Tag: Beer

Breckenridge’s Christmas Ale doesn’t taste very festive, just malty and pretty dang drinkable

Plus, Shock Top’s Twisted Pretzel … is makin’ me thirsty.

Welcome back to FTW’s Beverage of the Week series. Here, we mostly chronicle and review beers, but happily expand that scope to any beverage that pairs well with sports. Yes, even cookie dough whiskey.

December is the perfect time for a spiced beer. Like most of Christmas-time’s indulgences, it’s rich, vaguely unhealthy and a little overwhelming. These beers aren’t anytime beers, even if they still hold up for a bottle or two come March. They’re best consumed slowly recovering from eating a dozen reindeer-shaped sugar cookies on a couch, testing the limits of how far your stomach can stretch.

My go-to in the category is Great Lakes’ Christmas Ale; a beer so good it effectively stopped me from looking for other examples. Milwaukee Brewing Company’s Plowed In winter ale hit the spot as well, but their beers have exited the circle of trust since their buyout. Either way, there’s an issue here. Costco doesn’t sell either of these in five-liter kegs.

Breckenridge, however, is a December staple between bulk underpants and rotisserie chickens across the concrete floors of America’s finest warehouse retailer. The Colorado-based brewer has several recognizable beers, but their Christmas Ale extends the biggest reach — it’s too seasonal to be a flagship ale, but it’s unmistakable on liquor and oversized shopping store aisles alike.

Is it worth dropping $15 to $20 on a little keg that holds roughly 15 beers? Let’s find out.

Oh, and let’s see is Shock Top’s Twisted Pretzel Ale is any good, too. Tis the season, after all.

Breckenridge Christmas Ale: B+

It pours a dark caramel with a slow-forming head that rises up to about a quarter of an inch before slowly receding to a thin tan line. It’s all malt coming off the top of the pour with a little bit of allspice and maybe some nutmeg toward the end. That’s awesome for me; I love a malty beer. It’s not exactly what I’m used to from a Christmas Ale, but I’m not about to complain.

That malt remains the headliner, creating a dense but ultra smooth sip carried away by carbonation that isn’t quite crisp but very notable. It gives way to a little pale hoppiness. Nothing is bitter, but it is a bit bready.

The spices you’d expect aren’t there. That’s a bit of a bummer for a holiday ale, but it doesn’t stop the beer from succeeding. It drinks much lighter than its 7.1 percent alcohol by volume suggests. It’s still a heavier beer, owing to that density, but at no point does it feel like more of a chore than your average lager.

Without those spices, it’s very replayable. The roasted malt makes it better for colder months, but there isn’t anything especially festive. It’s just a well made beer that does a great job with the flavors I like most from my brews.

That said, a littttttle spice wouldn’t hurt fulfill the promise of the “Christmas” in big letters on the front of the bottle.

Shock Top Twisted Pretzel: B+

Speaking of malty things you’d find at Oktoberfest, here’s Shock Top’s newest seasonal. Pretzels and beer are a no brainer combination, and a wheat beer is an easy palette to drop some salty, doughy goodness into. Shock Top isn’t exactly a favorite of mine — I think the last time I had it was as a $2 beer in grad school — but I’ll admit you could do much, much worse at your local draft house.

It pours a color true to its inspiration, dark brown with a white ring of foam that lingers at the top. It smells — wow — salty. A bit like a pretzel but more like bar popcorn. If you closed your eyes and someone placed this in front of you, you’d think it was some moderately fresh kernels hastily scooped into a paper boat. I’ve never smelled a beer like this and, honestly, it’s kinda great.

The first sip is malt and salt and sweet and, hot damn I do not know why or how but it works. This is a weird beer that leaves behind a true pretzel aftertaste. It’s dry and, in the spirit of Cosmo Kramer, feels meant to leave you thirsty. But it’s bready and light at the same time, making it extremely drinkable for a darker ale.

