Ramblings of a Beer Guy

The Yeti

2012-02-02T06:00:00.000-07:00

I think I’m just going to call it Yeti Thursday!

As I shared on Tuesday, I’ve got a solid line of Yeti beers from Great Divide brewing, and I’ve got to share them all with you. But I don’t want to rush things, for crying out loud, this blog is all about relaxing and having a good time.

Great Divide beers have been awarded 17 medals at the GABF and 5 World Beer Cup awards. Also ranked 8th in Ratebeer.com’s 2010 “The Best Brewers in the World” and 7th in Beer Advocate’s 2010 “All-Time Top Breweries on Planet Earth,” so I would say it’s safe to say that they provide a better than average brew.

Great Divid has a special place in my heart because Avalanche Ale was my first craft beer that I really liked! It broke me from the sad yellow bonds of Coors Light and opened the door to a new world of wonder.

Starting off with the original Yeti, I was impressed from the pour on.

Dark Black with no auburn or brown at all, the head forms with a nice dark cocoa colored foam that builds quickly but is stable and becomes rocky. During the pour it is hard not to notice that there is some viscosity to this beer.

The nose is of toasted bread, almost smokey... but not. Not really sweet, but robust with little to no hop aroma.

Flavors are thick in this brew. Roasted barley and hella-bitter. They state that it weighs in at 75 IBU and that actually seems a little low to me. A mildly sweet opening, roasty middle, and IPA style bitter finish make this beer a real treat on a cold Colorado night.

As the beer warms, the bitterness increases even more, and hints at strong coffee or very dark chocolate play with your senses but never really develop. It just stays a bitter, roasty stout.
I certainly would not call any beer that is this bitter, sweet, but there is a lot of sugar and malt there balancing a tone of hop bitterness.

9.5% alcohol? Where? Oh, yeah... RIGHT THERE! And all the way through the finish there is a omnipresent boozieness that I quite enjoy.

The full bodied mouthfeel is greatly intensified when cold, but certainly does not suffer at warmer temperatures.

Ok, I’ve always liked this beer, but never really given it this much thought! It’s a rich flavorful dark horse that keeps on trudging through the snow and pulling the cart.

Not that you need me to tell you, but this is a truly great Imperial Stout. I guess that’s why nearly every beer blogger on the interwebz has reviewed it.... and come to basically the same conclusion.

If you are into stouts, this one should certainly be on your shopping list.
~Cheers

A glimpse into the future!

2012-01-31T06:00:00.000-07:00

As I sat staring into my beer fridge (Yes, there is one dedicated to beer) I realized that I am simply bored with the things that are in there. I’ve been looking at the same stuff for months now and often resort to a rum or cocktail because I’m simply not digging what I see.

I am not saying that there are no good beers in that fridge, just nothing that I’m excited about. It’s a lopaloosa batch of unorganized craft beer at best. There are beers from several countries, the best beers Colorado has to offer, sour beers in three or five different variations, lawnmower beers and Imperial beers. But really... Nothing exciting!

Poor Kahuna! I know!

But this, as with most things, presents an opportunity. Realizing a problem only serves as the first step to fix it! So as I was par-oozing Applejack Wine and Spirits the other day, looking for some inspiration, I found something so simple, so obvious and OH SO TASTY!

I found the Yeti! Well, actually, several variations of Yeti to be more specific. I grabbed the original Yeti, Oak Aged Yeti, Espresso Oak Aged Yeti and a Belgian Yeti! I have had the original and the espresso and loved them both! I have been a Great Divide fan for a long time, so I’m excited to try the Oak Aged and Belgian!

I was glad to see some Lips of Faith in the cooler as well. Cocoa Mole is one I’ve been wanting to try (not that there is anything New Belgium does that I don’t want), but the real treat of the day came when I got to the warm bottles.

2012 La Folie! Sssshhhhh! Hear that? It’s angles singing!

Completely caught off guard by this fantastic discovery, I quickly snatched up five bottles to add to the stash! OUCH!

The best advice I can give when buying La Folie is to not look the cashier directly in the eye, don’t look at the screen, hand over your credit card and try to remember how wonderful it is!

Anyway, all of this to say that we have some interesting beers to look forward to here at BKB and you know I’ll be doing my best to help you experience them with me weather you get to have a bottle or not!

~Cheers

A Great Weekend

2012-01-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

Today we have a video that will give you a short review of our weekend in St. Thomas USVI

Fun, Sun, Beer and Rum... Sounds familiar doesn't it? Well, we had all four and it made for the best weekend in recent memory. Good people, good food and good drinks, you just can't beat that!

This video and the photographs were shot at Bolongo Bay, Magens Bay, and the Charlotte Amalie shopping district. The music is Barefoot Davis, a local Trop-Rock hero that played Iggies Beach Bar on the Saturday night we were there.
Take 5 minutes and relax with me!

~Cheers

Island Summer Ale

2012-01-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

Traveling is a learning experience... or at least it should be!

When we travel I have two main objectives. First and foremost, I want to relax. But my style of relaxing is perhaps a bit different than some. Sure, I like to sit on the beach and do a whole lot of nothing. In fact I love it! But it usually doesn’t take long before I’m either in the water or exploring about. Which brings me to my second objective, and that is to experience what the local culture has to offer.

While in St. Thomas with the RumShopRyan Winter Beach Bash, I almost immediately found an island treasure in a brown bottle. Arriving at the Bolongo Bay Resort, we were treated to a rum punch which did little more than remind me that I was starving. Iggies Beach Bar is located a few hundred yards from our room, just a short walk down the beach.

I had but one question for the waitress, “What kind of local beer do you have?”
Without hesitation she said, “We have Island Summer Ale from St. John Brewing.”
I opted for the Island Hoppin’ IPA that first night, but early the next day I gave in and tried the summer ale.

A filtered blend of wheat beer and pale ale, this little ray of sunshine is smooth and refreshing. The blend is a perfect balance of flavor and refreshment.

There is a certain flavor that beer has in the lower latitudes and I can’t place it’s origin. Usually I would say that water or temperature has the main effect on it, but the label says that this is “Brewed and bottled by Shipyard brewing” so I don’t think it’s the water.

Whatever it is, it makes for a unique profile that I quite enjoy. This summer ale goes great with the scent of salt and suntan oil.

For those who are lucky enough to live in one of the seven states, the Virgin Islands or Puerto Rico where St. John Brewers beer is distributed, you are in for a tropical treat with this solid line of craft beer.

My friend Carl Grooms from Coastlines & Tan Lines caught up with the two crazy fellas that started St. John Brewers back in 2011 and made the video at the bottom of this post.

If you are ever in the southern latitudes and find yourself in need of something refreshing, the Island Summer Ale is hard to beat!

~Cheers

Colorado Ice Wine

2012-01-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

I have met beer snobs. I usually do not care for their company. Too much pissing and moaning about how much better their last beer was than this beer, or how their next beer is going to be so much better and on and on and on.... SHUT UP AND DRINK IT ALREADY! I much prefer “Beer Enthusiasts!”

I have been around wine snobs and again, too much of all that I hate and not enough drinking the wine! If you’re too good to drink wine from a box in a fancy glass, or fancy wine from a mason jar then we probably shouldn’t try and co-host a cheese pairing.

