September 2012
1 post
Drink. Blog. Repeat. 2.0
If you weren’t already aware, I’ve moved my blog from Tumblr over to my own domain with WordPress. (I made the switch a couple weeks ago but neglected to mention that here.) Same blog as before, just at a new home. I’ll keep my Tumblr account active for pictures and links, but all future updates will be at my new site - http://drinkblogrepeat.com Thanks so much for reading!...
Sep 5th
August 2012
9 posts
8 tags
A Brewlywed Honeymoon in Belgium - Part 2 (The One...
I’m taking a break from reviews this week to focus on my recent honeymoon in Brussels, Belgium. During the next few days, I’ll be covering my thoughts on the culture, the craft and - of course - the amazing beer and breweries my bride and I enjoyed while on our trip in what many consider to be the mecca of beer. ——- After a long night’s sleep to help recoup from the jetlag, my...
Aug 22nd
2 notes
9 tags
A Brewlywed Honeymoon in Belgium - Part 1
I’m taking a break from reviews this week to focus on my recent honeymoon in Brussels, Belgium. During the next few days, I’ll be covering my thoughts on the culture, the craft and - of course - the amazing beer and breweries my bride and I enjoyed while on our trip in what many consider to be the mecca of beer. ——- On Aug. 5, I found myself aboard a plane heading across...
Aug 20th
1 note
5 tags
Westbrook Citrus Ninja Exchange
Westbrook Brewing Co. Mt. Pleasant, SC Citrus Ninja Exchange Double IPA 9% ABV About a year ago, Westbook got a little hot and heavy with the guys at the Charleston Beer Exchange. Both were turned on by their mutual love for citrus-forward IPAs, and when their love was consummated, they birthed a beautiful - and delicious - bundle of joy known as Citrus Ninja Exchange. The Cascade single-hopped...
Aug 17th
1 note
4 tags
Westbrook Brett & No Mices
Westbrook Brewing Co. Mt. Pleasant, SC Brett & No Mices Belgian-style Pale Ale 6.4% ABV I really do love what Brett can do to a beer, imparting a good funk but a nice, rich taste and sweetness. I also love barrel-aged beers, what with their oakiness and slight bite. And, I love Westbrook, easily South Carolina’s most adventurous brewery, which continues to crank out one awesome beer...
Aug 16th
1 note
2 tags
A Gift for the Brewlyweds
On Monday, after returning from our honeymoon, my wife and I sat down to unwrap and organize the mountain of gifts we received at our wedding a couple weeks ago. There was a lot of the standard fare: place settings, silverware, serving dishes and entertaining goods, etc. But mixed among those were a couple gifts that stood out. One was a photo of my wife and I from the night we first met about...
Aug 15th
1 note
3 tags
Affligem Tripel
Affligem Brouwerij Opwijk, Belgium Belgian tripel 9.5% ABV With my honeymoon to Belgium quickly approaching - and with my wife and I being big beer geeks - we were bombarded with bottles of all shapes and sizes, with many of them coming from the country we would soon visit. Affligem, while a solid Belgian tripel, is a bit misleading. The beer promotes itself as an abbey ale (one being...
Aug 14th
1 note
3 tags
He'brew Funky Jewbelation
Shmaltz Brewing Co. Saratoga Springs, NY/San Francisco, CA Funky Jewbelation American Strong Ale 9.8% ABV I’ve had mixed results with Shamltz’s “bigger is better mentality.” Sometimes, it’s left me disappointed and wanting me. Other times, it’s left me staring at the bar top wondering how I was going to make it home that night. But most of the time, they...
Aug 13th
1 note
1 tag
Honeymoon Hiatus
In case you haven’t heard, I’m getting married today, and my new bride and I will be jetting off to Brussels, Belgium for our honeymoon tomorrow. (And yes, of course we plan to visit Cantillon, 3 Fonteinen and whatever other breweries we can.) Needless to say, I’ll be taking a break from blogging for the next week. But be sure to travel with me - vicariously, at least - through...
Aug 4th
5 tags
New Belgium/The Lost Abbey Brett Beer
New Belgium Brewing Co. - Fort Collins, CO The Lost Abbey (Port Brewing Co.) - San Marcos, CA Lips of Faith: Brett Beer American Wild Ale 7.5% ABV In my recent review of Brux I talked about collaboration beers and how they give drinkers a chance to sample something from a brewery they might not otherwise get to try. One of those beers was the Lips of Faith Brett Beer, an American wild ale cooked...
