Guinness @ Legends in NYC

Well hello there! And a happy Rutgers Bowl game day to you. We're here live at Legends on 33rd St in New York right by the Empire State Building with a ton of other RU fans warming up for the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium today. With a ton of beer options (and after a few bloody marys) I decided to start off with a Guinness. It came out in a regular pint glass and looked divine with a perfect white head sitting atop a black body. Taste was smooth and delicious with the roastiness coming through and a slight bitter taste. Definitely a top 5 Guinness, but not enough to take over the top spot from Dublin House or the #2 spot from Tierney's. Overall though a great pour that is worthy of your attention. Go RU!!

2011 Beer of the Year

First of all, Merry Christmas to everyone! I hope you all are having a great holiday season and have a Happy New Year. With 2011 coming to an end, I have decided that it is appropriate to name a 2011 Born to Brew Beer of the Year. Expect an announcement in the upcoming days and, as always, your input is welcome. Cheers!

Guinness @ Tierney's

So delicious, enough said...

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from Stanley and I at Born 2 Brew! Santa (my wife) bought us a mini kegerator! Currently on tap, Kostritzer Black Lager.

Winter Rental Black Lager

Winter Rental is East Coast Beer Co.'s winter beer, appropriately named based off of their American Pilsner called Beach Haus. It poured a dark brown with a nice white head that stayed around a bit. Smell was mostly roasted malt with some hints of chocolate. Taste was hoppy at first before balancing out with roasted malt and a little bit of chocolate. It also had a slight coffee taste to it, but I think it was just the roastiness as opposed to actually being brewed with coffee beans. For a darker, bitter beer it had a smooth aftertaste and the mouthful wasn't too heavy. A nicely balanced beer that (like Beach Haus) doesn't blow you away with anything, but is solid and easy to drink.

Kane Brewing Company

Took a trip to Kane Brewing Company today and had an amazing time. Tried all four of their current beers on tap (3 of the 4 have been reviewed on here already) and took a stroll around the brewery. Check out the videos below to see where we went, including a trip into the freezer where they store all their kegs!

From talking to the President of the brewery, Michael Kane, we found out that they will be coming out with a Belgian Red (which we were able to try while it was in the fermenting stage) and an Imperial IPA in the near future. Definitely looking forward to that. They also had Drift Line aged with coffee on tap (I was lucky enough to be the last one to have it since my growler fill kicked the keg), which was absolutely delicious. It was basically Drift Line (which is amazing in itself) with a very smooth coffee taste to it. An easy to drink brown ale, that finished with a great coffee taste - probably my favorite beer out of the four.

The brewery in itself was hopping, with a ton of people coming in for their weekly growler fills and a bunch of new visitors discovering one of Monmouth County's hidden gems. Overall, a great time and definitely something that you all should try out. The brewery is open on Saturdays from 12-5 for tours/tastings. Stay tuned for more visits/information out of Kane Brewing Company in the future!

Videos from today:

Kane Brewing Company Intro

Kane Brewing Company Inside

Kane Brewing Freezer


Some pictures from today:

Kegs and the new tanks they just brought in from Brooklyn

Kegs

Freezer Door

Imperial Stout in the barrel

Michael Kane (President of Kane Brewing Company)

Goose Island Brewery in Clybourn Overview

Now that I've posted everything, I wanted to comment a bit on the brewery. First off, its a brewpub that brews on the premises for the brewpub only. They do bottling and beers produced for distribution out of another brewery location in Chicago. This means that everything there is really fresh and was made specifically for people at the pub. Secondly, its their original location (they have a second one in Wrigleyville) and has been around since 1988 when it was the first real brewpub to open in Chicago and start a craft beer movement there. Third, the beer is delicious. They have about 20 beers on tap (unfortunately I only had time to try 7), which is pretty crazy. The tour/tasting was very informative and taught me a lot about the brewery and their strategies. The biggest thing that I took away was that they want to brew beers that are drinkable and able to be drank in multiple quantities. And no, I don't mean like how you can drink 15 coors lights in one hour, I mean quality beers and can be drank in large quantities. If any kind of beer tests this strategy to me its an IPA, and their IPA is definitely one of the most drinkable I've had. If you're in Chicago try it out, they also serve food there which I didn't try, but looked good.

For our local followers, I've heard that Goose Island will soon become much more readily available in New Jersey which is great news. I also have seen it in New York City a lot lately. Once I see it in NJ, I'll post where you can find it.

See below for link to the Clybourn Brewery website.

http://www.gooseisland.com/pages/clybourn_brewpub/65.php

Cheers!

Goose Island Pictures

Some pictures from our trip to the Goose Island Clybourn Brewery in Chicago:

Goose Island Clybourn Brewery flag

Cinders IPA aging in barrel. Dated 3/11/10

Tasting

Outside the brewery

Entrance

Tap handle we brought back to display in Gallagher's Pub!

Goose Island India Pale Ale

Been trying to catch up on some things after getting home so I'm a bit late getting this stuff up, but here it is. I've had the Goose Island IPA before, but decided to wait until I had it on tap at the brewery to review. It has always been a favorite of mine, but it was even better being so fresh. Pours a hazy reddish copper with a nice sized head that left beautiful streaks of lacing down the glass while drinking. Aroma was very delightful to the nose, with citrus nodes being mixed with roasted hops. Pretty standard scents for an IPA, but nothing too much on either end. Taste was citrusy at first, followed by some delicious roasted hops that had a nice bitterness. Mouthful was medium with a good amount of carbonation. Its not an IPA loaded with crazy citrus flavors or tons of hops, but its almost perfectly balanced between the two. This balance makes it a very drinkable beer for IPA lovers and one of my top 3 favorite IPAs of all time. Great job done by Goose Island.

