Beer Review - 21st Amendment Fireside Chat

Well, it's cold out there so I thought it would be another good idea to drink a beer that would hopefully help warm me up. This time I decided to grab a pack of 21st Amendment's Fireside Chat. I had seen this beer on the shelves a few times and had been wanting to grab it for awhile, so I finally did.

Let's discuss: This beer pours a dark brown color with a brown head. Smell is pretty good, with a bit of cinnamon, some nutmeg and some caramel. The taste is a bit different than the smell lead me to believe it would be. It was sweet, almost raisin, with a hint of Cinnamon on the background. I want to like this beer, but it seems to sweet to be a winter warmer style beer. 

All that said, I would suggest you give it a try too. I will be drinking this one again, but probably not to try and keep warm.

Yuengling in Cincinnati?

As I was doing my daily reading of news off of the internet, I came across an interesting article that, as a Cincinnatian, I thought was very intriguing. If you are from Cincinnati, or live here now, you probably are aware that we cannot get Yuengling, America's oldest brewery, beer in this area. Well, according to this particular article, that may soon change:

Yuengling beer eyes Cincinnati

No matter what your thoughts are on this beer, this is a good thing. Even folks who drink "beer" (Beer made by one of the big 3) enjoy Yuengling. I feel that this will only help expand the beer scene here locally and hopefully bring more people in to the enjoyment of craft beer.

Arnold's 150th Anniversary/ Christian Moerlein 'Arnold's 1861 Porter' Release party

For those of who will have recuperated from a late night of celebrating the new year, on Saturday, January 1, Christian Moerlein and Arnold's will be hosting a very special birthday, Arnold's 150th year in operation! Don't worry though, if you partied to hard bringing in the new year, this birthday party doesn't start until 6:00pm. In order to celebrate, Christian Moerlein is releasing a new porter in honor of this accomplishment. Here are the full event details:

On New Years Day, Saturday January 1st, Arnold’s and Christian Moerlein are having a Birthday Bash to honor Arnold’s 150th year of continuous operation. We are more than honored to announce that this will also be the release of Arnold’s 1861 Porter, the first beer brewed in Christian Moerlein’s new Brewery in Over The Rhine. We are not shooting for some fancy-shmancy anniversiary party. We want to have a blowout for everyone. For this duel event, 12 oz drafts are just 1.50 in honor of our 150th year. Keeping with the 1.50 theme Arnold’s will also have a 1.50 specials menu. On the menu, hamburgers, veggie burgers, french fries, Spaghetti and Meatballs, and Vegetarian Spaghetti and Marinara. That is not a typo, all will be just 1.50. You can effectively get an entire gut-busting meal and several craft beers for under ten bucks. Oh, and did I mention? Free Cake! A Birthday party is nothing without free cake. Keeping with the party theme, The Cincinnati Dancing Pigs are on stage from 8-10 singing all the drinking songs that they are known so well for. This is just an event for Cincinnati’s oldest tavern to say Thank You to Cincinnati for keeping this old codger around so long. So please come celebrate with us. For those that can’t wait for the new beer, we also will be making it available at midnight on New Years Eve at the stroke of Midnight, for the same 1.50 special price.

Lukcy 13asartd Ale

I owe my first steps in to craft brews to Stone Brewing Co., so I often have a soft spot for their beers. In case you are wondering what I am talking about, my first true craft brew was Arrogant Bastard from Stone Brewing Co, when I was just over 21 years of age.

That being said, when I heard Stone had released another variation of Arrogant Bastard, I knew I had to try it. This new variation is called Lukcy 13asrtd and at it's essence is a combining of the original Arrogant Bastard with it's other tasty variations, Oaked Arrogant Bastard and the Double Bastard, but with an additional Dry Hopping.