Aug 1st
July 2012
19 posts
3 tags
Ommegang Art of Darkness
Brewery Ommegang Cooperstown, NY Art of Darkness Belgian Strong Dark Ale 8.9% ABV While Ommegang’s year-round offerings are all pretty great, I’ve found their limited edition beers to be some of the New York brewery’s best, and ones that put a really great twist on their Belgian-style beers. Art of Darkness is one of the newest of those limited edition beers. According to the...
Jul 30th
5 tags
Sierra Nevada/Russian River Brux
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. - Chico, CA  Russian River Brewing Co. - Santa Rosa, CA Brux Domesticated Wild Ale 8.3% ABV One of the things I really like about collaboration beers is that it gives people the chance to sample an offering from a brewery they might not otherwise get to try. Recently, there’s been the New Belgium/Lost Abbey Brett Beer collaboration, and of course all the...
Jul 27th
3 notes
4 tags
Dogfish Head URKontinent
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery Milton, DE URKontinent Belgian-style Dubbel 8.0% ABV Dogfish Head keeps cranking them out, I keep drinking them up. URKontinent is a collaboration between Dogfish and, of all people, Google, who set up a forum of sorts on their website to crowdsource ingredients to brew with. What they came up with was wattleseed from Australia; toasted amaranth, an herb from...
Jul 25th
1 note
5 tags
Stone Smoked Porter (Original, w/ Vanilla Bean, w/...
Stone Brewing Co. San Diego, CA Smoked Porter (w/ Vanilla Bean and w/ Chipotle Peppers) 5.9% ABV I’m quick to pick up anything new that Stone puts out. I’m usually at the store the week something new comes out to pick it up, and it doesn’t usually last long in my fridge. And when it comes to their year-round slate, I’ve had everything before, and multiple times at...
Jul 23rd
Beer Is My Church: How #CraftBeer Saved Me From... →
Powerful, honest post. Takes guts to write something like this. beerismychurch: I’ve toyed with the idea of writing this post for many, many months. What it reveals is personal, but ultimately freeing and hopefully helpful. Alcoholism runs in my family, as it does in millions of other families in America. It’s a terrible thing. It’s a disease. It ruins lives. It…
Jul 22nd
3 notes
3 tags
Dogfish Head Pangaea
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery Milton, DE Pangaea Belgian Pale Ale 7% ABV And again we go back to Dogfish Head, this time for one that’s been around a while, but I’ve never gotten to try. Pangaea is a Belgian pale ale originally designed to be a way to unite people during the holidays as one would unite the continents before they shifted into the world as we know it. And of course,...
Jul 20th
2 tags
Founders Frangelic Mountain Brown
Founders Brewing Co. Grand Rapids, MI Frangelic Mountain Brown Ale 9% ABV Oh, Founders. How I love you so. Not only are your year-round and seasonal beers great, but your Backstage Series really shows just how awesome you really are. First, there was Blushing Monk, the awesome Belgian ale brewed with raspberries. Then, one of the holiest of holies, Canadian Breakfast Stout, a chocolate and...
Jul 19th
2 tags
Dogfish Head Positive Contact
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery Milton, DE Positive Contact Wheat Beer 9% ABV It’s no secret I’m a fan of Dogfish Head. Just search for the brewery and you’ll find plenty of glowing reviews of their beers from me. But I will admit, the lengths Sam and the DFH folks go to to make beers can be a little intimidating at times, and the results aren’t always as good as...
Jul 18th
2 tags
Founders Cerise
Founders Brewing Co. Grand Rapids, MI Cerise fruit beer 6.5% ABV If I haven’t made it clear already, I really love Founders, and having them back in South Carolina has reminded me just how great their beers are. But while I’ve had most of their slate, there are a handful that I hadn’t had the chance to try yet, including Cerise, their summer seasonal fruit beer. Cerise is...
Jul 17th
3 tags
Westbrook Single Hop: Amarillo
Westbrook Brewing Co. Mt. Pleasant, SC Single Hop: Amarillo Rye Pale Ale 5.5% ABV When I reviewed the Single Hop: Pacific Jade - the first entry in Westbrook’s single hopped rye pale ale series - I commented that I hoped the brewery would continue to crank out more and more variations of the style, similar to what Mikkeller did with their (his?) single hop series. I didn’t have...
