I have dubbed this the Spring (and Summer) of Sours. I have thrown caution into the wind, and have offered myself as a sacrifice to the Sour Gods. Today's bottle is from New Belgium's Lips of Faith series, "La Folie," a Flanders Oud Bruin style. Or...a sour. I picked up this bottle for close to $16, so you know, it better be goddamned good.

Bring on the sour beer, sourpuss.

La Folie was a beer that sat in my fridge for a couple months before I manned up and popped the top. I sat outside in the chilly weather, and stared this bottle down. Eventually I poured it out, and looked at it for a moment. I took in the La Folie, I noted the coffee table brown, with ruby highlights. Seriously, it looks like my coffee table. I paid special attention the the fluffy head, that decided to stick around much longer than I cared. But when It decided to leave, it left behind a trail of happiness, and a nice bit of lacing.

I went in already expecting the nose to smell a certain way. I was a little off. For some reason I was expecting a more of a"beginners" sour nose. A mellow sweet, with some cherry, a little bit of oak. NOPE! I got friggin walloped in the nose holes with hardcore tart, a bunch of vinegar, all topped off with a bit of saccharine sweetness. I was a bit taken back. All of a sudden, all of my preconceived notions about what i was getting into, went right out the window. Because of the amazing thing where the sense of smell can transport you back to another time, I kind of immediately knew what I was about to get into, and I was a little let down. I love sours, but...I'm not a huge fan of vinegar bombs.

But the show must go on.

 WOW, that is fucking tart. The nose does not betray the taste. It's pretty intense. Lots of green apples and sour cherry. This flavor is VERY intense. Very tart, very acidic, very vinegar-like. The best comparison I can make right now, with beers in my recent memory is "My Blueberry Nightmare" or "Tart of Darkness" just not as good. It finishes with some juicy pear on the back end. It was relatively thin, not a ton of carbonation. But it felt good. It felt right. But overall, the intensity of this beer took away from it, if that makes any sense at all.

La Folie is for the adventurous, or for those who already have a longstanding relationship with sours. I would never dream of starting off with something like this if sours are new to you. I knew as soon as I smelled it, this would be a brave beer to tackle on a school night. I tried finishing this on my own, and that idea was pure madness. So is the idea of buying this beer again...

Looks good, though.

You can hunt them down online:

Website: http://www.newbelgium.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/newbelgium

Twitter: https://twitter.com/newbelgium

Instagram: http://instagram.com/newbelgium


New Belgium "La Folie"

Smell: 2/5
Appearance: 3/5
Taste: 2.5/5
Feel: 3/5

Overall: 2.625/5

This beer pairs well with: At The Drive-In - Lopsided

And don't forget about my giveaway! You can enter here or on my facebook (just hit the "giveaway" tab)!

It's well past midnight. I'm fucking improv'n up here.

Apocalypto came on the TV after Mrs. Brewfus had gone to sleep, and the dog did too (or so I thought). Apocalypto is one of my favorite movies, have you seen it? It's the one where Mel Gibson goes crazy, and sacrifices a bunch of Mexicans. There is history (kind of), a man-hunt, a jaguar, and a guy all painted up in blue. And LOTS of bad teeth. So, I pretty much have to watch it now. And I am. While talking to you. I even went and grabbed a beer out of my fridge.

And there are cupcakes too. That's how I roll.

But this is all about Maine Beer Company, and Mean Old Tom. It's a stout aged on natural vanilla beans, but I usually just call those kinds of stouts "delicious." I already have expectations, so lets see how let down/pleasantly surprised I am. It pours dark, like a stout should. With a tan head...like a stout should. I can smell it from here, and the glass is just sitting on the table. Vanilla. Smooth vanilla and roast. I love it. So far, so good.

Ok, I just took my first sip. This is super thin, and a bit more carbonated than I care for in my stouts. I feel like the vanilla is more in the nose than anywhere else. I'm not picking much up. Maybe I'm drinking it wrong. Lots of coffee and chocolate, the booze is all "hey, whats up guys?" But Vanilla? Not so much. Sad. I was really craving it. Maybe Southern Tier Creme Brulee has ruined vanilla stouts for me. Maybe I'm just a fool with an uneducated palate.

