(512) Pecan Porter

Jeff didn't take a photo - but the brewery
had a fun graphic. Even as a graphic
this beer looks amazing.

Jeff was in Texas recently for work and he went to a pub called The Ginger Man (because his favourite bar in Fort Worth, The Flying Saucer, was closed).

At The Ginger Man, he had a few beers, but the one he spoke about the most and that stood out in his mind was the (512) Pecan Porter.

"You could taste the pecan. I was surprised by how much you could taste the pecan," Jeff said.

Mmmm, a pecan porter. I don't even like pecans, and yet this sounds wonderful. And Jeff says it was (so does Beer Advocate).

The beer uses locally grown pecans (the brewery is based in Austin).

He also had an IPA by (512) and enjoyed that beer.

So for those ever in Texas, this is a brewery to try.

A new craft beer festival in Guelph?

I've heard there is possibly going to be a new craft beer festival in Guelph, Ont., this fall.

This would be super, duper exciting.

Fingers crossed!

A grape beer?

Jeff was at Baker St. Station in Guelph on Saturday (a great new pub with pretty good food and an excellent beer list) when he saw something he's never seen before: A grape ale.

It was from Flying Monkeys and, of course, he had to try it. It was just called Flying Monkeys Grape on the board, but I think I see in their Twitter account the name of the beer is Grape Raped (perhaps the name is a bit too controversial, and is why the bar didn't actually name it?)

As for the beer itself:

"I thought it was weird. I don't know if I'd have it again," he told me afterwards. "It was interesting. I probably won't be ordering it again, but I was glad I tried it."

He said you could taste the grape and it was like grape drink or white grape juice.

But, he also noted, sometimes you have to try truly bizarre beers just to do it and who knows - this could have been a hit for him.

In fact, it worked for this blogger, who said the Grape Raped "worked and reminded me of KoolAid in a good way."

I also found a listing for it on Untapped, where it lists the full name as Grape Raped Antigravity, (the Antigravity is the brewery's lighter beer), but there's not a tonne of info on the web about this beer yet (at least not that I see).

Founder's Centennial IPA

When I went on a recent trip with some girlfriends to the States, my husband's last words to me were, "Buy me some beer."

So I did.

I ended up finding this beer - Founders Centennial IPA - in a Kmart. There were a few other craft beers, but as I was in Michigan, I wanted to get him a local beer. 

I had picked up one that looked OK, but only said "lager" on it. I knew he wouldn't be thrilled by that.

Then I found the Founders beer. Knowing it was an IPA, I figured it was more likely Jeff would appreciate this than the lager, so I made the switch.

I'm glad I did.

I brought it home and Jeff inspected it. Then he went to Beer Advocate, where we discovered it had a pretty darn good rating.

Jeff said the beer was good, hoppy - a really drinkable beer. 

"I wouldn't session it, though. It's too much alcohol," he said, noting it's 7.2%. "You can't drink lots of them. Or, at least, you'd get drunk (if you did)."

My one mistake was I gave two out of the six-pack away to my friend who drove (because her husband also enjoys craft beers and she refused to take gas money). Jeff has told me to never do this again.

Mid-week beers

Jeff had a good day at work and, well, who needs a reason to enjoy good beer.

We're at the Wooly tonight where Jeff is trying Mean Hoperator - a collaboration between the Wooly and Great Lakes.

Jeff's first reaction: "This is really good."

Friday update: I just realized the photo for this one is really crappy (I'm blogging as we drink, so using my phone's camera, which isn't the best) - so here's what that actually says, in case you can't read it:

Mean Hoperator 2X IPA 7.6%
This collaboration beer was brewed by Ben (Wooly) and Mike Lackey of Great Lakes Brewing Co. We made 11 hop additions during the brewing process while aiming for a beer that will be delightful to many and offensive to others ... 7.6% and 84 UBUs, the Mean Hoperator is intended for people who love to explore the complexity of big beers.

Jeff - a hop head - loved this beer. I took one sip of it and knew it would never be for me - it was just too much.

That same night, Jeff did a "flight" of the other beers offered up by Great Lakes as part of OCBWeek - leaving out the Devil's Pale Ale (which he's had a number of times). The Canucklehead, Lake Effect IPA and Crazy Canuck all seemed to hit the spot.

Flying Monkeys Stereovision

We had this one tonight at the Wooly. Well, Jeff had it - I had a sip.

It was not at all what I was expecting from Flying Monkeys. I tend to find their beers too hoppy for my liking. Jeff, however, is a hop head and loves them.

This one, though, I liked.

This beer had an interesting start to it - I can't quit pinpoint it, but if it was maybe a tad bitter on first taste, that almost immediately went away and it was a nice, smooth beer.

Jeff called it a very "drinkable" beer - and had a second one while we were at the restaurant.

Church Key Holy Smoke

Jeff says this Church Key Holy Smoke has similar smokiness to Nurnburg sausages, but not the sausage taste. Is it a flavour of beechwood?

Not as smokey in flavour as I remember from the beer festival. It has a sweetness to it, and the malty flavour is great.

Had it at the Woolwich Arrow (the Wooly) in Guelph.


So - we're going to try to start blogging again. Yay! But instead of giant reviews of beers, which I think was starting to take the fun out of it for Jeff, we'll just post photos and pictures as we are out and about. So please, enjoy!