fstorm1

Been running 7 for a couple months and I'm still astonished by how nice it is. I did a clean install, and have added a lot of the same progs/etc that I had before, but it's still smooth as all get out. Very, very few problems, shuts down in about 5 seconds, loads in about the same. So impressed with it and the job Microsoft did, especially after the absolute horror that was Vista when it first came out.

Finally (!!!) had the cash this past week to buy something more than just High Life (not that there's anything wrong with that), but I scooped up a 12er of Honey Moon, a case of DaMan, and a 6er build. The first I tried was Lakefront's Wheat Monkey Ale. Really nice. Carbonation a tad higher than others of the style, and although there was nice sweetness, it's source wasn't easily discernible...banana, bubble gum, clove, hard to tell. But it was very crisp and refreshing. Certainly a notch below the "classics" of the style, but quite good. Looking forward to their Pumpkin for the holidays. Only looked at Festival, but they, despite having a solid number of new brews, and Belgium's 6 packs, didn't have Gumballhead. May try Flanagan's this week for that. May also possibly grab another case of DaMan this weekend. Thank goodness it holds up as well as it does.

Spent this past Saturday in Madison with my lady friends brother, a graduated student at UW, who's leaving for a year to teach English in Vietnam. Anyhoo, we went down to spend the day with him and his sister, and ended up dragging them both to Mt Horeb for their annual Mustard Festival. My lady friend and I went to the same fesatival back in '01, was one of the first things we did together. Had lotsa fun, hot dogs, mustard everywhere, Culver's even had a Mustard Custard (not quite as disgusting as it sounds, just plain weird), yadda yadda. Block off of "downtown" Mt Horeb is the Grumpy Troll, as great but tiny brew pub. Had the sampler of 11 beers, and was most impressed with their work. Particularily liked their Hefe (of course), but they had a couple porters that were very good, and even their IPA wasn't too bad. Left with a growler of the Hefe, a little pricey at $15, but it's another growler for the basement bar. Get a chance to slide down there, the beers are worth the trip. And even if it's not, you can visit the Mustard Museum, always fun. Spent the evening back in Madison, on (or at) "The Terrace", drinking Oberon on tap, sitting by the lake, listening to free live music. Good times.

Okeedokee, spent the evening polishing off a 6 pack of the best wheats in the world that I foolishly forgot to give to my future father in-law last weekend (gosh, darn it, what a bummer http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/tongue.gif), a pack which included DaMan, Hacker, Sprecher, Paulaner, Franziskaner, and Ebel's (two DaMan's in there), and I gotta say, although DaMan is the best tasting wheat in the world (thus far), Hacker is still the best in terms of drinkability. May be blasphemy, but I gotta admit it. Be heading away to the great white north (Duluth) for the holiday, but here's hoping everyone's holiday is full of good beer, good food, and good pyrotechnics.

Yikes. Almost went a month with nothing new in here. Everyone must be as poor as me. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/tongue.gif On our way back from spending last weekend in Duluth, we stopped (for the 2nd time) at The Dane in Wausau. Guess I didn't mention the last time, but man, is that place spit and polish. Again felt I was under dressed arriving at the 2nd bar (they have what seems to be a "snottier" bar and a layman's). No matter, I was on a mission. Wisely remembered to bring two empty growler's with, and filled one with their stunning scottish ale. The second I got their seasonal Maibock, which is really very, very good. Since it's an 1 1/2 hours home, it was a tad warm after we got home, but beer waits for no one, and neither does my thirst. I will say it was even better after a day in the fridge. Excellent stuff. Whilest waiting for the nice bar fellow to fill the Maibock, I asked if I could try another of their seasonals...not sure if you're all ready for this: Watermelon Wheat. Seriously. Tried alot of wheat's, don't recall anyone having the oomph to try pairing it with watermelon, which can very easily overpower anything. But I gotta say, honestly, it wasn't that bad at all. I'm not gonna get a growler of it, nor would I want to drink it all night, but as a closing beer, after an evening of other stuff, would work great. Reminded me of how the Pyramid Apricot Ale tasted (not in taste, but in fruit/sweetness). Same thing, good closer. While in Duluth, my nice rich mostly wine-drinking future uncle-in-law (great guy despite the wine lovin) had filled one of his beer fridges (yes, he has 3, no joke) with Harp lager. Now all I could really recall after all these years is that at some point in my Milwaukee 21-ish year old days I O.D.ed on Harp and hadn't been able to drink any since, especially out of the bottle. But boy, dunno if it was the weather (hot), the scenery (spectacular), or the company, it was amazingly tasty. May have to give it another try, when I'm not in such a good mood. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

I'd throw Berghoff into that mix, but I may be alone in that thinking. Sand Creek's Badger Porter is very, very good.