Maybe I'm just not a huge fan of this beer.

I'm going to go eat some leftover buffalo chicken pizza. And that cupcake, was delicious.

Ok, so one year ago I decided to get busy, after taking pictures of my beers and (foolishly) considering myself a "beer snob" I started this little corner of the internet, Hipster Brewfus  I didn't know shit, and I still don't, but I'm learning. And learning is half the battle!

Knowing, learning. Whatever.

So, in one year, I have amassed a small army of people. And without those people, Hipster Brewfus wouldn't exist. So I would like to take the time and hold a giveaway of not-quite-epic proportions, but definitely better than my last two, just to say thank you.

So let's break it down. This giveaway will last for ONE MONTH, and you will have multiple chances at entering. There will will be TWO winners. I will use the same Rafflecopter format I have used in the past. This year, my darling friends over at J. Timothy's Tavern in Plainville, Ct have joined in to help with the giveaway. One of you lucky bastards will be taking home one of these bad boys:

I have one of these at home, and I love it.

So, here are the prizes, as I have them figured right now. They are totally subject to change.

First Prize Winner:

• Hipster Brewfus t-shirt or stone coaster set (1st prize gets dibs on one or the other).
• Two bottles of something (beer, but unsure of what kind yet)
• J. Timothy's mug
• ????

Second Prize Winner:

• Hipster Brewfus t-shirt or stone coaster set (whichever 1st place didn't take).
• One bottle of something (beer, but unsure of what kind yet)

Sound good? I hope so.

The exciting part about the Brewfus swag, is that you'll be the only person in the WORLD with it! Because I'm making them to order. And they will be emblazoned with one of these awesome logos:

I ask that you share, and share alike. I want this giveaway to be as big as possible! Eleventy bajillion years from now, when the internet archives are scoured, I want them to find this and use it as a sign of how awesome we all are.

Best of luck, and thank you, from the bottom of my beer-soaked heart.

Lets do this shit!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Aw, yissss. Motha. Fuckin. Zombie Dust.

One of my friends out in Far Away Land gave me a heads up that he was going to pick up a couple of few cases of beer, and was willing to send me a couple bottles. In a few days the beer fairy arrived, and I got stupid excited. My bottles of Three Floyds have arrived.

I couldn't write the review and not mention the label art, it is a goddamned piece of work. Can we just take a moment to acknowledge this? Just for a brief moment?

LOOK AT IT IN ALL ITS DRAMATIC SUNLIGHT
ZOMBIE KING GOODNESS!

Zombie Dust. Oh, you. You poured a nice, translucent orange. With a huge fluffy head, I was captivated by your swirls of what I assume to be the actual zombie dust, in my glass. Are you bottle conditioned? Am I going to turn into a zombie now? You carry a light scent about you. Sweet and floral. way better than the expected "rotting flesh and putridness." You kind of remind me of a mimosa. Citrus, but not a very strong presence of hops. It's there, but masked by all the florally goodness.

At this point I need to interfere. If you didn't know, I write my reviews while I drink, which is usually days or weeks before I actually post the review. Reading my notes is cracking me up. I may have been (probably was) drunk.

Something about the taste just makes my brain scream "ORANGE SODA?!" Because you know who loves orange soda?! No, it's not Kel. It's Hipster Brewfus. And I don't even really like orange soda, but this beer is fucking good. Up front, the taste matches the nose, light, sweet, and loaded with juicy, juicy citrus. Towards the back though, the hops starts to tingle and after you swallow you can exhale all the strong hops that snuck up on you, LIKE A FRIGGIN' HOPS DRAGON!!

You can see the swirls of evil in the sunlight!

If this beer was readily available to me, it would easily be a mainstay for me when I'm craving the hippity hops. And since it's not, I want to grab whatever object is nearest me, and throw it across the room. Seriously, this beer is deserving of all the accolades it gets. its an extremely well made American Pale Ale. IPA? APA? WTF? Does it even matter anymore? This onez for da hop headz.

