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Categories Brew Reviews

Two New Reviews

Yes … even amid all the Corona-chaos that has caused the world to grind to a halt, breweries are still pushing out new releases. We got our hands on two of those recently and want to get you the details so that you can run out and stock the shelves. (Yes, it’s still legal to visit breweries which have been deemed essential services.)

On April 2nd at 10:31 am, Pontoon Brewing put up a Facebook post, announcing a new beer called Grand Theft Otter. If you’ve followed Pontoon at all, you have probably seen beers referring to otters and/or beers with Otter in the title. Again, this latest one was announced at 10:31 am. I know a guy (ok, it was me) who immediately saw it, ordered it online, and was at the brewery receiving my fresh new delivery at curbside from Tom. (And I scored some brewery-made hand sanitizer to boot.) Needless to say, I was pretty excited.

GTO is a double New England IPA that’s later double dry-hopped with Citra, Cashmere, and Centennial hops. So, yes, it’s a DDH DNEIPA. I don’t know if I’m sad or proud that I know what all that means. I’ll admit that I had high hopes for this one, basically because it was from Pontoon and they can do no wrong. At first sip, I was disappointed, and I can’t tell you why. The flavor just had something that was off-putting. I kept going, fighting the good fight, and something interesting happened. It grew on me … pretty quickly, For the same reason that I recommend not giving an Untappd rating until after 3-4 sips, this beer absolutely got better with each sip. The flavors are pretty intense – the hop bitterness is mostly covered with the citrus, but it’s still there more than more NEIPAs you’ve had. That may have been what threw me off in the beginning. But give it a few sips, and I think you’ll find that it balances really well and packs a pretty good punch too!

 

At about the same time, Reformation released a beer in collaboration with Variant and Sprayberry Bottle Shop. Drink Well with Others is the third in a series of beers dedicated to giving to charitable causes. The first two were for Sporty Girl and World Adoption Day – but V3 is for a cause that hits way closer to home. As we’ve previously discussed, the Covid-19 hysteria has the potential to be economically devastating for brewery workers. Proceeds from this beer will go to support a GoFundMe campaign for Reformation’s furloughed and out-of-work staff. Fantastic cause … rock-star level beer. Think pineapple + vanilla and don’t think about anything else. Described as a Pineapple Milkshake IPA with “insane amounts of fresh Madagascar Vanilla beans, Sabro & Strata hops, and lactose,” this one walks, talks, and acts exactly like you’d think based on that description. If you don’t like pineapple, just walk away. If you do, buckle up and have a field day! This is insanely and maybe even frighteningly drinkable – at north of 7%, it could cause some blurry vision. Delicioud beer + great cause = victory.

 

Thank you to all the local craft breweries that are still working everyday to make OUR days a little better. We salute you!

Mike Pennington by Mike Pennington
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Categories Beer Travel (Beercations) Non Beer Stuff (but still fun)

#DrinkLocal

Enough has been written about it …
All the cliches have been over cliched …
We all  know that we’re unprecedented times and that the ripple effects and long-term repercussions will go way beyond what we could currently envision.  I mean, if I would have told you 6 months ago that all sports would be cancelled or postponed and we’d be in a police-state lockdown emergency, you’d have assumed that I had been way too deep in the beer. But that’s where we find ourselves. At least we have this: breweries have been deemed essential services so that we can maintain our sanity.

And that’s what today’s post is all about. It’s vital, now more than ever, to support your local breweries. My brother-in-law and I have turned Saturdays into “let’s see how many different breweries we can visit” days. Last Saturday – there were three. Yesterday, we hit four more. The challenge is on – how many will you visit this week?*** Something feels great about visiting and supporting local businesses. And the staff is always SO thankful. I can talk for days about drinking craft beer versus the mass-produced stuff I usually rail against. But let’s get into some deeper reasoning here. I give you the top 5 reasons to drink local, especially now.

