1239. Kona Pipeline

I’ve been mad at Kona for a few years and haven’t really tried any of their new products.  Ever since they sold out to a Macro and started mass producing their beers - I haven’t been happy with the quality.  Specifically, how Kona Brown (Coconut Brown Ale) went from SO MUCH coconut flavor - to none. 

Tonight, at the liquor store I found Koko Brown.  And despite my declining opinion of it - I buy it anytime I find it.  It’s only available from January to April, and each year I hope they fixed the Macro-recipe. I noticed they had a Kona Coffee Porter next to it, and decided, I would give it a try too - since that’s one of Caitlin’s favorite styles. 

It’s a really decent Porter.  The coffee is very subtle and the beer goes down really smooth - like ZERO IBUs smooth.  Really tasty, and I don’t like coffee. 

1238. Stone Enter Night

It’s Metallica Night in Indianapolis - so, since I’m not at the sho, I felt like it would be the best night to drink Stone’s beer that was brewed in collaboration with Metallica.  

Like most Stone beers, it’s dry and hoppy - not a light and crisp Pilsner.  It’s a mouthful.  

1237. Short’s Fload

Really delicious sour.  

Silky smooth with a sour punch up front, and then it lingers in the corners of your mouth.  Delicious. 

1236. Platform Caramelicious

There are a lot of flavors going on here, and they all come together pretty well. It's not an amazing beer, but it's pretty enjoyable.  I've had better, but I've had way worse.  I would never turn one down, it is very smooth and sweet.

I've seen a lot from Platform in Ohio, and I am glad I tried this one.  Looking forward to many more from them.

1235. Triton White Chocolate Golden Ale

This beer is fine.  I'm a little disappointed, just because I was hoping to find something closer to home that would be on par with Sonoran's White Chocolate.  While this beer is tasty, it's not on the same level.  It tastes more like an ale - and not like melted white chocolate.  Still drinkable, just not what I was hoping for.

1234. Indiana City Früt Brüt IPA

1233. BrewDog Radio Zombie Phone In

1232. Taxman 2018 Q3

1231. Taxman 2018 Q2

That Q1 went down so smooth, quick and easy - so I decided I was in the mood for the Q2.
Belgian and Brett yeasts - two of my favorites.
The beer starts off with an awesome upfront punch of sour, that finishes with the honey sweetness on the back end and it lingers for a bit.  Personally, I enjoy the sour - the honey is just not my thing.

1230. Taxman 2018 Q1

Back story for this beer...
In 2018, I collected Q1, Q2, and Q3 throughout the year.  I spent all of December looking for Q4, because I had a gimmicky post in mind, called My 2018 Taxman Year End Audit.  I was going to drink all four of them together, and try to write up a nice piece on all four of them.

I reached out on Twitter on January 11th...

After a month with no reply, I reached out again.  I was hoping I would be told they had them for sale at one of their locations.  Alas, they never answered my second attempt.

This really sucks, not only because I still haven't found a bottle...
In 2018, Taxman vaulted to the top of my Indiana Breweries, and became my favorite.  A spot long held by Indiana City Brewing, now belonged to Taxman.  Their Coconut Variant of Evasion, 401(Cake), Frozen Assests (and Imperial Frozen Assets), No Sparge, and recently their Red Wine Barrel Qualified have all been some of the best and most enjoyable beers I have drank recently.

This brings us to 2018 Q1.
It's a really light and refreshing Farmhouse Ale, that goes down light and easy, and finishes with a small hint of sour.  I assume the sour comes from the white wine barrels this beer was aged on.

Another delicious offering from Taxman.

1229. Shmaltz Terrans Unite!

The second beer of our "Star Trek" Double-Header!
An IPA dedicated to the Mirror Universe of "Star Trek".
While drinking these beers, I learned of the Federation of Beer which seems to round up all of the available "Star Trek" beer options.  As of this posting, I have done three of the six beers they have listed on their page.  I would love to try the Captain's Holiday Ale or the Klingon Imperial Porter.  I will have to keep my eyes out for those...

Terrans Unite! was fine.  It was an IPA, and I drank it.  I didn't hate it, but I don't need to ever drink another one.  Ben enjoyed this one better than the golden ale.

1228. Shmaltz Profit Motive

In January of 2018, Ben Grigsby and I got together to drink Beer #1069 - Shmaltz Brewing's Symbiosis - which was a beer dedicated to "Star Trek: The Next Generation".

Over the last year, I collected two more "Star Trek" beers, and Ben and I finally got together tonight to drink them!

