Author: girlsbeersports

Apologies for this post being late this week…..

No guests in this episode, just the original four GBS co-hosts. Carrie, Leigh, Lauren and Stacey breaking it all down Carrie introduces her alias Linda, Lauren and Stacey talk mayo nanners, we figure out a way to make even more money on Black Friday with greeting cards and a movie, Stacey talks some tennis, Carrie gives a PSA about tailgate common courtesy 101, we talk the insanity that almost broke twitter with Schiano and Tennessee and we make our CFB Championship Week picks. There is way more in this episode than this description, but your just gonna hafta listen.

Listen to “Episode 88 OGBS: The Flipping of the Nanners” on Spreaker.

 

The sharin’ beer this week comes from local Lexington Brewery West Sixth.  The Transylvania Tripel is a tribute to Transylvania University, the oldest University west of the Allegheny Mountains located in downtown Lexington Kentucky.  The beer wasn’t what we expect from a Tripel.  It didn’t have the amber color or sweetness of a what we would expect out of a tripel style beer.  It wasn’t overly boozy and it was drinkable, it just didn’t evoke the tripel style like we thought we would.  If boozy, sweet tripel’s aren’t your thing but you’re looking for a higher gravity beer with a lighter feel then pick this one up.

Leigh got on the beer train again this week with Omission’s gluten free Pale Ale.  She’s had Omission before, but the pale ale was a new style.  The beer which is about 5% was drinkable, it didn’t have the molasses sweetness that many gluten free beers have.  While it was drinkable, it still wasn’t as good as Lemon’s Mill Brewing’s OCD2 gluten free beer, which is probably the best gluten free beer we’ve ever had.  However, if you’re in the market for a decent gluten free beer and can’t find Lemon’s Mill definitely pick this offering from Ommission up.

Stacey’s beer this week comes courtesy of Carrie and of course it had to be in the can.  Oskar Blues Brewing’s Hotbox Coffee Porter is a super drinkable coffee porter, which was purchased strictly on name only.  Oskar Blues makes many fine beer products and this was no exception.  If you into this style of beer put it on your list.

Lauren’s pick this week comes from Madtree Brewing just up the road from us in Cincinnati.  Madtree makes some great beers Psychopathy and Shade just to name a few.  This was a good beer, but Lauren thought it was pretty standard.  She didn’t get a lot of vanilla or cranberry from it.  If you are looking something to drink at future holiday family gatherings then pick a six pack of this up, you can definitely drink more than one.

Carrie’s tour of winter beers continues this week with New Holland’s Night Tripper Imperial Stout.  This is a really nice beer, for an imperial stout it’s incredibly smooth with hints of chocolate and it’s not too sweet or boozy.  This is one imperial stout that you can absolutely have more than one of, which may make you a night stumbler.

In this episode long time distinguished, award winning sports writer and UK journalist Larry Vaught joins us. In a bizzaro twist he takes Leigh’s place while Stacey still occupies the 4th chair. We recap Carrie and Leigh’s adventure at the UK Hockey game, find out what it takes to become a Kentucky Colonel, find out where Larry thinks sports journalism is going in the future, Lauren has a real problem with the fact that Carrie’s friend Seth called her out on an ad read, we do the last regular College Football Pick’em of the season and more!

Listen to “Episode 87 We’re on the Highway to Snell” on Spreaker.

No Leigh this week, but our guest Larry Vaught did kind of drink an ode to her with some gluten free ice water……..

The Sharin’  beer this week is one that we’ve heard alot about from various friends New Holland Brewing’s Dragon’s Milk Bourbon Barrel Stout.  This is a well balanced bourbon barrel stout, not too boozy with a nice flavor of vanilla and chocolate.  Lauren got more vanilla from this one than either Stacey or Carrie, but we all agreed that this is a great beer for this time of year and into the rest of the winter.  Light a fire and pop open a bottle of Dragon’s Milk, it will get you through the darkness that settles in at  5:30pm this time of year.

