A Great Beer for a Great Cause: Reunion '08 Organic Red Rye Ale

Just to let you all know, I am probably going to be way too busy to write any posts in the next week or so, but after that I will be back. I have many things that I would like to write about, but they will have to wait until I have the time.
Instead of a "Weird Beer Thursday" today, I would like to briefly write about and give links to Reunion '08 ("A Beer for Hope") Organic Red Rye Ale. I easily found this at my small local neighborhood beer store (chilled), so hopefully you can find it easily too. So, pick it up, enjoy, and know that it's all for a great cause.
Here's the info and all the relevant links:

Reunion '08: A Beer for Hope - Organic Red Rye Ale brewed with caraway seeds

It's about $5 or $6 for a 22 oz. bottle, and ALL of the profits are donated to the Institute for Myeloma & Bone Cancer Research.

From the website and on the back of the bottle:

"This year's version of Reunion is an organic red rye ale, featuring a malt forward character balanced by spice notes from the rye, caraway seeds, and hops. Once again we have brewed Reunion in cooperation with Dan Del Grande at Bison Brewing.

The 2008 Reunion Ale celebrates the life of our dear friend and partner in this project - Virginia MacLean. Virginia lost her battle with Mutiple Myeloma on June 4, 2007. It was Virginia's wish that we continue the mission of raising funds for The Institute for Myeloma & Bone Cancer Research (IMBCR), so that others could benefit from their research. We know of no better way to honor her legacy.

Every day over 1,000 people are diagnosed with this currently incurable form of bone cancer. IMBCR is working on novel chemotherapy drugs to cure patients like Virginia. Every dollar and every day gets us closer to that cure. You can make it a reality. To learn more please visit: www.IMBCR.org.

Many thanks to all who have supported this project and help us honor Virginia's memory. Our additional thanks to Dr. Jim Berenson and his team at IMBCR for their tireless work on behalf of myeloma patients everywhere.

Cheers!
Pete & Alan

Pete Slosberg's image used courtesy of Pete's Brewing Company.

INGREDIENTS: Organic Barley, Organic Flaked Rye, Hops, Organic Caraway Seeds, Water, Yeast.

BREWED & BOTTLED BY:
BISON BREWING CHICO, CA 95928
CERTIFIED ORGANIC BY CALIFORNIA CROP IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION."

Reunion Beer Links - has all the links to relevant sites and info and blogs that have already done a great job writing about it this year and last year.

I really like red rye ales, so I highly recommend this beer. I have to be honest and say that I don't think that it is quite as good as others I really like, such as Two Brothers Cane and Ebel, or Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye, but these are also different variations of the style, so I don't really like to compare. It's a great looking beer and a delicious beer. Plus, for such a great cause - you gotta just buy it and try it.
It also a great beer to have around this time, when we are still having chilly and rainy weather lately here in Chicago.
I wasn't originally going to give a rating for this beer, but what the heck. I think you know what it may be.

My Rating:
The glass is full.

Schlitz. The cheap beer with the most gusto.

Last night, I drank and enjoyed some Schlitz. This was mostly due to the fact that I am very poor right now. But this is also due to the fact that I like Schlitz. In fact, I believe that Schlitz is the best tasting cheap beer. In recent years, it has been hard to find, although I know that my local bar has always had Schlitz cans for $2. Now, Schlitz is coming back in a big way, with the original 1960's formula. Um, I'm not sure what this will really mean, but sounds good to me.

I don't see this being a recurring trend for this blog, but I couldn't resist posting this video. It's a 1984 TV commercial for Schlitz "Bull" Malt Liquor, featuring The Marshall Tucker Band and 38 Special (rockin' tunes play automatically). 38 Speical clearly wins in the web design category.
Here's the video:


Couple of thoughts after watching this commercial:
How many guys are in those bands anyway?
I like the short guy with the hat in 38 Special.
At a few parts, I am not really sure what they are yelling about. I don't even think that they are using real words.
If 38 Special started marching towards me in a bar, demanding that I drink a Schlitz "Bull", you best believe that I would have one. Heck, I'd probably buy them a round too.
If I was drinking said beer in said bar situation, I would be on a constant lookout for a raging bull to suddenly come crashing through the wall.

