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Episode 153 - Christmas and Winter Beers (feat. Matthew Mauldenhauer)
53 Plays21 days ago
This week we get into the holiday spirit with our old friend Matthew. We sampled five beers we thought fit the Christmas/Winter spirit. We're also joined by a Christmas Elf who we slowly get drunk throughout the episode. Sorry, Santa.
Beers on this episode:
Half Acre Beer - Far Star
Anchor Brewing Company - Christmas Ale 2022
Tree House Brewing Company - Bear
The Lost Abbey - Gnoel de Abbey
Great Lakes Brewing Company - Cookie Exchange: Peanut Butter Blossom
Theme music provided by Myke Kelli (@mykekelli)
Outro music provided by @FluidMinds
Check out all our episodes at www.themaltinghour.com
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Transcript
Uninvited Weekend Plans
00:00:01
Speaker
I wasn't invited on Saturday, so... You were tonight, actually. Yeah, like, it was a half-assed invite. I was like, oh yeah, I forgot, you're a person too. Thanks for bringing me to your house. Am I fucking bourbon back then?
Christmas Beers and Episode Banter
00:00:15
Speaker
um This week, we're drinking Christmas and winter beers with Matthew Moldenhauer and A Christmas Hour.
Guatemala Adventure Tales
00:00:22
Speaker
This is episode 153 of The
00:00:55
Speaker
And coming back from his excursions in Guatemala, where he... Oh man, I wish I knew animals that were in Guatemala, because I could've... What animals are in Guatemala? I don't know, but they're definitely scorpions, which scared the shit out of me. Okay, okay, let me start
Tattoo Stories and Mortal Kombat
00:01:09
Speaker
that again. And joining us back from his trip in Guatemala, where he wrestled scorpions the size of... Now this is going nowhere. That's how I got my new tattoo. It was done by scorpioning. A scorpion did that? Yeah.
00:01:19
Speaker
I thought you said some dude who was with some other dude that was bleeding from some motorcycle accident. Yeah, well, uh, his name is Scorpion, right? Like from Mortal Kombat? Yes! Get over here! You should have known that! His name is Scorpion, duh! Introduce yourself. Matthew Moldenhauer. Welcome back, Matthew. Thanks. It's always fun to be here. Yeah, well, we're happy to have you.
00:01:39
Speaker
That sounds less... ah Enthusiastic. yeah yeah It's still more enthusiastic than the last time. Than Krampus. Than the Krampus episode. Yay, Krampus!
Apologies for Audio Issues
00:01:48
Speaker
I was actually very excited for that. That was a great episode. Sorry everybody, if your speakers are destroyed or your ears are bleeding listening to that episode. ah Tim's mic was just... like Tim wasn't even talking that loud, but tim's that that particular mic, that's one of the first mics that Brandon and I used, it was just, it was it was catching everything. That's just tim Tim. You can be at the Great American Beer Festival, and I heard Tim laughing, and there's $20,000 people, and you're like, oh, and there's Tim.
December Weather and Winter Beers
00:02:17
Speaker
God damn it, Tim. Well, thank you for for joining us. You know, here we are at full swing of December. Air's getting colder, particularly today, where it's going to be like negative 17 tonight, that's or seven. It's really exciting. So that can be only one thing.
00:02:34
Speaker
It's time for some winter beers. And what better way to start our winter beer episode or Christmas beer episode with a nice cold lager.
Beer Tasting: Far Star Lager
00:02:42
Speaker
I saw this today. I didn't know this existed, so I was pretty excited. It's from Half Acre, Far Star, cold weather lager. And for some special requests, into the mic. Oh, I hit the mic. Gotta do the gotta do the hard pour. Dude, there's it's a one 12-ounce can.
00:03:01
Speaker
I've got to share. Yeah. I already feel like I s- OK. He's better at it than you are. OK. Well, then he can, yeah, enjoy that bottle or that- You stole her glass. Well, I guess I'll be the one who good drinks it first, since it's all foam in Brandon's cup. Then you take this one, because I already drank out of that glass. All right. Ooh. Ooh. OK. Here we go. Here we go.
00:03:28
Speaker
ah I like the color of it. That looks like beer, man. Beer flavored beer. Well, I mean, uh, you know, it's got like that golden straw color to it. I always love, I don't do this enough because I feel like it's part of the visual experience for me when I can lift up the beer glass and see the bottom of the head.
00:03:45
Speaker
You know, all the little bubbles that are sitting at the bottom. And now we all look like idiots. Look at the bottom of our glass. Nice. You guys can do it. Morons. No, I don't know why. Mine's just made in China. Faker, you have some explaining to do. No. ah What do you guys think of this? I mean this... I should have brought another one, sorry. This tastes like a good macro beer. Like, I don't know if there's any adjuncts, like corn or rice, but like, it feels like...
Macro Lagers as Seasonal Beers?
00:04:13
Speaker
It's just a nice, it feels like a corn lager, like it has a little bit of um that body too, a little bit macro, but really well done. Obviously you can see straight through it, which is beautiful. It's a good lager.
00:04:25
Speaker
Yeah, I was. It's funny because it's we're doing it as a Christmas thing. And I was just in my head, I was like, maybe there's going to be some kind of Christmas thing going with this. But now this is like straight up law. Yeah, I just I pulled I pulled up what they have on because it's funny because some breweries and Matthew, maybe you can speak to this. Some breweries put a little more information.
00:04:48
Speaker
into, and I don't know if it's the breweries that do it, but the info into untapped, and sometimes more than what's on the website or packaging. Yeah, and actually- I've got the full description on the website. Oh, is there? Okay. Yeah, that's gonna be a little bit better.
Old Irving Brewery Insights
00:05:01
Speaker
That's a paragraph on untapped, man. Well, and so untapped- It's probably the same thing. It looks like it's the same thing. Untapped at this point, over 90% of the breweries on untapped control their own- Oh, that's good. Info. So everything on old Irving is what our owner, Jeff, puts up, or we put the descriptions, unless it's wrong, and then someone hacked us.
00:05:19
Speaker
I don't want to say anything. I may have access to it. Brandon, can you read the description? Far Star Cold Weather Logger is a luminous pale lager with a moderate 5.1% ABV that brings full flavor in a light-bodied beer.
00:05:33
Speaker
Rude for the cold weather months from autumn through winter, this easy drinking lager is a perfect compliment for the high caloric season of holiday meals and parjesus. And when we cross into the new year, Far Star lets you add a light layer of lager for those long winter nights. the ended The ending sounded like I was in trouble for those long winter nights.
Home Brewing and Local Support
00:05:54
Speaker
It is very good. I do like it. It it does kind of...
00:05:57
Speaker
It comes across more as a ah macro logger, which I think is... But you i mean youve said that we've said this before, but like in the best way possible. Because... There's nothing wrong. Look, I'm not... Coors Light has become my like... Go to. Go to easy drinking beer these days when I, you know, when I want to have beers. Although I did have Miller High Life Light recently.
