Patio Beer Tasting

I hosted an impromptu beer tasting out on our back patio at home this past weekend. In attendance were my wife, Ashlee, our friends, Nate and Ginny, and our friends, Chris and Tarryn. Nate and Ginny had went on a trip to Kansas City a few months back and had brought some craft beer back from the area plus others from different areas that we can't get here due to different distributors. Nate, as I have mentioned before, shares the same passion for real craft beer as I do. I added a couple of new ones as well to the mix that I found locally. Chris and Tarryn brought a few as well although I warned them we would have plenty of beer available. Which we did. The weather was perfect for sitting outside most of the late afternoon and evening sipping on a great selection of different brews. Here's what we tried in a somewhat reverse chronological order:



Some of the dead soldiers left on the beer-tasting battlefield



New Holland Brewing's The Poet oatmeal stout - this was in bottles brought by Nate. NHBC is out of Michigan.

Ska Brewing's ESB Special Ale - in cans brought by Nate. This Colorado can-only brewer has some great stuff.

Red's Rye Pale Ale by Founders Brewing - this was in bottles brought by Nate. Also a Michigan-based brewer.

Sierra Nevada Celebration - I provided this in bottles - I found this seasonal ale from the legendary California brewer at a new liquor store here in town that had a decent selection of high-gravity beers to choose from with a promises from the store owner to get more. I also provided pint cans of Dog Bite Lager which I had discovered recently (see previous blog) and figured Nate would enjoy which he did as did everyone else.

Ska Brewing's Modus Hoperandi IPA in cans provided by Nate. Obviously this hoppy concoction was one of my favorites of the day.

Meantime IPA - England - I provided this pint bottle which I had bought at Mid-Town Spirits in Nashville a few weeks back. It is one of the best English-style IPAs I have had and I am most certainly a hard critic of them.

Tin Mill Brewing's Midnight Whistle Doppel Bock in bottles provided by Nate. This Missouri-based brewery was one of the local spots visited by Nate and Ginny on their trip.

Caldera Ginger Beer in a pint bottle provided by me per the request of Ashlee (a big ginger beer fan). We bought this Oregon-based product at a great beer store down in Murfreesboro last weekend. It was very tasty.

Ska Brewing's True Blonde Ale in cans provided by Nate.

Chris, who is new to the craft beer game but is making good strides, brought some Kona Longboard Island Lager which Nate and I had tried long ago, but we appreciated the effort. We actually added some ginger extract to it which was excellent especially on a warm afternoon. The funniest contribution of the event was a bottle of some Lake Tahoe craft beer brought by Chris and Tarryn from their honeymoon....12 years ago!! One thing you have to learn about craft beer, my dear friends, is that it's not wine and it doesn't get better with age...yeeech!! The stuff was pretty nasty! But again, I do appreciate the effort, plus they know we are going to Lake Tahoe next weekend, so they thought it would be timely and funny. And it was. I hope to have and report on some much fresher Tahoe brews very soon.

Also-rans:
At WOW Wingery last week I had two new bottle selections from Schafly Brewing out of St. Louis. Their American Pale Ale (very good) and their Kolsch (not bad).