Can't get enough old Schlitz commercials?
Here is another hilarious Schlitz "Bull" commercial featuring Tommy James & The Shondells and the Average White Band, with a more groovin' take on it.
Here's one with James Coburn dressed as a cowboy ordering a Schlitz light in a bar with a "captain" guy and a toupeed bartender.
Here's one featuring a motorcycle guy and Boston's "More Than A Feeling".
Here's a 1969 commercial of people enjoying the original Schlitz at a picnic.

Weird Beer Thursday - Bar Harbor Blueberry Ale

Bar Harbor Blueberry Ale

Why it's weird:
Obviously, it's made with blueberries (from Maine!).

What's up with this beer:
I kept seeing this at my local beer store last year, but at that time I was not into fruit beers at all, and I thought for sure that I would not like it. Now, my tastes have changed and I have enjoyed many "fruit beers" recently. That Chicago Tribune article about fruit beers must have really piqued my interest. I previously reviewed a Mbege-style ale which is brewed with bananas, and recently at The Hopleaf I had the interesting Surly Two, which is made with lots of cranberries (those BA reviews are accurate), which could easily be featured as a "weird beer" but I didn't get a photo. By the way, I can't wait to try more beers from the excellent Surly Brewery, but right now they are mostly only available in Minnesota.
I still do not like really fruit beers, like the ones that overly tart or are more wine-like than beer-like. So, once I realized that this Bar Harbor Blueberry Ale is more like an actual ale instead of a really fruity beer, I was confident to buy it and try it. Plus, I very much like blueberries. Turns out, I really liked Bar Harbor Blueberry Ale. It had subtle aromas of blueberries and also a subtle taste of fruit/blueberries, so it is not really fruity at all. Mostly, it was just an overall well-balanced amber ale that was enjoyable to drink. It is pretty much like drinking blueberry muffins, which I think is awesome. The six-pack that I purchased did not last long at all. My girlfriend also tried a bottle and also thought it was good. At one particular tasting time, I was still up at the early morning hours enjoying some of this blueberry ale, but then I got hungry. I found some blueberry waffles in my freezer (frozen from Trader Joes, which aren't all that "blueberry-y" either), so I toasted those up and ate 'em with the beer - it was a delicious (and might I say perfect) combination!
I have heard of a few other "blueberry beers" that exist out there, but I can see Bar Harbor Blueberry Ale probably being the best. They even state on the label that it is "America's Original Blueberry Ale". Although, Bar Harbor Blueberry Ale is not on the level of excellent, it is solidly good and I very much recommend it. And obviously, you will like it if you like blueberries and amber ales, both of which I happen to very much like.

Details: (from the brewery)
Bar Harbor Blueberry Ale
The Atlantic Brewing Company
Bar Harbor, Maine, United States
A light fruit ale, made with Maine wild blueberries. As opposed to many of the sweeter fruit beers on the market, our addition of fresh Maine wild blueberries in this light ale yields a subtle blueberry aroma, without the sweet aftertaste.

A mixture of the following Mutton malts, pale, crystal, and Munich, are combined with wheat to give this ale its lighter body, and we only use minimal amounts of Target and Willamette hops.

ABV 5.2%

My Rating:
The glass is half full.

Monthly Beer Review and Rating - February March April 2008

Instead of reviewing/rating beers individually each time I have one, I think I am going to just go through them all at the end of each month. Also, I will keep things pretty easy and brief overall. Some may have a photo, some may not. Some may just have my rating, without further elaboration. Some may be on tap at a pub, but many will be bottles that I have had at home. Since I just started this blog about a month ago, I will include February, March and April 2008 in this "Monthly Beer Review and Rating" from Highway to Ale. They will be listed in roughly the order that I had them (since February up until today). Since there are so many for this installment, probably I will just give my rating and give links, which will give more info about the beer, the style, or the brewery if you are interested. My Rating Guide is shown here at the top left of this post, and always on the right sidebar.

