Liquid Distilled Happiness in a Bottle. New Glarus Wisconsin Belgian Red

The beer so classy it has to be photographed on the stairs!

This are really two sides to this particular beverage. On one hand, it might be the greatest thing I've ever put in my mouth. Just pure liquid deliciousness. On the other hand, it really doesn't possess any of the traits of a beer so I can't call it the greatest beer ever but I can call it ridiculously tasty and amazing.

Very low, only a 4.0 on the drinkenscale, so it's definitely not going to get you drunk unless you drink a whole lot of it. You might want to after the first sip though. 

WAIT! Before you sip, you should smell! This stuff smells like a cherry blasted heaven has been forcibly shoved into my nose hole. I never want to stop smelling it...but I had to...so I could drink it.

There is one flavor that stands out more than anything...CHERRY. This is a cherry drink with hope and malt and other beer stuff. The other beer stuff must lend to the flavor but it does it in the background because the only thing that really stands out is the cherry. However, it is not cloyingly sweet or overly sour. The other ingredients are damn near impossible to pick out but they work together to create this amazing drink. Hell, even my wife liked it! and she hates beer!

As a beer blog, I should judge this as a beer...but it's hard! It doesn't have any of the qualities that beer usually possesses but it's so damn good otherwise. I'm saying this is probably the best drink ever but I could never call it the best BEER.

If you are in Wisconsin and have the opportunity to get your hands on a bottle of Wisconsin Belgian Red you better! If you don't, I'll find out!

The Chronpickles of Making Beer Pickles

Making beer pickles is something I've been thinking about doing for awhile now and today...I've finally done it.

First, let's take a look at the ingredients.

Ignore the Pepto Bismol, spaghetti, dirty dishes, medicine, and cleaning wipes...

Can't make pickles without cucumbers. Unless you're making really weird pickles.

Look at the dill! It looks DILLicious!

I decided I was going to make 4 batches, each one based off of 2 different recipes then add habanero to one of each of the recipes to kick it up a notch. The recipes weren't much different but one had me cooking the liquid and dissolving sugar into it where the other did not.

The MKE Hop Happy is what I decided to cook with. I combined the sugar, salt, beer, water, and vinegar and cooked it until the sugar dissolved. A very simple process. Then I added the dry ingredients to the jars.

Fresh dill, mustard seed, peppercorns, garlic cloves, kosher salt, and habanero for the spicy batch. The non-spicy batch was habanero free.

Bubble bubble toil and trouble...

Basically at this point I sliced cucumbers into a sort of spear-ish shape, added them to the dry ingredients and poured the liquid on top until the jars were full. 

Look at how pretty we are. Get lost in our eyes...

Then I took my other beer, which did not get cooked at all, and followed a very similar procedure: garlic, habanero(in one)salt, mustard seed, peppercorn, etc...

Terrible picture but a pretty damn good beer.

I've had the Beyond the Pale from Steven's Pointa few times and I knew it was a good hoppy beer so I'm hoping it makes good beer pickles

That was pretty much it, a really simple procedure. Took maybe 20 minutes and most of that time was cleaning up the giant mess I was making because I'm sloppy. 

As for the taste...I'll let you know after they've sat for at least 48 hours...*WINKY FACE EMOTICON*

Soon...they will be in my belly.

A Plastic 40 and a Dream

I've been meaning to grab a big ol 40oz of something cheap and review it for the blog. It's been way too long since I last updated so I figured this would be the perfect way to get back on track. I present to you...A 40OZ OF OLDE ENGLISH MALT LIQUOR!

First things, I was very disappointed in the shatter proof plastic bottle, I wanted to feel the heft of a glass bottle wrapped in brown paper in my hands. Also, I wanted that metallic sound upon opening the cap but that was taken from me by the plastic. Therefore this beer scores very low in the look and sound department.

Next, I poured some out for my homies lost in the struggle because it just seemed right to me.

You can tell I'm hardcore because I have a Dave Matthews tattoo

Then, I drank some...it wasn't the worst beer I've ever had. It definitely wasn't good, but you know, I didn't hate it. I wouldn't go out and buy another one anytime soon but I'd rather drink this than a bud light or miller ultra or bud select 55.

I started in my dining room but soon realized a 40 should be properly enjoyed on a stoop. With no stoop to be found, I settled on my deck.

Got my damn rap face on in this picture. 

Olde English 800 Malt Liquor comes in at a staggering 7.5 on the DRINKENSCALE. This is a beer designed for one purpose. To be cheap and to get you drunk. If I'm basing it entirely on it's sole purpose than this beer is a clear winner. If I factor in taste though, it loses a lot of points. Add in the disappointing plastic bottle and you're down in the bottom tier of beers. The experience though, sitting on your stoop(deck) drinking a 40 from a brown paper bag...that can't be replicated. Worth every second.