Jul 16th
3 tags
Anchorage Whiteout Wit
Anchorage Brewing Co. Anchorage, AK Whiteout Wit Bier 6.5% ABV I’ve talked before about how impressive the beers Anchorage Brewing puts out on on a semi-regular basis are. They’re labor intensive, inventive and unique within their respective styles. They’re an incredibly inventive brewery and one that goes out on a limb, yet succeeds every time. That trend continues with...
Jul 13th
4 tags
EPIC Brewing Brainless on Peaches
EPIC Brewing Co. Salt Lake City, UT Brainless on Peaches Belgian-style Golden Ale 10.5% ABV Who knew that such great beer could come from the middle of Mormon country? EPIC Brewing - the stateside brewery, not to be confused with one of the same name in New Zealand - lives up to its name with some pretty big beers, especially in their Exponential Series. I was hooked about a year ago after...
Jul 12th
1 note
3 tags
Columbia, SC (FINALLY) Getting First Brewery
It’s about damn time. For years, rumors have endlessly swirled about how Columbia, SC, would finally get its first full-fledged brewery. For too long, Hunter-Gatherer - which, don’t get me wrong, is fantastic - has been the only place in Columbia to get locally-brewed beer. Time after time, those in the know have said this will be the year the Capital City finally get a brewery all...
Jul 11th
3 tags
Coast Bull's Bay Oyster Stout
Coast Brewing Co. Charleston, SC Bull’s Bay Oyster Stout 5.8% ABV I don’t think I need to go over again how much I love Charleston’s Coast brewery - I’ve talked about it before - so instead I’m just going to get into one of their fantastic seasonal offerings. Coast’s oyster stout is, surprisingly, an oyster stout. But what makes it special is it’s...
Jul 11th
4 tags
Green Flash/Founders Linchpin
Green Flash Brewery - San Diego, CA Founders Brewing Co. - Grand Rapids, MI Linchpin White IPA 7% ABV White IPAs must be the thing to brew these days. Not that I’m complaining or anything. Taking a style such as the IPA and brewing it in a different way is fine with me. And when you get two breweries as great as Green Flash and Founders to do one together, it’s as if you’re...
Jul 10th
2 tags
Stillwater/Hof Ten Dormaal Bronze Age
Stillwater Artisinal Ales Baltimore, MD Bronze Age Traditional Belgian Farmhouse Ale 6% ABV Now that temperatures are pushing the century mark on a regular basis here in South Carolina, my taste for stouts has diminished (at least until the sun goes down) and my love for lighter, spicier beers - namely saisons - has reached its peak. And when it comes to American-based brewers of...
Jul 9th
4 tags
Dogfish Head and Stone Saison du BUFF
Stone Brewing Co. - San Diego, CA Dogfish Head Craft Brewery - Milton, DE Saison Du BUFF 7.7% ABV and 6.8% ABV, respectively My recent beer-related journeys have helped me procure the Stone and Dogfish Head batches of Saison Du BUFF, thus completing the collection. I was really impressed with the batch brewed at Victory and expected nothing less from the other two variations. They were all...
Jul 6th
3 tags
Stone Ruination Tenth Anniversary
Stone Brewing Co. Escondido, CA Ruination Tenth Anniversary IPA 10.8% ABV What is there to say about Stone Ruination that hasn’t been said before. As one of catalysts for double and imperial IPAs, the intensely hoppy, insanely bitter yet incredibly drinkable beer is well known and much loved by hopheads. So, what to do when your “liquid poem to the glory of the hop”...
Jul 4th
2 tags
New Belgium Tart Lychee
New Belgium Brewing Co. Fort Collins, CO Tart Lychee American Wild Ale 6% ABV I’ve talked before about how New Belgium’s Lips of Faith series is what makes the brewery really stand out. While Fat Tire is a great gateway beer, the unique and inventive brews they concoct through Lips of Faith are generally stellar, and - as the name entails - a bit of a leap (or lip) of faith when...
Jul 2nd
1 note
June 2012
15 posts
2 tags
Founders Dirty Bastard
Founders Brewing Co. Grand Rapids, MI Dirty Bastard Scotch Style Ale 8.5% ABV When I first got into craft beer a few years ago, I had the misfortune of entering the scene right after Founders had left South Carolina. For whatever reason - I heard it primarily boiled down to a crappy distributor - the Michigan-based brewery had been pulled from the state, and our neighbors in North Carolina...
