Saturday, October 10, 2009

Friday Night

Not much of an inspired title, huh? Really though, keep reading.

After going out Thursday night to the Angry Hippie release at Rock Bottom (which is quite a nice beer, but the service, seriously?!?), we decided to stay in last night. The weather wasn’t exactly conducive to traipsing around, so cold out that I finally broke down and turned the heat on, in part due to the prediction of SNOW overnight. Staying in can be as good as going out sometimes, especially when you invite your fellow beer lovers over.

On Thursday I stopped over at my local Cellars and picked up three beers I’ve been hearing good things about: Founder’s Harvest, Goose Island Sophie and Boulevard Saison, hailing from MI, IL and KS respectively, made for a nice Midwest lineup. With the latter two being bombers, or thereabouts, having Kat and Scott over was the perfect time to test them out. The Boulevard Saison was good, certainly no regrets about picking it up, but Sophie really shined.

Sophie is a limited release from Goose Island and with the tiny bubbles and pale honey color, is reminiscent of champagne. Not a Belgian Saison fan myself, those characteristics of it were mild enough for me to really enjoy this one. According to Goose Island, this beer is supposed to pair well with brie, so the additional bottles I’m planning to pick up today might have to be paired up the next time around.

Founder’s Harvest, which I initially and incorrectly assumed was their version of an Oktoberfest, is in fact a wet hop. Mark insisted that I could not leave the store without buying it and he was right. It’s listed at 70 IBU’s but tastes hoppier and man, does it make my hop loving mouth happy.

A great night all around, including the brats, spicy eggplant stir-fry Kat was kind enough to cook up and the bottle of Fallen Apple (Furthermore), my first of the season, courtesy of the McG’s stash.

3 comments:

  1. I'm with you in thinking, based upon the name, Founder's Harvest was going to be an Oktoberfest. It was surprisingly good. Thanks for sharing!

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  2. I haven't tried the Harvest yet, but I can't wait. I just had the Cerise and Breakfast Stout the other day and were they uber tasty!
    The Happy Gnome in St. Paul had the Breakfast Stout on tap, Thursday. You should definitely check it out; one of the best stouts in the country!!

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  3. The Founder's Harvest was absolutely amazing. I bought some to add to my beer club's IPA night on Monday and it definitely got the group gushing about it.

    Everything I've tried from Founders has been top notch, they're at the top of my favorite brewers list.

    I picked up some of the Boulevard Saison last night and have three bottles of Sofie waiting for me to try this week as well so I'm glad it got good reviews.

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