Six beers. Six memories. To celebrate one year.
For our anniversary, in addition to all the cool new camping equipment, my wonderful wife also got me this amazingly thoughtful gift. She picked out 6 beers, beers that we’ve shared together and beers that evoke memories we’ve made together (pictured above: my anniversary beers).
And on each beer, she tied a little note describing the memory or moment and how it related to that beer. Adorable! I loved it!
So, I wanted to do something different. Instead of getting drunk on new beers and writing crappy drunk poetry, I decided to get drunk on these anniversary beers and take a stroll down memory lane. Here are the beers and my elaboration on the stories associated with them.
3 Sheeps Brewing – Fresh Coast – 4.8% – APA
“Fresh Coast is an East Coast-style pale ale brewed for the Midwest. Like most beers of the style, it pours cloudy…and that’s on purpose. The haze lets hop oils linger on the palate, enhancing their naturally citrusy and tropical fruit notes. To get that haze, we cultivate a special Vermont yeast strain that’s only used for Fresh Coast. It’s a pain to manage for just one beer, but it’s worth it. It’s the kind of beer you can drink all day, with your feet dangling in the lake. Because we live on the “Fresh Coast” and that’s worth celebrating, right?”
A beautiful APA that reminds me a lot like Moon Man, But juicer, and with tropical fruit notes, like mango and papaya. It’s perfectly balanced with sweet pale malts, hints of pine, and then all that fruit flavor. A perfect anytime beer.
Storytime: Alright. Storytime. The first and only time we went to 3 Sheeps was on a camping trip. You see, Kristin and I, we share a favorite pastime. It’s essentially extended camping trips that involve stopping at ever winery, distillery, and brewery along the way. So we were camping at Kettle Moraine, along the Long Lake campsite during a holiday weekend. And we got blessed with a big old rainstorm that Saturday.
After the first few hours of playing cards and building forts in our tent, we got bored and braved the rainstorm and set out for Sheboygan to visit 3 Sheeps. The rain kept coming, but we were more than happy to cozy up in the brewery’s industrial warehouse setting. We sat at the bar, sharing tasting notes about our beer flights and watched the rainfall from the big brewery garage doors they kept open. It was a perfect trip that incorporated all my favorite things – beer, Kristin, and camping. What more could a kid ask for?
New Glarus – Moon Man – 5.00% – APA
“You hold a session beer with a bright bold blend of five hops that flirt obligingly with the smooth malty backside. Don’t let this one lay around it is brewed to be enjoyed today. Bold and engaging without pretense, because in Wisconsin you do not have to be extreme to be real.”
The Moon Man itself. Man oh man. Behind Hopalicious, this is the baby that brought me in to craft beer. It shares a lot of similarities with the Fresh Coast above, but it has less tropical fruit flavor, and a stronger pine and grapefruit/citrus profile. It’s also a masterwork in the subtle art of balanced beer, perfectly blending the pale malts and hops to create what I think is a 10/10 summer camping/beach/float trip/backyard bbq/ beer.
Storytime: When it comes to Moon Man, there are too many stories to choose from. Camping trips? Float trips? Late-night porch drinking? Sunday fundays? Moon Man has been a big part of my life, from pitchers on the lake at Union Terrace, to bar hopping up and around the capitol square in Madison.
But probably my favorite memory of Moon Man and Kristin involves a trip out to New Glarus. We did the usual thing, where we toured the brewery and sat out on their scenic overlook. But the real treasure was walking into that old Swiss-style town and sitting down at the Glaarnerstubuubbbnrfgrfsgreags (That’s totally how you spell it, I think).
Now, to some, it might not look like much. A run-down, Swiss dive bar, which it basically is. But it was there I had a pot of pure liquid gold – we’re talking a pot of the most delicious fondue that’s ever existed. The first taste is the equivalent feeling of using your mere mortal eyes to behold the almighty power of god and the universe itself. It’s liquid ecstasy, it’s the taste of divinity, and with each bite, you’ll feel a little closer to heaven. A definitive 12/10. (I’ve even tried to recreate the recipe myself. Check it out here.)
Hinterland – Cherry Wheat – 5.4% – Wheat Beer
“Inspired by endless summers in Door County, the creation of this beer was truly a labor of love. Always light to drink, this brew has a refreshing cherry hint of a summer to remember.”
Storytime: I love cherries. Probably my favorite fruit. And the Cherry Wheat, well, it does a perfect job of capturing that tart door county cherry flavor, without feeling too gimmicky or artificial. It’s real cherry juice, none of that weird cough medicine candy style shit. And the tartness of the cherries blends with the bready, sweet malts to give it a perfect dessert flavor, like cherry pie. But not as filling.