Jun 29th
Destination: Asheville - Part 2
When we last left my recap of my first visit to Asheville, my fiancee and I had visited one restaurant, one brewery and one beer shop. In any other city, that might be the end of your visit. But not in Asheville! There were many hours left in the day and many more beers to drink, so on we went. Our next stop was the Green Man Brewery, which was located in a small industrial area right behind The...
Jun 28th
2 notes
3 tags
Anchorage Galaxy
Anchorage Brewing Company Anchorage, AK Galaxy White IPA 7% ABV Anchorage Brewing Company came out of nowhere about a year ago with a slate of insanely complex and equally as good beers. Founded by Gabe Fletcher, the former brewer of Alaskan-based Midnight Sun Brewing Company, Anchorage specializes in limited batches of barrel-aged beers brewed with Brettanomyces. But the barrel-aging...
Jun 27th
7 tags
Destination: Asheville - Part 1
It’s hard to talk about beer destinations in the U.S. and not mention Asheville, NC. In the past few months, the hipster-friendly mountain town has snagged the East Coast operations of both Sierra Nevada and New Belgium, and won the title of Beer City U.S.A. for a third straight year. Not only is the city alone home to more breweries than some neighboring states have in their entirety, but...
Jun 26th
2 notes
2 tags
Duck-Rabbit Hoppy Bunny ABA
The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery Farmville, NC Hoppy Bunny ABA (American Black Ale) 7.3% ABV American black ales - a.k.a. black IPAs - are a proliferating style in the craft beer world. While not a true style, black ales blend the dark roasted qualities of porters or stouts with the hop notes of an IPA, but with a lighter body. I’ve been a fan of ABAs since the first time I had one, but...
Jun 25th
1 note
4 tags
Victory/Stone/Dogfish Head Saison Du BUFF
Victory Brewing Co. - Downingtown, PA Stone Brewing Co. - San Diego, CA Dogfish Head Craft Brewery - Milton, DE Saison Du BUFF 6.8% ABV What do you get when you cross three of my favorite breweries with one of my favorite styles of beer? Pure liquid awesomeness. The idea of Victory, Stone and Dogfish Head collaborating on a beer dates back to 2003. As the story goes, the three owners got...
Jun 22nd
2 tags
Samuel Adams Norse Legends
Botson Beer Co. Boston, MA Norse Legend Sahti 7% ABV I was sadly underwhelmed with the latest offering in Sam Adams’ Batch No. 1 series of beers and approached Norse Legend - the Boston-based brewery’s attempt at a sahti - with a little more trepidation. Like gose, sahti is a really unique and new (at least to American palates) style of beer, and seeing as how SA’s attempt...
Jun 20th
3 tags
Terrapin 10th Anniversary Ale
Terrapin Beer Co. Athens, GA 10th Anniversary Belgian Strong Pale Ale 10% ABV This past April, Terrapin celebrated 10 years of brewing amazing beers with the release of the special anniversary ale. The Belgian strong pale ale features Euler’s Identity, a mathematical equation from Leonard Euler that is considered one of the most beautiful calculations ever devised. Also, it equals out...
Jun 18th
1 note
2 tags
Samuel Adams Verloren
Boston Beer Co. Boston, MA Verloren Gose 6% ABV I’ve talked before about how I’ve really enjoyed and been impressed by Samuel Adams’ Batch No. 1 series, their run of unique small batch brews that usually steer toward more stuff you wouldn’t expect. Since the series has been a huge hit for me so far, I was excited when I found out they’d be trying their hand at...
Jun 15th
3 tags
Terrapin Phlux Capacitor
Terrapin Beer Co. Athens, GA Phlux Capacitor Oak-aged American Strong Ale 9.8% ABV Athens, GA’s Terrapin - my favorite brewery from my home state - regularly cranks out new and adventurous brews through their Side Project series. These one-off batches has cranked out everything from a black saison to a hefeweizen-IPA hybrid, and the series continues to impress with each new brew. Side...
Jun 13th
2 tags
Ommegang Hennepin
Brewery Ommegang Cooperstown, NY Hennepin Farmhouse Saison 7.7% ABV Continuing the trend of reviewing some of Ommegang’s year-round offerings - hey, I got a variety pack at a recent wedding shower - up next is Hennepin, the brewery’s saison/farmhouse-style ale. I love saisons, especially with this summer-like weather South Carolina has had lately, and Hennepin really hits the...