It’s a nice effect to wash away the pale wheat that opens each sip. Instead of a lemon, you get a different kind of bar staple. It’s toasty and unique and, man, this was a weird swing that really worked out for Shock Top. Like the Breckenridge there isn’t much to set it off as a holiday seasonal, but it stands out nonetheless.

Would I drink it instead of a Hamm’s?

This a pass/fail mechanism where I compare whatever I’m drinking to my baseline cheap beer. That’s the standby from the land of sky-blue waters, Hamm’s. So the question to answer is: on a typical day, would I drink Breckenridge’s Christmas Ale or Shock Top’s Twisted Pretzel over a cold can of Hamm’s?

Yeah, I could mix these two into my routine without issue. Neither will supplant Great Lakes atop my Christmas beer wishlist, but that’s just because I do like those festive spices a few times per year. Both the Christmas Ale and Twisted Pretzel offer more replay value in warmer months. The latter in particular feels like a fun fall beer for here on out.

Costco has its own barrel-aged vintage ale now. Is it any good?

Pairing with Deschutes and a $10 price tag makes it an easy pickup. Is it worth it?

Welcome back to FTW’s Beverage of the Week series. Here, we mostly chronicle and review beers, but happily expand that scope to any beverage (or food) that pairs well with sports. Yes, even cookie dough whiskey.

At some point in your life, you let down your guard. You embrace the mundane, because trends are exhausting. You find the truest, safest spot in a weary world; the Costco food court.

My salvation came, as it does for most of us, around the time my child arrived. A labyrinth of bright colors and free samples were enough to keep her occupied. Trips began with a hot dog and three to four Diet Pepsis and ended with soft serve and possibly a second hot dog. Judgment does not exist between the concrete floors and fluorescent lights of Costco; it is merely a place to exhale in between bouts of frustration with snack mongers setting a manatee’s pace between each sample station.

This quiet sense of security bred an appreciation of all things Kirkland Signature, Costco’s in-house brand. It began, as it does for many of us, with handles of booze that clocked in at $12 and tasted suspiciously like the more famous brands whose labels they aped. It expanded from there, reaching its pinnacle the moment I truly became a dad: when I purchased Kirkland brand sweatpants.

With my Costco alliances laid bare, it’s time to get to the meat of today’s review. There is a barrel-aged Kirkland Signature stout on shelves across our great nation. Unlike the spirits you have to sip before debating where they’d been distilled, this vintage ale offers no such mystery.

It’s a collaboration with Deschutes, the Oregon brewery responsible for trusted airport tap beers like the Fresh Squeezed IPA. More germane to this conversation, however, is their The Abyss imperial stout — a brew with tremendous reviews on Beer Advocate and a glowing sigil of hope that, once again, a Costco house brand might be secretly awesome.

Will the 2024 vintage live up to that lofty standard? Let’s dig in.

2024 Kirkland Bourbon Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout Vintage Ale: B

It pours the expected heavy black. From the depths bubbles a creamy, tan ring of foam that lingers long after the beer has settled. It smells pleasant, but a little light. There are a few signs this is a 12 percent ABV brew, but it’s not overpowering from the top of the pour itself. It looks more like a heavy, seven-to-eight percent stout.

The first sip itself isn’t especially complex. It’s a little smoky, a little heavy and very smooth. Like the scent bubbling off the pour, there’s little here to suggest it’s as boozy as it is. It also feels much lighter than it pours; the texture here is almost effervescent and easy to drink, which is not something you’d expect from a barrel-aged beer with this gravity.

Part of that is because you aren’t getting much of the bourbon influence in each sip. You get a little bit of that grain and the warmth that comes with it — there’s a sweet rye feel for sure — but it’s not as pronounced as some of the other beers in this genre. That leaves it to come off lighter than, say, Goose Island’s winter Bourbon County offerings.

That might be a bummer to some. It’s slightly generic, which doesn’t mean it’s bad, just that it’s gonna leave a few beer nerds hanging. You get some solid porter notes here — roasted chocolate and a little bit of coffee — but nothing overpowering. It’s more of a broad appeal beer than some of the other bourbon-barrel stouts out there. That makes sense, even if I wish it went a little harder.

