beer

Pucker Up, or Just Another Article About Sour Beers And Also This One is Funny, I Hope!

I came here this week on the advice of two of our followers (still waiting for inspiration to strike on what to call you!!), Shelbie and Rick (whose Blog, Rickommended, posted its second blog entry today, and is all about food!), to write a post about Sours.  

Proof!

Lo and Behold, a few hours before I start to write, I see this link pop up on my Facebook page…

When Tart, Pungent and Funky Mean It’s a Good Brew

Dammit.  The New York Times writes an article on sour beer the day before I decide to write an article on sour beer.

You know what, though?  Their article, while quite well written, is dry.  It’s nice to see beer, and in this case, specifically sour beer, getting press.  Sours are amazing beers, and quite difficult to get right (basically you rely on a bacteria to infect your beer to impart the tart, sour flavor).  I enjoy their rating system (one to four stars) and they’ve got some great beer on their list.  But there’s no wit!  There’s no snap!  There’s no pizzazz!  I’d like to think that Benedict Beer Blog is full of wit.  And what’s interesting is, as I’m writing this, I cracked open a half growler of what should have been a LIC Beer Project Higher Burnin’ IPA, a nicely balanced, juicy and sweet IPA, but was given the wrong beer, and I’m pretty sure it’s an Ommegang Witte.  So now, not only am I full of wit, I’m full of Witte.  Take that, New York Times!  Hahaaaa!  (That’s a triumphant Hahaaaa!)

Sour beers were first (purposely) brewed in Germany and Belgium.  Back in the early days of brewing, it was hard to find a beer that wasn’t sour, whether intentionally or unintentionally.  Brewers would reuse yeast from batch to batch, and sometimes the starter yeast would contain bacteria or wild yeast strains.  Now, Brewers intentionally use bacteria or wild yeast to give their beer an acidic flavor.  Three common bacterias used to intentionally sour beer are lactobacillus (mm…  Milky…), Brettanomyces (also, still not sure if I’m pronouncing this correctly.  I say “Brett-a-NAH-mih-seas”, but I think it’s actually “Brett-AAH-no-my-seas”. How U say it??), and Pediococcus (hehe, coccus).

Breweries sometimes have facilities away from their regular breweries so that their “regular” beers don’t get infected.  Even when these measures are followed, bacteria can still form (see the great Goose Island Bourbon County infection and recall of 2016).  I tasted an infected Goose Island Bourbon County Coffee Stout, which I reference in my first ever blog post!  Normal flavors of coffee, chocolate, vanilla, and booze, gave way to an almost raspberry chocolate cake because of the bacteria.  I liked it because I knew what I was in for, but I think a lot of people who paid a lot of money for that beer must’ve been pretty upset.  

Goose Island’s PR must be pretty fantastic (they got that AB-InBev money), they offered refunds and said they were learning from the new lactobacillus acetotolerans strain they discovered was causing the sour flavors.

One of the first sour beers I ever tasted was a Lambic, which is a spontaneously fermented sour (meaning they expose the beer to wild yeasts and bacteria found in the place it’s being brewed, mostly in Belgium).  The most famous, and sought after, brewery of these types of beer is Brasserie Cantillon, in Brussels.  I haven’t had a chance to try any Cantillon (my closest bet is to find it when it pops up at Tørst in Brooklyn), but it’s highly praised.  The first Lambics I tried were Lindemans Framboise (with raspberries added), and Brouwerij Boon Mariage Parfait Kriek (aged with cherries).  Another type of Lambic is Gueuze, a blend of new and aged Lambics.  These beers are sweet, tart, dry, and have a low ABV, so they’re great for summer (but drink them whenever you want because you’re an adult).

Let’s hop from Belgium over to Germany, yah?  Ict bin ein Berliner Weisse.  This is a German Wheat beer (what did I say?  This blog is so Witty!  Tell your friends!), low ABV, super tart and refreshing.  Here are a couple of my favorites:

Evil Twin Justin Blåbær, a Berliner Weisse brewed with blueberries.  Owner/brewer Jeppe Jarnit-Bergsö used to be a hair model, so they made a Teen Beat-esque label.  Baby, baby, baby, ohhhh…  This is one of Holly Kay’s favorite beers!

Westbrook Brewing Co Lemon Coconut Weisse Weisse Baby.  The tartness from the lemon is balanced by the smooth, creamy flavor of the coconut.  Oh, so tropical.  I shared this with Ryan Keogh, manager at Benedict Beer Blog favorite Il Bambino.  It reminded me of my honeymoon, and all the tropical fruit-infused Rum people were selling outside their homes on the walk from our hotel into town.  Yeah, we tried it and survived, and it was gooood.  I think this is a great, lower ABV option if you want to imagine being surrounded by the clearest ocean you’ve ever seen.  Loved this beer!

Another German sour style is called Gose (pronounced “Gose-uhhhh”…  Or, as Hermione Granger would say, “Win-GAR-Di-um Le-vi-GOSE-uhhhh”…  Also, why has nobody named a beer Wingardium LeviGose?). These sours are brewed with salt and coriander (!!) which makes these beers both tart, savory and with a bit of spice.  May look weird on paper, but trust a recipe that’s been brewed consistently since the 16th century in Germany…  It’s a relatively new style brewed in the US, but breweries like Westbrook and Lost Nation have some classic examples of the style.

Sour, Salty, Delicious.

Evil Twin and Two Roads Geyser Gose, inspired by a trip the Brewers took to Iceland, and brewed with Icelandic moss,  rye, herbs, Skyr (an Icelandic yogurt) and birch-smoked sea salt.  Sounds weird?  Sure.  Tastes amazing?  Absolutely.  

Evil Twin makes another Gose, called Mission Gose, that features the addition of Eucalyptus, which upped the refreshment factor by adding an herbal, almost minty quality to the tart citrus.  Amazing.

Modern Times Fruitlands Gose with Apricot.  The base beer is already sour, salty, and funky, and the addition of apricot rounds out the sweet, fruity flavor and is absolutely devine.  Get this beer if you find it. 

Two other styles of Belgian sours are Flanders Red and Oud Bruin.  Flanders Red are usually blended with both fresh and mature beer to adjust the flavor.  If you’re interested, try to find Rodenbach, it’s a classic interpretation of the the style.  Oud Bruin is a sour brown ale.  Try Goose Island’s Madame Rose, or Mikkeler Juice Bag.  I’ve loved both of those!

Most sours brewed in the US get lumped into another category called American Wild Ales.  The bacteria in these beers are either cultured or spontaneously fermented.  Here are a few of my facorites:

Grimm Rainbow Dome.  Grimm has made some amazing hoppy beers, and what they’ve done here is dry hop a sour ale with El Dorado, Columbus, and Cascade hops.  This leaves an unfiltered, gorgeous glass of basically orange juice.  So tropical, fruity, and absolutely crushable.

Stillwater and Other Half Rockstar Farmer.  OK, technically, this is a Farmhouse Session IPA, but it is fermented with Brettanomyces, so I’m counting it.  What I love about this beer is that in addition to the citrus tartness, you get some dankness from the hops, and funk, hay, and earthiness from the Brett.  Soooooooo damnnnnnnn goooooooood.  Shared this bad boy with Holly Kay over some salame and gorgonzola Crostinis with honey.

Finback Starchild, a sour ale brewed with grapefruit peel, which adds a nice citrusy bitterness to the acidity of the beer.  Another amazing brew from these folks in Queens (Ridgewood, Queens, represent, represent-sent)!
Pucker up, folks, and go out and try some sour beer!!  Hope you all enjoyed this walk through of this style, and I’m hoping you’ll all find something you love!

Cheers!

Benedict Beer Reviews, or Bradco Brew Visits the Benedict Biergarten!

Hello, dear readers! I feel like I need to come up with a name for my followers… Like Benedict Beer Babies? Flock of Benedict Beer Birdies? The Triple B’s? The Triple B-52’s?  The Triple B-Sharps?  The B-Boys? The B-Boys and Girls Club of America?  What do you think? Write in the comments below what you think you should be called.

This week, Holly Kay and I had none other than the man, the myth, the legend, known as Bradco Brew, over for a small bottle share.  This man makes some incredible home brews. His Strawberry Wheat and Blueberry Cream Ale are two of my favorites, and the perfect beers for these hot summer days (a comment about how hot it is.  I’m being topical!).  Make these again, please, Brad.

A blurry can and a crystal clear Bradco!!

Brad stopped at one of our favorite spots, Astoria Bier and Cheese, and picked up a four pack of different brews. I stopped at our local Foodtown, which, surprisingly, (or not so surprisingly anymore) has a great selection of Craft Beer, for a mix-a-six.  

This is a blog about beer.  But first…  Pizza.

Holly Kay got off work real early, and made two amazing pizzas.  The first was tomato sauce (my man Don Pepino makes a killer sauce and it’s super inexpensive, say what up to Donny P next time you hit up the grocery store to make a fresh ‘zza, that’s short for pizza, bro), fresh mozzarella cheese, and because we do what we want, some salty, delicious prosciutto. The second pie (yeah.  Second pie.  When we eat, we eat right.  The whole squad eats…  Two pizza pies.) was basil pesto (made from scratch!!!), fresh mozz, and the creamiest goat cheese you ever did see.  Holly baked those crusts so crispy, when you took a bite, the heavens opened up and a chorus of Pizza angels began singing songs of praise and wonder.  She’s an amazing wife.  And not only because she makes killer pizza.  I didn’t get to take a photo of the pies before the three of us devoured them, but you can paint yourselves a mind-picture and, not unlike the late Bob Ross, put it on a canvas and hang it in your living room.  You’ll thank me later.

The only known photograph of Holly’s pizza from Friday night.  Check out that gooey mozzarella and sweet tomato sauce.  AND THAT CRUST.  Pizza heaven.  Also pictured here, Off Color Brewing Apex Predator Farmhouse Ale, and some of the ingredients for an Old Fashioned.  Because we so classy.