First up, is Profit Motive, which sports a Quark's Bar in the neck, and is directly related to the bar on "Stark Trek: Deep Space Nine".

It was a nice lightly-hoppy Golden Ale, which was a little drier than I tend to like, but it still went down very easily.

342. REVISITED: BrewDog 5AM Saint

A lot has changed since Beer #342 in October of 2013.
I've drank about 900 other unique beers.
I have invested in the BrewDog brand, and now represent them in almost every aspect of my social life (via hoodies, shirts, and hats) and this Fall they are scheduled to open a BrewPub in downtown Indianapolis - which I have been began the contact process to attempt to work for them when they open.

So, I recently bought the new Seasonal Pack, and the Seasonal option included was 5AM Saint, which I know took a hiatus from production, but was then brought back in the recent years.

It's still tasty.  I nice malty Amber ale with some good flavors.  Easy to drink, and a welcome option instead of a Pale Ale.

1227. Central State Raspberry

My buddy Miller - who is currently on vacation in Mexico - asked me if I had the time to swing into Central State for him, because he wanted to make sure he got a bottle of their Barrel Aged Bashi.  This request was fine with me, because I had been wanting to go buy a four-pack of their Raspberry - because it sounded delicious.  A raspberry sour with lactose, should be like a fruit smoothie, right?

Sadly, upon arrival I found out they had sold out of Raspberry (it was released one week earlier...), but they did still have it on draft.  So, I grabbed a quick one while my Bashi bottles were being rung up.

The beer was fine, it was tasty.  I would have easily drank all four cans - but I also didn't love it.  It wasn't as awesome as I was hoping for.  Just, good.  Fine to drink.

Peddie's Beer-O-Rama

I love and respect John Peddie.
Like, seriously, a lot.
And this posting is long, long overdue.
But, despite that love and respect - I have to stay real with my beer drinking.

First, Peddie has started tracking his over beverage drinking on HIS BLOG-O-RAMA.

Second, he is knocking on his 75th Beer Post - and that's DOPE!  As I explain to everyone who asks me "WHY" I do my website, instead of using an App like Untappd - my explanation is simple:  With an App, I check off 1,000 different beers and claim that I drank them all - without any verification.  There is literally no accountability whatsoever for the use of the App.  Yes, you can upload a picture, but you aren't required to.  This website, shows you the beers I drink, it shows you the special occasions where I drink beers, it shows you the milestone beers and the friends I have to drink them with.  I know that Post-1000, my posts have been much more bare.  Not many reviews (to the consternation of my wife, who likes to read my thoughts on beers) and less event drinking.  All things I want to try and work on in the future.  I have intentions of starting a Podcast in 2019, and beer will be playing a part of that Podcast.

Third, he is an anarchist for his beer drinking method.  Frosted Mugs?  Yeah.  You read that right.  Crazy dude, drinks delicious libations from the coldest possible vessel known to the Hop and Barley Gods.  It's insane.  (However, I will admit that I am jealous of his Peddie Mug, and the John O Mug is dope.  They would both be more dope if they told John to keep them at room temperature).
Craft Beer, Paste Magazine, and VinePair all have great explanations why this is blasphemy for aromatic deliciousness that these brewers pour their hearts and souls into perfecting.

That's why I use a nice Wine Fridge to keep all my beers at 41 degrees, and perfectly ready to warm up a bit before drinking.  In Peddie's FIRST POST ON THE TOPIC, he tells the awesome story of our insanely heated argumentative debate (FAKE NEWS, it was a totally chill conversation) over how to drink beer - and why he decided to start posting pictures of depressing beers who know they were brewed for a purpose, and deserve better than a frosty death.

The above picture comes from the BrewDog Brewery in Canal Winchester, OH.

So, at some point when Peddie was in his 50s, I was noticing that it was very hit and miss if I had also drank the beer he was posting about, and I wanted to do a side-by-side.  But, you know, I'm lazy.

Well, tonight is the night that I get off my lazy butt, and the sit down on my lazy butt, with a beer in hand - and I see how many of Peddie's First 74 Beers, I've drank.  Grab a non-frosty beer and join me for this ride.  Prost!

Let's look at Peddie's Beers!

