Archive for Beer a Day
Oskar Blues Ten Fidy Imperial Stout
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I’ve heard great things about the beers of Oskar Blues Brewery in Lyons, Colorado — one of the few craft breweries that cans its beers.
Canned beer makes me think of fizzy lagers and mowing the grass, drinking straight from the can and crumpling the alumninum when finished. So what a strange experience, to crack open a can of beer and pour a rich, syrupy oil!
Ten Fidy splashed up a dark, chocolate-colored head about an inch tall in my tulip glass. It had an body so dark it sucked the light from the room and pulled my nose in for a draw of its chocolaty, roasted, hoppy goodness.
Upland Wheat
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Travel weeks cause me anxiety, because I never know what kind of beer I’m going to find. I have a stockpile of great beer at home, but on the road things are left more to chance (see my posts a few weeks ago from Texas!).
Yet, this trip to Indiana proved pretty fruitful — I enjoyed a good IPA in my old stomping grounds, discovered a new and very limited Imperial Rye Pale at a downtown Indianapolis brewery, and still managed to find a good beer at the airport before flying back home.
Indy has a new airport, with a huge concourse ringed by restaurants and shopping just after the check in counters but before the security checkpoints. I arrived about an hour and a half early, so I lingered in this concourse searching for a good beer.
The racing themed Indy 500 Grill had a busy bar on this Wednesday afternoon, so I walked over to check out the taps. They only had 5 taps, but not one of them said Bud, Miller, or Coors — I remember Sam Adams and Pilsner Urquell — but my attention was fully on the only local beer in the lineup.
“Excuse me, is that Upland Wheat?”
Indeed it was. I couldn’t get to the Upland again, but the Upland came to me.
Last Dance Imperial Rye Pale
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Day two in Indianapolis — a few friends came up to say hello and have dinner. Indianapolis has come alive with plenty of great places to drink beer, so we settled on The Ram Restaurant & Brewery in downtown Indianapolis.
I know the Ram primarily because of its Buttface Amber, which makes me think of elementary school nicknames. But they have good food and plenty of beer choices. Alas, I could only choose one beer.
The waiter was enthusiastic and knowledgeable about beer, so when I asked him what I should have if I were only having one beer, he answered without hesitation: “You’d want to drink our Last Dance.” He explained it was a bold, hoppy American Pale Ale brewed with Rye.
Last Dance gets its name from the departure of the location’s head brewer, Dave Colt, who resigned on April 2nd to take the helm at a new brewery in Indianapolis called the Sun King Brewing Company. Dave’s last beer crafted for The Ram was this Imperial Rye Pale, which they tapped as a kind of farewell on April 16th.
Upland Dragonfly IPA
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The tradition of IPA Monday was designed for days like this. I flew to Indianapolis for a conference, and let me tell you — there’s nothing like getting stuck during a layover and chasing gate changes to make you crave the hoppy blast of a good India Pale Ale.
Specifically, the IPA I had a hankering for was Dragonfly IPA, from the Upland Brewing Company of Bloomington, IN. After landing and doing some work at the hotel, I made the 45 minute drive from Indianapolis to meet up with BeerADay.net reader and longtime friend Bruce Paine, where we sat at the bar and relived old times.
The Upland was my watering hole for many years while I attended Indiana University; I moved off campus and into a house mere blocks from the Upland shortly after they opened. I really didn’t drink much beer prior to discovering the Upland, but — as my credit card statements can attest — its proximity combined with fine craft beer gave me a new perspective. Over the years, my crew and I hung out at the Upland so frequently that we became close to many of the bartenders and waitstaff; hanging out after closing, drinking at their houses, developing romantic entanglements, and generally carrying on as if we were reviving television’s “Cheers”. (At least, that’s how we saw it.) So when the Upland started a Mug Club, many of us naturally became lifetime members.
Victory Moonglow Weizenbock
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Moonglow is a seasonal brew from Victory, and the warm fall colors on the label set the stage for a delicious beer tasting experience. The label shows what looks like a sunset scene, but those soft orange, ochre, and purples settling over the farm house and the waving wheat field are coming from a magical, glowing moon.
From the label:
“Haunting in its subtle complexity, this tempting wheat beer is alive with wild, fruity flavors and deep, spicy aromas. As bold and fleeting as a harvest moon, this dark bock beer makes for the perfect Autumnal elixir. Brewed in the tradition of great Bavarian weizenbocks, Moonglow shines with its own magical yeast strain intact, and exudes a radiance all its own!”
Big words, but this beer is able to back them up. I’ve been pleased with the Victory beers I’ve had this year, and I’m happy to say that Moonglow far surpassed even my high expectations.
