Eve’s birthday bash!

The amazing Eve Vincent is the lady that really got me into craft beer and wine! When it came to her saying I’m in charge of her birthday I knew just the place to go…. Angel’s Trumpet Alehouse.

Back in June of 2018 they opened a second location here in Phoenix and we had not gone to it yet, so no better time then now! Eve wasn’t a fan of me taking this picture, but oh well.

Creepin on Eve… as per usual

The new location on 44th street and Thomas is huge. I think twice as big as the one downtown but has the same great vibe. Slightly mad I didn’t take any pictures… the front part is just like the first location with the patio area, wood tables inside and the board of beers on tap! The back part has a bar, some couches and cushioned chairs and these large booths that have a 70s theme to them. The more intimate but still casual part of the place.

Living the flight life

In true Angel’s tradition: Eve and I picked flights for each other. I’m sad to say nothing really stood out to me other than the XXII Anniversary beer from Firestone. A stout, barely wine that was barrel aged in Rum, Gin and Bourbon barrels…. it’s dark, boozy and happiness.

The good thing is that it’s not overly boozy or too sweet. The rum barrel aged beers can run a little sweet in my book and the bourbon barrel aged beers are super boozy normally, but the blend of all three I think evened this beer out just right. It’s suprisingly really smooth for 12.7% ABV. The beer itself had a nice bready taste with a few hints of caramel/molasses, but again not overly sweet. 4.5 out of 5 in my book! Failing again and didn’t get a picture… sorry all.

Eve’s Clan

Such a fun night with great people, amazing food and many memories…. well until the liquor came in at the drag show. Many of our first times going to a drag show; Club Volt was a blast. Thanks to Mary, Diane, Alexandra, Anthony, Melanie, Rachel and Kurt for making the night so great for Eve!

Advertisements

In the face of adversity…. Drink Beer

The hiatus was real and I apologize for being absent for so long.

2018 brought about a lot of challenges. Everyone has stuff they are dealing with, I never doubt that just interesting how much motivation one can lose when life seems like it’s just fighting against your goal of being happy. I’ll be honest here, I’ve always fought against my balance of my body being in control of my life with the migraines I get, but I never fought so controlled as when I got the concussion and even going outside of my apartment sent my body into full fledged panic mode. So my motivation was gone and then I struggled getting everything back on track.
Not sure if I feel more ashamed that it took me so long or strong because even with the daily continued headaches I get and still semi hazy memory I’m back to normal.

Everyone deals with things differently, this I know and concussion, migraines, and depression it’s nothing new to anyone. I would never lessen someone else or say my experience was worse. I’m just oddly grateful for the struggle because I grew from it and I just know that I can bounce back no matter how long it takes, giving up isn’t an option.
I’ve probably started to write this post 25 times since I started getting life back together, but still something was missing and the words never sounded right. At this point, if I keep writing something over and over and never finish it I’ll probably never write a single post again.

At the end of the day, just know that if you feel like you’re drowning in your own existence you’re not alone. Most have been there, which doesn’t help in the moment but you’ll always learn from those moments more about who you are as a person than when everything is going great.

Now, to the reason we are all here: Beer!

One of my excuses for not writing was I need a good comeback moment, the beer that tasted so amazing I could not resist sharing with anyone who reads my blog or one of my favorite memories with my favorite people. Moments and beer kept passing by and nothing seemed good enough, so no more excuses!
The most lack luster moment, at home on a Saturday afternoon just relaxing after a long week at work. Really when I think about most of my favorite moments, they are all just being able to enjoy the simple things because too many people focus on big events/moments and more than anything I enjoy the quiet, peace and beauty of everyday. Ah please ignore the annoying super cliche positive words, trust me I’m not always positive and I fully think life is complicated and sucks at times no fake BS here!

So… I’m pretty sure I’ve spoken about how hard it’s been for me to find a beer from California that I’m like Wow and that doesn’t just taste meh…. I think Ballast Point did it! White Wine Barrel Aged Sour Wench. What else can I say then way to go Ballast Point!

