beauty and the brew

I'd love to just make this entire post a love letter to Michigan in the fall.

There's not a single cloud in the sky. Not one. You haven't lived until you've driven down tree lined streets of historic Michigan houses, bright and pristine baby blue as the perfect neutral to branches laden with leaves from every firey color imaginable. It can transform a drive home from work into a 7 minute slice of Pure Michigan heaven. I can leave work fuming and return to my home going on and on about beauty and nature and love like I smoked something.

The other thing I love about Michigan is that our "fall harvest" is something that is completely unfathomable to people who haven't seen it. Just look the next time you buy your fruits and veggies this season, look for that "Made in Michigan" and feel proud about what you're eating.

Like any good Michigander, when on the precipice of October, you must faithfully fill your grocery cart with all things pumpkin. I can't wait to wake up tomorrow to my pumpkin coffee creamer and pumpkin granola, enjoy some pumpkin ice cream this evening, and stock up on canned pumpkin to make some pumpkin chili in the crockpot.

But don't let me get carried away.

This is a beer blog, after all.

What I'm really trying to lead up to with all of this is that this month, I am exclusively featuring pumpkin beers.

And I've got quite the line up planned, from in and outside of Michigan.

But for today, I wanted to start with Michigan

So we're looking at North Peak Brewing Company's Hooligan (5.5%), which is a self described hoppy pumpkin ale.

Pours a pale orange/yellow, like squash, with very little head. Also very little haze.

Hoppy aroma, very little pumpkin coming through, but there is a touch of it. Hops come through with a mix of grapefruit and floral notes, with a touch of bitter. There's some crustiness to it, making it taste more like a crunchy pumpkin cookie than that pie flavor you get with a lot of pumpkin beers, likely because that creamy pumpkin squashiness doesn't come through. Little spicy, both in a baking spice and warming kind of way, on the end. It's mostly those slight hints of spice that make this resemble a pumpkin ale.

Mouthfeel is very, very drying.

The hoppiness drinks like an APA, for sure. I actually am enjoying this beer, one of two that I've enjoyed so far from my sampling of North Peak brews.

All I can say on an end note is not to expect that you're probably expecting when you see "pumpkin" on a label. There's not a lot of sweetness. There's not a lot of baking spice. It's not a very thick beer, nor is it very carbonated. But it sure does taste good.... whatever it is.




Tune in soon for the next review from THE GREAT PUMPKIN (BEER) OFF

I wasn't going to review this.

I was going to skip over it, because I was disappointed. Moreso disappointed in myself for expecting more, knowing all too well that after over a year in the warehouse, the cherry in this beer would have almost completely disappeared from the overall flavor.

But I've changed my mind, and I'm doing it for the novelty. I'm doing it because.... well, as good as Rubaeus was this year, I missed it. I thought after the bad cherry crop last year, we'd be done suffering, but of course a year later you realize last year no beer was made, and thus this year there is none to be had.

This is a quick peak at how last year's Founders' Cerise held up (6.5% abv).

It didn't. Not really, in my mind.

Don't let that fluffy white head in the photo deceive you.

You can see a little bit of sediment sticking to the side of that bottle from how long it's been sitting.

I got this at free beer Friday at my job. I figured, it's free, let's give it a try.

The color had browned a bit from what I remembered in 2012. I remember a bright, ruby red with some haze. This guy still has a gorgeous color to it, but it's darkened I think.

This fluffy head from the picture died instantly to a sad, sorry layer of nothing.

Aroma had little cherry anymore. My boyfriend actually hit the nail on the head when he took a whiff and said "huh, smells more like wine." It did, it smelled a little floral, a little musty, and definitely like a huge handful of red grapes. Kind of red zin...ish.

Anyway, a biscuity malt quality has kind of taken over this brew and dilluted the pure, concentrated cherry tartness from its fresher days. It still has a lingering tartness, but once again is more reminiscent of grapes and tannins than cherries. It hasn't held much of its initial carbonation, but it hasn't thickened or become syrupy. It's still light and airy.

Overall, it's not bad. It really isn't, but it's definitely beyond its peak. And I was sad. So tonight, I will review something magnificent... or maybe just ok. I won't know until I try it.

Another week down, another weird flu bug obtained.

It's possible that, because my house is larger now, Abe and I have entertained more and have more people filtered through out humble abode (aka more germs), but I have been sick more times than I am in an entire semester in the two months we have lived here. It's starting to feel excessive.

It might also be because I don't really have enough hours in the day to accomplish everything I need to do. Ever. Bottom line. At the beginning of this week I was flipping through a GRE practice test on the treadmill only to come home to an email asking me to pick up two more shifts at one of my jobs.

So again, I have been off beer for health reasons, but as my sinuses begin to clear up six days later, I decide to crack open something that sounded equal parts unique and celebratory.

I recently acquired a bottle of Samuel Smith's Organic Apricot (5.2% abv), which is USDA certified organic. This is only the second apricot beer I have had, the first being Dogfish Head's Aprihop. The two are not really comparable by any means, being of two totally opposite styles.

Poured into a classic pint, this beer is a beautiful sight. It's exactly what you'd expect. Nice white head holds steady with great retention. It's a gorgeous orange, translucent exactly like a dried apricot. Not too much haze.

It smells fantastic. Like stone fruit nectar and a plethora of malts, from caramel to biscuit. There's certainly some honey laden sweetness as well.

The taste is... well, it's a too sweet for me to finish the entire pint, so I split it with my boyfriend. It's really impressive how much concentrated apricot flavor they have in this beer, though. Really spot on without any sort of fake, syrupy sweetness. I'm getting the slightest touch of marzipan with provides the extra sweetness for an otherwise fairly tart fruit beer. At the finish, there's a touch of metallic on the very tip of my tongue. It's not unpleasant.

