here.

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

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

Some Discussion Forums

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

More Star Wars Fun

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

For More Reading

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

Star Wars:

Rick and Morty:

Space Balls:

Game of Thrones:

The Simpsons:

Back to the Future:

Scrooged:

A Christmas Story:

Pro Wrestling:

Matrix:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:

Seinfeld:

Other:

Thanks for Reading

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

Thank you for visiting our blog. Please make sure to follow, bookmark, subscribe, and make sure to comment and leave feedback and like the blog posts you read. It will help us to better tailor the blog to you, the readers, likes and make this a better blog for everyone.

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

]]> 8527 Beer Review: Sorbetto 40 (Ever Grain Brewing Co.) https://thebeerthrillers.com/2021/11/17/beer-review-sorbetto-40-ever-grain-brewing-co/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=beer-review-sorbetto-40-ever-grain-brewing-co Thu, 18 Nov 2021 02:52:56 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=8262
Sorbetto 40 by Ever Grain Brewing Co.

The big 4 0

Sorbetto #40 by Ever Grain Brewing Co

There is a secret part of me, well not so secret anymore, that is OBSESSED with the sorbetto line. Maybe a little obsession with the yinzbetto line. The Sorbetto series was the line of beers that got me through quarantine and coincidently celebrating my 40th birthday over quarantine as well. The thrill of a new sorbetto announcement STILL tickles my fancy.

Beer: Sorbetto Series #40

Brewery: Ever Grain Brewing Co

Style: Sour – Fruited

ABV: 6%

IBU: None

Untappd Description: Sour Ale aged on raspberries, Boysenberries, Strawberries, and chocolate cookies *contains Lactose

The fortieth installment of the sorbetto series from Ever Grain Brewing company was exactly what you would want it to be; fruity, dense, just slightly sour, chocolatey and just sweet enough to creep a smile across your face.  I’m pretty sure if you checked my phone’s history you would see that I have screenshotted and shared every Sorbetto Facebook post from Ever Grain. But each time I crack open a new sorbetto I am squealing with excitement! The fruity sour aromas engulf my face because, of course, I’m inhaling as deep as possible, and I am in love again.

The same with all the other sorbettos; it is dark, dense, and delicious. I can’t say for sure if I ever have specifically eaten boysenberries. After googling a boysenberry image I’m sure I have but I just thought it was a blackberry. I can say for sure I tasted all the berries dancing on my tongue. I couldn’t quite pick out a boysenberry flavor, like I said not sure if I’ve consumed them, but I can pick out the raspberry and strawberry.

One might even compare it to a tootsie pop. You taste all the berry combinations on that first sip then but then at the end a very subtle chocolate flavor. Maybe a multi berry tootsie pop then is more appropriate.

Some might refer to this as a desert beer, but I tend to rich for a sweet stout before a sour fruited beer. Whichever sweet berries or chocolate flavors are you favorite I highly recommend you try a pour while it’s still on draft or grab a 4 pack. Ever Grain should expect me to secretly stalk their Facebook until number 41 is ready!

Save the ocean, drink more beer.
-Amy

]]> 8262 Looking for good local stouts or green beer this St. Patty’s Day? https://thebeerthrillers.com/2021/03/17/looking-for-good-local-stouts-or-green-beer-this-st-pattys-day/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=looking-for-good-local-stouts-or-green-beer-this-st-pattys-day Wed, 17 Mar 2021 11:25:00 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=7411
Liquid Noise’s “A Little Extra – Goin’ Green”

Ready to celebrate St. Paddy’s Day 2021? Since… well… we really didn’t get to last year? Suddenly got an extra 1,400$ in your bank account on St. Patrick’s Day morning and not knowing what to do with it? Why not help out those restaurants that have been hurt for this past year!

Its incredibly crazy to see how its been a year since COVID mitigation efforts started, since shut downs were instituted, and we were all locked inside our homes watching Tiger King on Netflix. Looking back at the memories of the blog and my own and seeing just how little we were all prepared for everything happening… how things unfolded, watching event after event get cancelled, shut down or lock down after shut down and lock down, protocols instituted, changes to restaurants, etc…. its so crazy and surreal and unbelievable to look back on. What a time to be alive?!

Reminds me of Frodo and Gandalf discussing “crazy times to be alive in”:

Frodo: I wish it need not have happened in my time.
Gandalf: So do I, and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.

But here we are, a year out from all those shenanigans (ahh, what a great word to use on St. Patrick’s Day), and its time to celebrate. So what do you do? Let’s help out our local craft breweries instead of just jumping into the Guinness and Irish Car Bombs, let’s look at some of the great craft brewery offerings!