Wine has been on my go to list more than beer lately, I know how dare I, but every once in awhile a good glass of wine just seems super fitting.

Kurt wanted to go to Total Wine and More, so as I was strolling down the aisles and wondering if I should just grab two bottles of wine rather than some beer when a bottle stands out to me because it has the words Chardonnay, Sauvignon, and Barrel Aged on it… so build your own 6 pack it was. Slightly dangerous at Total Wine since you pay per beer and at times I do not always have the cheapest taste.

Now most barrel aged sour’s I have come across haven’t really been that impressive, they normally are missing that slightly boozy more intense flavor that barrel aged beers have. The Sour Wench though did accomplish in actually being more than just a sour. The wine notes really shown through and of course, the blackberry made it the perfect slightly fruity but not overly sweet at all, essentially a tart and stronger sangria.

Blackberry, sour, wine and barrel aged way to go Ballast Point.

the old chokecherry tree (and raw apricot cheesecake)

coffeeandwoodsmoke

An almost imperceptible shift in the light. A slant of golden, the earth’s turning reflected in sunflowers’ faces. The skies blue again after a good night’s wind and rain scrubbed the smoky haze that had descended over the mountains, stacking them like so many cardboard cutouts. Around the edges the air is cool, threaded with the promise of chill. The creek meanders along, more leisurely than lazy, having left the frenetic pace of runoff behind. A grasshopper symphony plays from grassy fields, blanched seed heads bowing in the breeze. Walking along the path I see these musicians leap, a striking resemblance to butterflies in flight, all yellow threaded wings and suspended animation.

Chokecherries ripen along the creek corridor. One old tree at a prominent crossroads always produces a good crop, which I never touch for want of leaving them for the wildlife that needs them far more than I. My…

View original post 821 more words

Return to Colorado

The best way to experience some good beer is going to the brewery. Made an adventure to Denver, Colorado with some of my favorite people to go to Warped Tour! Did not get a single good picture of everyone…. Angel always looked mad, Tanner was a space cadet and Kurt always makes faces.

The Crew

When in Colorado must try beer! After driving 14 hours, I was ready for a beer so told my friends that we were going to Odell’s brewing company. I’ve had the 90 Schilling from Odell’s before but nothing else so figured this was a good opportunity. Odell just opened up a location in Denver from their original location in Fort Collins.

90 Schilling Taster

If you ever want to be a skeptical, order a taster of everything on the board. There was four of us so four tatsers a peice is not a lot in our books, but a bunch of people there were taking pictures of us and all the beer. They have a lot of IPAs and light beer so no happy stout life for me. The sours are what stood out! The guava sour tasted just like eating an actual guava that might not be fully ripe yet. I haven’t come across a guava flavored beer before.

In true fashion of my lovely friends, the below picture is not the most family friendly. 16 beers later and we all remembered that higher altitude meant drinking for cheaper because we were all a little tipsy. Luckily, there was a burger shop next door for the guys to get some food.

Flight of 16

Unfortunately, we were not able to go to The Great Divide brewery while in Denver since Warped Tour was a whole day ordeal (so worth the sunburn) and we all left Denver the next day, but next time it’s on the list. After warped tour the hotel we were staying at had The Pint Brothers in it and after 12 hours in the sun I was super ready for a beer. I got Buffalo Gold from Boulder Beer Company.

Buffalo Gold 4.95%

I’m assuming this tasted so good to me because of the very long day spent in the sun, which is not normal even though I live in Phoenix. From the whole trip this was my favorite beer. The combination of malts, hops and touch of honey made this so easy, light and smooth to drink. Draft is always better but if I found this in Phoenix it’d be a great after work beer that is always stocked in the fridge.

Kurt and I headed off to go camping the next day and he asked if I wanted to stop anywhere along the way… luckily Breckenridge Brewery was on the way… sort of. The Vanilla Porter from them was the first porter I ever had, so I have always wanted to go!

Breckenridge is a super tourist town, but it seemed quaint. It’s pretty far off the main highway so that was nice, other than it was an hour out of the way because of that fact. Good thing we were in no rush! The Littleton, CO location was actually closer but I wanted to go to the actual town. Even though after trying to find some parking pretty sure Kurt was wishing I chose a differently place.

