A Different way to Bike

Beers To Try Before you Die or the Beer Bucket 52 List 17 of 52 Schlafly Coffee Stout

With my weekly stop by Randall's 

I had plans on what I was going to pick up Schlafly Coffee Stout  was on my radar as I kept putting it back for other beers, now I did pick up another beer, but that is for another post.

Schlafly Coffee Stout  is what I love about Stouts, the Stout is made in combination with local St Louis coffee roaster Kaldis (I have always been a Dunkin Doughnuts Iced Coffee drinker and still am, but before Dunkin came back Kaldi's was one of my favorites out this way.) 

Anyway back to the beer. The Coffee Stout is that perfect mix of Beer (or stout) and Coffee flavor, it is like having that after diner coffee wrapped in the wonderful arms of beer. Great Beer. I have to give this one a 6 Pack it is a really good Stout (I think the only way to make this better would be to make an Irish Coffee Imperial Stout out of it and Add some Jameson whiskey flavor)

....Highly Recommended...

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 "Almost" Daily Beer and Bike Log March 23, 2015 Weekend Report

So on my grand Beer adventure over this past weekend I tried two beers I had never tried before, Styles yes these actual beers no.  First was Schlafly’s Coffee Stout, 

and then SamuelAdams Double Bock. 

I was going to get another but Sunday Came and went and I never did get around to trying a Number three beer.

To keep it short (Because I will describe the beers in a Beers to try before you Die Bucket List 52 list of 2015 post) 

Both were well made beers, tasty and worth a try. One will make the official list and one will make an Honorable mention post.

I also plunged into the newer All About beer magazine, it has some great reading and a bunch of beers I would like to try here in the near future. 

Gathered together plans to do my first “Official” brew this coming Saturday. Via Telephone with my friend Rob we discussed some beer options (or beers we may want to brew) and have a plan to brew up 5 gallons this coming weekend. It was a beautiful weekend but still waiting for the mud to dry up so I can get some riding in. I am also all in on this home brewing thing as I have started reading Palmers How To Brew book.  

I had this book for a while and at first did not understand it as well until I went to my beer brewing class, I am a more hands on need to see the process type person, it was the same way I learned to make movies I did it, read all the books I could about it and perfected my skills. Hopefully the same will happen with Home brewing. Anyway it is nice to see the ball rolling finally, now if I can get some mountain biking in this blog may actually get some decent posts…..Stay Tuned

Have a Nice Week-END

Beers To Try Before you Die or the Beer Bucket 52 List 16 of 52 New Belgium 1554 Black Lager

So the bottom line is I like a chocolaty malty taste in my beers. Although Lagers used to be tops in my book, I have kind of moved away from them, with a favor toward stouts porters and ales. But whatever New Belgium is doing they are doing it right. 1554 Black Lager is great. 

When I think of lagers I think of a lighter summer time taste. Now before trying this one my favorite lager (Black lager at that) was from Sam Adams. I think New Belgium just bumped them from my top Lager spot. I great beer with a ton of flavor, and that nice chocolaty finish I love so much. As I said before I kind of suck as a critic because I am going to go ahead and give this a 5 beer rating...

 (in my lager world a 6 but for the purpose here with all beers on an equal playing field a 5) Other New Belgium beers are in my future

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. 

Beers To Try Before you Die or the Beer Bucket 52 List 15 of 52 Dogfish head Indian Brown Ale

In my ever ending quest to try more beers and the fact I was reading Brewing up Business: Adventures in Beer from the Founder of Dogfish Head Brewery I tried a few of their Ale's Over last weekend.  Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale   is up. Did not know what to expect from this beer. 

I have had Brown Ales that I have enjoyed, some I loved and others I could have done without. But since my Buddy Rob picked up this, the 90 Minute Imperial IPA and the Namaste to bring on over (We can’t get Dogfish head ale’s in Missouri for some reason so he brought them over from Illinois)  

We turned a UFC fight night into a tasting night for Dogfish Head brews. This one is listed as a Cross between a Scotch Ale and an India Pale Ale and I can see that (or taste it) a very good beer. Dark but not heavy, with a rich taste to it. It is absolutely a beer I could sit back and drink almost all year round. I am going to give this one a 4 pack of beers, with a shot....

Thus far I have had three beers from Dogfish head and am very impressed with it. Now Sam (the owner Sam Calagione) if you could please get Dogfish Head into the St Louis Area it would be much appreciated, I want to try them all...Keep up the good work

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. 

Take it In

Beers To Try Before you Die or the Beer Bucket 52 List 13 0f 52 Dogfish head 90 Minute Imperial IPA

 Now if you have followed my blog I am not the biggest fan of IPAs (part of the reason I am doing this list is to expand that taste) but wow this was a great one. Dogfish Head 90 Minute Imperial IPA before having this beer my "GoTo" IPA was probably Sam Adams Rebel IPA (which will appear on the list soon, as the summer rolls in) but this one may have taken over the top spot as far as IPAs go it was awesome! 