00:06:19
Speaker
And that, yeah, it's a real thing. Miller High Life Light. light they brought They just brought it back. Same packaging, but it's blue instead. So it's not Miller Light. No, it's Miller High Life Light. So basically what it is, it's like, it you know what? um We just jumped the shark. I'm going to bring some for you on Saturday. There, it's it's like a full flavor of High Life right in the beginning. And then all of a sudden it just like kind of dissipates into nothing like Coors Light. How's that? Yeah, they probably just did High Life and took out a bag of grain.
00:06:49
Speaker
But they somehow left the full flavor up in the front and all of a sudden it just like drops off.
Anchor Christmas Beer Nostalgia
00:06:53
Speaker
Makes it easy. chos go Trust me on this, okay? My problem isn't with the beer, it comes with the name. High Life Light. What were you saying before? No, I was just saying yeah we've...
00:07:07
Speaker
You know, we've we've had some, you know, craft brews that have made lagers and they kind of nailed that traditional lager, you know, profile that you look for and that you expect from like your years of drinking, like lagers growing up. Like I remember stealing Miller Lite and MGDS and stuff. I remember taking MGDS. When I was a kid and like this is just, it's very reminiscent of a lot of that and in the best way possible because now I know like there's options out there.
00:07:36
Speaker
for supporting ah supporting a ah local craft brewery that makes something that, like if not if I'm not gonna drink it all the time, I know I have like family members that will definitely like, yeah, I can get behind this because yeah people are like, ooh, craft beer, it's like super hoppy, and then I've got like, you know. Shut up, it's not 2012. But there's one friend that says that all the time, and when he shows up, he's like, oh, I found this great beer. I forget what it was. what am It's a fucking hot bomb, dude. Like, you hate cops. I don't know, man, it tastes good. I'm like, alright, whatever. See, but my problem is that they call this a seasonal lager. Well, yes. Yeah. And so to me, I'm like, yeah, if this is just a macro lager that they had all the time, like cold time from Rev, I'd be like, yeah, just drink it whenever and it makes sense. The only part to me is they're like, and they put it in the description of like, oh, and all these high caloric things have a lager.
00:08:27
Speaker
but I'm like, just do like an amber lager or something darker. Like when I'm thinking of like a seasonal lager for Christmas, I'm not thinking macro beer. If I'm going to do that, I'm going to drink a cold time or something that's year round. Yeah. yeah like That's why I was like literally thinking like, Oh, maybe this is like, got like spruce tips in it or something. Well, that was my thought too, when I bought it. I i mean, I saw it and I'm like, well, I'm just going to grab this. And I didn't really think too much about it. I was like, Oh look, a cold weather lager. I mean,
00:08:53
Speaker
You know, right now, half-acre is still cranking out. ah Like, they put out benthic and they just did something else. So a lot of their focus has been big, heavy, you know, barrel-aged stouts. So they're like, if you want to drink this... So what you're saying is the brewers just needed something to drink. They needed something else, I think. Yeah, 100%. And you know, and ah this made me think of something. so The past week I went to, here's the old Irving plug hour part of the show. Here's your money. Thank you. I went to old Irving three times last week. I went on Wednesday night, Friday night, and Sunday during the day. Did you go all those days because you knew I wasn't gonna be there? Yes, I was like, Matthew won't be here. I saw Trevor two of those times too, which was crazy because it was both at night, the first, on Wednesday when I saw him I was like, the hell are you doing here? He was out with like friends and they had stopped in there and then
00:09:43
Speaker
Sunday we saw him at the, the Krampus carnival. But what I've come to realize is that I like Kolsch or Kolsch. I like Della on tap more than in a can. Well, yeah. Okay. Well, just giving you my opinion, dude. I mean, in general, being reduce yeah well yeah in general, and there's some, but I'll tell you this, there's some beers that when I have it on tap or in a can,
00:10:08
Speaker
For me, there's no like, I don't get a distinguishable distinguishable difference. I'm like, oh, okay, this is this is the beer I like, and and know maybe there's small differences, but for me, Della, there's a big difference to me, where it's like, I find it more refreshing on tip. Okay, I mean, I didn't i don't love hearing that, because that that might just- I don't know why you, you know, go well, yeah, now I'm giving you wine. Well, so, at least- And he's taking his money back from me, okay.
Zombie Apocalypse Beer Plans
00:10:33
Speaker
ah Yeah, at the brew pub, because we have a service tank that can hold 15 barrels, that goes directly from the bright fermenter, so there's gonna be zero oxygen that ever hits it. And I'm also not gonna like, not buy Della in a can again, I'm just, it's just an observation, I mean, I'm like, oh wow, I forgot like how much I really, really liked Della. I wanna put a fresh Della in a can and undraft to you at the same time. Oh, and then do a... Yeah, because I was like, do you know how old the Della that you had in a can was?
00:11:02
Speaker
Della holds up really well in a can but like if you've got like a year old Della I think the oldest Della I probably had was like a couple months because I always look at the dates on there. I'm a date snob. Yeah I see that about you. Ask any of my dates. Tony's the best date ever i just love going on date brandon brandrannon is the what i to Yeah, our mandates are really nice. but it But I did have Della twice while I was there. and I did also have Krampus every time I was there.
00:11:34
Speaker
No Doji. I didn't have any Doji. I had Doji. Yeah, he had Doji. I didn't have any Doji. I got to try the 20%... I missed it this year. Although I had it on a barrel. Oh yeah. It was hilarious. I went to order it and he's like, on the menu it was being served in five ounces and he goes, you want five or ten? I'm like, the fuck are you crazy? with Oh, it says the guy who has a utopia on the bar at all times.
00:12:00
Speaker
So what? He comes home and takes a little sip from me every day. It's okay. Yeah, he just has a cup of tutry. A little nip nip. it it's sweetie time tell you sweet bo snake will That's how you sweeten your coffee. And here we go. He doesn't really do that ever. there I saw there's this woman on TikTok. I forget her name, but, or not TikTok. I only see her videos on Facebook, but like she like drinks stuff all the time and then tracks how quick it takes her to get to .08. So she's done it like with like Trulies and like other stuff and like sometimes her husband's in it too.
00:12:36
Speaker
And then they did like, so I saw one video earlier today and it was like they were doing rumple mints to see how how many shots of rumple mints it oh god took them to get to .08. And then I was like scrolling again and then another video popped up and she had a bottle of Utopius that she paid $500 for. oh geez She just asked for it for free.
Utopias Beer Experience
00:12:57
Speaker
And her husband, they literally filled up no like sniffers like this oh and they drank it in 10 minutes.
00:13:04
Speaker
No. And then they waited 30 minutes and then checked their ABV and she was like yeah point one and he was like point oh eight and then they waited like another 30 minutes and she was like point one two and she was like but an hour and a half later or like two hours later she checked the again she was still point one.
00:13:22
Speaker
and her husband was like 0.7 and it was she was like, this is the beer that just keeps on going. Oh my god, I can't imagine drinking that much utopias. Have you ever had utopias? No. who's that el who does who just
Star Ratings and Craft Beer Comparison
00:13:35
Speaker
said Who just said no? who
00:13:43
Speaker
let's go around How many stars would you give it ah you know For it just okay, so I don't think it yeah, I don't think it's meant to be a like Christmas Lager Christmas beer. I think it's just you know here's a lager for you know This time of year they made a lager. I think it's solid. I'm gonna give it a three-point answer Yeah. 3.8 stars. Huh, look at that, finally. Alright, even though it's called Five Star, uh... It's called Far Star. It's called Far Star. Ooh, shit. He's got glasses on! Does not work with the joke. you' called How about this? Even though it's called Five Star, even though it's not.
