Pepe's Beer Blog

Back on track, with Memorial Day Weekend and my birthday during the past 7 days, that puts a few more beer entries into the blog. 154. Big Wave Golden Ale - Kona Brewing - Kailua-Kona, HA - 4.4% ABV An easy drink. I feel like this would be a better beer with food than on its own, though. 155.  Kellerbier - Sam Adams Boston Brewing - Boston, MA - 5.0% ABV A new kind of beer, so I get to add something to the list.  I honestly didn't know what a Kellerbier was before this, but it was delicious.  Not as deep an oak taste as oak barrels usually are, but that would be because it is tapped early in the process.  Still pretty delicious. 156.  Longboard Lager - Kona Brewing - Kailua-Kona, HA - 4.6% ABV Very delicious lager, and very versatile.  Good with richer foods, or lighter snacks, or just to have some beers. 157.  Castaway IPA - Kona Brewing - Kailua-Kona, HA - 6.0% ABV Very tasty, but not so much as an IPA.  It has some of the hoppy ...

So it has been approximately 1,258 days in quarantine, and thus since my last post.  The number of beers has not been as astronomical since March 10 as it should be, as I have been drinking a lot of the same beers over and over - the best that my local liquor store has to prevent me from travelling all over town just for new beers.  The plus side - two new breweries have opened up in the past month, and these two are now the closest to my house.  And although I am not technically allowed to have gone inside since bars and breweries are closed, I have ventured inside to order growlers/crowlers to go, so I have had the chance to try some new beers.  I will definitely patronize these places again to include them in the brewery rankings. 7.2 And, since it has been so long, all of my memories of each beer has faded some, so other than my really concise notes, the analysis on most of these will also be quick, but to me this has been all about the rankings anyway. With...

Not a big update for the past few days, but I didn't want to go too far and forget the two I did have while watching Kentucky come from 18 down to defeat the Florida Gators in Gainesville in the final SEC game for both before the conference tournament. 108.  Two Hearted Ale (American IPA) - Bell's Brewing - Kalamazoo, MI - 7.0% ABV I love everything Bell's, and I ordinarily love this one, but for some reason I wasn't feeling it.  That is going to affect the rankings, as this is the first time I have had this beer this year. 109.  Great White - Lost Coast Brewing - Eureka, CA - 4.8% ABV Deliciously refreshing, and I stuck with it even as the Gators took a big lead on the Wildcats, and since the Cats came back, the last one tasted even sweeter. Ales 1.  B4 Blonde - West Palm Brewery 2.  Day Blazer Easygoing Ale - New Belgium 3.  La Rubia - Wynwood Brewing Pale Ales 1.  Guayabera - Cigar City 2.  420 - Sweetwater 3....

An interesting mix for this grouping, as the PGA's Honda Classic was in town, and like any big event, your choices are limited by sponsors/distributors.  That does expand my beers, however, so it isn't all bad. 89.  90 Minute IPA - Dogfish Head Brewing - Milton, DE - 9.0% This is almost unfair for the rankings because I know going in that this is one of my two favorite beers, period.  So, I know that it is going to the top of the list.  Just full-bodied, loaded with flavor, enough hoppiness to add some bitterness to the flavor.  Yummy. 90.  Fat Tire Belgian White - New Belgium Brewing - Ft. Collins, CO - 5.2% This Belgian White has a ton of flavor, and is an interesting version of the usual Fat Tire Amber.  Light enough to drink several, but not so light as to be watered-down.  You definitely know you are having a beer.  This would be very enjoyable at a picnic or at the beach. 91.  Fear.Movie.Lions (FML) Double IPA - Ston...

The third brewery that I visited this year is: STEAMHORSE BREWING 1500 Elizabeth Avenue West Palm Beach, FL 33401 561/623-0091 https://www.steamhorsebrewing.com/ February 6, 2020 For my review, and for rankings, the scale is:  (1) beer quality (taste) (1-20); (2) beer quantity (number available) (1-10); (3) beer varietals (differing types) (1-10); (4) atmosphere (look, feel and vibe) (1-20); (5) service (self-explanatory - hopefully) (1-20); and  (6) miscellaneous (personal preference) (1-20).  This will give me a 100 point scale to reference, and I will keep a running ranking of each of the breweries throughout the year. Once again, to be fair, this is probably the closest to what I will call a home brewery besides Twisted Trunk and there are a lot of similarities between the two, starting with the owners/brewers.  And, since they share taps with each other (and their third sister brewery - Tequesta Brewing Company), a lot of this analysis is going t...

Time for another update.  Not a big one, just don't want to fall behind and then this thing would become a monster. 83.  Meltdown Imperial IPA - Sixpoint Brewing - Brooklyn, NY - 8% ABV A hazy IPA in which the citrusy just bubbles to the top of the taste (if that can even make sense).  It comes in a can although I had this on tap.  Jumps right to the top of the hazy category for me. This was tough, because I did not know whether to categorize this as a double/triple IPA - which it is - or just a hazy, which it also is.  Could go in either direction, and the fact that it is a double imperial probably is why I liked it so much for a hazy. 84.  Hopslam Ale (Double IPA)   - Bell's Brewing - Kalamazoo, MI - 10% ABV I feel that Bell's is easily my absolutely favorite brewery that I have yet to visit, and this Hopslam does not disappoint.  A good, bold, flavor, with some dry-hoppiness that isn't too bitter.  Moves to the top of its category....