Great American Beer Festival

I am sure most of you all have heard about the Great American Beer Festival. It takes place every year in Denver, Colorado and features one of the most extensive craft beer assemblies in the world. Getting to see this first hand can be costly. First, you have to be one of the few to buy tickets before they sell out. Then you have to travel to Colorado and pay for lodging. By the end, you are looking at hundreds of dollars for one event. Oskar Blues this year has kindly decided to offer up FREE tickets...to those who win the sweepstakes. Not just that, but they will pay for your lodging, air fare, and food for you AND a friend. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and everyone should check it out. Someone has got to win, might as well be one of us, eh?

Link: http://draftmag.com/ordeal/

I Have Returned...With News!

Hello Ladies and Gents! Yet another long absence but this one will be punctuated with activity. I am back and with a vengeance. We will start by saying that you will see a TON of reviews posted over the next two weeks. Just because I was MIA from here, does not mean I wasn't doing what I love best: sampling and rating beer. So check back often and don't lose faith in yours truly. We will end this post with a completely unrelated tidbit where I recently have read articles that show that beer has generated over 253 billion dollars this past year and 1.75 million jobs. It is a great time to be a craft beer drinker! Cheers!

Flat 12 Christmas In July

Many people associate certain beers to certain seasons. I will admit that even I will raise an eyebrow to anyone who exclaims "give me a stout!" in the middle of July. However, for barrel-aged Pinko, I can make an exception.

On July 25th, at the Flat 12 Brewery in Indy, Flat 12 will be busting out several different varieties of their delicious Pinko Russian Imperial Stout. A few probably have grumbled about the heat already, but fear not. All of this drinking will take place in a 30,000 square foot cooler. Check out Flat 12 on Facebook for more info.

Podcast Review: Stone Ruination 1.0 v. 2.0

Hello fellow beer enthusiasts. I reported that Stone would be changing up their revered Ruination Imperial IPA a little while back. I decided that I wanted to do a head to head on the new and the old. That is when two friends and former beer regulars at the LBSM approached me to join them on their beer podcast.

So, we joined up and poured these beers starting with age before beauty with the original first. We...well, I won't spoil the fun. Below is a link to the podcast. Just look for the posts titled Another Round #21 and #22. Hope you all enjoy listening as I did recording with them.

Link: http://endangerouslycreative.com/

Bell's Funvitational

Most people can't start a debate about the best breweries without including Bell's. From popular beers like HopSlam and Oberon to much sought after rarities like Black Note and Oracle, Bell's is synonymous with great beer.

Thus, when I saw the lineup of Bell's Funvitational, I squealed with glee like a teenage girl at an Ed Sheeran concert. Over a hundred of the top breweries in the country will flock there. I had to hold the3 urge to rush to send Bell's a check with nothing on it but "insert any amount".

However, Bell's is taking a unique and novel approach. Instead of events like Three Floyd's Dark Lord Day where everyone rushes to refresh their browser and buy, Bell's asks that you send them a check via mail and include a reason why you should get a golden ticket. Kudos, Bell's. Below I have included the link for those adventurous enough to give it a try. I know I will consider it heavily.

Link: http://bellsbeer.com/funvitational

New Stone Stochasticity Beer Generates Hype

The Stone Stochasticity Project beers have been extremely hit or miss for me. Some have wowed me with the diverse directions Stone can go in. Others have made me question if that is always a good idea. The newly announced HiFi+LoFi Mixtape beer has me salivating already.

Stone decided to do something truly unique with this beer. With this beer they decided to combine both aged and fresh beers to create something unique. On top of that, they aged half in wine oak foudres. Essentially, it will combine the best of Belgium style beers all in one. Yet another Stone beer that I am stoked for.

Absence

Getting folks! Sorry for being MIA for the last few weeks. My computer decided to bite the dust and it took me awhile to get the hang of my new phone. But things are looking up and I should be back to posting quite often. I thank you all for bearing with me and encourage you all to check the blog for more updates.