Crazy enough they had the best edamame! Kurt was basically just drinking the residual sauce at the end. In vacation mode so I wanted to try something light and fun, which luckily they had their Honey Lavender Saison. Not many beers that I’ve come across have tempted lavender, but I’m slightly obsessed with the smell and taste. This beer had that weird Farmhouse taste up front, then the lavender kind of mellows out your taste buds and your left with the slight sweetness of honey lingering on your tongue. Light and calming, which is highly fitting for the Colorado vibe in my mind since it’s only a 5.4%.

Honey Lavender Saison 5.4% ABV

For the nostalgia and wanting to know if the tap is better than the bottle, which pretty sure 99% of people can agree draft is better, I got the Vanilla Porter. I was not disappointed at all! The tap really made the vanilla more prominent of actual vanilla bean vs the bottle being that artifical sweet vanilla flavoring and there was more of a coffee taste in my opinion. Bottle I had this beer at a 3.75, but on draft I put it at a 4.75.

I think the only downfall is it’s really low ABV for the style of beer it is, which I just find makes it seem like it’s lacking in some body and could use more bold flavors.

Vanilla Porter 5.4% ABV

To me, the experience was well worth the detour and Kurt was just happy about the edamame. After camping for two days we headed into Glenwood on the 4th of July and went to Gleenwood Springs Brewery. The problem with being on vacation is sometimes I hard core slack on logging beers, I only ended up logging one, which is horrible since I got a flight and two beers after.

Hanging Lake Honey Ale 5% ABV

The Hanging Lake Honey Ale was a nice chill Blonde Ale with a tinge of honey and hops to balance out the sweetness. I’m not some honey conessiuer, but I feel like you can tell the difference between fresh good honey vs super artifical tasting honey. This beer had that right off the honeycomb taste.

The altitude change seriously got to me a little, I finished my flight of four and probably would have been good to go without more but I wanted to try more! Too bad I didn’t actually log them so now I have no clue what the names were. Yeah… sorry I was a slacker and failed here.

Living the Flight life

They had one of their barrell projects and Kurt wanted to try it and split it… well it ended up being super boozey, which is right up my alley so I drank most of it. This was around a 12.7% and a porter, which back in AZ is a starter beer for me but in Colorado that was an instant tipsy state. I just remember the yummy smokey, hint of dark chocolate, that weird sweet but bitter molasses taste and the lingering bitterness of coffee. Really was one of my favorite barrell aged porters that I sadly couldn’t tell the name of.

Barrell Project Porter

This was a great little brewery. Had a pretty good sized list of different styles that they brew and some good food. All the furniture was wood, which was really fitting to the surrounding area of the town. On the wall near where we were sitting hung some really cool paintings of old drawn up beer making equipment and techniques. The had a good amount of seating inside, outside and a bar top.

Colorado Lager 5% ABV

While out camping, Kurt picked up the Colorado Lager from Odell Brewing. Honestly, nothing to write home about but I really love this picture. This just captured the serene week that was spent in Colorado. Had such a great time and if I would recommend anything I’d say stop in at Glenwood Springs Brewery.

Dino DNA

Dinosaurs, beer and Wren House Brewing oh my! 

Dino DNA 6.5%

For those of you new to the adventure, Wren House Brewing Company is in Phoenix, AZ and is going to have their three year anniversary next month! Check out my full thoughts on them: https://wp.me/p8Z8Xu-1r

This brewery is in a quaint location and they’re always brewing up something exciting. Summertime does mean IPA’s everywhere. Guess there is just something about hops and heat that go very well together. 

When I first started going to Wren they had dinosaurs up on the taps and I instantly knew this was a great place. For sure was highly obsessed with dinosaurs as a kid so even though I’m not a huge IPA person, as soon as I saw this can release announcement on Facebook I was sold. 

