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After The Final Pour - S4E10 - Short Fuse - For Goodness Shakes Baja Blast
115 Plays4 years ago
On this episode of After The Final Pour, Brandon and Tony jump the shark with Short Fuse Brewing "For Goodness Shakes" Baja Blast Milkshake IPA.
Why jump the shark you say? Well, we have Brian from Short Fuse joining us on next weeks full episode and we were too damn excited to wait to talk about their beer.
https://www.shortfusebrewing.com/
Thanks to Kevin and Deb Goggin for the theme song.
Outro music by Fluid Minds
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Transcript
Show Introduction and Format Overview
00:00:30
Speaker
When life gives you an empty cup Just crack a smile and fill it up Fill it up Welcome to After the Final Pour
00:00:48
Speaker
I'm Tony Golic. Yes, you are. I am, thank you. Thank you for confirming that. You know, you guys know what this is. This is after the final pour. I'm Tony Golic. It's part of the malting hour. It's what we do. We throw these in between where Brandon and I, and sometimes Clark, drink a beer either together or with a guest of some sort tonight, it's just me and Brandon.
Preview of ShortFuse Brewery Episode
00:01:12
Speaker
I am Tony Golic, one of the hosts of the malting hour, joined always with Brandon Winningcher.
00:01:18
Speaker
Clark is not here. He has already had this beer that had his own thoughts on it. And it's interesting because this is kind of a precursor to next week's episode because we had a chance to go to short views.
00:01:34
Speaker
just recently and sat down with her Brian, and we had to drink some really good beers we got to find out a little bit more about short fuse, and how they do everything, and actually reflecting back on that and you guys will
00:01:49
Speaker
understand what I'm about to say. That interview, as fun as it was, it's kind of all over the place. Now that looking back at it, like, we had some questions that we wanted to ask, but we kind of just jumped around. We'll see how I edit it. Yeah.
00:02:04
Speaker
But it was a lot of fun. Brian was great. It was his day off, and he came in to the brewery to talk to us. So thank you, Brian, from ShortFuse. But we got to take some beers home that day. Also, thank you again, Brian. Yeah, thanks for the beers. We all grabbed four separate, sorry, we all, the three of us grabbed three separate four packs and traded beers with each other.
Tasting 'Baja Blast Milkshake IPA'
00:02:33
Speaker
And the one that we're drinking is the one that you grabbed, Brandon, For Goodness Shakes Baja Blast Milkshake IPA. And Brandon, why don't you, you've got better lighting as usual. Why don't you read off what's going on in this beer? There's a lot, there's a lot happening. There's words so we can read. So I love words. This is like Tony said, For Goodness Shakes. It's an India pale ale with cherry, orange,
00:03:03
Speaker
Lime, grapefruit, and mango. It's a variant of our milkshake IPA series. This version is loaded up, this, okay, I thought I was misreading, but I'm gonna go with it. This version is loaded up lime and tropical fruits of cherry, orange, grapefruit, and mango, made to replicate a milkshake with the addition of milk sugar for a nice creamy body and fruit puree to sweeten it up. Pleasant bitterness at the finish to bring home this IPA.
00:03:32
Speaker
So yeah, when I first popped it open, I smelled blueberries. Like literally it was like, maybe not blueberries, but that's the first thing I picked out, which is not in this beer, but there was like this very strong fruity aroma.
00:03:46
Speaker
And there still is like, it's, it's, it's lingering. And this beer is coming in at seven and a half percent. Um, it is, we, we, we had an impression about it when we first took a sip and started talking about it. And now that I've taken more sips and poured more and hearing more of the fruit that's in there,
00:04:09
Speaker
I actually like it. I actually kind of like it a little bit more than the way I felt when we first started talking about it. Yeah. Recording. Yeah. So and then it's growing on me. It's no secret of our, you know, how we, you know, kind of go away from no check IPAs. We hate them. Not all of them. Not all of them. Not all of them. Not all of them. No. Very select few that we like.
00:04:30
Speaker
Brickstone we like. I know there's a couple other ones out there that we- Yeah, so I don't want to say we hate them, but like just some of them are just not done well, I guess is the best way to say it. So- Doesn't fit our palette, so to speak. I picked this four pack specifically because we have questions about, you know, milkshake IPAs to begin with. And it said Baja Blast on there. I'm like, really? Now I got to get it. So- Like the Mountain Dew.
00:04:58
Speaker
Yes, but it was also me from Taco Bell. I'm going to get this and not get the like eleven and a half percent beer that Clark was drinking all morning. That's got to make its way on to. Oh, it will pour. I mean, that's at some point. Yeah, it just sounds so good.
