This is a very impromptu post, but that's ok!

So yes, exciting news, as Monday, July 23rd, my first blog giveaway has gone live. This is a big thank you to all the support I've gotten, and I hope its just the first of many giveaways I have! I wont reveal the contents exactly, but I can tell you that it is two 22oz (Bomber) bottles of local, New England beer. I've been posting about it on my Twitter and Facebook accounts, but my fiancee says having an actual post will be helpful in getting more entries. And lets be honest, my placement of it at the bottom of my page is kinda of horrible. So right here, in this post, I will have the giveaway widget!

That seems like a good place!

Hipster Brewfus Giveaway

There are tons of chances to win, the more you enter, the better your odds! And the contest is going on for a month, and you can enter more than once, I think. Don't quote me! But I will still tweet about it once in a while, I will still update my Facebook about it and I will still leave it at the bottom of the page, also. Because you cant have too many places to give away free shit...Amirite?

PRIZES!!!!

And in other news, I'm in Baltimore this weekend...

Big deal you say, right? Right. I come here all the time, and I'm moving here. So what? Well, here's what...

On Monday, I have a in person interview to be a Cellar Technician for my absolute favorite brewery in the United States, Flying Dog!

My fiancee took me for the first time on my birthday last year (thank you again, honey!). It was an incredible tour. An incredible gift. And I am blown away that I have the opportunity to follow my passion and possibly make a career there.

Good things come to those who wait, or good things come to those who take action and try to make things happen? Its hard to tell. A little bit of both, I would venture to guess. Waiting for the right time to make my move. Being patient. I will let everyone know the outcome. I am so goddamn excited!

This is where I get semi-personal. It took months of self persuasion to even start this blog. Even while writing it, I cant help but think to myself, "No one gives a shit about your beer or your shitty writing." But I do it anyways, because the people that do read it, the people I do interact with as Hipster Brewfus, shower me in positivity. That's why I'm doing the giveaway, and that's how I had the gumption to send my resume to Flying Dog, even while thinking there wasn't a snowballs chance in hell I even stood a chance of being considered. My fiancee, my family,my readers, and all the interaction I have gave me the self esteem to throw caution into the wind, and try for something that makes me happy. This blog has brought me a nothing but good things. So thank you, everyone.

With that,this Brewfus doofus will bid you adieu, and I hope to see your names in the entry! Good luck and may the odds, be ever in your favor.

**This beer was provided to me by one of my most excellent readers**

High rating from the user community on Beer Advocate...Low rating from "The Bros." Bells Brewery Expedition Stout knocked me on my ass. It was a complete one-two punch I was not prepared for. I've made it known before that stouts were never really quite my thing. But, one of the biggest things I wanted to learn from this blog, was to expand my horizons and try different beers I wouldn't normally go for.

Lets dive in!

Blacker than the blackest black, time infinity!

I took this sucker out of the fridge and popped it open, poured and sipped...Whoa. This beer sucks.

End review.













Just kidding!

This beer does need two reviews though, I learned. So here we go!

It poured black, like a good stout should. DO YOU SEE IT UP THERE?! So dark. It looked like I was pouring black velvet. It really is a beautiful stout. No head, with a light tan lacing. It's kinda stinky; alcohol intermingled with coffee. A slight smell of chocolate. But mostly alcohol. 


First part of the review, Cold!


All I can taste is the tang of yuck. Alcohol, everywhere. One of my favorite things about beer is not being able to taste the alcohol, and enjoy it for a beer. So when a beer has a harsh alcohol taste, I'm usually turned off. It just tasted violently not enjoyable.

Second part of the review, WARM!


I should have just done this from the beginning. Warm is just a whole other story. A wonderful, buttery smooth mouth feel. Vanilla is the most pronounced flavor and scent, which surprised me in a stout. Milk chocolate dukes it out for front runner of flavor profile. I love this. It's a hell of a battle. There is a slight bite of bitterness at the back end. And the coffee jumps in at the last moment like "OH HEY, DON'T FORGET ABOUT ME!" this is almost the perfect stout. And while drinking, I wouldn't shut the F-Word up about it on my social networks! Wow. This beer almost brought tears to my eyes.


The bottle I drank is from 2011.


Bottom line, this blew my mind!

Simplicity.

I can't say enough good things about this beer. I would probably beat someone up for another bottle of this. But looks like I'm just going to have to travel to Kalamazoo to get my hands on it!

