Ol' Oi Barrel-Aged Sour Brown Ale

Sometimes i feel like i'm the only one, but i love a good sour beer every now and then.  Austin's Jester King Brewery often seem to be the master purveyors of that kind of thing.  While visiting the brewery a couple of weeks ago, i tried their Ol' Oi Barrel-Aged Sour Brown Ale...and loved it.  The brew comes in at 6.3% ABV, and uses a variety of wild yeasts and souring bacteria to give it its kick.  It pours a lovely brown with a light tan head and smells of wheat and spices.  To me, you can practically smell the sour on it.  Aside from the prevailing strong sour notes of the beer, their are also hints of bread, citrus, and some subtle malts.  All in all, this is a great beer if you dig on the sour.  And i do.

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Tacoma Brewery Crawl 2015!!!

John and me outside of Wingman Brewers

A little over two weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to escape all responsibility and obligation for a cool 48 hours and spend a weekend in Tacoma, Washington, hanging out with two of my oldest friends, hitting a few local breweries, and drinking way too much beer.  I never wanted it to end.  All that being said, and to avoid getting all mushy about my buddies, let’s get on to the brews!

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Puget Sound Porter

Harmon Brewery & Eatery
After a morning jaunt to the car museum in Tacoma (which was awesome by the way), our first brewery of the day was Harmon Brewery & Eatery, a brewpub where we loaded up on greasy, delicious food and wetted our whistles on their straightforward selection of brews.  No frills here, just good beer.  My flight consisted of five beers, the Mt Takhoma Blonde Ale, Pinnacle Peak Pale Ale, Brown’s Point ESB, Point Defiance IPA, and the Puget Sound Porter, my favorite of the bunch…so much so that I had to get another pint just to be sure.

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Beer flight at Wingman Brewers

Wingman Brewers
With our bellies full, we headed to Wingman Brewers, a facility that felt the most like a brewery to me, as there was an industrial feel to the whole thing.  This joint was probably my favorite of the afternoon, and my flight consisted of the P-51 Porter, Big Baby Flat Top Imperial Stout, Maple Hazelnut Big Baby Flat Top Imperial Stout, Doppelbock, Ace IPA, and a guest tap featuring the Salted Caramel Stout from Portland’s Breakside Brewery.  Everything here was high-flavor, high-hops, high-alcohol, and I easily could have spent all afternoon just sipping away.  My favorite beer from Wingman was probably their Ace IPA, though that Salted Caramel Stout on the guest tap was absolutely delicious…a beer I could drink all night.

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Beer flight at Odd Otter Brewing

Odd Otter Brewing
And then we got to Odd Otter…and that’s where things got interesting…and kind of drunk.  This brewery likes to experiment, and some of their concoctions seem off the wall, but taste fantastic, and they’re like nothing else.  My flight consisted of the Coconut Chai Porter, Poppa Otter’s Bacon Breakfast Stout, Momma Otter’s Pancake Porter, Jolly Otter ESB, Otter Nonsense IPA, and the Ottermellon Hefeweizen.  I also managed to get a taste of their Bacchus Blonde, a blonde ale aged in pinot noir barrels.  My favorite of the bunch was probably the Jolly Otter ESB, but that may just be because my taste buds were fried, and it was the simplest.  Anyway, the Odd Otter is a very cool place…you should go.

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Pacific Brewing & Malting Co.
As things were getting hazy by the time we hit our fourth and last brewery (though we had originally intended to do one more), I decided to lay off the beer flights and just settle for a good pint instead.  Pacific’s fine selection actually made my decision kind of difficult, but seeing as I had spent most of the day imbibing the darker stuff, I went for the Grit City Porter, a dark full-bodied brew that went down way smoother than it had any right to.  The taproom was bright, airy, and friendly, and…maybe we should have started here.  Also, this is where my phone died, so no pictures.

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Ace IPA insignia

And after that we were done.  Well, not actually done, as we went to grab some dinner, and then went to some place called Dorky’s…where I had another Ace IPA!  And then there was the Sunday morning drinking before heading to the airport, but that’s another story.

So, get to Tacoma.  They have beer there.

Kol' Beer

With all the wonderful breweries in and around the Austin area, and growing everyday, i'm kind of amazed that i somehow managed to never have a Kol' Beer from South Austin Brewery until last week.  Man, i was missing out.  The Kol' Beer is a delicious Kolsch ale using European noble hops and German malts that drinks like an easy, refreshing lager...absolutely perfect for the long Austin summer days...or those Austin spring days that feel like summer days.  Coming in at 5% ABV in a sixer of tall boys (and with a guitar pick included in every pack), i cannot recommend this beer enough.  I think i may have found this summer's go to brew.

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Silver City Imperial Stout

Yesterday i got back from an all too fast weekend trip to Tacoma to hang out with some old friends and hit up a slew of breweries (more on all of that at a later date).  My final libation came in the form of a 9.9% ABV Imperial Stout from Silver City Brewery out of Silverdale, Washington.  The beer is dark black with a brown and tan head, a thick and full bodied stout that smells like chocolate, coffee, dark fruits, nuts, malts, and maybe some hints of molasses.  The taste is pretty complex, a mix of said aromas with some bitterness and bourbony-like notes on the back end.  This brew is fantastic...and i drank a bottle of it at nine in the morning...What?  We were about to head to the airport.  I love this beer.

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Independence Convict Hill Oatmeal Stout

Hitting up an old favorite this time around.  Independence Brewing used to be my go-to-local-brewer before the veritable craft brew explosion of the last few years, and regardless of my wandering taste buds and a whole new plethora of competition, they still manage to crank out some tasty brews.  The Convict Hill Oatmeal Stout pours dark black with a decent foamy, off-white head.  The beer smells of malts, coffee, chocolate, and oats.  The taste is similar, but with some added bitter roasted notes to round the whole thing out.  This is a great 8% ABV stout, and it was nice to go back...like visiting an old friend.

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