 

Lauren and Stacey doubled up on the sharin’ beer this week by splitting a bottle of Trader Joe’s Sour Blueberry Petrus.  The had the Trader Joe’s Frambose last week and really liked it.  This other offering from Trader Joe’s didn’t disappoint.  The color was definitely purple, to the point that it looked like it tasted purple.  Both Lauren and Stacey liked this beer, for both it’s fruitiness and it’s sourness.  Stacey felt like this would be a good beer for someone who maybe doesn’t like sours or someone who is looking to get into sours.  Lauren thought that the fruitness was a good seller for anyone who likes or is looking for a fruit beer.  So,  add this and the Frambose to your cart next time you’re in Trader Joe’s liquor store.

Normally Carrie doesn’t like to double up on dark beers, but she’s all in on the winter beers and also this beer was a great segue into one of our ad reads.  Great Lakes Brewing’s Blackout Stout is a Russian imperial stout that is a tribute to a power outage in 2003, but could also mean what’s going to happen if you have more than 2 of these.  At 9% it will warm you up on a cold winter night.  If you like Russian imperial stout’s definitely pick this one up.  If you are new to this style of beer it’s a good one to start with.  Don’t let it’s darkness turn you off.  It’s very drinkable, it’s got a nice molasses flavor that you want with an imperial stout and really is designed for sipping, let it warm up to let the flavor really come out.  Between this and the Dragon’s Milk you might not wake up until spring.

 

 

Episode 86  I’m not even sure I can do justice to this episode with a description. Stacey is back from the Olive Garden (yeah she went to Italy). We find out what happens when you mishear a beer description, did you know that UK has a hockey team? Well they do and their Head Coach Tim Pergram is sitting in the 5th chair this week. He talks all about UK and college hockey. You just have to listen to this episode because we learned a ton from him and we guarantee you will too!

Listen to “Episode 86 Hockey & Half Bison” on Spreaker.

Our guest this week, Head University of Kentucky Men’s Hockey Coach Tim Pergram had to go to practice right after we recorded so he brought his favorite non-alcoholic beverage, Diet Coke with Lime.  He said that he keeps one on the bench with him at every game.  The GBS CFO is a huge fan of Diet Cherry Coke, we’ll have to give the lime a try.

The first sharin’ beer this week is from Bell’s Brewery.  Hell Hath No Fury is a Belgian Inspired Dark Ale that has both characteristics of a porter and a tripel.  It did have some chocolate notes and Stacey and Lauren both liked it.  They both thought it was well-balanced, not too sweet or too boozy, which is something you may find with this style.  Carrie, however, wasn’t a fan.  She felt it was actually to bitter and didn’t have enough chocolate.  Two out of three recommend this one, so if you are all in on the winter beers it would probably be worth checking out.

Leigh tried another Green’s product this week, their Quest gluten-free tripel ale.  Once again Green’s has put out an excellent product.  Even though this is Gluten free it tastes like a tripel should.  Malty, sweet and not too boozy, although this was 6% it didn’t taste like it.  If you’ve ever been curious about gluten free beers we can’t recommend Green’s enough and if you’re gluten free, Yes! you can drink beer that tastes like beer again.

 

The Trader Joe’s Sour Framboise came in such a big bottle that Lauren and Stacey both split it as their second sharin’ beer, they both were able to get full pint glasses out of this bottle with some left over.  This is a classic fruit beer so if that’s your thing it’s worth a try.  Lauren and Stacey both liked that it wasn’t overly syrupy or sweet (which some Framboise style beers can be).  For being a Trader Joe’s product it’s definitely a recommend.  So pick this up in addition to the two buck chuck next time you are at a Trader Joe’s.

 

It’s officially winter in Carrie’s world so this week she picked up New Holland Brewing’s Cabin Fever.  Cabin Fever is pretty much a standard Brown Ale.  It had a lot of flavor, and some subtle sweet and nutty notes, which is what you want in this style of beer.  This would be a great snow day drinking beer or a great fire pit/place beer especially now that it’s getting dark at 5:30pm, here anyway.  Highly recommend picking up a six-pack of these for those cold dark evenings that are here to stay for the next 5 months.

Episode 85 with Wine & Pop-Tarts. We talk about their upcoming fundraiser for Toys for Tots on December 2nd at Al’s Bar. We discuss what happened to Trick or Treating, Carrie talks Guns n Roses, we fall down the GBS fact hole and find out what the hell the World Cup of Vocational Skills is, Carrie floats her conspiracy theory as to why the Houston Astros really won the World Series, Week 11 college football pick’em and more! Once again we don’t even get to sports until like 30 minutes into this one. #wedowhatwewant #WBLZ #12ozSportsRadio

Listen to “Episode 85 Not Sponsored by Zima..Yet” on Spreaker.

