865. Around the Bend Puffing Billy

Very good beer. Really solid brown ale, and then add in the cacao nibs and this beer is delicious. Very smooth and tasty. I really enjoyed it.

864. Dog Tag Brewing Legacy Lager

Miller got me this beer from a distributor, as it is coming to Indiana very soon. I've been following their brewery online for about a year - because I thought they had a very nifty thing going on. I'm happy that I enjoy this beer. It's nothing special, but it is a really good and crisp lager with easy flavors. Nothing special or exciting - but I would easily drink this beer all day long and be happy and proud of it.

863. Shock Top Twisted Pretzel Wheat

862. O'Fallon Hemp Hop Rye

Full aromas, lead up to a good beer. It's thick, but goes down easy. It's a little dry and it does leave a floral taste in my mouth. Much closer to what I was expecting tonight. The rye seems to compliment the hemp very well and make an enjoyable beer to drink. Sadly, not much in the realm of mental ease.

861. Humboldt Brown

Very light brown ale. Not a lot of flavor, but there is a lot of dryness in the back end. The aroma has very subtle hints of potential hemp, sadly there's not much to this beer. It's easy to drink and the flavors are ok, but nothing close to special, or what I was hoping for.

860. Lakefront Pumpkin Imperial

859. Atwater Dirty Blonde

858. Rivertown Soulless

One of the more disappointing "sours" I have drank - as I don't find this beer to be sour at all. No tart, no mouth pucker - nothing about this beer feels sour - other than my attitude towards it. Sadly, I think it's a really tasty beer - it's just not what it was advertised as, and not what I was expecting/wanted. Light, drinkable, a faint hint of what wants to be sour. I don't mind drinking it, I just wish it was closer to what I was expecting.

857. Ommegang Rosetta

Very, very, delicious beer from Ommegang! The Cherry is nice and a mellow tart, but doesn't go so far as to be a sour. Light, refreshing, with a long-lingering cherry flavor on the backend. I drank this too fast, and was only comforted by that sweet aftertaste.

856. Ommegang Grains of Truth Harvest Ale

My buddy Steve had this beer a while ago in Pennsylvania, and he loved it.  Over the weekend, while we were in Ohio, he happened to find it in bottles, and wanted me to have a pair of them.  I waited until tonight - as we did our Destiny Raiding together - to enjoy it.  As always, Ommegang delivers a very quality beer,  It's heavier than I expected, but in the right ways.  Full flavor, and powerful.  Leaves an interesting after taste, but it's not bad. Tasty!  THANKS STEVE!

855. Taft's Ale House Culebra Cut Coconut Brown Ale

I am still on the hut for that "perfect" coconut beer. 
Sadly, this is not it.  However, this is a very enjoyable beer - which does have a good coconut hint in the after taste.  It's as if I had just drank some coconut water.  Not real flavor, but a hint of it.  If the coconut claim was taken out of the expectation, it would just be a really nice and smooth brown ale that I enjoy.

Saturday Cincinnati Road Trip

Yesterday, my buddy Steve posted a picture of himself and Amanda at Hofbrauhaus in Cincy - and my jealousy set in quickly.  I hadn't had a Hot Brown in about two months, so I convinced Caitlin that we needed to take Lily on a day Trip to Cincy.  When I told Steve that we were making the trip because of his post, they agreed to meet us for lunch - because you can never have too much Hofbrauhaus! So, we sat in the Biergarten and drank Oktoberfest together, while enjoying pretzels with Bier Cheese, and my all time passion:  The Hot Brown.

Myself, Lily, and Caitlin - The Sunglasses Pose.

After lunch, we ventured over to Brothers to enjoy the weather on their patio - which is right on the Ohio River, with a beautiful skyline view of Cincy.  We drank some delicious Rhinegeist Beers in the glorious weather.

Ramping Back Up Soon

The website hasn't seem much updating in the past month, and it's just because I have been constantly battling various minor moments of ill, which have just put me in a blah mood most days.  I still have a fridge that is half full with Caitlin and I's Chicago/St. Louis Adventure, but when I've been at home, I just haven't felt like drinking.  Sadly, about half of those beers are ones that we are going to share - so I can't just drink them when I am home alone.

In my few trips out on the town, I really haven't gone anywhere with stellar new options for me.  My standard locations have their same offerings, and I just haven't come across anything anywhere else that demanded I try it.

So, just taking a little bit of time to try and get my body and mind back to feeling better, and then I plan to start ramping up the beers this Fall/Winter.  My goal will be to hit 900 before the New Year, and then hit the 1,000 Goal sometime in 2017.