I have spent some time around Rum XP judges. I typically find them to be about as much fun as... you can possibly have! Sure they geek out and talk about copper stills vs. stainless and American Oak vs. French. They get to know blenders and distillers the way Beer Geeks know brewers, and they sample with great attention to every detail of the process.... But then, once the judging is done and we’ve decided it’s good rum, all bets are off! Mix it? Yup! Shoot it? Yessir! Want a glass with a few ice cubes and a slice of lime to sip while smoking a big ‘ol caribbean cigar? Let me pour one for myself!

So, as I expand my palate and try new things, I will be approaching everything like I approach beer and try to work some of the style of the Rum XP into the process as well.

Today, we have Vin De Peche from the Maison La Belle Vie Winery in Palisade, Colorado.
This a true Muscat ice wine, made with fresh Colorado Peaches. I found this little (And I do mean little) gem last summer when we stumbled upon a wine festival at the Northfield Shopping Center in Denver. The head brewer (Vinter?) was on hand to answer every intelligent question I could muster and most of the really stupid ones too! That is refreshing! So as it turns out, he’s one hell of a salesman! I ended up leaving with six bottles of this dandy nectar, and I’m finally getting into one just so I can share it with you!

Packaged in a 375 ml bottle, tall and thin makes optimum use of real estate on the shelf. The bottle is scarcely two inches across, so a lot fit on a shelf!

Golden as honey and water, this wine looks beautiful both in the bottle and in the glass. It swirls in the glass with great viscosity, giving hints to it’s sugar content.

The smell is of white grapes and fresh peaches with a notable alcohol smell.

Sweet and mouth filling, the peach shines in this wine. Just as I remembered from the tasting, but with something I didn’t remember. There is a bitterness that helps bring back some of the sweetness and make this dessert wine very drinkable.

The 16.5% abv is all but hidden behind the sweetness with nearly no throat burn.

According to the Winery’s web page, the wine is aged on leaves from peach trees. That would explain the vegetal notes in the finish and the bitterness.

The finish is the best part of this wine. You can almost see the sun setting over the Monument while Mt. Garfield glows beside you. They have done a great job of packaging the Palisade wine experience into this one little bottle.

If you have never had an ice wine, you need to try one! If you’ve never had this one, you need to try it!

It’s Colorado Sunshine in a bottle!

~Cheers

Got Rum? Ya do now!

2012-01-21T06:00:00.000-07:00

Established in 1862 by Don Facundo Bacardi Masso, Bacardi is the largest privately held spirits company in the world. Chances are good that if you live in any one of the nearly 100 countries where Bacardi is sold, you’ve had one. Either a rum and coke, shots or in some fruity boat drink, you’ve likely had at least a sip from one of the 200 million bottles that they produce every year.

Bacardi has a relatively new offering in the market of spiced rum. As a direct competitor with Captain Morgan, I thought that Oakheart was doomed from the beginning. I figured that with a sticker price less than 4 gallons of gas there had to be something amiss!

I was wrong!

This flavorful treasure from the front of the liquor store was a great surprise to this beer guy! The medium golden amber color looks great in a glass, and it’s way more complex than Captain Morgan. There is creamy vanilla front to it that tastes like it actually comes from oak, instead of a chemical that is supposed to taste like oak and vanilla.

There is a lasting burn that I first attributed to the fact that I was drinking the rum neat and at room temp. But weighing in at only 35% abv I didn't expect too much burn!

Paying a bit closer attention to what my nose was telling me, I quickly recognized pepper as the best descriptor. I once loved Punch Grand Cru Cigars because they absolutely dripped black pepper from every leaf, and this little spiced rum has many of the same attributes. It would go great with a cigar!

The picture is my thousand words today. This rum would be a great candidate for mixing. It’s well priced and should play well with others.

It’s price range means shot range! When things go shit house loco and shots of rum are in order, I’m saving my Vizcaya and breaking out the Oakheart!

Sipping, neat or with ice, this rum is up to both tasks. It doesn’t have that harsh chemical flavor that many cheaper rums have. It is greatly more sophisticated than Bacardi’s typical offerings, which I almost consider to be mixer only quality.

Need a little something in your vest pocket? You can’t take beer with you, but the Oakheart fits nicely in the pocket flask and will serve you well through the evening!

Remember people, we can’t live on beer alone, and when we are due for a change, I’m going for the Oakheart!

~Cheers

Good idea, BAD execution

2012-01-19T06:00:00.000-07:00

I am about to be getting on the airplane bound for 9 or so hours of ass numbing travel in a seat built for someone half my size and a third my weight.... But so what! Headed south for some fun with the wife and a few friends!

Trips like this always make me question my sanity, and I hope that some of you are in the same boat.
That was the thought process that lead me to ask: What are some of your really dumb ideas... or good ideas that went south like a beach bum looking for the sun?

This is one of mine... Hop Extract!

You’ve probably made vanilla extract by soaking vanilla beans in vodka. If you’ve never done it, I almost guarantee that you know someone who has... Me for example!

Well, what’s good for the goose right? Hops are high dollar and more that once I’ve been left wanting to add a little kick to a less-than-stellar beer. A hop vodka would fit the bill nicely!

Good idea, bad execution!
I used hop pellets and filled the flask bottle half full then added the white likker POOF! Within an hour, the pellets had swelled (Just as you’d expect) into a thick paste that filled my little bottle like a jar of peanut butter!

Every once in a while, a layer of oil appears on the top, but it’s not hoppy goodness... it’s just goo. Leaf hops would be a better choice, and are a definite candidate for a future experiment!

The good news, and the lesson to be learned here, is that for every great idea there is potential for great failure.

The way I see it, if you are not failing, you’re not trying hard enough to succeed!
~Cheers

Forgotten Christmas Presents

2012-01-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

One day while shopping for Christmas presents, I found a little treasure waiting on the shelf for me. A Bristol Christmas Ale. I don’t remember which shopping trip this came from, but I buried it in the back of the beer fridge behind all of the IPA style Christmas ales I had.

When it sprung up, I was pleasantly surprised, but why did I only get one?

Bristol, a Colorado Springs brewery since 1994, has been a rare guest in my beer fridge... for no good reason at all. I love their beer, I order it on occasion and it’s usually available. I don’t know why I don’t buy it.

I am going to do something I usually wouldn’t, and that is bludgeon you with raw thoughts. I didn’t particularly like this beer, so I’m just going to show you what I was thinking at the time.

Nice dark pour with a caramel colored head. While photographing, I see that it’s a super dark amber color instead of the typical black stout color.

Very light spice nose. Initially, I smell nutmeg, which of course leads me to say cinnamon, but it’s more like ginger and rum. Smells more like a cookie than beer.

Light body is almost crisp very dry. That’s odd... I expected SYRUP! At 5.6% I’d almost like to take a gravity reading to see how dry it really is!

The rum smell is from an obvious molasses background upon which the nutmeg and ginger build. I know that there is some malt in there somewhere... it’s like the flour in a cookie. You know it’s there, but can’t taste it.

As the beer warms up a touch, there is a very light hop bitterness just as it passes the back of the throat.

While I didn’t love this beer, it was refreshing and the spices were reminiscent of my favorite cookie. The whole thing was just too laid back for me. I needed more body, a richer flavor and more of the spices. I certainly drank the whole thing, and I really wish I had another to keep for a year.

I am glad I tried it, and I’ll get two next year, but not much more than that!
~Cheers

You sure vacation a lot!

2012-01-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

When you die, what will your regret be?