Tanner at the can release with me

Tanner had been working out of town for awhile so once I found out he’d be in town for the can release I knew it was meant to be. Wren opens at 9am for special releases, which meant I defaulted to the trusty Jomax. Amazing as usual! Coffee stout with some nitro cold brew they keep on tap as well. I wanted to save the IPA for home. An excellent morning spent with the best friend!

Wren’s can art!

This New England IPA has a tropical hoppy fruit smell. Upon pouring, it’s really in between hazy and that normal citrus IPA color. 

Again, I’m not the biggest IPA person but Wren normally knows what they are doing, which is proven again here. The Galaxy hops can be tasted for sure, but the passion fruit cuts the bitterness. Instead of the hops lingering on your tongue, the pineapple slightly sweet kind of sour is what remains. To me the carbonation was a little much, which isn’t really horrible since I just drank at a more normal pace for a 6.5% ABV. Could feel the bubbles in my stomach though. This really is a refreshing beer that helps beat the annoyingly high temperatures in Phoenix. 

Overrall a 4 out of 5 stars in my book. The IPA they released before, Robotic Grasshopper, is a creamier IPA that I would strongly recommend. I sent Dino DNA to David Keith in Florida so we’ll see what his take on it will be! In the meantime, while waiting for his take check out his other reviews: https://connoisseur.beer/

Dino DNA is paw approved by Rossi! 

Rossi (newest NSE member)

Sharing is Caring – 3 of 7 Florida Beers

One of the best parts about the craft beer community is how friendly and great everyone is. There are multiple forums that can be used to be apart of this fabulous community. One of the awesome people I’ve met through some social media platforms is David Keith in Florida! David is on multiple platforms of social media with his beer insights and has a very well written website for beer reviews https://connoisseur.beer/ so check it out! (Makes my blog look like amateur hour, but that’s pretty accurate so I’m okay with it.)

Anyways, so I came up with this thought to do a collaboration with him because when do I plan on being in Florida? Then life decided to throw me some curve balls and unfortunately wasn’t able to send him beers from Arizona at the same time, but soon! I was going to wait until I sent them off, but then I was told these are better fresh so drink away. Don’t have to tell me twice to drink up!

Looking at the seven cans I didn’t know where to begin until I saw a sour, like it was even a choice. 80 or 90 something degrees out sour was only fitting. 

Sword Play 4.0%

Sword Play is a sour from Civil Society Brewing that has passion fruit and lime. Seems like an interesting combination. Got a sweet fruity, but sour smell from this. 

The taste was sour and salty right up front, then the passion fruit comes in to sweeten up your taste buds, which really is just a trick to let the lime creep in and linger on the tongue. It’s like being on a roller coaster ride for your mouth! There was a pretty wheaty taste to me so seemed more like a Saison. Ended up giving this a 4.25 out of 5 stars, which is pretty high considering the really good sours I’ve had recently. 

David went with a 4 out of 5 stars, so same page on this one really. Check out the rest of his thoughts on this beer: https://connoisseur.beer/reviews/sword-play/

Signs 5.5%

Now, Sings from Civil Society Brewing was my choice after a long day since Pilsners are generally easy sipping. Not really sure if that’s accurate for beer… got whiskey on the mind. This luckily was not dissapointing for how light and easy to drink it was, but that’s due to the lack of flavor. 

First thing I noticed was that this had a slightly bitter taste to it. Got a hint of floral and lemon, pretty low carbonation so easy on the stomach and not too filling. Didn’t really have much of a flavor that made me want to get this again, which resulted in 3 stars for me. David went with 2.5 stars so pretty similar again: https://connoisseur.beer/reviews/signs/

Fade Away 7.5%

Pretty sure Littles is judging my pour here, but I love foam and coffee flavor makes it so much better. Foam lovers unite! Fade Away was an afternoon choice due to the thought that the smell of coffee can help wake me up or I’ll just fade away on the couch and nap. Win, win situation in my book. 

