Day: January 26, 2007

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Jumping on a Plane to Colorado Springs

I am writing this while flying to Colorado Spring. I was planning a nice weekend away from work, but here I am flying to Colorado Springs to see about fixing our system. Hopefully, I will be able to resolve the failure at work and get back home quickly. The requirement for this trip came up during lunch, but I knew that it could happen at any minute. I just didn't expect the need to put me on a trip two hours later.

Bristol Brewing Company

On the other hand, I get the chance to stop by Bristol Brewing Company and try some of their beers. I know that they are releasing their XXX Warlock Double Imperial Stout tonight. My flight doesn't arrive until 8:20PM and Bristol closes at 9:00PM so I won't likely make it before closing. I can hope!

The XXX Warlock Double Imperial Stout has a kick you in the pants 18.4 % ABV (alcohol by volume), which took three years to brew. Mike Bristol has calls it “an epic labor of love”.

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Free The Hops Raffle Prizes Means Great Beers

You may have read in my previous post about the fundraiser held by Free The Hops at the The Flying Monkey Art Center.

Well, I bought a few raffle tickets at the event and won two of the prizes. Given Free The Hops is an organization formed to change the Alabama laws, you can guess that all the prize where beer in some form.

My father and I decided to have tasting at his house with our friend Bradley Smith. Bradley Smith established Custom Camper Covers in Huntsville, Alabama.

Duvel Belgian Golden Ale We started with Duvel, which is Belgian Golden Ale. It was an okay start, but it had off flavors for what some of us wanted.

Images Hoppy.Bottle
We moved on to tasting Terrapin's 2007 Monster Beer Tour. We started Big Hoppy Monster, which everyone enjoyed to my surprise. I was guessing the beer would be too hopped, but it was enjoyed.

All American Imperial PilsnerWe keep the train moving on our tour of Terrapin beers with our next stop being All-American Imperial Pilsner. This was a good beer to follow the Big Hoppy Monster.

At this point, we decided to shift gear and go aluminum. As in aluminum cans, which brings us to Oskar Blues Brewery's canned ales. We started with Dales Pale Ale, which was good. The flavor caught me off guard from what I expect, but I adapted.

The Old Chub Scottish Style Ale was next and enjoyed by all.

At this point, we switched back to our last Terrapin, which was the “Wake-n-Bake Coffee Oatmeal Stout“. We knew this beer was off Bradley's scale. And, he agreed saying, “I think I will try another one.” The rich coffee taste drives the flavors in this beer. The body is not that heave, but it is not light either.

We went on, but the write will stop now.