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Episode 104 - Empty The Fridge Part 2
123 Plays2 years ago
This week we reach into the way back of the fridge to bring you "Empty The Fridge Part 2".
Beers on this episode:
Cruz Blanca - Barbarosa
Sketchbook - H2OP Sprakling Water
Lake Effect - Gose Reposada
Hop Butcher - Meet The Simcoes
Piperworks - Ninja Vs. Unicorn
Lo-Fi - Blueberry Wheat
Theme music provided by Myke Kelli (@mykekelli)
Break and outro music provided by @FluidMinds
Check out all our episodes at www.themaltinghour.com
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Episode Theme
00:00:00
Speaker
This is a professional show, man. By the way, I did convince Clark to record something at some point that I am going to just drop into the episode at some point. To this episode? This episode. Hi, I'm Clark. Wait, he's dropping it right now. That was it. That was Clark. Oh, you guys didn't know? This week, we dig in the back of the fridge for Empty the Fridge Part 2. This is episode 104 of The Malting Hour.
00:00:30
Speaker
What's the haps on the hops? Guy ease that speech This the molten hour where we talk about our drink And tell you what we think, every other week And if we get drunk, well we might slur our speech Gotten to get a cab, the friends who wish you had Join us for a drink, join us for a laugh Time is never wasted, way you're getting wasted The molten hour here, people, people taking places People, people taking places
00:00:56
Speaker
Welcome
Hosts' Introduction and Super Bowl Talk
00:00:57
Speaker
to the malting hour. I am one of your hosts. Don't you'll join always with branded winter and Dan Dan That's all yeah No, that's fine. I think I pointed out a couple episodes or maybe during the malted minis that you Constantly switch the name that you introduce yourself as Yeah, it's like a mystery man. Hmm
00:01:24
Speaker
Little, the mysteriousness is what draws the listeners in. The last time. Cause they're like, that's a cliffhanger. What's he going to be next week? You know, if you added a different like personality to those names, I would be super excited. Like I feel like, you know, Dan, Danny, Daniel, hip hops, all four of those need to be different people. And, and which ones do I get along with?
00:01:51
Speaker
Probably. That's the big group. You know, I feel I feel like it's the one I get along with the most and maybe maybe Dan, Danny and Daniel. No, thanks. Welcome to the molting hour. How's it going, everybody? We were talking right before we started recording. Dan looks frustrated, slightly tired. You need a hug, man. I know. I just, you know, a little bit of a hug downtown. Oh, no good.
00:02:17
Speaker
I want to apologize to everybody for the last, it wasn't after, yeah, after the final pour from last week. I had every intention of leaving Brandon's after the Super Bowl and posting it like I normally would. So it was ready for the morning. But I went to Brandon's like feeling pretty good. And then me, Brandon and Mike kind of just,
00:02:46
Speaker
We drank too much, basically. And then I came home and I played my electronic drums, totally forgot. I took an Uber home, by the way. I was playing my drums, listening to a whole bunch of 90s alternative rock, went to sleep, woke up at nine, I had the day off, felt terrible.
00:03:02
Speaker
took a shower went back to bed, finally got up about 1230, went out grocery shopping and realized I did not post the episode. So I apologize for
Super Bowl Preferences and Fan Stories
00:03:10
Speaker
anybody who is actually going to work or doing something Monday morning. That was my fault. But I did get it out on Monday before the day was done. And I surprisingly woke up on Monday feeling like, okay,
00:03:23
Speaker
That's great. You know what I should have done, Brandon? I did not harass you because you guys had already moved, I guess, all your food except for the snacks. You had chicken wings upstairs. I thought about it too late. That's what I was banking on.
00:03:39
Speaker
never never be afraid to ask for chicken wings. Oh, I know. I didn't even think about it. I was just so happy to hang out and watch an exciting football game where the Kansas City Chiefs won and beat the Eagles. Crazy, crazy. Yes. Who are you? Dan, who are you rooting for? I won money. Yeah, you did. I was rooting for the Chiefs. Right on. Oh, I'm sorry. I have a buddy.
00:04:06
Speaker
Who is a big Eagles fan and all he does is talk trash about Rogers? So I didn't want him to win Take it easy Eagles fan. I Didn't really have I liked both teams. I wanted to see the Eagles win, but I gotta be honest. It's it's hard to beat my homes and the Chiefs You know, it's just so I was happy that Chiefs won. It was a little bit of a lame ending I will say that I was hoping for dad and
00:04:35
Speaker
a little bit more, but I mean, it's like a chess game, you know? Strategory. Strategory is what you use to win games. Yeah, I hate the Eagles. Hardcore.
00:04:50
Speaker
And, you know, I can't say hit the Eagles. I hate Eagles fans. And the reason I hate Eagles fans is because I've worked when I was working for the Bears. The old like the worst fights were always when the Eagles were in town and people like we knew like it was just going to be a shit show because like it would be five minutes into the first quarter and these Eagles fans are hammered and throwing fists already. And it's like, really, dude, come on.
00:05:19
Speaker
Yeah, the Tories are like throwing snowballs at Santa Claus and stuff like that. So they're they're known to be. Why would you throw a snowball at Santa? I don't know. Because they were like one in six that season or something, and they were like mad. So they took it out in Santa at halftime. Why wouldn't you fucking Santa fall? Because of Andy Reid. I had I had been escorting a season ticket holder to his chair at one point.
00:05:46
Speaker
And, uh, so the group I worked in, we handled like all the wheelchair services and he was in a wheelchair, obviously, and was going to his seat and it was an Eagles game. And he told me that like he goes, he's, he goes to every away game too. Like he travels to go see every Bears game. That's dedication. Yeah. He's a diehard fan. He's retired. He's like, I'm retired. I got the money. Like I'm, that's what I'm going to do with my, my money. Like, all right, cool. We will never have that privilege.