We started off sharing the Off Color Apex Predator Farmhouse Ale.  The smell was funky, lemon, banana, hay, earth.  Taste followed, with lemon and orange peel citrus, dryness, and earth.  Holly was quoted as saying “The more something tastes like dirt, the more I like it.”  Great example of the Farmhouse style, I would definitely pick this up again if I see it.  Drink this instead of: Blue Moon.  Also recommended if you love this beer: Trillium Farmhouse Ale, Ommegang Hennepin.

Kelso Beer Co Pilsner was our next choice. 

 Pilsners are a difficult style, because there’s not a lot to hide behind.  You can throw in a ton of hops to a not-so-great IPA and it will taste amazing, but the beer will reveal itself after the hop flavors have faded.  With a Pilsner, it’s all about balance, and refreshment.  Kelso nails it, with a dry, crisp, bready, grassy, super easy drinking Pils.  Perfect for post-lawn mowing afternoon, or by the pool, or in the pool, or in the ocean, or on the beach, or on the porch, or just about anywhere.  It’s low in alcohol, and amazingly refreshing.  Great stuff.  Drink this instead of: any of those big name American adjunct lagers.  Also recommended: Victory Prima Pilsner, Firestone Walker Pivo Pils.

Next up: New Belgium Brewing and Brouwerij De Koninck Flowering Citrus Ale, from their Lips of Faith Series.

Lips of Faith Series is a series of beers by New Belgium that are either sweet, sour or spicy.  This iteration is a collaboration with Brouwerij De Koninck, from Belgium.  This is a summer ale that smells and tastes of key lime and lemon zest, with aromas of rose, citrus and herbs.  Again, put me outside on a porch at sunset with one of these in my hand, and I won’t be mad atcha.  Drink this instead of: a Corona with lime (this beer tastes like butt without a lime).  Also recommended: Stone Delicious IPA (made with lemon drop hops that give it a tart, lemon flavor), Lindemans Kriek (a sour, sweet lambic brewed with cherries).

To Øl Gose To Hollywood.  

These dudes from Denmark brewed a Gose (a traditional German sour beer brewed with salt and coriander) with the best oranges California has to offer (hence the name, Gose to Hollywood).  This was our favorite offering of the evening.  At 3.8% ABV, you could crush so many of these cans at a barbecue and not worry about grilling over open flames.  Super orange citrus, balanced out by a bit of salt and some FUUUUNK!  Because who doesn’t like funky-a$$ beer like every single day?  Drink this instead of: Blue Moon, Lienenkugel Shandy, Shock Top.  Also recommended: Westbrook Gose, Two Roads and Evil Twin Geyser Gose (brewed with Icelandic Moss.  Wild.).

Stillwater Artisanal Superhop.
This is a nicely balanced IPA from Maryland, with grapefruit, pine and dankness, balanced by some sweetness, and fruit from the malts.  Nothing to write home about, but still a solid IPA.  The artwork on this bottle is phenomenal, which is par for the course with this brewery.  Hand me this brew at a party full of beer nerds who like to talk about artwork as well as beer.  Drink this instead of: Sam Adams Rebel IPA.  Also recommended: Dogfish Head 60 and 90 Minute IPA, Green Flash West Coast IPA.

DuClaw Sweet Baby Jesus!  Chocolate Peanut Butter Porter.  Dessert.
Ever wanted to drink a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup?  Well, now that DuClaw distributes to New York, you can!  I brought this beer back from Pete Shelly’s bachelor party in DC a few years ago, so it wasn’t my first time with it, but Brad hadn’t tried it before.  It bursts with candy sweetness, chocolate, and peanut butter.  This was a great way to end a night of fruity, crisp, citrusy beers.  Our “dessert”.  It’s low in ABV (6.5%) so even after a long night of sharing and chatting, it won’t put you over the edge.  Put me in front of a fire (or even a Yule Log on the television) in the dead of winter with this bad boy in hand and I’d be happy as a clam.  Drink this instead of: Guinness.  Also recommended: Greenport Harbor Black Duck Porter, Moustache Brewing Co. Everyman’s Porter, if you want high ABV, Southern Tier Choklat.

There you have it!  All in all, a solid share.  Brad’s offerings won out over the Foodtown beers, but we had a great time, introduced Brad to the IT Crowd, which is a show all should be introduced to, and watched as much as we could of the Olympics via NBC’s garbage app for the Apple TV.  Seriously, it’s the worst.

Anyway, leave a comment below with what you, dearest Benedict Beer Blog reader, want to be called!  

Until next time!  Cheers!

The Perfect Storm, or Weird Surprise After Weird Surprise

Today is a special day.  It just so happens to be both National IPA Day, and, according to Facebook, #NationalGirlfriendDay, (The Perfect Storm) so I’d love to share a quick story that involves both IPA, my brother, and my ex-girlfriend who I married, Holly Kay Benedict, aka @hkbenny aka HBK The Heartbreak Kid aka The Little Negotiator aka The Holly aka My Love!

I adore my wife.  We fell in love in a whirlwind romance involving Karaoke, our friend Jeff, Jefferson Starship, Central Park in the middle of the night, and a wild raccoon that we named Stanford.  She’s smart, funny, talented, and strong willed.  Plus, she’s gorgeous (which is the icing on the cake).  She takes my breath away on a daily basis.

Holly Kay enjoying a Youngs Double Chocolate Stout at the Souveneer show (see earlier blog post BEER, I mean…  Here.)

Here we are, over 7 years later (5 and a half years married) and we’re preparing for a trip to Ireland in November to celebrate a belated 5 year Anniversary (we were at a wedding in Houston on our actual Anniversary, March 5th).  This will be a celebration of our love, and Holly intends on writing handwritten letters to each of the owners of the 5 B&Bs we’re staying in to tell them how excited we are to spend our anniversary with them.  

On Saturday, Holly called me on her lunch break as she was out on a walk through Soho.  We were chatting, and she suddenly said “I’ll be right back.”  She came back on the line about 30 seconds later, and I asked if everything was alright, and she said “Yes, I was just picking up your surprise!  You’re going to be very excited about it!”  I told her she didn’t have to get me anything, but she insisted that this was going to be amazing, and she had gotten a tip.  That was all she told me.  

So I spent the day trying to figure out what it could be.  I had a feeling it was beer related, but wasn’t too sure.  She’s a wily one, that Holly, so you never know what she could bring home (One time, she was dared to convince me she had bought a turtle.  I fell for it, hard).

On her subway ride home, she was texting me, and she asked me about Other Half Brewing Company.  She said “are they the ones who do the can releases where people wait for hours in line to get them?”  I said “Yup!  They had one this morning!” And described the three cans that were released that day.  She responded, “Cool, we should go do that sometime!”  I will refer you back to this post in which she says something similar and you can find out what our friend Kevin’s reaction was(!!!)

So I go to pick her up from the train station, and we’re walking home and chatting, and she says the surprise is something I’ll love, and would only get a few uses out of.  I’m figuring it’s beer related (I don’t know if you guys know this, but I write a Beer Blog.  You should totally check it out), but can’t think for the life of me what it would be.  We get home, she unpacks her bag and says “The surprise is in my lunch bag.”  At this moment, as I unzipped the lunch bag, I knew exactly what she had gotten me, but couldn’t for the life of me figure out how on earth she had pulled it off…

I pull out three 16oz. cans of fresh (we’re talking canned yesterday) Other Half IPAs.  Hop Showers, All Green Everything, and another IPA simply called ! .  I was a little in shock, because I swore she was at work, and she could have gotten up at 5am, drove to Gowanus (where the brewery is located) and then just stayed out all day and pretended to ride the subway home (she didn’t do that).

I asked her how on earth she pulled this off, and we’ll leave it at this…  It’s a secret.  She bragged “People waited in line all morning for this.  I didn’t have to wait in line.”  With a huge smile across her face.  How did I get so lucky?

From Left to Right: Hop Showers, !, and All Green Everything

Earlier this week, I found out that my brother Christopher had tried a Guinness in Ireland, his first drink he’s ever had, ever (also, he hated it).  This was weird for me.  It still is.  He texted me earlier in the day, “do you want to drink beer and watch baseball later?”  Readers, I don’t know if you understand the magnitude of how weird that text message looked in a thread under his name.  Anyway, I thought this would be a good opportunity for him to try some beers that are the exact opposite of Guinness.  Other Half is making world class IPAs, maybe he’ll like those.  Also, all three are presumably over 100 IBUs (International Bitterness Units).  Needless to say, these are not beginner beers, but maybe it was wishful thinking that we would immediately be brothers in hops.  

I cracked open the Hop Showers and poured some for myself, Holly Kay, and Chris.  Immediately we were all walloped upside the head with hops (which I love), dank, grapefruit, pineapple, lemon.  Not a ton of sweetness in the malt, but enough to sweeten that bitterness and let those hops dance (or in this case, punch.)

The next was ! , 8.5%, another dank, hoppy monster.  This time, on top of light citrusy grapefruit and pineapple, were flavors of herbs, green bell pepper, garlic and onion.  It was wild.  Chris liked this one better, Holly Kay was more of a fan of the Hop Showers.  This was my favorite of the 3, lots of flavor but still super drinkable, I picture crushing this at a beach (although at 8.5%, it would be nap time after just one or two).

All Green Everything was next on the docket.  I was hoping that the sweetness of the alcohol and malts (it’s a hefty 10.5%) would balance out the hops, but this is another hop bomb.  Craft a house out of hops and put me inside and I will live there until someone evicts me.  This was a balanced, well crafted, triple IPA with sweet, sugary citrus.  Also, not for beginners.  

I love insane beers like this one, but Holly’s favorite was still Hop Showers, and Chris preferred ! .