Things are still up in the air for my plans after 1,000.
I do love beer.  I love beer a lot.
Part of my time recently has been spent working on the finances to be able to afford to buy shares of BrewDog USA and become an Equity Punk.  That's still in the works, but might take longer than I had hoped for.
As I get closer to the "finish line" I set up for this website, I keep having an massive war in my mind...

Do I.....
Stop drinking beers at 1,000, holding tight to the "Journey to 1,000 Beers" tagline?
Keep drinking beers, but not recording them onto this website?  Just let this stop at 1,000 and feel like drinking is less of a "job" for me.
Keep drinking beer, and continue this record until I get tired of it?
Keep drinking beer, keep writing about beer, and keep trying to expand this website with more travel and perhaps invest more time for better written content?

It's a battle that really doesn't have a front-runner right now.
I'm sure Caitlin and I will talk about the options more in the future, as I get closer to 1,000.
We have a lot going on in 2017, especially with our wedding - so this website will probably be taking the back seat to that for a portion of next year.

That's looking pretty far into the future.
We've got 146 beers to worry about before the time comes to make that decision.
(I'm on par for 150 beers a year for the last two years, so it's a safe bet that we will be crossing that milestone before the wedding)

So, there's a quick update.
I'm still around.  I'm still drinking.  I just haven't been making the effort to add anything new recently.  I will try to start changing that sooner than later.  Thanks for reading!

-Shane.

854. Goose Island The Muddy

Very quality imperial stout from Goose Island.  Big and bold chocolate flavors fill your mouth.  Perhaps a little drier than I typically like, but still very sip-able. 

853. Maui Brewing Pineapple Mana

Really enjoyable beer.  Smoother than a true wheat beer, but still with some really good flavors.

852. Indiana City Hello Blondie!

My friend Shelby has returned from Seattle, and is coming back to Indiana City!!!

When she left, they brewed a Bye Bye Blondie for her, and now with her return they created a new beer to celebrate.  Sadly, I tried to surprise her for an impromptu Sunday Funday - and she was not working.

851. Dogfish Head Alternate Take #2

Sour Ales are some of my favorite - but I should have expected this one would be very different, knowing that it came from Dogfish Head.  It's not bad, but it's also not sour.  It's a very mellow sour, with some other big flavors upfront.  A little too dry for me also.  I prefer a Sour Ale that makes my mouth water.

850. Tin Man Weld Strawberry Sour

Delicious sour.  Very good and enjoyable flavors. It hits my mouth in the right spots and delivers a flavor I enjoy.  Very tart, really sour taste left in my mouth.  I really enjoyed drinking a few of these. 

849. Three Floyds Knut of the Living Dead

Smooth, it goes down quick and easy.  I'm not a fan of the flavor upfront, but as it settles there is some chocolate notes that come out and make it taste better than it starts.  Still not something that I would order again.  

848. Big Muddy Saluki Dunkeldog Dark Amber

This is one of the beers I brought back from St. Louis a few weeks ago.  Finally getting around to it. Not bad. Decent flavors, maybe just a touch watered down, maybe?  Or maybe just a little lighter in body than I was expecting.  Nothing bad, but I feel like it could be a little fuller and have more flavor to it.  Still easy to drink. 

847. BIER Sessie

Decent beer, nothing special.  Good flavor and easy to drink, but not much going on here.  

2016 Indiana State Fair Drinking

Got a super nice surprise today when I went to the Beer and Wine Expo at the Indiana State Fair. Was able to drink some Yacht Rock from Indiana City!  While there was three or four new beers that I could have added to the website, I went ahead and got something light and refreshing that I know I would enjoy.  

846. James Page's Casper White Stout

Decent stout.  Nice flavors, pretty mellow. 

It's a good beer, but nothing I love. 

845. Maui Big Swell IPA

Not a bad IPA, it is one that I can handle. 

Mild bitterness, decent flavors. 

A little dry, but not too terrible. 

844. Nebraska Brunette Brown Ale

Not really a fan of this brown ale. It seems to lack much flavor, it's not so bad that it tastes watered down, but all the flavor is in the aftertaste and there isn't much body while drinking.  Just kind of lackluster as far as flavor goes. 

843. Bell's Poolside Ale (K♣️)

Nice and refreshing beer to drink by the pool today.  

Good and light wheat ale, nice flavors that don't feel too heavy. 

The cherry flavor is very strong in the back end and stays for a long time. 

Very refreshing beer, I could drink all day long. 

842. Uinta Baba Black Lager (J♦️)

Not really a fan of this beer.  

Not sure if it's the "organic" aspect of it?

It is light and easy to drink, but the aftertaste is like a watered-down-wanna-be-Porter.

This one just isn't my kind of thing.