00:06:11
Speaker
No, but he said, however, I will not go to the Eagles again because the last time he said he had went, they poured beer on him while he was in his wheelchair. They dumped him out of his chair and people were kicking him and like just straight up like assaulting him. Like, you know, that is the worst thing I've ever heard. That's garbage. It's a game, you guys, everybody. I mean, like I'm I'm a I love sports. I can.
00:06:40
Speaker
really get like, you know, pretty amped up about games and stuff, but come on, don't, don't be garbage. Don't be a garbage. Stay classy, Philly. Yeah. Now
Exploring 'Empty the Fridge' Concept
00:06:48
Speaker
I'm happy Casey won. Anyway, this isn't the Superbowl, uh, uh, recap episode, which we have done in the past. And I think Kansas city won that one as well. Um, but this one is much like we did back in September of 2020. It was just me and Brandon, and there was a lot of things going on and we didn't have time to really get together.
00:07:07
Speaker
And so we had to throw something together, which is what we're doing tonight. We
Beer Reviews and Tasting Notes
00:07:12
Speaker
are emptying the fridge, part two. Grabbing two, or three, I don't know, I only have two. Random beers from our fridge to just sit around and talk and, you know, that's it. So, enjoy. Hope you guys like it, if you don't.
00:07:27
Speaker
You got this far. I mean, I don't know what else you're gonna do as far as the podcast is concerned. I have three beers that I chose. I'm drinking one, and not with the intent of drinking all three of them. I just haven't decided which of the other two that I want to drink. Depending on how this goes.
00:07:45
Speaker
Technically, tomorrow, we're recording this on Wednesday. I took this Friday off as well, because we'll get into that shortly. This is my Thursday, so I don't have a lot going on. Tomorrow at work, I'm all kind of caught up. I might have a third one. But let's start with Dan. Dan, you have not done the empty the fridge with us before. You welcome. This is what we do when we don't have anything planned. Well, we don't have anything planned for this week. We have random stuff planned.
00:08:14
Speaker
We do. We actually do have like a handful of stuff and we're trying to get our schedules together. Um, Dan, what beer are you drinking today? I am drinking Barbarossa from Cruz Blanca brewing. This is a 2021 Imperial. Yeah.
00:08:36
Speaker
Imperial black and red raspberry ale aged in bourbon and red wine barrels. And it comes in at 11 percent. And it's a what is this? A 500 milliliter bottle. So it's not it's not too too small. So I'm not going to go more than this. This is a sipper. Is this is this the only beer you're going to drink for the episode? It's OK if you say so. No, I have something else. I'm going to cap it. I have a I have a wild card that I'm going to drink later.
00:09:08
Speaker
That's like no spoilers. Have you had this beer before? No, I haven't. And I was just actually just looking. So it's a heavenhill barrels and Cabernet red wine barrels. But it's really good. It's like the fruit comes forward. It's black, almost like a stout, but then with like a almost like a red wine, like it's like a reddish tint to it. You said there's raspberries on it. Yeah, it's a little sweet, but you get like the tannins from the red wine barrels.
00:09:36
Speaker
And not too sweet, but yeah, it's really good. The only other person that I know that has bought a lot of the Cruz Blanca beers is our good friend, Clark Clark, who is not with us again. He's a busy guy, especially around this time of year. He's just a busy dude. A lot of them are too sweet for me if I'm going to be, oh, you know what? Here, check this out. One of our faithful listeners, Joe J. What up, Joe?
00:10:06
Speaker
checked it in in June of this past year and gave it a four to five. Oh, there we go. Yeah, Joe, Joe tries a lot of really fun beers, and I always see that he gets a lot of them from beer on the Walnut Park Ridge, where I get a lot of my random, you know, random build your own four pack, six pack or just even one beer. And I've yet to run into it. Joe was going to say, how have you guys not run into each other or at least planned to run into each other?
00:10:35
Speaker
That's true. We also have a shirt from him or for him. That's, uh, Oh yeah. Give me his, give me his info. I'll send it to him. I think Joe did give it to me and maybe I gave it to you, but Joe, if you're listening, which I pretty sure you are, go ahead and send us another message, uh, on Instagram and the multi hour. We'll make sure we get that shirt to you. Um, the only other cruise Blanca barely each beer that I remember us having was around the mall was on the Maltese. And I can't remember what it was. Do you guys remember what that was?
00:11:06
Speaker
What kind of beer was it? We always do. Oh, it was. He liked hot beer. Yes. Yes. That was such a good beer. Cruz Blanca makes some really great beers. And hopefully, we do a full episode on that soon. But just the regular flagship beers are very good. But the barrelled beers are pretty fun. Dan, what kind of beer did you say this was? I missed it. I'm sorry. I caught the rasp. I think it said, da, da, da, da, da.
00:11:36
Speaker
Imperial, a black and red raspberry ale. So it's just an ale. Okay. Forged by the darkness of heaven, hill, Cabernet.
00:11:48
Speaker
Yeah, so it has like a story about it, like a little narrative. Do you want to read the narrative for us? Sure. You're 17, you don't need your readers yet. A fighter who makes elusive appearances due to the scarcity of its ingredients. Get your hands on this one before it vanishes. Exactly. Oh, that was it? And we got the...
00:12:19
Speaker
I appreciated the music. That was good. There's an eye patch involved. Yeah. But the fighter part of it, so it's a luchador series is what their barrel age series is. So this is like a luchador wrestler, the Barbarossa. He's got a little patch on it. As you'll see in the picture for this episode. Dan, how many
00:12:42
Speaker
Body slams. No, please. No, I didn't want to just go jump into your like review on it. Please go ahead. Yeah, no, I was going to say Cruz Blanca. Shout out to the food there, too, because it's really, really good. They have these like I don't know what they're called, but they're like almost like Mexican pizza things. Is it a toast? I don't know. Yeah, it's like a giant toaster. It really is. But it's like the size of a pizza. Is it?
