New Inventory Items

In my recent travels and purchases, the following beers have been acquired.

They mostly came from three trips, one was up to Bloomington to go meet Sammons. Another was to West Lakeview Liquors. The last was to Friar Tucks.

• Deschutes The Abyss
• Russian River Consecration
• Lost Abbey Carnevale
• Lost Abbey the Angel's Share 2008 (2)
• Black Flag Imperial Stout
• Harpoon Catamount Maple wheat
• Brooklyn Black OPS
• Nøgne Ø Dark Horizon
• Brouwerij De Molen Rasputin
• Amager Batch One
• Two Brothers Red Eye
• New Belgium Lips of Faith
• Southern Tier Creme Brulee (2)
• Southern Tier Iniquity
• Norrebro North Bridge Extreme
• Norrebro La Granja Espresso Stout
• Founders Cerise (2)
• Harpoon Leviathan
• Struisse Black Albert
• Avery Brabant
• Mikkeller Warrior Single Hop
• Founders KBS (5) (2 from Friar Tuck; 1 from WLV; 2 from another source)
• Brewdog Paradox Port Dundas 013 (this is apparently the 3rd bottle of this that I've gotten)
• Brewdog Paradox Glen Grant 003

The highlights are the Black Albert, the Angel's Share, the Abyss, and obviously the KBS.

Some of the beers have gone straight into storage, others went into my "Next in the Fridge" box.

Turkey Day Beer Run to West Lakeview Liquors

I had corresponded with Kristina at West Lakeview Liquors on Wednesday, to find out if they'd be open on Thanksgiving, happily, she said they would be.

So after dropping Kriddy off at my sister's place in Lockport, Paddy, my brother-in-law Mike, and I headed north to West Lakeview. Here's the haul.

One six pack of Bells Expedition, the rest were individual bottles.
Southern Tier Oak Aged Cuvee Series 1
Mikkeller It's Alive
Lost Abbey Avant Garde
Lost Abbey Inferno
Lost Abbey Judgement Day
Lost Abbey Devotion Ale
3 Floyds Broo Doo '08
3 Floyds Alpha Klaus '08
Port Santa's Little Helper '08 (2 bottles, it's sooooo nummy)
Dogfish Head Immort
Samichlaus Helles '07
Haandbryggeriet Brewery Dubbel Dram
Nøgne Ø Winter.

Earlier in the week, Paddy and I went to Friar Tucks in Savoy, and I took quite a haul from there too.

4 pack of Founders Backwoods Bastard
4 pack of Konings Hoeven Quadrupel
4 pack of Mad River John Barleycorn
6 pack of Anchor Christmas and Happy New Year 2008
(the rest are individual bottles)
Mac Queen's Nessie
Mikkeller From/To 2008
Mikkeller To/From 2008
Mikkeller Santa's Little Helper '08
Mikkeller Santa's Little Helper '07
Hebrew Jewbelation 11
Hebrew Jewbelation 12
Sam Adams Chocolate Bock

I also pick up a mix a six from the back rack, of things I haven't had, but didn't write them down.

I almost picked up a 4 pack of Goose Island Bourbon County Stout on Thursday, but I'll just wait until it comes downstate to get it.

I think I'm stocked up on beers that should last me to New Years.

Several of the items I picked up are going straight into the cellar. The Expedition, most of the Barleycorn's, the Backwoods Bastard, Anchor xmas, and the Konings' Hoeven are for aging.

Port/Lost Abbey are now in Chicago, so I won't be needing anyone from California to be shipping me any. The next box for there will be heading out in the second week in December, and should be arriving just in time for the winter solstice.

In other news, Frank went to Bruisin Ales yesterday, and picked up some bottles of Struise Black Albert, and also got a bottle of the latest Terrapin Side Project Volume 3 Gamma Ray. He should be coming up shortly before Mithras birthday. We're going to shoot for a beer tasting gathering on December 19, so mark your calendars.

In other news, I'll start to prepare the time schedule for the New Year's Eve party at Josh and Audra's shortly. A new beer every 15 minutes is the goal. Last year we had 24 beers on the schedule, I don't think we're starting at 6, but I might be.

