Won't you be my neighbor?

Monje Azul (Blue Monk) - ABV Unknown
Sleepy Dog Brewery
Tempe, Arizo

Last week we hosted a beer tasting for our neighbors after the baby was in bed.  Between the 7.5 of us (there was one Bud Lighter in the group that was brave enough to taste 2-3 beers), we managed to sample 11 pretty delicious, and very different, brews. 

Here are the beers, in order of consumption:

Monje Azul:  We kicked things off with a bit of local flavor here.  Sleepy Dog is a brewery located in Tempe just down the road from Four Peaks, the original Arizona brewery.  Four Peaks seemed to have a stranglehold on the craft brewing market in Arizona up until just recently.  So I applaud Sleepy Dog for having the guts to start up right down the street.  This is one of Sleepy Dog's newer bottled brews that to my knowledge, is available only in select locations (Total Wine, Whole Foods, etc.).

Monje Azul is a Belgian style blonde ale brewed with Belgian yeast and 100% Blue Agave Nectar.  It was very light and refreshing and goes down very easy ... but had a slightly odd odor.  Very good summer brew.

Brainless on Cherries Release #7
Epic Brewing Company
Salt Lake City, Utah

Brainless on Cherries:  I have to admit, when my sister picked this one off the shelf at Whole Foods, I was very skeptical.  For starters, at $14.99 a bottle, it disobeyed my price rule (more than $10 bombers are only for gifting), secondly it is cherry flavored and I pretty much hate everything cherry (I was sick a lot as a kid and associate all things cheery-flavored with Robitussin -- barf) and lastly, it is from Salt Lake City.  Now I know that there are several good breweries in Utah, but I'm always skeptical of them at first because let's be honest...Utah is a Mormon state and Mormon's don't believe in strong beverages of any kind.

Release #7 was brewed in August 2011 and nearly 1,800 bottles were packaged in September 2011.  I managed to get my hands on one of them!  Epic started with their Brainless® Belgian (double gold medal winning), added cherry puree and then aged it in Red Wine Oak casks. This beer poured up slightly pink and offered up a light smell of cherries.  Nothing overwhelming.  The beer was clean and slightly sour/tart.  I was surprised at myself when I found myself somewhat in love with this beer.  Damn you cherries!  After doing a little research, Epic also makes Brainless on Peaches which I am going to have to keep my eyes peeled for in the store.  I also plan to squirrel away another bottle of this cherry deliciousness if I can find one.

St. Lupulin Extra Pale Ale (6.5% ABV)
Odell Brewing Company
Fort Collins, Colorado

St. Lupulin: Now that my sister is a Coloradoian (is that right?), she was able to offer some insight on the Colorado beer market.  When she saw this at Total Wine, she immediately put two in the cart.

Odell Brewing Company is one of those breweries that seems to do every beer nearly perfectly.  They released St. Lupulin, the brewery’s beloved summer seasonal, in April 2012. According to the brewery's website, "St. Lupulin (loop-you-lin) Extra Pale Ale pays tribute to a mystical character who passionately tended to rows and rows of hops caring for the coveted yellow resin within the hop cones known as Lupulin."  Well, I guess that answers that question.

This was another good summer beer (hmmmm, it's almost like I was trying to pick good summer beers for the occasion) as it was very light and crisp with no heavy aftertaste.  If this was available in more locations, I'd drink more of it for sure.  Will I make a special trip to find it though?  Probably not.  Sorry, St. Lupulin you cute little mythical booger...maybe next time.

La Folie Sour Brown Ale (6% ABV)
New Belgium Brewing
Fort Collins, Colorado

La Folie Sour Brown Ale:  Ahhhhh, New Belgium.  Switching gears here we jumped in and tried the Sour Brown Ale known as La Folie.  La Folie Wood-Aged Biere, is the original wood-conditioned beer of New Belgium Brewing.  The brown ale sits in French Oak barrels for one to three years before it is bottled as La Folie. 

I'm not sure how they make this beer so sour, but it is very sour.  It almost makes your mouth sweat but somehow they also made it so that you want more.  I guess in that respect it's kind of like the perfect Granny Smith apple.  It's got bite but is also thirst quenching and crisp.  Someone at the tasting equated this to a SweetTart candy (and actually wrote it down on my note pad --- thank you!!!!) ... and I agree with their assessment.  Sourness aside, the beer underneath all the sour is a very good brown ale.  And that's I think why La Folie works so well.  It's a sour beer based on a solid brown.

Don't get me wrong, I would never want to drink the entire bomber by myself, but 1-2 glasses of this is very refreshing, especially when paired with a sweet snack...like kettle corn. 

Spine Tingler (8.5% ABV)
MacTarnahan's Brewing Company
Portland, Oregon

Spine Tingler Golden Belgian-Style Triple:  I'll admit, I bought this one because it was $4.99.  I feel like bombers for under $5 are always worth a try because there's not a lot of love lost if they're terrible.  Have I discovered terrible beers under $5?  Yes.  Have I discovered terrible beers under $10?  Yes.

