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Mikkeller Weird Weather Hazy IIPA – American Double / Imperial IPA at 8.3% ABV

Mikkeller Weird Weather Hazy IIPA American Double / Imperial IPA at 8.3% ABV (C$8.96 at Collective, 500 ml, best before 18-Jun-2019, acquired 17-Nov-2018, reviewed 26-Nov-2018)

Appearance: hazy pale straw with two fingers of rocky white head, good retention and moderate lacing. (4/5) Aroma: grapefruit zest, stone fruit, apples, grainy malt, hint of pine & cattiness. (7/10) Taste: moderate-high sweet, moderate-low bitter. (7/10) Palate: medium body, moderate carbonation, sweetish slightly sticky finish. (4/5)

“Weird”, check, but I dunno what weather’s got to do with anything. Ditto “hazy”, but I’m not entirely sold on the “New England Style”. Sort of, I guess, but it’s not really the opaque juice bomb example of the style I prefer. On the other hand, the “IIPA” part is actually fairly impressive, since it drinks like something much lighter than its 8+ ABV. On the other other hand (yes, that’s three hands) the sweetness and apples, especially in the finish, are reminiscent of sweet Belgian Tripels, which are my least favourite interpretation of that style. I can’t find any details of the hops used here, but there’s a hint of cattiness that makes me think Citra or Simcoe. While that cattiness isn’t necessarily a negative in all cases, I’m not used to encountering it in an alleged NEIPA, in which the dry hopping process seems to avoid that characteristic (which I hypothetically associate with overextraction of the hops in the boil). Ultimately, yeah, it’s juicy and hazy, with mild bitterness, but the sweetness in particular prevents it from really wowing me. Which seems to be the case with far too many Mikkeller beers these days – hey Mikkel, buddy, here’s an idea: instead of 40 or 50 beers a year, how about you produce only 20 or 30, and make them not suck? (14/20)

7/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com

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Miscellaneous

ABInBev Seduces RateBeer

Yet another one falls prey to the Dark Side. RateBeer now joins my boycott list alongside Ballast Point, Elysian, Goose Island, Karbach, Kona, Lagunitas, Mill Street, Wicked Weed, and Widmer Brothers.

http://blog.seattlepi.com/thepourfool/2017/06/02/ratebeer-joins-the-borg-collective-ab-harpoons-another-one/

http://wearebrewstuds.com/stories/news/craft-beer-ab-inbev-completes-triforce-investment-ratebeer/

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Miscellaneous

2016 Craft Beer Advent Calendar

Well, I’m ready for December 1! Looking forward to another year’s advent calendar starting in less than 10 weeks. For reference, here are the origins and strengths for the 2016 calendar:

2016-advent-calendar-origin-and-strength

And as soon as I saw that there might be IPAs and lagers in there, I tore it open and stuck ’em all in the beer fridge. Didn’t look at any, though: I put ’em in a box with labels for 1-24 without looking – I like my daily surprises. However, a cardboard IPA that’s been sitting at room temperature for three months isn’t the kind of surprise I like!

#ryansbooze ryansbooze.com

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Miscellaneous

Milk and citrus liqueur

I made a thing!

http://gizmodo.com/5869688/how-to-make-milk-thatll-get-you-hammered/

It was marinated for about 10 days. The first pass was through cheesecloth, and the milk solids that squeezed out looked like vanilla pudding. Quite edible, too, though very strong.

The liquid was still pretty thick at that point, so I did two passes through coffee filters to polish it up. Made a huge difference to the appearance, though really not a lot to the taste or texture.

So, now I’ve got a golden-coloured milk and citrus liqueur. And, in the immortal words of Homer Jay, “It passed the first test: I didn’t go blind.”

#ryansbooze

IMG_6407IMG_6408IMG_6409IMG_6410IMG_6413IMG_6414IMG_6415IMG_6416

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Miscellaneous

Willow Park Beer Bash (2014-11-05)

Looking forward to the Willow Park Beer Bash this evening. Twenty nine beers identified to try, and half a dozen of those are 1001’s.