Additionally, you can check out the "Weird Beer Thursday" (Highway to Ale's "Special Feature") beers that I have reviewed and rated so far.


At Home:
Scotty Karate Scotch Ale - Dark Horse Brewing Company

My Rating: The glass is half full

Olde Suffolk - Greene King

review from Michael Jackson ("Beer Hunter")
My Rating: The glass is half full
















Altenmunster Winterbier Doppelbock - Allgaeuer Brauhaus AG

My Rating: The glass is half empty

Hairy Eyeball - Lagunitas

My Rating: The glass is half full













Conway's Irish Ale - Great Lakes Brewing
My Rating: The glass is full













Dubbel Reserve - Allagash
My Rating: The glass is full














ESB Special Ale - Ska Brewing
Yep, in a can. I wish more microbrewed beers came in cans.
Read this recent blog post, from A Blog About Beer, about how more craft beers are being canned.
Of course, I poured it into a glass. I just forgot to get a photo of this one.
My Rating: The glass is half full















Celis White - Michigan Brewing Co.
My Rating: The glass is half full

Old Dundee Scottish Ale - Emmett's Tavern and Brewing

My Rating: The glass is half full

Gumballhead - Three Floyds

My Rating: The glass is full

India Pale Ale (IPA) - Moylan's

My Rating: The glass is half full

Hopsickle Imperial Ale - Moylan's

Delicious and beautiful beer! And affordable! One of my new favorites.
My Rating: The glass is full

Dirty Helen Brown Ale - Barley Island Brewing

This is the first beer that I've had from this brewery in Indiana.
Interesting and good brown ale - I would try their others.
My Rating: The glass is half full

Garde Dog - Flying Dog Brewery

This is one of the few beers that I have ever bought, and have been truly disappointed to the point that I would say that I hate this beer. I feel that I wasted my money on this beer. Thought I would try it since it seemed like an interesting new seasonal. Supposed to be in the style of Biere de Garde. But it fails miserably. Tastes to me like Old Style, which would have been fine if I paid $3 for a six-pack (and was expecting cheap crappy beer) instead of $10! Actually, it seems worse than Old Style. Obviously, I think this beer sucks. If I ever want to try the Biere de Garde style again, I will be sure to try any of these instead. Or anything by Brasserie La Choulette.
My Rating: The glass is empty

Crooked Tree IPA - Dark Horse Brewing

Very nice bottle conditioned IPA. I had and enjoyed their Amber Ale a couple months ago. This brewery in Michigan is new for me, and I am really liking their beers. This is the brewery that makes the Tres Blueberry Stout, but once I heard about it I couldn't find it anywhere because Winter was ending.
They also make the Scotty Karate Scotch Ale, with which I started this long review post.
My Rating: The glass is half full
















On Tap: Lots of excellent beers!
at Poor Phil's in Oak Park, Illinois (I hit the jackpot at this place!)

1. Lagunitas Hop Stoopid - My Rating: The glass is full
2. Three Floyds Travissimo - My Rating: The glass is full
3. Two Brothers Imperial Cane and Ebel - one of my absolute favorites - My Rating: The glass is full

at Small Bar (technically in Avondale, just north of Logan Square) Chicago, Illinois

