4th Tap House of Torment Pumpkin Ale

We're getting closer to September, which means that pumpkin ales are now flowing (along with Oktoberfests), and i'm a happy beer drinker.  A lot of the usual gang of misfits are on the shelves, but a new one for my taste perusal just dropped from Austin's 4th Tap, a collaboration ale of sorts with local haunted house provocateurs House of Torment.  The 5% ABV House of Torment Pumpkin Ale pours a brownish amber and smells of pumpkin, yams, and allspice.  The flavor is a shade more subdued than a lot of other pumpkin beers out there, a little heavier on the roasted pumpkin and lighter on the spices.  The end product is a sweet, mildly spicy, and easy drinking Autumn brew.

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Cigar City Tampa-Style Lager

I'm not sure exactly what a Tamp-style lager is, but evidently i quite enjoy it.  Pumpkin ales and Oktoberfests have been hitting the shelves the last couple of weeks, but it's still soooooo hot.  And 100 degree days generally call for lighter, crisper, easier beers, so i've been drinking Tampa brewer Cigar City's Tampa-Style Lager all summer long.  The Helles-leaning beer pours a light, transparent gold with a full and frothy white head and smells of light floral and grain.  Hints of grass, lemon, and spice are evident in the flavor and the 4.5% ABV brew finishes off crisp and refreshing.  I have yet to ever have anything less than excellent from the folks at Cigar City, and this summertime beer is no exception.

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Galveston Island Chicken Little Saison

It's hard to believe that summer is winding down, pumpkin ales are just on the horizon, and my oldest son starts kindergarten on Thursday.  That last one is a head and heart trip that practically barrels me over.  Anyway, while the getting was good, we made a quick weekend journey south to Galveston to hit the beach and the pier, and grab some local beer of course.  Hitting it up every time we're in the area, Galveston Island Brewing offers up a relaxed atmosphere, a playground for the kids, and good beer too.  This last visit, i was particularly taken with the Chicken Little Saison, a tasty and refreshing little brew for these hot and humid August days.  Pouring gold with a quickly dissipating head, the 5.5% ABV beer smells of spice, lemon, and coriander, those same notes making up the flavor of the brew along with some Belgian wheat hints and a crisp finish.  It's the perfect beverage for a hot day, either at the beach or not.

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Eagle Park Goon Juice

I just got back from a long weekend in Galveston, and while i now have a few more beers from the Gulf Coast to write about, my mind's still on Milwaukee...or more specifically, the Goon Juice New England style IPA from Eagle Park Brewing.  An 8% ABV juicy, hazy concoction, the beer pours a wheaty gold with decent white head and smells of fruit, citrus, taffy, hops (4 different kinds used), and some slight hints of pine.  The flavor is a mix of tropical fruit and bitter hops that never gets too sweet or too hoppy, and finishes off with refreshing zest.  I can't wait to get back there someday.

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Milwaukee - Brewfest and Brewery Crawl 2018!

What is becoming a pretty much yearly event, my old friend and college roommate John and i get together somewhere in these United States (sometimes with the families and sometimes not), be it Tacoma or San Diego or Tampa Bay, and we drink a whole hell of a lot of local beer.  It keeps me sane.  2018 took us to Milwaukee for a couple of days for a Brewfest and as many breweries as we could walk our aching feet to.  Turns out it was worth it.

Full disclosure: My memory is going to be a little hazy as to the names of everything i tried over the weekend (Yay alcohol!) and i failed to write any of it down, but i will do my best to figure out what all of these delicious beverages were...for the most part.

Beer flight at Water Street Brewery

After meeting in the airport and getting checked in to our hotel, we ventured west towards the Milwaukee River and a whole slew of bars, pubs, taverns, taprooms, and more along Water St. and Brady St.  Our first stop was the Water Street Brewery, a brewpub where we filled our stomachs with fried fish and burgers and partook a wonderful bevy of different beers.  My beer flight of 8 different samples included a Bavarian Weiss, an amber, an Oktoberfest, a sweet and juicy IPA, and more, the highlight of which was probably the crisp and easy drinking Honey Lager Light, one of those brews that would be especially refreshing on a hot day.