I… uhhh… may be late getting in to work tomorrow…

#ryansbooze    #1001beers

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Miscellaneous

Revision 12 of the One-Handed Bottle Opener

Revision 12. Radiused the slot, made the whole thing 1mm thicker, and increased the size of the cap holder slot. Cap holder is still a little finicky, but it works now. The transparency of the filament makes it possible to see the trapped cap catcher magnet.

#ryansbooze   #3dprinting

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Miscellaneous

Latest revision of the one-handed bottle opener

Latest revision of the one-handed bottle opener. Revision 6 or so failed after a few weeks’ use, but you can see that the problem wasn’t completely solved with my current daily use one (revision 8 or so) because the stress crack is starting in the same spot. In-progress photo of the latest revision (10 – I don’t print all of them) shows how I hold the flat neodymium magnet in the slot with another magnet so the magnetic auto-level probe doesn’t suck it right back out again. This revision is a couple millimetres thicker through the region that habitually cracks, so we’ll see how it stands up.

#3dprinting   #ryansbooze

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Miscellaneous

The beer cellar as of 2014-10-17.

The beer cellar as of 2014-10-17. (The foil-wrapped lumps are dark fruitcakes marinating in booze. That counts, right?)
#ryansbooze

The beer cellar
The beer cellar
Stouts/darks
Stouts/darks
Stouts/darks
Stouts/darks
Belg-ish...
Belg-ish…
Belgian
Belgian
Stouts/darks
Stouts/darks
Odds and ends
Odds and ends
Odds and ends
Odds and ends
Sours
Sours
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Miscellaneous

Hop Varieties and Characters

Hop varieties and their characters – resharing for future reference.
#ryansbooze

Craft Beer Time originally shared this post:

Hop Varieties and Characters

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Miscellaneous

Belgium 2014 Roundup

Belgium 2014 roundup. Here’s the final tally of new beers before going to the airport in the morning:

Brouwerij Mort Subite (formerly De Keersmaeker) – Kriek
Brouwerij Mort Subite (formerly De Keersmaeker) – Gueuze
Brouwerij De Ranke – XXX Bitter
Brouwerij Huyghe – Delirium Red
Brouwerij Alken-Maes – Maes Pils
Brasserie Piedboeuf – Jupiler
*Brasserie Cantillon – Iris
*Brasserie Cantillon – Single Barrel 3 Year Lambic
*Brasserie Cantillon – Rosé de Gambrinus
*Troubador – Magma Tripple IPA
*Brouwers Verzet – Oud Bruin
Brouwerij De Sint-Sixtusabdij van Westvleteren – Trappist Westvleteren 12
Duvel Moortgat – Duvel Gefilterd (Green)
Brouwerij Bosteels – Kwak
De Halve Maan – Brugse Zot
Brasserie de la Senne – Zinnebir
Duvel Moortgat – Duvel Tripel Hop (2014)
Brouwerij Mort Subite (formerly De Keersmaeker) – Faro
Brewery John Martin & Brewery Timmermans – Martin’s IPA
Brouwerij St. Bernardus – Tripel
Brouwerij Van Honsebrouck (Castle Brewery) – Kasteel Donker (Bruin-Brune)
Brewery John Martin & Brewery Timmermans – Bourgogne Des Flandres Ambrée
Brouwerij Omer Vander Ghinste (Bockor) – Vanderghinste Oud Bruin
Brouwerij Oud Beersel – Oude Geuze (Vieille)
Brasserie Dubuisson – Cuvée des Trolls
Brouwerij Bosteels – Tripel Karmeliet
Brouwerij van Hoegaarden – Hoegaarden Grand Cru
Brasserie Dubuisson – Bush Ambrée (Scaldis Amber)

(* No photo)

That’s, what, 27 new beers in five days? And small-ish tasters (250ml) and/or spread out so that I have not been drunk once. Fairly well-behaved, I’d say…

#ryansbooze  ryansbooze.com

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