Welcome back for another edition of Da Beers. We've just uploaded our most recent podcast to our brand new YouTube channel, and if you have any interest in drones you are going to want to tune in. Greg and I both enjoyed our choices of beers this week, so lets talk a little bit more about each of them.
Not Your Father's Vanilla Cream Ale by Small Town Brewery
A few years back, Small Town Brewery released Not Your Fathers Root Beer and it completely changed the game. It was the first malt beverage that imitated a soda that people actually seemed to like. Since then there have been many different products added to the Not Your Father's line, which brings us to the Vanilla Cream Ale that Greg was drinking.
Now this was a beer that surprised me when I started looking into the company and the production of this brew. According to Small Town Brewery's website, they produce gruit style ales. I know what you're thinking because I had the same thought; what the hell is a gruit style ale??? Well it turns out that gruit style ales were first produced back in Germany (where it seems like all brewing techniques originate from, if you listened to the podcast you know what I mean) and the whole thought process behind it is to use herbs to brew the beers. Once European countries started making laws that dictated exactly what must go into a beer, this style of brewing was pretty much lost.
Many people that would consider themselves to be beer aficionados regularly write off Small Town Brewery as a company that doesn't produce real beers. However with this new information that I have learned, I personally have gained a lot of respect for them. Just like Greg said, Not Your Father's Vanilla Cream Ale is a delicious brew and you should definitely go give it a shot.
Imperial Java Stout by Santa Fe Brewing Company
I have attempted to make a coffee stout at home before, and I can tell you from that experience that it is not easy. I have also noticed by trying different coffee stouts that they either have an overpowering and off-putting flavor of coffee or they have too little coffee flavor. It's not easy to find the perfect flavor balance between coffee and beer, but Santa Fe Brewing Company has found it when brewing their Imperial Java Stout.
According to Santa Fe Brewing Company's website, they use locally roasted coffee beans from O'hori's Coffee House which is the key to the success of this beer. It also wasn't surprising that they are able to boast about winning multiple competitions with this beer as far back as 2007. The most recent award that this beer brought in was the Gold Medal for the coffee beer category at the Can Can Premier Canned Beer Competition in 2016. Overall, this beer is excellent and I will not think twice about trying it again in the future.
That's it for this weeks Da Beers post. Make sure you check out our podcast now on YouTube if you haven't already, and as always feel free to post in the comments below with your suggestions for different brews we should try.
Cheers!
-Brian
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