  1. Your local craft brewery is not flush with wads and truckloads of cash. They operate on pretty thin margins, which means that major economic chaos (kinda like this whole Corona thing) could have devastating consequences to your local watering hole. You love your local brewery. So do I. Now close your eyes, and imagine that it has been boarded up. That IPA or amber that you loved is now just a memory. The good times playing cornhole in the parking lot or just discussing beer at the bar … all long gone. This isn’t some kinda-sorta-maybe-potential future. It’s a realistic concern and something that we can help mitigate. I am certain that AB-InBev and Molson Coors can weather this storm … so let’s work to bring the craft guys through, too.
  2. These are your neighbors. I’m not talking about the building – I mean the people working there. Again … close your eyes. Think about your favorite local brewery. If you’re like me, there are people working there that you recognize. The same amazing and friendly faces that you see day-after-day, week-over-week. They’re likely either on the doorstep of being laid off or are in very a dire financial situation because their income has been severely diminished. Every visit to a local brewery helps them. You have a choice – help them remain at the brewery, serving the community, or you can envision them waiting in the unemployment line.
  3. They’re working their tails off for us. Most breweries have turned to online sales and curbside delivery. These businesses have 100% shifted their operations in a way to 1) stay afloat and 2) still get delicious craft beer in your hands. Watching these people that I know walk to my car curbside, wearing gloves and masks, to deliver beer is very humbling to me. They’re serving and working extremely hard. I feel like I owe it to them to continue supporting them and telling as many people as I can to do the same.
  4. They’re not ceasing to innovate. I’ve visited a LOT of breweries in the last week. My bride may tell you that it’s because I’m rapidly emptying the beer fridge because of three kids locked in the house with no end in sight. (She’s right, by the way.) But it’s also because these breweries are still working on new flavors and dropping fun new releases. Some might think a business would circle the wagons and go uber-conservative now. So many breweries are being bold and innovative in the midst of the crisis, and it’s awesome! (More to come in a future post.)
  5. The beer is delicious. That is all.

Go. Yes, in most places it’s still legal. Go and visit a brewery. Buy a 6-pack or three. And if you can’t do that, go online and buy a gift card for future use. Get a shirt, a glass, a frisbie … just do what you can to support them. And make sure you tip BIG. Remember, tips can be a decent portion of the income for your friendly neighborhood brewery worker. I’m going with no less than 25% … will you do the same?

 

 

*** Just for fun. Since the ‘Rona hit us, I’ve visited Pontoon (twice), Burnt Hickory, Glover Park, Schoolhouse, Cherry Street (Halcyon), Jekyll, Currahee, and Reformation.

Mike Pennington by Mike Pennington
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Categories Brew Reviews Brewery Reviews

Sneak Preview!

As my friend Daniel put it … it pays to go to beer festivals. Back in the spring, we wrote about going to the Roswell Beer Festival. While there, other than having an otherworldly great time, we also met some fantastic people, in particular the gang from Pontoon Brewing. We hit it off, and they invited Russ and me back to Pontoon for a ‘tasting panel’ a few days later. We didn’t really know what to expect, but we were in. Here’s the short version … breweries will sometimes invite friends from other breweries, growler shop owners, industry experts, and beer media (that’s us!) to a special private tasting of some select beers. It’s usually to get honest feedback on the beer, either what to do differently on a pilot batch of beer; or what to consider for future versions of beer that will soon be out in the wild. Bonus … they had a chef come in and create food pairings for each of the four beers. Rock star status achieved.

Fast forward to this week, they had me back again. THIS time, we were tasting three beers that will be released this week and one pilot batch that is just in testing mode right now. It’s a seasonal that will hopefully come out later this year. I can’t tell you how exciting it was to try several beers before they’re even released. So, here ya go. A quick review of the three beers to be released this week and then the one that will hopefully emerge later in the year.

L-R … Belgian Tripel, Hazenado, Snozz Crumble, Fluffier Otter.
Chicken/gouda skewers, chocolate puff pastry, bacon-wrapped pork w/ cherry coulis, meatballs

Belgian Tripel

I’ve really become a sucker for a good tripel recently, and this one didn’t disappoint. It was a little boozy (9.5% really came through) and slightly syrupy to me, but the flavor was on point. I am certain that there will be some tweaks before this becomes available later this year. Really, really, really can’t wait.

Hazenado

It’s a Double IPA (DIPA) brewed with lactose and vanilla. The lactose, as expected, brought a creamy smoothness to it. Combined with a beautiful nose of pineapple (at least that’s what I got), this is a total home run. The flavor was an intoxicating mixture of milkshake and mild bitterness, very nicely counterbalanced with the sweet citrus from the hops. Yeah, I’ll be back later this week to have this one again.

Snozz Crumble

Pontoon has had a lot of success with a line of tart-creamy Berliner Weisse beers called, “Snozzberries Taste Like Snozzberries.” (Mad kudos on the reference there.) They took one of them for a ride with the Snozz Crumble, adding a pastry/cinnamon flavor to it. This had a very crisp mouthfeel, and was slightly more sour than I typically like. It has an absolutely stunning color to it and will be sure to be a hit with the sour drinkers out there.