Civil Society in my opinion hit the dark roast coffee flavor right on the bean. Right up front you get the bold coffee taste, then kind of softens with an unsweetened hazelnut flavor and surprises you with a slightly hoppy flavor. Was not expecting this to have a hoppy taste since it’s a Porter. Hops are good, but not what I want in a porter. This brings me to a 3 star rating, mainly because Littles highly enjoyed the foam. So an extra star was added due to the “paw of approval” 😻. David also rated a 3, but tasted a lot more fruity notes than I did: https://connoisseur.beer/reviews/fade-away/

Pretty excited to try the last four, but until then enjoy a lovely picture of the moment I had to get a new glass for my beer. 

An Expedition to the Mountains

For my 25th birthday, I wanted to do something more than just the normal kick back at my new place (keep moving right before my birthday). I stumbled upon Telluride, Colorado while looking up things near Four Corners and dang did the pictures draw me in. Me thinking it’s April: all the flowers will be blooming, trees all green and it’ll be perfect weather. Guess I’ve been in the sun too long… when Kurt and I arrived it was snowing, windy and super cold. Found out the Expedition (reason for the title of this post) didn’t have a working heater; don’t think I’ll forget not feeling my toes anytime soon! 

Telluride, CO

This town was the perfect little getaway. Being that it’s a skii town and off season not a ton was open, but just enough. Started with breakfast at Baked in Telluride (great name). They serve food for all day and label all their baked items if they have dairy, gluten, and eggs in them! Had a vegan breakfast burrito, super amazing find since small towns aren’t normally plant based food friendly. Never too early for a beer so started the day with one of the very few selections they had, Colorado Native. 

Colorado Native 5.5%

Honestly, this is pretty much your run of the mill lager, not much of an amber taste. On a positive note, all of the ingredients are from Colorado so that’s really cool. For the pretty well known beer scene Colorado is it didn’t start off well, but there was still hope. Luckily there were a few liquor stores open since the local marketplace didn’t carry any alcohol. Stopped in Telluride Liquors. Not a huge selection and a little pricey compared to Wine Mine, but at the time I didn’t know that. Sticking true to my rule of being out of state I picked up a sour from Denver, Colorado. 

Sour Rosě 4.5%

Crooked Stave Artisian Beer Project knew what they were doing when they made this beauty! I know the cold is more fitting for a porter and stout, but there was oddly a ton of sours at Telluride Liquor and it’s hard for me to resist a good sour. The can art is pretty, mentioned Rosě and raspberries no way I could say no. Upon pouring there was a little foam, but it dissipated rather quickly. Smells like raspberry, a little tart and the bubbles tickle your nose! Ah the taste was so perfectly blended: started of very tart then the raspberry and blueberries give it a fruity but not overly sweet taste and finishes with a hint of sweet wine taste. The mouth feel is all the pucker from sour and then bubbly. A really good enjoy all day easy drinking for warm weather or cold if you’re just craving a sour like I was. 

After this beer I feel like I found my new favorite sour, hopefully I can find it in Phoenix. 

Cashed Out Porter 6.8%

Stopped in Brown Dog Pizza for dinner where most of their beers on tap were Colorado made! Started with a coffee porter from Palisade Brewing Company in Palisade, CO. This beer is a good medium roast coffee flavor, very smooth and leaves that bitterness in your mouth. It was a filling beer though. Not horrible, but sadly not a Jomax from Wren House Brewing Company. 

Was a little to full from the porter so had to switch it up to a light beer. Ah my normal routine anyways. 

Beaver Pond Blonde 6.4%

With this being one of the higher ABV’s I’ve seen for a blonde I expected a little more taste. This basically was a fruity coors light with a little less carbonation.

All in all the sour made the trip! Man I could go on and on with how yummy it is. Heading back to Colorado in July to a more populated part so expecting more greatness. Shoutout to Kurt for going on a great weekend adventure with me. 

Kings Beer and Wine

This is another great hole in the wall place in Phoenix! So many people would drive by and have no clue it’s here. 

A great wine and beer shop with a causal speakeasy type taproom connected to it. 76 rotating taps that are not just the cliche taps and a good mix of all types of beers. Can get growlers of all but the one’s on Nitro so 70 different options or just hop into the store next door and grab some cans or bottles. The tap list shows beer type, location, ABV, IBU, then size and price. Also, you can seem semi famous because it shows Untappd check ins on the bottom. That five minutes of fame… or however long it takes for the next person to checkin a beer. 

