No Introductions Needed

Not only are introductions not needed, I'm fairly certain a description of the beer isn't needed either. I just wanted to post the picture because I was fairly proud of the bokeh design in the background.

Night at the Bar

*Let me apologize first and foremost about the quality of the images today... Most people have these phones that take great shots.... mine is not one of these. These beers were just to good to skip a post on, and I didn't know how the bar (or my present party) would appreciate me pulling out light stands, strobes, umbrellas, softboxes, etc. to get a shot like the ones that are usually used on this blog*


New Belgium Le Folie:
Le Folie pours a dark red color that has little head before it disappears leaving no lacing behind.
Smells sour of course (this is a Flanders Red Ale known for their tart and sour tastes) with a strong odor of cherries. 
The taste started off nice and sweet and then the sour from the yeast takes over with a nice blend of fruity tastes, especially plums and cherries.
Over all a great beer from tap. I would like to see how the tastes would transfer in the bottle.



Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout from '09:
What a great beer! very complex.
The stout was black with red edges at light. And a little disappointing tan head that disappeared leaving no lacing.
The smell was very thick with bourbon with some black licorice thrown in... a bit jager-esque. Then a bit of chocolate. 
The taste is very boozy at first with strong bourbon and licorice tastes, and as soon as the heat from the alcohol is expected it takes a u-turn and ends on a very chocolate cream note. 
As is warms the bourbon flavor just gets stronger and stronger... okay I'll admit it, I may have, kinda, perhaps, not finished the entire glass. This stuff was strong. Please don't judge the beer by my lack of staying power, it was fantastic and I hope that we keep seeing great things like this from Goose Island even with them being under the Anheuser-Busch now. 


Avery White Rascal:
After all that licorice I needed something a little lighter, so I reached for a White Rascal which is a white ale by Avery. 
The beer poured a light yellow with a two finger fluffy white head that leaves behind a real nice lacing.
The smell was a mixture of the belgium yeast, clove, and lemons. 
The taste was very similar starting out with the spices and coriander ending with a bit of lemon. And to be honest it seemed a little light and watery for me, again this is after a double imperial stout, so any thing may have seemed watery. 
A good beer to end the night on, but nothing that really stands out. 

Collaboration No. 2 from, Boulevard x Deschutes

Another great limited release Smokestack Series from Boulevard today, this time a much lighter beer in the form of a Belgium IPA, with the help of the Oregon brewery, Deschutes.
The Collab was poured into the smokestack glass, filling it with a golden yellow color with plenty of head (3 fingers) with plenty of bubbles also. 
The IPA smells of citrus, a lot of clove and hops, and a bit spicy. 
The grass and hop taste is what meets the buds (of the taste variety) first, then very citrusy  with plenty of lemon at the end. The citrus does cause for a tad of a bitter and tart taste. 


Sadly I opened this at a point where I felt I had drank to many IPAs recently (as a lover of stouts I get this way sometimes with light beers), but this beer just made me want 2 more bottles. Great beer, and can't wait for the upcoming release of Deschutes in Kansas and Missouri.

Bourbon Barrel Quad (BBQ) by, Boulevard

This is it people, my personal favorite beer that I have tasted to this day.

When Bourbon Barrel Quad (BBQ) by, Boulevard is poured it fills the glass with an amber mixed with copper color with a thick 3 finger tan head which is slow to reside, and even when it does it leaves behind a beautiful lacing.

The smell is mix of tart cherries, bourbon, caramel, and then a slight woody smell.

Cherries is the first thing that takes your buds, then a bourbon flavor that is perhaps my favorite part. It then ends with a combination of a woody and boozy aftertaste.

The mouthfeel is creamy medium body that leaves you with a warm feeling.

Blue Paw by, Sea Dog

Blue Paw by, Sea Dog starting to put out the blueberry smell even before the cap was pried all the way off. It is a bright golden color as it is poured with a finger of white head which has bubbles feeding the head the entire time.
The taste starts of with the blueberries that were smelled so heavily, then fades into the wheat taste, and then finishes off with the blueberries again in the aftertaste. With mixing the wheat in there the beer has some what of a blueberry muffin taste. 
There is to much carbonation and the blueberry taste was kinda artificial, but I must say I really enjoyed the mixture of the wheat and blueberries. 

Café Negro Coffee Infused Porter by, BridgePort

With so many porters and stouts being laced with chocolate and beer, but most of which all coming up with just about the same concoction, Café Negro is a nice change of pace, since it REALLY gets that coffee taste.

It pours a very dark brown, almost black. There is very little of the brown head on top. Smells like a cafe mocha from Starbucks, with creamy chocolate and java juices.

Tastes kind of like coffee you would get late into the evening at a casino. I let my girlfriend, who is a barista (I mean BEARista) try it which described it as burnt black cup of Folgers. It has a nice thin fell which ends with that mocha aftertaste.

I plan on drinking this again soon. Maybe spiked with Bailey's.

Levitation Ale, by Stone

From my experience, this is one of those beers that people either love or hate... and what can I say.... I absolutely love it. 

