This week the Beer Friends found a little rare beer from Founders Brewing out of Michigan. Old Curmudgeon Better Half features the Old Curmudgeon (Old Ale) aged in whiskey barrels then aged in maple syrup barrels to create a very complex brew. This is a similar (if not the exact same) process the now in-famous Breakfast Stout -> Kentucky Breakfast Stout (whiskey barrel aged) -> Canadian Breakfast Stout (whiskey THEN maple barrels). Both of these beers are delicious and when ever a Beer Friend finds CBS he puts out the BF signal (mostly just a text) and we all come running. However, CBS is so last year… Old Curmudgeon’s Better Half is the new black and we are all in. Check out our other Founders Reviews below the video – enjoy (we did!) Rare Beer! Beer is the new Black! Founders!
This year is special – you’re getting some extra time. To do what with you ask? Drink more craft beer of course! What kind of craft beer should you drink and where should you drink it? Let’s see…
Tuesday, February 28 – Dogfish Head Night @ The Pony Bar, Manhattan:
The over-the-top odd-duck of the beer world is bringing their best brews to one of NYC’s best brew bars. Enter Dogfish Head at the Pony Bar. We’re talking 20 draft lines and 2 casks. Possibly even some fancy rare stuff. Although, almost anything Dogfish Head makes tastes fancy and rare. Chris Valente, of Dogfish, will be on hand to get you through the night, but you should probably set something up beforehand to help get you home. This is going to be a big one.
The Pony Bar is located at 637 10th Avenue on the Northwest corner of 45th street, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan.
This week’s six pack of the week (SPotW) comes from Warrensville, Illinois and (like most sports fans) feel the need to take some shots at the Chicago sports community – we apologize in advance. Warrensville has Two Brothers Brewing which has produced some fantastic stuff for 15 years and is following the latest craft beer trend and putting their stuff in cans. We’ve had some stuff from Two Brothers before and it didn’t hit it out of the park, but we’ve never met a beer we wouldn’t drink so we’ll try them again…
Tuesday, February 21 – Brooklyn Brewmaster Reserve Night @ Mission Dolores, Brooklyn:
Brooklyn Brewery’s main line of beers sticks mostly to old world, traditional styles. Easily drinkable beer with nothing over-the-top. Something you can always count on being delicious to almost any group of people. Their Brewmasters Reserve collection? Out of control. In the best way. They will be bringing the whole entourage of brewmaster brews as well as some surprises.
2009 Monster Ale
AMA Bionda
2007 Black Chocolate Stout
Radius
Concoction
Mary’s Maple Porter
Sorachi Ace
Winter Ale
Blast
After reading that I am actually a bit afraid to find out what the “special surprises” are going to be. (more…)
Hello Beer Friends! Once again we find ourselves at the lovely Idle Hands for the (hopefully legendary) Bourbon and Beer Night. We have the pleasure of Breckenridge Brewery’s company, one of our favorites from the far away land of Colorado. We are looking forward to the always phenomenal Vanilla Porter and something called the 72 Imperial, which is a new one for us, which is always nice. Stay tuned…….
Phil’s Pre-Game #1 Founders Red Rye – always one of my favorites, and just as good this week on draft as it was last week for the Founders event. A good mix of bitter and sweet, the rye doesn’t disappoint.
Brad’s First Pre-Game Victory Yakima Glory – this Black IPA always surprises me because it doesn’t have the roasted malt taste I find with most Black IPA’s. This is always surprisingly drinkable and delicious.
Today we revisit a favorite brewery on the Colorado Brewery Tour 2010 – Left Hand Brewing. Left Hand is moving across the US with the much anticipated (for this Beer Friend at least) Milk Stout Nitro, so in the meantime we figured we’d feature a special release as the SPotW to tide us over. Fade to Black is a great series in which Left Hand brews a dark beer with a different twist each year. Volume 1 was a Stout that poured of licorice and with a 8.5 ABV was nothing to mess with. Volume 2 was a Smoked Baltic Porter with 7.8 ABV and a decent smoky taste, and finally Volume 3, a Pepper Porter at 7.2 ABV. The ABV is a good thing because if the pepper taste doesn’t slow you down, maybe the higher ABV will. Spicy! Series beers! Metallica!
Hello beer friends nation!!! Phil and Brad here to bring you the play by play for the bourbon and beer night here at Idle Hands bar in NYC. Tonight we have Founder’s Brewing gracing us with some brews with a special appearance by Illegal Mezcal for the Bourbon section.
We are hanging with our special guest tonight, David from Libatious.com so he’ll chime in on the Founders tastings…
We are definitely excited, but we’re a little early so we started with some appetizers:
Phil’s pre-game: Rogue Chipotle Ale – being an Oregonian native Rogue Always has a special place in my heart. This one is not really what you would expect. I was thinking it would be more of a pepper taste, but not so. Mostly what I get is the pale ale taste with hint of the smokiness from the peppers, and maybe just a tingle, but no heat. Very good.
Over the hump… 101. Feels good. Idle Hands in Alphabet City NYC does some great events – one happened a few weeks ago was one to remember. Empire Brewing came in and swept 3/4 Beer Friends away (1/4 of the Beer Friends couldn’t make it – otherwise they would’ve been batting a thousand). Two staples you can find of Empire Brewing are their Cream Ale and the IPA, but we became resourceful and got our hands on a growler of Strong Ale. The beer is delicious, the events are great and we’ll buy you a pint if you spot us there! Beer Events! 101! Drink Local!
dingerc
Brad
Corporate Kerouac
Phil
