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!