Mouthfeel is full of great carbonation, which lightens the thick, sticky sweetness that would otherwise make this a fairly heavy drinking beer.

I'm definitely a fan, but this is a dessert beer. It would be great to drink with a cup of vanilla bean ice cream or panna cotta. There's a creamy element to this beer that is dying to be emphasized by food.

I'm going to try to make this quick, because it's Saturday and there are things to do.

Personally, I am enjoying the music coming from right down the street at our local radio station's block party. I really adore the neighborhood I live in, and being able to see the stage in front of one of my favorite Kalamazoo bars, O'Duffy's, is one of the reasons. There is always something going on, this is just one stand-alone example.

So this will be really brief, but it's too delicious not to review.

I'm currently drinking Old Chub from Oskar Blues Brewery (8% abv) on the porch.

Nice head right of the bat, thick and full of white foamy goodness, great for holding onto the aromatics in this beer.

There's some chocolate malts, a touch of smoke and toffee, and certainly some ethanol in the nose. Very nice.

Really, really enjoy this one. It's a great example of an American Scottish strong ale. Rich and malty, some great roasty qualities. Certainly some molasses in here as well, which makes this a very smooth drink with a thick mouthfeel and a robust finishing flavor. Despite having some alcohol in the nose, it doesn't taste aggressively boozy.

I really enjoy this, it's a wonderful scotch ale. For me, it's up there with Loch Down from Arcadia for my favorite go-to American Scotch ale. I am so glad I have several more cans.

Tonight is so beautiful.

I can't get over it. Every other year, I have dug my feet into the summer ground and refused to move into autumn, but this year I feel totally different. Maybe it has something to do with having graduated eight months ago, so I did not start school this week. I have all this extra money in my bank account from not buying books (except not really at all), I don't have to deal with lost people running around campus (except the theater I work at half the week is on campus), I don't have to worry about studying (except I have the GREs coming up), and I won't have to spend the entire week organizing the thousands of pages from syllabi I just crammed into my bag when I first received them (that one is true).

Despite the cruel fact that with the end of one of life's hardships comes another, totally different but equally difficult one, I can't help but feel somewhat accomplished as I see students running around like lost prairie dogs trying to collect what they need for the new year and hoping that they won't fail any of their classes. I totally don't have to do that this year, and it is actually pretty great.

Anyway, I broke open my beer fridge this evening and went straight for Ommegang, did not pass go, did not collect $200.

So this is my review of Rare Vos from Brewery Ommegang (6.5%), which is their amber ale.

Definitely getting a good, solid two to three finger head off the pour. Thick, frothy volume in golden white. Fades down to about a one finger head, but still, so thick and almost chunky.

There's some heavy haze in here, and the color is true amber through and through.

First off, there's a ton of candied orange peel in the aroma, as well as some apple and pear. Some very faint hoppiness at the end. There's good, solid butter caramel malts in there as well.

Right of the bat... cloves. Absolutely cloves. And coriander. This beer is super mild, more than I expected but I am pleasantly surprised. I was kind of cringing thinking it would be a very robustly sweet beer considering the aroma. No hops present whatsoever, but I licked my lips and got the slightest touch of bitterness. I am definitely tasting some apple peel, to me it is one of the strongest notes. Maybe a little bit of peppercorn as well. As it warms you get this really great, soothing bread-like quality that mixes perfectly with the mild, not-too-sweet fruit (again, like apple peel, or maybe underripe pear).




I really love this beer. As the weather transitions to fall and it gets a little cooler outside here in Michigan, this amber ale is really suiting my mood. It's not crisp and biting, it's not in-your-face refreshing or citrusy acidic. But you don't need that, because there's a really nice fall breeze coming in with the night, and it's wafting through my windows to create the most perfect temperature. It's exactly like this beer..... not too much, not too little. It's subtle, but only because it knows it's so elegant, it doesn't need to be all up in your face like that.

This beer is perfect for today.

Hello and Happy Labor Day weekend!

I feel once again I have become slightly distant from this blog, as it's been about 6 days (I think?) since I last did a review. TO BE FAIR, I have a perfectly reasonable explanation.....

THAT gorgeous, majestic creature is the newest addition to our home, and her name is Athena. She's three months old, and somehow magically gets along perfectly with our other cat, Odin, who is just over one year. The combination of her fearlessness mixes perfectly with his tenacity. I am so happy, and I can't take my eyes of them when they are together. He even cleans her face, it's incredibly cute.

So today I spent a bit of time away from the cats, and though I missed them, it was nice to get out and do something else for a bit.

It's almost my sister's birthday, so we decided to celebrate today and took a short trip down to Fennville to pick apples from Crane's Apple Orchard, eat at their pie pantry for dinner, and of course, I insisted on taking a quick skip up the road to Virtue Cider, the newest edition to Michigan's craft cider family.

Crane's was wonderful, and I am so happy to make all sorts of apple related recipes over the next few weeks! One of my favorites is so simple, just grilled cheese with some really good seeded bread, sliced apples, smoked gouda and bacon. BEST.

For lunch I grabbed a roast beef sandwich with caramelized onions, havarti, and horseradish sauce on grilled rye bread with pecan pie for dessert and a little (non-alcoholic) cider. All of that just screams Michigan to me!

Then we drove about a mile to Virtue, which is definitely still under construction but you can already tell, the building is going to be gorgeous.

Inside their tasting room, behind the bar, there was a huge window so you could see all the barrels of cider in the other room. They had all of their merchandise on display, all of which is beautiful (including really nice craftsman ceramic pitchers and mugs from a local artist).

I also am absolutely obsessed with their design aesthetic. Their logo, the fonts, the label art, everything is flawless. We always gush about them at the office, because it's just all so perfect. For example: