Thursday, June 16
Nothing.
Friday, June 17
While cathing up on season three of Orange Is The New Black and painting my nails, I decided to finally open the growler of Harpoon Vanilla Porter my boyfriend brought me back from Boston in April. Surprisingly it still had carbonation.
Appearance: dark brown, lasting off white head
Aroma: dark chocolate, vanilla bean, slightly roasty
Taste: follows smell, good amount of chocolate and vanilla, slightly sweet
Feel: slick, moderate carbonation
Overall: I really enjoyed this beer. It’s not the best vanilla porter I’ve had, but it’s definitely up there for me. I want to visit the brewery and try this fresh.
My boyfriend Jason, our friend Joe, and I went to the NYC Craft Beer Fest. Jason and I had gone to the Spring fest with two of his regular customers and we had a great time, so I was really excited to go to the Summer version. There was a lot of beer that I haven’t had before and many that I have. Ben and Jerry’s was even there giving out free scoops of ice cream with beer poured over it. Of the new things I tried, I really enjoyed the Anderson Valley Briney Melon Gose and the Warsteiner Radler Grapefruit. To see everything I drank, feel free to check me out on Untappd. This season’s fest wasn’t as fun as the Spring because the crowd was terrible and it was SO hot inside the venue. I was happy to have tried so many new things though!
After the beer fest, the three of us head over to Barcade. I saw Grimm Artisanal Ales Lucky Cloud on tap and didn’t even look at the rest of the beer list.
Appearance: pale yellow
Aroma: funky, sour, tropical fruit
Taste: funky, pineapple, mild hops, tropical fruit
Feel: light with moderate carbonation
Overall: This might be the best sour I’ve had from Grimm so far. Highly recommended.
Saturday, June 18
The New Belgium rep dropped off some samples at work for the owner to try hoping that we would add them to the menu. Rampant Imperial IPA actually made it to the summer beer menu on interest alone.
Appearance: clear gold
Aroma: slightly malty, earthy hops, citrus
Taste: follows smell, quite hoppy and bitter, alcohol
Feel: medium body and carbonation
Overall: Not a fan of this. I’ve really grown out of IPAs. I used to love them and now I barely want to be near even a session IPA, much less an imperial.
We also tried New Belgium Citradelic IPA.
Appearance: gold
Aroma: citrus, piney hops, orange
Taste: slightly sweet, orange peel, clean, light hops
Feel: medium body and carbonation
Overall: Much better than the Rampant, but still not currently my cup of tea. I feel like the tangerine gets a bit lost in the hops.
After my shift, Jason was so kind as to bring me a Schöfferhofer. I should really be a spokesmodel for this beer by this point. I adore this stuff.
Sunday, June 19
To celebrate Father’s Day, the owner of the restaurant where I work decided to add Mint Juleps to the specials menu. I’ve never had one before and really thought that my hatred for muddled mint would carry over when I tried this, but it’s simply amazing.
Father’s Day Mint Julep
Mint
Ice
Simple Sugar
Widow Jane Bourbon
Splash of water or club soda
Muddle mint. Add remaining ingredients. Stir.
Monday, June 20
We didn’t bring any beers in for beer club this week, but I did have a Harpoon UFO White after work, (tasting notes from 4/20). I much prefer this beer in a can. It tends to have a cleaner flavour.
We also opened a Warsteiner Radler Grapefruit.
Appearance: gold with an orange hue
Aroma: grapefruit juice, bready malts
Taste: follows smell, more beer than grapefruit, light bread/cracker malt, good mix of sweet and bitter
Feel: light body, light/medium carbonation
Overall: I feel like this beer is trying really hard to compete with Schöfferhofer. The cans look more similar than the bottles do. This has more a beer taste, whereas Schöfferhofer tastes more like juice/grapefruit soda.
Tuesday, June 21
Nothing.
Wednesday, June 22
Nothing.
Until next time,
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