Stouts

There is no shortage of amazing stouts in the area; and by area, I am speaking of my area – which is the Central PA area. Think Hershey, Harrisburg, Middletown, Hummelstown, Annville, Palmyra, Mechanicsburg, etc.

There are plenty of great stouts and we can look at some of them right here. Let’s start with my home town of Hummelstown.

Rubber Soul’s 317 Stout
Rubber Soul just released a brand new coffee stout to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, and its named 317 (…if you can figure out why they named it that, please let our intern know, he’s very confused about the name, because the area code is 717).

317 Stout by Rubber Soul Brewing Company

Click here to read our Beer Review: 317 Stout (Rubber Soul Brewing Company).

It is a lovely, roasty, toasty, coffee stout. Its a Stout – Irish Dry, and its only 4.9%. The Untappd listing for it is:

Beer: 317
Brewery: Rubber Soul Brewing Company
Style: Stout – Irish Dry
ABV: 4.9%
IBU: None
Untapped Description: Roasty and smooth with a cold coffee finish from the Elementary cold brewed coffee.
Global Untappd Rating: 3.81 (as of 3.17.21)

This would make for a lovely chaser to some Jamison Whiskey, or possibly even could be a wonderful substitute for a Guinness in a Irish Car Bomb.

Troegs Independent Craft Brewery
Let’s stroll over to Hershey now and see just how many different offerings Troegs has in the stout division. (Hint – there’s a few).

First up: JavaHead Stout:

JavaHead Stout by Troegs

Beer: Java Head
Brewery: Troegs Independent Craft Brewery
Style: Stout – Coffee
ABV: 7.5%
IBU: 60
Untappd Description: JavaHead is like a day at Tröegs; it’s hard to tell where the coffee ends and the beer begins. This creamy oatmeal stout is infused with locally roasted, cold steeped coffee through our HopBack vessel, releasing subtle hints of cocoa, roasted nuts and dark mocha.
Untappd Global Average Rating: 3.7 (as of 3.17.21)

They also have two versions of their Chocolate Stout; regular and on Nitro. My preference is the Nitro (but I also tend to prefer Nitro most times in general, so take that for what it is). They are the same beer.

Troegs Chocolate Stout

Beer: Chocolate Stout
Brewery: Troegs Independent Craft Brewery
Style: Stout – Milk / Sweet
ABV: 7.1%
IBU: 41
Untappd Description: Our lush and layered Chocolate Stout showcases the best of an anthology of malts and grains: the soft, coffee-like bitterness of roasted barley, the rich caramel notes of Special B, the subtle sweetness of chocolate malt, and the silkiness of oats. Cocoa nibs add the depth of dark chocolate, and a touch of Madagascar vanilla puts a bow on this roasty winter warmer.
Global Untappd Average Rating: 3.79 (as of 3.17.21)

The Nitro version has a different description:
Six different malt varieties, cacao nibs, dark chocolate, lactose, oats, and vanilla combine to produce a decadent Chocolate Stout. Dispensing via nitrogen yields a lush, velvety texture and rich, smooth finish.
It also has a higher global rating – 3.94. (As of 3.17.21)

Grand Cacao by Troegs

This is their latest newcomer to their stout market, and it is possibly my favorite. You can see our review of it here: Beer Review: Grand Cacao (Troegs Craft Brewing).

Beer: Grand Cacao
Brewery: Troegs Independent Craft Brewing
Style: Stout – Milk / Sweet
ABV: 6.5%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Welcome to Grand Cacao. This deliciously decadent stout is built on a foundation of rich chocolate malt, caramel malt and roasted barley. Cold-steeping on Peruvian cacao nibs and natural vanilla doubles down on the smooth symphony of chocolate, and a splash of milk sugar delivers a velvety sweet and creamy finish.
We taste: milk chocolate, roasty grain, hints of sweet cream.
Global Untappd Average Rating: 3.63 (as of 3.17.21)

Tattered Flag Brewery and Distillery
Lets bounce over to Tattered Flag in Middletown now, who have never had any shortness of wonderful stouts on their menu. Just looking at their Untappd menu they currently have at their brewery in Middletown:

  • Leprechaun Wraith
  • Peppermint Wraith
  • Coconut Stout
  • War Bonds Breakfast Stout
  • Black is Beautiful

And they have a guest tap of Our Town Brewery’s “Bar Room Hymnal”. Which, I was just at last Friday. You can check out my trip to the Lancaster Breweries in one of my latest travelogues here: “Hiking Turkey Hill Point and Visiting Lancaster’s Newest Breweries – Cartel Brewing, Our Town Brewery, and Big Dog Brewing”.