00:13:12
Speaker
It is. It literally says giant tostada on the menu. It's hilarious. Yeah, it's a giant. It's like the size of a pizza. It's it's huge. I'm
Chicago Beer Discussion
00:13:23
Speaker
assuming you get it without the the the flavor. I mean, meat. They have. Well, they have. They do. Oh, they do. Oh, yeah. Oh, that actually does. There's a sweet potato one.
00:13:37
Speaker
Oh, that's not the one. I think they must change it maybe seasonally. But the last one I had. Oh, it's the classica. The classica has nothing. You can add your choice of protein. But yeah, it does sound awesome. It was a different. No, they're really good, though. And the beers there. I mean, I love their lagers and their saisons. Some of the luchador series is a little too sweet for my taste, but
00:14:02
Speaker
Other than that, their beers are really, really good. I was going to say I was sold really on that, that La Tormenta. I've had going out and about, I've had cruise market barriers here and there. I was just going to say the first time I remember going there is when they had their, I guess it would be a Mexican version of an Oktoberfest.
00:14:30
Speaker
And I think somewhere around here, I don't think I gave it away, but I have a huge, a two huge, like glass steins from Cruz Blanca. Um, survey said, possibly, but, um, need to get back there because that place is pretty dope.
00:14:47
Speaker
Their outside seating is fantastic. And the first time that I went there, I met up with Jesse, our good friend who is now, where's he's down in Tennessee, or Louisville. Yeah, Louisville at- He lives in Nashville. Yeah, correct, correct, correct. And that was the first time that I met Rachel. And then Rachel then came on to our podcast and we were talking about the pumpkin beer episode.
00:15:12
Speaker
And I brought up that I had met her and she had no idea who it was. That's the artist formerly known as beer goggles. That's right. That's right. That's now like beer adjacent. Absolutely. So Dan, how many body slams? I was going to say slam dogs. How many body slams are you giving this one? Well, I'm not going to give this any body slams, but it's only because the complexity of it
00:15:39
Speaker
The red wine tannins along with the raspberries. It's a very delicious beer. It doesn't drink 11%, which is pretty scary. But I'm going to give this 4.25 Ray Mysterio Juniors. Yes. Great reference. Fantastic reference. Good job, man. Impressive. You went with that 11% beer. Yeah. I think I asked, is this your only beer tonight? I mean, I'm sick of seeing it in my fridge.
00:16:10
Speaker
No, but it's really good. No, because honestly, I was like, nope, nope. We're done. We're done. We're done. You had your chance with it. I'm just joking, man. I'm trying to be nicer. I'm sorry. That's so rude. I don't like hearing me be mean to you when I listen back to this.
00:16:30
Speaker
You shouldn't do what I do. What's that? Now I'm going to continue being a jerk too. Brandon, what are you drinking? I am drinking a beer from a once local brewery that has now moved that still local, but not so local. It's from Lake Effect Brewing.
00:16:55
Speaker
It is their goes reposado tequila barrel aged goes ale brewed with sea salt. If I'm not mistaken, I think I've had that maybe with you, maybe without what's it look like? Oh, yeah, it looks it's it's that is one of the lake effect standard labels there, man. That's that's like.
00:17:16
Speaker
I appreciate that about Clinton-like effect where they do those type of labels where it's just kind of like that their Omega School of Brett kind of looks the same way and they got away from
00:17:47
Speaker
I got it. Definitely. No, it's about to get into that, Dan. Yeah. So it is drinking. It's drinking like it goes. I'm getting a lot of that, like that tartness, that little little film, like a little kick of Harper. But I'm also getting tequila. I'm not getting so much barrel as I am getting like actual like the essence of tequila in here.
00:17:49
Speaker
putting a bunch of images on
00:18:13
Speaker
What type of tequila was it again? How do you pronounce it? It doesn't say. No, no, no. You had said it. Read the description of the beer again.
00:18:23
Speaker
goes reposado tequila. Reposado is the type of tequila. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The only reason I bring that up is because you're asking like the name of the tequila. No, no, no, no, no. The type of tequila that is like that tequila. I used to really like like silver and clear tequila, but that rasp is I can't represent. Oh, thank you. It is probably my favorite tequila. And it's also my daughter's favorite type of tequila. Imagine that.
00:18:51
Speaker
Crazy. Sorry. Brandon, what are you getting from it? Well, I was going to go ahead and read the description real quick too. Sorry. Our simple goes recipe brewed with sea salt becomes transformed by resting eight months in a barrel that once housed bourbon and then tequila. The scent of agave is in the nose of the sparkling ale with notes of earth and sea in the flavor. This ale is refreshing with its bright tartness and smooth finish, brooding collaboration with warehouse lickers.
00:19:22
Speaker
I wanted to begin with tastes of notes of earth, wind, and fire. That's right there, Dan. Definitely getting the earth in there. Dan, it would have been a record, you know, he could have paired it. I was actually getting ready to show you a record, so I was reaching for it.
00:19:39
Speaker
I'm getting some pleasant lime notes in there that compliment, obviously, the tequila. And I'm getting the saltiness. It's got a very dry finish. But it's super easy to drink. It's only 4.8%, which is surprising. But I like that fact because this is definitely a beer that I could see myself drinking again repeatedly.
00:20:09
Speaker
And I'm not big. I'm not like a huge person. I don't seek out, you know, goes all the time. But from what I'm getting from this man, it's got everything that I would enjoy about beer. And it's funny. So going back to your like, you know, I sat by the ocean.
00:20:27
Speaker
It's reminiscent to that. Even beer for tacos, all that stuff, the pleasant notes that I enjoy in those beers come together in this. Clint does good beer, man. It's not shocking to me, but I enjoy it very much. That's this whole time as you're saying that.
00:20:55
Speaker
in my head, just reminding myself, let other people speak and don't talk over people. When I edit a podcast and I hear me talking over everybody, I'm like, you asshole, just shut up and let everybody else talk. That's exactly what I was thinking. I feel like Lake Effect is slept on so many times for
00:21:15
Speaker
the different type of styles that they do and the different barrels that Clint uses and the different styles of beers that he uses in different barrels. Like there's a lot more hits than than misses. And with this particular style and the barrel that he used and everything that he did, I'm not surprised at all that it is as good as you are claiming. Like I wish I had one. Yeah, I don't remember.