Goose Island Porter

Didn't catch the exact name, but was definitely a porter. Coffee and chocolate prevalent in scent and taste. Thin in mouthful.

Jimmy's Red Farmhouse (Red Saison)

Most bizarre of the six we tried. Smell was a mix of a ton of stuff and reminded me of sour lemons mixed with malt. Taste did not match the smell, but rather had a sweet floral taste to it that was almost like a wheat beer even though this isn't one. Very odd beer, but extremely interesting.

Goose Island Rye Pale Ale

Overly citrusy in the nose, more than any other beer I've had. Taste was very citrusy at first before rye and hops kicked in late for bitter finish. My favorite one so far. Almost like an IPA but not as hoppy and with some different tastes being a rye beer.

Goose Island Naughty Goose

Very malty in the smell and taste. Brown sugar being the most distinguishable. Again, lacked hops in the finish, but wasn't bad.

Goose Island Alt Bier

Also had a slight coffee aroma and smokiness to its scent and taste. Very smooth and crisp, also did not have a lot of hops.

Goose Island 80 Schilling

Very smoky and toasted in the nose and taste. No hoppiness (its a Scotch Ale), but enough bitterness to balance out the malty sweetness. Solid scotch ale.

Goose Island Brewery

We had a great time at Goose Island today. It started with a delicious pint of IPA, followed by a tour of the brewery and tasting session that was very informative. During the tasting we tried six different beers and I took some short notes on all six which is what I'll be posting now. I definitely recommend checking out the brewery if you're ever in Chicago!

Update from Goose Island Brewery in Chicago

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7-iMiXL0_E&sns=em

Meantime Brewing Company IPA

This was the second IPA I had at Jake's at the suggestion of our waitress. It's a very rare and hard to find IPA that was described as "hoppy wine". Its from a cask so it poured with very little head and a decent aroma of mostly malty orange peel mixed with some hops. Taste was very malty I thought, but smooth and finished with some great hoppiness. Nodes of citrus throughout, but more of an orange peel taste than a straight orange or grapefruit sweetness. It was medium bodied and not overly carbonated at all. Overall, a very interesting beer that I'd recommend trying if you can find it.

Now on to the goose!

Central Waters Glacial Trail IPA

Stopped into Jake Melinick's Corner Tap for a bite to eat and some cold brews before heading over to Goose Island Brewery. First of the two IPAs I enjoyed was a traditional American IPA. It poured a burnt orange with a solid head. Aroma was hoppy with a tad of citrus as was the taste. Nothing over the top in terms of citrus flavor and hoppiness, with most of the taste being earthy. Not a bad IPA, but definitely not a super hoppy one that I'd recommend to hopheads.

Loaded Landshark @ Margaritaville Bar & Grill Chicago

Sure, I've already reviewed Landshark, but not a "Loaded Landshark", which consists of a Landshark Lager with a shot of Margaritaville Lime Tequila poured in it. It is absolutely delicious and warms your body right up when coming in from the cold. I would recommend replicating this simple recipe at home, as I plan on doing myself. Fins Up!

Guinness @ Fado Irish Pub in Chicago

Stumbled upon this bar after leaving The Local. Its a chain Irish pub, but is very cozy and has a local Irish bar feel to it rather than a boring chain. Mickey, our bartender, poured a beautiful pint for me that had the perfect white head on it. Taste was very, very smooth and served at a nice cool temperature. It was not overly bitter and didn't seem too thin in the mouthful. Definitely a top 5 pint, but not quite on the level of the one I had at The Dublin House (Red Bank, NJ) due to it being a bit watery. Great Irish pub though and a delicious Guinness. Slainte!

Two Brother's North Wind Imperial Stout

A little back story. If you watch the show "Bar Rescue" on Spike, there was an episode about a bar in Chicago that was renovated called Blue Frog 22. They changed the name to The Local after the renovation and after watching it, we decided that when we were in Chicago we had to go. Walked in there today around 1:30 and couldn't of been more disappointed. Service was slow, place was kind of run down (not in a good, dive bar way) and there was loud rap music blasting for the short time we were there. Mimi should be ashamed!!

As for the beer, Two Brother's is a local brewery that had two beers on tap at The Local, an imperial stout and a belgian wheat I think. I opted for the stout of course. Poured into a snifter glass and had a little coffee aroma, but mostly hops and slight alcohol. Taste was malty with a little chocolate and coffee in the front, but finished very alcoholy. It is 8 percent abv, but they could have hid the alcohol a bit more. Was disappointed that it didn't have more coffee, chocolate or some other flavor, but it did pack some nice hops towards the middle. Overall, not a bad stout, but nothing to write home about (literally I'm in Chicago and there will be no letters sent about this one). Cheers!

Best Tap Handle Ever

Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat Ale. Didn't try the beer, but the tap handle is literally a telephone.

Guinness @ Le Bar in the lobby of the Sofitel Hotel Chicago

Never been more surprised in my life. I ordered this Guinness as a night cap after a long night of drinking figuring it would be decent, but subpar and I was shocked! While it isn't a top tier pour, this Guinness was solidly smooth with no hiicups on the pour. Great job by the bartender taking the time to pour it, which resulted in a delightful pint. Was it perfect? Hell no! But it was definitely a top 10 Guinness from the windy city. Cheers!