Will you be ever so unhappy that you never got to the next level of Super Mario Brothers... or Xcombat or HitMan or what ever the new video game is?

When traveling, catch the sunset!

Do you suppose you'll be thinking "Damn! I never did get that new Lexus!"

Well, I hope that I am never in that boat.... actually when I die I hope I am thinking of boats! I want to remember the good times I've had and the great things I've seen and done. I never want to miss a sunset, or a sunrise, because that is something I will regret.

I travel because I believe that there is a LOT of the world to be seen and experienced that is nowhere near my back door!

Please don't misunderstand my point here. Most of the world has Colorado on their list of places to visit, so I am very lucky to have a backdoor with all of the best that Colorado has to offer, but there is more!

Eat the local foods! It's the heart of any culture.

There is some sort of inexplicable urge in my soul to head south. I know others experience it... hell, I know people that live in Ft. Lauderdale that consider themselves "Northerners" and can't wait till they can get to the islands!

Perhaps it's the laid back island lifestyle that calls to me. I do have a strong lazy streak that does prefer "laid back" to "busy busy busy!"

I think that the thrill of new experiences keeps my spirits high. As always, I can compare life to beer! And if Life were beer, think how easy it would be to get bored with one bottle. Sure, we all love Pliney... But if you lived Pliney, day-in and day-out for years on end, sooner or later you would crave an ESB!

You could say that a live lived in one place with little outside experience is a success. Take Coors for example. Really successful, really popular, really one sided and really not for me.

Shorts Brewing booth at 2011 GABF

I would rather live like Shorts brewing. Seeing what is available, trying it and moving along to some new experience while still staying grounded with what we know works.

Their display at GABF 2011 was divided into three segments that we should all try to recognize in our lives: Experimental, Traditional and Specialty! Balance is the key! And when you work a normal life, day in and day out, you need some vacation time to add the "Experimental" to the mix to help hold the balance!

Even the trip home is a beautiful thing!

It's kinda like what I say at the end of the video segments. "Expand your palate, try new things, but always drink what you like!"

There are a few things that I know for sure that I like. I like Beer! I like Rum! I like Food! I like to see new places for the first time, and I like to see old places where I've had fun before. These are the "specialty" parts that also help to keep the balance.

So yeah... Heck Yeah! I vacation at every given opportunity. Because I will never die wishing I'd spent less time having fun!

~Cheers!

Who's your QB NOW?

2012-01-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

Who’s your Quarterback now?
It would appear that Colorado has changed time zones from Mountain Standard to TEBOW TIME. And I suppose I’ve adjusted my clock as well.

I don’t think that anyone who knows me would ever question my warm milk attitude towards NFL football. Everyone knows that I like talking about the game far more than I like sitting through it.
There is some degree of camaraderie that I gain when talking with other Bronco fans. Not unlike listening to baseball on the radio, I think that Dave Logan of KOA Radio does such a masterful job of calling the game that I get more enjoyment out of it than when watching on TV. And now that we have DVR in our lives... I can pause the TV and Que. it up with the radio so the 7 second radio delay is nearly nonexistent!

I actually attended a Broncos game two weeks ago. I know... I know! It was against my better judgment, and I was more than happy to spend the time with my family, but I will never... EVER do that again!

You all know that the stadium is called “Mile High”...Well... Our seats were mile and-a-half high! Top section, five or six rows from the top, one or three seats from the very edge.... Not exactly a good place for someone with an incurable case of acrophobia! That would be the fear of heights.

When the parachute guys jumped from their plane, it was above us... But they were still in free fall and waved as they went by! Not really, but it sure felt that way!

I don’t know why, I was never bothered by it when I was a kid, and I’ve never had any real tragic accidents resulting from being a Looooonnnnngggg way off of the ground. But I don’t even stand in the back of the pickup.... WAY too far off the ground for me!

So as we approached the stadium, I remember making some sort of snide comment that they needed helicopter insertion for folks sitting in the top sections! Apparently I didn’t know that my final destination was a few seats above where I was pointing!

As we climbed the ramps, one after the other, I became more uncomfortable with each step. I was to the point of keeping my head down, using the bill of my cap to keep me from seeing the edges. This, in retrospect, was a bad move.

Once we reached the concession area on the top level, I was able to look up at the people and crowd, and felt a bit better. We wandered about and found our portal to hell, then retreated to pick up some pretzels and nachos!

For whatever new and amazing snack options the mass media and marketing geniuses throw at us every year, nothing beats a tray of hot nachos with jalapenos from a vendor. Be it at the race track, Gaskill Field or Sports Authority field at Mile High, for my money, you just can’t do better than the nachos.

Feeling slightly better and quite excited about my nachos, we ventured to our seats. Again, I kept my head down concentrating on not spilling my heaping bowl of cheesy goodness, we made our way out of the portal and up quite a few rows to our seats.

When I turned around, the world stopped turning, I quit breathing and I clutched my tray of nachos like it was the last ounce of food on the planet. I yelled at the kids for standing up, and I yelled at my wife for telling me not to yell at the kids! Good times!

You know that feeling you get the instant you realize you are about to tip over in your chair? It was that feeling for nearly 3 hours!

I would have gladly left and waited in the car, but there was no way I was able to get up and walk back to the portal. Fortunately, when the game started, I had something else to concentrate on and was able to relax enough that with six minutes left in the fourth quarter, I was able to get up and hobble to the exit.

Sore from head to toe from the panic response and every muscle in my body cramped from the experience, I suddenly realized I was FROZEN! Completely, utterly chilled-to-the-bone! Apparently being cold was the least of my worries when in the stands, but once I was closer to not dying, my blood turned to ice!

Even through all of that, I was still able to be irritated by our QB running the ball like he was a half back! Had Tebow not decided to try and run the ball, then fumbled it, the outcome against Kansas City could have very well been the opposite of the way that game ended.

So this week when the Broncos played the Steelers, again at Mile High, I was a bit more intrigued to watch. Of course, every time the camera panned out and showed the view from the top seats, I panicked, grabbed hold of the couch arm like a little girl watching a 1980’s thriller movie and may have even tinkled a little in my britches, but I was still a bit irritated every time ‘lil Timmy took off with the dang ball!

I had quite high hopes for the Broncos when they were two goals ahead, but by the time they tied the game and lost possession of the ball, I just figured that this was going to be another heartbreaking loss in Denver sports history, and would eventually become just another lack-luster performance by the Broncos!

Overtime, schmovertime! Who cares! New rules that allow each team possession... Unless the team with first possession scores. DUH! If the first team doesn’t score, the other team gets possession... No? Anyway, Who cares? Tebow will miss 50percent of his passes, run for 30 or 40 yards and turn the ball over.... Right?

Eleven seconds later, everyone on TV is screaming and I’m looking up from my computer wondering just what I’d missed!

Thank God for that little DVR device I spoke of earlier! It is another thing missing from live game action. The ability to rewind saved me from missing a record-setting play by the Denver Broncos!

HOW COOL IS THAT!

I wouldn’t even go as far as to say I’m a fair weather fan, and I certainly don’t bleed orange like some in my family, but I will admit, I’m wearing orange undies today with little horses on them!
cheers!

Perhaps I'm a Homebody!

2012-01-10T06:00:00.000-07:00

I don't know if you remember my steak issues from early December, but I have NOT forgotten.
Soured by the scene, I have lived off of salads and hamburgers, Chicken and pasta when we eat out. Steak has NOT been a part of my meal in nearly a month!