The Sharin’ Beer and the guest beer are kind of a combination this week.  Bret from Wine & Pop-Tarts was “kind” enough to bring us a six-pack of Zima.  Carrie didn’t have a sharin’ beer picked out so when she heard this she immediately decided that her and Lauren were going to be sharing some Zima.  We did have Zima on a previous show, but we never turn down free drinks, even if they do come in the form of a clearmalt beverage.  We didn’t have a jolly rancher with them this time, however, surprisingly or maybe not, this did not change our review of this particular beverage.  Bret thought it was “refreshing”!  Lauren and Carrie did finish their glasses, that’s all we are going to really say about Zima, other than the fact that they should call either us or Wine & Pop-Tarts because we’d love to discuss a sponsorship deal.

Leigh got back on the New Day Brewing train this week with ReThinker.  We’ve probably had three or four New Day products on the show in the last couple of months and have enjoyed them all.  The ReThinker is a Blueberry Honey Mead with Hops added.  Leigh was not completely on board with this one after the first few sips.  Since she really can’t drink beer any more so the hops threw her for a little bit of a loop.  There was a nice fruity sweetness to this one, but there was just a slight bitter finish from the hops.  The little bitterness from the hops came through more for Leigh and gave the ReThinker a bit of an odd taste.  As the show went on, however, the mead opened up and the hops taste lessened a bit.  We definitely recommend picking this one up, especially if you are looking for something that has a good balance of a little bitterness of hops to cut through the sweetness of fruit.

Lauren’s pick this week comes from Lazy Magnolia Brewing in Mississippi.  Lauren had another beer from Lazy Magnolia on a previous show (their sweet potato offering).  Depending on how you pronounce it Pecan or Pecan (if you want to know how Lauren pronounces it you’ll just have to listen to the show) Lazy Magnolia’s Southern Pecan is a great nut-brown ale.  Lauren didn’t get a lot of pecan flavor from this one, but it did have a nice subtle sweetness to it, which is what you want in a brown ale.  This is a great beer for this time of year, and would go great with the upcoming holiday feast and we don’t mean Christmas, the one before that.

Carrie’s pick this week comes from Avery Brewing.  Avery Brewing makes a lot of great beer, their Dictator Series was a big hit with Carrie.  The Reverend is a Belgian Style Quadrupel Ale.  The can art is what really drew Carrie to this beer though (very reminiscent of the comic book Preacher).  The beer itself is a really good Quad style beer.  Often times this kind of beer comes out too boozy, but The Rev had a nice balance of sweet to not so much booziness, which again is exactly what you want in this style of beer.  Quad Ales are great for this time of year, if you like this style you will probably like this one.  If you haven’t had this style of beer or have had it and didn’t like it, we would encourage you to give The Reverend a try, remember it’s “Not Just for Sundays”.

We welcome Scott Lykins from Goodwood Brewing to talk all about their beer. Stacey is back in the 4th chair and has a strong opinion on daylight savings time. We fall down the fact hole about the most divisive Halloween candy ever, Leigh almost gets in a bar fight, Carrie gets out of jury duty and oh yeah we talk sports stuff too!

Listen to “Episode 84 Goodwood..put it in your mouth and we mean the beer” on Spreaker.

We drank all the Goodwood beer this week…well everyone except for Leigh.

Unfortunately Goodwood doesn’t make a gluten free product, but Leigh decided to get on the beer train this week anyway with Green’s dubbel ale.  Green’s makes some really great gluten free beers that actually taste like beer and this one is no exception.  This beer definitely tastes like a dubbel ale, and is a really great style to drink this time of year.  Dark, fruity and slightly sweet, pick this one up, especially if you’re gluten free and miss the taste of actual beer.

Our guest Scott went with Goodwood’s Louisville Lager.  Aged on white ash and at only 4.2% this is a great “gateway” to craft beer.  A classic lager that’s perfect for those looking for a lighter beer that actually has flavor and that you can drink more than one of.