00:14:27
Speaker
For a For a star. It's called Far Star, but I'm calling it firster there's For Three and a half for me. like yes It's a solid macro style beer, but honestly, like there's other even local craft guys I think are doing some nicer. I will say this, it's it's one of those, and Half Acre does other really good loggers as well. you know So it's not like this was, we haven't even moved on to that beer yet.
00:14:55
Speaker
No, but it's fine. No, just peen into a cup. Keep going. Keep going. That's fine. Matthew pees into a cup. I have a lot of beer here. That's true. then They won't give me breaks. There are no breaks. There are no breaks. Not for you. you. That's the thing. like Half Acre does have other really good lagers. So I don't know, maybe they, I mean, this, this, this, I will say this that we didn't really hit on. It doesn't drink like a light lager. No. It definitely drinks like a full bodied, like sweeter type lager. So I feel like this is a good, this is a good beer maybe to bring to like a family occasion, like people who don't.
00:15:33
Speaker
Really drink, you know stuff like here have this you'll like it and don't bitch about me bringing a you know Beer from a brewery that you know, you don't know Broke way before you say anything. yeah What are you giving this Brandon? Oh, did Matthew do it? Yeah, yeah three and a half three half Yeah, I'm like 375. So we're all we're we're pretty much in the same. So I'd say uh with my terrible math, I'm gonna say we're somewhere around like a three seven collectively Yeah Yeah, it's still fine drink. I'll drink that all the time when someone brings it. Yeah. Yeah. There's just a couple, you know, alarmists there. Uh, was it Midwest royalty corn logger? Like knows exactly what it wants to be. I'll drink that all day. I mean, they're crispy by Pilsner. It's really good.
00:16:18
Speaker
I mean, is it really crispy? It's pretty crispy. It's pretty crispy. Alright, Matthew, you brought this one. What is it? Yeah, this is one of my favorite holiday traditions that has been ripped from our hands. You know, hopefully it is placed back into our hands someday.
00:16:35
Speaker
Yeah. So this is the Anchor Christmas. ah This is the 2022, the last time that they had this in distribution. I got our distributor, I actually asked, I was like, can I buy a case of this? And they just brought it to me. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. So we do you have more of these at your house? Well, we keep them at the brewery, actually. Just take them.
00:16:56
Speaker
ah I mean, yeah, so I can. Okay, let's keep doing that. But I also have a 2017 Magnum that we can bring over. I really regret never buying that because I always thought it was going to be available. All right, well, if we drink it together, I'll sell it to you for $5. Done. That's how much I paid for him. I'll give you $2,500. I mean, I spent $3,000. I'll give you $2,500. I don't know. We've definitely had this on years passed Yes. but i one am i got to say twenty two two twenty twenty two is by the last time i had this yeah and One of my favorite things about this is it ages incredibly well. ah Delilah's Mike does a Christmas um festival where they try all sorts of vintage beers. yeah I remember the oldest one that he did was like
00:17:43
Speaker
25 year old anchor Christmas that I had and still holding up i phenomenally well. I feel like historically within the craft beer world, this is the one beer that just never goes bad. Never goes bad. Well, storing it properly too, probably has a lot to do with it. But also, it doesn't, it's just a very well done beer that tastes great. It does, like, what what ah what What goes into this beer? Can we read the description of this, please? Well, honestly, you're gonna have a... So the two things I love, every year they have a different tree, yeah Christmas tree on the front, so they always illustrate it. This one, 2022, was a blue gum tree. Oh, I love blue gum. Exactly. So yeah, the description is this 48th... This is the 48th...
00:18:33
Speaker
from the brewery at Anchor. ah So, damn it, they almost made it to 50 years of Anchor Christmas. Just don't sell it for another two years. ah This ale is made with natural flavors, features a new recipe and tree every year, but the intent with which we offer it is the same joy and celebration of the newness of life. Trees symbolize symbol winter solstice when the earth with the seasons appear born anew.
00:19:03
Speaker
Mary Ellen Pleasant planted blue gum trees in front of her San Francisco home in the 1800s. This home is long gone, but her landmark trees still remain. A living tribute to the mother of civil rights in California. show wouldve just filmed him reading there well i was just gonna yeah that was really annoying i was going to say just everybody knows if you're familiar with the label the the neck label matthew literally was doing a great job of starting turning starting turning and and making the You'll hear hiccups where he had to do it. Don't worry. I was trying not to. You did really well. You did really well. um Yeah, this this beer, I think this was probably one of the first beers that became an annual beer for me. Just because, like, hearing so much about it when I first got into craft beer, like, this definitely became a beer that I bought, like, around this time of year, around Christmas. and
00:20:01
Speaker
That's why I asked like what, that like this, you know, the, the, recipe is what they're saying is different, right? Yeah. It slightly changes every year. It's always going to be kind of like a maly yeah multi brown ale, but then they use different spices, different. But even at that, like, I feel like some of the spices are somewhat similar. yes Always subtle nuances. Yeah. And it's, it's always like that to me, you know,
00:20:24
Speaker
It reminds me of, like, putting up a Christmas tree. And the smells that you would get from, like, opening up, like, boxes of Christmas stuff that you have, like, you're gonna put out your Christmas decorations. That type of deal. Yeah. Which, if you want to join me in my zombie apocalypse first idea, uh, GLUNZ, our distributor, because they're one of the oldest- How the fuck did we just go from Christmas, opening Christmas boxes to zombie apocalypse? Oh, you'll see. Because one of the things that I want to do once there's a zombie apocalypse is in the GLUNZ meeting, uh, room,
00:20:51
Speaker
because they distributed anchor. They're one of the oldest, I think the second oldest distributor of anchor before they they sold. They have every single year of anchor Christmas in that meeting room unopened. And so zombie apocalypse. I'm straight going there and trying every single anchor. Wow.
00:21:08
Speaker
48 years of Anchor Christmas. Great priorities. First thing in zombie apocalypse. End of the world. And your priorities. There's this fucking Shaun of the Dead 2. This is where you're going with this. We'll have a pint. Lock the doors. I will be honest, that is a great idea. I do like that. I will join it. And we'll wait it out. And we'll wait it out. Hey, we have 48 years. At least 48 beers on the wall we can drink.
00:21:31
Speaker
Yeah. You might as well get to do something that you're never going to get to do again. This is it. I am going to get eaten by a zombie. I would say kiss Brandon, but he and I have kissed so many times, so... Well, I haven't. Do it then. Hey Brandon, you want to come with me to Glenn's to try all the anchor?
00:21:51
Speaker
oh Indeed ah Yeah, no, i'm I'm sad to see this go I hope it comes back because it's thank you again for for bringing this because it is a it's such a great beer and it does remind me of the holidays ah so did their What was it? There was a barley wine they... Fessy Wig? No. Old Fessy Wig is... That same animal? Yeah. Big Foot is Sierra Nevada. Yeah. Oh gosh. I thought there was a bar... I could be wrong. I'll have to go through i'll go through my phone cause when we take the break, but I'm pretty sure there was a barley wine that they had.
