A Tenacious New Year

Thanks Hop & Soul! I'll try the Curious
Traveler Shandy ASAP, I promise.

Happy 2013 DLAA readers! This New Year's Eve, I decided to try Tenacious Traveler Shandy based on a suggestion provided to me by our new friends at Hop & Soul. (Actually, I'm a big fat liar. They recommended Curious Traveler Shandy but the nice man at the liquor store checked the back room, and only found this one. Oh well, I'll try anything once.)

Fun Fact #1: Tenacious Traveler Shandy is brewed by The Traveler Beer Company, formerly known as The House of Shandy Beer Company.

Fun Fact #2: The Traveler Beer Company follows Drink Like an Adult on twitter. Go ahead, follow them back. We don't mind.

Fun Fact #3: The Traveler Beer Company's logo is a man with a sweet mustache. This clearly makes the beer all that much more appealing. Seriously, who doesn't love a good stache?

The beer was a light orange in color and had a decently thick head at first (although the head dissipated fairly quickly). It had a distinct sweet smell of honey. The very first thing I could taste was the ginger. It reminded me slightly of a really good ginger ale, but was also sweet and citrusy from the honey and lemons. This beer was also pretty carbonated, which made it easy to drink and made me feel even more like I was just drinking a glass of soda.

Overall, I absolutely loved the Tenacious Traveler Shandy. I've been telling everyone who will listen to me for long enough about how much I enjoyed the ginger and sweetness. I even drank ginger tea for the entire next week just to remind myself of the taste of what may be my new favorite beer. Sure, it only has a 4.4% ABV and only got a 25 from ratebeer.com, but I loved it, so I hope you'll give it a shot.

My new shirt!

*Side Note: Thanks again to Hop & Soul for the suggestion, support, stickers, and my free shirt. You guys are awesome.

I'm beginning to drink a lot like Christmas.

"It's just nice to meet another human
that shares my affinity for elf culture."

With Christmas quickly approaching, I've been getting into the holiday spirit. After finally convincing Mike to watch Elf with me, I decided I wanted an equally “Christmas-y” beer for the night. I chose Lakefront Brewery’s 2012 Holiday Spice Lager, mainly because I chickened out of trying it for National Lager Day and I decided it’s time to stop being a beer baby and try new things (the Christmas theme was just an added bonus).

Cheers, Buddy.

Right off the bat I was excited to try this beer. It’s deep amber in color and smells of spices and a touch of oranges. The smells alone made me feel like I should be sitting by a fire listening to Christmas music. The taste was no different. I could pick out flavors of nutmeg and cinnamon, as well as a slight sweetness. The taste lingers long after you’re done drinking,and I was left smiling with a warming sensation that could definitely be blamed on the 11.0% ABV. Regardless of the high alcohol content, the Holiday Spice Lager is extremely smooth and easy to drink. It wasn't overly carbonated, so it didn't make me feel too full. The beer had a very thin, off-white head that dissipated quickly and hardly any lacing which I’m also pretty confident can be blamed on the high alcohol content.

Ratebeer.com gave Holiday Spice Lager an overall rating of 91. I absolutely agree with this high rating. I would make it a point to buy this beer again on a cold night (assuming I don’t need to drive any where afterwards).

Merry ChristmaHannaKwanza and Happy New Year everyone!

What the hell are we talking about?

Starting a blog with my friends has been a whirlwind of new experiences. The technology, the beer, and even the vernacular are all new to me. I decided that the best way to keep up with my friends would be to do some research into some of the new terminology that I keep hearing from them.

www.brewersassociation.org

It occurred to me, that perhaps our readers are also learning some of these things for the first time as well. So, why not share what I’ve learned? Here are a few things that I hope can help my fellow beer newbies become more knowledgeable beer drinkers:

First, what separates a craft beer from other beers? According to Brewers Association “an American Craft brewer is small, independent, and traditional.” See the chart from Brewers Association for more information on what this means. In relation to craft beer production, a microbrewery is a brewery that produces less than 15,000 barrels of beer each year, 75% or more of which is sold (definition from craftbeer.com)

There are also different types of beer. The first is ale, which is brewed by rapid fermentation (merriam-webster.com). According to realbeer.com, ales are made using top-fermenting yeast and are best served cool (around 50 degrees F) producing a robust and complex taste. Examples of ales are stouts, porters, whitbier, hefeweizen, Indian Pale Ale (IPA), etc. Lagers are brewed by slow fermentation (merriam-webster.com), are made using bottom-fermenting yeast, are best served cold (38-49 degrees F), and are less fruity than ales (realbeer.com). Examples are red lagers, pilsner, schwarzbier, etc.

There are a few standard ingredients of beer. Hops are flowers from a perennial vine used to flavor beer. It also prevents the growth of bacteria in beer. Malt is processed barley that has been steeped in water and yeast converts the malt sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide. (craftbeer.com)

Pat and me, reviewing our beers.
Photo courtesy of our IT guy, Mark.

When evaluating a beer, there are 5 standard categories – appearance, smell, taste, mouthfeel, and overall (beeradvocate.com): 

appearance – color, carbonation, head
smell – malts (sweet, smoky, nutty, chocolaty, etc), hops (herbal, spicy, floral, piney, citrusy, etc), yeast (fruity, flowery ales or clean lagers)
taste -  flavors or interpretations of flavors, will be similar to smell
mouthfeel – how the beer feels (light, heavy, watery, smooth, flat, carbonated)
overall – your overall impression

When reading a review there are a few words other words that you may come across frequently. Alcohol by Volume (ABV) is the alcohol content (volume of alcohol per volume of beer) measured as a percentage. Lace is the pattern of the foam sticking to the side of the glass as you’re drinking your beer. Head is the foam of the beer, and head retention is how long the head lasts (craftbeer.com)

I hope this has been helpful. Please comment and let me know if there is anything else you would like defined or explained in more detail. Happy reading and reviewing!