Stacey’s Goodwood choice was right in her wheelhouse.  The Red Wine Barrel Saison is a very drinkable saison, that picks up the hints of red wine without being too boozy.  Not too sour, if you like saisons this is a must try.  If saisons aren’t your thing this is also a must try, it might not change your opinion of the style, but you will like this one.

Lauren picked Goodwood’s Bourbon Barrel Ale.  This is a pretty classic bourbon barrel ale, but at only 6% it’s very drinkable without being super boozy.  Lauren and high gravity beers normally don’t get along to well, but she felt like this particular bourbon barrel ale was not going to steer her wrong and by the end of the show she was correct.  There are a lot of breweries out there doing bourbon barrel aged beers, and many times they don’t get them right.  Goodwood’s Bourbon Barrel Ale is the perfect pick for those people either looking to try one for the first time or for those who have been put off of this style by crappy beers.

Carrie also went the bourbon barrel route this week with Goodwood’s Bourbon  Barrel Stout.  It’s starting to be the perfect weather for stouts and this beer did not disappoint.  Very smooth with flavors of chocolate and vanilla, this was a really, really, really great bourbon barrel stout.  Again, much like the ale it’s not a high percentage so it’s not going to “blow your head off”, but it’s got a lot of flavor.  Definitely worth picking up as the weather turns colder and the days turn shorter.

We actually did have a sharin’ beer this week.  Scott was kind enough to bring us some tequila barrel aged gose.  This is only available in the tap-room at Goodwood and Scott actually brought it to the recording session in a container that is used for yeast, so we don’t have a picture.  The beer itself, however, was really tasty and we highly recommend you check it and Goodwood’s taproom out next time you’re in Louisville. And of course make sure you look for all of Goodwood’s product in a store near you.

This week Stacey is back in the fourth chair and we are joined by former UK basketball player, radio host and motivational speaker Cameron Mills. We come up with the next fitness crazy Gym Rope, hear about Cameron’s first experience with beer, talk UNC Academic scandal, and of course give our week 9 college football pick’ems. There is just way too much in this episode to cram into a description so you’re just gonna have to listen.

Listen to “Episode 83 Gym Rope” on Spreaker.

 

Our guest this week, Cameron Mills decided to go the non-alcoholic route for his beverage of choice.  We totally support this and was happy that Lauren was able to offer him one of his favorite beverages Ginger Ale.  Not much to say about this one, other than the fact that it’s ginger ale and if you like ginger ale then you’ve definitely had Canada Dry.  The best part of Cameron’s choice was the fact that he told a great story to go along with it.  You’ll just have to listen to the episode to hear it.

Carrie had an interesting choice for this week’s sharin’ beer, especially since Stacey was back on the show.  Braxton brewing Graeter’s Blueberry Pie Brown Ale.  Braxton makes some good beer and their Grater’s black raspberry chip is delicious, unfortunately not everything can be a winner and this beer is just not good.  It’s too sweet and the blueberry flavor is too chemically, even though the label says that it’s made with real blueberries.  If you are interested in trying this or judging for yourself we highly encourage you to buy a single or split a six pack with some people.  This is one beer that would be very difficult to drink a whole one or have more than one.  The one thing that it does have going for it is the fact that the proceeds from sales go to cancer research.

Leigh found a new flavor from Cider Boys this week, Zen Berry.  This cider is supposed to be made with boysenberries, but we aren’t sure what those are supposed to taste like, so we’ll just take the Cider Boys word for it.  This cider definitely delivered what it promised on berry flavor.  Not sure about the Zen, but Leigh thought it was very sweet, to the point where she probably couldn’t have more than one.  If you like Cider Boys products and are interested in trying a new flavor pick this up, nothing super special here, but worth a try.

 

Stacey was in the fourth chair this week and of course she had to have her beer in the can.  Her pick this week is from MadTree Brewing.  MadTree makes a lot of fine products including Psychopathy, which is an excellent IPA, Lift, however, is a Kölsch style beer.  This is one that would be perfect for the summer or an 80 degree day in October.  Not much to say about this one, except it’s a standard Kolsch and is very drinkable. If you are looking for something lighter or just like a good Kolsch style beer then pick this one up.

