My parent's annual Island Party was this weekend; I was in the front yard directing traffic at the start of the party, so to pass the time I sipped a Chapeau Pêche from Brouwerij De Troch. I offered my mom a glass (I thought it'd be just her sort of beer) and after pouring yet another glass for other people, I ended up with only a third of the bottle for myself. Luckily this beer is easy to find.

It was very good, not as good as the Apricot methinks, maybe better than the Chapeau Exotic (i.e. pineapple), but certainly better than the Lindemans peach lambic. When I bought this some liquor store clerk tried to convince me that I should get Lindemans instead because it's made with real fruit, but the Chapeau website says, "The beer is made up with real fruit and natural fruit juices," so I'm not sure he knew what he was talking about.

Also, I just listened to the Fruit Beers episode of Beer School, so I don't think extract would be a huge deal in any case. Incidentally, that same episode completely validated my low opinion of the Longshot Grape Ale.

I'll have to seek out some of the other fruit beers they mentioned: New Glarus is just next door, after all, and apparently their raspberry and cherry beers are a Very Big Deal. They also mentioned an intriguing Coconut Porter that I thought was from "Miami Brewing," but which is in fact from "Maui Brewing." (Sorry Ben, but the search for great Florida beers continues.)

I'd only parked a few cars before I was out of lambic, so I moved onto a Boulder Beer Hazed & Infused, another beer that didn't make the cut for Josh's mix-pack but that I'd brought up north that weekend anyways. It was mediocre, meh with some hops in it. One of Matt's friends is a big fan of the brewery, but I've yet to have anything from Boulder that impressed me. The problem is that I never realize that something is from Boulder until I'm taking off that black bottlecap of theirs.

After that beer was done, I walked down to the lake and spent the rest of the night drinking from my dad's keg of Michelob Golden Light. I think maybe 10 cups all told? Fairly tasteless compared to a lot of stuff I drink, but I'm not about to pretend that it was disgusting. Or that I didn't wake up hungover: after all that, I stupidly decided not to drink any water before I went to bed.

I also made another stop at Spirits of Nisswa while I was up north. I'm sure I'm making this place out to be a bigger deal than it actually is, but it's better than any of my usual liquor stores down here in the Cities. I got a Rogue XS Imperial Stout from their Rogue display stand and a bunch of delicious Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier Dunkels to replace the ones we drank on Thursday. It turns out that dunkelweizen pairs quite well with Army of Two.

Labels: APA, Boulder Beer, Brauerei Weihenstephan, Brouwerij De Troch, Chapeau Peche, Dunkelweizen, Fruit Lambic, Hazed and Infused, Spirits of Nisswa

First, the good beer stuff:

For my littlest brother's 21st b-day this weekend I made him a beer enthusiast's mix-pack, with a Kostritzer Schwarzbier, Guinness Irish Dry Stout, Paulaner Hefeweizen, Victory Hopdevil IPA, De Troch Chapeau Framboise Lambic, and a New Belgium Mothership Wit. Hopefully he likes at least a few of those, but I think that's a decent 6-beer tour of the flavor possibilities.

For myself, I stopped at Spirits of Nisswa, which has more and cheaper beer than any of my liquor stores down here. Beers acquired:

Weihenstephan Hefeweissbier Dunkel
Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter
Rogue Chocolate Stout
Big Sky Trout Slayer Ale

For Josh's party, we went to the Pickle Factory in Nisswa. I started with a Honey Weiss, then ordered a bottle of Schlitz — new recipe! I don't know why I thought an old lager recipe would be especially interesting; the beer was decent, a bit like MGD with a bit more grain maybe, but that doesn't justify spending $4 to get it. Finally I had Red Hook Sunrye, which tasted like orange and cream to me?

When Josh's girlfriend let me try her vodka gimlet, I wished I'd ordered one of those. Or stuck with the Honey Weiss. Or bought Kettle One last time I was at the liquor store. I also tried a sip of the Pickle's so-called "Sex on the Beach," which had melon, coconut, and pineapple flavors. It was like a tropical drink parody.

Josh had a bunch of mixed drinks in addition to the "Sex on the Beach" and was no worse for the wear. He liked the rum and coke, and disliked the whiskey coke. There was other stuff I don't remember.

The Pickle was really weird if you liked beer, e.g. they had flyers for Fat Tire all over the place but didn't actually have any available. And they gave me the Schlitz in a bottle instead of pouring it out into a glass. (Even if you're not a beer snob, you have to admit that a glass is classier.) That sort of thing.

Labels: Honey Weiss, Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing, JOS. Schlitz Brewing, Redhook Ale Brewery, Schlitz, Spirits of Nisswa, Sunrye, The Pickle Factory

On my way up north this weekend I stopped at Spirits of Nisswa — possibly the last good liquor store if you're heading up north&mdash and picked up a mix-pack of New Belgium and a growler(!) of Rogue Dead Guy Ale.

The New Belgium mix-pack had 1554, Fat Tire, Mothership Wit, and Mighty Arrow. I discovered that I don't really care for Fat Tire, which I've had many times before but never been so disappointed by, and Mighty Arrow was a standard pale. There's not much those can do from what I can tell.

I enjoyed the subtlety of the 1554, which didn't destroy my taste buds with its coffee taste, and I ended up really liking the Mothership Wit, albeit not quite as much as I like Springboard.

Do not attempt to finish a growler alone on an empty stomach. I probably won't be able to have Dead Guy for a while now.

Labels: 1554, American Amber Ale, APA, Belgian Dark Ale, Dead Guy Ale, Fat Tire, Growler, Maibock, Mighty Arrow, Mothership Wit, New Belgium Brewing, Rogue Ales Brewery, Spirits of Nisswa, Witbier