One of the great benefits of the exponential explosion of craft brewing across the country is that beers are starting to come from just about everywhere.  It doesn’t have to be just Germany, Milwaukee, Colorado, etc.  There is a beer-splosion happening in our backyards … and thank goodness for that.  Aside from the new obvious places like Asheville, NC, we are now seeing great beers in Wauconda, IL (Small Town Brewery), Loudonville, OH (Tree House Brewing), Hampton, GA (Jailhouse Brewing) or even Gadsden, AL that brings us today’s gem.

This is another treasure I found while looking for my next credit in the Taco Mac Brewniversity club.  I needed something I had not sampled before, and if a name like Back Forty Truck Stop Honey doesn’t stop you in your tracks, I don’t know what will.  Now doing some research on the Back Forty Brewing Company, I absolutely love the names of the beers: besides the Truck Stop, we also have Naked Pig, Kudzu, Fence Post and Freckle Belly.  I have only tried one of these so far, but based on my experience with Truck Stop, I’ll work on the other four.

Winners of the Great American Beer Festival silver medal, Truck Stop Honey is Back Forty’s version of a brown ale, and yes it is brewed with actual honey from Alabama.  BFTSH is a medium to light beer with a light brown color.  It is exceptionally smooth and a little on the sweeter side.  It is almost completely devoid of any bitterness, making it entirely drinkable and enjoyable and another great choice for your friends who may not be as beer-venturous as you.

As Back Forty has increased production, their distribution capabilities have expanded beyond northern Alabama, allowing much of the southeast to be able to find their products.  Their handy mapping tool makes it very easy to determine where/if you can pick up some of your own.  I highly recommend giving this one a try.  I cannot (yet) vouch for their other four offerings, but I will conquer them all very soon, probably starting with the Kudzu Porter!

Enough already.  I’ve been talking almost every week about the best birthday present ever.  Now, it’s time to share with you the creativity my family and friends showed.  I’ll now reveal the 40 days of beer.  Buckle up – it should be a fun ride!

Thankful for beer

Day One.  Lunch at Taco Mac.  Blue Point Double Blonde and Clown Shoes Brown Angel.
Day Two.  Delivered to my office – 6-pack of Red Hare Watership Brown.
Day Three.  Day three brought three Sierra Nevadas from a friend who hails from Nevada.
Day Four.  Guys’ night out at a friend’s house.  Received a Left Hand Mountain Mixer 12-pack.
Day Five.  Zac Brown Band & Kenny Chesney concert.  (I do NOT like country music!)  Styrofoam cooler with Pabst Blue Ribbon, Icehouse Edge and Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale.  The purchaser is purported to have asked the package store clerk for the “redneck-iest beer” in the store.  Love it.
Day Six. Lunch with my wife on HER 40th birthday.  Pacifico.
Day Seven.  6-pack of Harpoon UFO White delivered to the office.
Day Eight.  Friend from Washington DC hosting a conference here brought three DC beers … DC Brau: The Corruption, The Public, The Citizen.
Day Nine.  Dear friend brings Lagunitas Little Sumpin’ Sumpin‘ to the house.
Day Ten.  Met two friends at the coolest place on earth (The Fred) for Victory Storm King Stout and Boulevard Sixth Glass Quadrupel.  The two deliverers are from Philly and Kansas, so they brought me hometown beers!
Day Eleven. Two friends delivered some Uinta Cahoots Double Rye IPA.  Tremendous!
Day Twelve.  All day golf outing with the boys.  Who cares what beer we had?  Miller Light and Coors Light.  And plenty of it.
Day Thirteen.  Watching the final round of the PGA Championship (Go Dufner!) with a Pittsburgh friend who provided none other than Iron City Beer.
Day Fourteen.  Giant bottle of Boulevard Sixth Glass Quadrupel appeared in my office.  Absolutely love this stuff.
Day Fifteen.  Dinner at Marlow’s Tavern for Crown Valley Big Bison Ale.
Day Sixteen.  Back to Taco Mac for Back Forty Truck Stop Honey and Anderson Valley Summer Solstice.
Day Seventeen.  Go-getter award.  6-pack of Red Hare Long Day delivered to the house.  And then we toured the Red Hard Brewery, after I was met at the front door with a happy birthday sign, hat, shirt, mug and koozie.  Well played, SD, well played.
Day Eighteen.  Great pub in Buckhead was the locale for lunch and a Finch’s Cut Throat Pale Ale (and some photo-bombing.)
Day Nineteen. To Be Determined. *
Day Twenty. Wild Wing Cafe.  Great wings, only enhanced by a four-beer sampler of Delerium Tremens, Left Hand Nitro Sawtooth, Dogfish Head 90-Minute IPA and Ayinger Octoberfest.  Topped off by some La Trappe Quadrupel.