Would I drink it instead of a Hamm’s?

This is a pass/fail mechanism where I compare whatever I’m drinking to my baseline cheap beer. That’s the standby from the land of sky-blue waters, Hamm’s. So the question to answer is: on a typical day, would I drink Kirkland’s barrel-aged imperial stout over a cold can of Hamm’s?

Yeah. It hits all the hallmarks of an aged stout even if it doesn’t go above and beyond what’s advertised on the label. It’s a Deschutes beer, so you know you’re getting quality here.

But if you’re a beer nerd, you may be better off waiting for this year’s run of Goose Island’s Bourbon County stouts for more complex flavors. I’ll have a rundown of those beers this time next week.

Does it bring the boom?

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Blue Moon makes boozy, baseball-themed ice cream now. You have all been warned.

Finally, ice cream with the alcohol *already* in it.

Welcome back to FTW’s Beverage of the Week series. Here, we mostly chronicle and review beers, but happily expand that scope to any beverage (or food) that pairs well with sports. Yes, even cookie dough whiskey.

Baseball season is over. Ice cream season? Friends, that never ends.

Sure, the nipping winds of November are a detriment to a frozen treat, but there’s no wrong time for ice cream. It’s something on which everyone but the lactose intolerant can agree.

Now, adding beer to that? That’s a bit more divisive.

Yet here Blue Moon is, pairing with Rawlings and Hardscoop to make a boozy ice cream inspired by the Valencia oranges endemic to the popular beer’s origin. The result is Blue Moon Home Run Twist, an infused orange-vanilla ice cream that clocks in at under two percent alcohol by volume (ABV) while attempting to capture the “born in a ballpark” spirit of the brew inside.

In the words of Ronald MacDonald (not that one): “Eating your drinks? That is genius!” Let’s see if it’s any good.

Blue Moon Home Run Twist: B

Opening the carton shows off an ice cream that looks just like orange sherbet. That citrus is the first thing you get from taking a sniff of the ice cream itself, but there’s a subtle malty current waiting below the surface. It smells, honestly, like a very nice summer beer.

That holds true through the first bite. You get bright orange zest — not quite sherbet levels, but enough to let you know where you’ve landed. That’s buoyed by vanilla, creating an easy win via creamsicle replication. You don’t taste the beer or the booze, which makes sense. At 1.9 percent ABV, you aren’t even getting a near-beer’s worth of alcohol.

If there’s one complaint, it’s how the process of freezing alcohol has messed with the ice cream’s texture. There’s a bit of slush to this, creating a granulated mouth feel that’s grainy and a little unpleasant.

Fortunately, it tastes great. Simple, but solid. There’s little connection to Blue Moon itself aside from the Valencia orange, but that’s fine. I’d prefer it to have a lighter touch than a heavier one.

And if you’re looking for a bigger boozy flavor, it’d probably make a decent beer float. I was about to dust that old chestnut out for this review before realizing, whoops, I’m fresh out of Blue Moon.

Would I (eat) it instead of a Hamm’s?

This is a pass/fail mechanism where I compare whatever I’m drinking to my baseline cheap beer. That’s the standby from the land of sky-blue waters, Hamm’s. So the question to answer is: on a typical day, would I eat Blue Moon Home Run Twist over a cold can of Hamm’s?

Look, I didn’t need a way to introduce *more* calories to my drinking. And at 1.9 percent ABV, I’d have to be Joey Chestnut to feel much of anything from this. It tastes good, but you can do better in the ice cream realm and better when it comes to booze.

Beer of the Week: Blue Point goes hard, but the juice isn’t quite worth the squeeze

Blue Point’s Toasted Lager is an easy win. An imperial blonde ale is a tougher sell.

Welcome back to FTW’s Beverage of the Week series. Here, we mostly chronicle and review beers, but happily expand that scope to any beverage (or food) that pairs well with sports. Yes, even cookie dough whiskey.

