Friday BeerBuzz - 22 Feb 2013 Horny Goat Baby Got Bock w/Dave Reese (Video)

WILK Friday BeerBuzz - 22 Feb 2013 Horny Goat Baby Got Bock w/Dave Reese

Sometimes you just know when you book a show that it will be fun.  Sometimes it’s the guest, sometimes it’s the brewery, and sometimes it’s simply the name of the beer.  It’s hard to ignore marketing in the beer world, and while some breweries go for subtle and classic, some go for fun…and fun ruled the day today.

Today we featured Horny Goat Brewing Co on the show and based simply on the name, you know it’s going to be a fun one.  How can you ignore a brewery with the word “Horny” in the name?  And even when it’s referring to a goat, you know where this marketing is going.  But as I I have written before when sampling Horny Goat beers….don’t let the name fool you.

Sometimes it’s all too easy to get lost in the Brewery marketing and beer names and you lose sight of the beer itself.  I always worry that the marketing takes away from a great beer or covers up for something else….but not today.

Today we sampled Horny Goat Baby Got Bock and as I’ve said before, don’t let the name fool you.  This is a classic Bavarian Blonde bock and it has a malty backbone and wonderful mouthfeel I think anyone will love.  Craft beer lovers will appreciate it’s complexity and balance, and non-craft beer drinkers will enjoy the clean easy drinking flavor and finish.  This brew has something for everyone and it’s a beer that will be perfect for the spring season.

We were joined today by Horny Goat Brewmaster Dave Reese.  Dave gave us some wonderful insight on Horny Goat Baby Got Bock and what goes into making such a great balanced and drinkable brew.  It was also fun talking to Dave about how Horny Goat Brewing got it’s start and how they came upon their irreverent marketing angle for their beers.  In the end it is clear that Dave knows his stuff, and I can tell you from personal experience with tasting Horny Goat beers that there are many hidden gems in their 12 brews.

We finished the day sampling Horny Goat Stacked Milk Stout.  This is a true to flavor milk stout with notes of sweet milk chocolate and a bit of coffee.  This beer finishes sweet and leaves you wanting more, and if you do decide to drink more, you’ll find the subtleness of the flavors makes it easy to have more than a few. 

Want more fun beers from Horny Goat?  Then check out their other beers…hell even just reading the names will make you want to try them:  Exposed Cream Ale, Hopped Up N’ Horny IPA, Horny Blonde, Berry Horny, Belgian Style Wit, Watermelon Wheat, Oktoberfest, Hornycopia Pumpkin Ale, Brownie Porter, & Chocolate Cherry Stout .

Thank you to Dave Reese from Horny Goat Brewing Co, Nancy, John & Joe for yet another

fun Friday.

The Friday BeerBuzz…bringing good beers and good people together.As always you can check out the video on-line at the WILK Friday BeerBuzz page by clicking HERE.
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Friday BeerBuzz - 22 Feb 2013 - The Teaser

Last week we welcomed friends in to the studio for the WILK Friday BeerBuzz.  Curt Keck & Chris Becker from HiJInx Brewing were nice enough to come up for the show, and yes we’ve been planning this show since Chris & I met back in Ireland over a year ago.  It was a ton of fun sampling and we really enjoyed the Pitch Penny ESB, Steal Your Face Imperial Stout and Barista’s Porter and I can’t wait to see them hit more and more bars.

So what will we be sampling this week? Hint: This week our brewmaster joins us from a famous brewing town to feature some of the best beer names we’ve had on the show. 

Tune in at 8:30AM and see what beer we sample on the Friday BeerBuzz on WILK…bringing good beers and good people together. (103.1FM or wilknewsradio.com)

Friday BeerBuzz - 15 Feb 2012 - HiJinx Pitch Penn w/Curt Keck & Chris Becker

WILK Friday BeerBuzz - HiJinx Brewing Co w/Curt Keck & Chris Becker

We’ve made a lot of friends along the way on the WILK Friday BeerBuzz.  From every corner of the U.S. to right down the street, the craft brewing community members are always fun and always friendly.  Today’s show  was even more fun because one of our guests is already a friend.

Today’s guests were Curt Keck & Chris Becker from HiJinx Brewing Co.  In the name of full disclosure (and fond memories) I should mention that Chris and I were lucky enough to travel to Ireland 2-years ago and share some amazing beer experiences.  Chris and I (and our friends) sat around the kitchen table at the little stone cottage in Blackwater Bridge, Ireland and sampled many of his brews…and after sampling Chris’ homebrews, I knew we would be in for a treat with HiJinx in the studio today.