And I am no "tasting expert" to me, not that traditional hoppy aftertaste that I taste in most IPAs it was a Nice malty IPA with that Imperial kick the 9 percent ABV caught up to me quick that particular evening, but well worth it. I think I may have found my new Favorite or "GoTo" IPA Excellent Beer

I am going as far as 5 beers and a shot on this badboy. I may even give an update down the road to give it the top score of 6, but need room just in case I find one that suits my taste better. I can say IPAs you have your work cut out for you, by years end this may be a 6

Even if you are not a fan of IPAs try this beer you will not regret it.

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 "Almost" Daily Beer and Bike Log March 19, 2015 My first Brew..Sort of

Well did my very first brew last night, well sort of. I took an introduction to Extract Brewing class at St Louis Wine and Beer making. 

So it gives you the basics of making a batch of beer from a kit. In our case we brewed a Pale Ale.

 Now by saying we brewed it as a class we were brought step by step through the brew process with our instructor who did most of the hands on stuff. 

We did bottle and cap a batch from the previous class (and took home about a six pack of samples Yum!)

I did enjoy the class it gave me that simple info I needed to get me started along with a 20 percent off anything I bought in the store that evening, which enabled me to purchase my first Basic Brew kit for under 60 bucks

(really under 90 after tax, but I had a 30 dollar gift card along with the class that was bought for me by my Sister in Law Kate for Christmas. Thanks Katie)

Well just like after Mountain Biking for the first time, I love this, it’s like the joy of cooking something that I enjoy drinking, and having control over it. 

I do want to move on to making all grain brews but this is a good starting point to create a few batches, before I make that transition.  Just like looking for a great beer on the shelf at the local Beer market, Looking at all the kits and styles that I want to make was fun. I still need to purchase a brew pot and Buy my first kit, so I will keep you all updated when I create my first Beer at home.

 I think my next step may be to visit a place here in St Louis. J2 Brewing 

This is a more hands on place where you can brew up a batch of your beer either with their recipes or your own and they are there to walk you step by glorious step to a tasty beverage. I really did like the class as it gave me a better idea of what I was getting myself into with homebrew, but I have a harder time learning if I don’t have my hands in it. So that is where the “well Sort of” came in up top. In everything I have done and done well in life If you show me once and let me do it twice I usually get it down and am off to the races. So Thanks To St Louis Wine and Beer making they showed me once, now it is on me to do it twice…..Stay Tuned

The "Almost" Daily Beer and Bike Log March 17 2015 Nice weather and Beer Tasting

The weather is starting to clear I see some biking in my future, 

but as the weather clears I also see my oldest daughters Softball season kicking off, my wife delivering our newborn within the next two months and a lack of sleep that is just unreal. 

Meanwhile tomorrow evening I will officially brew my very first batch of beer at a brew class. I will let you know how that turns out.

Over the last few weekends I have had the opportunity to try some great beers,

 some okay beers and one horrific tasting beer. 

But the actual tasting has been awesome. To get my Beers To Try Before you Die or the Beer Bucket 52 List  I would assume I will need to try closer to around seventy to eighty beers, before it is all said and done. 

So I have attempted to try at least one each weekend day and on special occasions like when we have friends and family over for a UFC fight, sports event or even a family get together.

 Grabbing three types of beers from the store and trying each one, sometimes this works great other times one is so much better or worse it can boost or lower a rating, but I try to keep some space in between to be fair to each and every beer. Now as I say in all my blog entries these are my tastes and try to give props to a beer that I may not like very much or give a lower rating to by telling the reader what I think may be good about it. Like the Japanese Green Tea IPA, hell if you like Green Tea and like a summertime IPA this could be tops on your list, not a bad beer but not exactly my taste.

But this project has also given me the push to not only try other brewery’s beers but styles I would not normally grab off the shelf. Was never big into the IPA category, and now that I have tried some I am getting a better taste for them. I would have never went out and bought this from Rougetheir Srirachia Hot Stout, 

and will probably never go out and get it again, but I tried it, not a bad Stout, myself I just did not enjoy the spicy finish, but I can see how people who would enjoy a tasty stout along with a spicy Sriracha finish would love this brew.

I have found a new love for Stouts and Porters, although I have always enjoyed the Sam Adams Cream Stout, in the past I may have just stayed the course buying only the Sam Adams version, I have tried and enjoyed so many more already and next year will probably put together an all stout list. 

 It has also been a blast seeing friends and family who enjoy trying new beers reaction to a beer maybe I picked up and hoped they would enjoy, but just as much fun when they pick something up. A great example would be this past weekend (reviews coming soon) my friend Rob lives on the Illinois side of the river and we cannot get Dogfish Head beer here in Missouri, not sure if it is a distribution thing or what but I can’t get it here. So he picked up three types for our UFC night. Namaste, 90 Minute Imperial IPA and an Indian Brown Ale. 

One was awesome, one was great and one Okay, but all of them solid brews (more on those when you read my reviews) Man I can say long gone are the days of drinking shitty beer just to get drunk. Now I am not saying it doesn't happen from time to time both the shitty beers and the getting drunk part, but at least I enjoy the beers. The Good The Bad and the Skunky (well I don’t really enjoy the Skunky but the anticipation to try any and all is part of the fun)