00:05:16
Speaker
But yeah, so it kind of to what Tony said when we first poured it, I was getting these fruity aromas. I was getting blueberry, but when he said blueberry, I can see where he's coming from. And then the first sip was just, I guess it's overwhelming. There's a lot going on there. It's a bit, at first sip, it's kind of muddled. Like you said, there's a lot going on. Not muddled in the sense where it's like,
00:05:44
Speaker
You know, you don't get anything. You get a lot of the fruits that it mentions. But as like I said, as we as I've poured more and I kept taking more sips and more sips and more sips, I don't think I would classify this myself.
00:06:02
Speaker
as the milkshake IPA, there's a standard of what I've come to expect from a milkshake IPA. This to me is just a very fruity beer, very fruity IPA. There is a lot going on here. My first impression was I did not like it. Now, as I'm drinking it a little bit more,
00:06:27
Speaker
Brandon, one of the things that I said to you was that it kind of reminds you of a limeade, the cherry limeade, you know, like the old soda where cherry and lime or limeade. Was that a soda? Was limeade a soda? Or is that like Kool-Aid? I don't know, but I know exactly what you're talking about. I don't think, but I don't think it was a soda. I think limeade was, it's not a carbonated drink. Although I feel like if you go back in time, limeade was something that was carbonated, carbonated, I don't know.
00:06:53
Speaker
Hey everybody, if you have an idea of what Limeade is, send it to us. What's throwing, actually Anzu was throwing me off with this beer is the bitterness. I feel like if it was less bitter, it would be something that I would enjoy more. I think it's bad. I don't think there's a market for this or that there isn't a market for
Exploring Beer Bitterness
00:07:13
Speaker
this. And the thing is it's 30 IBUs. So it's not that it's overly bitter, but I think the issue is that you're getting all this fruitiness and
00:07:23
Speaker
Like the, you know, the can says there's a pleasant bitterness at the end. But I think that bitterness kind of, it like distract, it totally detracts everything else. Like now it's like, okay, that's all you can focus on on the finish is that is the, the hoppy bitterness. But I think it's the grapefruit that might be throwing it off. That probably is like grapefruit, I love grapefruit.
00:07:49
Speaker
grapefruit IPAs. I love grapefruit and paleo. I like grapefruit in general, but I feel like maybe with the lime here and whatever hops that are used, like you said, it's a very low IBU IPA, but there's just kind of like this back of the tongue, like bitterness that is not as stringent, but it's kind of sharp. I think it's grapefruit. I think it is. Yeah. I think it's trying to find that balance.
00:08:19
Speaker
But like I said, if maybe if the grapefruit was taken out of this, I think this would be solid. I do think that there are a lot of people out there that at least I know who would really like this, who would really, really enjoy this beer.
00:08:36
Speaker
And yeah, go ahead. I was gonna say, everybody, go ahead. As you guys will hear from next week's episode, we talk about what ShortFuse does with their beers. There's a lot of over the top beers. We talk about their Barry White, their white wheat ale that tastes like gummy bears, and then they have another beer.
00:09:02
Speaker
where they actually have like sour patch kids in their beer. The fruits that they use, how they add these flavors to their beers is pretty impressive. They definitely go over the top and they really go all in. And it's well thought out as well. Like there isn't just like, hey, let's just throw a whole bunch of shit together and here's a beer. I just feel like maybe it's the grapefruit that's kind of
00:09:32
Speaker
hitting me the wrong way, if that makes sense. Yeah. And I would, just to kind of piggyback off that. I'm not going to dump this beer by any means. No, no, no. That's what I'm saying. It's like, it's a very good beer. It's, it, I can definitely drink it. And the more I drink it, the more I actually enjoy it. You know, you get used to those flavors, you know, you kind of, you're expecting that bitterness at the end and like, you know, you just kind of,
00:09:57
Speaker
you know wait for the next sip and it's just as enjoyable because the flavor profile you get like right up front is super prominent and what I told Tony like right before we started recording was because we both took a sip right in the beginning and I was like I'm getting a lot of cherry
00:10:15
Speaker
And I was getting that right at the beginning. And now it's like, I'm getting cherry and lime and I'm starting to be able to taste more of those different fruits more. And I like it.