Beer Run to West Lakeview

I didn't mention on here (I don't think) that yesterday I was gonna go up to West Lakeview Liquors for a backyard party. WLV was having Mikkel, his twin brother Jeppe, and their older half brother Kasper over, as Mikkel was over at Three Floyds brewing the next special release.

This years beer is going to be Havregoop, and is going to be an oat-wine-ish beer.

I got to spend an amazing amount of time with all three brothers; I wasn't really expecting it, but it kind of felt like I (and Zoe) monopolized their time from about 5 until 10... oops.

Let me backtrack a little. No one was available to go up there with me. Everyone I called was busy, or was too whiney (hippie!) to make the trip. So when I woke up on Saturday, I texted Zoe to see if she was free. I didn't even hear back from her, so I head up 57 around 1:15 (the party started at3, and that would put me slightly fashionably late). Just as I passed Gilman, Zoe texts me saying she's doing nothing, so I call and tell her where I'm going, and she says sure she'll go, sounds fun.

So I had just passed Gilman, and Zoe lives in Chenoa... So, I drive up to the next exit and turn around. This is Interstate 57, the next exit was 9 miles up the road. !8 mile turn around, then a drive on Route 24 for 45 or so minutes, and I pull into Chenoa around 3. Chenoa still has about 100 miles to Chicago on 55, so we head on up again. We finally pulled into the wrigleyville area around 5, but it's cool, I'm going with a good friend.

We find our way into the backyard party, and have a beer. They had three beers on tap (well, only two at first) Great Lakes Blackout Stout; Surly Fest Lager; and then eventually Founders Devil Dancer triple IPA. They also had some good food out: Zoe really like the goat cheese and was raving about the pork too. Also, the stuffed grape leaves were outstanding. Oh, and the potato salad that Kristina made was amazing.

Earlier I asked Kristina what time the store closed, she said 11. I saw an empty bottle of Sierra Nevada Chico Estate Harvest Wet Hop Ale, and asked her how it was, she said amazing, and said she'd sell me a bottle or 2, someone later mentioned they only got something like 8 bottles.

This was a very informal backyard gathering, but still, as informal as it was, how do you go up and start talking to the guy who's listed as one of the best brewers in the world? I did it by asking which one of them was Dr. Erikschon. After that, Kasper (the older brother) came up and videotaped me for something for the guy who did that video.

As Kasper and I discussed their blog, doctor erection, and other things. We moved from where we were standing, to go sit on a bench at the side of the party. Zoe had already sat there as Kasper and I were talking for a while, a bit about politics, some about cartoons. Kasper works with people moving into Denmark; teaching them to ride bikes, helping them get jobs, and other things. After a bit, Jeppe (the twin) came over and we started talking about beer. Jeppe runs an import business bringing in some great beers to Denmark.

How hard is it to go into a brewery and ask them to ship you beer, when your twin brother is Mikkel? They were going to be going to Michigan today, to go to Bells, Founders, Jolly Pumpkin and I think another brewery to try to set up some distribution.

After a bit longer, Mikkel came over and chatted with us too. I tried to keep the conversation somewhat light, but when you are sitting there having a beer with the guy who brewed two of the beers that got you messed up on Wednesday night, and also on Saturday, when you had the beer and went "Holy SHIT" you gotta talk some about the beer.

So I thanked him for making beer, and mentioned Saturday with the Black, and then Wednesday at pool with the Monks Brew, and It's Alive. I asked about how it works for him, being the gypsy brewer and all; he said he can only work with breweries he trusts, and basically, they correspond over email while the beer is fermenting, and when it's done, they let him know. He doesn't babysit the beer the entire time it's being made.

I had mentioned about how I'd love to reduce the Black down to even more syrupy and put it on pancakes, and he said that they'll be putting out a stronger version on Black, I think called Ice Black (or Black Ice) which will be the Black, but Iced. He mentioned it would be about 24% ABV. I asked if "It's Alight" would be coming to the U.S. and he said it had to have a different name, and would be called "It's Alright" (it couldn't have "LIGHT" in the name, due to some stupid U.S. rule that says that a light beer has to have nutritional information or something stupid like that). Another of his beers that had a naming issue was the American "Monk's Brew" which every where else in the world is known as "Monk's Elixer" but can't be "elixer" in the U.S. because that means it's a medicine.