But tonight, when I called SWMBO to ask what I should bring home for dinner, she said "I Don't really Care."

DOOM DOOM DOOM DOOM DOOM!

Worse than the kiss of death from Al Capone himself! This is dangerous territory!
She is the second most picky eater EVER, and if I screw this up she will be hungry (And thus cranky) till after breakfast tomorrow!

Fortunately for me, after 10 years together, I'm very well aware of the fact that I've married a typical carnivore.

The local grocery had a decent looking pack of NY Strips for under $4 each, so I figured what the hell, I'll eat another steak.

Not the least of my concerns for the evening was my propensity to either over cook steak till it's dead, or under cook it to a point of taking it all back outside, I just stood by the grill and watched them till they were done.

Swell. Now stick some Texas Toast in the oven (Which I was smart enough to pre-heat) and She-Bang I've got dinner!

And what'll ya know? I actually like steak! I was seriously wondering! It has been so long since I've had one that was worth the effort it took to eat, I thought perhaps I was destine to become a vegan!

Thankfully I've just been the victim of a really shitty restaurant scene in Colorado, where apparently, we ship all of our decent beef to the coast... (Or S. Korea)

Perhaps I'm just a homebody and steak, not unlike the wife and beer is just something I prefer to have at home!

Speaking of Beer...Yup! Paired it with a New Belgium Snow Day.... But I'm still waiting to do another New Belgium segment :-)

Thanks everyone for stopping by!

~Cheers!

Second Annual Conched in Key West Bar Crawl!

2012-01-09T06:00:00.000-07:00

What started off as a group of friends getting together for some fun in Key West has evolved into an exciting and annual event to raise money for local charities. This year’s benefactor is Reef Relief. Reef Relief is a nonprofit membership organization dedicated to improving and protecting the coral reef ecosystem.

The second annual Conched in Key West Bar Crawl is being hosted by a group of island & rum loving friends: Team Cocktail, RumShopRyan, Shawn Martin, Conch Republic Bikinis, Rum Connection, Shot Doctor World, and Hoffman Publications. Offering plenty of fun and games, not to mention a few cocktails, this Bar Crawl promises to be a good one. Each bar will be sponsored by one of the hosts and will offer drink specials to those participating in the Crawl.

Participating bars include Cork & Stogie, Rum Bar, & Kelly’s to name a few. Visit the Facebook event page for an updated list of participating bars, sponsors and additional even information.

Facebook Event Page: Conched in Key West Bar Crawl
Twitter: Follow the hashtag #KWCrawl for event updates

With a $30 ticket purchase, crawlers receive a Conched In Key West T-Shirt and drink specials at participating bars. A portion of all ticket sales will benefit Reef Relief in Key West.

To purchase tickets, visit Team Cocktail's registration page here: Team Cocktail

For questions or more information, contact Lyndsey Higgins at lyndsey@teamcocktail.com

Crawlers take the stage at Virgilio's at the Conched in Key West 2011. Don't miss your opportunity to join us this year!

Photo Courtesy of www.coastlines-tanlines.com

From The Cellar

2012-01-07T06:00:00.000-07:00

Join me as we select and taste a 2008 Stone Smoked Porter from the cellar.
What beers do you have in your cellar?

Thanks for hanging out!
~Cheers!

Mid week rambling.

2012-01-05T07:26:00.000-07:00

Well, first... Thanks for showing up!

I don't have much today, but I do have a few things to mention.

First, the most exciting news of the year is going to be released right here on BigKahunaBrew.com on Monday. That will be an extra for you guys. I won't wuss out and skip Tuesday's post just cause something came out on Monday!

Second, and almost as exciting is that I have potentially tracked down a distiller that may let me write about him. He said that since I am a homebrewer, he would get his still out and fire it up if I made the wash. He is pretty leery, and understandably so, about getting caught, so I have to convince him that although I am a blogger, I also work in traditional media which legally affords me some journalistic protections... That is to say that the cops can't make me tell them my sources for the story. So with any luck, we'll get to see some real home distillation happen.

Third, I've failed. I was going to brew this weekend while the wife is away, but I've let other things pile into the schedule. I may still get a batch in, but I was hoping that three brews would be made and 2 bottled... along with bottling the "Leap Year Mead" I'm gonna be drinking it right out of the carboy if I don't get on that!

While I have no review today, I did include a picture that I hope helps to console my freezing frends in Florida. They have been hit with a cold spell and I just want them to know that we are not ready to bring the 40's back to Colorado!

(Today's high should be around 63, so I am really trying not to rub it in!)

Thanks for stopping by!

~Cheers

Seven Seas or Seven'th Heaven?

2012-01-03T06:00:00.000-07:00

And here we go! Another review of another IIPA by another jackwagon that thinks he's a beer blogger. But WAIT! This time there's more!

This may be just another beer review, and I may be just another dude looking to stand out in a super crowded market, but Seven Seas Double India Pale Ale is anything but "Another", and stands out quite well. It's certainly NOT going to be overlooked by anyone lucky enough to get a pint!

Brewed in Aurora Colorado, Seven Seas is one of three IPA styles brewed by the small brewpub.
Dry Dock Brewing was started in 2005 when owner Kevin DeLang found enough used equipment and was able to rent space next door to his homebrew shop. When I first visited Dry Dock Brewing, there were seven bar stools, five tables and the boil kettle was in the corner of the room at the end of the bar.

Now expanded in the same strip mall, Dry Dock is a beautiful pub with a nautical theme that really hits my soft spot. It doesn't hurt that The Brew Hut, Kevin's "Other Business," is part of the same building. The Brew Hut is as close as I have to a LHBS, even though they are 100++ miles away! This is the store that I visit when I don't order online.

Seven Seas IIPA is made with Chinook, Cascade, Columbus, Centennial, Crystal, Challenger and Citra hops, and thanks to artful balancing act by the Golden Promise malt, you can almost taste every single cone in the batch.

Not a blow the top of your skull off throat stripping, sinus clearing, flavor busting, taste it three days from now when you sneeze, ridiculous hop bomb, this brew is a pleasure to drink. Not that I don't enjoy the stupid bitter over the top of the top Hop apples, because I do. But Seven Seas is the type of beer that I could kick back with a few friends on a pier in the Florida Keys, crack open a few of these things and just let the world go on without us for an afternoon... or a weekend!
Unfortunately for my friends in S. Florida, Dry Dock is currently only available in.... Colorado!

I would hate to call a 9%ABV brew that is only available in bombers a session beer, but I can drink a few of these, and really, they are so good, I'll bet you would too! The nose is sweet and floral, the flavor is hoppy, bitter, crisp and refreshing. The finish is short and sweet.

Unless you are a beer god, or some ass that finds fault with everything you touch, I don't think you will find anything negative to say about this brew. It's golden, it's hoppy, it's balanced, it's fantastic and it's brewed locally.... As long as you live in Colorado! This is not my favorite beer, but it's damn sure on the short list!

Seven Seas IIPA, Dry Dock Brewing, Kevin DeLang and all that sail with him get a big 'ol "HELL YEAH" on the Kahuna scale of 1-10!