00:10:31
Speaker
this is just weird and kind of gross. I just kind of licked my lips and I was like, I got orange. I got orange. That's not weird, man. It's a part of the whole experience. Reminiscent of like drinking orange juice and like licking your lips. I was like, oh man, there's the orange. I'm like the one place for you to hang out. Yeah. Thanks for choosing my lips. I really like the lime in this and maybe it's because there have been certain beers that we've talked about
00:10:56
Speaker
that have lime in it. And I actually have my, my lime goes, uh, this is the most patient I've been with a beer because I've been so busy that my beer has just sat, it's done fermenting. It's been done fermenting, but I'm actually giving it like the full. Almost two weeks to sit in the fermentation vessel, uh, to just kind
Reflections on Milkshake IPAs
00:11:16
Speaker
of, you know, do its thing and then finish and make sure that everything's done there. And I'm going to transfer it soon.
00:11:21
Speaker
Uh, but I really, the lime now is kind of sticking out for me and I really, really liked that. I don't, I wouldn't, I'm not, there's a sweetness to it. I don't know if I would classify this as a milkshake IPA. I'm not, I am going to compare a beer here, but I'm not saying like, Hey, this sucks in comparison, but that brickstone, you know, milkshake IP that we had really hit it for me where I was like, Oh, okay. I see that. And then.
00:11:50
Speaker
There've been some milkshake IPAs from Maplewood that I've had that are very good. As far as a milkshake goes and what that idea is that I've come to accept is that there is like this like vanilla sweetness that you're having like a milkshake. And I don't necessarily get that there is a sweetness to it. I guess I would, for me personally, I think
00:12:20
Speaker
And honestly, I haven't had Baja Blast Mountain Dew, so I don't know what that's like. But even going back now and smelling it, as you guys can hear, as I'm taking these deep whiffs of the beer, I get a lot of lime. I get a lot of lime from it. And I think that's what I'm finding very pleasant about this beer and what I really like about this beer. I would definitely have it again, as far as
00:12:49
Speaker
trying. It's not turning me off from doing to trying other variants of this beer. I just don't know if it fits the milkshake IPA criteria that I've come to know. Yeah. And I could and that's just my opinion that other people might think otherwise but
00:13:07
Speaker
I really do like the lime. There is like this lingering flavor of the taste of lime in my mouth as I'm drinking, keep drinking this. So to your point about that, I think what would be nice is if we did have that vanilla aspect that you would get in like those typical milkshake IPAs, like the vanilla and
00:13:30
Speaker
And I guess that's kind of missing because this is drinking like an IPA. It doesn't have that like that additional little bit of thickness or a little bit of body that goes with it. But I think that is what would tie it all together for making it like for the description and making it be like a milkshake in a glass with all these fruits. Yeah, I think that exactly what you're saying like that vanilla
00:13:58
Speaker
almost like vanilla ice cream sweetness and take off that back bitterness that I think that we're getting from the grapefruit would really round this beer out to make it what I think they were trying to go for. But then again, like I said, I think there is people out there who would really enjoy this. I mean, it's just that back bitterness that's kind of bothering me with this, knowing that it's a milkshake IPA.
00:14:27
Speaker
But like I said, the lime really stands out. I am getting a bit of the orange and a bit of that cherry. And when I open, I don't get a whole bunch of mango. I think all those citrus flavors are kind of overpowering the mango. And I think that a little bit more lactose would really, or vanilla would up.
00:14:47
Speaker
the milkshake experience of it. It's very smooth. It's very silky. It reminds me of a nice hazy IPA. And again, what I'm about to say is not a knock on this beer, but we did see floaters in there, which also means that they're using real ingredients. Sometimes
00:15:07
Speaker
that sediment kind of gets left over into the beer that doesn't get filtered out. That doesn't bother me. I actually, when I see stuff like that in a good beer, I'm like, oh, look at that. There's something still in there because you use these whole ingredients. And from what we've learned from short fuse, they really do go all in on their beers. So
00:15:27
Speaker
I think it's a fine enough beer. I definitely wouldn't say it's a bad beer by any means. I don't think it's a beer that I would necessarily seek out, but I will continue to try the For Goodness Shakes series because having this, it's good enough for me to want to try another one to see what else is out there because this is our first
00:15:51
Speaker
for us, at least our introduction to the forgiveness shakes, milkshake IPAs that they do. And having what we've had in the past and having what we had for the interview, I can only imagine what the other ones tastes like. You know what I mean? Yeah. You know, piggybacking off that, like, so when you hear the full interview that we did with Brian, like,
00:16:14
Speaker
Like Nola, I love the beer that I had. And I think it was kind of the sentiment was kind of well-rounded. We each chose a different beer to drink during that episode. And we each got beer to take home, like we said, but we kind of did a mix up your pack. So we did that.
