Author: girlsbeersports

This week we welcome Kindsey Bernhard from Rock House Brewing to the show to talk all about Lexington’s newest brewery on the block. Lauren channels her inner Stacey and drinks a pumpkin beer of her own free will. We discuss if Carrie can get out of jury duty, fall down the GBS Oktoberfest fact hole and of course get our college football pick’em of the week on.

Listen to “Episode 78 Rock House Not Rolling Rock” on Spreaker.

Not only did Kindsey come on the show to talk about Rock House Brewing she brought a growler of their American Pale Ale, which we turned into our sharin’ beer for this week.  This beer delivered everything that she promised it would.  It was smooth and easy to drink with just enough bitterness to give it a little bite at the end.  This would be a great beer to pick up for a tailgate or just at home drinking, ya know after work or jury duty.  If you don’t like IPA’s because of the bitterness and don’t want anything too dark this would also fit the bill.  Definitely stop into the brewery and check out their American Pale Ale as well as their other selections.  If you want more information on the brewery you’re just gonna hafta listen to the episode.

Rock House does keep a cider on tap and Kindsey was kind enough to bring Leigh a sample of what they have on tap right now.  Ganrly Grove’s Ledgendberry hard cider.  That’s the actual can it comes in, but Kindsey brought Leigh’s in a repurposed water bottle, which was great, and reminded us all of our old college days of trying to sneak alcohol into various events like class.  The cider itself was ok, at 6% it’s on the high end and the sweetness was a little much, probably don’t want to have more than a couple of these.  Feel free, however, to forgo the can and use a water bottle, to make drinking this one more nostalgic or adventurous.

Kindsey also brought a New Belgium Fat Tire Belgian White special release for her personal drinking beer on the show.  This one isn’t around long, so if you want to try it you probably need to buy it now.  Made with seville orange peel and ground coriander this is what you would expect from New  Belgium and their Fat Tire beer, a great beer, easy drinking with a lot of flavor.  At only 5.2% you could definitely drink more than one of these and this is a great fall alternative if you’re looking for something other than Oktoberfest or pumpkin beers.

Lauren channeled her inner Stacey for this week’s pick and of her own free will went with Elysian Brewing’s Night Owl Pumpkin Ale.  There really isn’t much to say about this beer.  If you like pumpkin beers then you will love this beer, which Lauren described as pumpkin pie in a bottle.  If you hate pumpkin beers then you will hate this beer because yeah pumpkin pie in a bottle.  This beer did not get any better as the show went on, if you can believe that.  Seriously if you want to drink pumpkin beer do yourself a favor and go find New Belgium’s Voodoo Ranger Atomic Pumpkin that we had on the show last week.

It’s still Oktoberfest season so Carrie continued her theme of Oktoberfest beers this week.  And this week’s pick is Shiner Oktoberfest, from the good people who bring you Shiner Bock and other great Shiner beers.  We’ve had regular Shiner Bock before and that’s a great straightforward beer.  If you like that then you’ll like Shiner Oktoberfest.  It’s really what you would come to expect from an Oktoberfest beer, dark in color with a slight malty/carmely flavor.  It was definitely different from the Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest that Carrie had a couple of shows ago, but not in a bad way.  Recommend picking this one up if you are shopping around for different Oktoberfests, pick up the Sierra Nevada too and compare!

Stacey’s back from the black lodge and we’re pretty sure she’s not evil. We talk everything from the Twin Peaks Finale, U.S. Open, College football and more! It’s also that time of year and yes we drink a pumpkin beer. Did we hate it or love it? You’ll just have to listen to find out.

Listen to “Episode 77 Weihenstephaner Y’all” on Spreaker.