~Cheers

Creating Criminals

2011-12-31T06:00:00.000-07:00

Men have lived and children have died over this simple product. Families have been supported and babies fed from the money made off of it. Marriages saved and marriages lost from a natural chemical compound (C2H5OH) that happens in nature whenever wild yeast in the air gets its grasp on the simple sugars in fruits or sprouted grain.

Hailed by many but cursed by a (very vocal) few, alcohol comes in many formes. Beer, wine, mead, whiskey, rum, vodka, absenthe, ouzo, Tequila, moonshine, bitters, brandy, Scotch, and Liqueurs of all shapes and sizes, and even ready-to-drink hard lemmonaid is all derived from, and consists of, the very same thing. The byproduct of Yeast eating Sugar.

When Yeast eat sugar, they Fart Co2 and pee C2H5oH. It is that simple.

When the sugar that the yeast eats is from grain and hops are added, it's called beer. When it comes from grain and no hops are added then distilled, we call it Whiskey. If whiskey is made within a certain Kentucky County, it's called Bourbon! Make it across the Atlantic, next to the ocean in a certain country, age it for a minimum of 8 years and you've got Scotch!

Let the yeast get hold of the molasses or sugar in your baking cabinet and concentrate the alcohol from that, and all the same ingredients that make your sugar cookies and gingerbread have been turned into Rum.

Let the yeast attack grape juice and you've got wine. Distill your wine and you'll have brandy. Make your wine in a particular region of France and carbonate it.... We will call it Champagne!

Do you see how stupid this is? It's all about words that may... or may not mean things. And when they do mean things, it's a subtle, regional variance in detail about a product that does not differ greatly (at least from a legislative standpoint) from the one next to it.

When the government allowed us (Thanks for granting us permission to do something that happens every minute of every hour, wild, in nature....) to brew 200 gallons of beer or wine, we have been allowed to make alcohol. If it's an 8% beer, you are going to produce 16 gallons of alcohol. If you make wine that weighs in at 14% ABV... You could make 28 gallons of pure alcohol.

Here is the kick in the nuts: IF you remove 1 iota of the water contained in your beer or wine, via ANY means, including freezing or distilling, you are a no good law breaking criminal and you will do time!

(I hate this phrase, but it seems to fit!) WAIT.... WHAT?

How the HELL does that work? Take the water out of something... and go to jail? Sell Pot in Colorado... Get rich as a Congressman and be on the news promoting your store every other night!

At what point did we decide this was OK?

I don't know either! But I'll tell you what I do know! 2012 is the point at which we say "THIS IS NOT OK!"

It is time to stop the pissing match about 75 year-old liquor laws and let homebrewers distill a portion of their products without fear of impending jail time from their government!

This is America, and I understand that it takes money to keep our country free. Distillation laws are purely a tax issue! Don't forget that Tax evasion is what brought down Capone! But homebrewers are not going to put the country in a budget crisis by making a few gallons of liquor at home. Just like beer, we are going to buy commercial examples, and pay our taxes.

I am not talking about allowing unregulated commertial sale of moonshine, I am talking about home distillation.
And I am saying that it is time to LEGALIZE IT!

Down Slope Distilling

2011-12-29T06:00:00.000-07:00

While I was running my mouth the other day about how much I wanted to tour a distillery, a twitter pal (Peep) of mine suggested that I might check out Down Slope Distilling in Centennial.

As luck would have it, I had planned an over night date with the wife (sans kids) to the area, and was able to drive by the place the very next day. No time to stop as we were Christmas Shopping.

What I did get was a bottle of their Double Diamond Whiskey for my very own.

Craft Spirits

Down Slope has a business model that I greatly respect. The three guys that run the place are homebrewers at heart and they focus on local availability. What does that mean to me? Their products should be of above average quality and you might not be able to get any. Their web page says that their only goal is to "Produce and sell the highest quality distilled spirits available, to do so locally, and to make those products first available to the local community."

That's pretty damn cool! They even get a "Colorado Proud" sticker for their bottles. That may not mean much to you, but it's a big deal to Colorado Ag. It's a promotional campaign by the Colorado Dept of Ag to help consumers readily identify "Colorado" products.

Being small is both a blessing and a curse to a small distillery. They say that "the still is custom designed, the wash production is more artisanal than state of the art and the space is limited. " Which in my book translates to "We make what we want, how we want and don't ever compromise quality."

I was very excited to get my fingers on some Colorado Rum, but the only thing I could find on the shelf was the vanilla. I wanted something that would show a bit more of the pure nature of their distillery than an infused spirit, so I was happy to find the whiskey. Their web page says that it's only available at the distillery, but that info is obviously a few weeks out of date. They also make: Cane vodka, Grain vodka Pepper vodka White Rum Gold Rum, Spiced Rum, Vanilla Rum and Wine Barrel Aged Rum. They hint at something that I will be most anxious to try, and that is a whiskey made with a malt bill consisting of 100% Marris Otter!

I must say that I was most pleased to find the whiskey very fresh tasting. The oak is relatively subtle and there is a very young flavor to the spirit, although it isn't harsh in any way. I found it so intriguing, that I drank more than half the bottle alternating between ice and neat. Do NOT go into a bottle of this craft spirit thinking you've got a bottle of Jack Daniels, and don't thing that when I say it tastes "Young" that I mean Moon Shine! This is a top shelf spirit, and was a very nice introduction to Down Slope.

I am hoping to take advantage of another product that they offer at the distillery in Feb. Well, a service more than a product. Jessica suggested that perhaps going to distilling school would be a fun weekend away from the kids.

This will go great with my new mission to do what I can to help legalize home distilling. There is no reason that as home brewers we should be considered criminals for distilling our products. Even making a true EisBock by freezing the beer to remove some water... Is ILLEGAL... And that is ridiculous!

Obviously, with one bottle of their whiskey, I can't be an expert on the entire product line. Judging by the one bottle I do have, I would say that if you see Down Slope spirits on your liquor store shelf, you'd be pretty safe buying it.

~Cheers

Health story of the year: Salt vindicated

2011-12-27T06:00:00.000-07:00

Well, Jimmy Buffett fans the world over have appreciated Salt for years. Now, everyone can enjoy this wonderful little mineral that keeps us alive.

Whether on your fries or the rim of your margarita, a little bit of salt is good for us all... and this article doesn't even take into account the benefits of iodized salt!

(ARA) - Paul T. Meagher sometimes gets disapproving stares when people see him sprinkle his food with salt as he has done since he was a young lad growing up in Ireland. He has a response for such people.
"I tell them you can take my blood pressure right now, or we can have a run around the block, and I guarantee you I'm in better shape than you," said Meagher, 68, who now lives in Westport, Mass. "I'm fit, at least for my age, and I use salt every day in volume. Hasn't done me a blind bit of harm, which is the way we put it from where I come from."

Recent research quantifies Meagher's experience. In 2011, half a dozen medical studies showed the health benefits of salt or revealed the significant risks of low-sodium diets -- providing vindication for this essential nutrient and the people, like Meagher, who love it.

"The vindication of salt is probably the biggest health and nutrition story of the last year," says Lori Roman, president of the Salt Institute. "Everyone knows salt tastes good, but the latest research published in leading medical journals confirms that salt is good for you, too. The medical studies underline what we have been saying for years: science is on salt's side."

The new data raises questions about the federal government's effort to put Americans on a low-salt diet. The Food and Drug Administration is inviting online public comments about ways to reduce sodium consumption. In the past, such invitations have foreshadowed the rollout of new regulations.
The six peer-reviewed medical studies documented:

Type 1 Diabetes risk: In a study of patients with type 1 diabetes, low sodium intake was associated with renal disease and premature death.

