Few expressions have gone from pop culture into everyday vernacular like “the bucket list.”  The 2007 movie with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman asked the question: what things would you like to do and/or experience before you ‘kick the bucket’? That expression has grown from  an interesting concept from the movie into a common part of our vocabulary. People refer to bucket list vacation destinations; bucket list restaurants; bucket list anything.  It’s everywhere.

I was discussing a very rare beer selection with my good friend, RW recently, and it got me to thinking … what is my Beer Bucket List?  What are those six beers that would be the end-all, be-all beers I need to experience in my lifetime?  I have had great opportunity to try many beers from all over the globe … some rare and some not-so-much.  Without further ado, here is my perfect six pack.  NOTE: this only consists of beers I have never had before, but am beside myself to try at some point.

Westvleteren 12. Sint Sixtus Abbey is located in West Flanders, Belgium and is one of ten officially designated Trappist breweries in the world.  Westvleteren currently creates a blonde, an 8 and a 12.  The 12 is widely considered to be THE single best beer in the world.  It is hard to get your hands on one, but man is it worth it!  BeerAdvocate.com gives it a perfect score of 100.  Not sure I need to say more.

Sam Adams Utopias. Normally known as one of the first craft breweries in the US to go mainstream and become huge, Sam Adams brews a very wide variety of beers, many of them of incredible quality.  In their ‘limited release’ category, there is one beer that rises to the top: Utopias.  Rich, sweet, thick, delicious.  (or so I’ve been told.  I may want one just for the stellar bottle.

Russian River Pliny the Younger. Russian River is known as making one of the finest Double IPAs anywhere – Pliny the Elder.  But they also have an incredibly limited release, Pliny the Younger.  Younger is actually a triple IPA.  And I know what you’re saying – Mike, you don’t like IPAs, let alone double IPAs.  How would a triple IPA make the list?  Answer – it’s so rare and so highly rated that I just have to have one.  I can regret it later, but I’d like to give it a whirl.

Three Floyds Dark Lord. Three Floyds is a brewery and pub in Munster, IN.  They brew a purportedly phenomenal Russian Imperial Stout … but it’s only (really) available one day a year, and only in Munster, IN.  Three Floyds hosts Dark Lord Day.  People clamor and beg for tickets to be able to get into the annual festival and secure some of this mysterious elixir. Those with the literal golden ticket can purchase bottles and store them away for the eventual apocalypse.

Carlsberg’s Jacobsen Vintage No. 1.  Probably the most expensive beer in the world.  (Hint: my birthday is in 5 short months.  Start saving now, kids!) There are only aout 600 bottles in existence.  I’ll keep holding my breath.  Imagine a barley wine aged for 6 months in French oak barrels.  I can’t think this would be a lite beer.  I’ll expect that WHEN I try this one, it will be a very heavy, thick flavor.

PBR.  No, really. There is an extra-special PBR called PBR 1844 that is only sold in China.  Don’t think this is the same nasty you have at 3am after a bender.  This stuff will set you back about $45/bottle: it’s made from German caramel malts and is aged in uncharred American whiskey barrels. And tell me how awesome this bottle looks!

There it is! My perfect beer bucket list.  Comment below and let me know what beers make your list. Also make sure to let me know when to expect shipments of the above to my home address.

I’ve been teasing you for a month now about having a “four and a half part series” on our trip to Asheville.  We have already reviewed four breweries for you.  But what could that 1/2 post mean???  First a quick recap on what we’ve covered so far:

Wicked Weed. Very cool and hip atmosphere.  GREAT beer.
Wedge. Arts District with the side window ordering system.  GREAT beer.
Green Man. Flight of GREAT beer and a sweet t-shirt to boot.
Burial. GREAT beer in the family atmosphere, complete with cornhole and the mason jar.
Noticing a theme here?

The reason this is a half post is that this wasn’t a brewery, but it was our awesome lunch stop on the way to Asheville.  So, basically halfway there … see what I did there?  If you haven’t been to downtown Greenville, SC recently, do yourself a favor and go. The Main Street section downtown is vibrant and beautiful.  And home to a great underground restaurant called The Trappe Door. I’m a total and complete sucker for Trappist beers (and their Abbey-style cousins).  So, a restaurant named after that style of beer is a great lure to get me in the door. Located on W Washington Street, less than a block off Main Street, you have to go downstairs, under street level to get to it.  It’s kinda dark in there, but once you see the beer list – lights start shining and angels start singing.