Let’s look at Leprechaun Wraith:

Leprechaun Wraith by Tattered Flag

Beer: Leprechaun Wraith
Brewery: Tattered Flag Brewery and Distillery
Style: Stout – Other
ABV: 12%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Our Pastry stout base aged in ex Irish whiskey casks for months before conditioning in stainless over marshmallow cream and vanilla. Its like an Irish Car Bomb in a bottle!
Global Average Untappd Rating: 4.01 (as of 3.17.21)

Sounds perfect for tonight’s at-home festivities!

Boneshire Brew Works
Boneshire Brew Works has a wonderful stout of their own that they have for March each year, called Grattan Irish Stout. This is one that is definitely worth a pickup of a 4-pack every year, or at minimum a pint on draft.

Grattan Irish Stout by Boneshire Brew Works

Beer: Grattan Irish Stout
Brewery: Boneshire Brew Works
Style: Stout – Irish Dry
ABV: 4.5%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: This stout is traditionally dry and super drinkable. Beware of the Leprechaun while drinking this one.
Global Untappd Average Rating: 3.9 (as of 3.17.21)

Be sure to read our review of it here: Beer Review: Grattan Irish Stout (Boneshire Brew Works).

Rotunda Brewing Company
We would be amiss if we didn’t mention Rotunda Brewing Company’s stout – aptly named: IRISH CAR BOMB. We got to have this before their Kegs and Eggs event last year; right before the shut down (just mere days before the shut down). You can read about the event here: Kegs and Eggs (2020) at the Batdorf – Rotunda Brewing Company.

And you can read our review of the beer here: Beer Review: Irish Car Bomb (Rotunda Brewing Company).

Irish Car Bomb by Rotunda Brewing Company

Beer: Irish Car Bomb
Brewery: Rotunda Brewing Company
Style: Stout – Irish Dry
ABV: 5.5%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: On Nitro.
Global Average Untappd Rating: 4.17 (as of 3.17.21)

Rotunda’s Brewery Pub in Hershey also has a few other stouts on hand if you want to give them a try:

  • Lady Morrigan Nitro Stout
  • Grasshopper Brownie Imperial Stout
  • Death by Decadence
  • Car Bomb: Imperial Stout (not the same as the one above)

Green Beer

Maybe you don’t want a stout, maybe you don’t like doing Irish Car Bombs and don’t feel like dropping Jamison and Bailey’s into a local craft brewery’s stout. Maybe you just want a good… old fashioned…. green beer?

Well, you are still in luck!

Staying with Rotunda, they released a green beer at their brew pub in Hershey called Green Goodness.

Green Goodness by Rotunda Brewing Company

Beer: Green Goodness
Brewery: Rotunda Brewing Company
Style: Sour – Fruited Gose
ABV: 6.9%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Kettle sour with lactose and conditioned on 7 fruit and vegetable purees.
Untappd Global Average Rating: 4 (as of 3.17.21)

Liquid Noise
Now let’s head across the river to Marysville and see what they have to offer for St. Paddy’s Day. They’ve gotten quite a bit of buzz lately about their recently released green beer in celebration of St. Paddy’s Day. They were even featured on ABC27 News: Liquid Noise on Good Morning ABC27 News.

Liquid Noise’s St. Patrick’s Day beer: A Little Extra – Goin’ Green

Beer: A Little Extra – Goin’ Green
Brewery: Liquid Noise Brewing Company
Style: Blonde Ale
ABV: 5.5%
IBU: 30
Untappd Description: Light in body, green in appearance. What else Do you expect on St. Pattys Day?
Global Untappd Rating: (No Average formed yet. Not enough check-ins yet.) (3.17.21)

So let’s celebrate St. Patrick’s Day

Ok, now its time to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day! And lets do it safely everyone. Still obey precautions and rules and laws. What is everyone planning on doing today? What are your big plans for the day? I’m thinking low-key for myself, as I have a lot of writing to do, and not sure on what all to do tonight. But I might be persuaded to go out and enjoy myself some St. Paddy’s beer. Where at? Maybe a nice dinner with bangers and mash? Or Shepherd’s Pie? Who knows! I have about 2% Irish in me, but on St. Patrick’s Day we’re all Irish for the day! So let me know in the comments what you are planning to do for celebrating St. Patrick’s Day!

As always, be safe, be careful, and use Uber or Lyft if going out and celebrating too excessively. Be sure to mind the precautions, and rules, we’re almost there. The light is at the end of the tunnel. April 4th we all will be back to a far more normal world (I cannot wait to drink at a bar again!). Until then everyone, cheers and slainte!

Slainte!

-B. Kline

Be sure to keep following the March Madness and our Battle of the Breweries (2021) Brackets. We are down to the remaining 12 breweries, so hop over and vote!

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.