Bells Brewery Expedition Stout

Smell: 5/5

Appearance: 4/5

Taste: 5/5

Feel: 5/5

Overall: 4.75/5

This beer pairs well with Russian Circles - Station

WE HIT OUT GOAL! BLOG GIVEAWAY IS LIVE AS OF MIDNIGHT, 12AM 7/23/2012

Ugh.

This was a beer I toyed with the idea of purchasing for a little while. The name alone was enough to whet my appetite and get me excited. But then I hit the Internet to see what it thought, and it told me to stay away. Specifically, Kate over at beer411. But I’m a stubborn jack-ass, so when I saw it for $5, I just HAD to pick it up. And then I put it in the fridge and every week I would tell myself “drink it, c’mon drink it. You know you want to.”

Seductive, isn't it?

But I kind of didn’t. I mean, as excited as I was, I had a hard time getting past all the (more or less) negative reviews. I mean, how does one willing put oneself in harm’s way? But I did, almost a month after buying it. I sat down, started the grill, cooked dinner and opened this beer…

Fire. Every picture should now have fire. It's sexy and exciting!

It poured a very pretty toffee/woodsy brown, with a small, fizzy, one finger  head. Not too sticky either. Next comes my favorite part of most beers, stuffing my nose all up in it. I had already had prepared myself for Sunday morning breakfast. Yeasty, pancake, mapley goodness. While it was sweet… sugary, saccharine sweet…where the hell is my maple? Where are my pancakes? I’m a New Englander, I know my maple syrup! WHY DO I NOT HAVE A WARM AND FUZZY FEELING?! Ugh. Such a letdown. At this point, I had no real expectations of taste. And I was right not to as it was just like a regular ol' wheat. Crisp, good, but just NOT what I wanted, not what I was expecting, and not what the name would lead you to believe. I mean, it was a little darker than most wheat beers, I was getting a lot of roasted malt and caramel...But WTF? I mean, what does your mind conjure up when you read “Maple Wheat?”

Let’s say it all together...”Pancakes!”

So while the usually impressive Harpoon 100 Barrel series has let me down this time, I won’t let it spoil them for me. They can’t all be winners. And I can say one positive thing about this beer, It photographs beautifully. Lets look at a couple more...

I figured it out: This is the beer equivalent of The Crying Game.

Dead sexy

Harpoon 100 Barrel Series #41 Catamount Maple Wheat 

Smell: 2/5

Appearance: 4/5

Taste: 2.5/5

Feel: 3/5

Overall: 2.875/5

This beer pairs well with KMFDM - WTF?!

I'm going to do a blog giveaway! Here's the details:

As of  now, I have 71 Facebook likes, 9 Google Friend Connect followers and 87 followers on Twitter.

All of my blog-following/liking links are located on the right side of my page so get to clicking! For this contest though, my Untappd profile is excluded. Once I reach 100 followers or likes I'll post the Rafflecopter for the giveaway and you can all fight like rabid animals. The prize has yet to be determined, but It will probably be something totally bitchin'.

Tell your friends! Help me hit 100!

First off, I apologize for no posts in nearly two weeks! I had severe technical difficulties! But now, with a new laptop in hand, and the contents of my old laptop in my possession once again, I bring you a review post I was SO excited for!

Relic freaking Brewery! They have been getting a lot of exposure lately, and to me, its more than well deserved. As it stands in my eyes, Relic makes some of the best beers in Connecticut.

You have NO idea how many times I turned around before I found the place!

This trip was an adventure! I got stuck in traffic for 35 minutes, turning my already long drive, into an even longer one. Ugh, if there's anything I noticed in my craft beer experiences in Connecticut, it's that Colchester is a terrible location for me to live. Everything is about 9,372 miles away. But you know what? The trips are always worth it.

Lets go inside and take a look, shall we?

I had no idea what to expect, at all. I was greeted with a quiet murmur of folks in conversation and entered what I thought was some kind of foyer...Nope! This room was as big as my living room, very cozy and filled with the essentials!

Blurry, I know. My photographer had the day off.

Stuff you can take home! ...After you buy it!

And this is where the magic happens. And science. Mostly Science, with a bit of magic.

Mark, the Owner and Brewer was there, greeting and engaging people in conversations. I shook his hand, introduced myself and was greeted with something that secretly always makes me wicked giddy, "Are you Hipster Brewfus?" Puts me right on cloud 9, I tell you. So after a quick introduction, I wanted some damn beer that I drove an hour and a half for! Katie, I believe her name is, was super accommodating and already had a cup ready for me! Wanna see what I was in store for?