00:16:33
Speaker
And, you know, the one that I had recently was phenomenal. I loved that beer. Which one did you have? What was it? The Juicy? Juicy Luce? Juicy Luce? Juicy Luce is a burger. I think it's Juicy Luce. Yeah. When I just kept calling it Juicy Luce, I was like, I was like, all right.
00:16:55
Speaker
But regardless, you see this is a burger short fuse. The juices loses what it's called. Yeah. And yeah, that was phenomenal. Yeah, it was really, really good. It was actually I put it up there as people have listened before in the past, like Lejeux and Son of Juice are some of my favorite, like local hazy IPAs that are readily available that aren't like those crazy over the top
00:17:23
Speaker
hot bombs or sweet, sweet hazy IPAs. But yeah, the juices loose is really, really good. Yeah, agreed. And then you got this one. And then I grabbed a tropical hurt locker that I
00:17:37
Speaker
gave a can to Jeff's daughter and she tried it today and she said it was really, really good. And that's a raspberry. Oh shit. I think it's like raspberry and passion fruit or apricot, something off the double check the can with a little bit of lactose. So there is that sweetness in there as well. And she really, really liked it. And she's someone that she doesn't always agree on the beers that I like. So
00:18:07
Speaker
The fact that she really, really liked it, I know that I'm really gonna like it. So I'm gonna save that can to split with my wife. So I'm very excited to try that one. But yeah, so I mean, I think this is just, you know what?
Diversity in ShortFuse's Beers
00:18:21
Speaker
You had said like not to be gross, to lick your lips, orange juice. Now the aftertaste in my mouth that I haven't taken a sip in a while, there's kind of like that lingering orange juice aftertaste in my mouth. I kind of feel like this beer grows on me.
00:18:38
Speaker
It is growing on me. There is like this, there is like this really nice tropical fruit. I feel like I'm trying to like justify this beer and I'm not, I'm not. It's just, there is that like, that, that strong bitterness or that bitterness, not strong, but like this bitterness bite at the end that just kind of makes me like a little bit of put off by this beer, but it's not a bad beer. It's just,
00:19:06
Speaker
No, and like I said, I think that's, well, I think it's the grapefruit and you have to, if you know it and expect it, it's completely fine. And like, once we've kind of figured that out, like drinking it, I enjoy it. Like this is solid, man. Again, I'm not a huge milkshake IPA person, so I wouldn't necessarily go back, but knowing that there's a huge line of this, and so I just,
00:19:30
Speaker
while we were talking kind of went in untapped and I checked this. I saw. But it came up a whole bunch of like the whole series and like there's a ton of these. So I would be interested in trying like
00:19:41
Speaker
many more of these, you know. I think to do this beer justice, you know, and as you guys will hear next week, our interview with Brian from ShortFuse, that how much we really do like their beers and how much we've enjoyed it, that maybe we need to revisit another Forgiveness Shakes for an after final pour with Clark. Clark's not on this, he didn't, this was kind of a last minute, I think is the worst.
00:20:12
Speaker
Brandon, you're about to go out of town and we all had this beer, but Clark wasn't able to meet up with us tonight. Brandon, Clark had this beer already, and he also kind of had the same feeling about this beer, although he is also suffering from some post COVID symptoms, which a lot of people are suffering from.
00:20:37
Speaker
that if you had COVID it'll it'll change your taste and and scent so he had some different feelings about this beer uh that it just wasn't clicking right from what I'm hearing people who have had COVID certain things certain uh food or and I don't think it was on the interview but Clark was talking about um there are certain wines that he has now that like
00:21:01
Speaker
If he has a red wine, there's like a nutty flavor to it that like nuttiness is not in wine at all. So we can't really trust what Clark says anymore. He's just been.
00:21:15
Speaker
It's a bit nutty. I knew it was coming because I heard it. Yeah, he there's a guy I work with. He had told me that when it comes potatoes, there's things like that when he french fries, potato, whatever, there is this like off taste to him. So
00:21:40
Speaker
That sucks, man. But yeah, I think Clark did kind of share the same sentiments that we had as far as, you know, there's just something about it that's it's good, not something that maybe we would necessarily have as far as this variant of it. So short fuse, there's things about it that I like, things about it that I don't like. We're going to be as honest as possible. But
00:22:07
Speaker
For you guys to hear about some other short-fused beers that we had that were phenomenal. Brandon, you had Hopcycle. Do you remember the hops that were in there? Was it Mosaic and Citra? Yep. Fantastic combination. Clark had, I think it was called Shortstacks, which was a
00:22:25
Speaker
wheat wine that had maple syrup and cinnamon. Yeah, 11 and a half percent. So that's what he was doing. Because that's all that Clark could taste was me. And he thought that was great. And I had a wild fermented peach beer. I don't remember the name of it, but
00:22:42
Speaker
It was something. Yeah, I had Brian Depeche Mode. It was Depeche Mode. I had Depeche Mode. But that was like very crisp and clean, not clean, but like, yeah, no, it was crisp, clean, tart and very much a Peche Sauvage. There you go. It was very refreshing. That was a very refreshing beer, especially for how hot it was Saturday morning.