Lauren went with more of a seasonal fall pick this week with Lazy Magnolia’s Jeff Stout Sweet Potato Cream Stout.  This is a great beer for that cooler fall weather.  Even though it’s a cream stout it’s not heavy at all and has a nice carmel flavor.  Lauren wasn’t sure how the sweet potatoes played in the beer, but they didn’t negatively affect the flavor.  If you are in the market for a fall beer with a little creaminess, some nice nuttiness and a good carmel flavor pick this one up.

 

Carrie’s beer this week comes from Zatec brewery in the Czech Republic.  The main reason Carrie picked up this beer was because of the date on the label “since 1004”.  Any brewery that’s been around that long has to know what they’re doing.  This dark lager is perfect for cooler weather and shorter days.  If you want a darker beer for this time of year, but a stout or porter is just to heavy for you look for this beer or the dark lager style.  It combines the richness of a dark beer with the lightness of a lager, which means you could definitely have more than one.  Highly recommend, to drink on those cold rainy late fall days.

 

 

 

Episode 82 It’s a Beer Trappe!  We talk craft beer with Kevin Patterson live from The Beer Trappe. If you’re into craft beer or even if you aren’t we guarantee you will learn something about beer on this episode. Leigh goes off on the MLB, we fall down the GBS fact hole about the World Series, Carrie has her say about the USMNT we do our week 8 college pick’em and more!

Listen to “Episode 82 It’s A Beer Trappe!” on Spreaker.

 

Don’t let this label fool you, Carrie’s pick this week, EvilTwin Brewing’s Pink Lemonade IPA is a delicious, refreshing beer that you’ll want to drink year round.  Even if you aren’t a fan of IPA’s we guarantee you will like this beer.  Not too bitter, with just enough grapefruit to give it a little bite, this beer really tastes like pink lemonade, tart, sweet and very refreshing.  There isn’t much more we can say about this one, you’ll just have to try it for yourself.

This week’s guest Kevin, went with an on draft offering from The Beer Trappe, Anchorage Brewing’s Galaxy White IPA.  If you are looking for a sour, farmhouse type IPA without the cloudiness that’s typical of those types of beers then definitely check this one out.  It’s got a funky, almost wine like quality to it, again without being overpoweringly sour or too bitter on the back-end.  Kevin defintely recommends this one again even if you aren’t a fan of the genre, we’d listen to Kevin, he is a certified beer guide.

The Beer Trappe offers a couple of gluten-free options in their cooler, which made Leigh very happy since she doesn’t get to drink beer too often when she goes out.  She chose the Green’s amber ale for this week’s show and she wasn’t disappointed.  Green’s has several gluten free variety’s of beer and this one would be great for this time of year (fall).  It tasted like beer and wasn’t overly sweet like many dark gluten free beers can be.  Even if you aren’t gluten free, we would recommend trying this one just because, we’re pretty sure it will change your opinion of gluten free beers.

We loved recording at Mirror Twin so much that we took it on the road again, recording live at the UK tailgate this past Saturday. We have a guest sitting in the fourth chair with us and we talk tailgating stories, homecoming, do an RIP Jell-O shot, give our week 7 college football pick’em and more! We’re bringing the party to you! #WBLZ #wedowhatwant #GBSpodcast #WeveGotBallz

Listen to “Episode 81 Live from Commonwealth Stadium it’s GBS!” on Spreaker.

We did have a sharin’ beer this week and it was definitely an interesting one…

Rhinegeist’s Penguin is a special release Blonde Stout.  It delivers what it promises.  It pours a blonde color, but it has the distinct coffee/coco flavors of a stout.  It’s like those foods that look like one thing, but taste like something else.  If you like the flavors of a stout, without the heaviness of a dark beer pick this one up or if you’ve never been a stout person because of the heaviness this is the beer for you. We would also recommend picking it up to fool your friends, don’t tell them what they’re drinking and see how they react, guaranteed their minds will be blown.

Carrie really likes MadTree Brewing’s Psychopathy a great IPA out of the Cincinnati brewery, so she was very excited to find that they are now making a Blood Orange version.  The art work on this can is really great and the quote on the can is interesting to say the least (if you want to know more about the quote, you’ll have to listen to the episode).  The beer itself was good, especially if you like a fuller, heavier IPA.  Unfortunately the blood orange just didn’t stand up to the beer.  Blood Orange tends to be a more subtle flavor and just does not to come through in a stronger IPA.  Again this is a good IPA with some great can art, but if you’re looking for blood orange flavor, find Dark Horse Brewing’s Rain in Blood.