Tis the season and yes, we went there this week with the sharin’ beer.  New Belgium’s Voodoo Ranger Special Release Atomic Pumpkin.  This pumpkin beer has the cinnamon that you would expect, but it also has some nice heat on it with the addition of habanero.  The contrast between the heat and the cinnamon made this pumpkin beer probably one of the least offensive ones we’ve ever had.  Neither Stacey, Lauren or surprisingly Carrie hated it, although the cinammon on the front end was a little much for Carrie.   Also, this beer wasn’t overly hoppy, regular Voodoo Ranger is a pretty hoppy IPA, but that didn’t come through at all with the cinammon and the heat. Pumpkin beers are still kind of the worst and there are just a lot of bad ones out there, however, if you want to have one because it’s that time of year, definitely try to find the Atomic version.

 

Leigh’s really grasping at straws this week to hang onto summer with her choice of Angry Orchard’s Summer Honey cider.  Unfortunately summer will probably come to its end with the name of this one.  It was just way to sweet for Leigh, the addition of the honey on top of the apples was just too much.  There are several other ciders that Leigh has had over the past couple of weeks that would let you close out summer in crisp, clean fashion, unfortunately this isn’t one of them.  You’ve still got a few more days until it’s “officially” fall and you might want to skip the cider all together and pick up some spiked seltzer to close out the season.

Stacey dug around in Lauren’s beer fridge this week and came out with Mikkeller’s Fruit Face, part of their Berliner Series, which is actually fitting since we are on the Oktoberfest train right now.  Mikkeller is the same brewery that brought us the awesomely named and pretty good tasting coffee stout Brunch Weasel.  This Berliner Style Weisse beer brewed with mango, coconut and habanero did not disappoint either.  The fruit and the heat were both present in this one, which is always great when a beer can deliver what it promises.  The only thing that Stacey didn’t like about the beer was that without her glasses, she couldn’t read the writing on the can.  She claims it was the lighting in the room we were in, but we know it’s cause she can’t see.

Lauren’s pick this week comes from Lagunitas Brewing.  Lagunitas is a solid brewery and it’s safe to say that we really haven’t had anything from them that we’ve completely disliked or wouldn’t recommend.  The Aunt Sally dry hopped, sweet tart, sour mash ale had a lot of complex stuff going on.  This wasn’t a bad thing, it was just on first sip this beer was very different.  Lauren got fruit, sour and hoppiness, many complex flavors going on.  She wasn’t sure how she was going to feel about this one, but as the show progressed and the beer opened up the flavor changed a bit.  Although she probably couldn’t drink more than one or maybe two Lauren really liked all the different things that this beer delivered.  If you’re looking for a beer that’s got a lot going on with a complex flavor profile that definitely has the potential to change then we highly recommend picking this one up.

Carrie is all in on the Oktoberfest/German beer train this month so it was fitting that her pick came straight from the German beer aisle at liquor barn.  Weihestephaner is the world’s oldest brewery (well according to their bottle anyway) and while they make a variety of different German style beers, Carrie chose to go with the Hefeweissbeir Dunkel this week.  As far as Dunkel’s go this is a pretty good one, although a bit lighter and less carmely than other Dunkel’s you may have had in the past.  Carrie didn’t have any issues with taste or drinkability, however, when poured the beer had a significant amount of foam and there was some sediment in the bottom of the bottle, which also poured into the glass.  The sediment didn’t affect the flavor of the beer, but it may be off-putting to some people.  Brewed under the beer purity law of 1516,  it just doesn’t get anymore Oktoberfest or German than Wehenstephaner’s Hefeweissbeir Dunkel.

 

This week we welcome friend of the show Matt to talk all about his adventures as an amateur race car driver in Formula First racing. We talk tons on college football including getting into week 2 or our CFB pick’em, plus find out how much money it would take for Carrie to do a garbage bag shot.

Listen to “Episode 76 666 The Number of the Beers” on Spreaker.