1.  Urban Artifact Phrenology IPA.  Nope.
2.  Three Floyds Zombie Dust IPA.  Beer 273 for me.
3.  New Belgium Citradelic Exotic Lime Ale. My Beer 782 is Citradelic, but claims to be Tangerine.
4.  Black Acre Natural Liberty American Pale Lager.  Nope.
5.  Black Acre Saucy Intruder Rye IPA.  My Beer 730.
6.  Cannon Ball One Night in Bangkok.  Nope.
7.  Daredevil Slipstream Pale Ale.  Nope.
8.  Daredevil Lift Off IPA.  Nope.
9.  Indiana City Tribute Pale Ale.  My Beer 478.
10.  Sun King Dragon's Delight Belgian Golden Ale.  My Beer 988.
11.  Flat 12 My Name is Amber.  My Beer 258.
12.  Horny Goat Hopped Up and Horny.  Nope.  Done two others from this brewery...
13.  Central State Polyjuice Potion.  Beer 1160.
14.  Central State Halsdurchschlag.  Beer 1114.

Beers 15 to 37 are all in his Great Northwest Beer Run Post.  Please notice that there are no photos in this post, which leaves me with hope that these are the best beers he has ever drank - because I pray they were NOT served in frosty-disgusting-drinking-vessels...
15.  Hale's Ales Palladium Pale Ale.  Nope.
16.  Pike IPA.  Nope.
17.  Reuben's Brews Roasted Rye IPA.  Nope.
18.  Grand Teton 208 Session Ale.  Nope.
19.  Deschutes Fresh Squeezed IPA.  Nope.
20.  Big Sky Moose Drool.  Nope.
21.  Draught Works Scepter Head IPA.  Nope.
22.  Great Northern Going to the Sun IPA.  Nope.
23.  Great Northern Wild Huckleberry Lager.  Nope.
24.  Big Sky IPA.  Nope.
25.  Red Lodge Bent Nail IPA.  Nope.
26.  Flathead Lake Goat's Beard Ale.  Nope.
27.  Harvest Moon Beltian White.  Nope.
28.  Lewis & Clark Glacier Golden Ale.  Nope.
29.  Great Northern Wheatfish Wheat Lager.  Nope.
30.  Lewis & Clark Tumbleweed IPA.  Nope.
31.  Great Northern Big Mountain Tea Pale Ale.  Nope.
32.  Draught Works my Ruca American Pale Ale.  Nope.
33.  Tamarack Bear Bottom Blonde Ale.  Nope.
34.  Glacier Golden Grizzly Ale.  Nope.
35.  Tamarack Yard Sale Amber Ale.  Nope.
36.  Fernie What the Huck Wheat Ale.  Nope.
37.  Mill St. Original Organic Lager.  Nope.

38.  Grand Junction One With Nature IPA.  Nope.
39.  Black Acre Hop Pun Double IPA.  My Beer 1139.
40.  BrewDog Elvis Juice.  My Beer 1029.
41.  Rhinegesit Truth IPA.  Huh.  I know I've drank this.  It's never been on the website...?
42.  Central State Garden. My Beer 1101.
43.  Deer Creek Deerfly American IPA.  I still haven't made it to their TapRoom...
44.  Flat 12 Half Cycle IPA.  My Beer 220.
45.  Chilly Water Blood on the Tracks IPA.  Nope.
46.  Chilly Water The Wall Berliner Weiss.  Nope.
47.  SweetWater Mosaic Single Hop Hazy IPA.  Nope.
48.  Indiana City Kick Off.  Nope. I planned to buy some for the first Colts game, then I forgot.
49.  Sun King GFJ.  My Beer 557, I drank it when they still called it Grapefruit Jungle.
50.  Metazoa Hoppopotamus.  Nope.
51.  Sun King SKB IPA.  Nope.
52.  Taxman Exemption.  Nope.  Somehow, I've drank 20 beers from Taxman, and missed this one?
53.  Sun King Foxy Jam Pants.  Nope.
54.  18th Street Here Comes the Reaper.  Nope.
55.  Highland Brewing Mandarina IPA.  Nope.
56.  Wiseacre Ananda IPA.  Nope.
57.  Yee-Haw IPA.  Nope.
58.  Evil Czech Evil Czechmunk.  Nope.
59.  18th Street Citra Express Session Pale Ale.  Nope.
60.  Farm Island Organic IPA.  Nope.
61.  Indiana City Mythical Apothecary.  Nope.
62.  Triton Brewing Pale Splitter APA.  Nope.
63.  Short's Brewing Slurm Lord.  My Beer 984.
64.  Central State Moon Machine.  Nope.
65.  Hoosier Brewing Cosmic Crush Hazy IPA.  Nope.
66.  Indiana City Direwolf Diner Dry-Hopped IPA.  Nope.
67.  Hoosier Brewing Shake-It.  Nope.  But, I WANT this!
68.  Indiana City Brut IPA.  Nope.
69.  Evil Czech Nefarious Harbor.  Nope.
70.  18th Street Rise of the Angels.  Nope.
71.  Black Acre TV Wolf.  Nope.
72.  Black Acre Emodynamics.  Nope.
73.  450 North 450 Nugs.  Nope.  I'm sad I've still never tried anything from 450.  Sadface.
74.  Elysian Dayglow.  Nope.