And we’re only halfway home!

Day Twenty-One.  Folks from Albany, GA (where Coors Light and Miller Light are brewed) delivered a full case of Coors Light – direct from the source!
Day Twenty-Two. My first growler of the 40 days!  Jailhouse Mugshot IPA.
Day Twenty-Three. Taco Mac … again (I love this place).  Choc Brewing Summer Belgian Blonde.
Day Twenty-Four. To Be Determined. *
Day Twenty-Five. Went to Suburban Tap, right near the house for some Abita Purple Haze.
Day Twenty-Six. Delivered to the office … memories.  I had the great opportunity to vacation in Greece years ago with a very close friend.  Our beer of choice the entire time was the Greek beer Mythos.  She find and brought a 6-pack of Mythos.  Such a fantastic treat!
Day Twenty-Seven. Delivered to the house – a half case of Tecate.  Muy bueno!
Day Twenty-Eight. Two giant bottles: Great Divide Old Ruffian and Bridgeport Old Knucklehead.  I guess I’m officially old now.
Day Twenty-Nine. One of the best beer bars in the country – Trappeze in Athens, GA.  Left Hand Nitro Sawtooth.
Day Thirty.  PS planned a huge all-day event and brought tons of people together for a presentation, all because today was her day to bring Southern Tier Creme Brulee Stout and Uinta Detour Double IPA.  (Okay, maybe she chose this as her day for beer knowing she’d already see me.  Whatever.)
Day Thirty-One. Met ‘The Mothershucker’ at Paul’s in Peachtree Hills for some Sam Adams Octoberfest.
Day Thirty-Two. A friend sent a special gift card to … you guessed it … Taco Mac.  Fun part of the story is that he was in Japan when I received it.  Konichiwa!
Day Thirty-Three. Tailgating at an Auburn football game – my brother brought two options from Ft Wayne, IN: Mad Anthony Auburn Lager and IPA.
Day Thirty-Four.  My yachting friends delivered a 6-pack of Carib Lager.
Day Thirty-Five. To Be Determined. *
Day Thirty-Six. Giant bottle of Victory Golden Monkey delivered to the office. And co-workers were wondering why I had beer in my office so often!
Day Thirty-Seven. To Be Determined. *
Day Thirty-Eight.  MEM brought me some of my favorite: Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout.  And some Kalik!
Day Thirty-Nine. The biggest surprise of the 40 days was a bowling party that had all sorts of people involved in LYING to me and out-and-out trickery.  But the first part of it was a 6-pack of Magic Hat Seance.  (Although, I shouldn’t refer to this as beer.  Magic Hat says it’s an ‘elixir’).
Day Forty!  My parents joined in on the fun with a Left Hand Mountain Mixer 12-pack.

But wait, there’s more!  Other people wanted to join in on the fun.  From Australia, a friends shipped two beers: Little Creatures Pale Ale and James Squire the Chancer Golden Ale.  Another friend (who was hurt he didn’t make my top 40 list of friends) sent a pitcher of New Belgium Fat Tire to our table.  And one guy wasn’t happy with his wife’s choice listed above, so he brought a 6-pack of Oskar Blues Old Chub to the bowling party!  I have a very, VERY good group of friends!

* And the hits keep coming.  I’m still working on scheduling a few of the forty days.  Who says the fun had to stop at just six weeks?