Since the calendar has finally turned over to September it is now time to drink all the German Beers, so this week’s sharin’ beer is a german style Maibock from Ft. Collins Brewery in Ft. Collins Colorado.  Technically this beer is supposed to be enjoyed in the spring, hence the name, but since it is now officially Oktoberfest season, we said it’s German and it counts.  This just also happened to be guest Matt’s favorite style of beer, which was a plus.  This was a great beer that delivered exactly what it promised.  It had a nice body to it, wasn’t too bitter and really did deliver on the toffee notes.  Again Liquor Barn had this available now, so tis the season.  If you see this pick it up as a complement to all of the Oktoberfest you’ll be drinking for the rest of the month.

We had a great craft beer from Mexico last week, and not to be left out of the great offerings from outside of the U.S., Leigh picked up a cider from New Zealand to try this week.  Peckham’s Traditional cider with elderflower.  Leigh has actually had several ciders the last couple of weeks with this particular ingredient and we learned thanks to @ChrisScoutTeam on the twitter elderflower makes you invisible, at least according to The Lord of the Rings.   The floral notes were definitely there in this cider, unlike other ciders that Leigh has had that have claimed to have elderflower but didn’t have any floral taste at all.  This cider wasn’t too sweet either, it’s price point was a little high at $11, but if you are interested in floral ciders or even ciders from outside the U.S. that aren’t English pick this one up.  Also let us know how it works for invisibility.

(Please note that the above picture is for the Sixfold Six Wild Sour with Tart Cherry, Matt’s was made with Plums).  Guest Matt went local this week with his choice of West 6th brewing’s Sixfold Six Wild Sour.  This is a sour with plenty of Brett and a cask finish.  Unlike a lot of cask finish beers this one comes in on the low end of the AVB spectrum at around 6%.  This made it very drinkable, not too boozy and not too sour.  You can only get this at the West 6th tap-room here in Lexington, but if you’re in the area it is defintely worth stopping by to pick up.

Lauren’s been on the IPA train for so long that we almost forgot who she was for a second.  She jumped off that train this week with Faro Lambic, a Belgian Faro Beer with brown sugar.  If you like fruit beers then the lambic is always a good choice.  Lauren was curious about what the brown sugar would do to this one and was pleasantly surprised that it didn’t make this beverage too sweet.  Technically this is a malt beverage, but if you’re looking for something different with a low alcohol percentage and some sweetness to it that’s not a cider, we highly recommend picking this up.

Now that it is no longer August, Carrie is all in on the Oktoberfest beers, the first one out of the gate came from a twitter recommendation @meisterbuerger and did not disappoint.  Sierra Nevada’s Oktoberfest 2017, brewed in collaboration with Brauhuas Miltenberger.  This is a great Oktoberfest style beer and you can absolutely have more than one of these.  It’s very smooth and actually lighter than many Oktoberfest style beers out there, some of which can get a little malty/heavy after two or three (and who wants to just have two or three oktoberfest beers).  This will definitely make its way into our tailgate cooler, highly recommend picking this up, even if you aren’t a fan of the style.

 

 

Episode 75 We Put The Band Back Together! Stacey returns in this jam packed episode where we talk US Open tennis, Mayweather v McGregor, why living in college dorms kinda sucked but why we’d do it now and of course this episode marks the triumphant return of our College Football Pick’em! Give a listen, tell your friends and enjoy our new sound!

 

We love finding craft breweries outside of the U.S., we were lucky enough to try Nita Brewing out of Canada thanks to our friends at Ridin’ Pine Show and this week’s sharin’ beer also comes to us from outside the U.S.  Cerveza Cucapa is (labeled on their bottle anyway) as Mexico’s Best Craft Brewery and while it’s beer can mainly be found in the Southwest U.S. we just happened to find it at Liquor Barn in Lexington KY.  The LowRider Pale ale is a Rye Ale made with a bunch of hops (this was the exact description on the bottle) so we aren’t sure exactly what hops went into it.  At 7.2% it was a little boozy, but did have the kind of sweet, malty flavor that you would find in a Rye.  If you are interested in craft breweries outside of the U.S. and you can find any of Cucapa products we highly recommend checking out the LowRide. Liquor Barn did carry a few more of their beers, including a Barleywine, so don’t be surprised to hear us drink another one in a future episode.