This beer is phenomenal, in my opinion. As stated already, Arrogant Bastard opened my eyes to craft beers; this beer helped me solidify my desire to search out new craft beers. True to it's predecessor, Lukcy 13asartd truly challenges the palate. This beer is hoppy to the core. When you smell this beer, it smells like a pine forest has assaulted your nose. The taste is much the same, with a hint of the Bastards in the background, challenging you to question their awesomeness. As I drank this beer, I realized I am not able to take on the Bastards, but at the same time, I cannot quit. I must drink this beer! It challenges me with it's hoppiness, but it's a pain that I want more of! I can't quit drinking this assault on my palate; I cannot give in!

In other words, I greatly enjoyed this beer! If you enjoy hops, this one will be a real treat to you!

Cincinnati Brewing History

I've been wanting to write about the history of Cincinnati Brewing for awhile, but just couldn't quite figure out what to write about. However, if you follow Cincinnati Twitters (tweeters?), Cincinnati blogger, or Cincinnati Beer Bloggers (such as myself) you've probably already heard that Christian Moerlein has been working on brining back a little bit of history to the Cincinnati area in the form of brewing. As of yesterday morning, Cincinnati Business Courier and Urban Cincy are reporting that Moerlein owner, Greg Hardman, has done just that, brought a piece of history back to Cincinnati, brewing in Over the Rhine. (yes, I know Sam Adams is brewed here in Cincy too, but that's not the point of today's blog). If you want to read more about the new beer being brewed and the new brewery, check out the articles: http://www.urbancincy.com/2010/12/beer-is-brewing-in-historic-over-the-rhine-once-again/, http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/print-edition/2010/12/17/christian-moerlein-brews-new.html.

I have always had a special interest in the brewing history in Cincinnati, but never knew much about it. To be perfectly honest, I only really cared about two breweries in particular, the Germania Brewery and the Wetterer Brewery, both of which were owned by my ancestors (according to my research). However, after I found this out, I began trying to find more information on my great great grandfathers breweries and came across a lot of interesting pieces of information- Brewing in Cincinnati wasn't a small scale operation before prohibition. In fact, Cincinnati was one of the largest brewing cities!

I still had a hard time finding  a lot of information, mainly because I didn't have a lot of time to go down and dig through city records. That being said, a couple of months ago, I was at a Beer Dinner sponsored by Christian Moerlein in which the guest speaker was Mike Morgan. Mike is an author and recently wrote a book called, "Over the Rhine: When Beer was King". If you have not read this book, do yourself a favor and go get it! (If you a history buff, Cincinnati buff, or a beer buff, it's a must read).

This book was awesome. Mike does a great job talking about the history of Cincinnati and the role beer played in shaping this great city. He does a great job of talking about how the city, specifically Over the Rhine, grew to be a tremendous brewing district in the history of our country. The book goes in to details about how all the breweries back before prohibition were crucial to the livelihood of the area (though he does not argue that it's for better or worse). It talks about some the areas best known brewers and the impact they had on the community. Best (or worst) of all, it talks about how beer was the political motivator behind many of early Cincinnati's politics, so much so that many people tried to get it banned over the years. Obviously, Prohibition would eventually win out on a National level, which all but destroys the breweries in Cincinnati.

This book talks about the hardships of early settlers to the area, their growth and triumph, how beer played a role in all of this, and ultimately beer's collapse and the impact that had on society. I loved reading this book; I recommend it to all of you.

Over-the-Rhine: When Beer Was King (OH)

Infinium

If you are a beer fan, or a beer geek, or a beer snob, you've probably been hearing about a new beer from Sam Adams and Weihenstephen. This collaboration beer says that it will feature over 1,000 years of brewing tradition as it combines the oldest brewery skills with the largest American owned breweries innovation. If you somehow missed the hype about this beer, where have you been?

If you've read anything about this beer, you've probably heard that this beer is supposedly going to replace your champagne, or bubbly if you prefer, this New Years. That's quite a tall task for a beer since bubbly has been the tradition for many years. Can Sam Adams brew something that will live up to the hype?