I was lucky enough to get a bottle of this, along with a bottle of Alpha King, too. And I have a poorly worded review of that coming soon.

Seriously, they need to distribute over here. Mostly to me though.

Strap on your ear goggles, turn up some metal, and head on over to their corners of the internet and check them out!

Website: http://www.3floyds.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/3floyds
Twitter: https://twitter.com/3floyds


3 Floyds Zombie Dust

Smell: 4.5/5
Appearance: 3.5/5
Taste: 4/5
Feel: 3.5/5

Overall: 3.875

This beer pairs well with: Wayne Static - The Creatures Are Everywhere

Ha, this post isn't really about me!

Well, maybe a little. Kinda, sorta. Aw hell, let's just jump into it!

State of the Brewnion Follow Up

First, my last editorial post (State of the Brewnion) really took off a lot more than I ever could have imagined. Inside of the first 24 hours, It had over 400 page views  For me, that is INSANE. The views keep on going up now. Seems I really struck a nerve with my tongue planted firmly in my cheek.

The first place my post popped up that surprised me was over on Beerit, Reddit's beer sub-forum. It's not my favorite hang-out on the web, but was really happy to see it get picked up over there.

You can view that thread here.

To follow in those footsteps, my good friend Tony from Beer 411 took the liberty of forwarding my post to the guys over at Beer Coasters Podcast. I had no idea. So I'm sitting in the worst traffic in the world, contemplating how I can end my life with whatever I had in my car, when I got this tweet.

Shout out to @hipsterbrewfus on last week's addition of the @beercoasterspod beercoasterspodcast.com #IPApril
— Tony (@ToeNee11) May 3, 2013

Alright, well, maybe life isn't so bad. I raced (sat in traffic for another 45 minutes) home, and tuned in, sat down and listened intently. These dudes were funny, and extremely knowledgeable. Around the 1 hour mark, I kinda lost my shit when I heard my name. Not only did I hear my name, they discussed the topic for a good while. Seriously, Tony, and Beer Coasters, if you read this, thank you SO much. You made my day. Go ahead and check these guys out! You can listen to the episode here, in their "Interesting IPA" issue for IPApril.

Check out the podcast featuring me, and all of their other episodes on their website: http://beercoasterspodcast.com/

That post was a lot of fun, and sparked a lot of conversation, which is what I want out of all this!

Maryland Craft Beer Festival

Are you going? I'm totally going. I'll be on the DuClaw #BamBus!

This will be my first real event since moving down to Baltimore. I'm wicked excited. Join me and over 20 of Maryland's best breweries, for what will be an incredible day of beer, food, and tunes. For more information regarding breweries, tickets and such, visit the events website: http://www.mdcraftbeerfestival.com/

This event comes at the heels of Frederick Beer Week (May 11th -18th)

CT Beer Week

So this happened. Connecticut now has its very own beer week! Like Fredericks, Connecticut's beer week is May 11th - 18th. Whoa, I get two beer weeks in one week.

One of my favorite things is how Tony, yes the same Tony from above, with the help of a few people managed to make this happen:

That, my friends, is Connecticut's very own Untappd badge. You can read more about how to get it on Untappd official blog entry. Here is the link: http://blog.untappd.com//ct-beer-week-2013

#CTBrewCrew represents pretty damn hard, and I'm proud to be a part of it.

And lastly, speaking of the #CTBrewCrew...

CraftBrewGuy: Revolution Brewfest

CBG is probably the most active guy in craft beer I know. To show the world just how serious he is, he is hosting his very first brewfest. Looking at the lineup (which is apparently getting bigger each day), this is going to be one hell of an event. Follow CBG on Twitter (@CraftBrewGuy) and/or Facebook (/FOLLOWCBG) for updates! I couldn't be more proud of the guy.

One Year Blogaversary

I have zero news regarding this. It's fast approaching, and when the day comes, I suppose I will have to come up with something. Got any ideas?!