Classic. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/tongue.gif I traveled over to one of the Festival's in the area today, and there was nary a sign of DaMan to be found. I will add that the stuff I still have left over from last year (about 5 bottles to go) is actually very nearly as good as the "fresh" stuff (at least that I remember). The only diff thus far is a slight raise in carbonation. When the time comes that it's available, and we get close to the end of it's 3 month run, I say stock up. May seem weird drinking a beer that's past say 4-5 months, but really, even if my taste buds are off from not having "fresh" for 9 months, it's still better than any other wheat around. I was (again) a bit disheartened by the poor selection in the build area at Festival. I'd hate for my "new beer tasting" to be relegated to $14 six packs at Flanagan's Liquor. I did however snag single bottles of the 1554 and Fat Tire. Well I had to grab something.

Update of sorts, for whatever it's worth: the Blackberry Wit from Sam Adams wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be, given their horrendous failures in previous fruit offerings, like their Cherry Wheat and Cranberry Lambic. Seems to be just the right amount of berry, but the choice of blackberry as the fruit is odd, given that, to me at least, blackberries aren't especially sweet, just, well, berry-like. Combine that with wit's inherent sourness, and it makes for a decent if uninspiring choice. Pyramid's Rollick Amber was a good albeit confusing surprise. Now, before trying, I did not go to the BA page for this brew, and, reading the label, figured it to be (as written on bottle) a "spring seasonal", and, obviously, an amber lager. It struck me as a bit familiar, but not from a "spring" nor "amber" that I've had, with the sweetness a tad stronger than expected, and the hops/lager bite toned down. Checking the BA page now, I see that it's listed as a Marzen/Oktoberfest, and is only available in the Winter. The Pyramid website lists it as being available Feb-Apr...which, technically, is still Winter in Wisconsin. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif Dunno, but every other Oktober I've had that wasn't year round was available only in the Fall and into Winter. It does have the malty caramel I'd expect from an Oktober, but it's not quite enough there to really make it an Oktober in my book. Not sure what they were aiming for with this, as other than a nice warm weather crispness, I think it would work much better in the Fall. May have to try another, see what shakes out. And your useless info (as if all of this isn't already useless): every time I tried to type "berry" my fingers would involuntarily type "beery".

Well, thanks to my nice lady friend being in California the past 3 days, I was able to check out three different locations for brews. She doesn't mind my "hobby", but there's no way I could get her to travel to three different spots with me...much like there's no way I'll travel to three different clothing stores with her (my personal record is 2). Anyhoo, ended up with several very good brews, including Pyramid's Curve Ball Blonde Ale, Flying Dog's Garde Dog, and , yes , the much ballyhooed Mothership Wit from New Belgium. I was very happy that all three were winners, with the Garde Dog being the best of the lot. The Curve Ball is by far the best Kolsch I've had to date, granted a small sample size (all of 4), but my previous experiences with the style were so poor that I shied away from them. I'll have to go back to them when I see them now. The Mothership was very good, I was astonished by it's smoothness, despite the higher carbonation. I had a difficult time digging past the citrus/tartness...would like to see that mellowed a bit. But it is by far the best "organic", and one of the best wit's, I've ever had. But the real prize was the Garde Dog. To my knowledge and memory (both of which can be described as "hit and miss"), I've never had any of this style, but I'm very impressed with it. Reminded me of how I felt when I had my first Tripel...excited to find more. Also from the sixer are Sam Adams' Blackberry Witbier (uh oh, none too confident in this one), Pyramid's Rollick Amber Lager, and Point's Burly Brown. Also stocked up with a 12er of Honey Moon, which, in my opinion, is a very good, yet economical warm weather brew. FYI-I will admit that although I was looking to stock on beer period, I was specifically looking for the New Belgium stuff. Sunday, not to be found at one Festival location in Appleton. Today, I found it at Flanagan's Stop & Shop in Appleton for $3.29 (22oz), then found it at Festival (a different one) for $3.49, on sale from $4.49. The three style I found were the Mothership, Fat Tire and the 1554 Enlightened Black. I'm a bit surprised that, given the popularity of pale ale's, that those are the three available here. Am I right in that thinking? Opinions? I've seen the comments about the Fat Tire, but what about the 1554? Yes, no, maybe so? Thank you warm weather. I should be thanking a god of some sort here...Ra, or Apollo or something. Maybe Mother Nature. Better yet, how about Ceres, the goddess of the harvest, for making such lovely, uh, stuff. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/tongue.gif

Several good brats to be had out there, but yesterday evening, I enjoyed some Festival (grocery chain) brand, simmered in Berghoff Red Bock Winter Ale, then on to the grill. Very good, but not as good as the ones I've done simmered in Hacker Pshorr.