Chris Becker & Curt Keck cut their teeth in the home brewing community so they know what they are doing.  After several amateur awards, Curt went on to brew professionally for Weyerbacher Brewing before launching HiJinx Brewing.  HiJinx got it’s start as part of a Kickstarter campaign, and the guys literally are running out of a small garage space in the Allentown area and distributing their beer in kegs to local establishments.  With expansion and bottles in the future, things are looking good for HiJinx so stay tuned.

Kurt & Chris are currently brewing about 6 beers,

Prankster's Porter... a richly flavored brown porter with hints of chocolate and coffee,

Pitch Penny Ale... a well balanced English style bitter,

Steal Your Face Stout... a rich, malty, and complex Imperial Stout,

Dolle Streken...a Belgian ale,

Hop Havoc IPA... an East Coast style IPA with five different hops, and

Earth, Wit & Fire... an imperial witbier with a twist.

Of course we were lucky enough to sample some great HiJinx beer today and I have very good things to report.  The Pitch Penny is a classic ESB with a big malty backbone but a really nice balance.  The Steal Your Face WILL actually steal your face, but it’s a wonderfully rich Imperial Stout with some big boozy notes and a rich chocolate/coffee taste & satisfying mouthfeel.   Yes we LOVED the Barista’s Choice Coffee Porter and I personally think this beer was my not only a perfect early morning Friday BeerBuzz beer, but also my favorite of the bunch.  These are really good brews and my only disappointment is that they are not more widely available in Northeastern, PA. 

Be sure to check out the Lehigh Valley Beer Week events and you too can sample HiJinx Brewing beers THIS week!

Thank you to Curt Keck & Chris Becker from HiJinx Brewing ,Nancy, John & Joe for yet another

fun Friday.

The Friday BeerBuzz…bringing good beers and good people together.As always you can check out the video on-line at the WILK Friday BeerBuzz page by clicking HERE.
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Friday BeerBuzz - 15 Feb 2013 The Teaser

Last week we had a great time welcoming back our pal Brian Boak from Boaks Beer to celebrate his 5th Anniversary.  Brian was nice enough to bring us 5 different vintages of his flagship Monster Mash to enjoy a one-of-a-kind vertical tasting.  With some of his original 2007 Monster Mash in the lineup, this was a special event and of course they were some amazing beers.

So what will we be sampling this week? Hint: This week we’re welcoming in two brewers from a new (and local) brewery.   

Tune in at 8:30AM and see what beer we sample on the Friday BeerBuzz on WILK…bringing good beers and good people together. (103.1FM or wilknewsradio.com)

Friday BeerBuzz Boaks Monster Mash Vertical Tasting w/Brian Boak

WILK Friday BeerBuzz - 8 Feb 2013 Boaks Beer Monster Mast Vertical Tasting w/Brian Boak

Each time we welcome our pal Brian Boak into the studio, we have more fun than the last time, and each time we get to sample some pretty special beers.  Brian makes the ride up each year to share his beers and to celebrate his anniversary with us, and as he has done over the last two years, he’s also celebrating it with you (**More below).

2013 signals Boaks Beer’s 5th anniversary, and of course we wanted to do something special to commemorate the occasion.  Today we decided to sample Boaks Monster Mash…but wait…it’s more than just that.  Brian was kind enough to celebrate his 5th anniversary by bringing us a vertical tasting of 5 different Monster Mash vintages.  Today we sampled Monster Mash 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012 and 2013, side-by-side and back-to-back.

A vertical tasting allows you to compare (and enjoy) different years or vintages of the same beer to see how the beer has aged and gained complexity over the years…and Monster Mash is perhaps one of the best styles suited to this sort of aging and tasting.  Monster Mash is a big 10% ABV Russian Imperial Stout, so right out of the brewhouse, it’s rich and complex and loaded with flavors of dark chocolate and notes of coffee.  Add a few years and the flavors mellow and blend together in an even more pleasant way.  Rather than try to describe each year, let me just say that they got better and better and if you’re lucky enough to be sitting on a properly aged Boaks Monster Mash, you are in for a treat.

It was fun talking beer with Brian today so Brian has decided to stay and celebrate with all of you.  **Tonight (2/8) from 5-7 PM @ Krugel’s Georgetown Deli & Beer, Brian Boak will be pouring samples, signing autographs and talking beer…so mark your calendar.  Come say Hi to Brian and YES I’ll be there to help Brian pour (ahem…drink) some samples.  See you there.