I want all of them, all at once. Please and thank you.

The first cup I was greeted with was a Houndstooth. I loved it. It must have been poured at the exact temperature it should have been, because as mellow and smooth as this beer was, there was a lot going on with the flavor profile. I was getting a menagerie of things from a wonderful , smooth chocolate, to some nuttiness and caramel. And if I wasn't mistaken, a slightly burnt, malty flavor on the back end? At this point in my beer drinking career, the only beer I'd have been able to compare it to, would be a Newcastle. But imagine a Newcastle...just a bajillion times better. I wanted more! But there were still three other beers! 5/5

Houndstooth Action Shot!

Going from dark to light, the next cup she poured me was a Fortnight. A citrus IPA with 8 different hops! This got me all kinds of excited. Now, you don't normally see the term "Citrus IPA" too often. You'll see "citrus" used in a description, sure. But this was way, way different. This was (in my head) some strange hybrid of a really good White Ale and IPA. It smelled nice and sweet, like a grapefruit, the hops was definitely there, but not so prominent as you see with a lot of IPAs this day. And that was what I really enjoyed about this. I told Mark that if he didn't tell me, I'd have never guessed it was an IPA. And from what he explained to me, this isn't the first incarnation of Fortnight. Apparently its something he manipulates with each batch, changing this and that around. I wish I could have tried each batch just do a comparison post! I think that's really cool though and I'm curious to see what it evolves into when it's "finished," because it's already so different. 4/5

Aaaaaand back to the darks, I was handed an Antiquity. I admit, I've had maybe....one or two...probably closer to one...Old Ales, ever in my life. It smelled great! A veritable plethora of aromas! Molasses first and foremost, but not in an overwhelming way, sweet and fruity. Someone said "Smokey" and I can totally get down with that. There were also a pinch of hops, and a bunch of malt, just chilling in the background. This beer was delicious. Surprisingly crisp, mellow and the small tingle of a hops bite was a pleasant surprise! 4/5

And last, I had the Shipwright, a British IPA. I didn't even know such a thing existed. I'm not quite sure how to approach this. I think I have been so brainwashed by American IPAs that when something comes along that doesn't necessarily "fit the bill" I have a hard time figuring out how to accurately describe my experience. This is the maltiest IPA I have ever had. The hops is definitely still there, but its not the main focal point. And I LOVE that about it. 3.5/5

In fact, that is one thing that I absolutely LOVE about Relic. The beers he makes, are unlike anything I have ever found anywhere else. It is just so refreshing to see a group of unique brews. You simply don't see these styles everywhere and that is so goddamn important. Well, to me at least. I love IPA's and Blondes and every other style you see every other brewer doing, but I get burnt out on them quickly. Marks beers are like some kind of saving grace. Something saying "Uhm, you're aware there are other styles, right?"

Best part about it, he is the most humble and gracious man I have met in this business. And he will sit and chat with you and tell you all about his experiences and his travels and what brought him into beer making. He answered all my questions and didn't once make me feel like I was wasting his time or being a nuisance. It was a great experience to be able to stand and chat with him, and a great experience overall. And I absolutely can not wait to go back. 

And the bottle labels, are some of the coolest I have ever seen. AND THE TASTING IS FREE!

More pictures!!

This cool collection seems to be a hi-light of everyones trip from what I've read!

I took a group shot, "for the blog!" 

No way in hell I was leaving empty handed! L to R: 32oz Growler of Houndstooth, Fortnight & Whiting

Relic Brewing Co can be found being active online in a variety of places!

Their Website!

Their Facebook!

Their Twitter!

This brewery pairs well with If These Trees Could Talk - Breath of Fire/The First Fire

But wait, there is more!!

If you DO go to Relic, and find yourself starving....Well, there's only one option.

J. Timothy's Restaurant, which is literally, about 7 minutes away. They have a superb beer list (seriously, I was impressed), incredible service (I had a server at my table in about a minute after sitting) and the food was so good, I wanted to eat till I was in a food coma. Oh my god their dirt wings made me want to cry. So good.  And whoever the mystery person is that runs their twitter, they are a lot of fun and I'll meet them one of these days! ALSO, On a busy Friday night, I was able to find a seat for my lonesome self!

I can not recommend this place enough!

You can check them out online on their website, Facebook, and Twitter!