00:21:44
Speaker
Like I remember like the early days of lake effect and like, I think then he was much more experimental. He still is very, I would, he's very, very experimental still, but you know, they were trying things. They were trying recipes and things like that. And not everything was like a winner. And he would even admit that, you know, but that's, you know, the kind of the way it goes for like a new brewery, finding their way. The way it goes.
00:22:18
Speaker
What I was going to say though is once he got into using barrels, there was a very fine, small, I would say very small window.
00:22:32
Speaker
where some of them just were okay. And then it became good. And then there's some that I would actually say are great. So he does really well. He knows how to treat a barrel, man. I feel like the only ones I didn't really care for, and that was my particular taste, were
00:22:53
Speaker
his gin barrel aged beers. They were rough for me because there was a lot of, there was juniper in there and it was just very, very floral. Like it was just too much juniper spice for me. But there's an audience for that is what you have to remember. Oh, absolutely. No, I mean, those beers, those beers flew off his shelf there. But yeah.
00:23:13
Speaker
A lot of his barrel aged stuff, the things that he does, like his Fernet barrel aged stout is so good. I've yet to have actual Fernet, but the Fernet barrel aged stout was so, so good. And I remember, I think I've talked about this before, that Mike and I went to a VIP event and it was just, it was very early on when they were doing the barrel aged stouts.
00:23:38
Speaker
It was, there wasn't a lot of us there, but we hung out at the brewery for the VIP event and stayed very late. And we drank a lot of the barrel aged stout. And I remember Mike and I just.
00:23:50
Speaker
fawning over it. Like, dude, this is as good as Bergen County. I remember hearing people saying that back in like, you know, and it's, and you know, he's got some, he does have some hits and misses, but I feel like it's more hits than misses. So I'm super excited for the new tap room to open up and see what else he does.
00:24:11
Speaker
going off of the sours with him. I remember, uh, in vine spirits, which is a bottle of shop. It was an Anderson. It is an Andersonville. Uh, when we used to live over there, I used to go there all the time and I used to get the bombers of like the Pamplemousse and stuff like that that he would do. Those bombers that was Pamplemousse hands down. Still one of my favorite beers from Lake effect. That was really good, but he had a bunch of different sours with the different fruits. I can't remember the other ones off top of my head, but
00:24:41
Speaker
Yeah, like I'm really excited for Clint to open up the new spot and to see what is Available like I'm really excited Brandon. I'm curious how I'm curious to know how he hooked up with um, he said his warehouse right warehouse like yep He did. I mean they're like
00:25:03
Speaker
Oh, I mean, when I used to do delivery, I'm almost positive I've delivered there before. Yeah, it's like three blocks from my work. Yeah, he's fully self distributing. So yeah. And it'll be great for the tap room because now people can come in and just get it straight from him, which is awesome. I mean, there'll still be some distribution, but
00:25:25
Speaker
Taproom money is where it's at, baby. Brandon, how many goose eggs? No, that's a negative thing. How many geese would you give this Goza? I'm going to go with four. Hmm. Yeah. I like it. All right. Sala four, maybe like 4.1. Fantastic. Yeah. Super enjoyable. Light crisp. Got those perfect sour notes. Got that hint of salt and lime.
00:25:56
Speaker
Definitely a good representation of a tequila barrel aged beer. I am very jealous that I'm not having that in front of me, but keeping with tradition of our very first excuse me, I burped again, um, empty the fridge back in 2020. The first three beers at least are all Chicago based breweries, because the beer that I am drinking is a beer that, uh, I picked up recently and I didn't have any of them. I saw it and I said, Oh, I'll grab that. And I didn't drink it.
00:26:25
Speaker
and tonight I'm having one.
00:26:27
Speaker
It is Pipeworks Ninja versus Unicorn. Ooh. What? Just funny. So looking at it, it says it's a double. Oh, sorry. It is a double IPA. I thought it was a double paleo when I looked at it. I'm like, ooh, a double paleo. That's great. But we've had random Pipeworks beers on here. We're still in the process of trying to get Pipeworks on here. But Pipeworks Ninja versus Unicorn is probably
00:26:56
Speaker
their most, I would say, famous beer. Am I wrong with that, guys? Here in Chicago? Would you say flagship? No, that's their flagship. Absolutely. Yeah. And it's a pure IPA, 8% alcohol, and I will read this.
00:27:10
Speaker
Ninjaverse Unicorn celebrates the epic battle between two of the biggest hop heads of lore. Brewed with over five pounds of hops per barrel, this unfiltered double IPA is sure to please the most discerning hop lover. Whether you're rooting for the mythical horned horse or the deadly assassin of the east, we hope you'll enjoy Ninjaverse Unicorn. I don't remember the last time I've
00:27:34
Speaker
had this beer. And I saw it at a grocery store. And that's what I said. I don't remember the last time I had this. There's other ones I've had. I've had a hazy Ninjaverse unicorn. I've had Blood of Unicorn. I've had Pineapple Guppy. Oh, Lizard Geat's really good. Oh, Lizard Geat's fantastic. That's one of the best pale ales in Chicago.
00:27:57
Speaker
next to charlatan and fractal from old everything. But Ninjaverse Unicorn was one of those beers when I started brewing and started getting into craft beer here in Chicago.
00:28:12
Speaker
that just blew me away. I was like, holy shit, this is exactly what I want. And I didn't realize it was 8%. And I had a salad tonight for dinner. I'm drinking this and I'm feeling pretty good. I'm feeling pretty good, guys. It's very reminiscent of a West Coast IPA. It smells piney.