T

hank you to Brian Boak from Boaks Beer, Nancy, John & Joe for yet another

fun Friday.

The Friday BeerBuzz…bringing good beers and good people together. As always you can check out the video on-line at the WILK Friday BeerBuzz page by clicking HERE.
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Friday BeerBuzz - 8 Feb 2013 The Teaser

Last week we had a great time….and while I’m sorry for waking up Yuseff Cherney from Ballast Point at 5:30AM in the morning, I can’t say I felt too bad knowing we’d all be sampling Ballast Point Victory at Sea.  It’s a fantastic beer and it was a lot of fun getting all of the beer and expansion updates from Yuseff.

So what will we be sampling this week? Hint: This week we’re welcoming back to the studio a brewmaster celebrating his 5th Anniversary…AND YOU TOO can sample his beers on Friday so mark you calendar! 

Tune in at 8:30AM and see what beer we sample on the Friday BeerBuzz on WILK…bringing good beers and good people together. (103.1FM or wilknewsradio.com)

Friday BeerBuzz - 1 Feb 2013 Ballast Point Victory At Sea w/Yuseff Cherney

WILK Friday BeerBuzz - 1 Feb 2013 Ballast Point Victory At Sea w/Yuseff Cherney

In the dead of winter, you can either kick and scream and hold you breath, or you can embrace the cold.  The key to embracing the cold, is having the appropriate vehicle to embrace it with, and of course that means beer.

Today the beer we chose will not only embrace the cold weather, but it will embrace with such intensity, that it squeezes the life out of any memory you may have of winter and make you feel nothing but warmth.  Our beer style is a Baltic Porter….perfect for a long winter’s night in the Baltic, and a great beer for Northeastern PA in February.

Ballast Point has always been a favorite brewery of mine, and their Victory at Sea Imperial Porter has to be one of my favorite Baltic Porters.  Victory At Sea is loaded with vanilla and caramel flavors, but it finishes clean with a coffee-backbone,  Victory At Sea is loaded with complexity, and if you can resist drinking it fast, let it warm up and you’ll find even more complex and dark flavors.  At 10% ABV, this is a sipper for sure, but you’d be surprised at how well it carries the 10%. 

Victory At Sea is also a tremendously flexible beer…and it was used in an experiment at Ballast Point called One Barrel - 3 Products.  You see Ballast Point is also a distillery, and after aging their 3 Sheets Rum, the barrel was used to age a special version of Victory At Sea, which was subsequently removed and once again 3 Sheets Rum was added to the very same barrel.  This resulted in 3 unique brews…all of which I’d love to try.  Victory At Sea was also part of a special day in Dec where Ballast Point release 12 versions!: 

Pumpkin Pie Victory At Sea - Gingerbread Victory At Sea - Peppermint Victory At Sea - Oak Aged Victory At Sea - Maple Bourbon Victory At Sea - Chocolate Ghost Pepper Victory At Sea - Firkin of Toasted Coconut Victory At Sea  - Firkin of Double Vanilla Bean Victory At Sea - Victory At Cereal - Peanut & Chocolate Victory At Sea - Mole Victory At Sea - Ballast Point Three Sheets Rum Barrel Aged Victory At Sea…hell they even have a cask they added Captain Crunch cereal to!

Sampling a Ballast Point beer would not be complete without their Head brewer and Head Distiller (and co-founder) Yuseff Cherney…and Yuseff was kind enough to wake up early to talk beer with us.  It was a lot of fun talking about how Ballast Point got it’s start and especially fun talking about their growth and expansion news.  Yuseff has a unique perspective on the beer world as he definitely has one foot in the craft beer world and one foot in the distilling world.  His knowledge has me not only excited to try more Ballast Point beers but some of their spirits as well.

Be sure to get out and try Ballast Point Victory At Sea Imperial Porter with Coffee for yourself…and if you can, be sure to try Ballast Point spirits as well.  Victory At Sea is a tremendous example of an imperial porter and a style perfect for winter.

Thank you to Yuseff Cherney from Ballast Point Brewing, Nancy, John & Joe for yet another

fun Friday.

The Friday BeerBuzz…bringing good beers and good people together. As always you can check out the video on-line at the WILK Friday BeerBuzz page by clicking HERE.