The ale pours a color of a copper penny with a finger and a half of head with a good amount of carbonation feeding into it. There is a good amount of lacing that comes along with this beer. actually there is lacing at the top from the foam head even as I finished of the glass. 

The smell has a lot of earthy scents to it with lemongrass and pine being the primary ones. Levitation tastes very hoppy and matches the smell with its pine and grass flavors. The beer also has a bit of a spicy kick to it. 

Overall this beer really keeps you guessing. For what simple ingredients they brag about on the bottle ("nothing but barley, hops, water, and yeast") this is very complex. 

A quick snapshot of the label

Sol. by, Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma Brewery

What can I say about this beer, it's not very good at all. No flavor, pours and tastes like water.... but I'm lying here in bed, unable to sleep, and this is the only post with a picture already edited for it. 


It pours a golden color with no head from the painted 12 oz. bottle. The aroma is very light to no existent. Smells a little hoppy if anything.


Taste has a hint of citrus, with the inert lager taste that one can expect from these "popular" brands. The beer makes a great companion on the "how many beers can I drink in the night" game, but perhaps the beer should be put down those nights for something stronger. 

Double Chocolate Stout, by Young's Brewery

Perhaps the most popular chocolate stout out there. Young's pour black with caramel highlights when held toward the light.

There is a nice thick foamy head that is tan in color, and slow to reside.
There is a nice java taste followed by what else??? Chocolate of course.

A little to much carbonation to the beer leaving me feeling fuller than I actually am, but as the glass empties a nice lacing is left (as seen below)

Prototype Stout, by Weston Brewing Company

The beers that come out of Weston never get the best of ratings, in fact no alcohol that the small town produces ever gets reviewed to highly (i.e.  McCormick), but how I love going to O'Malley's and having a few of the locally brewed beers. 


A couple of months ago when I was there I had a sampler and out of the six beers I tried this Prototype Stout really stuck out. It was creamy and had a very strong chocolate taste that would rival Young's stout. I decided to take home a couple of pints which was labeled with a very cool industrial feel label (as seen below) 

A quick snapshot at the label.
The QR code is supposed to lead you to their blogspot if you are interested.

When poured from the pint bottle the malt and chocolate really caught the nose, but a bit of a metallic sent was mixed in, perhaps from a bottle disinfectant. The Stout was a pure black with a large tan head which left a good lacing. 




The taste was not quite as chocolaty from the bottle. The hops really take over the tastebuds along with the roasted grains, but the chocolate came in for a long-lasting aftertaste. 


Overall a fairly smooth stout which is hard to pass up when pitted against the rest of the Weston line-up. 

Dark Truth Stout, by Boulevard

To match the name I tried to go for a dark, noir-esque look
This is a picture of the 12 oz bottle compared to the more popular 16oz

Since this blog is based out of Kansas City it should be no surprise that you will be seeing a lot of Boulevard Beers here.

            This Dark Truth Stout poured very oily and by the time the glass was filled up only black could be seen.  A finger size head laid on top, caramel in color. A little bit of a fruit smell meets the nose, perhaps coming from the type of yeast used, with hints of spicy components coming into play. 

            It tasted like a log cabin in a glass. It started off a little spicy and then a strong smoky flavor took over that ended very dry.

            As the head (and beer) began to disappear from the glass a very nice lining remained. 

             Overall a very good beer to accent a cigar or smoked sausage, or just accent it with the other five bottles in the pack. 

Walker's Reserve Porter, from Firestone Walker Brewing Company

We might as well start the blog off with the beer pictured in the post just prior, The Walker's Reserve Porter, from one of my favorite breweries, Firestone Walker out of vineyard country in California. 

A quick snapshot to show closer image of the bottle.
The bear throwing up fisticuffs against a lion only adds good things to a beer. 

The Porter poured a dark brown that faded into black as the glass went inward. The head was a large three finger tan foamy one. The porter gave off a bitter chocolate chip cookies dipped in coffee smell that mirrored the taste, with an oak malt lingering aftertaste. 

Though I love the complex flavors in Parabola and Abacus I must say this porter did seem a bit mediocre. This does not mean I didn't enjoy the two glasses of the porter, quite the opposite, but there is a reason why this is not one of their limited releases. 

Greetings and Salutations

      I Love beer… That Love is what this site is about. If you visited the last BEARable blog, I thank you and appreciate you stopping by this new one.

 I moved recently from St. Joseph, Missouri to Kansas City and found myself with two things: 1. A new darkroom 2. A lack of things to do in this new town. So I decided to start a new project utilizing all my new film and equipment, a project that is supposed to be a bit more organized than the last blog, with a common goal, showcase my journey through the craft beer stores.

BEAR with me as this blog is starting out the first few posts (hell, even the first 20 posts) may be digital photos, but this is just until I get my new darkroom workflow in order.

Thanks again for stopping by, and if any of you have any suggestions on beers to try, local shops (beer or photography), darkroom tips, or even to say what you like (or hate... I guess) about the blog, they are more than appreciated.

Cheers,

Alex Bear