What a week full of beer surprises.  Chris surprises me with a photo of his Guinness in Ireland, Holly surprises me with three freshly canned IPAs, and I surprise Chris by destroying his palate with hops so he can’t taste anything else for the rest of the night.

Chris shared all three mega hopped, insanely bitter IPAs, which is brave, and I vowed to find him a beer he would like.  I believe, with time, we can become hop friends, (Holly, do you have any advice for him as a person who was forced to love hops because of your weirdo husband?)

For now, the search continues…

Until next time!  Cheers!

2016, The Year in Beer (So Far…) or Hey, Come Salivate Over These Pictures!

Hello, gorgeous Benedict Beer Blog readers!  Thanks for coming back, or, if this is your first time, welcome here!  Holly and I have had some amazing adventures this year, which you’ve read about, so I think it’s time to recap the first (a little more than) half of the year with some pictures.  Everyone loves pictures, and you wouldn’t be here unless you:

A. Love beer

B. Are related to me, or

C. Both.

Thanks for tuning in for these first couple of months.  Now, let’s look at some pretty pretty pictures of craft beer why not??!?!?

January 1st, 12:01am.  Singlecut Beersmiths Heavy Boots of Lead Imperial Stout.  I’ve gushed over this beer and brewery in numerous other posts.  This is liquid chocolate, so drink it if you ever see it.  He fills his victims full of happiness.  Ozzy approves.

January 3rd.  Hilton Garden Inn, Long Island City, NY.  Post-ceiling collapse, we stayed in this amazing hotel, where we drank beer and wine out of paper cups, because Holly Kay and I are Renaissance Men.  Southern Tier Brewing Company Crème Brûlée Imperial Stout.  Skip dessert, drink this instead.  Sweet, sugary, vanilla, chocolate, coffee.  You (dia)BET(ic) we loved it!

January started off with some stouts!  They warm ya up when it’s cooooold out there!  Chris “MusicDktr” Benedict, would approve, right, Dad?

January 8th.  Belated Christmas dinner at Brad (of Bradco Brew) and Alex’s Apartment!  This beer is out of control.  Barrier Brewing Company Money IPA.  Bursting with tropical citrus and pine, just put me on a hammock in between two palm trees and get me out of this New York City winter for crying out loud!

This is Brad, aka Bradco Brew.  He makes amazing brews.  Our favorites are the Blueberry Cream Ale (which I wish I could drink all summer), Citrus Saison, and his amazing Chocolate Stout.  Become friends with Brad and you can try these.  He’s nice!

January 23rd.  First major snowstorm of the year.  Holly Kay and I got off of work early, and spent the day watching movies, eating, and drinking.  This is Pipeworks Brewing Company Lizard King, a single hopped session IPA with Mosaic hops.  Mosaic, she’s a naughty, naughty girl…  Pineapple, pineapple, and more pineapple.  Another tropical dream to escape the 12″ + of snow building up outside our apartment window.  Also, this can art cannot be beat.

January 23rd…  Speaking of snowstorm…  Evil Twin and Two Roads Geyser Gose.  Gose (pronounced Gose-uhh) is a traditional German-style beer that is tart, herbal, and salty.  Geyser Gose is brewed with ingredients sourced from Iceland (a country I would absolutely love to visit), including Icelandic moss, rye, herbs, sea kelp, skyr (a tart, Icelandic yogurt) and birch smoked sea salt.  The kelp, sea salt, and moss, give this beer an earthy, umami saltiness to counteract the sour citrus.  It might not sound appealing in writing, but it’s unreal.  It’s great for summer, or, in this case, to counteract our Cabin Fever.

February 11th.  Sixpoint Brewery C.R.E.A.M., a Cream Ale brewed with coffee…  Beer + Coffee + Wu Tang Clan?  Dolla, dolla bills, y’all.  This blonde ale tastes like coffee with cream, bitter like green bell peppers (which is a flavor that I sometimes pick up from a really bitter black coffee), balanced by a sugary sweetness.  Craft Rules Everything Around Me.

February 26th.  Barrier Brewing Company and Other Half Brewing Half & Half.  This was shared at Threes Brewing.  In preparation for Brian and Tanya’s wedding in Houston, I met up with Brian and his coworkers Doug and Martin (I was at work, so I missed their excursion to Other Half Brewing), and we enjoyed some beer and food from BBD’s (Beers, Burgers, and Desserts) who had a pop up restaurant at the brewery.  I guess I inadvertently theme my beer drinking, as this tasted like coffee with half & half and sugar.

This one had less of a hip hop theme, but more of two of my favorite local breweries, so it’s a toss up which one I love more.  So we’ll leave it at I love them both the same.

March 4th.  Honeymoon Cafe.  These aren’t beer.  They’re beignets.  Because why wouldn’t I post a picture of these gorgeous monstrosities of culinary delight?  You’re welcome.

March 5th.  Our 5th Anniversary, and the day of Tanya and Brian’s wedding.  While our lovely wives were getting ready, Jerry, Scott and I decided to walk to a brewery on the outskirts of town.  As you’ve heard a million times before by the great Rob Thomas, “Man, it’s a hot one…”  And it truly was.  Houston, Texas clocked in at literally 7 inches from the midday sun.  This Rocket Fuel from 8th Wonder Brewing, made with Vietnamese Coffee and served on nitro, at a sessionable 4.8%ABV, was so Smooth.  It gave me its heart, and made it real, so I couldn’t forget about it…
March 12th.  “Guest Bartending” at the Grand Opening of Il Bambino’s new location on 8th Street in the West Village, NYC.  This man knows how to handle a tap…  Wink.

March 17th.  Saint Patrick’s Day.  Because you have to.  Also, this throwback artwork is incredible!
March 26th.  My first ever Trillium Brewing Company beer, their Farmhouse Ale.  Holly Kay stated, “this beer taps you on the shoulder and says, ‘Hello!'”  Dry, funky, grassy, with tart lemon citrus, it’s the perfect beer to accompany rich food, but also stay out of its way and act as a compliment to the salty, funky cheeses.

April 14th.  Picked up one of these Pipeworks Brewing Company Ninja Vs. Unicorn Double IPAs at a little store on the East Side called Miso Hoppy.  It poured hazy orange, with aroma of pineapple, orange, lemon.  Taste followed, with a little candy sweetness from the malt.  Pick it up if you see it.  This is right up there among the great IPAs out there.

April 14th.  Stillwater Artisinal Ales On Fleek Imperial Stout.   Pours black as night, tastes like dark chocolate, cherries and coffee.  And this can is out of control!!

April 20th.  The hits keep coming with Stillwater Artisinal Ales, this time they teamed up with Other Half Brewing to make Rockstar Farmer, a hoppy farmhouse saison, with notes of lemon, funk, and hay.  Another great compliment to our food that night, Gorgonzola and honey Crostinis with cured hot sausage.  Holly Kay and I treated ourselves royally!

April 22nd.  Shared this beer with Holly Kay and our favorite bartender, Derek at The Folly on Houston Street.  This was a great platform to let the Citra hop do its thing with floral and citrus notes.  Other Half always kills it.  This can was a gift from Rick Vath!  Thanks, Rick!

June 9th.  Carton Brewing Company and Barrier Brewing Co. collaborated on this SS-C.R.E.A.M.  A hoppy, imperial cream ale, with citrus notes from the hops, balanced with vanilla and cream.  This was enjoyed at Rattle ‘N’ Hum in NYC!

June 9th.  Westbrook Brewing Company Mexican Cake Imperial Stout brewed with cacao nibs, cinnamon, vanilla beans, and habanero peppers!  That’s a spicy meatball!  This was quite possibly the best stout I tasted this year.  Smooth, creamy mouthfeel with heaps of cocoa and cinnamon, and a slight heat from those pep peps!  Mama Mia, me so spicy!
June 16th.  Brought back reeeeeal fresh from Tree House Brewing in Monson, MA.  Another citrus bomb from these guys!  I love their can artwork as well!
Picture taken June 16th, beer shared  the night before with Ryan, Erica, and Holly Kay! Trillium Brewing Artaic Double IPA  I would say this is my favorite IPA I’ve had all year, but it got slightly edged out by another, which you’ll see in a minute.  This is brewed with honey, which just sets off and intensifies the citrus, juicy hop profile.  It’s drool-worthy.

July 13th.  National French Fry Day.  Paired with Troegs Brewing Company Nimble Giant.  This is a KILLER beer.  Another juicy, Northeast Style IPA, but the malts create a cherry-like sweetness that plays well with these hops.  Unreal.
July 21st.  The winner for my favorite IPA this year.  Singlecut Beersmiths Softly Spoken Magic Spells.  Absolutely gorgeous pineapple juice in a 16.9 fl oz bottle of wonder and amazement.  If Singlecut keeps making beer like this. I’mma keep drinking ’em.
July 24th.  This was yesterday!  This has certainly been a year filled with some juicy IPAs, and Tree House Brewing Company Bright fits right in.  Mom, Dad, and Holly Kay all loved it!  Lime is prevalent in this brew, but complimented by pineapple, orange, and pine.  Hops are an amazing creature, and I’m so excited to see what all these insane Brewers will do with them in years to come.
Thanks all for sharing in this half year (plus a little bit) in pictures!  The Benedicts will be back with more adventures!  Thanks again for reading!  Cheers!

The Poconos!  Or, How I Couldn’t Stop Singing The Beach Boys “Kokomo” Incessantly, For Days On End…

“Because we’re going to the Poconos, we’ll get there fast and then we’ll take it slow, that’s where we wanna goooo…  Go to the Poconos!”

-The Beach Boys (original draft lyrics, I think)

We’re continuing our year of quick little adventures!

