Goose Island: Sofie: Belgian Style Ale Review

It’s been awhile since I had a decent beer to review, or went to the store for a beer for that matter. So I made a trip to Wegmans this past week and saw the Goose Island section of the beer display and the 750 ml bottle of Sofie just jumped out at me.

The bottle has a very nice, clean label that gives it a very sophisticated look. The label more closely resembled a wine label than other beer labels. So I picked up the bottle and saw that it was a Belgian Style Ale and I was sold.

So here we go:

Appearance: The beer poured nicely after some time was given to let the head settle. I’m not a professional beer  pourer but I can pour a decent beer, so pouring this beer was a definite challenge. Right out of the gate it was really foaming even with a gentle pour. The head was pillowy and very cleanly white.  The color of the beer was a light straw color that was filled with streams of tiny effervescent bubbles.

Aroma: The aroma was light. I only was able to smell the citrusy notes of the hops and what can only be described as wet hops.It was the smell of the hops after they have been removed from a carboy or barrel.

Taste: The taste is very true to style, but lighter on the palate than a traditional Belgian. It was slightly fruity, I got notes of orange and L Bird said it was peach, but hey everyone’s palate is different. It was just very clean and crisp, there were no real strong or standout flavors.

Overall: This was a great beer. It was easy to drink and you could easily enjoy more than one. I am a fan of Goose Island and this is just another great beer in their lineup.

So the next time you are looking for a nice summer beer, grab a bottle of Goose Island’s Sofie, you won’t regret it.

Keep ‘em tippin’!

Growler Box

I’ve had the idea to build a simple box to transport growlers of beer in for some time, but I have put it off and put it off. But last week was my birthday and my friend Dinker’s birthday, and I thought that a growler box would be a good gift for each of us. I was supposed to have them ready by this past Saturday, but well it just didn’t work out. So if you read this first Dinker, you have a Growler box waiting for you. Happy Birthday Dinker!!

I had the idea that I would like them to look like the old school wooden tool boxes. I didn’t want anything fancy, just something that looked rustic (old school, well  worn/used, beat up etc.) So I bought knotty pine and cut it roughly. Then I used square cut masonry nails to give it that “ol’timey” look. Then I used a simple 1 3/8” pine dowel for the handle. I drilled though it on each end and put a 3/8” lynch/cotter pin through each hole. So now to load the growlers, you pull one pin out and pull the entire handle out. Load the growlers, replace the handle and pin and there you go. You’re beer rides nice and secure.

I made it to hold two growlers, so if you only need one growler you have room for some tap room swag, but seriously who can buy only one growler at a time.

But anyway, I took a short video so you can see it. I apologize now for the video quality, I was pretty distracted because A Bird and Linus were screwing around behind me and bumping into my legs. Enjoy!!

North Coast Brewing: Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout

In business they always say “Know your customers”. Well, in the blogging world it can be tough to know your customers/readers because they can be miles upon miles away from you. Sure you can read through the comments and get a good feel, but this blog is still relatively small and I don’t get a ton of comments. So the best I get is tracking my hits and stats. These stats tell me where the person is viewing from, what posts they viewed, and what traffic source (i.e. google, blogspot, etc.) they found me by. That’s useful information.

Based on that information, something struck me as kind of cool. It would appear that I have an anonymous follower from somewhere in Russia. I’m not sure this is a single follower or a bunch of people, a man, a woman, I have no idea. I am leaning towards it being one person. This is my opinion because my stats tell me that I get traffic from yandex.ru. and the search words they are using are napsgetsbeer.blogspot. So I did a quick google search and found out that yandex is a Russian search engine. So someone over there is specifically searching for my blog. How awesome is that? I know, totally awesome.

Anyway, now that I have bored you with a long back story I decided it would be cool if I did a “shout out” beer review to this person. I wanted to go to Beers of the World to get an beer that was actually brewed in Russia, but well, that just didn’t pan out. So I did the next best thing I went to Wegmans and found North Coast Brewing and picked up their Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout. This one is for you, comrade!

Appearance: It pours very black with a generous light brown pillowy head. It is almost completely opaque, you can’t really see a light shone through it. As I drank it, it did produce some nice lacing down the sides of the glass.

Aroma: It has little to no hops present in the aroma. However, dark coffee notes come through instantly. I also smelled some roasted malt with some slight burnt notes. There was also some sort of funky, earthy note in the finish of the aroma. It wasn’t unpleasant, it was just different.

Taste: There are some strong coffee, espresso flavors. The mouthfeel is slightly creamy, but it is not too much. There are also some roasted malty notes. It is dry in the middle,its not too sweet. It is surprisingly smooth for being such an high alcohol beer.

Overall: I thought this was a good representative of a Russian Imperial Stout. This beer could also be pretty dangerous because it is so smooth, you don’t realize how much alcohol it has in it. If you like stouts or just dark beer this beer is well worth picking up.

Enjoy! Keep ‘em tippin’!