 

 

We welcomed Mike to the fourth chair this week.  Race car driver Matt recommended him and he did a great job.  He did bring a beer, but more importantly he brought jello shots!  The beer he picked up was an offering by local Lexington brewery West Sixth.  Their Imperial Oatmeal Stout Aged in Kentucky Bourbon Barrels is a limited release beer in collaboration with Liquor barn.  Mike doesn’t live in the area (in fact we found out that he drives from Washington DC for every home game) so he was really excited to find this at liquor barn.  He really enjoyed it, saying it was the perfect blend of bourbon and oatmeal stout and even at 10% wasn’t too boozy.  If you are in the area and can find this at a liquor barn pick it up, you might want to wait to drink it until it’s not 80 degrees out though.

 

Leigh liked the Ace Pumpkin Cider that we shared with the KYTastebuds a couple of weeks ago so much that she wanted to drink a whole one by herself to see if it stood up.  She was very happy that it did, she was ready to have a couple more after the show was over.  Again this is a great cider that has the all of the flavor of apple pie and none of the pumpkin  and should be a go to once the weather gets cooler, unfortunately it’s still 80 degrees here in Lexington Kentucky.

Lauren went with another beer that goes great with fall weather Bell’s Best Brown Ale.  If you are looking for a beer with a lot of flavor, but that isn’t too dark, pick this one up.  It’s got a nice subtle nutty flavor and is smooth enough that you absolutely could have more than one.  Once the weather finally turns cool (around here anyway) this is a beer you want on hand in front of the fire pit or wearing that sweater at the tailgate.

 

 

 

In this episode we have our first ever live taping from Mirror Twin Brewing Co here in Lexington Kentucky in honor of their one year anniversary on Sept.30th. Head brewer and co-owner Derek joins us to talk all things beer and how the first year for Mirror Twin has gone. We also talk about Playboy, the NCAA scandal/disaster and whether college players should be played and of course we have our week 6 College Football Pick’em.

Listen to “Episode 80 Twining” on Spreaker.

 

 

This week was all about Mirror Twin and their amazing selection of beers.  With so many to choose from we guarantee you will find something you like or even something new.   We can’t say enough about their beer or the fact that they have some of the best pizza in Lexington courtesy of Rolling Oven, which is set up inside the brewery.  Nothing goes better together than pizza and beer and you certainly can’t go wrong with Mirror Twin and Rolling Oven.

In terms of what we drank on the show this week….

 

(Note: The Stanley Cup cup was there, just didn’t make the picture)  Although Mirror Twin doesn’t currently make their own cider, they also have one on rotating draft for those that can’t drink beer or just aren’t beer drinkers.  This week’s offering was Bubbles from Rhubegeist.  Leigh chose to have it in the can, although it was available on draft as well.  This a really good classic popular cider that Leigh has had in the past.  It’s not too sweet and paired really good with the gluten-free pizza that she had (the pizza isn’t pictured, but Rolling Oven does offer that option).

Carrie went with the Don’t Haze Me Bro, which is a hazey IPA, but turns out is also a New England style IPA, which has become more and more popular.  You’ll have to listen to the episode to hear what Derek has to say about making this style of beer, particularly how no two batches have been alike.  As for the beer itself, it’s has a slightly creamy mouth feel with just a touch of bitterness on the back-end.  Carrie isn’t a huge fan of cloudy beers, but this one was really good, so good in fact she had to get the CFO to get her another one during taping.

Lauren went an Autumn Amber called House of Mirrors, which is a collaboration with Rock House Brewing (check out our episode Rock House not Rolling Rock with Kindsey Bernhard for more info on this Lexington Brewery).  This is a great fall beer with a low percentage of only 4.9%.  Browns or Ambers tend to be great fall beers because they give you just enough flavor for the cool weather without being too heavy.

 

We can’t say enough about Mirror Twin and Rolling Oven pizza.  We had a blast doing our first live taping from their tap-room.  We can’t say enough about the great beer they produce and their kid/dog friendly environment.  If you live in Lexington and haven’t been there yet, stop reading this and go right now.  If you live outside of Lexington make sure you put Mirror Twin on your list of must stop places when/if you ever visit, tell ’em Girls, Beer, Sports sent ya!