Holly and I rarely get two days off together, so we try and squeeze every ounce of goodness out of our occasional weekends (read: Wednesday and Thursday) off.  We called up my Aunt Delia, who owns a house (from now on, and forevermore, it will be referred to as The Chalet) on Camelback Mountain, in Tannersville, PA.  We love The Chalet because: 

A.  It is under 2 hours from NYC

B.  It’s quiet, with a ton of outdoorsy-type activities

C.  Our favorite Pennsylvania brewpub, Barley Creek Brewing Company is less than a mile away.

Holly picked me up from work, and we drove through the Lincoln Tunnel, past the seven layers of the Candy Cane Forest, through the sea of swirly, twirly gum drops…  I’m sorry, that’s how you get to the North Pole.  We did stop for Disco Fries at a Diner in New Jersey, though, and they were crispy, salty and DELICIOUS.

First stop after dropping our bags off at the Chalet was the aforementioned Barley Creek.  I’ve been coming to the Chalet for nearly ten years, Holly for about 4, so we’ve dined at Barley Creek many times before.  We’re always delighted, and this time was no exception.  Our bartender Nick, was so friendly and welcoming, he almost made us forget we’d been awake for nearly 20 hours.  They had a 2 for $10 appetizer special, so Holly and I shared two Bavarian pretzels with mustard and beer cheese, and a Beer Cheese Soup.  Whenever we come here with my brother-in-law Matt, we refer to Barley Creek as “Pretzels for Dinner.”  

Pretzels for Dinner.  Giant, twisted, golden delicious, crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside and flecked with crystals of salt that gleam, beckoning you for just one more bite.  

Holly rocking a bite of Beer Cheese Soup made with Barley Creek Antler Brown Ale.


From left to right: Rescue IPA, a malt forward, English-style IPA with a bit of citrus hop presence, Summer Double Wheat, a hefty Hefeweizen at 7.2%ABV, Too Bitter ESB, another balanced, English-style ale, and one of the guest taps (they have several), Otter Creek Brewing Company Citra Mantra, an IPL (India Pale Lager), made with pilsner and Munich malt and hopped with Citra for an amazing grapefruit and pineapple dance around your taste buds.  

I told Nick about the blog (shout out to Nick for being amazing!) and told him we’d be back before we left.  We, of course, made good on that promise.  More on that later…

Myself and Nick the bartender, just two guys holding a Barley Creek Growler.

We got back to the Chalet, exhausted, but so excited to finally be on a mini-vacation.  So guess what we did?  We opened a bottle of wine, and popped in a VHS copy of Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, and wound down on the giant, comfy couch.  Because that’s how we do.  Christmas in July, baby.

Chaise Lounge, anyone?

I also opened a bottle of Fegley’s Brew Works Hop’solutely Triple IPA.   It poured a beautiful orange color with very little foam.  This didn’t have a date on it, but usually with IPAs this high in alcohol content (it clocks in at 11.5%), even if the hops fade from age (hop flavor begins fading as soon as beers hit the bottle, which is why it’s important to drink them fresh), the alcohol heat and the smooth, sweet malts create a nicely balanced beer with a bit of citrus, and a nice cherry sweetness from the malt.

Tim Curry was interested to see what I was drinking…

Hop’so…  LUTELY!

The next morning, we ventured out pretty early to take a tour of the Tannersville Cranberry Bog (which is as amazing and…  well, boggy as it sounds.  And yes, they do have cranberries, although none were ripe enough to eat.). Our guide, Darryl, had been working for the Tannersville Conservancy for nearly 30 years and you could tell that he was absolutely in love with his job.  At one point, he pretended to fall into the bog, face first.  The guy was a clown.  

Darryl.  Sweet, Funny, Pratfalling Darryl.

If you stepped into this, you would be really wet and also in a bog.

These plants are carnivorous, luring insects in to drink water and then slowly digesting them.

It was about 85 degrees that afternoon, but in the bog felt closer to 856,972 degrees…  Celsius.

We spent the rest of the afternoon in the community pool back at the Chalet, and doing a little shopping at the Outlet Mall.  At the Mall, we did a wine tasting, and I had a Honey Wine, which was sweet and syrupy, and a Bourbon-Barrel Aged red wine that was amazing.  The wine took on the caramel and vanilla characteristics you usually associate with bourbon, along with the oak from the wooden barrel.  It was fantastic.

After working up a powerful hunger at the Outlets, we were trying to decide where to go to dinner.  Nick (our bartender from Barley Creek) recommended we go to ShawneeCraft Brewing Company, about a 30 minute drive from where we were.  We did go there on the way home, but we decided that we’d both be happy going right back to Barley Creek.  But, not before going to Target and picking up Galaxy Quest and Nacho Libre for $5, to watch back at the Chalet.

Barley Creek looks amazing lit up at night.

My cute little Holly Kay with a big ol’ Barley Creek Farmhouse Porter.  Smooth, creamy, malty chocolate and coffee, with some funk, citrus, and hay.  It’s a lovely cross between a farmhouse saison and a porter.  

We shared a Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza and a plate of Buffalo Wings.  It was National Fried Chicken Day, but Holly Kay protested that wings DO NOT count as fried chicken.  They still tasted amazing.  

We fell asleep about 15 minutes into Galaxy Quest, but woke up the next morning and watched it again.  Everyone loves a good Tim Allen film, but Alan Rickman is outrageous, and on a completely different level.  It’s wild.  It was Holly’s first time seeing it, and she loved it.

We packed our things, and decided we would go for a hike along the trails at Camelback.  Let me preface this by saying, neither of us are hikers.  Holly has said, many times before, “I refuse to run unless something is chasing me.”  We’re both up and about all day at our jobs, but that’s on solid, steady ground.  This was a mountain.  So I’ll go ahead and say that the “Easy” trail we chose was, to us city folk, a solid “Intermediate.”

We took the Indian Trail, which was rocky, but that view was unbelievable.
The view from the halfway point of the 1.3 mile trail.  Gorgeous.  What you can’t see is the 90 degree drop off  just beyond these bushes…

We’re hikers (I think)!
Look at my hiking gear!  I’m such a professional HIKER!
Oh, also, about .3 miles from the exit to the trail, Holly Kay made a noise.  This is a blog, and it will not do this noise justice, it sounded like this…  “WOO, WHOO!!!”  And this wasn’t a celebration, this was a WOO WHOO of surprise!!(!)  I looked around, not knowing what was happening, if perhaps we were about to be, or already were, in serious danger.  Holly yelled, “SNAKE!”  I looked towards the ground, and watched this legless, wiggly monster slither (thankfully) away from our general direction.  At that point, we hustled just a bit faster than we had been, as we were done hiking, basically.

On our way home, we made good on our promise to Nick, and stopped by ShawneeCraft Brewery, tucked away behind the Shawnee Inn and Golf Resort, right next to the Delaware Water Gap.

We discussed with our bartender the meaning of this symbol (Holly Kay said it was pagan in origin, I said it looked like a Native American dream catcher.).  She told us that the owner of the brewery created it as a conversation piece, and its meaning is a mystery (OOH…  Mystery.)
Hop Bines, with four different varietals of hops.

We sat at the bar and were welcomed warmly by our bartender, and ordered a flight to share.
From left to right, Saison Cuvée, a kettle sour saison blended with a red wine barrel aged saison, (our favorite of the flight),with flavors of tart grapefruit, cherry, sweet red wine, Dry Hopped Saison, which had an aroma of barnyard, citrus and medicine, with a flavor dry, white wine and citrus, Session Porter, on nitro, which tasted like melted chocolate, and went down easy at 4.5% ABV, and Raspberry Blanche, also on nitro, a wheat ale brewed with fresh raspberries.

The bathrooms at ShawneeCraft were located in the brewhouse, so I will leave you fine Blog readers with a few pictures of my trip to the restroom…


Barrels upon barrels of delicious beer!


HIKING!  DANGER! MYSTERY!  PERIL AT EVERY TURN!  These are the adventures…  Of the Benedict Beer Blog!  Tune in next week, when Patrick and Holly Kay do something less perilous probably!
Until next time…

Cheers!

Beer Plus Music Vol. II, or How Singlecut Saved Us From Our Ceiling Collapsing on Our Heads…

“Hey you!  Out there in the cold, getting lonely, getting old, can you feel me?

Hey you! Standing in the aisles, with itchy feet and fading smiles, can you feel me?”

If you can’t feel Pink Floyd, you can’t feel feelings.

So last week, I put together some beer and music pairings.  A few days ago, I thought to myself, “How did I make a beer and music post and not mention one of my favorite (and literally the closest to my apartment) breweries, that is as obsessed with music as they are with beer?”

Singlecut Beersmiths.  37th Avenue, Astoria, Queens.  This is a place you should go, definitely.

This is their entrance!

As far as beer and music collaborations are concerned, these guys are the (ZZ) tops!


They’ve taken a warehouse and made it home.

When you walk through the door of the giant warehouse, you’re welcomed in with large wooden tables, a gorgeous bar, complete with a record player and some unbelievable vinyl, beautiful, dark wood paneling, and gorgeous guitars hanging from the wall.  Lining the walls are framed bags of malt, tying in their passion for beer with their passion for music.

The tap handles?  All designed to look like guitar heads.  The beers?  Mostly named after the brewers’ favorite musicians, or song lyrics.

A video of me mouthing the line that Robert Plant shouted in the middle of “Stairway to Heaven” during a live recording for the 1976 concert movie The Song Remains the Same, which, apparently, still makes him cringe and inspired Singlecut’s IIPA of the same name.

Does Anybody Remember Laughter? IPA clocks in at 7.2% ABV, with aromas and flavors of dank, piney resin and citrus, tropical fruit (mango, pineapple) and pine.  The forests truly do echo with laughter.

If you’ll excuse me…  My hedgegrow is bustled, and frankly, I’m a little alarmed.  I’ll be right back…

…

…

Ok, much better.  Back to the beer.