Type 2 Diabetes risk: In an Australian study of type 2 diabetes patients, lower sodium was associated with increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease.

No benefit to salt reduction: A study published in the American Journal of Hypertension showed eating less salt will not prevent heart attacks, strokes or early death. On the contrary, low-sodium diets increase the likelihood of premature death.

Risk of death: A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that lower salt intakes resulted in higher death rates.

Other negative effects of low-salt intakes: An analysis published in the American Journal of Hypertension showed individuals placed on the U.S. Dietary Guidelines-recommended salt levels experienced significant increases in cholesterol and other risk factors for diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Risk with current U.S. Dietary Guidelines: An analysis published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that people who ate salt at the levels recommended by the U.S. government were at greater risk of cardiovascular events.

The research has prompted new scrutiny of the government's attempts to put all Americans on a low-salt diet. Scientific American reviewed medical studies over several decades and concluded in a headline: "It's time to end the war on salt." The respected magazine also said, "The zealous drive by politicians to limit our salt intake has little basis in science."

Meagher remembers when the federal government told him eggs could be bad for his health. He ignored that advice, too.

"I would rather the federal government stay well away from my kitchen altogether," Meagher says. "I will continue to eat my boiled eggs from an egg cup, with an egg spoon, and with plenty of salt."

How do YOU see it?

2011-12-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

What do you see when you look at this picture?

Do you immediately notice that the bottle is filthy? Looks like something out of a French wine cellar doesn't it? Do you notice that the carbonation is bubbling away despite the very small head? Did you notice that the beer is super light colored for a Kahuna Homebrew? Do you see that the glass is half empty?

Or do you see that it is half full?

Well, it looks like it does because it's right out of the cellar.

I figure that this beer is... Maybe a 2007 or 2008 vintage. I really don't know for sure because it was made before I kept extremely detailed records on the computer, and the only markings are the PS on top.

What I do know about it is that it was an extract only SmAsH. That is to say that it was made with a single malt and a single hop. I do remember that those were a Pilsen malt and Fuggle hops. I don't remember how much of either, but this is a pretty mild pilsner by my judgement.

Knowing full well that this brew would not be one to age gracefully, I still decided to put some back. The whole point of the project in the first place was to learn something, so why not learn all that I could.

This is not the best beer that I've ever brewed. This is not the best beer I've ever aged!

What this beer represents, is a very clean old ale. It's got nothing specifically wrong with it. There is a bit of a "dirty flavor" that has appeared over time. There is no apparent oxidation, which is a nice note because these bottles were capped with the cheap "Store Brand" caps that were 500# for a dollar or some crazy cheap price at the LHBS.

I wish I could remember how I primed the batch. I do remember that it was only a 3 gallon brew, but the method escapes me. I may have used extract to prime. Either way, the bottles are over carbonated and tend to foam over a bit when opened.

Initially, this prompted concerns of infection, but the clean aroma dispelled those worries. There isn't really a hop note left in the nose, and it really isn't malty because of the Pilsen malt used. There isn't much flavor, and the bitterness is subtle. I is very interesting to see what parts of the hop profile stick around and what parts are lost to father time.

I wouldn't call this brew "Dank" as it's still fairly bright and refreshing. I would even call it's light flavor a bit "Complex" for a Pilsner.

This was simply an experiment to see what would happen. I like setting myself up with these little tastings, but they do take some thinking and effort. With the new year just around the corner, this is a great time to take on such a project if you are so inclined. Just brew up a batch, keep stellar notes and keep some for five or six years. Simple!

I hope this little success story has inspired some of you to try cellaring beer. Even beer that isn't really considered suitable for cellaring is an opportunity to grow your personal knowledge and expand your palate!

Merry Christmas!

~Cheers

Paulaner Salvator

2011-12-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

Do you have any sayings or phrases that you can hear people say when you close your eyes? I can hear my Dad telling me “Some day you’ll understand” (And he was right) I can hear Dana Carvey doing his President Bush Impersonation saying “Nope, Not gonna do’t” and I can hear Kai Troester saying “PAULANER”.

We had finished recording an episode of Basic Brewing Radio when Kai, James Spencer, Chris Colby and I started talking about great German beers. Kai kept talking about Paulaner. Over and over again, he kept talking about Paulaner. Enough that now, when I see a bottle or a sign in a liquor store, I hear in the back of my mind, Kai’s thick German accent saying “Paulaner.”

Today, I am drinking a Paulaner Salvator Double Bock. The “Original” Paulaner brew. This is the one that the Monks drank during Lent. They have also been brewing it since 1773 when Brother Barnabas originated the recipe that is still used today.

This double bock weighs in at 7.9%ABV and pours with a thick, extremely light caramel head. The nose is of bread and yeast with a nearly sweet aroma that fills your nostrils like fresh bread from the corner bakery.

The head dissipates quickly after becoming rocky then retreating to a thin lace and eventually disappearing altogether.

The color is a dark copper caramel color which hides a majority of it’s medium carbonation from sight.

The Flavor is of malt and bread. The hops seem completely lost in the sweet malt, but there is a bit of citrus bitterness that balances the huge malt flavor and keeps it from being too sweet, that I assume is from the hops.

As this brew warms and I continue to chew on it (Quite literally chewing each sip) I notice that the mouth-feel is a bit lighter that I originally detected. There is also a very bright, refreshing quality to the finish. It’s almost like it’s telling you that it’s OK to be done, and it’s OK to have more.... Up To You. I Choose MORE!

This is a beer that I would recommend to almost any craft beer fan, and anyone looking to experience a more advanced German style beer. Paulaner is certainly as “good as gold” when it comes to style and technique. That is not to say that you can’t find a better double bock on the market, it is just to say that they are the monks that were pioneers of the style and have been doing this for 200+ years.

If you have a chance to try Salvator, I’d say go for it! Pick up two... Because a pint just doesn’t seem like enough!

~Cheers!

Apple Pie and Moon Shine

2011-12-20T06:00:00.000-07:00

Everyone around these parts seems to have their own idea of what moon shine is. There is a small, quiet group of folks that I'm pretty sure are operating their grand pappie's copper pot still on Sundays after Church. The drippings from which that they make... I'll call shine.

Then there is the younger, more vocal group that likes to mix Everclear with anything from Kool Ade to Motor Oil and call it their "Moon Shine".

I'm calling Bull Shit on the second group, because words mean things. Moon Shine is a reference to the old kodgers working by the light of the full moon to run their stills in the back woods during prohibition. What they produced was clear as water, nearly tasteless and full strength! Now-a-days the city folk call it E-85... They called it "shine!"

That being said, I guess if you make it, you earn the right to call it whatever the hell you want!

This is Apple Pie Juice at my house. I don't call it apple pie shots because it's not really strong enough, when I make it, to be a shot. It's wine strength, and good over ice, warmed up or even poured over some Peanut Butter Cap'N Crunch first thing in the morning. If you want to make it true shot strength, tripple the alcohol! Pretty easy.

The way I make it, it's easy drinking and smooth as silk. A true "panty dropper" if you will. A term that I've always hated, but especially now that my mother-in-law has taken such a liking to this stuff. (Me and the FIL get along great recently!)

Ok, On-to the show!

