The "Almost Daily" Beer and Bike Log Feb 23, 2015

This weekend was still not a productive Bike weekend, but I want to say I was able to try three beers and three beers that will make the 52Beers to Try before you Die Bucket list (the first is already posted here SixRow Porter )

The other two were Old Rasputin Imperial Stout, and Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale

 On Friday I stopped by my favorite Liquor store Randall's and perused the Craft beer section, 

so many beers and not enough budgeted aside for it. I set about twenty bucks aside for this little trip. I could have blown it right away on a couple of Stouts I had some interest in tasting that were about 16-18 bucks. But I wanted to grab a couple so I found one that was referred to me by a friend here in St Lois (Thanks Chris) The Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale by Boulevard brewing in Kansas City. A good beer but more on it in my actual Review, it made the list so I did think high enough of it to put it on there.

So Friday I drank the Tank 7, 

Saturday the Old Rasputin 

and Sunday which was a day filled with sports (the Daytona 500, A televised Bruins Blackhawks Game, where my Bruins woke from hibernation to Maul the Blackhawks GO B’s) and some UFC that night I decided on my way home from yet another of my favorite sports, my Daughters softball practice. Tried to pick up another brew to try making it a rounded out weekend and trying to reach beer 10 of the 52 if it was good enough. So I picked up the Six Row Porter

 along with a single bottle of All Day IPA From Founders Brewing company (have not tried it yet)

I have learned I either am not a very good critic, or have a taste for full flavor great Craft beer, because I have yet to not rate one or give it a Skunky beer face rating.

 Oh well what can I say I enjoy different types of beer from different companies.  More to follow......

Beers To Try Before you Die or the Beer Bucket 52 List 8 of 52 Six Row Brewing Co. Porter

Six Row Brewing Company’s Porter 

This was a Beer at first taste I was not sure if I liked it. But luckily I do not always judge a beer on the first taste (unless it just absolutely blows my mind)

 Sometimes though a beer grows on me as I sip it and Six Row Brewing Company’s Porter  was one of those. I think at first taste I was expecting something else (not sure what, maybe a stronger kick after trying some Bourbon aged beers) but after a few minutes the flavor was great It was a “well Balanced” Taste of Chocolate, Coffee and hops It took me a few sips to come around.

 Another really good beer and one that I can enjoy giving some local love to as I live in St Louis

 I would say a 2 beer vote on this only because I like the stronger tastes of others not so much because I disliked this by any means

 (remember a 2 beer here is still an excellent beer, as described on my  52 Beers Before you die Bucket list page 

"Hey if you get Bronze in the Olympics, you may have gotten third but top three among the worlds best? Come on!!! Take a chance You Pansy!!!"

 if a beer does not make this list it still does not make it bad, it just means my taste did not merit enough for a 1 Beer rating on my list, the only bad rating is a skunky face that is a beer I would not recommend myself, but that does not mean it is not your cup of tea or Mug of beer.

Bikercise Babe!!!

The Almost Daily Beer and Bike Log Feb 20, 2015 Sick as a dog!!!

Well in a world where you get just left of Ebola sick (okay not that bad) and sit around for a couple of days not much gets done on your blog, in your life or anything else for that matter, other than a bunch of TV and Netflix. Can’t say I watched much to do with Brewing or biking (the lack of it not by choice) but caught up on some Homeland recordings and watched the Don Cherry Story 1 & 2 (if you are a hockey fan I highly recommend it) On the plus side I listened to some more of Brewing up a Business and it is giving me that itch to not only get trying some more beers but making my own. Do I think I am going to start some brew pub and become rich? No! But I would love to start brewing and sharing what I have made. I finally made an appointment to take my Beer Brewing Class that my sister in law bought me for Christmas. It is a few weeks away but I cannot wait.  Don’t know much about the place yet only what I read on their web site St Louis Wineand Beer Making 

So this will either be the beginning of a wonderful hobby or the end of the actual making as this blog becomes more about biking and drinking beer.  Anyway this is just a short I am still alive post hopefully more regular posts soon. And watch for Beer number 8 (not sure yet) this coming week in the 52 Beers To Try before you Die Bucket List

The Almost Daily Beer And Bike Log: Feb. 16, 2015 Snow and Stout

So as the eternal winter continues, the bike remains in the shed. Most of what matters about the weekend this week was in my Beer to try Before you die bucket list. Where I found a nice Schlafly  Bourbon Barrel aged Imperial Stout, while searching for something else. 