1. Surly Furious - My Rating: The glass is full
2. Three Floyds Gumballhead - My Rating: The glass is full
3. Two Brothers Hop Juice - My Rating: The glass is full
4. Victory Hop Devil - My Rating: The glass is half full

at Emmett’s Tavern and Brewery, West Dundee, Illinois

1. Emmett's Victory Pale Ale - My Rating: The glass is half full
2. McCarthy Red Ale - My Rating: The glass is full
3. Double Barrel Oatmeal Stout - My Rating: The glass is full

at M.T. Barrels Brewery, West Dundee, Illinois

1. American Pale Ale - My Rating: The glass is full

at The Hopleaf, Andersonville, Chicago, Illinois

1. Surly Bender - one of my new absolute favorite beers - can't wait until I can get more here in Illinois and to try their other beers - and they come in cans! My Rating: The glass is full
2. Surly Two - made with lots of cranberries, very interesting but not that great. My Rating: The glass is half full
3. Dogfish Head Burton Baton - oak-barrel aged strong sipper. My Rating: The glass is full (but would not have more than one)

at Two Brothers Brewery, Warrenville, Illinois - I plan to write a separate post about my experience here, hopefully this weekend.

All About Beer Magazine's "125 Places to Have a Beer Before You Die"

"125 Places to Have a Beer Before You Die" according to All About Beer Magazine.

Looking through the list, turns out that I have been to many of these places already (I'm 29 years old). Plus, a few of my favorite places to drink beer in Chicago, Illinois not only made the list, but are in the top 50.

Below are the places on the list that I have been to, and of course, drank beer at. "Starred" are places that I have been to many times. The others, just once.

11. Hofbrauhaus, Munich, Germany
**24. The Hopleaf, Chicago, IL (Love it! Just went the other week, and tried three great beers for the first time - Surly Bender, Surly Two, and Dogfish Head Burton Baton. More about those later.)
35. Great Lakes Brewing, Cleveland, OH
**43. Clark Street Ale House, Chicago, IL
**47. The Map Room, Chicago, IL
71. The Brewer’s Art, Baltimore, MD
76. City Tavern, Philadelphia, PA (I walked by, but I think they were closed at the time)
**84. Goose Island Brewing, Chicago, IL
113. beerbistro, Toronto, Canada (we walked by to check it out, but went somewhere else instead. I think it was a little pricier than what we were looking for)
115. John Barleycorn, Chicago, IL (I assume that they are referring to the historic location in Lincoln Park. But still, um, whatever. I would definitely not recommend.)

One place that my girlfriend recently proposed that we go in 2009:
5. Oktoberfest, Munich, Germany (!!!)

Which places on the list have you visited and enjoyed a beer at?
Or is your favorite beer drinking establishment not on the list - what is it?
I would love to hear about it in the comments!

DarkLord Day 2008 happened - I did not go but it looks fun / crazy / difficult

A couple other beer blogs that I've just started reading are buzzing about DarkLord Day 2008, which just happened this past Saturday, April 26. I could not go, 'cause I have too much work to do lately. I have been to the Three Floyds' Brewery/Brewpub in Munster, Indiana twice before and really enjoyed the place and, of course, the beer. I have never have gone to DarkLord Day in the past, but I have thought about it. I realize that there is much more that goes on than just trying to buy or drink Three Floyds' DarkLord Russian Imperial Stout, but everything about the huge crowd spending lots of time and money to try to buy a bottle of this stuff has always seemed pretty weird to me. I mean, it is the only day of the year that you can buy DarkLord, but c'mon. Not sure I would do this much for it. Actually, I have never had DarkLord, and honestly I don't think I will be that crazy about it when I do have a chance to try it.
Apparently, you have to get there very early in the morning to get in line (one person wrote that there were about 100 people in line already at 6:30 in the morning. And people that got in line later in the morning waited some 5 hours to try to get a bottle. And many who came around late morning didn't get any because they were sold out by 4pm or so.
Well, since I couldn't go, I have to live vicariously through the beer bloggers that did go.
So, these other blogs can tell you all about it with lots of interesting details, each with a different perspective on DarkLord Day 2008.

Chicagoist at DarkLord Day: Never Again (with comments) - Chicagoist

DarkLord Day 2008 troubles overshadow spirit of event - beernews.org - which has a list of other beers that were brought by other breweries. The only one that I have had is the Piece Camel Toe.

DarkLord Day 2008 - Hoosier Beer Geek. This one has all the great photos of the super insanely long line!