00:22:22
Speaker
I don't know, maybe I am thinking of Bigfoot, but I don't think it's Bigfoot. I'm pretty sure that there was, I do remember at least two Christmases that... Christmas eye? Christmas eye. Christmas No, it's Christmases. That I... This is an octopus, dude. That I got Anchor's barley wine. At least that's what I'm remembering because of the shape of the bottle. Also, when I was bottling homebrew,
00:22:45
Speaker
I love saving the anchor bottles because they were the coolest, Brandon. Old foghorn. There you go, old foghorn. Oh, yeah. That also, I feel like, came out around winter, so it was nice to have those two. Old foghorn was really good. That's why you thought it was a fessy wig. That was their English barley wine. I do miss that one. Yeah, that one was also really good, and I remember some Christmas screenings. Which English barley wine is so much better than American barley wine. 100%. We just talked about how much barely-aged barley wine that we've had that we forgot what regular barley wines taste like.
00:23:13
Speaker
Well, yeah, no one buys them. You literally just cannot make them and sell them. Dude, I bought your barley wine that you guys made. Yeah, and we priced it for like $9 a two-pack. It's pretty good. It's a really good price. Really good deal. And people were like, ah, it's a barley wine. One's a barrel-aged version. You're like, well, the barrel-aged version's coming out, and then everyone loves the barrel-aged version. Dude, guys, don't don't be lame. Don't treat a barley wine like an amber ale or a brown ale. Barley wines are good. I'm tired of hearing this shit, OK? Here's my rant for the week. ah Brandon, what are you giving the 2022 Anchor Christmas beer?
00:23:50
Speaker
I'm gonna go, oh man, this is like a four, two, five. I was gonna say, how many blue gum trees are you giving it? Blue gummy trees, oh, if we're doing that, it looks like one. No. I'm gonna go four, two, five. Four, two, five, Matthew. ah Very close, I was thinking a four, two, like it's, as I've said before, like anything over a four to me is really nice and i I'll drink that all the time. Christmas elf. Just throw out a number, just throw out a number.
00:24:19
Speaker
I like it. Yeah. Really in the Christmas spirit, I like that. It would have been great if she was like 10, like, that's not enough for me. It's between five, you're up. Christmas elves can make up numbers. Yeah, I'm going to go four, four, four on this. This is, it's great. I mean, it's.
00:24:36
Speaker
Gosh, kind of makes me sad. I gotta to be honest. I didn't know what's going on because of the purchase. purchased yeah So we'll see what happens. Yeah. And it was, uh, the owner, exactly, which apparently he's done really well of turning things around and actually like Giovanni has become employee owned people.
00:24:54
Speaker
Yes. And so he's he's done this a few different times where he actually buys companies, turns them around and actually makes them employee owned. And so the hope that they've done with Chobani, because when he took over Chobani, it was actually a failing company, is that the hope is that he goes in and this is, funny um, is that he turns it around, starts getting an employee on that. The employees really liked that. It starts to get basically a local,
00:25:21
Speaker
cult following again and can actually turn around it, which I would love because Anchor is one of the oldest breweries in the country and such beautiful heritage with this brewery that I hate to see it go away. It drives me nuts that all the times I've been to San Francisco, like I yeah never went there. Well, and I think like seeing it close and then also like, you know, again, being like you said, even about the magnum, by I'm like, Oh,
00:25:43
Speaker
I'll get it one year. And it's like, well, dude, you, you didn't get it. Like maybe you're part of the problem, Tony. Yeah. Drink Anchor Steam. Yeah, I do. Anchor, you know what? There's an entire style of beer because of them. I absolutely, well, one of my favorite, uh, porters is the anchor porter.
00:26:02
Speaker
that is one of the best porters that I've ever had. It's like true to stuff. The coffee porter or just the pope? Right, just straight up their anchor porters. is It's really good too. I don't know. I probably had the coffee porter, but yeah, anchor porter's really good. Well, that being said, um Brandon has put something on for us to watch and we're going to take about an hour and 30 minute break. You can listen to this ad and we'll be right back.
00:26:27
Speaker
And we're back. Welcome back, everybody, to our winter beer episode. I'm going to slowly pour this beer.
00:26:35
Speaker
Nice. Sounds like part of our intro. It does. But now I'm going to sit here and hold the can and not pass it to anybody else, because I'm going to just watch the photo, watch it all just come on down. No, I'm just joking. Matthew, you brought this. Oh, yeah, Matthew, you're still here. What what are we drinking?
00:26:54
Speaker
Yeah, so this is a tree house. It's called Bear. It's an American brown owl. We chose the bear. And this was really fun. Another person that's in operations over at Treehouse, we actually did the collab with the front 242. And they reached out to me um really happy and wanted labels and different things. And of course, I If people ever email us info at Old Irving Brewing and want labels or stickers, we tend to have extra things. Just plug your shit, dude. That's fine. Thank you. I will. Tap handle. That's what the sponsorship... you could do Oh yeah, that's right. Hey, we'll see what 2025 brings. Yeah, 2025. For the last... two years I've said I'm gonna change the ending of the episodes because you know Clark and David even talked about like I think we had planned a day to do it and then we ended up doing something else oh my god but I worked with them got them some bees are in the labels in front 242 and uh they're really generous and were able to get us uh some treehouse beers which
00:27:57
Speaker
one of the beers that they make, Julius, is what Beezer was originally formulated was to be like, this beer off the east coast that people are doing is so amazing. And we took inspiration from Julius. i Stop talking. Is there more beer in that can? There is. Can you pass that down to me real quick? Because I got something to say. Sorry, guys. Yeah. So Treehouse does some amazing beers. I know they're a lot more known for their hazies, but there's still some.
00:28:26
Speaker
getting to bring a nice it brown ale, not amber. Jesus, man. Almost fucked that one up. Dude, you would have lost at least two months of being on next year, so fuck this. But I felt it worked really well for the Christmas absolute episode. Absolutely. I'll say this. Well, no, I feel about brown ales. I feel like it's an underrated style. I love brown ales. This is fucking fantastic. This is really, really good. This, like,
00:28:55
Speaker
To me, it, because I feel like sometimes with porters and brown ales, the lines can sometimes get blurred, just like how porters and stouts, the lines can get blurred, you know, between like those beers of like, is this really a porter? Is this a stout? Brown ales, I feel like, can get that as well, depending on how roasty those malts are. I feel like this, this really,
00:29:19
Speaker
encompasses the best parts of a brown ale with the roasted malts. This is, I would drink this all the time. Like, summer days, I would still drink this like, you know, summer nights type of deal. You know, this would be, you know, this could be summer days. All right, stop talking. Hey, wait, this is my jam. Is it mornings? It might be replaced by Matthew, dude. Well, part of the thing that I love about them calling them. Is this my last year?
00:29:48
Speaker
ah Your contract's not being renewed. But yeah, calling it an American brown ale is that hinting to it being a drier style, but I love that it still does have that roasted quality. It's a little bit bigger. It's not quite like your English brown ale's maltiness. it It smells like roasted malt. Like it doesn't smell like coffee. You know what I mean? Like you can you can easily have roasted malts in a beer where it's like, sure.