Mo’Shuggie Soulbender IPA, found at Little Tibet, an unassuming, fun restaurant in our neighborhood of Jackson Heights, features Singlecut and other Queens breweries like Transmitter Brewing.

Mo’Shuggie weighs in at 7.4% ABV, and is brewed with both New Zealand and Australian hop varietals, and has aromas of tropical mango, pineapple, and orange citrus.  The taste follows, with flavors of grapefruit zest, and white peach, leaving it with a dry finish.  Simply, a world class IPA.  Bright, fruity, aromatic, picks you up and drops you on the beach, the ocean lapping at your toes.  Juice, juice, juice.

Singlecut helped Holly and I kick off our 2016. We were undecided on where we wanted to go to celebrate New Years Eve, but we discussed it with some friends, and decided to spend our evening there (not before a quick stop at the Ditmars location of Astoria Bier and Cheese)!

IMG_0606HK Benny looking super cute and wintery…

Holly started out with an Eric More Cowbell! Milk Stout.  This is a creamy, smooth stout at 6% ABV with bitter bakers cocoa and coffee notes with some sugary sweetness.  Great way to kick off the evening.

I had the Bon TNT Pale Ale, which is a hazy, unfiltered Pale Ale (see glass of orange juice in the picture above), a 5% ABV, juicy, citrus refresher and another great beer to kick off our evening.

Singlecut also has the Bon Bon 2XTNT IIPA, which, in my opinion, is as good as and easier to find than all the “New England Style” IPAs that are sought after and waited in line for.  It’s another juicy, citrus bomb that drinks super easy for its 8.2% ABV.  It’s packed with amazing New Zealand and Australian hops (which is appropriate, as Bon is a reference to the late Bon Scott, frontman for AC/DC).  OI! OI!  OI! OI! OI! OI!  He’s dynamite, and he will win the fight.

IMG_0485Boom!

We continued the evening as our friends trickled in, Ryan (manager of Il Bambino, see my love letter to Il Bambino from a few months ago) and Erica, Rafa, and Alex and Shelbie all came by to spend a relatively quiet New Years Eve chatting and celebrating.  The staff at Singlecut are always so welcoming and friendly, and they threw New Years confetti all over the tables, while we all listened to whatever records were spinning that night (I can’t remember exactly, but I think Rolling Stones and T-Rex were both a part of the night).  It was an awesome evening ( aside from getting home at 1am to find our ceiling collapsed in our kitchen, but you’ve probably already read that post.  If you haven’t, check it out here.)

IMG_0632Beer Plus Music Equals Love

IMG_0624Ryan and Erica.  So happy to have these two in our lives!

IMG_0623Alex and Shelbie having a blast!

A grainy picture of Holly, Rafa and I.  It’s grainy because of all the fun we were having.  Also, you know, artsy.  Beer is art.  Grainy selfies are art, too.

Holly and I decided we were going to start the new year with our favorite beer from Singlecut, a MONSTER Imperial Stout called Heavy Boots of Lead.


Is he live or dead?  Has he thoughts within his head?

Named after a lyric from Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man”, this is a heavy hitter, at 11.2% ABV.  It tastes like liquid dark chocolate, with hints of vanilla and coffee.  One of my favorite non-barrel aged Imperial Stouts, whenever I see this around, I have to get it.  I could drink this in the middle of summer.

The moral of the story here is, you should absolutely make the trek up to Northern Astoria (don’t go too far, or you’ll end up on Riker’s Island).  They have amazing sour lagers (ahem, lagrrrs), also, try all of their Billy series IPAs, they range from about 5% ABV to 10%, and are all juicy and delicious.  Their newest juice bomb IPA that I love is…

Breathe…  Breathe in the air…

These guys are making absolute world class beers, and have only been around a few years, so I look forward to seeing what these mad scientists will put out next.  Right on the bottle, it says “Mastery knows no shortcut”.  And they’re not taking any.  You know Holly and I will be there, and you should be too.  Although, their traffic might explode after getting the Benedict Beer Blog Bump!  😉

Thanks for reading.  Don’t sleep on Singlecut!

Cheers!

SouvenBeer, or Beer Plus Music Equals Winking Smiley Face Emoji

Beer and music go together like…  Horseshoes and Apple Sauce!  Wait, hold on, that’s not right…  Let me try this again.

Beer and music go together like…  French Fries and Butter Lettuce!  Nope.

Teeny Tiny Trains and Horticulturalists?

Red Snapper and Winged Creatures of the Night?

Hot Sauce and Lemonade!

That’s it!

BEER AND MUSIC GO TOGETHER LIKE HOT SAUCE AND LEMONADE.

beyoncebat-e1461528854459This is a Beyoncé joke.  Hot sauce was her bat.  Swag.

The first thing I think of when I think of beer and music is Dogfish Head Brewery.  Sam Calagione, Founder of Dogfish Head, and one of the great pioneers of Craft Beer in America, created a line of beers called the Music Series (in addition to their already giant line up of amazing brews).  From their website, Sam says, “Music has been a part of Dogfish Head since before Dogfish Head.”  Their latest beer in this series, brewed for Record Store Day (back in February), is called Beer To Drink Music To.  This is a Belgian-style Tripel, brewed with sweet orange peel, green cardamom, peppercorns and vanilla.  Whoa, nelly.  It weighs in at 9% ABV, so be careful, and sip this one, but don’t forget to turn up that radio first.

I picked up aromas of banana, clove, and flavors of freshly baked banana bread, juicy citrus, herb with a dry finish.  I think I blew it and was watching TV while drinking this, but if I had to chose an album to spin while drinking it, I would suggest Harry Nilsson- Nilsson Schmillson, one of the most perfect Pop albums of all time, in my opinion.  This album is a genre-hopping tour de force (as I write this sentence, I’m belting out the chorus to “Without You”, famously covered by Mariah Carey on her 1993 album Music Box.), and I choose this album because, like a lot of Dogfish Head’s beers, they use such genre-hopping ingredients, I think it fits.  Find this beer, drink it, and listen to Nilsson.  Magic.

 Harry Nilsson- Gotta Get Up

Other notable beers to check out in Dogfish Head’s Music Series, Bitches Brew, an imperial stout with honey and gesho root, brewed for the 40th anniversary (in 2010) of Miles Davis’ album of the same name, American Beauty, an IPA brewed with granola, whose ingredients were chosen by Grateful Dead fans, and is inspired by 30 years (in 2013) of touring and recording, and Positive Contact, “a 9% ABV hybrid of beer and cider brewed with Fuji apples, roasted farro, a handful of cayenne peppers and a late dose of fresh cilantro.”  This was brewed in conjunction with Sam and Dan the Automator of Deltron 3030, which, in 2012, was released in a “Box Set” of 6 bottles with a Vinyl EP of remixes made specifically for this release.

Deltron 3030 – Positive Contact

Holly and I had a night of beer and music a few days ago, as well.  Continuing our adventures here in this great, smelly-in-the-summer city, we were invited to an EP Release show, hosted by our dear friend Mason Maggio, as he released his newest EP, Merit Badge Season, under the Monicker Souveneer.

Mason is the lead singer of The Republic of Wolves, an indie rock band influenced by bands such as Brand New, and As Tall As Lions (both bands y’all should check out), and Tigers on Trains, a folk duo with Christian Van Deurs, who have put out some gorgeous, Paul Simon-esque albums with beautiful harmonies that are perfect for any time of year.

Since this is a blog about beer, I’ve had the idea to pair a beer to each of Mason’s bands.  Let’s go!

For The Republic of Wolves, I would pair a Founders Brewing Company Dark Penance.  This is a Black IPA, made with Crystal Malt and Midnight Wheat (which makes it black), and hopped with Chinook and Centennial hops.  I chose this because this is a dark, brooding beer with bursts of beautiful crisp citrus and pine from the hops.  The Republic of Wolves lyrics and music are darker and heavier than Mason’s other bands, but they’re peppered with moments of beautiful, clean guitars and gorgeous melodies.

The Republic of Wolves – Spare Key

For Tigers on Trains, I would pair Allagash Brewing Company White.  As mentioned earlier, I could listen to these albums any time and they make me so happy.  With Allagash White, a traditional belgian wheat, you always know it’s going to be a good time.  Crisp, orange citrus is balanced out with beautiful honey sweetness and a little bit of spice.  Refreshing no matter when, no matter where.  I could hand this beer (or share these albums) with anyone, and I guarantee they’d find something they loved.

Tigers on Trains – Long Sleeves

Holly and I started our evening at The Folly, our favorite Pirate-themed haunt, with our favorite bartender, Derek, on Houston Street.

Arrrgh!  (Pirate growl)
Holly was already enjoying a glass of sparkling Rosé when I arrived, (which tasted DELICIOUS after coming out of the sun and was PINK), and I picked a Coney Island Brewing Mermaid Pilsner.  As a craft beer drinker, I don’t pay enough attention to Pilsners.  It’s very easy to get them wrong, because there’s nothing to hide behind.  Pilsners are traditional German-style crisp lagers, with grassy, citrus hops and light, sweet malts.  What an awesome beer for the summer.  They’re low ABV, so you can have a few at a barbecue or on the beach and still be able to go out at night.  This one didn’t disappoint (Coney Island makes some great brews.  I miss their Seas The Day IPL, but that’s another story.), and was clean, bright, with some citrus and grassy notes, and a smooth, sweet finish.  I can’t wait to head down to their new brewery space in Coney Island!


We walked east on Houston street towards the venue, The Cake Shop, on Ludlow Street.  We stopped in for dinner at Sweet Chick, a Southern Inspired restaurant just a block or so away from the venue.  Holly and I shared fried chicken biscuit sliders, with pickles and hot honey.  We now want to put hot honey on everything, all the time.  HOT.  HONEY.  GIT IT, GURL.  We also got Mac & Cheese that was breaded with crumbled Ritz Crackers, which, in my humble opinion, can never be bad, and Mashed Potatoes and Gravy.