00:28:35
Speaker
very like pine resinous, but it's not like overly hoppy. It's not like a bitter balm. And there's a nice sweetness to it. It's a light gold golden color. This is one like this is the beer style that got me into brewing beer. This is what I wanted to have on tap or in bottles all the time. So very happy to have this. And if I had to give this a rating,
00:29:02
Speaker
between ninjas and unicorns. I'm going with the unicorn, by the way. I'm going with four and a half unicorn horns. That's what
Blueberry Beers and Hazy IPA Preferences
00:29:13
Speaker
I'm going with. It's delicious. And the only reason why I shorten it is because listening to you guys talk about your beers, I'm just about done with my beer. And at this point, we're about ready to go to a break because I feel like we're at like three hours of recording. But that's what happens when you have a double IPA.
00:29:31
Speaker
with only eating a salad, we'll be right back.
00:31:27
Speaker
Mar on this poor fuck. Do you guys mind if I go first with this one? Okay. Yes. Oh no. Trying to find information about it real quick. Do you want me to look it up on, on tap for you? I found it. I found it.
00:31:57
Speaker
I found it, shut up Dan. Just gotta let the website load. Okay, I'm ready. And we're back. We are back. And after me knocking down my microphone, hopefully it still works. That was fun because my headphone cord is too long. All right, wow, Brandon, if you look at the screen, you can see the, and we're back just clipping so nicely.
00:32:26
Speaker
All right. So, uh, this next beer, since I pretty much down the first one that I had while you guys were talking, uh, this one was given to me by a Mr. Clark a fetterage. Ooh. Yes. He gave me this, uh, randomly, uh, for my birthday. I know. I wish it'd be fantastic.
00:32:48
Speaker
This is from lo-fi brewing, which you know, I didn't this website is insane as I move my Cursor there are things happening. I don't know. Can someone check out where lo-fi brewing is from real quick? Yeah Love to say oh, it's Charleston, South Carolina so this is lo-fi brewing's blueberry wheat and
00:33:12
Speaker
And looking at the description, it says a smooth American wheat made with, okay, so there's a lot of things happening on this website. Everybody go to lo-fi-brewing.com slash beers and you'll understand what I'm talking about. Smooth American wheat made with German malts and a gentle touch of blueberry to finish. It's 5.2% ABV. Nice. So 4,000 people have checked this in on untapped and there's no description.
00:33:42
Speaker
Interesting. It looks like a death tones. Wait, I see what you're doing. What? You're going full on unicorn theme. Oh, shit, I didn't realize that I am going on full unicorn theme. Hey, look at that. What's the name of the beer?
00:34:00
Speaker
Low five brewing blueberry and wheat. Show them the can though. Everybody can see it in the picture. There's a unicorn. Like Deftones-esque sort of like silhouette. The silhouette for sure, but that was a white pony. This beer comes off as, let's see, take a look at that. There's some sediment floating around, number one.
00:34:26
Speaker
It's got a golden hue to it. It smells tart, but it's not tart. Blueberries are a little tart. This is a tasty wheat beer, and I used to be a giant wheat beer fan. But then, because I brewed so many of them because it was very easy in my early homebrew days, just like Cezanne's, I kind of fell off of it. It's good.
00:34:55
Speaker
There is a like blueberries are hard to use in a beer. And I feel like these are probably made either with fresh blueberries or they did a blueberry extract that was very subtle because they didn't want to get over the top with like a blueberry pie or a fake blueberry flavor. But it's like blueberries are tough. And the fact that there isn't a like purple
00:35:23
Speaker
bluish hue to the beer. I have a feeling maybe that was an extract. It's not bad, but I will say that, um, it's tasty, but I don't think I would like rush to go back to it. Do you guys have any experience with any blueberry beers that you actually like or blueberry beers that stand out that like, you're like, I don't know if I like this or not.
00:35:52
Speaker
So a blueberry is really tough with beers. I had a, I just posted it maybe a month or two ago, but it was almost blue by Sundial Brewing out in Barrington, which is taking over the old Flesk space. And it was a blueberry saison that was phenomenal. It was like purple color.
00:36:15
Speaker
See that to me like shows that they use like real blueberries and you guys I mean There's no no you to it that look No, there was a Gosh, so I've never had anything from lo-fi brewing, but there was like a meaning I want to say it was a Georgia brewery that when I was in Florida had like a blueberry wheat and
00:36:39
Speaker
That was like, it was like that color. Like it didn't, it just looked like a regular wheat beer, but I didn't really like it. And people were like really brave about it. I, the more I'm drinking it, the more I, I like it. And like the ABV is low. It is a refreshing beer and like that hint of blueberry is pretty nice. I just don't think it's something that I would necessarily seek out. You know what I mean? Like, what do you think Clark got? Um, did he go to South Carolina?
00:37:09
Speaker
Either he got it from South Carolina or a friend that came up from South Carolina. I will check in with him. I could do some mean pairings with something from a lo-fi brewing. Of course. So I just looked up. I went to untapped and I just typed in blueberry.
00:37:29
Speaker
It's some some stuff came up. There was a beer that I enjoyed from Brixton Grie. Remember, they had their blueberry pomegranate milkshake IPA. Oh, yes. That was like one of the first milkshake IPAs we like. Brandon, was that on the episode where we? Yeah. You and Clark. Like, holy shit. This is amazing. This is how they should be. Revolution also did Pursuit of Freedom with Concord Grape and also very tasty.
00:37:55
Speaker
And then back in 2019, from decadent ales, I had a blueberry frosted pastry. I'm going to give that a three. I think I gave it a three because the blueberry did not come through as well. I think there's a couple other things on here, most notably about the Northern County Northwoods had blueberry in it.
00:38:16
Speaker
Yes, go Northwoods. It's either a hit or miss when you're having it. This I feel like, and maybe I'll just on, I mean, you guys can do the same thing too as far as listeners. Reach out to LoFi and find out if it's an extract. I feel like because I've used extracts in the past for beers when I first started brewing and also some other random things when I did a sour that
00:38:42
Speaker
like my base sour beer and I had extracts to pour into it. That's kind of what this reminds me of. So I think it's a blueberry extract. I feel like a lot of this. This is a very what's the word I'm looking for a welcoming beer.
