Beery Christmas!!

First, I'd like to say that I had a stellar Christmas, and I sincerely hope that you all did too. There is nothing better in this world than sleeping in, opening presents, giving presents, and eating nonstop with the family. Plus, this year I was able to buy beer gifts, and my dad was nice enough to share them with me.

Before I dive into my Christmas beer review, I have to talk up this killer glass I got my dad. As a massive fan of the Mitten, this beer glass is one of the best vessels to drink my Michigan microbrews. My roommate is a huge fan of the site Michigan Awesome and introduced me to all of their Michigan made merchandise. My dad had mentioned wanting another tulip glass, so this hand crafted glass was the obvious choice:

If you want it too, click here!!

Besides some state pride drinkware, I also bought him a Theobroma from Dogfish Head. Christmas is the season to give 750 mL bottles of beer to parents. He had a Sweet Repute from Founders waiting for me--like father like daughter. In the spirit of the holiday we cracked both of them open tonight and shared. And if you think a 12.6% abv wheat wine and a 9% abv chile beer is a lot of abv's to split between two people...you're right. 'Tis the season to be toasty.

Founders Sweet Repute:

This beer carried a ton of hype when it was first announced. It was being placed in the same exclusive category as KBS and CBS. I was excited to try it, but skeptical that it would live up to the lofty reputation. As the 8th installment in the Founders Backstage Series I knew that even if it didn't meet my expectations it would be a good ass beer.

It walks the walk, let me tell you. 

The wheat wine is aged in maple syrup and bourbon barrels--so it lives up to the name of sweet repute. Once we opened the bottle a mapley smell was apparent, as well as a woody-oaky vibe from the bourbon barrels. It was the pour though that made really excited. It was obviously viscous, with a few medium sized bubbles breaking onto the surface. The overall color was like honey and it produced a bit of white head.

As a 12.6% abv, the alcohol is present but not overwhelming. The sweetness dominates, but not in a artificial way. The major flavors as I sipped through my half of the fifth of beer included a crackery-wheat essence, the sweet maple, a bourbon bite, and vanilla. Founders prided themselves on the complex ingredients featured in this beer, so your guess is as good as mine when deconstructing the flavors. I sipped on this beer for an hour trying to let the flavors unfold and it just kept getting better and better, but there was a lot that I couldn't put my finger on. A true Christmas miracle.

Dogfish Head Theobroma:

Sugar and spice anderything nice.

My dad has drank every beer ever made, at least it feels that way sometimes. He and his beer connoisseur friends split fancy craft beers every weekend, and more often than not, when I mention a beer, he has tried it. So for Christmas I studied his shrine to beer bottles of the past and attempted to get him something good, but different.

After touching every single bottle at our craft beer store, and debating over prices, brands, styles and prices, I bought him Theobroma. Of course he's had it before, of course.

I bought Theobroma because:

 1. Dogfish Head makes some great brews

 2. ancho chiles is listed as an ingredient which is intriguing
 3. I was getting weird looks from the cashier and really had to stop picking up every bottle, sighing and setting it back down again

The brief and interesting story of the Theobroma goes a little like this: Theobroma--"food of the Gods," is Dogfish Head's attempt at re-creating the cocoa beverage of the ancient civilizations which was made just for the elite. The modern brewers set out to mimic the flavors of the early chocolate brew by referencing archaeological evidence (pottery that was used to mix the cocoa) from around 1100 B.C. This isn't just a beer, it's a history lesson.  

The pour:

It didn't smell like a glass of peppers or a Hershey's bar, but of an astringent alcohol, with a hint of unsweetened cocoa powder. Also, it was lighter in color than I expected and thinner. There was a decent amount of sedimentation and a flurry of bubbles zooming around. I wouldn't have guessed by the description that Theobroma would be like this at all. 

The taste too was nothing like I expected. Instead of a thick chocolately flavor, I mostly tasted wheat and honey. Next was a bittersweet hint of cocoa followed by a delicious chili heat that coated the tongue. I will say that the alcohol is obvious, and more prominent than I was expecting in a 9%. There is so much going on in this beer, but not one flavor is too overpowering. I love the chocolate notes, I love the pleasant, lingering heat and I love the overall vibe of this beer. I would definitely try it again, just like the Sweet Repute.

Merry Christmas! 

                                                             

After the Break

I was sober for 13 days. This seems like I am accepting defeat, yes, I know. But, it wasn't a defeat. I wanted to take what my roommate calls  a "tolerance break." I wanted to prove to myself that I could go to the bars and not drink and that I could make it through a weekend stone cold sober. I had no minimum number of days in mind going into my break, just a goal that I would stay sober for a bit.

I did. Veni, vidi, vici.

Okay, maybe my sobriety streak lasting one day short of two weeks isn't exactly conquering my "drinking problem"

Unlike Ted from Airplane! I can usually get the majority of my drink into my mouth, which is the issue here.

However, declaring my interim sobriety four days before Thanksgiving and three days before the biggest drinking night of the year was an interesting choice. I had to decide if I wanted to stay home on the Wednesday before thanksgiving or be a designated driver for once and hang out in my one of my hometown's bar full of people I went to high school with bone dry.  But at the bar I flexed my self control as I sipped on water and caught up with people from high school that I haven't seen in years. People asked why I wasn't drinking and I unabashedly told them the truth. Although I wasn't holding a drink in my hand, I still had a decent time talking about the past and futures with old friends. Plus, I wasn't hungover for Thanksgiving, which was a huge benefit of staying sober when everyone else is getting smashed.

Once I was ready to drink again my roommates devised a plan for me: on one hand they marked how many beers I drank and on the other they marked how many waters I drank while at a kegger. I wont tell you the exact number of beers and water that they marked on my hands, but I will say that it was a great system. The next morning I woke up with multicolored lines on my face, but no hangover. Instead of non-stop beer consumption for my return to drinking I made sure to pace myself, drink water often and let my liver catch up.

Although the journalism class that this blog was intended for is ending in a week and a half, I still want to get back to writing reviews about craft beers, microbreweries and my own brewing experiences. This blog has been a ton of fun (sometimes too much), and I still have a lot to learn about the brewing world so I have to keep on keeping on.