Well, hopefully I'm not jinxing anything by saying that Spring is finally here, the cold(er) temps are behind us, and it's time to turn my tastes from heavy warming to cool refreshing. I have just about extinguished the last of my "late winter/early spring" supply, and am eager to head out and load up for the next few months. Aside from the delicious Oberon, which is something I very much am looking forward too, any new Spring brews floating around that require my attention?

I would just like to be the first to mention how I love the "T-shirt" reference in your sig. Since that episode, my nice lady friend and I must've said that phrase a hundred times. Amazing how much we hear everyday that would make a great t-shirt. Okay, carry on. Sorry for the interruption.

May have mentioned the Red Bock at some point in the life of this thread, mainly 'cause I also liked it when I first tried it (quick search shows April of last year). Actually took a Berghoff mixed 12-pack on the trip to the future in-laws (yes, as a butter-up-the-future-father-in-law gift) couple weekends ago. As I mixed in some of New Glarus stuff, meant that I had some Berghoff for my own enjoyment at home. And Wednesday night, it was a Red Bock that I had. Yummy stuff. And coolness on finding a place with the Dark on tap. The only other one I know who has it is The Joynt in Eau Claire. Last night I had their "Prairie Lager" (formerly "Original Lager"?-what's with their name changes anyway?), and even that was better than average. Tried that Ommegang at Hops & Props. Agreed, it's spectacular. One of the best I tried all night. And don't worry about the tone or language. I use "aroma" and "yummy" and consider them to be fancy descriptions.

Couple days ago I finally had a chance to sit down and really take in the Black Wheat. Although I had tried it at Hops & Props (just a sip, doesn't really count), and also had some two weekends back (also doesn't count, as I was at the future in-laws and was, well, getting blasted), this was the first time with everything set for a trial. Anyway, it was good, but disappointing. I compare it to Crack'd Wheat in that the "other" stuff added to the wheat just dominates too much. The Crack'd's hops profile diminishes as it warms, and I can get my beloved banana/clove/wheat goodness, but only just barely. Same with the Black. I've mentioned how I'm not a huge fan of hoppy brews (though I've learned to accept lower bite versions), but I've grown to enjoy, to an extent, darker brews, particularily the "sweeter, buttered bread" darks. But in the case with the Black, the coffee/chocolate so dominates that I have a very difficult time finding my wheat. Wheat's are certainly a difficult bird to deal with when adding foreign flavors, so delicate. Very, very easy to ruin. Of all the wheat beer tries (American, hefe, etc) I've now had the best are just left to themselves. For what it's worth, another yea on the Blueberry Stout, and a big yea on Capital's Maibock, my favorite of that style. Coincidentally, I also had my first Rogue, their Dead Man's Ale, which is their Maibock. Good, but I think the Capital was better. Best beer I've had in the past few weeks is Delirium Tremens. Although listed as a Belgian Strong Pale Ale, the hops were nearly non existent. Very sweet and delicious. Also gets points for having not only pink elephants but also alligators on the bottle.

Having now gone twice, the biggest thing that my nice lady friend and I will change (assuming we go next year), is to head for the back of building as soon as we walk in the door. This year, as we entered, the front part was absolutely packed. It seemed like everybody was moving in one gigantic mob towards the back. We never really found any room to breath, if that makes sense. Who knows who they'll have next year, but since they had New Glarus last year and Bell's this year right at the front, first breweries out of the chute, it may be difficult to just pass them by and move on (the first three breweries this year, in fact, where Bell's, Breckenridge, and Coors/Pabst, who had the classic Schlitz available on tap...couldn't pass any of those). But, we'll see. Still fun, and logan, if I run into you next year, you can have some of my crackers, or pretzels, or whatever I may be hiding in a pocket or wearing around my neck. Thanks for the info, tristarscoop. I've been keeping an eye on N.G.'s schedule (danced a little jig when I saw that Stone Soup was a regular yearly), still shows May for DaMan, but April would be just that much better. I still have 14 bottles of DaMan from last year. Had one for my birthday on Sunday, still tasted yummy delicious. Guess I'll have to clear some space in the cellar a bit earlier this year.