841. Dogfish Head Flesh & Blood IPA

REVISITED 521. Maui Brewing Coconut Hiwa Porter

This beer was originally drank in Phoenix, under a different name.

Two years later, it has made its way to Indiana, with a new name and can - but still the same taste.  It is a really enjoyable beer, but I still don't get any coconut flavor.  As far as a Porter goes, I love how smooth it is and really enjoy drinking it.

840. Sudwerk Farmer's Market Citrus Gose Lager

Not a very good Gose at all.

It's not sour, like I expect from most Goses that I drink.  The citrus-flavor seemed off to me.  It didn't seem to have much flavor up front at all, but perhaps some slight orange flavors in the back, but very, very subtle and hard to notice.  No lemon, no sour, very little fruity flavor.  Just not something that I enjoyed.  Perhaps Gose Lagers are vastly different from the standard Gose?

839. Horny Goat Laka Laka

Not really sure this is a true hefeweizen. I didn't see any active yeast, and the beer was clear to look through. It was light and easy to drink, no body to it at all.  The pineapple flavor was mild, and still tasted like an ale. 

838. Revolution Pils

Not my favorite beer from Revolution.  It's big and more bold than I tend to enjoy with pilsners. It's got a lot of dry flavor with it.  It's not bad, but not something that I would drink a lot of.  I like pilsners that can be session beers, and this one is a little too heavy for me to do that.

837. North Peak Dubious Black Chocolate Stout

Decent stout, with mild chocolate flavors.  Not too thick, goes down pretty easy. Enjoyable, but nothing amazing.

836. Coronado Orange Ave. Wit (K♠️)

Light, smooth and refreshing.  Easy to drink and the orange flavor really makes it seem almost like I'm drinking some orange Hi-C.   Good summer beer for drinking out in the heat.

835. North Peak Siren Amber Ale

Pretty standard Amber ale, nothing special but it tastes exactly like it should.

834. New Belgium Glütiny

This beer is proof that gluten needs to be included in beer.  I'm not a fan of this.  It's just really blah and dry and lacks any true flavor.  I wish I liked the beer as much as I like the name and label.

833. Small Town Not Your Father's Vanilla Cream Ale

This is a beer I have been wanting to try, but wasn't willing to buy an entire six pack.  I was not impressed with their Ginger Ale, so I waited until I could find a single bottle to give it a try. And I'm glad that I did. It's not a bad beer, it's really tasty, I would drink more - but, it's just not great. It's okay.  It leaves a nice a vanilla flavor in my mouth, but it's got no substance like a cream ale.

832. Off Color Fierce

This is exactly what I want from a sour ale.  Super easy to drink, and a great sour flavor.  Not too much, doesn't try anything it shouldn't.  It's good. I enjoy it.  I am learning that Off Color is a fantastic brewery.

831. Short's Brew Strawberry Short's Cake

The beer was okay, pretty plain ale at first.  I didn't get much of the strawberry flavor when I was drinking it.  However, the lingering flavor really did taste like I had been eating strawberry short cake.  The taste was undeniable, and really pretty good.

Second Summer Road Trip 2016

Following Caitlin and I's trip to Chicago, we stopped in Indy and picked up her daughter Lily and headed over to St. Louis for a few days.

Our first day found us at the Anheuser-Busch Brewery, where we took the Museum Tour, which was filled with history of the company as well as stops in all the three of the National Museum buildings on campus.

Lily posed for a picture in their lobby...

Following the 70 minute tour of their campus, we relaxed in their Biergarten and enjoyed two baskets of their soft pretzels, while enjoying a few Budweiser products.

Their Underground Collection includes experimental beers that they do and only keg for events in St. Louis and for the brewpub.  I was happy to try their Double Dutch that afternoon.

These are the pretzels that were so good - we killed two baskets in under ten minutes.  Pretzels were amazing, as was the beer cheese and spicy mustard.

Following the brewery, we took a trip to the arch, and then ended up at Lily's Mexican Restaurant for an authentic dinner.  (Lily is obsessed with Mexican food, especially La Hacienda...)

Nice authentic dinner, to which I enjoyed a Bohemia Beer.

The next day found as at the St. Louis Zoo.

And after seven hours of walking around, I had earned myself a Bud Light as refreshment.

While in St. Louis, I was able to pick up twelve new beers.  Missouri has three brewers present in the Bicycle Series, and sadly I could not find one of them at any of the liquor stores I went to.  It appears another trip to St. Louis (maybe a more adult trip, where more Brew Pubs can be visited) will probably need to happen to try to get those three breweries checked off.

Both trips completed, and I find myself with a FULL fridge of 40-some new beers for the website!!!