You will need:
1 Gallon Apple Juice
1 Bottle of Everclear
4 Cinnamon Sticks (4" each)
6 whole cloves
1 1/2 - 2 Cups Honey

Mix apple juice, cloves, cinnamon sticks, and half the honey in a pan and bring to a boil. Skim the scum that will form on top, then reduce heat and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Taste the sauce at this time. If you are adding a lot of alcohol, you will want it cloyingly sweet. This is what helps cover a bottle of Everclear. If you are adding a half bottle (making wine strength... Roughly 9%) Then just a tad sweeter than southern sweet tea is good.
Let your pan cool, then add any remaining juice and 1/2 to 1 bottle of Everclear and re-bottle. If you add more than a bottle of Everclear, remember that it's going to taste like it, and you'll want to do shots of it rather than pour it over ice.

Some notes on this recipe from the Big Kahuna!
I have really enjoyed a few shakes of Nutmeg in the boil of this drink. I am also fond of adding some mace once you turn off the fire.

For a real treat, use a good 151 Rum instead of the Everclear. This drops the ABV% but definitely adds to the flavor and quality of the end product.

I like to filter the finished product through a reusable brass screen coffee filter. It just makes things nicer in the glass and is totally NOT necessary!

This evening, I used some of my home made "Root Juice" in a glass for tasting and I was blown away! Learn about Root Juice from Bahama Bob HERE.

If you make this, people will love it. If you make it sweet as hell, the ladies and folks that don't drink much will be very silly in no time! But the trick is to be sure that you take enough to the party!

Hope this helps get you through an evening with the In-Laws!

~Cheers

Saturday Distraction

2011-12-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

Well, I don't have a brewery tour to share with you, and I don't have any wonderful tasting notes from an exotic brew fermented in the wombs of Maltese Elders while chants of fertility are sung by monks!

What I do have is a minor success.
After hearing all day about how the Father-in-Law had a beer from Canada... "You know, the reel good kind that's supposed to be kept in the frigerator but ya gotta let it warm up buffor you drink-it? Man that was NASTY! Spit it out right then and there! Dumped the bottle too!", I was about finished with beer for the day.

But as luck would have it, we were in town long enough to eat a second meal. Fortunately, food is usually something we can all agree on, and we landed at the Edelweiss German Restaurant! MMMM! MM!

The place is nearly food mecca for a fat guy with German heritage! The food and bread and beer and atmosphere and the waitress who speaks English nearly as poorly as I speak German.... MECCA!

There will be a post some day from the same block, as Edelweiss is litterally 2 doors down from Bristol Brewing. LOVES ME SOME BRISTOL!

When we ordered our beer, I opted for the Warsteiner Dunkel. (Untappd Check in here: http://untappd.com/user/bigkahunabrew/checkin/3525573 ) and advised the FIL to try the Spaten Pilsner. How the hell do you go wrong with Spaten right? Especially on tap? In this case... You don't!

He tried it and loved it. WO-Fucking-OT! FINALLY! This is, after 10 years of trying, the first time I've seen him enjoy a beer other than MGD or Old Milwaukee.

Here's a toast to the hopes that it can expand from there! Every one of us had a beer that showed us that it can be better right? Well... Let's hope that this is the one for him!

In other news, I got to fly on Thursday evening. The pumps were down and the wind was much higher than expected, although not any where near my personal limit, but it turned out to be a really nice flight.

I didn't do anything with it... other than edit out 45 minutes of the super boreing crap, but here is 11 minutes of video from a Go-Pro cam hung off the left wing strut. If it bores you, just fast forward till the landing!

Have a great weekend!

~Cheers

Tis the Season!

2011-12-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

Tis the season for crap that we don’t like!

Whether it’s your grandma Gertrude's pound your head against the wall fruit cake, or spending time with your fruitcake uncle, there are a lot of things that we would rather not think about for the rest of the year.

But one thing I look forward to is finding some sort of holiday spiced cider to warm my belly and numb my senses when the family gathers.

This week, I found J.K.’s Solstice cider. Made from Michigan apples and USDA Certified organic, this spiced hard cider is pretty palatable for the novice.

It pours with light carbonation and the color of Motts Apple Juice. The nose reveals the secrets of the season. Cinnamon and apples dominate, but with time and warming, a vanilla background appears. I sensed a pronounced cider vinegar that Jessica did not. There is no alcohol bite, no pronounced yeast character and very little body. This is like drinking lightly carbonated apple juice with a tiny bit of Vodka.

I don’t much care for the surprising flavor of the maple mixed with the apple and cinnamon. It creates a bit of funk that I simply am not enjoying.

It is not very often that I can not find something to enjoy in a drink, and this is no exception. While I would rate this cider very low on a scale of 0-100, it isn’t all bad. There is a aura of sophistication that I can only wish I could accomplish in a cider. There is a complexity that reveals masterful blending of the source apples and the end product is something that most people will very much enjoy... Jessica included. She enjoyed this more than she does most.
Jessica tends to like some things that I have a hard time with. She dearly loves the funk, and I think that may be my biggest complaint about this cider. While it isn't sour or bitter, the nose is screaming at me that it should taste like vinegar. There is something unsettling to me about having my nose tell me one thing and my taste buds saying something else.

Another thing that I must admit to disliking is saison style beers. There are certainly some that I very much enjoy, but as a whole, it is perhaps the only style that I can say that I do not like.
I wonder if it isn't that same set of flavors that are coming together to help turn my opinion of this cider. There is certainly a warm fermented farm house feel to this drink, and so it should be. Hell, the label says right on it "FARMHOUSE"

A quick google search reveals that RateBeer.com gives this cider a whopping score of 97! I would put it much closer to 60, but I tend to rate on a thumbs up or down scale rather than a numbers and structured system.

This cider became much more enjoyable as I drank, and perhaps the third or fourth would be spectacular.

While I have no serious or specific complaints, I simply did not enjoy this one. I did not find it particularly offensive, it is just not for me!
It is times like this that I am very glad that there is homebrew on tap, and a cellar full of second choices!

~Cheers

Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want!

2011-12-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

First, let me make again to you my apology for not having provided any stellar photos! Jessica had asked me if I was going to blog about anything we did this weekend, I told her, “No.”

Not because I didn’t think what we were doing was fun, but because I was pretty leery of posting too much about food and restaurants on a blog that is supposed to be about BEER and RUM! With that in mind, I left the camera in the car.

As the story line, that was my Friday evening and Saturday in the city, progressed, It became clear to me that food is a very big part of what we do. Not just Jessica and I, but all of us on the quest for the best that life has to offer. You can drink plenty of rum on an empty stomach, but you’ll feel a lot better if your belly has something to help buffer it!

Post Saltgrass disaster from a few posts back, I was ready for a good steak and the Outback was just across the street from our hotel. A wait time that exceeded the estimate by 150% was irritating, but the customer service of the manager more than made up for it. Free food is the best food! But still, had they paid me to eat that Rib Eye, I still would have left it. YUCK! Maybe I just don’t like steak! It has been since early summer that I’ve had a steak that I really thought was on the money!

The appetizer was pretty good, and the drinks were stiff, but the overall atmosphere had me thinking more along the lines of a bad episode of Seinfeld rather than “World Class Steakhouse!” Just not a really great experience for nearly a day’s pay!

A late night lead to our missing breakfast at the hotel, so on to a destination that I have been wanting to try for some time!