As a young married couple, Kristin and I have formed one of our first family traditions. And that’s camping up in Door County over Labor Day weekend. It’s Wisconsin’s wine country, filled with cherry wine and all the cheese curds a stomach can handle. It’s basically the garden of Eden (in the summer and fall as the peninsula turns into a wintery hellscape, albeit a scenic one).
But our first trip could also have been our last. You see we made the rookie mistake of booking a campsite last minute…on a holiday weekend…. in Door County… So, instead of enjoying the scenic views of the likes of Peninsula, Potawatomi, or Rock Island State Park, we were unfortunately stuck with a Jellystone commercial campground, where they pack you in like sardines in a can.
And our neighbors, well, they were less than neighborly. Not your typical state park boy scouts, but more like your Hills Have Eyes hillbilly mutants that felt compelled to torment and occasionally threaten us for allegedly stealing their campsite. Even though we reserved it two weeks before. It’s a long story that ended with us sleeping with a bowie knife and one hand on the car alarm. Nevertheless, we made the most of the trip, stopping at several wineries, eating cheese and cherries, and dining at restaurants with goats on the roof.
And now it’s become tradition. We’re heading up again this Labor Day. But now we just make sure to only stay at state parks.
NEW BELGIUM – BRUT IPA – 6.7%
“Bubbly, dry, crisp, and refreshing, Brut IPA is inspired by our favorite sparkling wines. A perfect cheers to the New Year.”
New Belgium’s Brut hits the mark for sparkling dry champagne style. The hops are more noticeable here. With heavy notes of piney resin, tropical fruit, and strong citrus flavors. They overshadow the simple saltine cracker-like malts and gives it a hoppier, drier punch at the end.
Storytime: New Belgium for a trip out to Denver. Surprisingly, we visited Epic, and Avery, and a bunch of other breweries, but only drove by New Belgium. But that’s just because there was so much for us to do and see. Besides Denver and Ft. Collings, we stopped in Colorado Springs and Boulder, went rock climbing (*attempted rock climbing) walked Kerouac’s and the other Beats’ early haunts, and I spent the whole time trying to convince Kristin to move out to the great golden west with me. At the very least, I hope someday we get to come back for a second trip. There’re so many parks to visit! Camping to do! Beers to drink!
Pearl Street – Pop Gose – 5.00% – Gose
“A bright, Spring-time beer with hibiscus flowers, lavender flowers, and cucumber extract.”
Holy Gose. This. Blew. My. Mind. I love goses. I’ve had good goses, bad goses, but this interpretation is in a league of its own. It really hits you upfront with a punch of lavender flavor, that gets quickly flooded away with a wave of sharp, biting notes of lemonade. And a hint of saltiness. It’s like drinking an herbal lavender lemonade. And it’s delicious.
Storytime: We haven’t been out to La Crosse, Wisconsin yet, so I haven’t been to Pearl Street. But my baby sure does know me and my love for sours. And we’ve shared plenty of sour beers together. But my favorite memory is our most recent when we went up to Eau Claire to celebrate our 1 year anniversary. We stopped at Brewing Projekt because we’ve heard so much hype about the place. And it was well earned.
It was like one of them storybook days. The sun was shining. Not a cloud in sight. We sat down and did a few flights of sours and hazy, milkshake IPAs. We talked for hours and hours, watched people come in with their dogs, had a few more flights, then lazily walked down across the river in the sun on down to a pizza place where it was all so picture perfect.
Blanc De Bleu – Rose Brut – Champagne — %??
“Using natural fermentation to make the fine bubbles, this sparkling wine expresses itself with a pleasant yeasty character coupled with the light fruitiness of the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir wines. The balance is tart with lively bubbles refreshing the palate.”
I don’t know much in the way of words to describe wine or champagne. So I’ll leave you with this. It’s bubbly, it has that pleasant rose flavor. It’s dry on the finish. And uh. It’s bubbly. Yep. It’s champagne. And it’s filled with some of my best memories.
Storytime: So many memories. I don’t know where to start. Good ideas, the best even (and many bad ones) are the result of a bottle or two of champagne. Kristin and my band’s name is called Champagne and Painkillers, the fruition of which, was on a champagne drunk Sunday morning in Milwaukee.
We’ve had so many good times start with a bottle of Andres. Bottomless mimosas, friendo benders, and hotel parties. But of all the champagne-styled memories. This one has my heart.