If you like the thicker, richer beers like I do, please do yourself a favor.  Follow these three steps:

1. Plan a trip to Greenville (and by all means continue to Asheville after you’re done there.)
2. Review this beer menu in advance.  You’ve got plan your trip to the Trappe Door before you go.
3. Invite me!

My biggest fail was not remembering what my second beer was. But, seriously, just go with the recommendation from the waiter/bartender.  I know I had Engelszell Benno Trappist.

 Ohmagoodness. It technically is one of the ten official Trappist Breweries in the world – located in Austria.  So smooth, so rich, so doggone good.  I was ready to break the bottle open so I could lick the inside of the glass.  It’s a fantastic Dubbel.  Truly phenomenal.  Look to the right – I took a very bad picture of it!

In case you’re looking for some standard Irish beers for the day … and some less famous cousins, here is your list:

Top Irish Beers
Guinness.  Seen as the standard.  Everyone knows about the pint of Guinness.  For a curveball, try the Guinness Blonde – it’s actually quite good!

Smithwick’s.  It’s my personal favorite from Ireland.  This one has been around since the early 18th century.

Kilkenny. Fantastic irish cream ale, not what the South Park boys do every week.

Harp. Crisp and light – it’s the anti-stout/cream beer for those who need a break from the thicker stuff.  It’s the other half of the infamous black and tan.

Murphy’s. They have a stout and a red – most similar to Smithwick’s (and why I love it so), it’s a great selection when you can find it.

O’Hara’s Celtic Stout. Award-winning stout that claims to be how stouts used to taste.

Porterhouse Oyster Stout. From the largest independent brewery in Ireland.  They’re growing in popularity and size.  Expect this one to be more readily available in the coming years.

So, what are you having tonight?

We decided it was time for a cleanup around here…

A new year … a fresh start.  January always brings a sense of renewal and an opportunity to better yourself –  joining a gym, going to church more regularly, etc.  But we all know that most of the gyms will be half-empty by February.  Why don’t we create a resolution that we know we’ll want to keep all year?  Below are some examples of New Beers Resolutions.

You know the feeling.  It’s 97 degrees outside, you just finished mowing the lawn.  You’re parched and you walk inside to a commercial touting that Coors Light is the world’s coldest beer and you see that train run through the snowy Rockies.  If there were any fluids still in your system, you’d salivate.  Nothing is going to quench that thirst like the coldest of cold beers.  And that’s fine … in that situation … and with that beer. But …

We’ve been duped.  It’s no secret that the rest of the world thinks Americans drink our beer too cold, and that we view the rest of the world as behind us because they cannot develop cooling systems that can efficiently keep beer as it was intended – 32.1 degrees (or .05C). Hate to admit it, but we’re not in the right on this one.  And I’m the first to admit that I am guilty of this.  Also, please keep in mind that the scenario above is perfectly fine.  When you’re drinking a great, plain ole American beer like a Budweiser or Michelob Ultra, you’re not harming the beer when enjoying it in icicle form.  However, for most of the world of craft, specialty, yummy beers we usually feature here, frigid is NOT the goal.

Without getting into the details and science behind it, just know that the colder a beer is, the more likely it is that you’re killing the flavors inside. If you don’t want to taste the beer, serve it at 33 degrees.  If you’d like to enjoy the flavor combinations, use the handy guides below to determine the perfect temperature based on what you’re having.  (We at BGB do not recommend running around with a probe thermometer every time you order a beer.  But it’s nice to better understand the concepts here.)

I’ll give you two sets of ideas or things to keep in mind when considering beer temperature.  First is the simplest way to describe it – color usually matters.  The darker the beer, the warmer it should be served.  Think the super-light colored beers like American light beers – best when served as cold as possible.  On the other end of the spectrum would be a rich, thick, dark Quadrupel, which should be served at something closer to 60 degrees.  And there’s an important point there too.  We’re not talking about room temperature beer.  We are not trying to get you to let beer sit out for 6 hours to come to room temperature and get flat and gross.  The warmest recommendation you will see here is about 60 degrees.  Try it.

