Always Interesting What You Find Under "Beer Cycling"

I thought that BeerCycling was a pretty interesting article. Cycling around in Belgium, The Netherlands and Italy for 5 or 10 days and filing comments on the 10 or so breweries you would encounter. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy. Until I tried it a couple of days later and inserted a single space in between "beer" and "cycling."

A whole new world opened up. It was related to beer and cycling, but a whole different world of cycling. None of it, by the way, related to BeerCycling. Irish beer jerseys, selling your bike, and bike tours of Ft. Collins, CO (home of New Belgium Brewing) are among the most popular on that page.

So, if you are curious about BeerCycling and the adventures of Evan Cohan, remember, its one word and one word only.

Make Way for the Interlude!

Smooth and long lasting, there for the long haul. Sometimes beer just demands time and careful handling and they reflect that in their outcomes. Interlude by Allagash Brewing Company (50 Industrial Way, Portland, ME 04103 V: 800-330-5385  Web: http://www.allagash.com/) is a blend of merlot and syrah mixed with beer to give a beautiful blend of flavors.  Served up at Rustico, this fantastic taste came wafting over to me three years after it began (three years?) and it had a total fermentation and conditioning time of 10 months. It takes a while for this beer to be labeled ready to go, but when the time comes, it is ready. It will bust at the seams, it is so ready.

Allagash Brewing Company's Interlude

It has an ABV of 10% and not information on IBUs. The Web lists is this way: Two yeast strains were used to create this unique Belgian-style ale. The first, a Saison yeast, establishes the flavor foundations of a classic Belgian-style ale.The second, our house strain of Brettanomyces yeast, contributes a myriad of flavors including pear, apricot, graham cracker, and  bread crust. A portion of Interlude is aged in red wine barrels, which imparts a distinctive vinous, plum character and a drying, almost tannic finish.  Grains were listed at caramel malt, red wheat and castle pils. Hops were listed as Perle and Strisselspalt.

On the Untappd app I briefly listed it as: You can really taste the merlot and the syrah in the original barrels. Smooth, serene with a deep sense of hops. The myriad really makes it. It listed it at 4.5 on Untappd.

Berkeley!

Sather Gate

On my last day in California and I have to get in a quick trip to Berkeley. All this time, two trips as a matter of fact, and I still had not gotten out and walked around in the Peoples Republic of Berkeley. The school and the city, for all of their differences, could not be any less well connected.
Yes, I know, it is not part of the mantra, but I am feeling a little homesick for some familiar territory.  Piedmont feels combortable but its Mom and Dad's house that feels that way the most. Berkeley, for all of its good and bad parts, feels more like home.

Wheeler Hall and the Campanile

The Campanile

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4 Hands Chocolate Milk Stout - It Melts in Your Mouth!

Every so often you sample a beer from a brewery that hits it just right. The flavor is really balanced throughout the beverage and you sit back and enjoy sipping it, feeling it is wrap around your whole mouth, until it is completely gone.  I had one of these experiences at Meridian Pint and it was truly remarkable.

4 Hands Brewery's Chocolate Milk Stout

Chocolate Milk Stout, brewed by 4 Hands Brewery (1220 South 8th Street, St. Louis, MO 63104 V: 314-436-1559 Web: www.4handsbrewery.com) is one of these beers. It advertises chocolate milk, but it is not anything you have had in glass before. Its a blend of dark and thick milk chocolate, all whipped into a glass. From the minute you taste it, you are hooked. It takes you back to that warm chocolate milk that your mother used to make coming home on a rainy day. It just felt so good and you did not want it to end.  The thing is reminds me most of is Hershey's Special Dark, before Special Dark was available on a regular basis, because of the blend. 

The ABV is 5.5% and there is no IBU. From their website:

Our chocolate milk pours black as the night sky with aromas of dark chocolate, chocolate malt, & more chocolate. With a frothy tan head and a rich velvety mouth feel, our Chocolate Milk Stout is a perfect addition to the change of seasons. Brewed with over three pounds of cocoa nibs per barrel, this beer is a chocolate lovers dream! 
  I gave it an Untappd score of 4.75.

Brooklyn Brand Insulated Dark Lager: Take Your Pick, but Not Both

Brooklyn Brand Insulated Dark Lager

Well, in addition to Tuesday night being lined up for Meridian Pint, it is also the day that Auld Sheebin has its "Taste of Tuesday" where they bring in a single beer and distribute it that day. Its not a big thing, but I think it is kind of fun. This week they have Brooklyn Brand's Insulated, which is a dark lager.

Brooklyn Brewery is a good brewery out of New York. For the November to March time frame, they have produced an Insulated brand of dark lager to sooth the winter doldrums. Alcohol by Volume is 5.6%. Malts are German Munich, Carafa, Pilsner, and American black barley. Hops are Perle, Hallertauer, Amarillo and Centennial.

The biggest thing with Insulated is its weight. Its definitively a light weight beer, especially since it is a lager rather than an ale. As a result, it comes across as a lighter weight dark beer - it is missing something. Plain and simple, that lager gives it away.  For a lighter crowd, the lager will be just fine. But I find myself looking at the bottle and saying, "if you were only an ale, my questions would be answered."

BeerCycling!

Ever though of crossing bike riding with sampling beer? I know that I have multiple times but the biergarden is to far from the bike path! Not anymore.

BeerCycling, put on by Evan Cohan, has sought to reduce the barrier between cycling and beer consumption with bike tours through Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy. Tours are discounted through the 31st of December.  More to come shortly, but this I had to get out early!