Leigh’s selection this week comes from Blake’s Hard Cider Co. in Michigan.  Blake’s is pretty widely distributed throughout the U.S. so finding this one probably won’t be too hard.  This is a pear cider, made with pears, not bears.  This cider was fine, not to sweet or tart, fairly drinkable.  Really not much else to say about it.  Leigh liked it and would probably drink it again, especially since it falls into the not too sweet category.

Stacey was back on the show this week and brought Beer Geek’s Brunch Weasel with her.  Stacey loves brunch so this oatmeal stout brewed with coffee was right in her wheelhouse.  This is a high gravity beer at 10%, but wasn’t too “boozy” as many high gravity beers tend to be.  It had a nice coffee flavor and although you probably wouldn’t want to drink more than one of these (or maybe you would, we’re not gonna tell you what to do), having at least one of these at brunch would definitely help with that hangover.  We would like to also note that in addition to being a pretty good beer, Brunch Weasel would also be an awesome name for a band.

Lauren’s pick this week is from a Kentucky brewery right up the road from Lexington in Covington KY.  Braxton Brewing’s Storm is a Golden Cream Ale.  This is a great lawnmower beer to help you hang onto the last vestiges of summer.  At 4.8% you could definitely have more than one of these, which would make it a great beer for tailgating at football games as well.  Lauren found the beer to be slightly creamy and not overly hoppy.  This is one Braxton product that she would defintely purchase again, unlike the Braxton Lab’s cucumber beer, which Carrie had a few weeks ago and was possibly one of the worst beers she’s ever had.  If you’ve ever wondered what bath and body works tastes like then pick up their Cucumber Witbier.

Refusing to give up summer just yet, Carrie’s pick this week puts the coconut in the beer instead of the lime.  Dogfish Head’s Lupu-Lauau IPA is brewed with coconut and coconut water.  Dog Fish Head is notorious for putting a variety of different ingredients in their beer as we can attest, having had some interesting offerings from them in the past.  This beer, however, was slightly disappointing, the IPA was fine, not too hoppy and very drinkable, but there was no coconut.  There wasn’t even a hint of coconut, even letting it sit in the Stanley Cup cup didn’t bring out the flavor.  If you are looking for coconut then you should probably skip this one.

 

 

Episode 74 is finally up! We bust out brand new equipment for this show. Leigh is back and friend of the show Ann joins us to talk all things fantasy football as well as Last Chance U the second season.  And of course we also had to throw some conversation about the eclipse in there!

Listen to “Episode 74 Cords and Beer” on Spreaker.

This week’s sharin’ beer comes from New Holland Brewing’s Sour Series.  Mischievous II Sour Brown Ale with Peaches is an excellent beer to check out whether you are just getting into sours or are already a big fan of this style of beer.   We didn’t taste the peach as much as we would have liked (well everyone except for Leigh who couldn’t partake), but the nuttiness of the brown ale really helped to cut the sour flavor and give the beer a great smoothness, something that is often times missing in this syle of beer.  Ann, who typically doesn’t like dark beers, really liked this one because for her the sour actually helped lighten up the brown ale.  The balance on both sides of this beer was really great and could definitely be enjoyed by sour and non-sour fans alike.

 

 

To make up for her absence last week, Leigh had a twofer this week.  She was on the spritzer/hard seltzer train with White Claw’s Ruby Grapefruit and Palm Breeze’s Ruby Grapefruit.  Leigh has had several White Claw products on the show and can’t say enough about all their flavors,  their ruby red was just as good as everything else that she’s had.  Crisp, flavorful and gluten free you really can’t go wrong with this or any of their other flavors.  The Palm Breeze was just slightly ahead of the White Claw for Leigh, not neccesarily due to flavor, but due to the fact that it had lower carbination. (Full disclosure, Palm Breeze is only made to remove gluten so depending on your gluten sensitivity you may want to be careful).  If you like less carbination check out the Palm Breeze, but really either one is a good choice.