]]> 7411 Beer Review: Fruit Monster (Great Notion Brewing) https://thebeerthrillers.com/2020/10/29/beer-review-fruit-monster-great-notion-brewing/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=beer-review-fruit-monster-great-notion-brewing Thu, 29 Oct 2020 14:37:43 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=4887
Fruit Monster by Great Notion Brewing

Continuing the beers from the stream; I get to the third of the series, and I present to you the fabled FRUIT MONSTER of Great Notion Brewing. Firstly…. let me say, finally, I’ve gotten to try Great Notion Brewing, and they absolutely live up to all of the hype their beers have received. I got a few of their beers from Breski’s in a mix-a-six, and I’ll be reviewing the others as well at some point. But first I wanted to do the beers I had on the stream as part of a series. You can check out the streaming page at Knights of Nostalgia. I’ll put a list of the beers from the stream that I did beer reviews of at the end of this article. Its a series of reviews, just like my Tree House beers I reviewed as a series. Make sure to check out the others.

Look at that picture above, doesn’t that look like pure juice? Like orange juice? Like a good breakfast OJ to get the day going? Well, its not OJ, and its not a New England IPA, but it is pure straight juice, and its straight fire.

This is part of the Great Notion’s Tart Ale series, each batch being a different blend of fruits. This particular one (in the above review) was Mango, Guava, and Passionfruit. The Untappd description reads that its Passionfruit and Pineapple, but that was for a different batch, and they don’t have a unique beer check-in for each batch. So the description reads off a bit different than the beer itself; but its a simple fix – where it says “pineapple and passionfruit” just think “mango, guava, passionfruit”. Problem solved.

Fruit Monster by Great Notion Brewing

Beer: Fruit Monster
Brewery: Great Notion Brewing
Style: Sour – Fruited
ABV: 6%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: The first in our new tart ale series, Fruit Monster! Each batch will have a unique blend of tropical fruits and milk sugar, and the first one has a scary amount of pineapple and passion fruit. Drink up before the monster gets it all!

Appearance is like your morning juice with a nice breakfast. Not quite like the hazy juice of New England IPAs, this looks more like your pineapple or slicker clearer juices. Its still not transparent and is mostly opaque, but it not as hazy or turbid and it doesn’t have any sediment or floaters in it. It had a thin (very thin) small head when poured that quickly evaporated. Good carbonation. Beautiful orange color, bright, and all around just appealing.

The nose for this is just as described and offered. Mango, guava, passionfruit. Very fruity, in a heady mixture. It all hits together at the same time in the same way and makes one giant blend of an aroma. You can really smell the three fruits; but I think the mango and guava is probably the two that come through the most, hard to say though with just how well it all blends together.

Now we get to whats always my favorite part of the review…. because its my favorite part of beer; and that’s drinking it! Just like its appearance would make you think, this is pure juice. And just like its aroma would make you think, this is pure fruity. So… guess what? Its pure fruity juice! This is completely, absolutely, ridiculously, incredibly… delicious. As the ‘cool kids’ on the interweb would say, “its pure fire”. (See, I’m still hip and with it. I can get jiggy with it too.) There is a very slight tartness to this, but its refined and mostly negligible; what you are primarily getting is a fruity, juicy, drinkable and crushable beer. I think I downed this in no time, savoring the first sip and the last, and draining the rest of it far quicker than I should have. (Its so good its hard to savor it.) The fruits do blend in the tasting just like they did in the aroma. You get the notes of the mango, guava, and passionfruit, very heavily. Probably mostly mango and mostly guava with the passionfruit being more subtle. Guava can be an interesting flavor to me, its very hit or miss, in this though, I think its definitely a hit, most likely because of how its used in combination with the mango and passionfruit. I am a huge fan of mango in beer and this nails it completely and perfectly. Providing such a deep tasty mango flavor that combines really well with the guava and the passionfruit flavors and makes a really nice blend. This is 6% so its certainly not heavy or boozy or too powerful, and its very crushable, a four pack of this would go down waaaaaaaaay too easily. I think 5-7.5% is the perfect range for beers if you are sitting down and drinking; don’t get me wrong, I love the deep heavy boozy barleywines and stouts (as many faithful readers of the blog can attest to), but for hanging out with friends, drinking, playing video games, etc, a good 5-7.5% beer is perfect. You can have multiples, its not too boozy, too heavy, and sits well. Just like this does. Perfect for playing Friday the 13th and being a camp counselor running away from Jason Voorhees. Also, just a perfect beer, period, in general, flat out. Make sure you find yourself some of this and give it a try, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed at all.

My Untappd Rating: ****.75
Global Untappd Rating: 4.11 (as of 10.29.20)

This is the third of the four beer series from last week’s streaming session; when me and Drew played Friday the 13th on Knights of Nostalgia. You can check in with us to see what we’re drinking, and you can watch Drew on there a lot, usually drinking craft beer and / or bourbon or scotch.

