Beer Mission #2: Mission Accomplished

Welcome back for the second installment of Beer Missions!  A Beer Mission is something you can do when beer maybe gets a little boring. It’s something you can do shake things up and give you new experiences. Your first mission was to give a friend a beer they’ve never had before. That was just a warmup. I decided to go next level for Beer Mission #2.

Beer Mission #2: Drink an entire beer without knowing what it is

Many people accepted this mission, me included of course.

Beer Mission #2: Drink an entire beer without knowing what it is

I went with my friends Jeff and Ben up to one of my usual spots, the Buffalo Wing Factory. Jeff picked out a beer for me and told the bartender what I was trying to do. I should have known something was up when my 16oz pint glass wasn’t filled entirely to the top (hint: it was poured from a bottle which I never do at BWF because they have 30 taps!). This set me up perfectly for a fun bar bet. I was bet that I couldn’t guess what the beer is. I gladly accepted and knew with three attempts I could nail it.

Beer Mission #1: Mission Accomplished

Last Friday began the first of hopefully many Beer Missions.  A Beer Mission is something you can do when beer maybe gets a little boring. It’s something you can do shake things up and give you new experiences. Your first mission was to give a friend a beer they’ve never had before.

Beer Mission #1: Give a friend a beer they have never drank before

Many people accepted this mission, me included of course.

You can never know for certain how something will turn out now matter how you plan it. Despite knowing this I still crafted this whole plan on how I was going to complete Beer Mission #1. I was going to bring X beer over to X friend and he’d have X reaction. Yeah, that didn’t happen.

Completing Beer Mission #1 with Bell’s Hopslam

Friday night on a whim I met some friends/old co-workers up at TJ Stones, a bar around the corner from where I used to work. My buddy Scott was standing there empty-handed when I walked in. Scott is into craft beer, he homebrews and has high aspirations of one day making it in the industry. Scott has no beer + Scott likes good beer = I should knock out Beer Mission #1 right now!

Cicerone Certified Beer Server Exam Study Guide Part IV – American Styles

This is Part IV of a series on knowledge for the Cicerone Certified Beer Server Exam. All information disseminated is from the syllabus provided by the Cicerone website and mixed with my own thoughts. I’m doing this to 1) help me learn the material and 2) share the knowledge with people who haven’t heard of the exam or are planning to take the exam.

Feel free to skip ahead to other sections. Here’s a list of all the study guide parts:

• Part I – German/Czech Styles
• Part II – Belgian/French Styles
• Part III – British Styles
• Part IV – American Styles
• Part V – Off-Flavors

This is Part IV on American Styles.

**Note – PB stands for Perceived Bitterness**

American Styles

Historical

American Lager (Light/Standard/Premium)

• PB – Low
• Color – Straw, very pale
• ABV – Lower to normal

California Common Beer

• PB – Pronounced
• Color – Light amber to dark amber
• ABV – Normal

Modern

American Wheat Beer

• PB – Moderate
• Color – Straw to gold
• ABV – Normal

American Blonde Ale

• PB – Moderate
• Color – Straw to gold
• ABV – Lower to normal

American Pale Ale

• PB – Pronounced
• Color – Gold to amber
• ABV – Normal

American Amber Ale

• PB – Pronounced
• Color – Amber to dark amber
• ABV – Normal

American India Pale Ale (IPA)

• PB – Assertive
• Color – Gold to dark amber
• ABV – Elevated

Imperial IPA

• PB – Highly assertive
• Color – Dark gold to dark amber
• ABV – High

American Brown Ale

• PB – Moderate
• Color – Light brown to dark brown
• ABV – Normal

American Stout

• PB – Assertive
• Color – Black
• ABV – Normal to elevated

Oatmeal Stout

• PB – Moderate
• Color – Black
• ABV – Normal

American Barleywine

• PB – Assertive
• Color – Light amber to light brown
• ABV – High to very high

Imperial Stout

• PB – Pronounced
• Color – Black
• ABV – High to very high

Happy studying and good luck on the exam! Remember to check out the other posts. Here they are again:

• Part I was on German/Czech Styles.
• Part II was on Belgian/French Styles.
• Part III was on British Styles.

If you passed the exam and used any of these posts as help, I’d love to hear about it. Leave your thoughts on them, the exam or anything else below!

TWIB – Father-in-laws, Cognac and Lawnmower IPAs

This Week in Beer (TWIB) is a feature where I’ll highlight some craft beers I had during this past week mixed with some related (and unrelated) thoughts. Yes, it’s a play on the name of the show This Week in Baseball which I grew up on and loved.

Oh, the Fourth of July. One of my favorite holidays. A day of cookouts, drinking outdoors and fireworks. I was able to do all three while teaching my father-in-law about craft beer.

Hardywood does it again

My father-in-law is not into beer. He’ll drink a Heineken or Miller Lite every once in a while. He hasn’t been exposed to much of the craft beer world. I blew his mind with Hardywood’s Bourbon Cru.

TWIB – Six-packs, Monsters and Friends

This Week in Beer (TWIB) is a feature where I’ll highlight some craft beers I had during this past week mixed with some related (and unrelated) thoughts. Yes, it’s a play on the name of the show This Week in Baseball which I grew up on and loved.

You know how many beers I had this week? One. Yep. No, don’t look out your window, pigs are not flying yet. Just because my week in beer was uneventful doesn’t mean everyone’s was.

Here’s a few topics that fascinated me this week and think you should be interested in:

The Six-Pack Project: Beers from Around the Country

Bryan from the This Is Why I’m Drunk blog created The Six-Pack Project. He explains what the project is:

“It’s a new, collaborative effort between beer bloggers from around the country to highlight a six-pack of our state’s native brews that we believe best represent what the beer culture of our respective states offer. If someone is coming to visit, what bottles or cans would we want to share?”

I’ve had three of the six he choose but will make it a point the complete Bryan’s six-pack next time I’m in North Carolina.

Surprisingly I’ve only had two of Scott’s Virginia/DC six-pack which include DC Brau On the Wings of Armageddon, DC Brau El Hefe Speaks, Port City Porter, Bluejacket and Lost Rhino Pretty in Pink, Dark Hollow Chocolate and Coffee BBA Imperial Stout and Port City Downright Pilsner.

What do you think? Do these six represent Virginia? What about your state?

No more Monsters in Brooklyn

Brooklyn Brewery announced they will be discontinuing their Monster Ale barley wine. I had it a few years ago before I could appreciate it. I’ll be disappointed if I can’t find it on the shelf one last time.

If you do see it, pick one up. Brooklyn Brewery’s blog says it will age for a number of years.

Note: Find a dark place where the temperature doesn’t fluctuate much and store it upright, not sideways like wine.

What’s there to do now that Friends isn’t on Thursdays anymore?

Okay, that headline might be a few years out of date.