I never thought of Long Island as a beer place. Which I suppose can be traced back to my New England roots and general avoidance of New York.

But Blue/Point Brewing has been around since 1998, predating terrible Hamptons white parties — at least the one thrown by the guy who made every piece of sports memorabilia worse — and serving locals its flagship Toasted Lager for more than 25 years. It was part of the great craft brewery buy-up of the 2010s, becoming part of Anheuser-Busch. Then it was part of the great Tilray consolidation of, well, the last few years, becoming another asset in the brand’s massive portfolio.

There’s obviously good and bad that comes with that. The autonomy of a locally owned business is gone, which can cull brewing freedom and lead to homogenized products. The plus side is, well, now you’ve got a national distributor and can push into new markets who, like me, never thought of Long Island as a beer place.

If Blue/Point has been hamstrung by its corporate overlords, you can’t tell by its beer lineup. The Toasted Lager remains a style I’m not sure I’ve seen anywhere else. They followed that up with an imperial blonde ale, which is a combination that seems… weird, right? Light beer, big boozy flavor? I dunno, guys, seems quirky at least.

Anyway, let’s see how those taste.

Imperial Sunshine: B-

I’ve never heard of an imperial blonde ale before, but I’m intrigued. It pours with a big fluffy white head that takes a couple of minutes to dissolve down to a lacy mesh atop the beer. It smells like oranges and a little wheat.

The first sip showcases the heaviness you don’t get from the smell. There’s a bit of a malt liquor feel here, which makes sense at 9.6 percent alcohol by volume. The end finishes more like a lager than a blonde, but that isn’t a bad thing. A heavy beer that tastes like a heavy beer? That’s kinda refreshing, honestly.

What you wind up with is a big, boozy brew that starts like a hazy IPA but, instead of hops, you get a Heineken/King Cobra vibe. There’s utility to that, even if it doesn’t taste perfect. The orange and wheat make a solid impression up front before things get… well, not spicy, but you understand you’re dealing with something that’s a little closer to a cocktail than a traditional beer. It’s like a Blue Moon grew up and wound up dealing drugs. Nothing hard. OK, maybe a little meth.

A *little* meth.

Toasted Lager: B

(Ron Swanson voice): The [expletive] is a toasted lager? The label says it’s brewed Long Island style, which is… not helpful. But it pours nicely, with a honey brown color and inch-high head that simmers down in about 45 seconds. The smell off the top is pretty inessential. It’s got a light malt feel to it but there’s nothing there to suggest you’re drinking anything other than a lager.

The good news is it’s a very nice lager. The toasted malt is front and center, putting this close to an Oktoberfest beer with a softer finish. It’s big on grain and light on complexity. What you get up front is what you’re left with at the end.

In a world where craft brewers have leaned hard into trendy beers, it’s nice to have a throwback. This isn’t special, but it’s reliable; easy to drink on a warm day or a cold one.

Would I drink it instead of a Hamm’s?

This is a pass/fail mechanism where I compare whatever I’m drinking to my baseline cheap beer. That’s the standby from the land of sky-blue waters, Hamm’s. So the question to answer is: on a typical day, would I drink Blue Point beers over a cold can of Hamm’s?

I might swap in a Toasted Lager here or there or maybe an Imperial Sunshine should I need a big dose of booze at once. But for the most part, this is a good enough beer I might order off a local taplist but not seek out in a crowded beer section at my local Woodman’s.

Goose Island’s 2024 Bourbon County lineup is set and it looks awesome

A barleywine and a macaroon stout lead the way for some of this winter’s most anticipated beers.

Each Black Friday, Goose Island gives us another reason to run to the store.

That’s when the Chicago based brewery drops its annual lineup of Bourbon County stouts, the barrel-aged heavies that dominate the top of its Beer Advocate ratings. Last year’s lineup was an all-star list of big, boozy brews. 2024 promises more of the same.