00:30:15
Speaker
There's, you could say coffee or cocoa or cacao. There is definitely like a, it smells like when you are going to brew a beer or you're, you know, going through your different grains of your local home brew shop, please still keep supporting them because they're closing left and right. um I always would take like one or two of the the the malts and like, you know, just eat it while I'm there to try it, to like get like the roasted, like how roasted it was. And that's really what this is reminding of, just feels very clean. You still malt, dude? No, you just ate one piece.
00:30:53
Speaker
Yeah, and honestly, though, like, if anyone is home brewing, which I know you guys have done, this is like the Charlie Papazian 1980s. The laws came undone and people were doing red ales, brown ales. IPS came way later. And so, like, this is the style that if anyone is getting to home brewing, like, this is the like one of the first styles that you make, that you learn that beer can be more than just a macro lager. It was probably one of When Lake Effect was doing their home group competitions, I kept doing a brown ale, and I would use coffee from our friend's restaurant, Fanny's, and it was, I call it, I like you a latte brown ale. And so it was, and like I used a little milk sugar in there too, like not to make it like super sweet, but it was supposed to be like a brown ale latte. Sorry, I'm looking behind you, because I was like, Ilman made one of my favorite brown ales, and I was seeing if it was. Yeah, which one was that?
00:31:49
Speaker
This is Soul Man? Soul Man, yeah. Yeah, the salted caramel brown ale. Oh my god, it was so good. Aleman, that was one of my favorite brown ales. That beer ended up on a Halloween episode because it was one of the years that we were doing our Halloween beer episode towards the end of the month and all of the shelves had been cleared of Halloween beers. Luckily, we're not, just don't really have to worry about it that much because there's still pumpkin beer sitting on the shelves right now.
00:32:17
Speaker
But that one was, I think, my favorite beer of the night. That salted the car. Oh, RIP. I would love to have that recipe. Can we get that recipe? What do you guys are? Oh, no. None of us know these guys. Oh, yeah. That's right. I don't. You guys do. Brandon, what do you think about this? This is fantastic.
00:32:37
Speaker
i Haven't had like too many treehouse spears, but I don't think I've ever had a treehouse beer that I disliked um They do the styles really well and like as far as a brown ale goes this kind of nails everything I would want in a brown ale um And I do I love the aroma I love the body on it and like the carbonation is perfect like just like a pleasantly easy drinking brown ale. I want more. i Yeah, i would definitely like I would definitely do more of this. It makes me want to brew a brown ale soon. Yeah, you should. I will. With Biscoff. No, that's for our Krampus variant thanks to your tracker. Oh, we're going to push for it. We are going to push for it. I feel like I'm getting closer and closer to just telling Trevor, asking Trevor, can we please do this?
00:33:29
Speaker
Yeah, this is really good. Thank you for bringing this. Do you have any more of these? Not on this one. No, but I do have more treehouse beers. You say you can come by and try. I'm busy on Saturday. I wasn't invited on Saturday, so. Too bad for you. You were tonight, actually.
00:33:46
Speaker
What was that half-assed invite? I was like, oh yeah, I forgot. You're a person, too. Thanks for bringing me to your house. Put my fucking bourbon back, dude. OK, I won't bring your wings next time. What's the time on that? This is the intro. 43 minutes, roughly. um No, if two those wings were fantastic.
00:34:11
Speaker
I ran into Tim at the bar and I was like, i was like dude, like I had those wings and like there was a ton left over and my my wife wanted nothing to do with the Krampus wings. She's like, I just don't like the way they look. I'm like, yep they taste fantastic.
00:34:28
Speaker
And then I was like, I was a little disappointed because I was like, man, I was expecting like stuff to be coming out of my body, different colors. And he's like, that didn't happen. I was like, Oh no, this morning we won. like i say Dude, that was the best part. Those, those, those wings were really changing the inside color of my butt. And then my fingers were stained for like a week. Like I listened to, I don't know who said it. I think it was, I don't know if it was Trevor.
00:34:53
Speaker
or Tim or you Matthew to use a paper towel while eating those wings because that's what I did. yeah I grabbed a paper towel and I was like, pull in i was like I want the full experience. I want to be colored like Krampus.
00:35:07
Speaker
Yeah, Pris or AGM, he's real smart. He uses the latex gloves while he eats the wings. Smart. Very smart. Good job, Chris. Way to go. Brandon, how many bear paws are you giving this one? I'm going o four, six, man.
00:35:26
Speaker
enjoy it i like it yeah ah you. Yeah I'm going ah four four five. It's it's a real good just American brown ale. Trevor is just saying this today is like when you're gonna do something simple do it really well because I think this beer is one of those where if there was something flawed on it it would show really quickly. Absolutely. And it's just everything that you want from a brown ale. Doing four eight guys. Really high because I love brown ales and this is probably one of the like best examples of how a brown ale should taste. Or at least what I personally like about a brown ale. Elf? You have anything on this? One point eight. I Me and the Elf. On the same page, I like it. I like it. Don't worry folks, it's not a voice. She really talks like that. It's a real elf. It's the elf on the shelf. I forgot that this is also a brown elf. Brandon, what are you opening up over there? I am opening up.
00:36:30
Speaker
and clear it That's the opening right there. of Oh, Krampus is here. This is about Friday at the Green Lady. i Take it easy, I'll be there.
00:36:44
Speaker
All right, tell Krampus to go away. Don't bring him to bed. The lost No old day It's a holiday brownout. No. So I bought this from, sorry, I mean it. Cheese ball bread. I had to get back into it.
00:37:11
Speaker
Hey, I bought it because it's a brown ale, obviously. so um Also, I've had this in my fridge for like three weeks, and I wanted to drink it pretty much every weekend. I'm like, I'll go back and get it. And I told Brandon, I'm like, do it, Brandon.
00:37:27
Speaker
So I don't have to. Jesus. It's a big ass bottle. Well, no, it's funny. no No, I was saying more Jesus because of how high that, that's going to take a while. is no i wouldn' I'll taste it tomorrow. Don't worry. OK.
00:37:41
Speaker
This is great. No, this is great for the podcast. We're going to sit for 20 minutes to wait to taste the beer. Ah, cheers. Do a normal board joke. I want to taste it right away. What, you don't want six inches of foam? The foam's delicious.
00:37:58
Speaker
Pass it to the Merry of the Loaf. Oh, man. So yeah, so I bought this at Beer on the Wall a couple weeks ago. I think right before before Thanksgiving. I started... I go to the Parkridge one. It's a good one. The Arlington Heights one, though, is... I still have that many chalkboarders, by the way.
00:38:20
Speaker
I still have it. Yeah. Hey, you let me know the next time you go to one of those, because that was fun. I had a lot of fun hanging out with you that night. Yeah. I mean, let me i mean the Green Lady events, one of the first events I'm doing putting on in a long time, we actually are going to be at the half-acre shootout February 2nd. I saw that coming up. that Yeah, so we just agreed to do it, and Chef got real excited today and started telling me all his ideas. Oh, nice. Yes, Chef.