Beers:

So be sure to check out Villeinage soon. Probably sometime in the next day or two.

You can also see some of our other beer reviews here:

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!

Tonight I will be joining Drew again on Knights of Nostalgia for another stream, this time we’ll also be joined by Rory. So make sure to see the three of us play some video games and drink craft beer and joke around.

Cheers!

-B. Kline

]]> 4887 Multiple Beer Reviews: Brambleberry, Blueberry Yum Yum, Dutchboi, Bourbon Chocolate Stout (Iron Hill Brewing, Hershey) https://thebeerthrillers.com/2020/08/25/multiple-beer-reviews-brambleberry-blueberry-yum-yum-dutchboi-bourbon-chocolate-stout-iron-hill-brewing-hershey/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=multiple-beer-reviews-brambleberry-blueberry-yum-yum-dutchboi-bourbon-chocolate-stout-iron-hill-brewing-hershey Tue, 25 Aug 2020 14:35:00 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=4252
Flight and a chicken sandwich at Iron Hill Brewery (in Hershey, Pennsylvania) (left to right: Brambleberry, Blueberry Yum Yum, Dutchboi, and Bourbon Chocolate Stout)

Out of work and waiting for my car to be fixed (dropping 515$ on new brakes, lines, etc), what to do… what to do…. Oh I know… go enjoy some great food and a flight of beers, because…. why not?

So thats exactly what I did. I found myself with two hours to kill, a good book in my hand, and an appetite for both food and beer. And in the Hershey area there is a lot of options to pick from while waiting out a car repair. Seeing as how its been a while since I had been in Iron Hill (other than picking up their release of the Black is Beautiful beer) I decided to stop in and try out a flight, since I was sure there’d be new beers I haven’t tried yet. And luckily there was. One of which was one I had been waiting to try – Dutchboi.

Firstly, as I’ve said many on times here on the blog, I am by no means a foodie, but I still would like to take the time to mention the food. It was extremely delicious. Out of all the things, at least with the COVID restrictions of requiring me to ‘have’ to buy food with my beer, at least its making me / letting me try some delicious foods at places like Iron Hill, or Troegs, or The Englewood, etc; where otherwise I would be just ordering my beers and skipping on the food entirely.

But, let me say, this chicken sandwich (and the fries) were absolutely delicious. Half of it filled me up, and I saved the other half for another night. Wonderful beer that went really well with my beers….

Which is why your here, so lets get to it and discuss my flight of beers!

Brambleberry by Iron Hill (Hershey)

Beer: Brambleberry
Brewery: Iron Hill (Hershey)
Style: Farmhouse Ale – Other
ABV: 4.6%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (Blank)

Well, not a whole lot to go on with this, no description, the notes on the menu said it was a “farmhouse saison, slightly funky, slightly tart, but full of flavor”. And that was about it. So…. quick spoiler – this was sadly my least favorite of the flight. I was hoping for a berry flavored saison, but didn’t quite get that. This is what Wikipedia has to say about brambleberry (under the page heading of ‘Bramble’): “A bramble is any rough, tangled, prickly shrub, usually in the genus Rubus, which grows blackberries, raspberries, or dewberries.[1] “Bramble” is also used to describe other prickly shrubs such as roses (Rosa species).[1] Bramble or brambleberry sometimes refers to the blackberry fruit or products of its fruit, such as bramble jelly.[2]

In British English, bramble usually refers to the common blackberry, Rubus fruticosus. R. fruticosus grows abundantly in all parts of the British Isles and harvesting the fruits in late summer and autumn is often considered a favourite pastime. An especially hardy plant, bramble bushes can also become a nuisance in gardens, sending down strong suckering roots amongst hedges and shrubs and being particularly resilient against pruning. Many consider R. fruticosus a weed due its tendency to grow in neglected areas and its sharp, tough thorns which can be hazardous to children and pets.[3]” (Source: Bramble.)

This doesn’t seem to fit that mold too much. Color is what you typically see in a saison or tart sour. But not a fruited sour or anything like that. No black coloring or anything to resemble a blackberry; this looks exactly like your typical farmhouse or farmhouse ale or saison. Wheaty, light golden to yellow color. Small amount of head to it, but with a taster that’s nothing to truly discuss because by the time of pour and its brought over and with the smaller pour size, heads and foam can be definitively off from what would be a normal pour.

Smell has that farmhouse yeast smell, that tart, funky, ‘off’ to some people, ‘on’ to other people smell. It has a crisp nose to it that you can pick up on immediately. Not a whole lot else to say on the smell, there’s no berry, no fruit odors, just the wheat and yeast smell.