A Sweet Chick, in front of a Sweet Chick!

Oh right, this is a blog about beer.

Sorry.

Holly ordered Victory Brewing Company Donnybrook Stout, a dry Irish Stout, a low ABV, black as night stout, with flavors of coffee and bitter bakers’ chocolate.

Preparing for our trip to Ireland!
I ordered the Bronx Brewery Rye Pale Ale.  These guys make such consistent beer, and this is no exception.  The rye added a little spice, just right at the end of the sip, to the lemon peel citrus from the hops, balanced nicely with a malt sweetness.  Another great beer for summer.  Our friend Bryan joined us and ordered an amazing mango lemonade, which, while not beer, still tasted sweet, citrusy and refreshing.  Summah, summah, summah, summahtime.

Well, hello, summer.
IMG_0843Bronx, meet Pennsylvania.

We arrived at the Cake Shop and gave hugs to Mason, and mingled and chit chatted as the first three bands played, all friends of Mason’s, and all very pleasant, folky, indie rock.  But we were there for our son!  (Actually, he’s Rich Maggio’s son.  But we can pretend, can’t we?)

Thanks to Bryan for picking up our first round of drinks.  Holly chose a Youngs Brewing Double Chocolate Stout.  HK was on a stout kick tonight, and this is another winner, packing in a ton of chocolate flavor for such a low ABV stout.  Milky, smooth, sweet, chocolate and coffee.  If they’ll keep makin’ em, we’ll keep drinkin’ em.

I ordered a Peak Organic Fresh Cut Pilsner.  I preferred the Mermaid Pilsner, but it could have something to do with the draft lines at this place.  I’ll pick this up in a bottle and save my thoughts on it for another time.

IMG_0859 Our friend Kevin joined us, and started with Narragansett Lager.  He and Bryan moved on to Red Stripe (HOORAY BEER!).

Kevin.

Bryan.

HK Benny.

We said hello to Mason’s (actual) parents, Rich and Debra, who brought what seemed like a horde of relatives, which is super supportive and awesome.  There was a ton of love in that basement bar on Thursday night, and well deserved.  Rich, the proud Dad that he is, showed off that he bought the first ever Souveneer tee shirt.  Debra, the proud Mom (and Grandma!!) that she is, showed us pictures and videos of Amelia, Evan (Mason’s brother and one of my dearest friends) and Missy’s daughter.

I was wary of the draft lines after the Fresh Cut, so I ordered a can of Double Chocolate Stout as well, and began enjoying it just as Mason took the stage, for the first time playing songs as Souveneer.  He sang and played guitar, and was accompanied a violinist and a bassist, who also played bass for one of the previous bands, Hotel of the Laughing Tree.  It’s fun to watch friends doing what they love, and receiving so much love and energy from the crowd of family and friends.  The highlight of the night for me was his cover of The Talking Heads- Road to Nowhere, slowed down and performed just by Mason and his guitar.  Every one of Mason’s show’s I’ve been to, his parents have been there, singing along and encouraging others to join in on the fun, and this was no exception.

Souveneer- Empathy (Clip)

Souveneer- Road to Nowhere (Clip)
So, in one evening, I got to:

A. Have a date night with my wife

B. Spend time with my buddies Bryan and Kevin

C. See Mason doing what he loves and continuing to put out amazing music

D. See Christian and Billy, band members of The Republic of Wolves and Tigers on Trains, who I haven’t seen in a while

E. See Rich and Debra Maggio and see them gush over their sons

F. Share stories, beer, sing along, and experience Mason’s newest venture with friends and family

Not bad for a Thursday.

Until next time.

Cheers!

Surprise, Surprise, or, Patrick Uses the Same Hulk Hogan Picture Twice in One Blog…

I’m starting off a Benedict Beer Blog post talking about beer.

I know.  I’m surprised too, brother!

I drank a few good beers today.

I was at C’est Cheese in Port Jefferson this afternoon.  I ordered a glass of Grimm Artisinal Ales Rainbow Dome.

Just look at it.  Rainbow Dome is a hazy, golden, juicy, gorgeous looking beer.  This is a dry-hopped, oak aged wild/sour beer, brewed with apricots.  I can’t stop looking at this picture.  It’s unbelievably CRUSHABLE at 5%ABV.

One sniff and you’re smacked in the face by fruit and citrus (this is dry-hopped with El Dorado, Cascade, and Columbus).  Taste is tart, lemon zest, mango, peach, apricot.  It’s not too acidic and the mouthfeel is creamy.  If it wasn’t too hard to come by, I would make this my summer go-to brew.  Throw me poolside, on a shaded recliner (is that a thing?  I think I could be a millionaire), with a glass of this.  Heaven.

I sat down at C’est Cheese to write today, but that went out the window.  A minute or two after I ordered, Bryan, a fellow C’est Beer member (it’s $20 for the membership and you get discounts on draft beer, and special bottles and cans), who we had met a few weeks back, sat down, and we chatted about our mutual Long Island beer friends, Matt and Lauri from Moustache Brewing Company (go back and read my love letter to these two cuties, if you haven’t!). 

What’s amazing is that everyone who meet Matt and Lauri talk about how passionate they are, and what amazing beer they’re making.  What’s interesting is, in every conversation I have about them, their passion is always mentioned first.  I think that’s why Holly and I gravitated towards them when we lived out here, because they are hard working people who laid it all on the line to do what they’re passionate about, and that is so admirable.  Ok, I’m gushing again.

Bryan and I also discussed my trip to Boston with Holly, and the amazing, juicy IPAs coming out of the Northeast.  He often travels to Tree House Brewing Company to pick up their insanely out of control juice bomb IPAs (as well as their top of the heap stouts).  This dude is all about beer, and all about community, so I’m so glad we got to spend an hour or so chatting.

I also ordered a Jack’s Abby Hoponius Union, an India Pale Lager from this Lager-only brewery in Framingham, Massachusetts.  This is a lager brewed with “classic American hops” (it doesn’t list which ones, but I’m sure the C hops, like Cascade and Columbus, are in there).  What I love about India Pale Lagers, or IPLs, is that the malt balances out the hops, so it finishes with a smooth malty sweetness that you find in a great lager.  I’m sad Holly and I didn’t make it to this brewery, because I don’t believe I give lagers enough credit (Brooklyn Brewery and Sam Adams Brewery are really the only two lagers I will see on a regular basis), and from reviews I’ve read and hearing them talk on podcasts, these guys have perfected the style and are taking it to the next level.  Cheers to them!

Last weekend, for Fathers Day, we bought my Dad a few beers, one was Central Waters Brewing Company Rye Barrel Aged Chocolate Porter, and the other, a Great Divide Brewing Company Chocolate Oak-Aged Yeti Imperial Stout.  Dad had a little left over of the Yeti (he has yet to open the Porter), so I poured an ounce or two into a wine glass to try it.  

It poured out viscous and jet-black.  Smells like you’ve just walked into a chocolate shop, like sweet oak and bakers chocolate.  Taste is similar, it envelops your mouth and evokes flavors of bitter chocolate, dark roasted coffee, with a little heat on the back end from the addition of cayenne pepper.  What a fantastic beer.  Be careful, all you out there in Internetland, this baby clocks in at 9.5%, so, as rapper Iced Cube would say, “prior to wrecking yourself, please check yourself.” (I’m 99% sure that’s right.)

Later in the evening, we went to my Grandparents’ house in Port Jeff Station, and I drank…  A Bud Light.  Yup.  

“One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn’t belong…”

Choicest hops (sure…), Best Barley Malt (you know it ain’t the best because they’re telling you it’s the best) and RICE?

I’m just as surprised as you, brother.
Why rice?  I’m still not really sure.  What I’ve heard forever is that it’s cheaper, and you don’t become a multi-billion dollar company by using expensive ingredients, I guess.  But, Anheuser-Busch’s website says it’s more expensive, and helps give the beer a lighter, crisper taste.  So who knows.

So yeah, I drank one of these tonight.  I drank one of these because, when your 87 year old Grandpa, who’s dealing with a particularly nasty bout of skin cancer, says “Beer man!  Have a beer with your Grandpa!”, you pop open that ice cold brew and drink it with a couple of slices of pizza.  I could say that this was the best beer of the day (it wasn’t), but pizza, a cold beer, and conversation with family always makes for an amazing experience.  Also, it was like 72 degrees outside, so that didn’t hurt, either.

Poolside dinner with a…  Beer?

Yeah I threw cold cheese on that slice because TREAT YO’SELF!
My Aunt Mary said to me at dinner, “Patrick, you’re going to be so mad at me.  All I drink is Coors Light.”  I prepared in my head some pilsners she could drink instead (Victory Brewing Prima Pils and Sixpoint The Crisp stick out), and I said “I can give you a few alternatives.” And she responded “But I don’t want any!” And I said “That’s ok.  That’s the whole point of my blog, is you should drink what you like.  Beer should be fun.”

I don’t like that Anheuser-Busch, Miller-Coors, etc. are trying to run smaller breweries, like our dear ones at Moustache, out of town, and are buying up Craft Breweries like crazy, but I’m not going to pontificate or force my Aunt to change her beer choice at an awesome dinner with family.  I might pick up a six pack of Prima Pils at the next party, and have her try it, but I’m certainly not going to spoil anyone else’s experience if they’re not interested.  I drink Goose Island.  I drink Lagunitas (who are in partnership with Heinekin), and I drink Ballast Point (who are in partnership with Constellation Beer, who produce Corona).   I don’t think, if you’re having fun with it, you should have to apologize for what you like to drink.  If you can change someone’s mind with an experience, it’s much better than telling them what NOT to drink.

Anheuser-Busch needs to apologize if they change their name to America, though.  That’s for sure.  Because that’s absolute nonsense.

Till next week!  Cheers!

