Beer Reunion with a Cherished Friend

[TasunkaWitko]

Later this month, I'll be meeting up with a friend I haven't seen in 20 years. We have kept in touch over the internet, but it just isn't the same. He's like a brother to me, godfather to three of my four children, a fishing buddy and generally one of the coolest dudes I've had the pleasure of knowing.

We also, of course, used to drink quite a bit of beer, whether gaming with the Super Nintendo and PlayStation, fishing under the bridges, or just sitting around solving the problems of the world. Back in the day, there weren't too many choices beyond the usual Bud/Coors/Miller/OldMilwaukee, but now that I am brewing beer (and also thanks to the rise in craft- and micro-brewed beer), we can have something better.

I will be bringing 7 beers that I've brewed, and 5 Montana-brewed beers for us to enjoy:

My beers:

Edelweiß
Chestnut Brown Ale
Summer Wheat
Bruxelles Black
Smoked Wheat
Dandelion Gruit
...and my experimental Das OtterWeizen

Here are 4 of the 5 Montana-brewed beers:

Beltian White, from Harvest Moon Brewing Company in Belt
Pigs Ass Porter, from Harvest Moon Brewing Company in Belt
Trout Slayer, from Big Sky Brewing
Moose Drool, from Big Sky Brewing

For the fifth Montana-brewed beer, I'm vacillating between

Charlie Russell Red, from Harvest Moon Brewing
Salmon Fly Honey Rye, from Madison River Brewing
and Amber, from Bayern

I'll eventually choose one...or maybe all?

 

[catdaddy66]

Cant go wrong with an amber...

 

[schatzke]

Salmon Fly for a nice warm sunny day.

 

[TexasDroughtBrewery]

I love moose drool...anyway..I'd go with an Amber to finish your spread.

 

[broadbill]

It would be a shame if you brought all that and he still enjoys his BMC....

As a craft beer-lover I have to remind myself that the majority of folks still prefer their light lagers over any of the "interesting" beers out there.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

I thought of that, but when I asked him what he's drinking these days, the first ones on his list were New Belgium's 1554, and Scottish ales.

The Bruxelles Black compares very well with 1554, and the Chestnut Brown is a Northern English Ale, so I'm close, I think. As for the others, I tried to provide a good variety.

Hopefully we're all good!

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Well, the reunion with my buddy down in South Dakota has come and gone, and it was a great time. I ended up bringing down 18 bottles of home-brewed-beer total, (9 different varieties); my son decided to send along a couple of bottles for us to try, so I decided to skip any of the commercial offerings. My friend and I had a ball sampling them, and we decided that they were all pretty darn good.

Here are the rankings, from "Favourite" to "It's not bad at all, but could be improved with xyz...."

Chestnut Brown Ale - this was his favourite

Bruxelles Black Abbey Ale - this was a very close second

Smoked Wheat - enjoyed very much

Edelweiss - enjoyed very much

Summer Wheat - a great wheat beer

Das OtterWeizen - very refreshing - we split one and saved one for his wife to try, since she was out of town on business that evening.

O Tannenbock Spruce Ale (my son's brew) - very good, as long as you know it is a spruce ale; a little strange if you don't know that, but good

American Pale Ale (my son's brew) - very good flavor, but over-carbed; we lost about a third of it while opening it

Dandelion Gruit - this was good for what it was, but very tart due to the lemon peel addition (1 per gallon); maybe half a lemon peel next time

While down there, he introduced me to a local tavern that had a very incredible offering: Buffalo Sweat Oatmeal Cream Stout. I am currently working on putting a clone together for this one, as it was very righteous, indeed.

The big takeaway from this is that my buddy took quite an interest in the process and in the variety of beers that can be achieved with home-brewing. We both like the small-batch concept, because it fits our needs, so I plan to get him started by sending him a Chestnut Brown Ale kit from Brooklyn Brew Shop at the first opportunity.