Jun 11th
3 tags
Ommegang Three Philosophers
Brewery Ommegang Cooperstown, NY Three Philosophers Belgian Quad 9.8% ABV With my last Ommegang review looking at the lighter side of the spectrum, I thought it fitting to go all the way to the other extreme and look at one of the brewery’s bigger offerings. I don’t remember the first time I had Three Philosophers, but I bet two things happened when I did: 1) It knocked me on my...
Jun 8th
3 tags
Ommegang BPA
Brewery Ommegang Cooperstown, NY BPA (Belgian-style Pale Ale) 6.2% ABV I’ve always enjoyed Belgian-style beers. For an aspiring beer geek, something such as Hoegaarden - which was one of the earliest “craft” beers I tried - can be a gateway to other, more complex styles. When it comes to stateside, Ommegang has stood with the best of them for as long as I’ve been a...
Jun 6th
2 tags
Sierra Nevada Bigfoot (2012)
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. Chico, CA Bigfoot Barleywine Style Ale 9.6% ABV When it comes to barleywines, I’m partial to the English style of brewing, which focuses more on the malt than the hops. With English-style barleywines, you get those rich dark fruit notes with hints of plum, molasses, brown sugar and cherries that make them excellent for sipping and slowly enjoying. ...
Jun 5th
4 tags
Highland Razor Wit
Highland Brewing Co. Asheville, NC Razor Wit Belgian Style Whit Ale 4.5% ABV According to a friend of mine, Highland is the third-largest brewery in the Southeast, behind only Abita and Sweetwater in terms of production. If that’s true, it wouldn’t surprise me, as the Asheville-based brewery cranks out one awesome brew after another. Highland’s year-round staples - Gaelic...
Jun 1st
May 2012
14 posts
3 tags
Bell's Oberon
Bell’s Brewery, Inc. Galesburg, MI Oberon Wheat Ale 5.8% ABV Bell’s makes some of my favorite beer and is one of the handful of breweries I’ve tried that has yet to make a beer that disappoints. One of the first beers of theirs I tried was Oberon, their summer seasonal that is the epitome of what you’d want in a warm-weather beer. Coming in at just more than 5%,...
May 30th
3 tags
Sixpoint Apollo
Sixpoint Brewery Brooklyn, NY Apollo Kristallweizen 5.2% ABV While there was a cold snap in South Carolina for a week or so, it’s since given way to unseasonably warm temperatures more on par with what we see during the summer. While the humidity isn’t nearly as nauseating as it gets during the summer - it’s about 90 degrees outside as I type this, but only 40 percent...
May 28th
2 tags
Grand Teton Snarling Badger
Grand Teton Brewing Co. Victor, ID Snarling Badger Berliner Weisse 7.5% ABV (Feels like I was just talking about Grand Teton, doesn’t it?) With their Cellar Reserve series, Grand Teton is trying to design beers that can be enjoyed now or laid down for a year or two to help mature. Since they’re bottle conditioned, the fact they’re not super-high ABV beers is balanced out....
May 25th
2 tags
Three Floyds Arctic Panzer Wolf
Three Floyds Brewing Company Munster, IN Arctic Panzer Wolf Imperial IPA 9% ABV I’ve been very lucky lately when it comes to sampling some of Three Floyds’ consistently awesome beers, and that trend continued recently after getting my hands on a bottle of Arctic Panzer Wolf, their year-round DIPA. But while most Imperial IPAs go for a sweeter, more boozy taste, APW goes for a...
May 23rd
1 note
3 tags
Grand Teton 5 O'Clock Shadow
Grand Teton Brewing Co. Victor, ID 5 O’Clock Shadow Double Black Lager 7.6% ABV Lagers have been surprising me lately, in particular black lagers/Schwarzbiers. The combination of hoppy and roasted characteristics of black IPAs and the rich smoothness of lagers is a really refreshing and enjoyable blend that I really don’t give enough chances. It helped when Grand Teton, one...
May 21st
2 tags
Westbrook Gose
Westbrook Brewing Co. Mt. Pleasant, SC Gose 4% ABV Throw around terms like “stout” or “IPA” and it’s likely even people who are major beer geeks will have a general idea of what the particular style is like. But when it comes to Gose, you’ll have to find a more seasoned drinker to really discuss the style. Gose (prounounced gose-uh) is a top-fermented...
May 18th