Friend of the show Ann joined us this week to talk fantasy football strategy and she brought some Naraganset’s Shandy to enjoy.  You can’t go wrong with a Shandy, what’s not to love about lemonade and beer?  Since we are trying to hold onto the last vestiges of summer this was the perfect beer to drink on the show.  Lemony, but not like lemon pledge, not too sweet and a low percentage alcohol makes this a great pool beer to try to hold onto summer and beat back the impending flood of pumpkin beer that is ready to bust through the dam next month.

Lauren took a break from IPAs last week, but jumped right back on the train with this week’s selection, we really don’t know who she is anymore.   Rhinegeist’s Astro Dwarf is a Hazy India Pale Ale that  we can add this to the list of IPAs that Lauren liked and would drink again.  Brewed with Bravo, Galaxy, Mosaic and Hallertau Blanc hops you would think that this beer would be super hoppy, but it’s not and has some nice citrus notes to cut through the hops.  Even at 6% Lauren could drink a couple of these and this is another great beer to drink to try to hold onto summer and hold off the gallons of pumpkin beer that are going to start flowing.

Carrie’s beer this week comes from Moody Tongue out of Chicago.  We are pretty sure that this is a brewery that is new to Lexington, it’s definitely one we haven’t seen in Liquor Barn  until a couple of weeks ago.  Although they have many different offerings, Carrie went with their Smoked Applewood Gold, which is a gold lager.  This beer much like their label is pretty minimalist.  The first few sips yielded a nice subtle smokey flavor, which unfortunately didn’t last through the whole beer.  The lager itself was a fine standard lager, it was just slightly disappointing that the smoke flavor didn’t carry over the entire beer.  Carrie would be interested to try some other Moody Tongue beers in the future, if you see them in your area, give them a try.

 

We’re back after a week off  we don’t have Leigh or Stacey, but we’ve got a great show and some great beers.  Don’t forget to check us out anytime on wblzsports.com, WBLZ, We’ve Got Ballz…..

Episode 73 Football or Futbol…Brian from The Louisville Tottenham HotSpur Supporters club (follow them on twitter @lvillespurs) joins us on this brand new episode. We talk about the impending eclipse, learn why Americans call it soccer in our GBS Fact of the week and play a new segment called GBS Debates where we discuss the Football or Futbol?

Listen to “Episode 73 Football or Futbol” on Spreaker.

 

Before we get to the beer reviews Leigh did send us a speical message this week from her “specail assignment”…..Leigh…..

Hey Ya’ll!

I decided to give a special assignment report since I know you missed my voice on this week’s episode (Episode 73: Football or Futbol) 😉  I had the pleasure of having some dental work done that caused me to be unable to talk and have quite an attractive droopy smile.  While under some good drugs, provided by my dentist, a few thoughts and a few things I am super grateful for, hit me like a ton of bricks almost literally as I came close to hitting the side of my house after all of this.

First, I want to say that I am super grateful to these women that I have gotten to know over this journey and to Carrie for bringing us together.  The events I’ve experienced and people I’ve met through this amazing thing we have started is something I cannot even begin to explain in words.  Never would I think that people would want to know our opinion about stuff, let alone even read the words I type!

Next, a special shout to WBLZSports is in order!  These folks sought out this podcast and reached out to us about putting us on their airways.  Even if a few people hear us, this is something Carrie and I only dreamed about in a small room in a place that shall remain nameless 😉  If you are reading this because you heard us on WBLZSports, please send us a line on any of our platforms and let us know you are with us, and topics you would like us to cover.  We love to hear from our listeners!