Whew.  There we go.
We only have 14 beers in common, out of his 74.
His Northeastern trip sure hit a lot of nice options that aren't around here.

I can't wait to see what John does for 75, and then I will be anxiously awaiting his 100th beer who shall die a sad, agonizing death at the hand of a frosty mug.

I look forward to my nest beer with Peddie, I didn't get much face time with him the last time the Keystone group went out for beers - I showed up late due to a family dinner.  And since Pedie doesn't have a cell phone, I will probably have to shoot him an email to his AOL.com account and hope that he goes to the library to check his mail during study hall, and maybe he can reply back with a time and date for us to get that next beer.  Cheers!

1221. CORRECTED Saint Joseph Testament

Polyjuice Potion was a beer that I was so excited to try.
So excited, that I completely forgot about the night I drank it Miller's house, for Beer #1160.
Which, to be honest, most nights at Miller's end up in a blackout.
But, I should have double checked before I posted Beer 1221, to make sure.
At least I remember it, the second time I drank it.

This beer replaces the 1221 duplicate.

1196. CORRECTED Founders Blushing Monk

Sometimes, I make drunken mistakes.
And sometimes I forget that I've drank a beer, and I don't double check myself before I make a post.

Taxman's Berry Ratio is listed 1196 and 1011.
This beer replaces the duplicate.

1226. Daredevil Dark Mild

1225. Daredevil Muse

1224. Taxman Red Wine Barrel Qualified

Ommegang "Game of Thrones" Checklist

1. Iron Throne Blonde Ale (6.5%, March 2013)

     BEER #713

2. Take The Black Stout (7%, October 2013)

     BEER #350

3. Fire and Blood Red Ale (6.8%, March 2014)

     BEER #649

4. Valar Morghulis Dubbel Ale (8%, October 2014)

     MISSING

5. Three-Eyed Raven Dark Saison Ale (7.2%, April 2015)

     MISSING

6. Seven Kingdoms Hoppy Wheat Ale (6.9%, March 2016)

     BEER #777

7. Valar Dohaeris Belgian-Style Tripel Ale (9%, September 2016)

     BEER 1182

8. Bend The Knee Belgian Golden Ale (9%, May 2017)

     MISSING

9. Winter is Here Double White Ale (8.3% October 2017)

     MISSING

10. Hand of the Queen Barleywine Ale (10.7% April 2018)

     BEER #1222

11. Queen of the Seven Kingdoms Belgian Blonde (6.4% June 2018)

     BEER #1223

12. Mother of Dragons Smoked Porter and Kreik Blend (6.5% September 2018)

     MISSING

13. King in the North Russian Imperial Stout (11% November 2018)

     MISSING

1223. Ommegang Queen of the Seven Kingdoms

1222. Ommegang Hand of the Queen

1221. Central State Polyjuice Potion

1220. Rhinegeist Van Hunks

1219. Blind Owl VII Kings Belgian Dark Strong

1218. Goose Island Parka Porter

1217. Taxman Imperial Frozen Assets

1216. Lazy Dog Ankle Buster Blonde

1215. Rochester Mills Lush Milkshake IPA

1214. MashCraft Sour Experiment #2

1213. MashCraft Good Vibrations

1212. Taxman No Sparge

1211. Blind Owl The Great Rift Milk Stout - Vanilla Variant

1210. Fat Heads Holly Jolly Christmas Ale

1209. Prairie Artisan Christmas Bomb!

1208. Taxman Bean Counter

1207. DuClaw Devil Made Me Do It

1206. Taxman Frozen Assets

1205. Taxman 401(Cake)

As per usual, claim of coconut in this beer, don’t hold up.  I get no coconut flavors.  And that’s disappointing.  I’ve drank one cold, I’ve drank one that sat for 20 minutes, and I drank on that sat for an hour.  Not matter what temperature - there is no coconut to be tasted. 

Aside from that disappointment - this beer is delicious.  Great malty flavors with wonderful (non-bitter) Chocolate flavors.  Subtle vanilla.  Yum. Yum. Yum!

I will be drinking a lot of these this winter!

1204. Goose Island Noël

1203. New Holland Dragon’s Milk Reserve S’mores

1202. Anchor Brewing Christmas 2016

1201. Triton Brewing Peanut Butter Milk Stout