So, the second set of rules is a list of temperature by beer type.  Keep this as a handy guide if you’re really that interested in it.  (Or just bail out and go with the color theory.)  These are general rules of thumb and we hope that you will consider enjoying a beer at its intended temperature to see what we’re talking about.

• Very Cold (32-39F). Low alcohol beers, ciders, pale lagers, malt liquor.
• Cold (39-45F). Hefeweizen, Kolsch, premium lager, pilsner, fruit-based beers, golden ale, Belgian white, dark lager
• Cool (45-54F). American Pale Ale, ambers, stout, porter, Belgian Ale, Bohemian, Dunkel, Schwarzbier (black beer), Tripel
• Cellar (54-57F). Bitters, brown ales, IPA, Dubbel, Scottish/Scotch Ale
• Warm (57-61F). Barleywine, Quadrupel, Imperial stout, double IPA, mead

Maybe I’m mis-remembering this, but it seems like the evolution of beer has also brought about an evolution of beer glass shapes and styles.  I seem to recall going to a restaurant, ordering a beer and expecting it to come out in the standard, regular pint glass.  Oh, how times have changed.  Here is a handy guide to understand  what the different shapes are and the ideal glass for your varying beer styles.  NOTE: I do NOT feel that you can ruin a beer by using the improper glass.  However, you can use the proper glassware to present the frothy goodness in its ideal form.

There are myriad choices, but most will fall into one of about 8 categories.  We will cover all of them here, along with a brief listing of the types of beers best suited for those glasses.  Please note that while glasses can be used for marketing purposes, the real value of a proper glass is that it is designed to allow for the right head, smell, look and overall feel of a beer.  A hefeweizen is very different from an abbey-style beer and both are very different from an American pilsner.  Each will perform best in its own unique vessel.

The Goblet

The Mug

The Pint

Do I need to explain this one?  Ubiquitous.  You probably have a dozen of them at home.  Very easy to find, very agreeable to a wide range of beers.  But take note of the pint glass in the picture at left – this is an Imperial pint glass.  The somewhat wider section toward the top allows head to form in a better  fashion.  I think one of the great things about a pint glass is that they are very stackable, which makes for great storage.

Best used with: again, this one is the go-to standard, regardless of what you’re enjoying.

The Weizen

The Pilsner

The Snifter

The Tulip

The Stange

So there you have it.  The eight main categories of beer glasses.  Although, I should mention that there is a very important ninth category.  And many of you may be fully aware of this one …

I do not see anything wrong with using a red Solo cup when necessary.

Thank Goodness It’s Black Friday.  ‘Tis the season to fight the madness at 5am to find that cherished digital picture frame at $4 savings.  That sentence makes me want to drink.

And what better to have on a cold Friday than a BLACK beer? With origins going back to the dark ages in Germany (ask far back as the late 14th century) Schwarzbier is typically a very smooth drinking beer with virtually no hoppy bitterness.  The color comes mostly from darker malts that get extra color from a roasting process. These should never be confused with other dark beers like porters  and stouts.  Those will have more oft he chocolate and coffee favors, but black beers will only have subtle hints of these flavors, and usually lower alcohol content.

The silly season is nearly upon us.  Black Friday … Cyber Monday … wait, what is Green Tuesday?  So much chaos, so much confusion, so mush frustration.  (But this is all supposed to be the most joyful and wonderful time of the year.  If you slow down and enjoy the time with friends and family, it still can be.  But as for now, we’ll stick with beer-related stuff.)

It’s been such a great two months here at BGB, we have decided to give back.  We are giving away our first prize ever … a beer tasting party!

Enter early, enter often. You can continually earn entries by tweeting, liking, sharing, etc.  Go to our Facebook page and click on the Giveaway tab for more information.

What do you win?  BabyGotBeer staff (me) will come to your home and host a beer tasting party for you and as many as five guests.  I will supply 6 different beers.  You and your friends will each get a sample of the 6 beers, without any knowledge about what is coming.  You’ll get a scorecard to record what you think of each and at the end of the evening, I’ll reveal what you’ve been sampling.  It’s a great way to try several beers with no preconceived notions about what they might be like.

It is tremendous fun and a great way to try something new.  So enter!  I look forward to sharing this with you soon.