So now that the origin of this beer is out in the open, I'll say that it was not a disappointment.  It was a very thin and otherwise unremarkable beer.

Photo borrowed
from ratebeer.com

Strawberry Wit:  If you've been reading Suburban Suds and Beertography (or any of the previous names) long enough, you'll know that I am one of those people who picks a book by its cover and buys beer by the label.  This one caught my eye immediately because, well, the brewery is called Ass Kisser Ales.  But also, I love wit beers.

The Belgian-Style Strawberry Wit (5.8% ABV) had a good and easily identifiable strawberry smell but very little strawberry flavor in it.  But maybe I was expecting it to have as much strawberry flavor as the previous cherry beer had cherry flavor.  This beer was a good wit with a slight tart finish.  The brewery name is clever, the bottle is clever (I love the little strawberry made out of words that says "Berry nice ass" hanging from the donkey's mouth) and the beer idea is good.  However, the execution was not great.  I hope the brewery tinkers around with this brew and maybe reinvents it.

On a side note: as I was researching this beer to write this, I learned that Ass Kisser Ales is a small family owned brand that is being made in San Jose, California. Ass Kisser Ales has joined Hermitage Brewery --- HOLD IT.  Hermitage Brewery seems to be gobbling up a bunch of the smaller brands and brewing them....and I have had a bad experience with Hermitage Brewery so now I am slightly disappointed.



Tricerahops Double IPA:  not a crowd favorite.   Scott and I had this previously one night at home alone (http://hayesyearofbeer.blogspot.com/2011/11/tricerahops-fire-extinguisher.html) and I recall that we both enjoyed it quite a bit.  Maybe it was just because it was a random IPA in the middle of strange fruity and/or light summery beers.  I'll give you another try sometime.

Photo borrowed from
mountainbikeriders.com

Origin Pomegranate Ale:  I was once again lured in by the bottle on this one because it said He'Brew, the chosen beer.  The Schmaltz Brewing Company was born and based in San Francisco but this beer was brewed and bottled in New York.  The Origin Pomegranate Ale (8% ABV) is described as an imperial amber ale brewed with pomegranate juice.  Apparently it is one of the only strong ales in the country that is also brewed with pomegranate.

Apparently the pomegranate is rich in history:  in Jewish tradition, pomegranates symbolize righteousness, with seeds said to number 613, the total commandments in the Torah.  Newlywed Greeks eager for a family crush a pomegranate under-heel for fertility.  Buddha cured a child demon of her evil by instructing her to eat a pomegranate.  In the Bible, pomegranates, barley and wheat prove the Bounty of the land of Milk and Honey.  One mythical Persian hero consumed a pomegranate and became invincible.

The pomegranate flavor was light in this beer but definitely identifiable.  The beer was refreshing and good.  I plan to keep my eyes peeled for another one of these to keep in the stash for a rainy day.

Sneaky Pete Imperial IPA (10% ABV)
Laughing Dog Brewing Company
Ponderay, Idaho

Sneaky Pete Imperial IPA:  There's a definite reason this beer is named Sneaky Pete.  Plain and simple: this beer is exceptionally delicious but contains 10% alcohol by volume.  10%!  If you let your taste buds dictate your guzzling rate, I'm pretty sure you'll be wasted in no time.  Shame on you Sneaky Pete.

This beer is a blend of 5 different types of hops, 3 different malts and topped off with wild clover honey.  Taste has the initial IPA bite which typically turns me off but unlike most IPAs, this one seems to have a sweet flavor at the end.  I couldn't put my finger on what the flavor was except that it was not the traditional IPA aftertaste that makes me want to brush my teeth and gargle with mouthwash ... or eat a box of Cheez-Its (Side note: why on earth are Cheez-It's so damn good?!?!?! They're so small and yet so deliciously amazing. I consider them to be a drug.)

This is one of those beers where it's not really clear who's brewing what for whom.  But, thanks to the interwebs and The Barley Blog, I think I got the story straight.  Apparently Sneaky Pete is contract brewed by the Laughing Dog Brewing Company in Ponderay, Idaho for the Kysela Pere et Fils Company which is a beer and wine distributor/importer in Winchester, Virginia. (HOLLA!)  Interesting.  I don't understand the politics and/or logistics of beer.

Old Monkeyshine English Style Ale (8.2% ABV)
Nimbus Brewing Company
Tucson, Arizona

Old Monkeyshine English Style Ale:  I threw this in the mix because this is one of my favorite Arizona beers all around.  The Nimbus Brewing Company is the largest brewery based in the State of Arizona.  Whenever The Husband and I are in Tucson we do our best to stop by the brewery which is located in a crappy industrial part of town (as are most good breweries) near the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.  It's tucked way off the road and is kind of hard to find ... but if/when you do find it, you've generally got the place mostly to yourself.  And I seem to remember that they have amazing burgers.

