OR....Raspberry Strong Ale, as I see it's now referred to.

Greetings! This is my first post from my blog overhaul, which includes MY VERY OWN URL! I'm pumped!

Today's review was a gift from my buddy over at The Enlightened Pint. It was given to me as a going away gift at my Rare Beer Party. What a nice dude! And here is my shameless plug: Go and check out his blog, because he really knows what he's talking about.

Today's beer is from Berkshire Brewing, based out of South Deerfield, Massachusetts.I have had a good number of their beers, and they have all been top notch, especially considering their $5 price tag for a bomber. Going forth, there are a couple tings you need to know. The first being, I'm just not a barleywine fan (but I'm trying). The second thing is raspberry beers tend to fall flat for me.

Boo, damaged labels!

It poured a beautiful, deep mahogany color, with a maroon tint. Not much of a head, maybe a finger. There was a nice, soft white lacing around the edges. The nose is all raspberry jelly. That's not really a bad thing. I love jelly. Raspberry is pretty much all I taste when I sip it. It makes me forget what style I'm actually drinking. It's very crisp, and very alcoholy, but none of it really stays with you for too long. It finishes pretty clean, not leaving behind much of an after taste. The only negative thing I will note, is that the raspberry does taste a bit artificial. But not in the strong chemical kind of way.I was surprised to find I enjoyed this beer. Not because of the beer itself, I have all the faith in the world in Berkshire, but more because of my prejudice to the barleywine style. Just another review that ends up being more positive than I initially thought it would!

You can find them online!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BerkshireBrewingCompany
Website: http://www.berkshirebrewingcompany.com/

Berkshire Raspberry Barelywine Style Ale (Raspberry Strong Ale)

Smell: 4.5/5

Appearance: 3.5/5

Taste: 3/5

Feel: 3/5

Overall: 3.5/5

This beer pairs well with: Gifts from Enola - A Healthy Fear

Hi guys!

Hope everyone had an awesome Thanksgiving! I certainly did, except for the part that required the fiancee and I to drive about 1500 miles in 4 days or so. It was totally worth it though. This post is about one thing I did during that rather large road trip. Beer hunting.

This whole beer hunt initially started with my first bottle of Russian River Supplication . Basically, I had one bottle, and wanted more. You see, Russian River has some pretty odd distribution. Unless you're in PA, you are not getting it ANYWHERE else on the East Coast. Lucky me, I'm only a couple hours from Philly! The night before our drive home, we decided we were making a stop in the Old City District of Philly, so I hopped onto the interwebs and did a bit of research which lead me to the app, BeerWhere. I can not give this app enough praise. Once we were there, I get the app running (it uses GPS and science) and find a place a mere half mile from where I was. That place happened to be The Foodery (Northern Liberties). I foolishly didn't think to take any pictures, but I can attempt to paint a picture verbally. We walked in, and directly to our right was a small deli, with some delicious looking meats. And in front of us and to our left were about...9 or 10 refrigerated cases of beer. ALL kinds of beer. From your "domestics" to...everything. I was slightly overwhelmed by the amount of beer I have only seen in pictures. In front of the registers are about a half dozen shelves full of bottles of specialty brews from a number of different brewers. There was a small sitting area, separated by a large shelf, carrying more cases of brews. This was a neat area, full of people enjoying bottles of brews they had purchased. And probably some meat. That's what I would do, at least.

I want a place like this. Beer and meat.

Now, initially  I was there for Russian River, and had NOTHING else on my mind. I was told they were sold out though, and that when they do get it, it's gone pretty fast. I was a bit heartbroken, but got over relatively quickly as my fiancee and I went to work picking out some bottles. The guy who I initially spoke to about Russian River and other sours, was a HUGE help. I wish I had gotten his name. I'm bad at this.

They had such a great selection of brews that I can't find (or just haven't seen) in my neck of the woods. They had stuff from Evil Twin, and The Bruery and all kinds of stuff. I was in heaven. Let's check out what I got!

From left to right:  Flemish Primitive Wild Ale, which I bought in lieu of a 2010 bottle of Panil Barriquee. Next up is Left Hand Brewing Wake up Dead. I recall seeing someone post a pic of the awesome label art on Stout Day. Last, is Evil Twin Brewing Femme Fatale Brett. The Fiancee picked this one, and seeing her pick up a bottle of Evil Twin filled me with pride, so much so that I didn't notice the "Brett" in the name. I'm excited to get down with the funk in this bottle.

I wanted to get a sample of some more PA beers, so i built a little 4 pack. Left to right: Weyerbacher Blithering Idiot. In my quest to enjoy barley-wine I thought this would be something worth trying. Beer Advocate tells me differently. Guess I'll find out! Then we have Weyerbacher Merry Monk. It's a tripel, and I want to try more of those. The next bottle is Yards Brewing General Washington's Tavern Porter. I LOVE porters, and this is supposed to be Washington's very own recipe. So I'm kind of excited to try this. Lastly I picked up a bottle of Stoudts Double IPA. I've seen this around and have wanted to try it.

So that's my Philly haul. I'm extremely happy, especially considering the company I had, the place I found, the beers I found and the fact that I've never had a single one of them.