00:38:57
Speaker
If you're going to a brewery, if you're going to LoFi, I don't know what kind of beers they have other than they've got lagers, glitter pony, chocolate deluxe, which is stout. They have another fest beer, Mexican lagers. By the way, glitter pony, Brandon, is an essential Belgian triple.
00:39:19
Speaker
Ooh. But I feel like this is a beer that you could if I went to the brewery, this is a beer that would appeal to probably a lot of people because it's refreshing. It's a refreshing, tasty beer, but because I've used extracts. I got to say, man, this is this is I'm going to.
00:39:43
Speaker
if I had to wager on this, this isn't a blueberry extract and it's not fresh blueberries. So if I had to rate this on pints of blueberries, I would say 3.17 pints of blueberries because it is a tasty beer. It's very nice. It's what I say 5.2% which is
00:40:11
Speaker
decent. You can drink it on a hot summer day, you'd share it with your friends. It's not terrible. I just the blueberry extract I think is what's kind of standing out to me. And if they use actual blueberries, I'd be very surprised. And I would say that the mystery beer really proved my tastings for sure.
00:40:32
Speaker
I was trying to find an Instagram post for that beer just to see if they described it in more detail. But I can't. I'm not finding it right now because a lot of their labels look the same. But I was going to say, it's a cool label. Their website is cool. I like the whole feel of it. I would like to try the fact that
00:40:51
Speaker
When I go to their beers, it's lo-fi lager, lo-fi blueberry, lo-fi glitter pony, lo-fi chocolate deluxe, and lo-fi fest beer. So we get a Mexican lager, the blueberry wheat, the Belgian triple, an American stout with abundance of classic malts and loaded with pure Ecuadorian cocoa, no sweeteners, no BS, 6%. And then a fest beer, which is, it says,
00:41:14
Speaker
our favorite German beer style, velvety malt character, golden in color, and one of the finest lagers made with a four malted Bohemian Pilsner Vienna and Munich malts. So I feel like this beer in particular is one that, it's like their IPA, as far as what they have to be available. It's kind of the one that's like, maybe not an IPA, that's wrong. Like it's just, it's their out there beer. They have a fruited beer. It looks like they're like,
00:41:43
Speaker
I don't know which one of these would be their flagship, but so like all three of these have the same label. They have some that don't, but there's a Mexican style lager, the blueberry wheat and the India pale ale. They all have similar labels, just different colors. I like to try their IPA just because, I mean, like I said, it's a well done beer, but if I saw it again, in the store, I wouldn't reach out for it. So I do. So I want to give a shout out. Brandon looked up the blueberry beers on his untapped and I was like, let me do the same.
00:42:12
Speaker
I had an afterthought with blueberry and spent black currants and aged in red wine barrels that I gave a four or five. And it looks phenomenal. It's got a purplish tint to it. So you're kind of fuzzy on my end, so I don't know. You're fuzzy on my end, sir. It's kind of like our friendship, right?
00:42:46
Speaker
Yeah, so, uh, Clark, if you have any more of those little side of the years. You guys, when it gets super silent like that, it's awkward for the listener. Someone's got to jump back in there. That's what I just did. Brandon did a big yawn. Dan, you came in here like you didn't want to do this. I had a salad and a double IPA. This is almost like an after the final pour at this point. All right, so we're moving on. Brandon, what?
00:43:15
Speaker
So I switched, so I had two that I had selected and I decided to go with a different one because the two that I had selected were both in like the four and a half. 12%. No, they were like four and a half to five and a half range. And I was like, I could go a little bigger. I didn't go too big. I actually went with Hop Butcher for the Worlds, Meet the Sim Codes. Hey man, where'd you get that from? Probably you. It was for me on the Super Bowl, you drunk bastard.
00:43:46
Speaker
Wait, real quick, just so you know, my favorite blue thing was Blue Bobber, a blueberry ale from Fox River Brewing Company when Brandon and I last year went to the New Glarus Beer, Bacon and Cheese Festival. Brandon, you remember Fox River Brewing? They had that fruit beer. That's the most recent one as far as I can see. That's not the guy that said, let's go, Brandon, right? No, no, no. This guy was cool. Oh, gosh.
00:44:16
Speaker
Sorry, anyways, Brandon, go ahead. Continue with the, let's meet the Simcos. Yeah, so meet the Simco. It's a Simco hopped India pale ale. This is, I think, my first time having this. Technically your second, because you did have it on Super Bowl Sunday. Oh, yeah, that is true. My first time having it without a bunch of other stuff. Beforehand. Yeah. It was a mess. It was a great time, but it was a mess by the time I left for me.
00:44:45
Speaker
Yeah, and I think when you guys left, I just went upstairs and went to bed. Good idea. After I told Beck, I was like, I'll clean up. I just woke up and I fell asleep. Which is funny because I said, oh, Mike and I will help. We did. Yeah, I'm dumb. Anyways, so this, if you've ever had this before, it's super, super hazy. Like very, very hazy. Is this supposed to be considered a hazy IPA?
00:45:12
Speaker
I believe so. There's only a handful of hot butcher beers. It probably just says IPA on the can. I don't think there's like double dry hopped IPAs, but a lot of their IPAs are hazy IPAs. This one just says Simco hopped.
00:45:31
Speaker
to take a clerk's place here with the quick research. So I did know that Hopperture does a whole series where they do the meet the blank and it's like a single hopped beer. So they have meet the Motawekas, meet the Mosaics, meet the Nelsons, meet the Citrus and meet them at Simcos. And they're all listed as IPA New England slash hazy. OK, that would make sense. And you're not particularly a huge fan of hazy IPAs. No, not necessarily.
00:45:59
Speaker
I don't hate them. And again, it's like one of those cells that I don't actively seek. However, having this reminds me how much I actually do kind of enjoy Simco hops. Because if I don't know, wait, hold on. I actually looked something up, too. Oh, boy. Yeah, no, like literally because I was confirming that this was it literally was just Simco hopped.