Lady Love for Leinenkugel's

Leinenkugel’s is currently my favorite brewing company (please take note of my ability to persuade mike into getting Leinenkugel’s Lager for National Lager Day). I find their beers to be approachable, yet it has a name that makes my other friends who aren’t big craft beer drinkers say “oh Leinenkugel’s, that sounds fancy”. Last night, while on a girl date with Maggie, I decided Leinenkugel’s Honey Weiss would be appropriate for a girls’ night out and my first beer review. With a 4.9% ABV, it’s light, crisp, and refreshing with a touch of sweetness from real Wisconsin honey. I’ve been informed that next time I should try adding a lemon wedge to balance some of the sweetness. Since this is my very first time reviewing a beer I wanted to take it seriously, so, rather than drinking it out of the bottle like I normally do, I asked for a glass. Of course it was just my luck that the only real glasses this place had was wine glasses. The Honey Weiss had a nice pale golden hue that reminded me of a nice chardonnay in the wine glass. Maggie advised me that I should be paying attention to the head and lacing of the beer (which thankfully she explained to me before I had to secretly Google it), both of which seemed average to me. Hopefully I’ll be able to have more educated opinions on the subject as I grow as a beer drinker/reviewer. The aroma was earthy with notes of honey (for obvious reasons). It wasn’t too thick or carbonated, which made it easy to sit back, relax, and enjoy. All in all, I know that that Honey Weiss won’t be the popular pick for the more experienced craft beer drinker, but I find it to be a great beer to start with for someone who is trying to expand their beer drinking horizons.

While I’m on the subject of Leinenkugel’s, I also want to recommend Berry Weiss to my fellow girly beer drinkers. I’ve found that most “berry” beers I’ve tried have tasted like beer, with a touch of berry. In my opinion, Berry Weiss tastes like berry with a touch of beer. It is extremely sweet, which makes it the perfect option for someone who normally drinks cider, wine coolers, or other fruity malt beverages. It also has a 4.7% ABV, which is nice for new beer drinkers who don’t like/can’t handle a craft beer with a much higher alcohol content. My favorite thing about Berry Weiss is that it’s purple in color, which I learned while being forced to pour it into a clear plastic cup by the New York City Police in the parking lot at Citi Field. (Side note, Leinenkugel’s is also fun to try to spell to the cops while they write you a drinking in public ticket.)

I hope that beer rookies and experienced craft beer drinkers alike will give Leinenkugel’s Brewing Company a shot. It’s not the fanciest beer you’ll ever try, but I think you may just enjoy it as a nice, easy, everyday beer option.

Lager... I Hardly Knew Her

In the spirit of National Lager Day, Marissa and I went to the liquor store to pick out a nice 'merican lager. Nothing really caught my eye at first until I noticed they had a beer I've had before and certainly enjoyed; Creamy Dark by the Leinenkugel's Brewing Company. With Leinenkugel's being a brewery in Marissa's comfort zone we both knew this was going to be the beer for us that evening. (Marissa's Note - Translation: I chickened out of trying anything I hadn't heard of before.)


The first beer out of the 6 pack gave me this incredible head (not pictured) that remained through the entire beer. Every other beer I've poured has had a much smaller head that has dissipated rather quickly. The aroma of this beer is incredibly strong once you pop the cap, and stays true for the initial sips. As you can see this beer in very dark, and has almost no transparency. For being such a dark beer you figure it would leave that Guinness-like heavy feeling in your mouth but the beer is incredibly smooth. It leaves a creamy (Creamy Dark... makes sense) feeling that falls somewhere between a light beer and a Guinness. (Marissa's note: While I normally steer clear of thick, dark beers, I surprisingly appreciated this one. It gave me that overall fullness feeling I expected, but was still smooth and satisfying enough to enjoyed without feeling like I'm going to end up with a giant beer belly.)

This beer is brewed with a blend of 7 malts, and 3 different hops. This produces a crisp nutty taste, with notes of coffee and caramel. It is a very drinkable beer that is good for a cold winter night.

All and all I'm not a huge Leinenkugel's person but this beer is probably my favorite from their line. Try it out if you're into dark lagers. (Marissa's note: Then go read my post about how much I DO enjoy Leinenkugel's and try them all.)



... Also if you hate on the Jets pint glass, you can suck it.

Meet Marissa - The Beer Rookie

I’ve never been much of a “beer connoisseur”. To be honest I generally head straight for the wines or the Woodchuck Hard Cider when I enter a liquor store. It’s just easier that way because I already know what I like in wine or cider. It’s not that I don’t like beer; I just get overwhelmed by the variety because I’m not sure what I should be looking for. I’m an adult now, so 30s of Keystone or Natty light won’t really cut it for a nice, fun “friends night-in”.

When asked to create an introductory post I thought to myself “perfect, this is finally my chance to prove that hard ciders are beer too!” So after some brief Google research I’ve found (drum roll please) that I’m absolutely incorrect. Woodchuck’s website says something about fermented apples and the yeast being different. I don’t know what that really means other than that my friends are right and will continue to make fun of me for drinking Woodchuck Cider and calling it beer.

So where does this leave me now? I guess step one would be to stop calling cider a beer if I don’t want to be ridiculed. Step two is just to learn as much as I can about beer so that I don’t make an idiot out of myself. Then step three is to try as many new beers as I can to gain a better sense of what I like and don’t like so I can actually be a useful addition to this blog. Wish me luck.

- Marissa