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Goon Juice at Eagle Park Brewing

After dinner and beer, we walked northeast to Eagle Park Brewing (probably my favorite joint of the whole weekend) for pints of Goon Juice, an excellent New England IPA that i'll cover in full next week.  Just Muck'n Around, a black New England IPA, was pretty tasty as well.  But then it was late, and it was time to head back to the hotel...but we'd be back.

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Lemongrass Pils at Colectivo Lakefront Cafe

The next morning, following a big Midwestern breakfast, John and i headed east towards Lake Michigan, walking along Veteran's Park and McKinley Park and enjoying the cool breeze blowing off of the water.  We stopped at Colectivo Lakefront Cafe, a coffee shop with a large outdoor biergarten to kill time before the Milwaukee Brewfest, and...well, we drank beer.  And i will say that a warm pretzel with mustard and a pint of Colectivo's Lemongrass Pils, yet another brew that would hit the spot on a hot day, was totally the way to go before the onslaught of samples that was to fill the rest of my afternoon.

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Taking a moment between beer samples at Milwaukee Brewfest.

Then we made it to the main attraction, the Milwaukee Brewfest.  I've been to several different craft beer festivals in Texas and Washington, and the vibe was similar.  You could easily lift any number of beer festival goers and drop them at any other event across the country, and we'd all just blend in the same.  The only real difference was that this fest offered unlimited samples.  There were no tokens or stamps or marks needed.  Just walk up and drink.  Needless to say, i am a fan.  Anyway, with maybe 100 different breweries in attendance, and without pen or paper to jot everything down, there was just too much for me to try and enjoy to really keep track of it.  I will say that a definite highlight was Lakefront Brewery's 30th Anniversary Bourbon Barrel Aged Eisbock which they so lovingly paired with a piece of dark chocolate.  After a greasy and divine burger and some fried cheese curds from The Fatty Patty, we eventually hit last call, and it was time to venture back out into the city.

Visit the festival.

So impressed were we with their array of brews at the festival, that we headed back west to Lakefront Brewery for even more.  Sitting on the riverside patio, we enjoyed pints of Riverwest Stein, a Vienna-style amber lager, and people watched for awhile.  Afterwards we walked back along Water Street with the rest of the drunks before finally getting a pizza topped with ravioli at some place called Ian's.  And then to bed.

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Beer flight at Eagle Park Brewing

I told you we'd be back.  After a morning spent exploring the west side of the river, we had morning beers at a pub followed by an enormous German breakfast/brunch at Mader's.  We had sausage from Usinger's, found the Bronze Fonz, and then went back to Eagle Park Brewing to try the rest of their wares.  As i mentioned, Eagle Park was probably my favorite brewery of the trip, and their current penchant for hazy brews certainly encouraged that feeling.  Aside from their spectacular Goon Juice, i also tried a sour Berliner Weisse called Pink Houses, the Espresso Stout, and a number of different IPA's.  I loved every drop, and if ever i get to go back to Milwaukee, Eagle Park will probably be my first stop.

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Our city wandering then took us to Good City Brewing and their lovely rooftop patio that overlooked a quasi-Bohemian area of Milwaukee.  And there, we caught up, talking about old times and old things, sipping on an assortment of beverages, most notably the delicious Nomad Summer Ale, a brew that paired perfectly with a sunny afternoon.  But there was still more to see.

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As the sun began to descend, we did one last long walk along the river and through the different areas of pubs and bars, making sure to visit Hosed on Brady, a dive bar i felt instantly at home in, Harry's for more beer and burgers, and finally ending up at a brewpub called Ale Asylum Riverhouse.  There we marveled at how drunk most of Milwaukee seemed to be (not a complaint) and enjoyed one final pint before calling it a day, mine being the crisp and tasty 12 Oz. Curl Pilsner.

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The Bronze Fonz

The next day was spent primarily in airports and airplanes, though i did get one last batch of fried cheese curds before coming back to Texas.  All in all, Milwaukee was a surprisingly beautiful and hip town, one i will most certainly need to get back to someday, beer festival or no.  The breweries and cheese curds demand it.