Nimbus only brews ales because the groundwater in Tucson is very hard which makes it difficult to brew lagers and other styles but the natural minerals and salts apparently make for a perfect ale.

Enough dorky science and back to Old Monkeyshine...it's just a good solid beer.  Buy it when you see it but drink it slowly.

IPA
Tallgrass Brewing Company
Manhattan, Kansas

Tallgrass IPA:  When I was in Nebraska visiting my family for a while in July, I picked up a bunch of random beers at the neighborhood Hy-Vee (Side note: why do midwestern grocery stores have the stupidest names ever? Pigglie-Wigglie?  Hy-Vee?)  And thanks to the founder of the brewery who just so happens to be a "recovering environmental geologist", you're looking at the first midwestern-brewed, IPA in a can on the market! 

I can't give this beer an accurate review because by this time of the night, beer tasted like beer.  So I split this one with our dog, Gus.  Happy 1st Birthday lil dude.  Keep on being the world's laziest yellow lab puppy who doesn't swim or like to get wet at all.

Oh, and kudos to you too Tallgrass!  Kudos to the former geologist turned brewer.  Maybe someday (after The Husband cleans out the garage) I'll actually start brewing.  And maybe someday we will be able to dispense our beer in our bike shop in the mountains while I grow strawberries and Gus keeps watch (for intruding cheeseburgers) at the door.

Obligatory photo before throwing all the bottles away.
Well played, neighbors.  Well played.

Summertime Shenanigans

Summertime in Arizona is one of those things that simultaneously rocks and sucks.  The saying is somewhat lame and very overused, but it's a dry heat.  Having grown up on the east coast, I never realized how truly terrible and miserable this little thing called humidity is during the summer.  When I encounter humidity these days, I turn into a giant whiny baby and do my very best to stay inside at all times.

The problem with the dry heat?  It lasts forever.  And I mean FOREVER.  Summertime starts in late March and usually lasts until mid-October.  And by that I mean the temperatures are over 100 nearly the entire time.  Night time relief?  Nope. Cools down to 80-85 degrees.  Hell, my garage stays at a steady 100 degrees.  Just yesterday I backed out of the garage to go get my butt kicked at boot camp at 6:10am and the thermometer in my car (which had been parked in my garage all night) read 101.  Whaaaaaaaat?  No wonder our electric bill is nearing the cost of our mortgage payment.

All that aside, my beer-loving sister is in town for the weekend ... yes, she came to visit Phoenix in August.  From Colorado.  Who does that?!?!?   I pretty much love when she comes to visit because 1) she rocks 2) we typically spend most of our time in the pool and 3) she loves beer nearly as much as me so there will be lots new beers to try.

Tonight?  We played in the pool until dinner time and then enjoyed some delicious steak (thanks mom and dad for the shipment of Omaha Steaks), potatoes and a bottle of Shenanigans Oak Aged Crimson Ale.

Shenanigans (9.1% ABV)
Odell Brewing Company
Fort Collins, Colorado

This beer poured up with about 6 fingers - which allowed my husband to make fun of me for the rest of the evening.  It wasn't me though, it was the beer.  Despite being a heavy-hitting beer at 9.1%, it didn't taste like a heavy-hitter.  The booze factor was disguised very well.

Beer CAN make you smarter!!

Who knew that drinking beer could make you smarter??  Here are a few things we learned just from drinking a single can of beer:

• "'New Columbia' is the name of the proposed U.S. state that would be created by the admission of the District of Columbia into the United States as the 51st state according to legislation offered starting in the 98th Congress in 1983" 
•  "In November 2000, the DC Department of Motor Vehicles began issuing license plates bearing the slogan 'Taxation Without Representation' - Visit www.dcvote.org for more information"

The Public Pale (6.0% ABV)
DC Brau Brewing Company
Washington D.C.

Whenever possible, we try to keep our poolside beers in cans when there are kids around.  This used to mean we had a fairly limited selection of poolside beers, but thankfully, more and more breweries are switching to cans.  Today's beer is compliments of some of our beer swap friends in Virginia who recently discovered that THEY were the ones who actually had the beer swap box hidden away at their house. Ha!  (If you're reading this ... is it our turn?  Send me a message or an e-mail or something.)

This is a well done beer.  Slightly hoppy and bitter but not so much so that I didn't like it.  It was a bit heavy for poolside consumption, but I'd love to try it again in a glass while sitting on the couch watching football and eating a bowl of peanuts.

Recommendations: should be enjoyed in a glass in an environment that is not 120 degrees Fahrenheit

Score: 4 out of 5 pint glasses on the unofficial Suburban Suds pint glass rating system