Taste is…. well… its crisp. It is smooth. But it has kind of a bite to it. A funky, weird, tart but not the normal farmhouse or saison tart, kind of an off tartness to it. Like a bad berry tart funkyness, but not fully that bad or off. Like some blueberry beers where it gets the funky blueberry rather than the fruity – tart blueberry, but not quite to that full level. It has a definitive lingering taste to this that isn’t pleasant but isn’t completely unpleasant, more or less just kind of ‘ugh’. Nothing is completely horrible about it, but nothing is completely great about it and bordering past the ‘good’ into a category of just ‘do not like’ due to the aftertaste and all around weird funkyness / tartness to it. I wouldn’t say its a bad beer or a poorly made one, but just off, and not my cup of tea or style so to speak. I do love Farmhouse Ales and Saisons though, so this was a bit disappointing because of that.

My Untappd Rating: ***
Global Untappd Rating: 3.69 (as of 8.25.20)

Blueberry Yum Yum by Iron Hill

(A Different picture than the above, apparently I only took the flight picture for the first two drinks)

Beer: Blueberry Yum Yum
Brewery: Iron Hill (Hershey)
Style: Sour – Fruited
ABV: 6.3%
IBU: 5
Untappd Description: This kettle sour uses blueberries, graham cracker pie crust, vanilla beans, and lactose to trick your taste buds into thinking you’re drinking a fresh pint of blueberry cobbler.

This was much better. Much, much, much better. Definitely enjoyed this one.

Color is spot on for a fruited sour, especially any heavy in one of the major berries (blueberry, raspberry, blackberry). It has that purplish beautiful glow, incandescent one might say. Light foamy head, nice bubbles, pop, almost like a champagne type pop to it.

The nose is wonderful, tart, blueberry, fruited sour smell. You know exactly what you are getting with this. A great finishing flourish of vanilla, some bread crumb, and a hint of something more, something earthy – ish, something more than just the fruit and vanilla but not bread. Hard to pinpoint on that, but it detracts nothing from the aroma or the beer.

This starts off fully vanilla and blueberry then tapers off into blueberry only real quick. It has the very heavy fruited sour vibes to it, which is perfect and just what I wanted out of this, especially after appearance and smell. The vanilla fades away quickly, and leaves you with the tart but not too overly funky blueberry, which is where this really shines through. Full blueberry flavor with just the hint of bread crumbs and vanilla at the end. If you like bright, full, tasty blueberry tartness, then this is exactly what you are looking for it. Not really funky, not the over ripe blueberry, but the ‘just right’ ‘ just ripe’ blueberry tartness that really brings out that wonderful flavor – that I know personally, I love, not sure about everyone else, but I prefer the ‘tart’ blueberry over the ‘funky’ blueberry. From talking to a lot of people, that seems to be the preferred, but I’m sure there’s some who enjoy the more ‘funky’ blueberry tastes than the ‘tart’ blueberry tastes. To each their own. But I certainly loved this brew and would highly recommend it to any sour or tart lovers.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 3.63 (as of 8.25.20)

Dutchboi by Iron Hill (Hershey)

Beer: Dutchboi
Brewery: Iron Hill (Hershey)
Style: Stout – Other
ABV: 7.5%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: One off cask aged stout. Cinnamon, vanilla, serano pepper

This was the one I was most looking forward to with my flight. I had seen the Facebook and Instagram posts with the whoopie pies being mashed in, so I was certainly intrigued. My Pennsy Dutch side of me was all kinds of intrigued.

Color is the stout maxim; dark, black, cold, like my soul and heart (ask around, they’ll tell you). Or, as my personal saying is – “black like Razor Ramon’s hair”. Take that as you will, and depending on your level of interest in Scott Hall or wrestling you’ll understand it. But, this looks like any other stout really. Black, light foam head, in a taster glass, could almost be beer or coffee or motor oil, who knows. (These are all just jokes and not knocks on the beer or stouts; they just don’t typically have too much variance in color.)

Aroma kicks things off and separates this from other stouts. Definite notes of ‘whoopie pie’ on this. Vanilla, cinnamon, bready, with hints of the oak cask system used. I didn’t really pick up any pepper. Once again, going back to Wikipedia, this is said about the serrano pepper: “The serrano pepper (Capsicum annuum) is a type of chili pepper that originated in the mountainous regions of the Mexican states of Puebla and Hidalgo.[1] The name of the pepper is a reference to the mountains (sierras) of these regions.[1]” (Source: Serrano Pepper) I didn’t really pick up any hint of heat or pepper or anything (either smell or taste, which we’ll get to in just a bit).

