A Very Cool Wedding Present – Brewery in a Box by Northern Brewer

I’m sitting here drinking bourbon…because my beer is still fermenting!

My uncle and cousin really knocked it out of the park with this wedding present.  On Sunday, Carter and I brewed our first beer, an IPA, and I have to say it was extremely easy with the Northern Brewer Home Brew Kit.  And by easy, I meant self-explanatory. I didn’t say it was without about 30 steps and a lot of measuring and sanitizing, but it was easy to understand and the kit literally has everything you could possibly need in it sans a kettle.  We didn’t have a stock pot large enough to mash in, so we just divided the hot-side ingredients between two big pasta pots.  But that was fine!

I’ll pick one of those up when our next beer recipe kit arrives.  I bet it’s a stout; it’s starting to become stout-weather outside…

 

Praire Artisan Ales – No Chill

No chill.  Just like your mom who keeps asking if you’ve sent out all of your “Thank You” notes less than one month after your wedding.

This beer is good, by the way.  This milk stout is better and more interesting than Left Hand’s and it’s made just a few hours away.

Also…I finally cut off those claws after Halloween.  It was such a sad feeling but it’s liberating to be able to use a keyboard again…

Russian River Brewing Company – Pliny the Elder

So I got married last Saturday.  Everyone please say hello to Mr. Still.   We feel incredibly grateful to have been showered with such love and generosity.

Our buddy Julian smuggled the King of IPAs, Pliny the Elder, to Oklahoma and gifted us a bottle just a couple of nights before the wedding.  On Sunday, we toasted to our marriage with a world-class double India Pale Ale and loved every minute of it.

I thought it was incredibly smooth for a double and as hoppy as it should be.  It lived up to the hype.  It’s not overrated.  It’s perfect.

ABV: 8%

Stonecloud Brewing Co. – Astrodog IPA

I have the pleasure of living and working in locations that make it impossible to avoid passing by the Sunshine Building.  Joel, the owner/founder/main dude, has done an amazing job with his new brewery/tap room.  The flavor profiles are all over the scales so it’s a good place to go with a group of people who have different tastes.  I didn’t have a lot of faith in someone who makes killer sours to also make a great IPA but I was wrong and being negative for absolutely no reason.

Stonecloud can really do it all. This Grapefruit IPA has a large following and you can understand why if you try it.  I also recommend the apricot sour this weekend. I forgot it’s name but it’s greaaaaaat!

Wearing: Target’s A New Day Velvet Burnout Shirt $25

Dogfish Head – Punkin Ale

The official beginning of fall was yesterday so it’s only fair to start drinking pumpkin beer immediately.

Dogfish Head’s Punkin Ale is a brown ale with a good balance of pumpkin spice and hops.  It’s flavor level is high but it’s no where near the spice level of a Starbuck’s PSL (but you don’t want that when you’re trying to enjoy a nice, cold beer out of the bottle).  It’s ABV is 7% which is pretty ideal.

Their website says the beer will be gone by Thanksgiving so grab it now!

COOP Ale Works – Gran Sport Porter

It was 32 degrees last night in Oklahoma!  Finally some fall weather.  It’s the perfect time to post about Gran Sport Porter, a smooth dark beer with notes of dark chocolate and coffee. It’s one of the easiest drinking beers of COOP’s lineup (and was one of the first beers they ever produced!).  No strong aftertaste, no bitterness, just an incredibly soothing beer. It’s now available in several states…

Check out this bulky sweater I plan on wearing to Thanksgiving….It’s more grunge looking than this photo shows. It looks awesome with leather leggings and platform boots.

Wearing: Nasty Gal Foggy Notion Chunky Sweater, $68

Avery Brewing Co. – Pump[KY]n

Happy Halloween!  I saved this beer review all year for today.  Pump[KY]n from Avery is delicious and dense.  It’s a bourbon barrel-aged pumpkin porter with a 15% ABV.  This is a pumpkin pie dessert in a bottle and the perfect booze to drink for All Hallows Eve.

Confession: I had my mind in the gutter for weeks and thought the “KY” in the name had to do with something other than the abbreviation for Kentucky (because of the bourbon barrels). Blonde moment.

My lipstick is from Stila and is available here.

Santa Fe Brewing Company – Adobe Igloo

FINALLY.  Some cool weather.  It’s nowhere near “cold” in Oklahoma but I’m stoked that I don’t have to work in a 95 degree tap room.

Adobe Igloo is a Winter Ale brewed with cacao and chile.  It’s not spicy but you do taste the flavor of the chiles. It’s on the malty side and pours a pretty brown color.   This guy will be available soon after Oktoberfest.  Also, how cute is this can?  I want it in quilt-form.

Wearing: An old Free People sweatshirt with a low-back.  Here’s something current and similar. 

Girardin Gueuze 1882 (Black Label)

I lucked into this bottle.  What a world-class gueuze this was. The smell and initial taste made you think, just for a second, that it would have a funky or sour aftertaste but nope. Just a very clean, dry finish.

Gueuze beer is a traditional Belgian beer style.  They are blends of young and old lambic beers which are bottled and aged for a second fermentation. Some are more tart than this one but no gueuzes are hoppy.  This is probably the only type of Belgian beer I enjoy. I can’t handle some Belgian yeast flavors. Blegh.

Currently wearing an Urban Outfitters Crop Top. The velvet version (which I think is cooler) is available here.

Cascade Brewing – Blackcap Raspberry

SO EXCITED TO OPEN THIS.  I flew this home in my suitcase from their tap room in Portland.  I need to blog about my Hop School experience…I’ll make a note of that.  Expect a post about that soon.

So. Cascade Beers.  They’re expertly crafted with copious amounts of fruit and tartness.  They’re expensive and not available in Oklahoma which makes me even more excited about them.  Blackcap Raspberry is juicy, sour, and the most gorgeous dark pink color.  It has so much berry flavor that it should be considered a healthfood.

I recommend drinking this beer alone so you can taste every drop.  If not, I would pair it with chicken or flakey white fish so you don’t overpower this beer. Stay away from garlic.

PS: You may have noticed that I cut my hair off.  It was just too hot in Oklahoma to blow-dry long hair (it was also dead AF) and I’m glad the 90’s triangle-head, single-layer look is back.  It’s quite easy to achieve in this humidity.