The brothers got tired of sitting around chatting, so we went over and played bags for a bit. It wasn't played the way I normally play it, but I had fun playing anyway. (We played it where one side was the team instead of the familiar my half... uh.. how to describe it... North was a team, and South was a team, not East vs. West... I guess that's about it).

I guess we did kind of fanboy out and took our pictures with them, but hell, they were cool, and we spent an afternoon and evening with them, so we kind of deserve it...And they were cool about it too.

After that we went shopping inside.

Here's the haul:

Founders Harvest Wet Hop ale (4 pack)
Avery the Beast 2006
Struiselensis (yes I've had it before, but it was amazing, and I think I'll let this get old)
Struise Witte
Baladin Xyauya (the last bottle they had on the shelf; not sure exactly what I'll do with this; either me, or Andy, or send it to California)
J. W. Lees Harvest Lagavulin
J. W. Lees Harvest Calvados
J. W. Lees Harvest Sherry
J. W. Lees Harvest Port
Dogfish Head Theobroma (2 bottles)
Sierra Nevada Chico Estate (2 bottles)
Mikkeller Black (it was too awesome to not get another one of)
Hanssens Mead the Gueuze
DFH 120 (heading to California)
Taras Boulba (because last time, I just didn't remember it)

Zoe picked up a bottle of cider, I think this one, .

So that was a cool day, I got home around 1, so it was a long day.

Beer Trippin; Urbana to Milwaukee and Back

Thursday evening Frank showed up. When I got out to Kriddy's he was already having a beer, so I had one as well. My choice was Mendocino Oktoberfest. We then headed out to downtown Champaign for dinner and some beer.

We ate at Guidos, I had the prime rib sammich, kriddy had the grilled cheese, I'm not sure what Frank had. I'm a HUGE fan of their prime rib sammich, dunno if I've mentioned it before; but when our pool team was at Guidos, it was there solely because of the prime rib sammich. Kriddy thinks it's one of the best grilled cheese sammiches in town too.

After eating, we headed around the corner to Radio Maria for a beer or two.

There, we tried the Eugene City 200m ale, which was ok. We then headed across the street to Blind Pig, and I had the Coney Island Freaktoberfest (top picture). It was good, not quite as malty sweet at the Mendocino Octoberfest, but still really good.

We then headed back to Kriddy's for the night. Frank had brought with him a bottle of Olde Hickory Bardstown Brand Ale Aged in Bourbon Barrels. This was a pretty good brew as well. It's a Barleywine style. (Review to follow; second picture)

Went to bed, woke up and we headed to Milwaukee. Stopped at the hotel then headed out to grab some food and hit some breweries. Had hoped to get to 3, but only had time for 2. First brewery (and lunch) was Water Street Brewery. This place was a brewerania collectors wet dream, except that it's someone elses collection. There were walls covered in cans, bottles, shirts... if it had to do with beer, or had a label from a brewery/bar, they might have had it.

They had 10 house beers on tap. All were pretty good, none were mouth cringinly bad. (third picture). For lunch, I had the Pollack which was awesome, Frank had the perch, Kriddy had ... um... what did she have? It came with some really good vegetables. Oh yeah, it was some parmesean chicken strips, I think. It also came with some stuffed potatoes that were really good.

Next stop was Lakefront Brewery.

Lakefront is not on the lake. It's on a river. It's in a massive Cream City Brick building. We showed up around 2:30, and the guy behind the bar asked if we were there for the tour, and we were like "sure" so he sent us out back. We waited there for a while, then went inside. Saw there was a line forming at the gift shop so we asked/listend to what was going on.

Lakefront's tour is worth the trip. Although we didn't take the tour itself (we've been to breweries before), we did pay the $6. For $6, you get a plastic cup, four wooden nickels, and a coupon. The wooden nickels are good for a cup of the beer, or for 2 you can get a bottle. With the coupon, you can go to any number of other bars in town and have a full pint, on the brewery (before 6 p.m.). At the end of the tour, you can trade in the plastic cup, for a glass pint glass. For $6 you get 4 samples of beer, a pint glass and a beer at another bar.

