What beer should you drink?

The gang from SloshSpot.com and Eating The Road have put together another hilarious flowchart... this one to make your beer drinking decision easier!


Click on the image to see the full, much bigger chart. You won't be disappointed!

Zivjeli!

Beer Gifts for your Beer Geek

If you're having problems finding just the right gift for your beloved Beer Geek... look no further!

On this week's episode of Beer Buzz on Beer Tap TV (episode #57: On The First Day Of Christmas…) we give you a list of gifts that are sure to please any beer lover. Plus, I put together a list of my own for my Examiner.com column. Today is part one, tomorrow will part two, so be srue to check out The 12 Beer Gifts of Christmas - Part 1.

If you can't find the perfect gift from these lists.... well, you're SOL!

Beery Christmas and Hoppy Brew Year!

Risking Life & Limb

Last Thursday night we (Beer Tap TV) were hanging out at Trinity Brewing Company here in the Springs with the Dreaded One (Jason Yester, head brewer extraordinaire of TBC), Anna Nadasdy (Rocky Mountain Business Development Manager for Sierra Nevada), John Schneider (who works for Bristol while also doing his own thing at Black Fox Brewing), and several Tap Heads (including Brandon "WhopTBird" Jones).

We were all there for the official launch of the two collaboration brews by Sierra Nevada and Dogfish Head - Life & Limb and Limb & Life, and to film an episode of Taste Buds with these beers. It also happened to be one of the coldest nights we've seen in Colorado Springs in some time. Naturally, our CEO, Erik Boles (aka "One Crazy Muthafuka"), got it into his giant head that it would be a good idea to film OUTSIDE. In the single digit freezing cold night and thus the whole "risking life and limb to bring you Life & Limb" idea was born.

It went a little something like this: "We're here at Trinity Brewing Company... outside... blah blah... risking life and limb to bring you Life & Limb." Get it? Anna, being the trooper that she is, went along with the idea and it turned out to be one of the most hilarious episodes of Taste Buds we've done yet. And we've done over 170 of them now. It should air on Wednesday, so be sure to check it out here.

A word of advice: if you want to try these beers you better get them ASAP. Life & Limb is available in 22 oz bottles and on tap, whereas Limb & Life is only available on tap. What's out there sitting on retail shelves or in a pub's tapelines is all there is. Once that's gone...

While we were there Jason gave us a sampling of a "triple cherry dark sour" brew he's aging. Here's a little video I shot of that tasting session:



Cheers!

Sliding beer side up into the holiday home stretch

I realize this comes a bit late (what with this being December 2nd already), but I hope you all had a great Turkey Day.

This year I was thankful for having three NFL games on TV instead of the regular two, the continuing surge of great American craft beer, and as always... my loving wife (Fran, from "For the Love of Fran's Food" blog), who puts up with my maddening and time consuming passion of the liquid libation known as beer.

As most of you know I'm the co-host of the only televised beer news show in the known universe - Beer Buzz on Beer Tap TV. On our Thanksgiving Day episode, Tryptophantastic Beer News, we shed our Everyday Joe Clothes to become... The Bombastic Beer Busters! On it we burst the gravy bubble on a few long standing myths associated with beer, Thanksgiving and the Pilgrims. Myths like: Did the Pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock because they ran out of beer? Was the first building they erected a brewery? And, did they have beer at the first Thanksgiving? Be sure to check it out for all the answers.

On T-Day I sucked down a few incredible beers in order to wash down all that turkey, gravy, and pumpkin pie. The first was New Belgium's 2° Below Winter Ale, a super tasty winter warmer that went well with the snick-snacks prior to the larger feast. Next on the docket was Odell's Isolation Ale, another winter warmer. Last but certainly not least was Treblehook, a mighty fine barley wine from Redhook Brewing up in Woodinville, Washington. All three went very well with the food of the day. So... tell me, what beers did you imbibe on Gobble Day?

As you know I don't do in-depth analysis' of beers because everyone else on the Interwebs does them... better. However, if you want to see what Erik and Dusty from Beer Tap TV thought of these brews, check out Taste Buds #157 (Treblehook), and #161 (2° Below).

Lately I've been getting a lot of Emails asking where the heck I've been the last few months. Aside from the occasional Beer Wars entry (got another one coming soon) I haven't been updating this blog as much as I used to. Well, I've been here; just not here. Truth be told, by the time I get done with all my other beer related duties (Beer Tap TV, Rocky Mountain Brewing News, Colorado Springs Craft Beer Examiner, etc.)... I'm wiped out. All I wanna do is plop down in front of my gaming rig with a brew and frag Ruskies in Modern Warfare 2, take on the roll of Batman in Arkham Asylum (the greatest Bats game ever made!), or mindlessly massacre Mad Maxian scumbags in Borderlands. That, or cozy up with my wife (and inevitably our Alaskan Malamute Osa) on the couch and watch an episode of Fringe or Castle.

But I'll make this promise - let's call it an early New Year's Resolution... I'll post more often. All the "legit article" ideas have to go to the other spots first, but I'll try to drop in my own personal beer-adventures. After all, that's what blogs are for, right?

So with that... I hope ya'll have a wonderful holiday season. For now, I'll leave you with this: what seasonal holiday beer are you looking forward to the most?

Until next time... Zivjeli!