Broke

Beer is expensive. Rent is expensive. Gas is expensive. I work for a non-profit. These factors combined have started to hit my bank account pretty hard. Being three years out of college, in the midst of establishing what adults call a career, being broke all the time suddenly doesn't seem all that cute.

I decided I wouldn't spend any money on beer for a week. But the fridge was empty, so before officially enacting the No Money for Beer policy, I went to the nearest liquor store, determined to get the cheapest 30 rack on the shelves. For the not-so-low price of $15.99, my options were Busch Light, Milwaukee's Best, Natty Light, or PBR (the clear winner here). So PBR would be my drink of choice for the coming week, and I would otherwise rely on the kindness and generosity of others. The first such act of kindness came when a colleague bought me a beer for St. Patty's Day. I went with a Guinness (notes on this beer: booring), for novelty's sake.

Bleeecccchhhh.

A visit with family over the weekend meant I had a free pass at the beers in their fridge, mostly the leftovers that no one else has wanted to drink. I started with a Rolling Rock Extra Pale (notes: boooooooring) and then a MGD 64 (notes: bleeeeeccchhhhh). Easily one of the worst beers I've ever had, and with an ABV of 2.8%, I have to wonder why anyone would ever bother drinking this. Things were looking grim.

Photo also courtesy of my dad.

As if he sensed my distress, my dad came to my rescue with two big bottles of Woodstock Inn Brewery Kanc County Maple Porter and Sam Smith's Oatmeal Stout. The maple porter was smooth and not too sweet. It would have made a decent nut brown ale, but it was a lousy porter. Sam Smith's was delicious, but already on the list. Later my dad also bought me some delicious Ipswich Ale (probably out of pity after watching me struggle to drink the MGD 64).

After a week and half of my beer spending freeze, feeling pretty proud of myself and dreading coming home to yet another can of PBR, I decided I deserved something better. In a much anticipated trip to the liquor store, we picked a Butternuts variety pack, mostly because the cans looked like fun. I was excited. First up was Butternuts Snapperhead IPA. I decided to write my first formal beer review while drinking this one:

iPhone autocorrected bleh to Borg. Whatever.

So it wasn't very good. I hoped that Butternuts Heinnieweisse Weissebier would be better. It wasn't. I guess that's just the way this post was going to play out.

Average grade of the six new beers = D+. What a rough week.

Beers down: 108
Beers to go: 257

100!

When the last post ended with 95 beers down, I decided that hitting beer number 100 was going to be a Big F-ing Deal (kind of like health care reform). I might have overthought it.

The quest for 100 began at Deep Ellum, with brunch and Brassiere de Blaugies Biere Darbyste, a Belgian pale ale brewed with figs. Then two days later it brought me back to Deep Ellum for Cambridge Brewing Company's Mind Left Body. Consumed in the midst of three cocktails, my memory of this beer was a bit hazy. Fortunately, I tried this again a few days later and can confidently report that this session IPA is exactly what it intends to be: hoppy, kind of funky and very drinkable. Another beer that I look forward to drinking in warmer weather. A six pack of Stone Pale Ale carried me through the week while I avoided making the increasingly important decision of which beers to drink next.

100: Banryu Ichi

Deciding it was time to hit the milestone, I dragged Casey out (to Deep Ellum, of course) under the guise of "doing research for the blogs" because apparently it's frowned upon to drink alone. I asked for the hoppiest beer on tap and got a Port Hop 15. I then spent a good twenty minutes stressing over the menu, trying to determine which beer was worthy of being number 100, eventually panicking and ordering another Mind Left Body, postponing the decision for another day.

I decided Cambridge Brewing Company, where they always seem to be doing small batches of funky beers, was the new place to hit number 100, and that Banryu Ichi, an experimental beer/sake hybrid (the only of its kind, according to the brewers), was to have the honor. While I appreciate the creative energy that went into this creation, and the fact that the sake cup made for a pretty picture, I'm not sure beer and sake were meant to be together. It wasn't bad but it wasn't good. It didn't taste much like anything, really. Oh well. Still feeling experimental, I ordered an aggressively sour Resolution #9. Eventually I reverted to what I know I like and ordered a Tall Tale Pale Ale, which was extra delicious on cask.

I hit 100! (And then a few.) Cheers! Here's a celebratory picture. (My dad told me to post it here).

I haven't changed much in the past 24 years.

Beers Down: 102
Beers To Go: 263

Project Venus

I meant to post this yesterday and didn't, so let's pretend that it's still International Women's Day (thanks, Google, for letting me know) since the highlight of this post is Cambridge Brewing Company's Project Venus, a strong Belgian trippel brewed with orange blossom honey and saffron (!) that also happens to be the first and only known major collaboration in which all the brewers were women. The end result was bold, complex and spicy. Well done, ladies. It's not very often that my feminist ideals cross paths with my love of beer, so I was doubly pleased with this beer.

Picture not mine.
It's from the internet.

I've had a lot of really good beers since my last post, and one really bad. Getting the bad out of the way early, the low point of the week (and year for that matter) was Leinenkugel Sunset Wheat, which I mostly choked down just so I could complain about how awful it is. And because we'd run out of better beer, namely Tuckerman's Pale Ale. This beer tastes overwhelmingly of Fruity Pebbles. I guess some people love that about it. Those people don't actually like beer.

Fortunately, February ended with an especially good run of IPAs. Highlights included an after work trip to the People's Republic for Lagunitas IPA and Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA, two great beers that showcase just how different IPAs can be. There is no better style of beer, in my most humble opinion. Then Williams Brothers Joker was on cask at Deep Ellum, and cask conditioning always makes everything better, especially ales.

March kicked off with a rough week of work but a strong late week run of beers. (Gee, think the two might be related?) Post work beverages for the week included Wednesday night's Sam Adams Noble Pils, brewed with all four noble hops, and Bear Republic Big Bear Black Stout, which was very drinkable for 8% but was missing... something. Thursday I bought a six pack of Great Divide Belgica, and Friday brought a trip to Plough and Stars, a few PBR tall boys, and an Ithaca Ground Break. My notes: "I could drink A LOT of this." That's always good.

Hoppy Feet!

Saturday night Aaron and I decided to put our own spin on throwing a beer dinner, but instead of spending time laboring over a menu, cooking, or doing anything other than drinking beer, we just paired all the beers with the most obscenely unhealthy macaroni and cheese recipe I could find. (Highly recommended, by the way.) Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye showcased an impressive blend of rye, hops, and citrus flavors and Clown Shoes Hoppy Feet was one of the better black IPAs I've ever had. Unfortunately, Clown Shoes Brown Angel was disappointing on a number of levels. The beer itself fell flat, and the bottle's art bordered somewhere between tacky and racist.

In other news, someone was reading my beer list when I went in to update it today. I've arrived!

Beers Down: 95
Beers To Go: 269