We left there, headed back to the hotel, and got ready for the game. We were meeting some friends for tailgating. So we pulled out the GPS and looked for a liquor store so we could get some beer. The closest one on the route only had 2 good beers available, so we got a six pack of New Glarus Fat Squirrel, and a sixer of New Glarus Spotted Cow. Drank the beer, ate a burger, a guy at a nearby car was drinking Michelob Dunkel Weisse and he gave us 2 bottles, so that was nice. Then went in and watch the Cubs lose :( Worse still there was a fight behind us, and I got splashed with beer. I said to the people around me "great, now i smell like shitty beer".

As I looked around the beautiful stadium, (Miller Park is really nice). I noticed some luxury boxes. This really pissed me off. That MILLER park, (Miller, of the commercials where the delivery guy is pissed off about the luxury boxes) would have luxury boxes. Hypocrasy from macrobrewers? I find that hard to believe... Oh wait. nevermind.

Kriddy and I were tired, so we went back to the hotel after the game (about 1030) around 130 or so, Frank showed up and scared the bejesus outta me. I let him in, went back to sleep, and woke up and prepped for Saturday.

First stop on the drive back, West Lakeview Liquors. I picked up a case of Founders Breakfast Stout; and a couple bottles of stuff from 3 Floyds, most of those will be heading to California. While at the store, they mentioned that Mikel will be there and they will be having a big party on October 11. (If you've followed my links to West Lakeview before, you'll notice they changed their website. Also, they are preparing to start shipping, so that's another one that you can order from)

It was about 1215 as we were leaving WLV, so we had to skip going to Archer Liquors, we headed straight to Flossmoor for the Collaborative Evil release. We got there just in time (should probably join the mug club there). We bought a case of beer, 10 bottles of Collaborative Evil and a couple of bottles of something else that they were selling, but I didn't get the name. A bottle will be heading to California; one will be going to Andy at 7S; one will be going to the next CU Beer club; skot wanted one; I'll probably be giving one to the bartenders at CA as well. A 10 pack of beer goes pretty quick. After buying the beer, went inside and ate. I had the "burrito that ate flossmoor"; Kriddy had the fish and chips. While there, they had Collaborative Evil on tap (review to follow) (fifth picture) and it was good.

After that we headed back to Urbana for the Urbana Beer and Chili Cookoff. It was pretty good, lots of good beers there, highlighted by the Dogfish Head booth. I had 12 samples, I'm not sure what all Kriddy tried. Big Brad got drunk. We met Josh, Audra, Dirty Steve and Ann there. I felt kind of like I was Emily at the Great Taste of the Midwest. We had a good time, then headed over to CA to eat. At CA, we all shared a bottle of Nørrebro Bryghus Old Odense, which was a slightly tart beer. I had the calamari to eat and it went pretty good with that.

We finished up, I headed home to pack up some beers, then headed out to Kriddys, where the Gilmore's, Eck's and hippy +1 showed up.

We had 8 more beers there. The highlight was definitely Baladin Xyauyù. This one was almost like Avery the Beast Grand Cru. It also reminded me of a slightly weaker version of Sam Adams Utopias.

I tried to finish off some bottles after everyone left and Kriddy went to bed, but I wound up sleeping on the couch for an hour and a full still glass. Woke up Sunday, and cleaned up a little then we went to Hoots.

That's about it. The highlight beer was definitely Baladin Xyauyù, followed closely by Collaborative Evil.

Busy Busy Weekend

Alrighty, this weekend is gonna be fun and busy...

Tomorrow, going to Milwaukee for the Cubs and Brewers game.

I still need to figure out what all breweries we are going to hit on Friday before/after. Lakefront is on the schedule.

Saturday, we'll be driving back. On the way, we'll be stopping at West Lakeview Liquors. Second stop will be Archer Liquors. Final stop will be Flossmoor Station.

Then at 3 is the Urbana Beer and Chili cook off. Then we will be having an after party out at Kriddy's to sample some of the beers that I have in my inventory, that I haven't tried before.

So, Saturday's going to be quite the busy day. Not to mention, that there's the 230 mile drive from Milwaukee to Urbana.

Some of the beers on Saturday are from California, sent by Rob (who frequently comments here).

So, it should be a fun weekend, but also busy.

Sunday will either be at Hooters for watching a day of football, or we might be heading up to Chenoa for an early Thanksgiving, for a friend before he is deployed to Afghanistan.

Yes, Rob, I'll see about getting one of the Flossmoor's for you.

*update* Planning on visiting Lakefront, Stonefly, and possibly Water Street breweries.