Fluffier Otter

Again, Pontoon has resurrected a former favorite and transformed it into something new. The original, Fluffy Otter, is an oatmeal creme stout and is my favorite Pontoon beer ever. Basically, it’s a S’more in stout form. Now … add peanut butter. Fluffier Otter is an old school fluffernutter sandwich in a 9% abv stout. I almost didn’t want to drink it because it just smelled SO GOOD.

 

Again, Hazenado, Snozz Crumble, and Fluffier Otter will all be available this week! One is being released each of the next three days … check their site to see which one is dropping when. And then GO!

Mike Pennington by Mike Pennington
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Categories Drink & Drop Challenge

Feb 10 – Kid Birthday Eve

It’s one of those days when you know you’ll be bad later in the day, but you’re just not sure HOW bad. How do you budget calories for a questionable evening, not knowing how questionable to will get?

I think the answer lies … again … in moderation and limitations. I have to be good at monitoring (and cataloguing) calories throughout the day. Knowing where I stand and what I have left in the budget for the day allows me to make informed decisions. If I look back after the fact and forget about the two cookies I snuck in at lunch, I’ll be over budget. Strict adherence to the calculation is THE ONLY WAY to succeed in this game. At least for me.

My kid is apparently 75% Italian. He had a meatball sub last night; asked for lasagna tonight, while knowing that he requested his favorite Italian joint for tomorrow night … so that we can have lasagna. So, I’m eating lasagna tonight. Ugh. I do like cheese. Lots of it. The gooier the better. I NEED to budget properly.

At least I was able to suck at tennis for a few hours in the middle of the day to get the blood flowing. 🎾

Breakfast – 🚨 NEWS ALERT 🚨 I did NOT have a Fiber One bar this morning. I had a cinnamon roll (as birthday treats continue for lots of days in our house, apparently.) And I avoided the doughnut. Small victories.
Lunch – tennis courts. I don’t eat much when I play. I had two miniature chicken-salad-on-croissants and a turkey-provolone slider. That’s it. Oh yeah … and a few Peronis.
Dinner – lasagna. But I ate the version made with zucchini noodles instead of normal delicious noodles. So, maybe it was less bad for me? I even avoided having any of the Texas toast. Again, small victories. (And FYI, according to Fitbit, I added 1400 calories to my allowance for the day by playing tennis. Not that I think I should use all of those. Just sayin’.)

And now for the beer …

– Yup. Continuing with the Italian theme, our opponents brought Peroni as part of the spread. Since I was so miserably terrible on the courts today, I thought I should take two beers of theirs.
– As my pre-dinner ritual, I had a Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA. Uhhhh, yes. Delicious
– And with dinner, there’s a chance that I had a giant bottle of a very cool Variant–Pontoon–Gate City–Sprayberry Bottle Shop collaboration. It’s called the Wolf Pack. Sharing from the official description, this Imperial Sweet Stout was aged in Vanilla Bourbon Barrels for six months on rich chocolate, toasted coconut and Tongan vanilla beans.” Yes. All of the yes on this one. The birthday finally arrives tomorrow. More Italian food for us … and this time with unlimited salad and bread-swimming-in-butter.

Mike Pennington by Mike Pennington
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Categories Drink & Drop Challenge

Day 5 – Deep Thoughts …

I work from home.
The pantry is 50 feet away.
It speaks to me.
I listen too often.

If you’ve been following along for the last week, you might be shocked and saddened to know that I actually am doing a better job of watching what I eat. Obviously, the bar has been set very low. So, I currently find myself in an interesting place. And I always get here when I start monitoring what I eat. If I go salad and baked fish at every meal, I’ll do great, and it’s do-able for a defined period of time. But it is NOT something that I can sustain as a lifestyle change. I know this about myself. Yes, I know to make better decisions in restaurants (and sometimes do), but going to the extreme is not a lifestyle I can live long-term. So, the interesting place is one where I’m eating less, adding to the cardio, but still eating crap-food from time to time. Not the best call, but I’ll be interested to see how this plays out over the course of the month. Enough of the rambling – what did I enjoy yesterday??

Breakfast – same ole, same ole
Lunch – leftover hotdogs (yes, that’s plural) from Sunday. I don’t think I’m doing this right.
Dinner – mostly AirFryer french fries. And maybe a little bit of chicken. I know that sounds ridiculous …

And my saving grace once again … tennis. Cardio is apparently good for you, or something. Nothing like 3 hours of running around like a lunatic to burn off 1000+ calories, right?

The beers I earned on the court …

To be a good and social teammate, it’s important to bond with your crew over a beer or four. Tonight, we went with …

Mike Pennington by Mike Pennington
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