00:23:08
Speaker
that we were having a beer in a brewery first thing in the morning. It was fantastic. But you know, so short fuse, keep doing what you're doing. Looking forward to trying more of the for goodness shakes. For goodness shakes. Yeah, man. That's about it. You got anything else, Brandon? No, man. Like you said, I'm
00:23:32
Speaker
looking forward to trying that. And just to kind of do an extra bit of promotion for short views. I know they have an event coming up called hops in the summer. Yeah, maybe it's happening on June 12. I'm pretty sure you can get tickets on their website. But it's kind of like, I don't want to say it's a good old fashioned beer.
00:23:52
Speaker
you know, beer fest, because I have not been to it. But I think it's kind of the way Brian describes it in the episode is that you can come there, try beers from obviously short views, and then they're going to have some guest breweries on tap as well. And it's kind of just a promotion of hops. They normally do it in the spring, but I know COVID is a bitch and has changed some things.
Upcoming 'Hops in the Summer' Event
00:24:14
Speaker
So this allows them to kind of, you know, they're now able to do it this summer.
00:24:19
Speaker
I'm sure it's a limited ticket series, but pick up your tickets and you can totally check out hops in the summer I think we kind of talked about possibly going out there too so we'll see, you know, yeah, I talked to neighbors today about it and I think we're all going to plan on trying to go out there. They're going to have guest taps as well. Yeah, and when we were there there's like
00:24:41
Speaker
over 20 beers on tap at short views. They have so much. And one of the beers that we didn't try was their Shamrock Stout, Shamrock Shake Stout that I regret not trying. I should have gone with that. I don't regret getting the peach beer, but after doing the Shamrock Stout from Goose Island, I wanted to have some more of that chocolate mint goodness. Yeah, Clark was kind of pushing us in that direction.
00:25:09
Speaker
And actually, in theory, it was only six and a half percent. So probably wouldn't have been as a bad decision as Clark made. So, you know, I'm sure he was feeling very good by the time he was heading home.
00:25:21
Speaker
Uh, but yeah, so, um, yeah, short fuse. Thank you, uh, for these beers. Um, like we said, you know, maybe, maybe the next time the guys at my job, uh, order from Taco Bell and they get a Baja blast, I'm going to ask for one so I can kind of compare it to it. Cause when I saw that, I was like, you know, okay, maybe there's a Taco Bell that's near short fuse that we didn't know of.
Taco Bell vs. Authentic Mexican Food
00:25:43
Speaker
Uh, and you know, that's what.
00:25:44
Speaker
That's what inspired them to do it. Maybe they eat taco. Hey man, I'm not shitting on Taco Bell. I love authentic Mexican food, but also I fucking love Taco Bell. Taco Bell is delicious. That is my promotion of the night Taco Bell. Give us some free tacos.
00:26:03
Speaker
They're not a sponsor. They're not a sponsor yet. I just want free tacos and chocolates. But I also love authentic Mexican food. OK, that's that's I think that's a good place to end it. Tony's rant. We're not getting any Marvel movies or Marvel shows, but we could. But we could. We're just going to end it with Taco Bell.
00:26:24
Speaker
Brandon, love you, man. Love you, too. And everybody, thanks for listening. We'll see you guys next week for the full interview of Shortfuse and Brian. Bye.
Episode Conclusion and Social Media Reminders
00:26:36
Speaker
This has been The Malting Hour. Be sure to follow us on all social media by searching The Malting Hour and at themaltinghour.com. You can also follow us on social media platforms individually. Brandon can be found on Instagram as bmdub81. On Twitter, bdub81.
00:26:52
Speaker
On Untapped, B-Dub drinks beer. Tony can be found on Instagram and Untapped under Asafelp Chicago. On Twitter, TheAsafelpChicago. Clark can be found as Clarkhouseki on all three. Be sure to subscribe, like, and rate the show on your preferred podcast listening platform. Until next time, cheers from all of us at The Malting Hour.