00:38:44
Speaker
Well, we won a bunch of awards for it last last year, but we didn't win the we won second place for the overall, and Chef wants to win gold for the overall. Ooh. All right. Well, that's good. Well, the Green Lady thing was already passed by the time this episode comes out. of there There is a story upon the island. No, the Green Lady's still there, people. It didn't go away. No, the event has passed, is what I'm saying. know let Please let Brandon read this.
00:39:11
Speaker
I've already sipped it because it's not all head in my glass. Holiday brown ale. Mischievous merry makers, it must be tough to be a gnome. We feel bad for them, we really do. Every December they get trotted out of the box and sat on a shelf to remind us of Christmas cheer. It's amazing. They can be so happy after spending almost a year in a box tucked away in the attic.
00:39:32
Speaker
but look at that We're convinced they are the ultimate party animals and the epitome of youthful exuberance trapped in a ridiculous, impish body. It certainly doesn't seem like any of them have aged in over 400 years. Around our houses, every everyone giggles and smiles when the Christmas gnomes come out! So we thought it was time to give them the Lost Abbey treatment.
00:39:57
Speaker
Hopefully you open this bottle and share the season's greetings from us to you PS this bottle does not say shit about what the bottle the beer is actually going to be But here's a story about gnomes. I hope you enjoyed it. It doesn't say that but sorry It's my thank you i think you should leave reference for the episode
00:40:21
Speaker
That was a really great story that I didn't listen to at all. I also, I got so caught up in his voice, I didn't hear anything. All I did was just laugh at how you were- I literally talked about taking notes out of a box and all that good stuff. She's rereading it, buddy. You entranced us all with your ability. Maybe on Christmas Day we released just an episode of you reading A Christmas Carol.
00:40:45
Speaker
but or ah what is it? The mice? No. all through is the night yeah right was that What is it? What is that? What's the name of that? Why am I blanking on it? Twas the night before Christmas. Yeah. no Maybe you should do that Brandon. I'll just sit in the back and drink bourbon and do sleigh bells.
00:41:06
Speaker
I really think we should do that. And drink? I'm not gonna lie, I think we should do that. Alright, anyways. So I was gonna ask what's actually with this beer and then you kind of answered it with that there's nothing about this beer. I was like, is there any spices? Like, it tastes a little bit more than a brown ale, but not enough that I don't necessarily think there's any adjuncts in it. But there... What is it? What's the name of the thing again?
00:41:37
Speaker
thank you al thank you al you're welcome oh man the gnome has taken your place i've got it thank you because i'm looking it up incredibly still doesn't say much i really wish i had glasses oh i see that word cacao Or Coco. Yeah, I mean... Or Coco. It feels like there's something there, but not quite enough yeah to make me think that they actually really... Like, that could just be the malt.
00:42:10
Speaker
So this is says it's a winter warmer to be lighter in body while maintaining a nuanced notes of oak. But beginning with aromas of freshly brewed espresso, Yewel has hints of cocoa. Thank you. Sons of bitches. Vanilla and holiday spice. Finish with a crisp coffee bitterness.
00:42:33
Speaker
Man Brandon's got all these characters. I really like this. He just start bringing these back out. See we don't need you Clark hello just yo click on this ah here i didn't just shake me ah i You know, spoke to Clark recently just real quick and He said he'd been talking to Serge a lot lately. Do you remember Serge? I No. Serge, who's been on the show? Oh yeah, Serge. The French guy. I think Serge might actually come back sometime soon. Only Serge. Probably before Clark. um that's that That might be a possibility. um good I was gonna say that there is something there. There's like ginger or cinnamon or something like that. There is that like
00:43:22
Speaker
but It's called holiday spice. Yeah, exactly there is that in here. It's like but also I think for those who are naughty and packy um Should I shotgun a grand bus tonight? No After the final pour as a note Tony still has not shotgunned a beer correct I did say we were gonna make that happen sometime when we were in Colorado that did not happen That sounds for the Maltese For the Maltese I will shotgun a beer
00:44:02
Speaker
I need to be there. We will make it the biggest, baddest beer. Too bad we didn't save the three liter of the Wootz Tout. I can't really shock in a glass beer. Glass bottle. I do have the Acre Christmas. Just stab it and drink the glass. You just have to chug the entire... All of the glass in my body. This beer, it's kind of fun going to this after the bear that we just had because with it being Los Abby, obviously it's going to be a Belgian yeast that they're using. And so it is, it definitely comes off more as a winter warmer than it does a brown ale. And I'm happy that we had a really good brown ale before this because having this, I would have been like,
00:44:47
Speaker
I don't know if I like this as a brown ale, but also hearing the description of it being more of a winter warmer, which tends to be more of a brown ale, a darker, a roastier ale, I should say. um this is This is very tasty. I like this. I actually kind of hope that there is more still sitting at Beer on the Wall because I think that that would be a nice like Christmas Eve, Christmas Day kind of beer. Actually kind of. Christmas morning.
00:45:12
Speaker
Yeah, Christmas morning. Hey, I've had booze on Christmas morning. I kind of wish that this was... Oh, yeah. Yeah, shut up, Matthew. I kind of wish that it was a little... I kind of wish it was a little warmer, actually. but not Not as, yeah but like temperature wise, because I feel like maybe it would bring out maybe a little bit more of that holiday spice and maybe some of the Belgian yeast.
00:45:33
Speaker
Well, and you actually brought this up in my own mind, because I keep on wondering... I'm living rent free in your head right now? Always. Every night. Okay, well, now we're good. But yeah, you you remind me of the Belgianese, and so I'm wondering, when they say holiday spice, whether than them actually using cinnamon, ginger, or anything else, is it just the Belgianese, which tends to give off a lot of the phenolics of those aspects anyways? I think because they said holiday spice, they may have actually used holiday spice.
00:46:01
Speaker
Hate to shoot down your theory. I agree, but it would compliment it. Yeah, yeah. Oh, yes. I just wish they would have said. No, I just like being mean to Matthew. I know. Oh, but I still love you, man. Thank you, too. Brandon, how many gnome heads are you giving this? Sephard gnome heads? That's so disturbed. Getting down with the sickness, man.
00:46:25
Speaker
wow you
00:46:29
Speaker
Well, this beer has brought to me a conundrum. Is it a brown ale? Or is it a winter warm-off? Or is it a warm-off? Wow, you got multiple characters showing up at once. Perhaps it's the urine of a gnome.
00:46:52
Speaker
Whatever it may be, I give thee three. three wow point oh eight right scared up here ah how many leaders of nomerin are you giving this man view sorry lots samy this is where it ended up I think we're on that three eight three nine maybe even four like it's It's really nice, and I think your description, I love this concept also, like, where would you drink this? And as soon as you said, like, Christmas morning, waking up, having this, like, nowhere to be, but you have the entire day to enjoy. That's exactly where I see this. The opposite of my days on Christmas. I have, like, 90 places to be, so I need to start drinking early. Ooh, I'm gonna have worse relationships with your family. Hey, guys, I'm here. The happy guy's here. The happy guy's here.
00:47:45
Speaker
How many separate gnome heads are you giving this? I am with you guys. I'm gonna go three... three nine. I'm gonna three nine. Three nine. It's very tasty. I feel like if I did have it a little closer to room temperature it might open up like give us some more flavors to it. Actually there's There's a little bit left in there. There is, and it did say the optimal serving temperature is 45 to 55 degrees. Yeah, so I think that that would, it was probably a little colder than that because I've kept in the fridge and it wasn't my frozen car until we got here and it went, so it's probably, you know. It'd be nice to try maybe. You ruined it! You ruined the beer, Jones!