I grabbed a bottle of this very hyped beer from a local eccentric grocery store in the Cincinnati area, Jungle Jim's. The first thing that grabs your attention is the bottle itself. For a beer, it's very elaborate, and it certainly remains you of a champagne bottle more than a craft beer. The next thing I noticed was the price. At $19.99, this wasn't exactly an inexpensive beer. (I rarely think about the price of a beer, but, to me, this was about as high of a price as I've ever paid for one bottle).

As for the beer itself, it poured a golden copper color with a very large, white, bubbly head. Upon smelling the beer, it smelled exactly like I thought, champagne. I definitely smelled a sweetness to this beer that seemingly came from white grapes. It smelled delicious. The taste, however, was not quite what the smelled lead me to believe. I definitely tasted a bit of spiciness to this beer, though I couldn't quite place it. I also noticed a bit of citrus flavor as I kept drinking. To my disappointment, I couldn't quite taste the white grapes that I smelled. The aftertaste of this beer certainly did fit the description that it was a champagne beer though.

Overall, I enjoyed this beer. Just like champagne though, you cannot have this beer for just any ole' occasion. This beer should be reserved for those special nights that you would drink champagne - New Year's Eve and weddings.

Tickets on Sale Now - Cincy Winter Beerfest

Tickets are now on sale for the 2011 Winter Cincy Beerfest to be held at the Duke Energy Convention Center. Better yet, if you buy your tickets now, you will get VIP tickets for only $30, a savings of $20 off the normal VIP price. This ticket will get you in early, and an actual glass (and not just a tasting glass). See below for more information straight from www.cincybeerfest.com

4th Annual Cincy Winter Beerfest EARLY BIRD SPECIAL: Get VIP for the price of General - just $30! - ends 12/25 In addition to the opportunity to enjoy 150 craft beers, VIP's get: -Early admission by one hour at 6:30PM. -A larger, real glass - nearly double the sampling size of general ticket-holders. Friday's Grand Tasting Feb 11, 2011 7:30PM to 11PM $30 in advance; $40 at door Friday VIP Feb 11, 2011 6:30PM to 11PM $40 in advance; $50 at door Saturday's Grand Tasting Feb 12, 2011 7:30PM to 11PM $30 in advance; $40 at door Saturday VIP Feb 12, 2011 6:30PM to 11PM $40 in advance; $50 at door 2-Night VIP $60 in advance Designated Driver tickets: $10 Last call at 10:30PM. Event ends at 11PM.

The beer list for 2011 is still being finalized, but if it's anything like last year's fest, it will surely not disappoint!
I know I will be there, how about you?

Confessions of a craft beer drinker

For some time now I have known that I like craft beer. I don't remember the exact day it happened, but I do remember the very first truly craft beer I had was, back when I had just turned 21. The beer that lead me to join this revolutios was Arrogant Bastard. I remember being intrigued by the name of this beer, so I had to give it a try. I know, some of you are saying to yourself, "Why did he choose Arrogant Bastard as his first craft beer? Is he nuts?!?" Well, the answer seems to be yes.

That arrogant bastard made me realize what a "real" beer should taste like. For once, I felt like I wasn't drinking something light and fizzy. This beer actually had taste! I don't recall how I reacted to the first taste of the beer (as those who have tried the bastard know, it is on the bitter side) but I know it must have been enjoyable! 

Since that day, I have been searching out and finding craft beers, from the local brew pubs, to brand new breweries in other states, and everything in between. I recently decided that I want to try all the beers I can get my hands on. Sure, this could be an easy task, just go to my local store, pick up what's available and call it a day, but I don't feel that this in the true spirit of enjoying craft beer. I have my staples that I truly do enjoy, but if I stopped trying new beers, then I would never had a chance to enjoy some really great beers from some really great people!

I know every craft beer drinker is different and I know not everyone will want to travel around searching for beers they can't get locally, but I would say to anyone who is a "craft beer enthusiast" to go out and try new beers. Make sure to support your localy brewers along the way, but go exploring to new areas. Who knows what might happen; you may end up discovering something you love!