Save Me From Cheap Beer!

Oh, my goodness.  I think I've had more Busch Light, aka water beer, in the last couple weeks than I've had in my entire life.  First a weekend full of small town fun where other beer options were nearly non-existent, followed by two weekends of weddings where that was the primary option.  And to be honest, I didn't really mind all that much.  Busch Light is about as inoffensive as fizzy (barely) yellow beer gets; one of the few that doesn't cause me to have horrific headaches or internal distress.  My biggest problem with it - it goes right on through nearly as quickly as I can take it in.

This is what happens when your only option is fizzy yellow beer: Annie Oakley shows up on a donkey wearing her Electric Horseman hat.  Actually, this is a friend of mine getting crazy in a very small town bar at her bachelorette party.

It wasn't all Busch Light, though.  I've also been trying to work through the excessively large IPA selection in my fridge.  Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but most of what can be found in there are the remaining five bottles left over from each of the multitude six packs purchased in the course of my travels, tried and found wanting.  Generally I've found with IPAs that if I try one and don't really like it, by the second it will start to grow on me.  Most of these, however, only seem to get worse. 

Ninkasi IPA (Ninkasi Brewing, Eugene, OR) - When I first tried it, I thought it was horrible.  Over time, though, I've learned to appreciate it more.  One of our local dives carried it on draught for a while.  As I'd only had it in bottles previously, trying it on draught made all the difference.  Bottled, it's a bit more rough around the edges.  While it's still far from my favorite, at least I had no problem finishing off what was left in my fridge.

Lucky Bucket IPA (Lucky Bucket Brewing, La Vista, NE) - This one was recommended to me by a few different folks, and it being a Nebraska brew (Go Big Red!), I was eager to try it.  Nope, nope, nope!  I can drink it, but only just barely.  Lucky Bucket says it's "big, bold and shall we say, in your face... as it should be."  They've got the "in your face" part right.  It's not that it's aggressively hoppy; it's just harsh.

Hop Wrangler 3 IPA (Peace Tree Brewing, Knoxville, IA) - It came in the cutest little stubby bottle, and it had a great label.  I had to try it.  Eh.  It's got a bit more balance to it than the Lucky Bucket, but it's still rough.  It starts off a bit sweet, but it finishes mean.  The do have a nice description on their bottle, however:  "Hop Wrangler 3 is a multi-national take on the classic India Pale Ale, which is known for its intense hop bitterness, flavor and aroma.  We use American, English and Belgian malts for flavor, body and color.  This brew includes six hop additions of American and English hops, one each in the mash and first wort, three in the boil and finally a dry hop addition in the fermenter.  It is finished with Belgian yeast which develops esters that complement the bouquet of hop aromas."  Yes, I'm confused, too, and so is the flavor, in my opinion.  Does the fact that it just took me nearly two hours to finish one tell you anything?

There are a couple others in my fridge as well, but they're ones I do like (Hazed and Infused, Boulder Brewing, Boulder, CO) or ones I have yet to try - mostly big bottles from obscure places.

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Happily, I went to Billings yesterday and really got my beer on.

My friend Aurora and I had a little shopping to do (mainly I really needed some paint so I can finally finish painting my front porch a bright, obnoxious lime green), and we wanted pedicures (something difficult to come by in Lewistown, MT), and WE WANTED BEER!  We barely made it through my shopping list, and even skipped one stop entirely, to get our main stop, Carter's Brewing.  Overall, Carter's is my favorite brewery in Billings.  They have a lot of really good standard options, and they usually have a big selection of seasonals and specials as well.  Big bonus: they're open on Sundays.

Aurora

Carter's is one of the only breweries I've visited in the western states, outside of Colorado where they're everywhere, that makes saison.  This is one style of Belgian ale I really enjoy.  They tend to be fruity, spicy and very refreshing.  Most folks know I'm not generally a fan of fruity beers, but saisons have an overall fruitiness rather than a specific fruit flavor.  Yummy.

This time, Carter's also had a Green Tea Saison as well.  I opted to try that one, while Aurora, who had never had a saison, went with the Saison de Carter.  I loved the look on her face when she took her first sip.  Her eyes lit up and a smile spread wide.  It's so much fun to share the beer love with others, especially eager novices.  I'd brought in four growlers to fill for an upcoming camping and road trip Aurora, my friend Adrienne and I are doing over the long July 4th weekend.  I was planning to fill one with the saison, one with their Derailed IPA (love it), one with Black Magic Porter and the last one with the Boxcar Brown, but after taking that first sip, Aurora declared that we would most definitely be filling two growlers with the saison.  No problem!  We left out the porter and went with the saison.  I would have done a growler of each saison, the de Carter and the Green Tea, but the Green Tea really didn't have the zing of the de Carter.  It was actually quite boring - kind of like green tea.

After their magnificent lady barkeep got us all filled up and we'd finished our pints, we were really jonesing for a burger at Überbrew down the street.  I know I've mentioned them before, but they truly are one of the most wonderful things ever.  As is their beer cheese soup.  I've mentioned that before, too, haven't I?  I'm drooling just thinking about it.  Please, give me a moment...

Okay.  Even though I haven't liked their beer in the past, aside from their porter, I decided to try another flight.  I selected the Diesel Punk Porter (to be sure I'd have something to wash down the rest with),the Humulus Ridiculous Double IPA, the Conehead IPA and their Diesel Punk Stout.  Aurora also chose the stout, as well as their regular kölsch (I've had it before and it's decent), their raspberry kölsch and the Calibrated Imperial Hefeweizen. 

The best word I have to describe the Conehead is dank.  As hops and marijuana are in the same family, dank is an appropriate adjective.  But instead of the definition commonly used for marijuana meaning good, potent stuff, I refer to the common definition of the word: disagreeably damp and musty.  I did not like it, Sam I Am.

I am quite pleased to say, however, that I did enjoy my other three choices.  The stout was as smooth as they come.  It had a light, simple flavor.  Nothing fancy, but nice and solid.  Aurora agreed and was planning to order a pint of it until I had her try the porter.  "Oh, that's gooood."  Yes, it is.  And while I did not love the double IPA, I did like it.  Our bartender also helps with the brewing so I was really glad I was able to give him a positive report.  I've also mentioned how great the Überbrew staff is, haven't I?  Yes, they are.

Shana & Toby

I'd also like to mention another Überbrew patron we had the pleasure to meet.  Shana was sitting a couple stools down from us and somewhere along the way we discovered that she recently left her job and life in central Pennsylvania and is bound for Portland to start things fresh.  She's taking her time along the way, though, visiting all the states she's never been to, hitting all the good coffee shops and breweries she can find.  She's camping in her car with her long-haired Chihuahua, Toby, with no definite plans, just ideas.  My hero!  She's also relatively new to the craft beer world, but she's already more than caught up with my brewery visits, and she's quickly come to realize, you meet the best people wherever you find good beer. 

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Back to that cheap beer issue...  I believe that I have been given the cure.  My friends, Jordan (pictured below) and Linda, were lucky enough to attend the Epic Beer Festival in Denver this past weekend.  As I was unable to go, I asked her if they would bring me back some Colorado brews.  Happy, happy me, my wish was granted!

Avery Maharaja, Avery IPA, New Belgium La Folie, Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro and a Funkwerks Saison

Thanks, Jordan!  Looks like I need to share & save you from the cheap stuff, too.