Please don't kill my beer blog!

I am not a robot.

I am not a robot.

I am not a robot.

Can it really be true that my last post here at BeerRant was in 2015?  I've lately heard rumblings that old Google accounts that have been inactive are at risk of being deleted.  I sure don't want that to happen to BeerRant.  Consequently, this is a check-in of sorts, in the hope that getting back into my blogs a bit will spark, or re-spark my drive to be productive in that regard. 

While I've certainly not been blogging about beer lately, I have definitely continued to drink beer - to excess some who know me will say.  But in looking back, I think the timing of my 2015 blog break coincides with my discovery of bicycling so, for all the bad that beer may be doing in my life, I've got bicycles to help offset the bad to some degree.

Since my last post:

I have two microbreweries within 3 miles of my house.

A dynamite craft beer shop within about a mile of my house.

On the negative side, I've stopped keeping a beer notebook so I don't have those kind of notes to use for future blog posts....unless I start keeping the notebook again.

For now, here's a shot of some Old Speckled Hen in an El Paso hotel room, circa Winter 2020.

 

Airport Kiltlifter

This space is sadly neglected. Perhaps it's a measure of where my life priorities are these days. I got to a point where I was drinking more and blogging less and enjoying neither. 

Lately though, I seem to be doing less of both, but the blogging has been a good thing and (personal note) my weight is down somewhat since I cut my beer intake roughly in half. So here's to more blogging with less beer, perhaps. 

I may be drinking less beer but I'm still trying to focus on drinking good beer while I'm at it.  To that end, if price is a barometer of a beer's quality (of course it isn't), then this $7 glass of Four Peaks Kiltlifter was spectacular!

#airportbeer

#roadpost

     

Deschutes Fresh Squeezed IPA: Awesome But Pricey

I'm a big fan of the Deschutes line and this one is a worthy addition. Fresh Squeezed has the musty smell of an old library. It pours a lovely clear bronze color with a thick head the color of a manila folder. 

The taste is faintly sweet with a hint of almond bitterness. There is no taste of grapefruit, citrus or fresh cut pine as you might expect but the flavor is unique enough and is even better on draft (based on a growler of this that I tried recently). Too bad this one runs in the $11/six pack range. At that rate this will have to be an occasional splurge here at Beer Rant HQ. 

(Shout out to Kate and Dane, btw.)

The label says it all.

There's a burro on the label of this "Mexican ale" to remind me of one very important point: I'd be a jackass to but it a second time. 

Farewell Old World Brewery

According to a post on their Facebook page today, Old World Brewery is no more. 

I've posted a number of positive pieces about OWB here at Beer Rant and I'll get around to a more detailed remembrance later but it's enough to admit at this point that I was probably one of the "Homers" who were ridiculed in a negative review of OWB in a local publication a good while back. 

I took a swing through the neighborhood to have a look at OWB on the way home from work today. Somewhat sad even when the pints were flowing, the place was positively depressing. A beer would gave been nice. Oh well. 

Three more to round out 2014

Squatter's Snowbird Dunkelweizen is true to the style with a distinct taste of banana. Even though it was well chilled, it poured with a nice head. Because of the prominent flavor component, not an ideal session beer. 

Shades of Pale Publican Pale Ale. Probably my favorite of the evening. Attractive in the glass. Malty smell and taste. Reminds me somewhat of Deschutes Mirror Pond but with a slightly odd finish but still good. 

Eager to learn more about Shades of Pale brewing, I hopped over to their Facebook page and, as with a lot of what I see on FB, I came away with a lower opinion of the human race. Evidently, they are changing the label on Publican Pale Ale. Seems some folks thought it was a reference to "republicans."  If this is the case, I hope those idiots who didn't know the difference will keep drinking and stop voting. (You can take the beer snob out of remedial reading but you'll never take the remedial reading out of some beer snobs, I guess.)

Last up was Squeaky Bike Brown Ale from Moab Brewery. This one was okay; looked nice and all, but it just seemed to lack something. I'd be willing to try it again some time, even if the bike reference strikes me as a bit over done. 

I expect there will be more beers this evening-it's New Year's Eve for hell's sake!  I will resolve to do more posting in 2015

A post from the road: Utah

How long has it been since I posted here? God knows. 2014 had been a shit year, frankly, but I'm grateful for an opportunity to ring in 2015. I'm hoping for better. Meanwhile, here are a couple of beers from the past week. 

A Wasatch Bobsled Brown Ale that has been sitting in my daughter's fridge since Christmas 2013!  I have to say, it held up pretty well.  

A mug of Trader IPA. The beer was great!  The prime rib sucked.