00:48:29
Speaker
um and sucks do I Am gonna go to bear on the wall tomorrow and see if they've got to drink it straight off the shelf, bro But can I have this Thanks, but can't you do that? can you Go to grab a beer off the wall, put it on the... There is a... It's like a $5 corking fee. Drink it in your car. well you can live Or how about the Metro? You're the boss. Brandon's the boss. Brandon told me it was okay, officer. Do you guys know who Brandon is? Well, you should, because he told me to do this and I'm doing it.
00:49:02
Speaker
um i Yeah, I think I want to save this for like Christmas Eve, maybe Christmas Day. I also did take some days off after Christmas, so maybe I'll wake up the day after Christmas and crack this open, play some Mortal Kombat. I was really going to enjoy my time. I love your optimism. Thank you. Just listen to the soundtrack. All right, we've got one more Christmas winter beer here. Brandon, can you grab it?
00:49:29
Speaker
What the fuck do I look like? The guy that's making a lot of the beer. Fine. I'll get it. And friend of because nancy friend of behind the noses gnomes. Gnomes? Oh yeah, oh that's right. yeah I apologize. I apologize. This is the friend of the gnome. Sorry. It's the elf. I do love them. So there's extra points there. 4.25. Oh. Lovely. I like that. Is it because of the gnome blood? It's tasty.
00:49:59
Speaker
yeah Elves love the taste of gnome blood. See, you went with the blood and negated the urine. Interesting. It's a choice. Now, I kind of regret not bringing over toucans of two cans sam the of this because I don't know why. i just Maybe it's best.
00:50:21
Speaker
It's best, I don't know. I don't know how this is gonna be. It's a peanut butter milk stout from Great Lakes. cause i mean great lake i Actually, I have not yet have a Great Lakes Christmas beer, and that is my favorite Christmas beer of all time. That is a great one. I'm really interested in how this compares to the left hand peanut butter milk stout, cuz. Left hand's is pretty great. Left hand does great milk stout in their peanut butters. Real nice.
00:50:44
Speaker
um i Oh, it smells so good.
00:50:51
Speaker
I, yeah, I think I need to, I almost bought alpha, we had alpha claws before I had an episode. Thank you. I feel like we we have to have. Ow, just hit my tooth. Back in the early days, back in my day, we had alpha claws. I just like to point out that nobody poured the beer in front of the mic for this one, so. Thank God. We have a second can. Oh geez, no there's not. I said there isn't a second can. I should have brought, by the way, this is like rich peanut butter smell. Holy cow.
00:51:19
Speaker
yeah so we all got some right thats i've had some i have to feed though yeah Otherwise the elf turns into a gnome What's the time on that cuz that might be the intro
00:51:40
Speaker
Just before a minute one an hour an hour in one minute But the the funny thing about it was like that was the biggest spike that all the money which is kind of why I want to keep it like that One I'm texting you sorry i remember one hour. Okay. There we go. There's a lot of timestamps here. This is about to go through Good luck. So we've had at least one peanut butter beer on this podcast this year Which I think I know I actually I was gonna save that beer. Do you remember that peanut butter beer?
00:52:09
Speaker
that we had at some point that might have been old. Yes. I saved a canonize to see what happens. I ended up using it for cooking. So it's fine. So we haven't had many people. That's what happened to it.
00:52:22
Speaker
ah We haven't had many peanut butter beers on this this year, which I feel like sometimes we have like hinter like we've had peanut butter and jelly beers before. We've had some peanut butter stouts. We've tried some peanut butter things at Beer Fest. I don't think I've had many peanut butter this year because I feel like sometimes peanut butter and peanuts can be very overwhelming. This Right off the bat, though, smells really, really good. It kind of smells like peanut butter and a Tootsie Roll combined. Very much the Tootsie Roll. You want me see the ones see to do the dance? Yeah. ca can who still to to see um The main thing for me right off the bat on this one is, even though they call this a milk stout, the residual sugars are very low. It's very thin. yeah It's not extra sweet. You get a lot of the peanut butter, but not a lot of the sweetness.
00:53:11
Speaker
Correct. I agree with you. It's kind of dry and actually... It's drier than I thought it would be. Yeah. This actually just kind of tastes like a Tootsie Roll. Not so much. Not angry about that. No, not at all. No, and I'm actually in the aftertaste then like through my nose. Did you eat peanut butter? No. But like the aftertaste and like what I'm getting when I'm breathing out through my nose after having it, then I get a little bit of like peanut.
00:53:38
Speaker
Like after you had some peanut butter and then it just kind of lingers like as the peanut butter is fading yeah from your your palate. So I don't know if I would call it a peanut butter. What does it say on the camera?
00:53:51
Speaker
whos dog is in front of me what you you mother Sorry, because you... know ah Great Lakes, cookie exchange milk stout. Treat yourself to our seasonal milk stout brewed with a special rotating cookie inspired flavor. You should say the cookie inspired flavor on there. It was on the box. What's in the box? Do you know a box of it? Yeah, just this cookie exchange. Shit. This might not be a peanut butter beer. No, it is. It's on the box.
00:54:23
Speaker
You're reading? greatly Charlie, you're illiteracy? Screwed us again. Peanut. Butter. Here we go. Looking it up right now. Cookie exchange. Peanut butter blossom from Great Lakes. I swear to God, if I find it on here, I'm going to punch you in the mouth. I'm using my flashlight. You old man? Yep.
00:54:44
Speaker
You're so lucky. Which makes sense. Why would you? Because apparently like they do have multiple different cookies, like cookie stouts that have gone out and that different areas we're getting. Yeah, they obviously got a deal on the cans. If you just print them all the same thing, then you don't have to print peanut butter or other different cans. So you can get a deal on it. How many of the printed cans, right? We got it. We got it.
00:55:06
Speaker
So it it's broken down. Let me explain the taxation of cams and the amortization of how you deal with that over a 10 year period. It's really nice. So it's funny because it says rotating cookie flavor, peanut butter blossom. Treat yourself to a seasonal milk step or with special cookies. Okay. So what's a peanut butter blossom cookie?
00:55:28
Speaker
The best goddamn cookie. Peanut butter blossom cookie. Peanut butter. My mom used to make those all the time. It's literally like a peanut butter cookie with a Hershey kiss in the middle. Yeah, I always call them the thumbprint cookies. Well, they my mom would make ones, too, that were called thumbprints. And she would do the thumbprint. And then she would normally put like jams or whatever in them. Yeah, that's why I prefer thumbprint cookies. so you're wrong so for those really those that may be interested uh hops used on this are willamette the malts uh two-row caramel 60 debittered black ooh debitted black where'd it go uh wheat and carapels but then the specials are artificial peanut butter flavoring artificial chocolate favorite flavoring that's a judge roll uh vanilla extract and black tips
00:56:14
Speaker
So, overall, to me, this is a Tootsie Roll Beer. Which, again, I'm not mad about. And I'm actually happy that it's not like a super strong peanut butter flavor. Agreed. Because I do get worried about, like you guys, here's the, this is where I get paid my mold Irving.