Goose Island unveiled this year’s lineup Monday, a proper four months before you’ll actually be able to buy any. This year’s offering drops the number of varieties from six to five, but still promises bold, warm flavor and soft dessert notes — particularly from this year’s Macaroon Stout.

Here’s the 2024 Bourbon County lineup:

  1. 2024 Bourbon County Brand Original Stout
  2. 2024 Bourbon County Brand Vanilla Rye Stout
  3. 2024 Bourbon County Brand Macaroon Stout
  4. 2024 Bourbon County Brand Proprietor’s Barleywine
  5. 2024 Bourbon County Brand Bardstown Cask Finish Stout

Beer of the Week: Elysian’s Juice Dust is exactly as good as you expect

Elysian’s new hazy pale ale adds orange to the Space Dust formula. It works.

Welcome back to FTW’s Beverage of the Week series. Here, we mostly chronicle and review beers, but happily expand that scope to any beverage (or food) that pairs well with sports. Yes, even cookie dough whiskey.

Elysian is a national circle of trust brewer. That means they’re a) big enough to be found just about anywhere and b) made enough good stuff for me to purchase a six-pack of their beer, regardless of style, without concern.

While some of their beers are better than others (and one smells exactly like weed), Elysian brings a baseline of care and quality to their lineup. That applies most to their pale ales. Space Dust is the headliner; a bitter, complex brew that hides its high alcohol by volume (ABV) behind lush flavor.

That put Elysian in a solid place to contend for tap space in a shrinking market of beer, but not without innovation. While light lager macrobrews remain America’s favorite, the top selling craft beer in the nation is New Belgium’s Voodoo Ranger imperial IPA — a beer that delivers bold flavor at a high ABV (9.0 percent). That’s signaled a trend toward beers that provide more booze for your buck.

Elysian’s newest brew, Juice Dust, steers another trend into that one. Hazy pale ales have grown in popularity over the last five years, emerging from regional breweries to become a staple from coast to coast. Juice Dust grafts fruit to the floral bitterness of the company’s flagship beer to create a big, boozy and juicy India pale ale.

A sitdown with brewmaster Chris Murakami shed some insight on how Elysian jumped in to an exploding market of hazies and imperial IPAs. He started with beer-mosas (beer and orange juice), then leaned into Elysian’s space motif by brewing with Tang — creating a beer that smelled great and tasted awful. That led to the orange juice that imparts the juicy flavor of Juice Dust.

That’s all pretty standard, but I had to ask: with consumers more conscious of how much alcohol is in each can, was there pressure to turn the ABV game into an arms race?

“I don’t have an interest to go much higher,” said Murakami. “8.2 is a sweet spot.”

“Is that the category you want to play in? Or do you want to be craft [brewers]? The plus-nine percent trend is a wild spend, but a lot of the market coming from that is coming over from Hurricane, Steel Reserve, other high ABV, malt liquor brands.”

Juice Dust definitely isn’t malt liquor. But does it hold up to Elysian’s high standard?

Juice Dust hazy pale ale: A-

It pours an orchard gold with a fluffy white head that lingers for a bit before slowly melting back into the beer. Despite the promise of hazy juice, this is still very hop forward when it comes to smell. You get some pine-y bitterness that reminds you, right away, that you’re dealing with Elysian and what they do best.

While the fruit is there beyond the minor notes you’d get from the Citra hops of its forebearer, it’s not excessive. There’s a solid balance between bitter and sweet citrus, the latter of which is noticeably a little smoother than Space Dust. There’s a see-saw between the two, then a dry finish to wrap everything up with a light orange aftertaste.

It doesn’t feel like an 8.2 percent ABV beer, but it’s a little more dense than a typical pale ale. Murakami notes that’s due to the rolled oats, which make up about 20 percent of the malt load. This is also significantly heavier than the original Space Dust in terms of total hops, per Murakami, but not nearly as bitter as you’d expect.

Despite the addition of orange juice early on, Space Dust and Juice Dust have the same calorie content, which is a pleasant surprise. Taking on a lunch’s worth of calories in two beers is a perpetual downside to big, boozy pale ales.