Jimmy John’s Sammaches make great breakfast at 11 a.m. And Yes, I CAN see you all smirking at the poor hillbilly kid that lives in the country that never had a JJ’s! So quit!
Let me just say, “I APPROVE!” Let me also say, “I’ll Be Back!” (You read that with Arnold’s accent didn’t you?

A 5 year Barbados Rum certainly makes things better!

As far as the liquor store shopping went, I found a special bottle for a friend that is dying to make a decent Caipirinha. The Caipirinha is Brazil's national cocktail and is made with cachaça which isn’t exactly common fare here in “Bud Lite and Jack Ville!” I also scored a bottle of Grande Reserve, Plantation 5 year Rum from Barbados. This one is for me!

The day took a long detour and my mood sailed south (Not in a good way) as we searched for the second meal of the day. After several hours of shopping, I was ready to refuel!
I spent 30 minutes driving without cause across Denver thinking that the wife was looking for a place to eat as she merrily poked at the buttons on her phone. As it turns out, she had agreed that it was time to eat, and then retreated to a silent text conversation with someone else, assuming that I had a plan!

After driving for a full hour across Denver, we called for reservations at Cinzzetties Italian Buffet on 104th near I-25 in Northglenn. Traditionally, they have a fairly long wait, but excellent food and fair prices make it worthwhile... if you’re not in a hurry or starving. We were told that there was no need for a reservation, come on over. 15 more minutes of the worst traffic in America and as it turns out, the first 2,457,562 cars in front of us were headed there too!
We were quoted an hour-and-a-half wait.

Luckily, Jessica went in, as I may have built a small fire, cracked a bottle of wine and roasted their receptionist over the fire and shared with everyone in the lobby!

Frustration level at 11, hunger at a solid 10, and patience GONE, We lucked upon a sports bar called LODO’s at 3053 W. 104th Ave in Westminster!

An empty parking lot at 5:30 p.m. on a Saturday? At a Sports Bar? This can’t be good. But at this point, I didn’t care! I was ready to dig the bird out of the car’s radiator that we had hit on the way to town and see if it had cooked through!

Our waitress was attentive, there were about 300 TV’s on around the joint, but the music was low, the beer was cheap and the food was great!

Hazed and infused from the Boulder Beer Company was first on the table, at 4.8% abv and plenty of Crystal and Centennial Hops, I could have skipped dinner and sucked these down all night long! (See above comment about no food and RUM)... but alas, I was starving.

Baja Fish Tacos! Just the way this Kahuna likes!

I was a shadow of a menahuni compared to my usual self by the time my Baja Fish Tacos arrived. But they were worth the entire stress of the day that lead me to that very point in my life! Just as a fish taco should be! Fresh, Crispy, Tropical, and plenty to eat!

Yearning for something, a bit more, as I approached the last taco on my plate (and the bottom of my pint glass) I thought I remembered seeing a tap handle of a New Belgium Belgo IPA, and it didn’t take long for the waitress to have one in front of me!

Another really good brew from New Belgium, I love the texture and Carmel flavor that the Crystal 120 bring to this party. Also hopped with Centennial hops (and simcoe, cascade and Amarillo) this beer followed the Hazed and Infused nicely. A bit more assertive at 7% ABV, and certainly more interesting with the Trappist yeast esters floating around, this beer paired much better with my Fish Tacos!

All-in-all, LODO’s provided the most pleasurable dining experience in recent memory!

There was no $90 Lobster, not an oz of over priced crap quality beef, and the beer I chose was local not loco!

The best things in life are what you enjoy, not what you are told they should be, or what others may like! It’s a personal thing. Find happiness where you can and drink it up!
~Cheers!
*Image of Belgo courtesy of New Belgium Brewing, Ft. Collins Colorado.

UPDATE 12-18-2011
We returned to the scene of the crime and I picked up five more bottles of the Plantation Rum. After getting some advice from Carl at Coast Lines and Tan Lines And reading Mike's writeup about Plantation Rums at Rum Connection I simply could not resist!

A Book Review for the masses!

2011-12-10T06:00:00.000-07:00

OK, So I'm not my Mother... Mother in law... Wife.... or Best Friend's Wife. It takes me 2 weeks to read 100 pages of anything.

Those ladies I just mentioned... 100 pages takes them less time than it takes me to make a margarita, and they are wondering why it took me so long.

That is not to say I'm illiterate! For crying out loud I'm a publisher during the day! I read plenty... and sometimes for fun! But that is usually in the form of around 2,500 tweets and about 300 Google + Posts per day. Oh... And the weekly paper.

But books... Meh! It's hard for me to be any more indifferent about anything! I just don't like them. I like the idea! I love the thought of settling in with a good book, but the fact is, when you are a manly man with hair on your chest, there are not many "Good Books" IMO. (Notice I don't say IMHO... )

Most books are BORING! Don't care about snow covered whatever and your lusty romance in the hills of Whogivesacrapistan! I want easy to read when I'm drunk or tired, interesting, action packed adventure and general attention to detail! Those just don't exist.... very often!

There are exceptions, and that's what I'm here to tell you about today.

Red Right Return, by J.H. Cunningham is, what I would call, a good book. Not because it follows along in the first person like I write, or because it is set in Key West, or because it has rum and airplanes and FBI and on and on and on...... OH! Yes... It is! Exactly! For every single one of those reasons! And because it is real.

In the first few pages, I found a typo! That doesn't happen to me! But because Cunningham puts enough time and research into his product, the details in this book are so accurate that only a short few SCUBA divers will notice that the 19 PSI tank that is used in the book should be a 19 Cubic Foot tank. I know this seems silly, but this shows me that Cunningham really poured a lot of time, effort and research into entertaining me! Job well done!

I like books I can follow. I am not stupid, I'm capable of reading complex things, but when I read for entertainment, I do not want to take notes just to keep from getting lost!

I don't do well with Steven King books that take 500 pages to link chapter 1 to chapter 3,967. I want page 1 to lead to page 2, Chapter 3 leads to Chapter 4. And I'll be damned if this book doesn't do just that!

As I read, I put faces to names, but this book is set in my minds eye. The places are real, the writing is compelling (as in, Compelling you to turn the page!) and the style is simplistic! THANK YOU J.H. Cunningham! This is exactly the book I would write if I could keep my mind focused on one thing at .... Look At the pretty flowers.... Oh! Sorry... One thing at a time!

There have been very few books over the years that have caught my attention the way "RRR" has. Jimmy Buffett of course, can capture my imagination without even trying. This book, in much the same way, takes me away to the places that I love with people I have met and circumstances that I've endured... at least to some extent.

A tropical escape for anyone who has ever looked at the sky, yearned for a beach, gotten drunk on rum, smoked a cigar or wondered what was under the waves, Red Right Return is a book that you will not regret spending $3on. Heck, it's less money on than a McRib! (Which I hear is back?) Get the E-book like I did for a few dollars, then be ready to order a dozen of the paper back versions for stocking suffers!

Check out Red Right Return on E-Readers or Paperback here: John H. Cunningham

~Cheers!
It is worth noting that if someone ever gives me something as compensation for a review, You will be made aware of it ahead of time.
I purchased this book without prompt from publisher or author, although I do follow the author on Twitter. This is my honest opinion and anything less would be dishonest of me! I won't always say what you want to hear, but I will always be honest here at Big Kahuna Brew!