i ended up going to the decatur craft beer festival this year with my buddy willy! there were lots of great beer for the tasting, although it’s always a gamble drinking that much between noon and 5pm on a saturday. i know it’s boring, but my highlights were sierra nevada’s northern hemisphere harvest and estate [...]

i recently spent a nice fall afternoon brewing a couple batches of beer with some friends! it had been awhile since i’ve brewed, so i was excited to get back into the swing of things. we made a bell’s two hearted clone and a pumpkin amber, although we had to substitute some ingredients on the [...]

i recently had the 2011 brew free or die ipa by 21st amendment brewery. as far as i can tell, it’s the same tasty ipa with just a new design. be sure to check out my review on the 2010 brew free or die from last summer! as i mentioned a few days ago, i [...]

the 2011 hell or high watermelon wheat bear is out and as tasty as i remembered! it’s the summer seasonal by 21st amendment brewery out of san francisco. the packaging and cans have a new design this year and it’s just as impressive as last years. i appreciate beer companies that take the extra effort [...]

red hook brewery recently revamped their graphic and bottle design and i’m digging it! the bottles are now more rounded and look like stretched out red stripe bottles. the graphic design is also greatly improved and features a screenprinted look with a much simpler, yet catchy design. take a look for yourself, but to me [...]

have you ever tried torpedo extra ipa by sierra nevada? it’s a tasty ipa that stays in my rotation of go-to beers. i don’t think it’s quite up to par with bell’s two hearted or heavy seas loose cannon, but it is an ipa that i am always up for drinking! the torpedo has a [...]

once upon a time, my buddy willy and i brewed quite a bit of beer under the name bottle rocket brewing. we hosted gatherings where we grilled out and shared our beer with friends. summertime favorites were our watermelon wheat and orange cream ale, both went quickly when we had them on tap. most of [...]

one of my favorite beers around, and one of the hardest to find for that matter, is hopslam ale by bell’s brewery out of kalamazoo, michigan. this citrusy, floral, and insanely-hoppy double-IPA is brewed with honey and is one of the smoothest 10% beers you will find. hopslam is the winter seasonal release by bell’s [...]

to purchase alcohol in ontario you have to head to an lcbo, which stands for liquor control board of ontario. it’s a state run store that sells beer, wine, and spirits. if you are just looking for beer you can head to the beer store, a privately owned operation that sells beer. it definitely seemed [...]

i love grocery shopping in foreign countries, even if it’s just while visiting our neighbor to the north. you always notice subtle differences from shopping at home and find totally random things for sale. not surprisingly, most items are labeled in english and french in canada instead of english and spanish like down south. it [...]