Taste is delicious on this. Its got all that dark heavy stout flavoring you love (if you love stouts) but its not too heavy and high ABV like some stouts (eyes up Weyerbacher). At 7.5% its in the same tier and level as Perpetual IPA by Troegs Brewing (7.9%). So this isn’t going to be killing you but will be leaving a good buzz (on a full pour). The oak cask comes off with this nice, lending it some darker notes, but it also has a slight airy, fluffy, creamyness perhaps the ‘whoopie pie’ part of it. There is a bit of the creamy vanilla that makes this smoother, but there is some bite, perhaps thats the pepper but I attributed it to the cinnamon. I don’t think any one flavor is overly powerful and overrides the other, more of a nice gentle blending that leaves this a very good and tasty stout. This would probably be better as a bottle, than a taster or even a can or crowler, with a good pour into a glass. But I certainly still enjoyed it.

My Untappd Rating: ***.75
Global Untappd Rating: 3.9 (as of 8.25.20)

Bourbon Chocolate Stout (Iron Hill)

This brings us to the final beer of the flight, and as it turns out, my favorite of the flight. (Perhaps a surprise, perhaps not a surprise. I was anticipating liking either the Dutchboi or the Blueberry Yum Yum more, but I’m also a big fan of bourbon stouts and heavy stouts too…. so I guess this wasn’t really a surprise in hindsight.)

Beer: Bourbon Chocolate Stout
Brewery: Iron Hill (Hershey)
Style: Stout – Imperial / Double
ABV: 10%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: (Blank)

It is interesting, looking over the Untappd reviews for this, it seems to jump from people giving it 1 cap reviews to four or five cap reviews, and not a whole lot of wiggle room on their reviews. Either a hate it or love it beer I suppose. Personally, I enjoyed it. Perhaps its not for everyone, perhaps its the very heavy bourbon notes, or the bitterness, I’m not sure, but we’ll get to all that.

As always, this looks, acts, and more importantly… again… looks… just like a duck —- err, I mean, a stout. Dark, black, velvety, creamy possibly looking, slight foam head. Black as the night.

Aroma is strong bourbon, light chocolate. You get a definite nose of bourbon right out the gate, and then you get some of the chocolate, some bready earthy tones, and a bit of a dark, rich, bitter smell that is probably the chocolate coming back through.

Taste is where its going to jump on people. Strong, very heavy strong, initial bourbon bite and very alcoholic taste right out of the gate. Like drinking a strong Weyerbacher barrel aged stout, this jumps right in at you and grabs you. Some might say its too strong, or too bourbon, or too alcohol, but I definitely enjoyed it. I think it tapers off pretty steadily after that initial sip (perhaps its just me getting used to it, not sure), but it leads off into the bittering of the chocolate, like baker’s chocolate, and this might be off putting to some people too. This isn’t a creamy Hershey’s like chocolate, this is more of the baker’s chocolate, bitter, but with that still characteristic chocolate taste. The bourbon flavor I think blends nicely with that bitterness, but that could possibly be ‘too much’ for some people. It does clock in at 10% and you certainly taste and can feel it, so it does have a strong, over powering feel and effect as well. Certainly more of a sipper than a guzzle or quick drink. And at a full glass that would be the best approach, especially with its 10%.

My Untappd Rating: ****.25
Global Untappd Rating: 3.51 (as of 8.25.20)

My flight and food at Iron Hill Brewery in Hershey, PA.

Welp, that was my delicious flight and food. Got the car back, and just a mere 515$. The upcoming days should be interesting, on Thursday (8.27.20) will be my 35th birthday (officially old / half my lifetime / mid-life crisis / one foot in the grave / gaining speed down the hill) and me and my buddy will be heading out to West Reading / Wyomissing / Reading area to hit a few breweries. So look for that in a future post. You can read about it a bit here: “Visiting Reading.“

Saturday I will be attending The Englewood’s beer release, they are finally having their own beers on tap, and will be checking that out. So be on the look out for a review of their beers (most likely in a multiple beer review like this). I was out there before on the day they opened, which you can read here: “A Taste of Englewood“.

You can read a past beer review of Scrooge IPA by Iron Hill if you are still in the mood to read about Iron Hill Brewery and their beers in Hershey PA.

As always, lots of good stuff coming here to the blog, so be sure to like, follow, subscribe, and do all that fun stuff so you can read all about whats going on!

Cheers and see ya all at some point soon!

-B. Kline

]]> 4252 Beer Review: Going Rogue (Tattered Flag) https://thebeerthrillers.com/2020/07/09/beer-review-going-rogue-tattered-flag/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=beer-review-going-rogue-tattered-flag Thu, 09 Jul 2020 17:46:27 +0000 https://thebeerthrillers.com/?p=3844
Going Rogue by Tattered Flag in collaboration with Hop Hedz Gear

It’s not every day I get to review beers that aren’t even released yet, so this is a fun change of pace. Yesterday (Wednesday, 7.8.20) was my first day off work since starting back up, and my plan was to stop at Boneshire Brew Works for a beer or two (they had Rotunda’s Wootenberries sWheat Tart – which was actually the plan for today’s beer review) and then run my errands. I had the Rotunda sWheat Tart, then the Sly Fox and Stoudt’s Black Lager collaboration, and then Justin – the head brewer at Tattered Flag stopped out to join me at Boneshire Brew Works after he got done at work.