Again it reminds me of the days when shopping for music or movies and you intend on buying one thing and discover something else that turned out to be great.

I did start listening to the Audio Book Brewing Up aBusiness, about Dofgfish Head and Owner Sam Calagione 

 So far very interesting, it does not seem like it is going to teach me anything about the actual brewing of beer, but some great info and encouragement for pushing on to making your own beer (or you could replace beer with any business venture and it is still a pretty good book so far)

I was able to get a run in before the extreme cold set in this weekend (don’t want to get on that bike and not be in any sort of physical shape that would not be as much fun, got to keep the lungs working)

Other than enjoying a nice Stout 

and getting some home stuff done not a very exciting weekend, and the week ahead doesn't seem like it is going to get much better. If something happens I will let you know……….

Beers To Try Before you Die or the Beer Bucket 52 List 7 of 52 Schlafly Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout

On Friday Afternoon I made a quick stop to get my wife some flowers, a couple of Steaks for the grill and I wanted to grab a bottle of SamAdams Double Bock which I had read about a day prior. 

Well I could check off the other two items, Valentines day mission complete on that front, but they did not have the beer I was looking for.

 I kind of felt like the these Stormtroopers looking for those damn Droids…. Well Double Bock I will find you!! Oh yes I will!!!!

 But I did find a beer I had seen while on other discovery missions. Schlafly  Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout 

Made locally here in St Louis, 

I figured why not try something from my own backyard this week.

 And it was an Imperial Stout aged in Bourbon barrels, what could possibly be bad about that? The answer. Nothing! It was a dark Malty beer that finished with a kick from the Kentucky Bourbon. This is the type of beer I want to make. Delicious.  Now the Kick was absolutely a kick, I had not had much to eat and was making some Pork steaks (a St Louis thing) on the grill, so sipping the beer before diner was ready and with the 10.5% ABV (Alcohol By Volume) 

I assure you it was Schlafly even though I had the Sam Adams glass, I don't own a Stout glass yet

It gave me a minor buzz. But well worth it.

All in all I loved the beer, and I am walking the line of a 6 or a 5 beer rating on this one so I am going to make an in between call and since it is aged in Bourbon Barrels anyway 

I am rating this fine beer from Schlafly a 5 beer and one shot brew (a 5 and a half) Excellent brew, a must try.

To view what all the ratings mean go to the 52 Beers to try Before You die Bucket list page

Disclaimer I am a beer drinker and a beginner home brewer the above is only my taste buds telling me what I enjoy, it is not the law or rule of the land, these would be the beers that I am grateful to have tried before the day comes when I pass on and meet my maker. 

The Daily (sometimes) Beer and Bike Log Feb 13, 2015 Update

Okay I have not written much this week, simply because there has not been much to tell. No riding, to muddy and too cold. Not much in the way of drinking any new beers, but that is coming this weekend I can assure you on that. And really overall I don’t think you want to read about how I came home played with my 16 month old, talked about school stuff with the 17 year old as I held on for dear life as she learns to drive, and tried to have quiet time with my lovely wife. Just not that exciting, for the rest of you.

So just as an update, I am about to start reading Sam Calagiones Brewing Up a Business about how he got Dogfish Head Brewery started.

I am going to try a couple of new beers this coming weekend and trying to pick up Sam Adams Beer of the Month Double Bock 

So Hopefully i will have a little more to tell you next week. I am starting a once in a while exaggeration post called A 50/50 Story, 50 percent of the story is true and 50 percent of that is probably an over- exaggeration. But I can assure you it will always be based on a fact or incident that occurred, it just may be told from my point of view of either how I thought shit should have gone down or how I felt shit really went down. Anyway keep an eye out for them the first is already written and is called The Old man, The Bike, and The Mud Beast. 