Electronic Tap List

For the none beer fans they have a great selection of wine as well. All written out in chalk… I commend those that can write well with chalk! They’re open until midnight so if you’re looking for good craft beer or wine late, but all the breweries are closed go to Kings!

Small portion of wine list

The owner and staff are super awesome! Always super friendly. Shout out to Kevin the single attractive bartender who remembers everyone ever that comes in!  Okay, well at least from what I’ve seen. The atomsphere is just as chill as the people. Kind of cave man type of look with lots of dark colors, wooden tables, and some comfy black leather couches. Dimmed lights and dark is a good reprieve for sunny Phoenix in my opinion. Have card, board, and console games! I love drinking and playing games! 

5oz Glass

Now, only downfall is they don’t serve food. There are those convient store snacks and they are food friendly so you can bring it here. I for sure have gotten in trouble with the no food because there are so many good beers! They do make up for it with the free WIFI and did I mention the handsome bartender? 

Taps

The wonderful Eve introduced me to this place! She is amazing. Lighting looks weird, but it’s from the hop shapped light fixture above us! 

Eve and I

OKC Part 2

The adventure continues! 

Bricktown Brewery, as I mentioned, has beer from other places so while we were there I tried a beer from Prairie Artisan Ales from Tulsa, OK. Had to stick with the Oklahoma beers! I’m a huge fan of Saison/Farmhouse Ales because they always have a unique taste. Pretty boring name, but I got Standard. 

Standard 5.6%

Just by looking at the pour I could tell the carbonation would be a little more than I like, but it was still foamy on top. The smell was citrus and yeasty. The taste kind of was a little more hoppy than I would expect, but got a salty lime taste up front, then the yeast came in, and finished with the hops. Carbonation made it seem like a soda with lime. So not super overwhelming, which I was very pleased about. 

My sister, Paige and her husband, Cody took Kurt and I to a place called Oak and Ore near downtown Oklahoma City. This is a charming “boutique beer hall” with 36 different craft beers. There is quite a good selection of Oklahoma beer, lucky me! Sadly I slacked on the pictures, nor did any of us get food there. 

Outside Oak and Ore

Paige and I figured out that everything listed in a color chalk was from Oklahoma and the white were other states craft beer. There are some games that can be played since they have a game night once a week. We got down on some UNO! 

Paige, Clyde, and I

I was feeling a sour for some reason, which I would think since it was so cold I would go dark and strong. February in Oklahoma is a lot different than Phoenix weather wise. 

Perfect Stranger 8.0%

This lovely sour is from 405 Brewing Company out of Norman, Oklahoma, but started as a Belgian pale-style wort from Prairie Artisan Ales. This has that perfect sour smell that makes your mouth water and nose burn a little bit, but has a slight sweet smell of berries. Upon first taste I could really taste the raspberries and blackberries like they would taste in a wine and then the sour just sits on the tongue. There is a pretty high alcohol content, but not boozy like a bourbon barrel aged beer, more a wine alcohol content taste. Overrall an amazing sour! 

I wasn’t feeling in a decision making mood so had my sister pick the next beer for me. Now she has no idea of craft beer so for sure just got a random one. 

Brandy Barrel Aged Cherry DNR 12.8%

I like her style though, 12.8% is a good jump from 8% and sticking with the barrel aged beers. This was another beer from COOP Ale Works. Smells like cherries, I was in sheer shock. In defense of the beer, I should have reminded my sister I am not a fan of cherry flavored things, but I went with it anyways. The cherry flavor is very strong, but it’s more on the sweeter side of maraschino cherries. This is the booziest fruit beer I’ve had, but has a medicinal taste. 

Someone on twitter said that a beer tasted medicinal and I was super confused so I asked what they meant. I was told when I tasted a beer like that I would know and that was no joke. This reminded me of cough syrup. Again, shame on me for getting something I knew there wouldbe a high chance of me disliking but no waste here I drank every last drop. 