 

We welcome back Tamara and Leigh of the Kentucky TasteBuds as our first repeat guests! On this Kentucky themed episode We talk tailgate must haves, tailgate dos and don’ts, football game day fashion, week five College Football pick’em and more! Stacey also joins us this week for some pumpkin cider and tennis, not necessarily in that order.

Make sure to follow the TasteBuds on twitter @KYtastebuds and check out their website Kentucky TasteBuds for all things trendy in Kentucky.

Listen to “Episode 79 Themes on Themes #KentuckyEdition” on Spreaker.

This week’s sharin’ beer is actually a cider and not just any cider a Pumpkin Cider from Ace.  Ace has a lot of great cider offerings and when Carrie saw this at Liquor Barn there was no way she was going to pass it up.  Leigh never gets to be a part of the pumpkin beer awfulness at this time of year so we were glad we finally found something that she could “enjoy”.  Tamara from the Tastebuds loves everything pumpkin so she was excited about trying it and of course Stacey was all in on the pumpkin.  However, no one hated it, even Carrie who is totally against pumpkin beer liked it.  Everyone agreed that the pumpkin spice made it taste like and apple pie or a mulled cider.  This would be a great beverage to have as the weather turns cooler and fire pits become more abundant.  It wasn’t too sweet and the spices didn’t over power the cider, which created a great balance.  Although at first glance it may look like something that would be awful, take our word for it, it’s actually good and worth trying.

Leigh doubled up on the cider this week with the sharin’ beverage and Country Boy Brewing’s Classic Hard Cider.  Since opening their Georgetown facility in Georgetown Kentucky they have started canning several different beers for wide distribution.  Luckily for Leigh their Classic Hard Cider was one of them.  This is a great cider that uses locally sourced apples.  It has a nice crisp taste and isn’t too sweet.  You could definitely drink more than one of these, forget regular apple cider this fall, if you are in the distribution area for Country Boy (which is expanding), pick this up and enjoy it next to your favorite fire pit.

Tamara and  TasteBud Leigh both went for the newest Country Boy flavor in a can, Key Lime Cougar Bait.  The classic Cougar Bait has been around since CB opened five years ago, but they decided to bring put the lime in it to put a spin on the classic.  The lime works really really well, it’s not chemically or artificial tasting at all and it really brightens up the beer.  Hopefully this one sticks around because it would be a great lawn mowing, pool side, patio sitting beer for the summer, but don’t hesitate to go ahead and pick it up anyway cause it’s that good.

Nacho Bait is another Country Boy beer that has been around since the brewery started and has always been a GBS favorite, so we were really excited when they decided to start canning it.  We were a little hesitant, however, because we have felt like CB turned down the heat on this beer in the last couple of years.  Stacey got to test this theory and she was very pleasantly surprised that the heat on the can had been turned up.  This was the beer that Stacey and the rest of us had come to love initially at CB.  If ya like the a beer with some heat in the can, Stacey definitely recommends that you pick this one up.

Lauren continued the Kentucky beer theme this week from a beer from Great Flood Brewing Co out of Louisville.  Now it’s no secret that we aren’t fans of the Birds With Teeth (biological fact they don’t have them) out of that city, but we will admit that Louisville does have a lot of good breweries.  Lauren had never had anything from Great Flood before and she was really happy with her Toasted Brown Ale choice.  The beer delivered everything it promised in terms of a great nutty, toasted flavor that you want in a brown ale.  At 5.2% it makes it an easy drinking beer for fall weather.  Put this one in your tailgate/fire pit party cooler.

Since Oktoberfest is almost over Carrie wanted to make sure to send this year’s out right and stay on the train.  She actually hit the exacta with this one, West Sixth is a Lexington  KY Brewery and Danke Chain is an Oktoberfest Beer.  This is a great Oktoberfest beer, a little carmely and malty and would go great with brats or pretzels.  West Sixth distributes to a wide part of the country so chances are good you can find this in your area.  Even though the traditional Oktoberfest celebration is coming to an end, it’s still worth picking up some Danke Chain for the actual month of October.  Plus you can annoy your friends by singing some Wayne Newton every time you drink it.