Mash Tun Miller: Beer Blog

I'm a beer ticker with a passion for beer and all the tchotchkes that come with it.

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333 Calories. Well effin worth it.

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Easily to drink and darn tasty. #beerporn

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It has been quite the Christmas season! #beerporn #beer

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Finally found this. Sculpin by Ballast Point is one hell of an IPA. Add in some grapefruit? It’s mind boggling. So you get the piney and bitter citrus on the nose…but when you take in your first mouthful…just let it sit. Take in all the flavors. The semi-sweet hops, silky smooth mouthfeel, then the grapefruit rind bitterness. I love it because I haven’t tasted anything else like it. It’s not like they brewed regular Sculpin and threw in grapefruit juice. It’s well balanced and just a tasty beverage. Refreshing like a spring morning….easily a lawn mowing beer. She sits in around 7% ABV…so two or three will take you were you need to be. $15 for a six pack is a little pricey. But well worth it. It’s rare to see but worth every penny on taste. If you find it. Buy it. Share a bottle or two and hoard the rest! Drink them fresh. Cheers!

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So Great Lakes is changing it's logo next year! The artist revealed in January. The new logo unveiled in May. Time to hoard as much GLBC swag as possible. Very curious as to what they'll come up with. If Saranac can do a minor facelift...why not Great Lakes?

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Great hauls and some great tastings. Some rare Evil Twin and some delicious new IPAs. #beerporn

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Just some beer hunting. Found some of Maine's Linch today @psbeer picked up two bottles. One for myself and the other for a Christmas present. One of the cleanest, well balanced IPAs I've ever had. Day Four of the Beer Advent Calendar with @stbcbeer 2XMAS. Delicious. Found a stockpile of Dogfish 120! Only $8.49 per bottle. Seen it elsewhere in town for $12+ per bottle. Cheers! Happy beer hunting!

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Great times with my little brother today. Chased down some Cigar City at Beverage World and some tasty brews at Peekskill Brewery! Cheers and happy thanksgiving everyone! #beerporn

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Slowly building up the proper beer stock for this year's BEER Advent Calendar. So far so good. Gotta pick up 2XMAS, Harpoon Winter Warmer, and Great Lakes Christmas ale soooooon. CHEERS! #beer #craftbeerporn #beersofchristmas

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Just a clean, crisp, fruity, citrusy, awesome IPA. Cheers Westbrook. Keep up the great work and welcome to New York State! #beerporn

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How I became obsessed with Westie.

So you want to get your hands on some Westvleteren. But is Westie really that great? In one word...hell yeah...in my humble opinion. Complex as hell, sweet nectar of the beer Gods.

My little brother told me the story of how Trappist monks brew the beer and you basically have to travel to Belgium to get it. So that's what we did.

Long story short, my brother was studying abroad in London. We joked for months about how my dad, my brother and myself should travel to Europe for a week and do Paris, Brussels, and London. Daunting task with a huge price tag. Luckily my father has a "work hard play hard" mentality. He's worked his ass off for just over 30 years with a great company. As he always says..."hard work pays dividends" and he was ready to collect. Basically...if it wasn't for my awesome dad...there is no way in hell I would have ever made it to the beer capital of the world. He chalks it up to a once-in-a-lifetime experience...one that I personally will NEVER forget.

Within the last year or so I've been obsessed with Beer Advocate's Top 250 list. It gives you a gauge on what's what in the beer world. For a while the #1 beer in the world was the elusive Westvleteren 12...AKA WESTIE 12. So why was this the BEST beer in the world? Well in part...it is somewhat difficult to get your hands on some. Unless you lived in Belgium of course...and even there it is sought after by many. It's brewed by monks...yes...monks...at the abbey of Saint Sixtus in Westvleteren, Belgium. (They actually released it ONCE in the United States for $80USD you got 6-Westie 12s and two chalices at select beer stores scattered around the states back in May of 2012. But if you're in Europe... they have a schedule on their website when to call and place an order for whatever the monks are brewing that week, could be Westie 12, 8, or the blonde. You try to get through on this phone number, set up an appointment to come pick up the beer, drive to the abbey store and pay for your crates of beer. 24 bottles to a crate. After deposit for the crate and the bottles, you're looking at $65 USD or about $2.71 for one Westie 12. Westie 8 and 6 are a little bit cheaper. SOMETIMES they will have the Westies available in 6 packs and you can pick up a chalice, hat or t-shirt at In de Vrede...the official abbey store. They also take down your license plate number and make you wait at least 60 days before you can pick up crates of Westie again. That's how I assume most of the locals do it. 

