The Iowa City BrewFest 2010 was this past Saturday, and it was a great time. Each year, the festival continues to grow, and this year there were over 40 different vendors from all over the world, including Germany, Belgium, and the United States.
A few of the beers that stood out to me:
Biere de Mars from New Belgium Brewing. This was a light brown beer that had a little bit of Belgian ripeness from the Brettanomyces yeast. It is one of the beers in the “Lips of Faith” series. I asked the representative when some of the series will start showing up in Iowa, and he said probably November.
American Kriek, New World Trippel, and Stony Brook Red from the Samuel Adams Barrel Room Collection. Each of these were very distinctive beers. The American Kriek was not as tart as I thought it would be, but still good. The New World Trippel was a nice example of a Tripel, but I thoroughly enjoyed the Stony Brook Red. The ladies who were pouring the beer stated that no one really had liked the beer to that point, but it was just my style: sour, funky, fruit-like ale.
Other than the fact that I preferred the glasses given out for the Brewmaster session last year over this year’s version, the Iowa City 2010 BrewFest was a success. Were you at the BrewFest? What were your favorites?
The other day, a couple friends and I cracked open the bottles of Wisconsin Belgian Red we had brought home.
First, the review: initially, it smells strongly like cherries. The taste is a full cherry flavor. It continues with the cherry flavor. It is a great beer, and, dare I say it, it almost was too intense. It left a great cherry flavor in my mouth.
Chocolate Cherry Layered Awesomeness
After we enjoyed a bottle of the Wisconsin Belgian Red, we decided to try something new: a layered chocolate-cherry beer. As you can see in the photo, we used my favorite beer, Young’s Double Chocolate Stout (the can that has the Nitrogen releasing widget inside). It was a hit!
The smooth chocolate flavor played very well with the strong cherry flavor, and the entire layered drink was great! I had previously tried a different chocolate-cherry layered beer with Samuel Adams Cherry Wheat with the Double Chocolate Stout, but the use of the Belgian Red was a great choice.
Have you had the Wisconsin Belgian Red? What was your take on this flavorful beer?
In the multi-part series, we continue with our wedding day and the trip to Ireland.
My New Bride and I
The day of our wedding arrived, and the weather was perfect. We had our wedding outside at the location we had the reception. At the reception, we had an open bar (of course), with Samuel Adams Boston Lager and Blue Moon as the beers available. At one point during the reception, I cracked open a bottle of “Morning Wood“, and enjoyed that with my new bride and friends.
We shut down the reception, and at one point the reception hall flickered the lights in an effort to get us to move along.
We went back to the hotel and danced the night away at the hotel bar. By the way, they also had Samuel Adams Boston Lager, and the had the special glasses to make it taste even better.
Saving the Ales, One At A Time
The day after the wedding, we woke up, brought some of our friends to the airport, and said our goodbyes. We were able to hang around with family for a bit before we started our journey to Ireland.
We left several hours early to go to JFK Airport, and from western New Jersey, because of the traffic (even on a Saturday night), it took us almost 2.5 hours to get to the airport.
As we were standing in line at the airport, one of the airline representatives asked for those going to Shannon, Ireland because the flight needed to board within 30 minutes.
When we boarded the plane, we had seats on the opposite side of the plane. Because we were on our honeymoon,we requested to be seated together, and the airline put us in the back of the plane sitting together. Also, because we were on an international red-eye flight, we were able to get free beer. The best quality beer available was Corona (in cans), so we were able to have a couple, and then we slept.
After the overnight flight, we were still tired, but were able to drive up to our first bed and breakfast, near Doolin and the Cliffs of Moher.
Cliffs of Moher
We checked in and went to the Cliffs of Moher. It was an amazing sight. One of the most interesting pieces of information is that the Atlantic Puffins nest in the side of the cliffs. If you aren’t familiar, the puffin is the bird in several of the Guinness advertisements.
On our way back to our bed and breakfast, we also toured around The Burren and saw the Poulnabrone Portal Tomb.
For dinner, we stopped in Lisdoonvarna, where, for 150 years, the Matchmaking Festival happens each fall.
At dinner, I had a couple of Irish firsts: I had my first order of fish and chips and my first Irish Guinness. As we were eating, in the courtyard a musician was playing several familiar American songs, and one of the locals walked over and asked for one of my chips. He said (in his accent) “I didn’t even want any chips until you put on the vinegar and dipped it in ketchup.” Of course, I gave him one.
After dinner, we drove back to our bed and breakfast, and our jet-lag made us take a “quick” nap that lasted from 9 PM until 7 AM the next morning.
So, if you’re keeping track, that’s only 1 Irish Guinness. Stay tuned for the rest!
I had the chance to try the final of the three Samuel Adams Longshot Beers: Mile High Barley Wine Ale. Just like the name states, it’s a barley wine, which is a strong, malty ale.
Initially, it smells like caramel and plums. It was very smooth, and had a very heavy mouthfeel. Coming in at 9.8%, it is a nice potent ale. It finishes with a strong caramel flavor and was slightly hoppy, and had a nice balance. It was created by Ben Miller from New Mexico.
The second of the Samuel Adams Longshot pack that I tried was the Old Ben Ale.
It was a nice strong English-style ale. It was a 9% ale brewed by Michael Robinson of New Hampshire.
At first scent, it smells like plums or raisins but was pretty difficult to pick out. It was a thick beer and had a strong caramel flavor. It was very smooth but strong.