Native Amber 6.1%

For food we went to Empire Pizza next door and luckily they had craft beer as well, so I could continue my adventure. Pizza is not exactly apart of my lifestyle of food choices so I just drank, but the other three really enjoyed the pizza. They were pretty unique different pizza options. 

Got another beer from COOP. Really wish we could have gone there. The Native Amber had that really pretty caramel color! The smell was sweet and a hint of hops. I got the sweet caramel and malts taste at first, then a bready taste, and the hops come in and round out the beer so there isn’t a sugar taste left in the mouth. This is exactly what I look for in an amber, that good blend of both malts and hops. 

This ends the Oklahoma beer. I was not disappointed and am excited for my next visit to try more! 

OKC

Visiting the family is a great opportunity to try some local brews in the good ole state of Oklahoma. 

Went to a place called The Garage where they had some local beer. Got two from COOP, unfortunately couldn’t go to the brewery since they have such limited hours. They do have beer at quite a few places around Oklahoma City and in Amarillo, TX (foreshadowing a post…). Sadly, I did not track them on Untapped so I don’t remember specifically which ones they were. The Garage is a cool little burger place with booth, high tops, and bar seating. They have some arcade games and is a pretty family friendly atomsphere. Sorry I don’t know the name of the beer, but I liked the license plate bar top. 

COOP Ale Works at The Garage

 Next stop, Bricktown Brewery. Bricktown is a very cool area in downtown Oklahoma City that features old brick buildings. Bricktown Brewery’s building definitely follows this design and was the first craft brewery in Oklahoma opened in 1992. 

Oklahoma City

Seeing as it is the first craft brewery in Oklahoma, I had high expectations. As best with any new brewery we started with a flight. My family doesn’t drink so it was just Kurt and I trying out all of the core beers. Bricktown Brewery has beer from other places all over the US as well as a full bar. 

Flight of 8 Bricktown beers

Oh…. I almost forgot welcome Kurt Hermann to the blog! See the post he first should have appeared in never got published, but that’s a long story. I’m sure a frequent member of the future adventures to come. 

Blues Berry Ale, great name, had a very good blueberry flavor. Not the gross too sweet artifical taste! It’s a Kolsch so it’s a refreshing, light, and crisp beer. Kurt felt like it was too mild of a taste, but I thought they hit the nail on the head. This was my favorite by them. As I’m sure you can guess, it’s the one with the blueberries in the picture. Mind blowing, I know. The fruit reminded me of little cocktails. 

Bricktown Brewery

If you’re a fan of creamsicles or orange cream soda you should get the Atta Boy Orange Cream Soda because it’s spot on. Way too sweet for my taste, but has a great blend of orange and cream and only a 4% ABV so no alcohol can be tasted. Neither of us could handle more than a sip since it’s so sweet, but figured I’d mention it since I haven’t seen too many similar beers. 

Kurt and I, Picture credit goes to my mom.

Kurt’s favorite was The Three Guardsman IPA. Defiently has the hoppy citrus flavor, but not as bad of the lingering hoppy after taste. Pretty sure that’s due to the low ABV and type of hops used, but hey I’m not the expert. Really I felt like most of the beer didn’t have much flavor, so I left feeling lackluster for sure. 

Now, the brewery itself is more of an upscale place. The food is pretty decent. I can’t say much since there wasn’t much I could actually eat. Veggie burger was pretty good. 

This is a place I wouldn’t think to go just to chill after a stressful day of work or hang with the friends and play some games while enjoying some craft beer goodness. A good date spot or work meeting is more the vibe. I promise I’m not just being biast because it’s in a different state. 

Annika Dyer AKA Mom

The fun part of my family not drinking is my mom and sister asking me questions about beer and why/what I like. It’s quite fun to reflect on such things and actually remember why I started doing all of this in the first place. Sorry lots of pictures in this one. 

Nephew Clyde and Sister Paige

Lots of new faces! Hopefully they will be featuring in some upcoming adventures, but hard to say since Oklahoma isn’t exactly around the corner from Arizona.