All in all, it’s another upper tier beer from a brewery with tons of them. Hazy IPAs aren’t always my thing, but I can appreciate them a six pack at a time. And Juice Dust is a worthwhile sixer, both when it comes to taste and ABV.

Would I drink it instead of a Hamm’s?

This is a pass/fail mechanism where I compare whatever I’m drinking to my baseline cheap beer. That’s the standby from the land of sky-blue waters, Hamm’s. So the question to answer is: on a typical day, would I drink Elysian’s Juice Dust over a cold can of Hamm’s?

Yep. I’d probably alternate between the two on a hot day because hazy IPAs tend to be more of a slow sipper, but there’s no denying this is another win for a brewery filled with them.

WATCH: Wisconsin legend Michael Finley steals beer from Luka Doncic in viral moment

WATCH: Wisconsin legend Michael Finley steals beer from Luka Doncic in viral moment

Wisconsin legend Michael Finley is the subject of a viral moment after the Dallas Mavericks’ 124-103 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday night.

The win clinched the Mavericks’ trip to the NBA Finals. As one would expect, the postgame mood was celebratory.

Related: Ranking all Big Ten basketball arenas from worst to first

That includes star Luka Doncic, who the viral video shows standing outside the locker room with his father holding a beer — that until Finley walked by.

The Badger legend subtly took the beer out of Doncic’s hand before turning around and acting as if nothing happened. The reposted video on X now has more than six million views.

Finley, now Dallas’ Assistant General Manager, played 17 years in the NBA including nine with the Mavericks (1996-2005). His NBA accolades include an NBA title in 2007, two All-Star appearances and a spot on the All-Rookie First Team in 1996.

He played at Wisconsin from 1991-1995 and retired as the program’s all-time leading scorer — a mark that was later broken by Alando Tucker. Finley’s Badger career included two First-Team All-Big Ten nominations and his No. 24 jersey being retired by the program.

The former Badger is now rising the ranks in the NBA front office world. There is no backstory to his viral moment, but it occurred under pretty good circumstances for him, Doncic and the Mavericks.

Dallas will face the Boston Celtics in the 2024 NBA Finals. Game 1 is scheduled for June 6 at 8:30 p.m. Eastern.

Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes, and opinion.

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Ranking (and grading) Athletic’s non-alcoholic beers, the best booze-less brews you’ll find

Simpler is better when it comes to booze-less brews, but Athletic’s got a stout that’s worth coming back to (and one that’s not).

Sober October is upon us, so a merry booze-less month to all of you who celebrate.

I, personally, don’t, but I can appreciate the sentiment. September is a celebration month for me, filled with football and Oktoberfests and delicious, malty beers. But on Sunday nights, after I’ve filed my last NFL story, I wind up craving a beer but have zero desire to once again tax my overworked liver or make Monday’s 6:30 AM wakeup any more difficult than it already is.

This is where Athletic Brewing Company comes in. The Connecticut-based company stood out amidst a crowded landscape by offering non-alcoholic offerings covering a wide variety of styles. Where before there may have only been Clausthaler or O’Douls, you now had the opportunity to find pale ales and stouts that carried lower calorie counts and virtually none of the booze.

That’s where I’ve been turning lately on those Sunday nights. It’s worked out well enough for me to make these rankings.

Athetic’s beers are graded on a curve; while they stack up well against traditional brews, they don’t quite get all the way there. And that’s all right, because in the land of non-alcoholic beers they mostly stand alone. As such, these grades consider both how true to the regular, booze styles they’re replicating are as well as the overall quality and taste of the beverage itself.

Also, the only brews to make the rankings are the ones I’ve personally tried and reviewed thus far. Expect this list to be updated as I expand my palate — and allow me to apologize if I haven’t gotten to your favorite yet.

Updated 5/25/24 with four new styles: Blueberry Mosaic, Emerald Cliffs, Personal Record and Wit’s Peak