Grain Belt Premium is TOO good.

After years and years of drinking beer, I've become accustomed to having a little bite at the end of every drink. Then I tried Grain Belt Premium.

Here's what happened, initially it tasted very good, nice and malty. Then I waited for the everyday beer kick at the end.

I'm still waiting.

That's the story behind Grain Belt Premium. There is no freakin' bite. And I'm not sure I like it. It's like Pavlov's dog, I've been classically conditioned to believe that every beer has an ending flavor that either tickles your balls, or bites them. I'm so used to the bite of beer, that I don't know if I can let Grain Belt Premium into my beer-drinking life.

Grain Belt Premium is like the perfect set of boobies that everyone thinks are fake...but actually, they're real.

After the approximately 2 billion beers that I've already drank in my lifetime, it's taking me a little while to grasp this whole "biteless" beer. But I'll get there.

I guess I agree...

It happened.

The great American Institution that is Anheuser Busch, is now owned by Belgians. Just this morning, InBev purchased the American beer juggernaut for a cool $52 Billion dollars.

Here's the story from CNN.

Many people think this is a horrible thing, the end to one of the great American companies. But others (i.e. stockholders) think this is a good move.

So what's your take?

Key West Sunset Ale - Everything Key West isn't

Whoever named this beer either a.) has never been to key west, or b.) is 15. For a beer named Key West Sunset Ale, this beer is everything I imagine Key West NOT to be.

Unfortunately, the only frame of reference I have of Key West is from MTV's The Real World. Hence, I can only imagine what KW is like. I imagine barely dressed women getting so wasted they pass out along the beach. I imagine heat, lots of it. So hot it makes me sweat out of my eyeballs. I imagine an island full of Carribbeans who feel somewhat like Americans, but when we go there, they get us drunk and make fun of us. Which is fine because we're too drunk to care. I imagine palm trees, hurricanes, steel drums, and more drunk college students all singing Jimmy Buffet. I image flip-flops, sand, and erections. And if I had to imagine a sunset, it would be perfect. A bright orange sun that dips below the crystal clear water, creating an absolute heaven.

With that, this beer is almost illegally disappointing. If I had to liken it to anything, it'd be Fat Tire, which is the furthest from key west you can get. Hippy chicks, not naked ones. Cool Fort Collins air where they don't even have air conditioners, not sweltering heat with AC in every 5-star resort. Fat Tire is eco-friendly, which is the opposite of drunk tourists scattering their beer bottles and salt shakers all over the beachfront.

Fat Tire stands for something. Key West Sunset Ale stands for something too...shit.

The taste is malty with a hint of crappy citrus flavor. It actually tastes like whatever citrus they put in it was grown in Colorado. Sure, it's a smooth beer with a decent malty flavor. But you don't prance around like some flaming ballerina and call yourself Ray Lewis.

Horrible metaphors aside, Key West Sunset Ale is a horrible metaphor for Key West, but a great metaphor for anus.

Hangovers: The After-Party Grab Bag of Booze

One of the best things, in fact it may be the only good thing about having people at your house besides not driving, is all the leftover booze that people place in your fridge.

The other night I had a meager 10 people over to mostly grill burgers, drink, and light M80s in my driveway to the dismay of my uptight suburban neighborhood. In the span of one rather low-key night, I collected the following:

A four pack of ginger beer for Moscow Mules

One Michelob Ultra bottle, which I am drinking right now

Three very chic Michelob cans, that are streamlined to suggest to coke-addled models, "Drink me and you can still see your clavicles in the mirror while you chop out the next one."

At least a dozen Coors Light cans

Four or five Coors Light bottles

A half empty bottle of Skyy

So I ask you, dear Brews and Booze readers, what is your best after-party haul?

I can't believe this almost happened.

Apparently, about two months ago, there was major speculation that Guinness was planning to close their original James Gate Brewery.

Brews & Booze apologizes for falling asleep on this one. How could we not have heard about this? Anyway, lucky for us (and all brew enthusiasts) the fine people at Guinness changed their mind.

Here's the entire story, from NYTIMES.com.

Redbridge - Smells like feed lot, tastes like small town prom night.

This is a pretty unique beer. Disguised as a small batch micro, Anheuser-Busch just made a beer that has given 3.2 million yankees hope. 3.2 million men and women can now temporarily remove the pain of foreclosure. They can numb their domestic disputes without fear of violent illness. And best of all, its smooth as hell and will stand up to reasonably sloppy marathons.

Long and short, its made with sorghum, and does not contain wheat or barley,which apparently makes 3.2 million people, suffering from Celiac Disease, super bitchy and not fun to be around. This according to Anheuser. And I always trust health reportings from the people who mess us up.
It really does smell sorghumy and a bit like that shit that sticks to the inside of a lawnmowery smell. But it finishes hoppy and almost creamy.


Verdict: Glad I picked it up. Its worth the experience. I saw this at GABF 2006, however, and I've always said this, if you locate your beer in the center of the GABF, you better have stickers or some other gimmick, because no one will remember what it tasted like.

July 4th Beer - the obvious choice

One of the Founding Fathers of our great country, Sam Adams was integral in the Boston Tea Party and other events. But it's funny, he's now associated with great beer, eventhough he ran his family's brewery into the ground.

Cheers, Sam Adams. Cheers, America.

Have a safe 4th of July everyone.

July Beer of the Month

Dear Brews and Booze drinkers-

My official July brew/booze of the month nomination is sour beers. Actually, no one in particular, just that oft misunderstood, bizarre, and tangy category of beers perfected by the Belgiums (is it Belgese or even Belginians, which ever it is, I bet their women are hot). As a placeholder for this beer, my prediction for the new 'it' beer type for the masses, was crafted in Nebraska's favorite rival city, Boulder, by Avery Brewing Co. *Note* as you can tell by the 'craftiness' of their website, their beers are usually a disappointment)
I asked a specialty beer shop worker in San Francisco for a 'sour beer', and this is what I was dealt. Avery Fifteen Anniversary Ale.

The label describes the ingredients as follows: mission figs, hibiscus flowers, and white pepper. Having tried a total of none of those things, I can tell you, I still have no idea what this beer tastes like. Plus, it was 8 dollars. So all in all, this is the most unhelpful, non productive beer suggestion ever. But it was sour on the tail. And that, my boozers, is what I'm after.

Further research tells me it gets this sourness from the yeast strain 'brettanomyces' which is generally a deal-killer for beers and wines, except for the Belginians, who use this strain to draw out the tart in their beers' fruit notes.
There are others methods of making beer sour (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brettanomyces). I like those better.

What turned me on the sour beers? My love for vinegar, an accidental buy of a tub of 'cry-baby' chewing gum in the early 90's, and New Belgium's La Folie. If you find yourself in their Fort Collins tasting room, ask for a bottle of this. You will hit someone, it tastes so good.

And I paired it with the new season of the Real World. The Real World was over-cooked, tough, and certainly dry. Sarah sucks at journalism.

Nominated by JimStock.

Booze of the Month

Well, for July we received two nominations for Brew of the Month. However, one of the nominations was liquor. Which is perfect, because now I don't have to pick a winner, because this nomination won BOOZE of the Month:

White Grape Smirnoff, nominated by Jen:


A sweet drink without being "Jolly Rancher". You'll want to drink it on the rocks. Chasers are a thing of the past. It's that good.

I could have opted for a professional image of the bottle but felt the counter view was easier to relate to.

There you have it. Thanks, Jen.