00:46:28
Speaker
So I wonder if this is kind of like their version of smash beers. I mean, I don't know what the malt. It didn't say anything about the mall, but you can't do a hazy and like have it be a smash. I think there's got to be something else in here regardless. You could. I think you could. You can totally do. Yeah, but that's like something that's true. Yeah, I don't think it's a smash beer.
00:46:56
Speaker
or as far as a single hot beer for sure. Yeah. And it's it's fucking it's fantastic. Could I drink a ton of these? No. But like hot bombs in general, like I've grown out of that phase where like I can't sit there and drink like super happy beers all the time, like consecutively. But I will say that I do enjoy the flavor on this man. This I'm getting like orange. I'm getting
00:47:21
Speaker
like um some effervescence um there's a nice bitterness to it it's it's not like an overly yeah it's not an over-the-top hazy ipa where it's like you know no this is not a palette record this is not a palette record by any by any means but it's
00:47:41
Speaker
for being a single hopped beer, I feel like it's still super juicy. There's a lot to this beer that I enjoy. Simco is one of my favorite hops and then I haven't, I don't think I've used it in any of my hazy IPAs, but I've used it in IPAs and pale ales and Simco is,
00:48:04
Speaker
one of my favorite hops. So when I grabbed it, I grabbed it in mine. And we're using Simco in our collab beer that we're doing. Hey, man. Hey, man. I was going to get to that. I was going to get to that. I'd say this is a shout out to like, this is like a deep cut for all the listeners, but isn't Simco like the boxwood hop?
00:48:42
Speaker
Real quick side note, by the time this comes out, we're already done with what we're doing. And you guys may have seen the post online because Brandon already hit on it. Because Brandon, as soon as you said that, that you chose this beer and you started talking about it, I already pulled up the recipe so I can reference it because I thought for sure that's what we chose.
00:48:47
Speaker
know the same
00:49:00
Speaker
Yeah, there it is. I got it too. Just so you guys know, if you're in the Chicagoland area, we are doing something that we've wanted to do for a long time. Dan, we'll get to you just so you know. And then Brandon, we'll get your review here on that butcher, like your, how many Simcos you want.
00:49:17
Speaker
We are doing a collaboration beer with Howard Street Brewing. We're super psyched about it. It's a pale ale. It's got Simco in it. So that's what Brandon was referencing. We got Simco, Cascade, and Amarillo in there. Dan, sorry. I know you can't make it to it. But I know that me, Brandon, and Clark, and Chuck are all super stoked about it. And actually, Brandon came up with a recipe
00:49:45
Speaker
for it. And we ended up just telling Chuck the ingredients that we wanted to do because we wanted to be a real collaboration. So we gave him the hops, the grain and the and the yeast. And he came with a recipe. And so now it's like a real collaboration. So you guys can look forward to that. That's it. Did he did he adjust the hops? I don't know. I don't know. We got it. We will find the email. I think he may have added one.
00:50:12
Speaker
By the time this Cascade Simcoe and Amarillo is what we chose, he did change the yeast, which we are using Omega yeast. Which, that's fine. I think Amarillo is the cat pea, or the boxwood. It might be. I know it's more grape fruity.
00:50:28
Speaker
But just so you guys know, if you're in Chicago, we're going to do something. This beer has been made. It's been brewed. And just follow us on social media, because we're going to do something as far as a release with Howard Street, because we're super stoked about it. And we love pale ales. Brandon? You guys should go live so I can see.
00:50:51
Speaker
What's going on? We'll be doing some video. Yeah. Life sounds pretty good. We're mashing at 9 a.m. And when this has come out, we mashed in at 9 a.m. on Friday, which is why I had Friday off. Like I said, you know, this is my Thursday. Yeah, super excited. Sorry, Brandon. I know I sidetracked that because you brought it up, dude. How excited, by the way, are you about making this beer with Howard Street?
00:51:15
Speaker
Um, I'm excited because it's, again, this is something that we, I think shortly after starting this podcast, it was, you know, a fun idea that we had that would be like, Hey, it'd be cool if somebody would let us do this. Um, and with all the breweries that we've talked to, I think even before we even interviewed Howard street, didn't they even mentioned to you like, Hey, if you ever want to do like a collab thing too, like.
00:51:39
Speaker
Yeah, and that was with Joe, our good friend Joe Steigerwald from Dry Hop and Corridor. And that's still something that we can do. But Howard Street is chugging along here. And they have the opportunity to be able to do a collaboration beer with a podcast before it's, you know. Yeah, I mean, it's going to be super cool just kind of seeing how they do everything in that space. So yeah, we'll definitely either be going live
00:52:08
Speaker
you know, we're going to be recording some stuff. So yeah, super cool. So you guys may have already seen that if you haven't seen it, go ahead and check our Instagram because that's what's going on with us at Howard Street. So let's go back to the hot butcher beer, Brandon. How many
00:52:24
Speaker
Family members, are you rating this beer? I'm going to go 3-9. 3-9 family members. That's nice. Just out of curiosity, why 3-9?
00:52:39
Speaker
I feel like it gives the last one a four. Hey, man, that's that's honest. That's weird. And like, like, hazy's aren't aren't my like, it's not your
Collaboration Announcement and Future Projects
00:52:53
Speaker
jam, typically. But I did enjoy the beer. So like, it's almost a four for me. You know, it's a three nine.
00:53:02
Speaker
All right, Dan, have you moved on to something else? We're getting probably closer to the end of where we should be. So not rushing you. I didn't know if you moved on to another beer. I did move on to another something, but it's a like I said, it's a wild card. So it's carbonated water sketchbook. Oh, shit.
00:53:29
Speaker
I didn't know they did a half water. Yeah, so they have a hot water that they released and so they have four different ones and I'm gonna try and pull it up real quick. But so I went there, Sam was getting to get her nails done. I dropped her off at a nail place and then the kids and I went up to sketchbook.