Here's how we got OUR Westies. We went to a touristy beer shop in Brussels and payed through the nose. That's it. "de Bier Tempel" was the name of the shop as I recall and it was fantastic. A little pricey...but they had something for everybody. So remember that $2.71 per Westie 12 at the abbey store? Well it was marked up to about $15USD per bottle. When you take into account car rental, gas, and how far the drive is from Brussels it was worth it to just pay through the nose and take it like a man. The only ones available were the 12 + 8. We did end up finding a BLONDE at a store called "Beer Planet" but it seemed a bit sketchy...as in dust on the cap, the beer was warm inside the store, but it was June after all. So we skipped getting the blonde.The ones we picked up were bottled two weeks prior.

In total we bought 6 Westie 12s and 4 Westie 8s. We enjoyed a couple in Brussels...but the rest we packed up in bubble wrap to put in our checked luggage for the plane ride home. EVERY single one made it back safe and sound. Invest in some fat bubble wrap and tape if you plan on making the trip. Bring an EXTRA suitcase so you can fill it with all the beer treasure. Be prepared to enjoy the amazing complexity of a Westie. It's a beer that I've hunted and tracked down. This is just one story of hundreds from that trip. Here's to tracking down a Westie of your own...make sure you share it with a friend or loved one. It's quite the experience...and it's the experience that makes it special.

CHEERS! 

Ronnie FN

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Ska Brewing Company Hoperation Ivy Wet Hop IPA (Local Series #24), 22 oz., 6.7% ABV. DRINK ALL THE FRESH HOP BEERS!

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Finally....finally... This makes me very happy.

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This was a pretty amazing tap takeover at World of Beers in Syracuse. 25 Taps. Evil Twin. Awesome. I've always been a big fan of Evil Twin stuff. Love the whole "gypsy brewer" mystique. Most of the stuff I've had before from Evil Twin had been fairly decent including, Yin & Yang, Falco, Hipster Ale, and Ryan and the Beaster Bunny...but this event raised the bar.

As you can see by the beer list, it got rather pricey and quick. The best way to at least "sample" these beers was to break it up into flights. A flight was anywhere from $15-$20 for four 5oz pours. So 6 flights, 4 beers each and a beer shot we could try them all. Well friggin' worth it. The first flight was of their "light side" which included Justin Blåbær, Bikini, Mosaic Single Hop Imperial India Pale American Wheat Lager, and Loomi Weisse. The 2nd flight was their "dark side" which included Turkish Delight, Lil' B, I Love You With My Stout, and Yin. Our 3rd flight was the Femme Fatale series which included Noir, Sudachi, Yuzu, and Kabosu. The rest of the flights were "make your own" at $21 a piece...but well worth it. 

All in all...Justin Blåbær, Turkish Delight, Xmas Eve At A New York Hotel Room, Spicy Nachos Aged In Tequila Barrel, and  Aún Más Café Jesús really were the cream of the crop. Molotov Cocktail was a huge let down...basically an alco-bomb. So was the Loomi Weisse...just not our cup of tea...it was a weak sour. But still...seriously...it's Evil Friggin' Twin.

We ended up buying 3 bottles... 2-12oz, Even More Jesus Aged in Port Barrels and Even More Jesus Aged in Bourbon Barrels. The 1-22oz is Imperial Biscotti Break Bourbon Barrel Aged. Those will have to wait for a beer tasting or something...probably going to let them sit in the cellar for a few more months. The bottles were a bit pricey too. $10 each for the 12oz beers and $20 for the 22oz. Not a bad night at all.

So Evil Twin is a "gypsy brewer", they brew in 10 of the best breweries in the world, none of which they call home, hence the gypsy...so there was no free swag to be had. The only branded thing I saw...were the tap handles...and they weren't about to let go of those. In case you're interested you can find a few t-shirts here at BrewTees.com.

The Evil Twin website is great. Really goes to show you how many beers Jeppe and the whole Evil Twin team produce. CHEERS.

Ronnie FN