Needless to say, I never ran my errands.

Justin left around 8:45ish or so, and I ended up leaving a bit after around 9-930ish. After that, I went do D. Scott’s place to drink some of the new beers and hang out, we enjoyed the Going Rogue sour and the Flavor Guided Juice Missile (regular version). We watched the latest Halloween (from a few years back) and Friday the 13th, Part V.

My beer at Boneshire Brew Works with the beers Justin dropped off for me.

Justin was telling me it was a long day of canning at Tattered Flag and doing the behind the scenes stuff for Bart’s Hop Hedz Gear promotion with the beers. Speaking of that promotion, you can watch their video here:

Bart does a great job of being entertaining and funny with his promotions, in-person and online. So always be sure to check him out and check out his store – Hop Hedz Gear.

The four-pack of beers from Tattered Flag that Justin dropped off

So, this friday (tomorrow – 7.10.20) Tattered Flag is releasing three of those pictured; the ones done in promotion with Hop Hedz Gear. They are: Going Rogue (Sour Fruited), Flavor Guided Juice Missile (IPA) and Flavor Guided Juice Missile DDH w/Guava (Double Dry Hopped IPA). Mercenaries of Juice will get released the following friday (7.17.20).

Going Rogue by Tattered Flag

Beer: Going Rogue
Brewery: Tattered Flag
Style: Sour – Fruited
ABV: 6%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Sour ale conditioned on raspberry puree, cinnamon, vanilla, and lactose.

Apologies for the bad picture above, but it was a long night and D. Scott’s basement (where his studio is set up and the TVs are) has some poor lighting when we’re not doing the streaming or podcasts or YouTube videos. But, anyway, this is a pretty reddish / pinkish to purplish sour. Big foamy head to it, lot of carbonation, with a nice dark sour look to it. Creamy appearance. Nice carbonation. Nice interspersed bubbles.

The nose for this is very heavy raspberry. With hints of the cinnamon sticking out as you take your first whiffs before sipping. You get a sense of the lactose, but nothing definable as far as that goes. The majority of the aroma on this bad boy is the raspberry, and its very powerful and upfront, like a good sour should be.

This is a delicious sour. Its tart, not extremely sour, but just downright tasty. The cinnamon hits a bit hard, so if you’re not into that ‘bite’ this might be off-putting, but its not major detraction or problem even for non-cinnamon fans I would think. The raspberry is incredibly tasty and the most potent part of this beer. This tastes and feels like a big strong beer, but its only 6% so it’s actually quite a bit lighter than you would think. The vanilla and lactose rounds it out nicely, smoothing the cinnamon edges, and making it a smoother and slicker beer. This will make for a wonderful four pack of sippers on the porch in this hot weather. You and a buddy could each crack two of these and enjoy a nice hour or so of socially distanced time together on the porch in the hot sun discussing if there will be a baseball season this year or not (and discuss how bad the Phils will do, at least we know they can’t lose more than sixty games this year). From appearance, to nose, to taste, this is a great beer.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global: I was the first to check it in, so there’s no other ratings yet.

Be sure to be on the lookout for this tomorrow at Tattered Flag. Released with the two Flavor Guided Juice Missiles as well. This will be a great release, and make sure to check out the video Bart produced for Hop Hedz Gear. This will definitely not be a release you will want to miss out on.

I want to thank Justin for the beers, was a nice surprise and drop, and was great hanging out with you at Boneshire. Always great to get beers fresh off the canning line. I will likely have the review of the Flavor Guided Juice Missile tomorrow to accompany this review. I was thinking of doing this as a multi-beer review, but I figured I’d split it up into a few beer reviews due to their release and all. So be on the lookout tomorrow for the Flavor Guided Missile review. Also, since I switched it up, be on the lookout in the near future for the Rotunda Wootenberries sWheat Tart review as well.

I do also want to point out that I edited the home page and start of the blog. So please be sure to check that out at HOME PAGE and let us know what you think of the changes. The top is now more navigable and there’s more easily accessible links, as well as links right to our social media accounts. Also, the font has been changed, and I hope its more readable and flowing. Not that there was anything wrong with our old font or that it was unreadable, but I just like this new font a bit more. But all the same, let us know what you think of the changes. Good or bad. Love to hear from you guys. Thanks!

Cheers all!

-B. Kline

]]> 3844