00:56:33
Speaker
Trail Buddies has that peanut flavor in there that is just on the cusp of for me personally being too much But it's very enjoyable. Had you guys gone a little bit higher. I would be like, this is garbage I'll never buy anything from older me. But instead you put it into your syringe and you shoot it up. Shoot it up. Shot that shit up. Me and Clark grew up in Michigan going crazy with that No, last time I had that we were driving around on a golf cart drinking it in the woods. It was fun Is that the one where you fell off the gawk? That was the same year. That makes sense being a barrel-aged beer. That you was the same year. I had a glass in my hand, and we were driving, and he decided to floor it, and we took a turn, and he knows those ah know roads better than I do. And there's actually I actually do have a video of it, and I think we, I'm pretty sure we put it in, yeah, there is an episode. Go back to the archives. There's an episode where we play that, and maybe at the beginning of the episode, or somewhere in it, where you hear me.
00:57:31
Speaker
We're listening to Kendrick Lamar. And all of a sudden, you just hear me fall out. And I go, whoa, fuck. And then you hear the music fade, and then him back up. And I'm like, I fell out of the golf cart. And he goes, are you OK? I go, I think so. I'm like, the glass is OK. And I had a nice little cut on my head. Now we went back to that site the the morning. And there are a bunch of twigs sticking up. And I was very close that I did not lose an eye.
00:58:00
Speaker
so don't drink and drive a golf cart in the dark, everybody. The PSA for the holidays. Be good, be good. Any other notes on this one? I feel like we're kinda glossing over it, but I know we're getting to the end of the the episode here. Anything else you guys wanna say about this beer before we get into how many cookie plates you wanna give it? I mean, I think you you nailed it. It hits all the flavors that you were saying.
00:58:28
Speaker
in kind of a very he's in like a simple way. Like you get the, I think the Tootsie Roll is that chocolate that comes off a little fudgy, but it's very minor. It's a big chocolate. Same thing with the peanut butter. Like you hit all the flavors, but they're all just Very just, just there. They're subtle. They're subtle. And I'll say this, I'm not mad that I have five more of these in my refrigerator. I don't think I'll be drinking them, right? And it's like 5%. Five and a half, yeah. Yeah, I don't think I'm gonna be like, you know, oh man, like slamming these, but it's nice to be like, oh, you know what? That's a good beer. I'll have, hey, I'll probably have that around Christmas, you know? Yeah, this is a great one. My day's off. You start with this, and then you go to the lost abbey. Man, the day after Christmas is gonna be lit. Can I still say that?
00:59:12
Speaker
I mean last time I was here you told me you were going to do a friend's giving and then you didn't do it. I didn't do it actually. I didn't get invited. Never mind, I were sending your invite for Saturday. Didn't I tell you about it? I didn't get invited either, so don't worry. Wait, I totally told you. You and I talked about it. You told me about it. Because I was still doing it. Nope. And then you were like, uh, TBD, I don't know when I'm going to do it. Trust me, the way it ended, behalf of you guys weren't there. Wasn't great. Wasn't many people. We just watched football. Well yeah, you didn't invite me.
00:59:40
Speaker
OK, can we move on? Brandon, how many plates of cookie are you giving us? I'm going go with three, five. OK. Based on the beer itself, or what it said it was, just out of curiosity? The beer itself, based on what what it said it was. yeah yeah Matthew.
00:59:58
Speaker
I was like, with that distinction, I was like, based on what it is, I'm giving it like a three, seven, three, eight. I think it's just a nice, simple, easy-drinking beer, nothing wrong with it. Based on what it says, I would like a little bit more peanut butter and a little bit more like, in in your face. I'd like more chocolate, too. Like, with no yeah the peanut butter blossom, like, you really do get chocolate and peanut butter in that. It'd be good with a little less roll and a lot more tootsie, you know?
01:00:28
Speaker
I'm just throwing it out there. So like three eight and then what would be the other rating? Probably like a three five. Okay. Our happy little elf.
01:00:39
Speaker
Like a four because sometimes it tastes a little bit like when I I don't know where to go with that.
01:00:57
Speaker
I don't even know how to interpret that. That's probably the best we can do. That was good. That was great. Thank you. You're welcome. And give it up for the elf everybody.
01:01:11
Speaker
i don't know if he my to come back for every christmas episode ah I'm Overall, I would say Yeah, like a 3-6 based on what it said. I would say like a 3-3 just because I was I was kind of expecting Honestly, I was kind of expecting a little bit more peanut butter to like for me to like have to battle with like Oh, is this too much peanut butter? and it's to me it's kind of perplexing that it's, maybe it should be refreshing that I didn't have to worry about how much peanut butter was in this beer, that it is very mild, but it is a little too mild for me.
01:01:48
Speaker
Yeah, we're definitely living in an era of beers where it's hard to hit that balance really well because if you say peanut butter on a can, people either want peanut butter and they want to be hit over the head with it, or they buy it and they want the subtlest flavoring of it, and you don't really have one way or another. And so being the balance, I would just dial it up just a little bit more. Just a little bit more. Just needed just a little bit more peanut butter.
01:02:14
Speaker
Well this is great, and happy holidays everybody, no matter what you celebrate. um You could probably get all these beers except for the Anchor beer, so that's kind of a bummer. Well, I mean, people can still get that, too, probably, right? On the East Coast? Yeah, dude. and We have people listening all over the country and all over the world. I don't know why you think that people listening couldn't get that beer, the bear. I don't know. Maybe because still the majority of your ah listening audience is in Chicago. That's actually not true. That's actually not true.
01:02:47
Speaker
What are you? Aw, you being the finch of podcasts? Damn right, dude. Damn right. Don't ever say that those words again. You will never be invited back to this podcast. Because you're an asshole. Matthew, thank you for joining us again. Appreciate it. Always. Thank you. You've been on the show the most this year, and I'm assuming you'll probably be here for the Maltese.
01:03:10
Speaker
I hope so. The multis are some of my favorite were to listen to. It's a good time. It's like ah me listening to Comedy Bang Bang is best of. I mean, it's good. It's where we just sit around. We don't have to talk about the beers that we're actually drinking. And we just shoot the shit. It's like our own little Christmas party. It's like our own office Christmas party. I think we get food this year, Brandon.
01:03:28
Speaker
Yeah, dude. From old Irving? You have to be. In another creve case. I mean, oh i mean as as as an unofficial sponsor, is old Irving providing the food? If I get invited, I'll bring some. Matthew, we can't wait to see you for the multi-day. Christmas elf, thank you so much for joining us as well. Thanks for having me.
01:03:58
Speaker
Brandon, I love you man. Love you too man. We'll see you right next week. Bye!
01:04:05
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 individually on social media. Brandon can be found on Instagram as bmdub81, on Twitter, bdub81, and on Untapped as bdubdrinksbeer. Tony can be found on Instagram and Untapped under Ace of Hope Chicago. On Twitter, The Ace of Hope Chicago. Clark can be found as Clarkowski on all three. Dan can be found on Instagram as hip underscore underscore hops and to hip hops on YouTube. 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.