Slow Elk

This is a terrific stout and the poor cow on the label makes me chuckle.

Heavy Horse Scotch Ale

I was interested to see how my homemade "He Ain't Heavy" Scottish Ale stood up to Big Sky's, and I'm not too embarrassed. Mine is in the background and you can see that it is not as dark brown as the Heavy Horse. The professional brewers were also much better at giving so much of the raw barley flavor. Somehow they have kept the aroma and flavor of the grain so fresh that you can almost imagine being right there on the farm pictured on the label.

Cowboy Coffee Porter

Sometime ago I was over at my brother, Gene’s house for supper. I was asked if I wanted a beer.  Since it was close to a meal time, I asked, “What are we having?” Sister-in-law Krista was surprised at my question. So, I explained, “Not everything goes well with beer.”

Krista asked, “What doesn’t go with beer?”

I thought for a moment and could only come up with one thing on the spot. “Pancakes.” I said.

That night Krista served me chicken and a beer. But every once in a while since then I’ve thought about this notion: Can beer go with pancakes? Today at brunch I found the right beer for that task.

Cowboy Coffee Porter has the rich dark malt flavor with sufficient hop bitterness to pair satisfyingly with a meal that, for me had previously been lacking.

The question, “What doesn’t go with beer?” is getting harder and harder to answer.

Trout Slayer

I'm loving the lemony and wheat bread flavors in this beer as I watch Yours, Mine and Ours with daughter Rachel. Dennis Quaid, Rene Russo and I  are keeping her company as she nurses the holes in her head where her wisdom teeth were yesterday.

Big Sky IPA

Wow, I really like this beer. I said about as much on Beeradvocate.com, only I used more beer-geeky terms, like "aroma", "head retention" and "reasonably".

After I wrote up this review I clicked on a tab that showed the summary of all my reviews on Beeradvocate. It may be interesting to see that all of my entries but one, rate the beer I'm drinking higher than the average contributing reviewer. I suppose this ought to make me rethink things:  Am I too generous? Not really.
What can I say? I like beer!

The pot in the background is the start of what I hope will be a spectacular bock. But more about that later.

Moose Drool

At a church workers’ conference in Marion, a colleague, Keith Brustuen, gave me some MooseDrool.  It’s nutty sweet and light on the hops. Very good. For more about Keith, see the entry on Inspire Robust Porter.