00:53:51
Speaker
Now she was in that general direction and I took the kids up to Sketchbook because they were having like a live band play and I decided to grab some hopwaters for the road and so they have four different ones. One with Bravo Hops, one with Saltana Hops, one with Centennial and one with Cascade. The one I have right now is the Cascade.
00:54:17
Speaker
Uh, but hop water, I got some of the hoppy refreshers from Lagannitas and it's been sort of my obsession lately. Which by the way, Cascade is one of the hops that we're using in our paleo with Howard Street. That's, that's why I drank this one.
00:54:34
Speaker
No, but no, I've just been really liking it because like, I mean, I usually would drink like La Croix and stuff like that. But to have the hops, especially when they're doing like the single hops, it's like a cool concept. Are you going into the office tomorrow? I have to be downtown at 8 a.m. I mean, that's why you drank the small like you drink the big beer, but didn't go anything else after that. Well, I have some of that left.
00:54:57
Speaker
But, um, yeah, no sketchbook was a cool space. And I went to their, um, what is it? It's gokey. It's gokey location, not the, not the Evans. No, not Evanston. What is that? No, it's it's gokey. Yeah. Well, there was two. That's why I was confusing, but it was the new one. Um, and it was really cool. The bigger one. Yeah. Yeah. I would say. Yeah. Yeah. I think, but, uh, actually sketchbook, uh, we're going there Saturday.
00:55:26
Speaker
We were there Saturday. What's awesome because I didn't know that sketchbook did a hop water and
00:55:36
Speaker
Brandon and I, I don't know if we definitely did not talk about it here on the podcast, but Brandon and I tried and Clark and myself, all three of us, because Dan, I don't think you'd try any of it. There was like Laguanitas, they have their regular like hop water, but then they did like a mixed pack, which was very good.
00:55:56
Speaker
Yeah. And then Hoplark, I discovered at Whole Foods where I had like a Citra, a Mosaic, and Cascade, like just water. And they have teas as well, like a white tea with Mosaic, and then they have this one. We also had the, we had the cinnamon one. We had the cinnamon one in JBF.
00:56:18
Speaker
Is that Hot Dog? Oh, shit, I didn't know that. Oh, you know what? Shout out to Athletic Brewing because, right, it's Athletic Brewing? Yep. Because of my birthday, and I told Brandon and Clark to sign up for it, I'm not sure if I told you Dan. I think it's through Facebook. I signed up for a mailing list on Facebook, and they sent me a
00:56:44
Speaker
code for my birthday, which is pass. And I basically got a free six pack. I just paid $5 for shipping and it was delivered this week. It's one of the best non-alcoholic beers I ever had. It's called their Soul Sour for Black History Month. And it is sour non-alcoholic beers are probably the best non-alcoholic beers you could have other than
00:57:09
Speaker
Sam Adams hazy, which I really love, but like it's it's tart, it's sour, it's refreshing. But there's still like this multi greeniness in the background with it. That's that that that's very good. So thanks, athletic brain.
00:57:25
Speaker
Feel free to sponsor us. Yeah, we'll just drink your stuff. It is good. We did talk about that for GBF, like how some of the non-alcoholic beers were fantastic. That was very lemon and mango. Fantastic. But I was saying I was drinking just the hazy.
00:57:47
Speaker
Oh, it's from Sam Adams? Yeah. Oh, dude, it's so good. It is. It is like that. And you know what, Brandon, I already have like 100 beers. I owe you my fridge. Don't break to you. But I'll save a soul power for you as well, because I remember it wasn't so power that we had from them at GABF. But there was a sour beer and I was like, holy shit, I wish like this was something that was available all the time. And they do each month like some type of
00:58:16
Speaker
random beer that they try and do. And it just so happened that February was a sour beer and I was super stoked. It's so good. That was going to be one of the beers I was going to try. I probably should have done that other than the double IPA. If you want to save one to drink with me sometime too, if you have multiples, think about it. I do. I have, I have four left. I'll drink two more and save the two. One for Brandon, one for you, Dan. How's that sound? Just bring it next time we record like here. That sounds good. Yeah.
Closing Remarks and Social Media
00:58:44
Speaker
Well, guys, this was a pretty good wrap-up. That worked out nice. There was some technical difficulties. We'll see how well I did for editing. We'll see how that goes. But the empty the fridge stuff is always fun. We are moving slowly from winter into spring. We got a lot lined up. And we're super excited about the beer with Howard Street. If you're in Chicago, we will keep posting about that. If you're near Chicago, come on in for it. We'll figure out.
00:59:15
Speaker
What, when the hell that's going to happen. I don't know, but, uh, check on social media because we've, we've definitely posted about it. We're going to make a big deal about it. Absolutely. Absolutely. Because it might be the one time we collaborate with the. This might be it. This might be it. Uh, Dan, always a pleasure, man. Always.
00:59:36
Speaker
Dude, you look so like you look just, are you exhausted right now? What's going on? He's good. He's rubbing my eyebrows. Just making sure, man. I want to make sure that you're OK. OK? No, I'm good. You're good? You're doing good. Good to see you, man. Thank you for the birthday. Good to see you, by the way. Yeah, you're welcome. I haven't opened it up yet. I'm super excited. You'll probably get in trouble if you play that on the outro, but. Yeah, no, I can't do that. It tastes like Brock's float.
01:00:04
Speaker
Uh, Brandon, also thank you for the birthday gift. I haven't opened that up as well. You're welcome. That's a, a Weller bottle that, uh, special reserve that, that I put it up in the upstairs bars so that when people come by and it's not just for me here in the basement, when we're just recording, that's for everybody to come by and enjoy. All right. Love you guys. And, uh, thank you everybody for listening and, uh, we'll see you guys next week. Thanks everyone. Bye.
01:00:35
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.
01:01:03
Speaker
Dan can be found on Instagram as hip underscore underscore hops and 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.