Happy Fathers Day! Or, How I Turned My Dad Into a Stout Monster!

Happy Father’s Day!  I’m temporarily changing the name of this blog to the Benedict DAD Blog, so I can talk about my DAD.

10517553_846067222815_7651413625099699257_nLook at these handsome fellas!

11885195_966783616195_6710537173623158056_nSilliness on Journey Into Imagination in Epcot, Walt Disney World

11927488_10153666328678793_3504356497854311776_oDad and Holly intensely trying to defeat the evil Emperor Zurg on Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin in Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World.

My Dad, Chris “MusicDktr” Benedict, is simply a fantastic human being.  He’s a quiet guy, until you get to know him.  He’s funny as hell, and sometimes you’ll only hear it if you’re sitting right next to him.  My Uncle Rod says he’s the funniest person he knows, and I can’t dispute that.  

My Grandma Dottie, on the left, Uncle Rod in the middle, and my Dad, with a Walkman, on the right.

He’s a natural comedian (I believe that having taught music to elementary school-aged children for 35 years sort of forces you to be a comedian), and I think I wouldn’t have been half as good at Improv if I didn’t get my humor from my parents.

Sometimes, I’ll walk around my apartment making strange noises with my mouth, and I’ll wonder to myself how I got so…  Special (read: Weird).  Then, I think back to when I was a child, and my sister Jessica and I would have back to back music lessons, Jess was learning the violin and I was learning to play cello (it never panned out for me, unfortunately, because Little Cello Boy Patrick had tiny hands, not unlike Presidential Candidate Donald Trump.  Ooh, check it out!  I just used topical, political humor!).  We would sit with my Dad while we waited for the other to be done with their lesson, and my Dad brought this notebook with him and would doodle all over it, and if I recall correctly, on most pages, would write “EKI EKI EKI EKI EKI ZUM PANG!  ZOO WOMB PANG NIWOOMB!!”  This is his favorite nonsensical phrase from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, his favorite movie.

(I texted my Dad to make sure that I was correct about Monty Python and the Holy Grail being his favorite movie, and this was our exchange…)

IMG_0599What can I say, we’re students of comedy.

So yeah, I get my weird humor from my Dad (My Mom, Eileen absolutely contributes to this, as well!). 

But, this is a blog about beer, right?

My Dad’s been a wine drinker, for as long as I’ve known him (which, if my calculations are correct, is forever).  My parents used to host wine tastings at our house, they have a wine club, Wine By Joe, where they order wine in bulk at a discount from their friend (the aforementioned Joe), so their wine rack is always stocked up.  Holly and I always try and find wine-specific gifts for them for Anniversaries, Birthdays, etc. and I think the present that gets the most use is a small wine fridge we bought that they keep in their living room, which they keep stocked with delicious white wines.

So, for all the time I’ve known him, my Dad had always been a wine drinker.  The first instance I remember seeing the little “stout sparkle” in his eyes was at the Third Avenue Ale House, about two years or so ago.  We were out with my Uncle Rod (you know, that shirtless guy in the picture above?), who lives right around the corner (sucks to live around the corner from a delicious craft beer bar with amazing food, doesn’t it, Rod?).  Dad ordered a Founders Brewing Company Breakfast Stout, 8.3% ABV, brewed with flaked oats, bitter chocolate, and coffee.  He was hooked!  The monster was growing inside him…  A chocolate-y, coffee-y, roasty, sweet, delicious monster.

I don’t think any of us thought Dad would turn into a beer man, but he got a taste for the Breakfast Stout, and found out that his local Beer Distributer, Port Jeff Beverage, thanks to owner Bruce Bezner, had enough stocked away to last for quite a while (Founders releases Breakfast Stout only from September-December, but I still see it on shelves around NYC and on Long Island).  He now enjoys a Breakfast Stout (or similar) instead of a glass of wine.

He sends pictures, too, like this:


Or this

Check out that Cantaloupe!

And if I happen to be enjoying a stout, I’ll text him back…

Evil Twin Brewing Imperial Biscotti Break, in my top 2 Non-Barrel-Aged Imperial Stouts (Alesmith Speedway Stout is my #1).  This is bursting with flavors of chocolate, coffee, but also vanilla, and almond.  It’s like drinking coffee after you’ve dunked a biscotti into it.  Unreal.

One night, I was over at Uncle Rod’s (on the rare occasion I visit him on the Upper East Side and we DON’T go to the Third Avenue Ale House) and, we just so happened to be drinking some Breakfast Stout, so I texted him this.

A glorious sight!

What have I created??!?!?!!  A monster!

I’m actually thrilled.  I’m thrilled because, I started this blog to write about my experiences with beer.  Sometimes, the beer itself steps aside and you focus on what’s in front of you; where you are, who you’re with, and you’re living in the experience.  I’m so glad that this simple, amazing tasting brew brought my Dad into the world of Craft Beer.

I look forward to our Lunches and Dinners at C’est Cheese in Port Jefferson, because Joe Ciardullo (who is also a Dad!  Look at me, keeping with the theme!)  has such a passion for not only cheese (which is absolutely our favorite food), but for Craft Beer.  Joe’s always got Breakfast Stout on the menu (thanks, Joe!), but Dad’s branching out and will often try something new.  He loves dark beers.  He’ll always try a sip of whatever IPA, Saison, or Sour  Holly and I are drinking, but he’s got a taste for the coffee and chocolate bitterness offered by Porters or Stouts.  My Mom, too, will try a sip of any beer I give her, and share in the experience.  From what she’s tasted, she loves the flavors of Saisons, Lambics and sour Goses, or anything with fruit in it!  I’m so glad to be able to share these beer experiences with my family and friends.

I never really knew the difference between a Porter and a Stout.  I looked it up a few months ago, and found this article.

http://allaboutbeer.com/whats-the-difference-between-porter-and-stout/

Most people say it’s the type of barley used, but this is a fascinating read into why it’s more complicated than that.  From the article, “All stouts are types of porter.  But not all porters are stouts.  Only the stronger ones.”

When I was out in California, I stopped in a little unassuming liquor store on the way to dinner with my roommate Ali.  We were browsing the shelves and fridges, when I saw two bottles of Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout with a shiny beacon of light behind them, as if sent down from the heavens above.  This is a Bourbon Barrel Aged version of their Breakfast Stout.  At 12% ABV, it picks up flavors from the bourbon barrel, like oak, caramel, and vanilla.  It’s smooth as hell, with not a lot of heat even though the ABV is so high.

My friend Justin had requested I bring back a Russian River Brewing Pliny the Elder back with me, as he had done when he went to California.  I didn’t have the chance to make it up to Russian River, and missed out on the bottles distributed near the hotel I stayed in.  I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to pick up one for Justin, and one for my Dad.

Gorgeous!

Long story short, Dad’s hooked on Bourbon Barrel Aged Stouts now!  As rare as the KBS was, I couldn’t find any more here in NY.  I suggested New Holland Brewing Company Dragon’s Milk Stout, as it’s one of the best readily available Bourbon Barrel Stouts, and Port Jeff Beverage is stocked up on them.

What my parents’ fridge looks like now…

Look at this guy!  Boulder Brewing Company Shake Chocolate Porter.  Like father, like son!

I texted him this a couple of weeks ago.  Cheers to Moustache Brewing Company for the awesome teku glass!

Last weekend, we brought him two cans of the Awake Coffee Porter we picked up from Night Shift Brewing Company in Everett, Massachusetts.  A lower ABV porter packed with unbelievable coffee, chocolate, and malt sweetness.  This is an unbelievable beer.

The label art is gorgeous, as well.

What Sunday dinners usually look like now.

It’s so cool to see my Dad so into craft beer, and I’m so happy he likes to share his experiences with me even when we’re not together.  I’m glad I was able to be a part of his craft beer story, and look forward to what beer he’s going to fall in love with next!

Happy Fathers Day, to The Stout Monster himself, Chris “MusicDktr” Benedict, and all the other Fathers out there!


Cheers!

Smooth as Tennessee Whiskey…

“Of emotions, of love, of breakup, of love and hate and death and dying, mama, apple pie, and the whole thing. It covers a lot of territory, country music does.” -Johnny Cash

Holly and I took a quick trip down to Nashville, TN to attend the wedding of our dear friend, and Holly’s former roommate, Sara, and her fiancé JP.

We hadn’t seen Sara in a few years, as she moved to Nashville shortly after we got married (March of 2011), and then down to Dallas, TX.  I had met JP only once (I believe), but when we first got to chatting, it was like we were old friends.

Reflecting back on our short time there, it seems the city of Nashville is like that, as well.  Everyone we met, from our AirB&B hosts, to boot store salespeople (you bet Holly got a pair of boots!), to Sara and JP’s friends, and even friends we haven’t seen in several years, welcomed us with open arms.

Mister Hat’s Boots!

Look at those cute little boots!

We arrived on Saturday afternoon, and took a Lyft ($5 off coupon, babaaaaaay!) to our AirB&B in East Nashville.  We met Kat, one of the owners of the house, who was lovely, and got us acquainted with the space.  As we unpacked, and realized that our idea of Lyfting around town all weekend was going to be way more expensive than we realized (it was $20 to get from the airport to the B&B, even with the coupon), we looked into renting a car, and found a deal for a compact car for $35.  So, we Lyfted right back to the airport, and still spent less money than we would have if we relied on Uber and Lyft.  I don’t regret our rides to and fro the airport, though, as our drivers were very knowledgeable and friendly, offering advice on where to go and specifically, where to eat.  We did NOT starve.

First thing we did once we got our car (which, by the way, they upgraded to a pretty SWEET SUV.  Holly kept referring to it as her “Truck”, which is super cute), was head over to Centennial Park, in Downtown Nashville, to meet up with Sara and catch some free music.  We found a parking spot, got out of the Truck (That’s what I’m gonna call it from now on, too) and were taken aback by this massive stone building in the middle of the park.