DarkLord Day 2008 - Matt's Beer Blog. Some more photos of all the people in the line, and some other details.

DarkLord Day - Beers of My Life. I like this Matt's (from Beers of My Life) approach (strategy?) the best!

So, after reading the other blog stories, if I try to go next year, I think I wouldn't even care about buying a bottle of DarkLord, so I would skip waiting in the insanely long line altogether. Apparently, you can just sample other Three Floyds' beer and other great midwestern craft beers instead! But I guess you even have to get there sometime early-ish in the morning to get into the pub for all that too.

Weird Beer Thursday - African-Style Mbege

Sprecher Mbege Ale

Why it's weird:
Fire-brewed African-style beer made with sorghum, millet, and banana juice. Um, yeah. This ain't your typical beer.

What's up with this beer:
OK, coincidentally this is the second Sprecher beer that I have tried and reviewed for Weird Beer Thursday. The first was the Mamma Mia Pizza Beer a couple weeks ago, which I had found at a promotional display in downtown Binny's. I found this Mbege beer at a small local liquor store, which also specializes in beer (of course!), as a single bottle in a discount bin. It was 50 cents, so I was like, what the heck - I gotta try this. Um, what can I say. The smell was unlike any other beer I've ever had. Obviously, I am not accustomed to drinking beers that are made with sorghum, millet, and banana juice. At first it was a little off-putting. Not really sure how to describe the aroma, maybe like a sweet 'n' sour. I was quite impressed by the pour, however, so at least it looked like a nice beer, as you can see from the photo. Well, I ended up drinking the whole glass, so it really wasn't that bad. I don't really have much to say, other than it is definitely like having banana juice in your beer (which I actually kind of like). On my old blog, I have already written about another beer that is brewed with bananas that I tried, which was Well's Banana Bread Beer, and which I thought was okay, but too lightly flavored.
Also, with this Mbege beer, I wasn't used to lack of wheat or barley, so the sorghum and millet used instead gave it a little unique flavor that wasn't all that bad, just something I'm not used to. Overall, it was kind of like a banana "cidery" ale, that was kind of refreshing and light, but I also enjoyed the unique and noticeable flavors. If it wasn't for these flavors, I may have given it my lowest rating, but instead I kind of respected it and liked it. But not that much, either.
It was also a little strong, so I could taste the alcohol, which I'm not saying was a bad thing. But one thing I am confused about, is that my bottle stated specifically on the label that it was 7.0% alcohol by volume (therefore, my noticing of such a level), but the Sprecher site says 5.2%.
And because they can explain this beer better than I can, here is Sprecher's brief description from their website:

"Bananas are the main ingredient in mbege style beers popular in Eastern Africa. In keeping with tradition, this is brewed with real bananas and presented unfiltered. Light hints of banana remain present in the aroma and flavor of this unique offering.

Originally conceived of in an effort to provide a traditional African style beer for Milwaukee's African World Festival, our Mbege and Shakparo have won the hearts of people here at the brewery and have been promoted to year round beer status.

Because barley and wheat are not grown in large quantities in sub-Saharan Africa, traditional Mbeges and Shakparos are brewed with sorghum and millet and are therefore able to be brewed gluten-free since neither sorghum nor millet contain gluten. Being gluten-free make Shakparo and Mbege excellent alternatives for those suffering from celiac disease, a genetic disorder that inhibits the digestion of gluten. Our Shakparo and Mbege offerings have been brewed with celiacs in mind and are carefully crafted to ensure they remain gluten-free."

Details:
Mbege Ale
Sprecher Brewing Company
Glendale, Wisconsin, United States
Alcohol by Volume: 5.2%
Degrees Plato (Initial Gravity): 13.25P
Weeks Aged: 6
Bitterness Units: 10 IBU
Year First Brewed: 2006
Recommended Serving Temperature: 50°
Sizes: 16oz Bottles

My Rating:
The glass is half empty.