The Foodery stole my heart and a good lump of my money, and I couldn't be happier. I hope to go there again one day. If you find yourself int he area, check them out!

Find them online!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/foodery.beer
Twitter: https://twitter.com/fooderybeer
Website: http://www.fooderybeer.com/index.html

And also while there, quick plug, we ate lunch at a place called Farmicia. Great food, neat atmosphere and a small, but good beer list. They had a few brews from Sly Fox Beer, but I went with a Walt Wit from Philadelphia Brewing Company and was not disappointed.

"Looks like orange juice."

I also picked up a few bottles in Connecticut this weekend and this is what I have left!

Four in Hand IPA, Founders Breakfast Stout, and Chimay Tripel. Looks like that does it for this word fort of a post!

This is my third installment of things I was too lazy to take a good picture of, and write about! And after the pictures there's some neat and exciting news!

Dogfish Head
75 Minute IPA
I remember loving the maple, and this beer in general

New England Brewing
Imperial Stout Trooper
Both 2008 and 2010. I was blown away. I would love to get my hands on more

Brooklyn Brewery
Brooklyn Local 2
This was my first Brooklyn, and I was SO impressed. I need  more.

Thomas Hooker Brewing Company
Watermelon Ale
I get a lot of flack, but this is my quintessential summer beer. Mmm mmm!

Oskar Blues
Deviant Dale's IPA
One can of beer that started to sway my can prejudice. Fantastic.

The Alchemist
Heady Topper
A DELICIOUS, if not slightly over-rated DIPA. Yeah, I said it.

And there we have it, deep from the vaults of the Brewfus. Now, onto some other interesting things!

1) Flying Dog has featured me on their blog! I know, right? I'm as excited as you are. it started off with my post featuring my chili recipe. After Flying Dog contacted me, telling me they want to post it on THEIR blog, I anxiously awaited. Two weeks later, here it is! This makes me a success in my book.

2) I'm holding a giveaway! Check it out HERE! It ends in ONE DAY!

3) I recently spent the day in the Old City district in Philadelphia, PA., and scored a majorly awesome haul. I'll probably have a quick post about that.

4) I have another "Cooking With Brewfus" post ready to go, so look out for that soon!

5) I have a slew of notes ready for reviews of delicious beers, along with another themed trio of posts. I'm wicked excited, I gotta get cracking!

So, there we go, recognition for me, a bunch of new and exciting posts and a gift for you! Sounds fair, right?

This past weekend, I finally hit 100 "Likes" on Facebook! its a big milestone for a small blogger like me. To show my gratitude for all the love and support you've shown me, I decided to do another giveaway! The first one went well, with the winner receiving  a can of Heady Topper, and a bottle of Fortnight.

This time around, there will be 2 prizes again. The first will be a 22oz bomber from the increasingly popular (and delicious) New Belgium. I'm just not sure what yet! In addition to that, I'll probably throw something else in. Another bottle or can of something perhaps. It'll be a surprise!

ZOMG SURPRISES!!

All you have to do for this entry is leave a comment telling me what your favorite beer in 2012 has been. And it's only lasting TWO weeks, as opposed to the one month I had on my last giveaway. If you want your entry to count, you have to Click on the "+1 Do It!" and then the green "Commented!" on the widget below.

With that said, go forth, and enter to win!

I know some New England-ers that would LOVE this prize....

a Rafflecopter giveaway

**Welcome to the Fall Part III**

Last, but not least for this little Fall Season soiree, is Angry Orchard Apple Ginger! I had been toying with the idea of reviewing a cider, but the idea never felt quite right. In truth, it was the idea of reviewing a cider, that lead me to the idea of doing this neat little three part Autumn themed posts.

This post shouldn't be too long, as there just doesn't seem to be too much to cider. But, I'd be more than happy to learn more, if you have something to teach me! So lets break it down!

Looks unsuspecting enough...

It pours a whole lot of nothing special. it looks like a slightly carbonated apple juice. With a half finger, fizzy head that disappears in an instant. 

It smells like...a slightly alcoholic apple cider. Ginger? Nah, not to my unrefined nose. The taste is kind of "meh." It''s good, very crisp, refreshing and tart. But certainly nothing out of the ordinary when it comes to hard ciders. Like I said, it's good. With such an easy going taste, and relatively light feel, I was able to put away the 6 pack far quicker than I would have guessed. I wanted more ginger though. It seemed to be an after thought. Didn't pick it up in the nose, and barely caught wind of it in the taste. I wanted Ginger Ale, with apple, but maybe that's not what the creators had in mind? What do I know?

I absolutely love that tree.

This perfectly vertical line of bubbles was there until the last gulp.

I absolutely would not hesitate to pick up more of this, and I'm a little anxious to pick up a bomber of some specialty cider I see they make.

You can check out Angry Orchard online!
http://angryorchard.com/
https://twitter.com/AngryOrchard
https://www.facebook.com/AngryOrchard

Angry Orchard Apple Ginger

Smell: 3.5/5

Appearance: 2/5

Taste: 3/5

Feel: 3/5

Overall: 2.88/5

This beer pairs well with: A Tribe Called Quest - Bonita Applebum