2011 Day 63: Lakefront Snake Chaser

Name: Lakefront Snake Chaser

From: Lakefront Brewery, Wisconsin, USA
Type: Irish Dry Stout

Wow, I am still not even close to being caught up. Luckily, this beer is pretty uninteresting so I'll be able to move on quickly. I like Irish Stouts....even Guinness, which people love to hate on. This beer was a little too thick for the style in my opinion, and had a weird "homebrew" quality to the yeast. Lakefront is slowly losing credibility with me - only the IPA and ESB were ones I'd try again. Another "meh".

Day 62: Stone Old Guardian Barleywine (2010)

Name: Old Guardian Barleywine Style Ale 2010

From: Stone Brewing, California, USA

Type: American Barleywine

Man, this is another beer I have little say about. It's really malty and really hoppy. That's about all I can say. The booze is "hot" and I know you're supposed to age these types of beers for a few years, but that just isn't my style. If it's not ready to drink off the shelf, the brewers should keep them in their own cellars and then sell them when they're "ready". This wasn't bad, but I wasn't super excited either. I think I preferred Old Crustacean due to the ridiculous IBUs.

Day 61: New Glarus Spotted Cow

Name: Spotted Cow

From: New Glarus, Wisconsin, USA

Type: Cream Ale

Spotted Cow is the "flagship" beer for New Glarus. People love it in Chicago, and even non-beer nerds will go out of their way to pick up a case or two when they visit Wisconsin. Cream Ales are sort of a weird style...their ales, but they're often finished off with lager yeasts, and they're also made with adjuncts like corn. This beer definitely has qualities of both an ale and a lager. It has a fruitiness to it (from the yeast?), but you can also really taste the corn, which adds a sweetness to it. In some ways, it reminds me of a classy Budweiser with it's own special thing going on. Not my favorite beer from New Glarus, but it's interesting and tasty, and would be a perfect gateway beer for your friends who dislike strong flavors in IPAs or Stouts.

2011 Day 60 (March 1) Lakefront IPA

Name: Lakefront IPA

From: Lakefront Brewery, Wisconsin, USA

Type: American IPA

Ugh, I am way too far behind on my updates. I woke up this morning panicking a bit. Rest assured, the beer-a-day project lives on. Getting too backlogged is a real problem, because I often don't take any notes while drinking a beer, and just rely on my recent memory to review it. I had this one a full week ago, so I don't have much to say. I know I liked this beer, and compared it favorably to the other Lakefront brews I've tried, but I don't remember much else. So my apologies for the weak review, but like I said, this is a tasty brew worth trying.

February: The Month in Review

Another good month for beer!

Stats:

Beers reviewed this month: 28
Beers reviewed so far this year: 59
Styles tried this month (per BeerAdvocate): 23
Styles tried so far this year (per BeerAdvocate): 37
States represented this month: 12
States represented so far this year: 16
Countries represented this month: 5
Countries represented so far this year: 8

Best Beers of the Month: Hofbrau Dunkel, New Glarus Raspberry Tart, Stone Pale Ale

Beers to Avoid: Ithaca Cold Front, Captain Lawrence St. Vincent's Dubbel, Sam Adams Winter Lager

2011 Day 59: Metropolitan Dynamo Copper Lager

Name: Dynamo Copper Lager

From: Metropolitan Brewing, Illinois, USA

Type: Vienna Lager

Metropolitan is another local brewery here in Chicago. They're pretty ballsy - they do lagers and lagers only, which seems like a risky move in a beer market dominated by ales. Dynamo lager is pretty good - Vienna Lagers are a good, balanced style that are clean and crisp without having too much of that hay smell and taste you get out of some German style beers. This is refreshing and well-made, but it's not something I'd really seek out.

2011 Day 58: Upland Peach Lambic

Name: Peach Lambic
From: Upland Brewing Company, Indiana, USA
Type: Lambic - Fruit

My buddy Jason has an Oscar party every year, and while I don't particularly like the Oscars, it's always a great time. This year I got a nice surprise from another partygoer - Andrew, who brought a bottle of Peach Lambic. I'd heard good things about Upland, but had never had the chance to try any of their beers. I was surprised and delighted when he poured me a generous sample. This is a fabulous sour....it's got a real tang to it, without being overwhelming, and the peaches are very present, but not at all sweet. The usual sour funky leather/cobweb/dust smells are present, and the carbonation is perfect. I really liked this one, I'd love to visit this place to stock up on this, and their other sours.

2011 Day 57: Stone Pale Ale

Name: Pale Ale

From: Stone Brewing, California, USA

Type: American Pale Ale

Saturday night I went to Orbit Room to see my friend spin some reggae and soul tunes. While enjoying the music and some great conversations I knocked back a few Stone Pale Ales. I've had several Stone Beers, and for the most part I've been impressed, but never really "wowed". However, this one was a fantastic beer! I'm used to Stone beers being good, typical hoppy west coast style ales, but this beer reminded me more of an English pale ale in terms of the malt profile. Lots of caramel and toffee flavors, nice and rich to balance out all those tasty, bitter west coast hops. Originally I planned to have one, then switch to the $2 Blatz, but I just couldn't. Really enjoyable, a repeat buy for sure!