WHAT EVEN IS THIS THING???

I texted my coworker, David (who grew up in Nashville and had sent me a number of recommendations of things to do there).  He said “The Parthenon!  I love that place!”  Living in Queens, we have a lot of old buildings/structures that have been abandoned since the World’s Fair, so I thought this was similar.

We walked up the large steps in the front of the building, and the large brass doors were locked, so we shrugged, and continued our walk around the park.  It was beautiful from the outside, and Sara and Jenna (one of Holly’s classmates from AMDA, the American Musical and Dramatic Academy here in NYC) were meeting us shortly, so we decided to move on.

A smart man once said, “Good things are often stumbled upon, when in search of the nearest restroom…”  And I am that smart man.

There were restrooms underneath The Parthenon, and nature was calling, so we both stepped inside, only to find that the restrooms were at the entrance to the MUSEUM(!!!)!  We love museums!  We answered nature’s call, paid our admission fee, and stepped into the museum.  As it turns out, The Parthenon in Nashville is a full-scale replica of The Parthenon in Athens, and was built in 1897 as part of the Tennessee Centennial Exposition.  Inside are paintings from 19th and 20th Century Artists, as well as photographs from the Exposition, the building of The Parthenon, etc.  This is why Nashville is called “The Athens of The South”, but you probably already knew that.

Oh yeah, also inside the museum?  AN UNBELIEVABLY HUGE REPLICA OF THE STATUE OF ATHENA HOLDING A TINY STATUE OF NIKE (god of Victory, also, I’m legally obliged to write “Just Do It” each time I write the word Nike “Just Do It”) AND HOLDING A GIANT SHIELD WITH A WACKY FACE ON IT AND ALSO A GIANT SERPENT.  It’s WILD.  And I’m sorry for all the caps.  But just look at this thing.

Athena and Nike “Just Do It”
A massive shield with a wacky face

A normal-sized Holly for scale.

It was WILD.

After our walk through the park and the museum, we had built up a powerful thirst.  And, this is a Beer Blog, lest ye forget (and by “lest ye forget” I mean “I should probably write about beer…”), so the only provision that could quench our thirst was a fine local ale!  David had told me about Yazoo Brewery, located right in Downtown Nashville.  They had a booth set up outside the free concert, so we grabbed two of their Hop Perfect IPAs, and sat down at a picnic table just off the side of the stage.  A band called The Mowglis was playing (I think I had heard one or two of their songs), and we weren’t terribly interested in them, but wanted to just relax and enjoy the warm weather and cool beers.

Yazoo Brewing Hop Perfect IPA, 5.7% ABV, malt forward, with some citrus from the hops. I gave it 3.5/5 on Untapped.  Totally refreshing!

We ended up meeting and chatting with a local retired couple who usually walk to Centennial Park for the music, beer and wine, and the food trucks.  They were so excited to talk about their city, and find out where we were from and what we were doing.  We chatted with them for about 15 minutes before Sara and Jenna joined us.  We decided to drive over to The Pharmacy, a burger and craft beer bar in East Nashville (just a mile or 2 from our AirB&B).  As we waited for our table, I enjoyed an Against The Grain 35k Milk Stout. At 7%, this is a higher ABV milk stout (they usually hit between 4 and 5%), and I got notes of chocolate and coffee, with a sweetness from the milk.  

An artsy photograph of my Against The Grain 35k Milk Stout

Against the Grain is from Louisville, KY, but are distributed in New York, and I’d had their fantastic Citra Ass Down (amazing name) IPA. These guys are making great beer and don’t take themselves seriously.  Check them out!

We met JP’s sister Emily and her daughter (and flower girl) Kayleigh, and sat down for dinner.  This is what I ate.

Heart attack?  More like fart attack! Holy moly, the bathroom didn’t know what it had coming!  Gross.

This was a beef stroganoff burger with tots.  It was out of control.  David had warned me that he didn’t like the bun, as it is doughy, and it didn’t bother me much, but it was quite soggy from all the juice and the sour cream.  Real messy, but real good.  The tots were ok, I’m totally spoiled with the amazing Tetris Tots at Barcade in Chelsea, NYC, so these don’t compare.  The beer!  Founders Brewing Company Rubaeus, a tart, sweet, low ABV raspberry ale, which was a lovely complement to the heavy, creamy, meatburger.  We definitely didn’t starve.

We headed over to 3 Crow Bar, one of the 3 bars in Nashville that still allow smoking indoors.  I had a Coffee IPA from New Heights Brewing Company, which was tasty (like an espresso with lemon peel twist), but it was really hard to enjoy in a cloud of cigarette smoke.  On a side note, the bouncer looked like a young Marc Maron, so it had that going for it!

After an amazing night’s sleep on the soft AirB&B bed, Holly and I decided on Breakfast at Barista Parlor!  This is a small coffee chain around Nashville that David touted as having one of the best biscuit sandwiches in Nashville, also amazing coffee!  I had El Eden, which had flavors of dried pineapple and plums.  It was fantastic.  The biscuit sandwiches were absolutely unreal (we didn’t starve), and Holly said it was the best biscuit sandwich she’s ever eaten.

Dat biscuit tho.
Gorgeous, warehouse-like open space with cool table markers!
Delicious coffee.

After breakfast, it was off to Broadway, which, as my Mom described it, consists of bar, bar, boot store.  Bar, bar, boot store.  She wasn’t kidding.

Bar, bar, boot store!

It was time to get Holly some boots!  As some of you know, Holly Kay used to be a DJ on a Country Music Radio Station on Long Island.  She was laid off, as they told her the station was moving in a different direction.  (They now have all male DJs.).  Holly was 100% the best thing about that radio station.  She had a huge following of listeners who would come to her live events just to spend time with her.  (You should see her line dance!). Anyway, Holly had a few pairs of boots, and threw them away out of spite (which she regrets now, and I regret not stopping her), but if there’s any place to get boots, it’s gotta be in Nashville!  (See above picture of those cute boots!)

We stopped at a bar (because bar, bar, boot store!) called Rippy’s for some live country music, and a beer, before heading back to get ready for the wedding.

I drank a Falls City Beer Hipster Repellant IPA, outta Louisville, KY.  Another easy drinking, malt forward IPA.  I’m spoiled with the hop forward IPAs from New York and New England, but it says something about your beer if you can make a nicely balanced IPA, because not everyone loves being punched in the face with every sip.  

Holly had a Yazoo Brewing Hefeweizen, which was outrageously refreshing, with flavors of citrus, banana, and clove, and went down “smooth as Tennessee Whiskey”, which, coincidentally, was being sung as she drank it.

​​
​Tennessee Whiskey…

We headed back to the AirB&B, got ready, and headed to Sara and JP’s wedding, at the Buchanan Log House, a gorgeous, outdoor location just a few miles from the airport.  It was an absolutely gorgeous, intimate, celebration of their love for one another.  We had a great time seeing Raj again (after about 7 years), and meeting Glenna, Tripp and Amy, and Alan and Jolinda.  It was a small wedding, so to be able to meet and share stories about Sara and JP, how everybody knew each other, made the evening even more special.

 And the icing on the cake?  JP’s Groomsman Nate works for Fanatic Brewing Company, in Knoxville, TN.  He provided the beer for the reception!  The first I tried was the Tennessee Blonde.

Definitely a warm weather brew, 5% ABV, light, with grassy and citrus hops with a sugary sweet malt backbone.  You got a lawn to mow?  Peep this ish.
I also got to try the Fanatic Pale Ale.  This was a classic pale, malt forward with some orange citrus from the hops, another crushable, outdoor drinking brew, that paired perfectly with the food, provided by Edley’s BBQ, and the dance floor grooves from Sara and JP’s wedding playlist (Which ranged from Queen Bey to Luke Bryan).  

If you ever find yourself in Knoxville (and we certainly will now that Sara and JP are moving there!), stop by Fanatic Brewing Company!

We stayed until the bitter end of the wedding, chatting with our new friends and helping with clean-up, and we decided to join Raj and Glenna at The Basement East, a music venue in East Nashville (read: Brooklyn) where Raj’s friend Emma was hanging out after performing.  We walked into the venue to the sweet, sweet sounds of a drone metal band, so we ordered our beer and headed outside.  Both Raj and I had let our bow ties down (as one does not have a full range of dance moves if one’s bow tie is still tied), and Holly and Glenna wanted to wear them, so Emma snapped this amazing shot…

Those damn hipsters.

I enjoyed a Mayday Brewery Old Salem, a kettle sour.  5.4% ABV, made with rye, which gave it a sweet, spicy flavor in addition to the tart sour.  Hopped with Falconer’s Flight.  Funky as hell, and I loved it!

We had all decided on Brunch the next morning at AMOT – A Matter of Taste, a completely gluten free spot that had KILLER food, and a great, local beer list, and also, our new friend Tripp works there!  I had chicken with cornbread waffles, and a jalapeño maple syrup (you heard that right).  

We didn’t starve.
I paired this amazing brunch with Southern Prohibition Brewing Co. Soul Glo Saison, fresh on draft from their brewery in Hattiesburg, MS.  This is a delicious, 8.4%ABV (well masked), saison, with notes of fresh squeezed lemon and orange juice, banana, and spices.  Great substitute for a Mimosa!  (Although, they did have 3 dollar Mimosas…  You should go there.)

From there, we walked around some shops with Sara and JP, and Raj and Glenna, and headed back to the airport.  

I would love to come back to this city and explore some more, and I used that Johnny Cash quote in the beginning of this post, because, like Country music, I felt that Nashville also covers a lot of territory, and we only just scratched the surface.  This city had such personality, and the folks we met (or reconnected with) treated us with such love and hospitality, I won’t think twice before going back.  Thanks so much to Sara and JP for allowing us the opportunity to share in your love, we truly appreciated it.

Until next time!

Cheers!