Since it is the end of the week I leave you with this............

Mountain Bike 101 From the Net! HOW TO MOUNTAIN BIKE: World's Best Downhill Mountain Bike Lesson

A Great Find on YouTube from ZEP Mountain Bike Camps Great tops on how to improve control and handling on your bike

Fat Biking Extreme!!!!

The Daily Beer and Bike Log Feb 10: So Much Beer So Little Time!!

Well I have realized the winter is a tough time to try and give a daily account about my newest experience in Mountain biking. Also the fact that I have a toddler makes it a bit tough to try and experience all that the world has to offer in beer with actual taste…You know not the B.M.C. generic beers of the world.

So today trying to compose in my mind what I should write about I thought about how I see beer drinking now and how I saw it about 20 years (yes I just realized I graduated High School in 1991 so over twenty years ago I used to sneak my warm ass beers to drink)

On the one side years (or Beers) ago it was whatever we could get. Busch was usually the case of choice

since it was cheap and we had to pay someone to buy it for our 16 year old asses. I know these days the SWAT team would be at the door of that very person (what is the statute of limitations on buying for a minor?) I big splurge would be something like Budweiser or wait for it…. Rolling Rock, yes Rolling Rock and it’s pretty green bottle. 

In those days it was never about the taste, to be honest I never enjoyed the taste, I just wanted the liquid courage to act like a moron and talk to girls.

As I got a bit older and could legally buy, I found the slight differences between Bud, Bud Light, Bud Ice (Beware the penguin…

remember that ad? It was cool because I love Hockey GO BRUINS!!!) Miller Genuine Draft and Miller light (sorry Lite) Also there were the late night runs and Milwaukee’s best (or the Beast) cheap ass horrible beer.

 

 Anyway..... 

As time went by and I discovered the world of Craft beer (thank you Sam Adams one of the granddaddy’s of them all) I also discovered a whole world of shopping for something different. Before the days of Netflix and iTunes I used to love the experience of shopping for movies or music. That feeling that on any given day you could find a diamond in the rough an album, CD or movie that you had never heard of but were willing to take a chance on. Sometimes you found it, while other times you wished you could get your money back. Well beer these days is the same way there is so much to choose from.

You have all the different companies big and small like Sam Adams, Stone, DogfishHead, and smaller local brews (in our case here in St Louis Places like Schlafly,  O’Fallon, or 4 Hands) And a Liquor store (or Packie for my friends on the East coast) like Randall’s that have beer ratings much like wine has always been rated. Lagers. Ales, Porters, IPA’s Stouts and combinations made in Bourbon barrels.

Long gone are my days of knowing I am going in to just pick up a six pack or a case of the usual. Don’t get me wrong there are seasonal beers I keep stocked in my fridge Sam Adams Octoberfest, or Summer Ale, but grabbing a new flavored six pack or even a specialty 22 oz to try with family or friends is a rush. It is the same feeling sometimes the beer is a complete Album you can listen to from start to finish and other times you find a lot of fat and very little meat. 

Shopping for a new brew is a great experience, in my 20 plus years of drinking beer, I have gone from drinking to get drunk to drinking to enjoy the flavor and experience of a brand new diamond in the rough. So the next time you are reaching for the same old beer, be adventurous take a chance, start out small if your comfort zone is Lagers, try something from another brewery. Then expand your horizons try an Ale, than a Stout, etc….

There is so much beer out there to experience, why limit yourself to the same bottle everyday?

Disclaimer: I am no expert in anything on this blog as it states it is a Beginners journey into Mountain Biking and Beer Brewing. These are just opinion and observation pieces through my eyes as things happen. It is my personal journal for the world to see, that is all. Anything technical I would always refer you to some sort of expert, be it a brewer, or bike shop.