FOOTBALL is upon us (praise hands emoji, heart emoji, football emoji)!!!!  I wanted to be a part of this episode because as much as I love American football, I can get behind some futbol.  I went to a very small school in college, but the sport that ruled the school was soccer (aka: futbol).  The men’s and women’s teams won NATIONAL Championships while I was a student there.  The knowledge I gained about EPL and all the various leagues and national teams while I was there really gave me a newfound respect and love of the sport.  However, I do follow our national teams more than I am a fan of any WSL or MLS or EPL team, I do love the Crew (Columbus).

Lastly, I am grateful because it may be preseason, but the Browns WON a game! I know people can laugh at me all you want, but hey, we’re undefeated! LOL Even I know how ridiculous that sounds 😉 However, this football season (college & professional) is probably going to be crazy, exciting, and frustrating for all us that love the sport and those that partake in fantasy (stay tuned 😉 we will have some great convo about all that later on in the very near future)!

Again, as I have regained some semblance of feeling back in my face, I just wanted to thank all of our loyal listeners and avid fans that frequent our site.  This adventure has taken us on some great trips, met some amazing people, and of course…..BEER (cider in my case J).  Looking forward to a great fall and new shenanigans with some awesome women that I get to call friends!

~Leigh

Thanks Leigh!!!!!  We look forward to having you back next week,  Now on to the beer selections…..

 

Since we knew we were gonna talk a lot of EPL (soccer) on this week’s show the sharin’ beer had to be from England.  Samuel Smith is a solid brewery out of the U.K. (the country not the University of Kentucky) and they offer a variety of good beer.  The Pure Organic Lager was no exception.  We aren’t sure what the organic added to the beer, as Lauren pointed out, it didn’t taste like leaves, twigs or grass, but it was a pretty tasty Lager.  If you’ve never tried a Samuel Smith beer this would be a good starting point.  Not a whole lot else to say about it other than that it was a good English lager that Brian, Carrie and Lauren all said they would drink again.

Since our guest Brian this week is from Louisville he and Carrie decided to drink some beer from Against the Grain, a great brewery in the city.  Louisville has a ton of breweries and Against the Grain is probably in the top two or three in our opinion.  Their can art work is defintely some of the best not only in Kentucky, but possibly the world.  The beer inside the can is just as good as the art work on the outside.  Brian went with Bloody Show a Lager with Blood Orange.  Blood Orange can be a tricky fruit to put in a beer because the orange flavor can be subtle and overpowered by hops or sour.  Against the Grain gets it right with this beer, however, Brian really liked how the orange flavor cut through the lager just enough for him to taste the orange, but not over power the beer and vice versa.  If you’re looking for a solid beer with a slight fruit flavor you can actually taste and some awesome can art pick this one up.

Lauren also went with a fruit beer this week and unfortunately had the opposite experience that Brian did.  Crooked Stave’s Petite Sour Raspberry is part of their Artisan Beer Project.  This mixed fermentation ale is aged in oak with raspberries and much to Lauren’s disappointment was more sour than anything else.  Raspberry can usually cut through any style of beer and at times can be an over powering flavor, but this wasn’t the case with this particular beer.  Instead of a nice raspberry/sour balance Lauren got all sour and little to no raspberry flavor.  If you like a sour beer with little to no fruit flavor then by all means check this out, if you’re looking for some raspberry flavor you might try a Founders Rubaeus Raspberry Ale instead.

 

Carrie also went with an Against the Grain product this week.  Night Visions is a Kolsch style ale and at 4.5% you could stay up late drinking more than one of these.  Again the art work on the can makes it worth picking up.  It’s hard to screw up a Kolsch and Against the Grain made a perfectly drinkable beer, but the art work on the can is what really makes this stand out.  If you’re looking for a beer that you can drink more than one of pick up Night Visions, who knows what you’ll see in the can after about 5 or 6.

This week includes an unforgettable Pick Em where we discuss wigs, beards, knickers, and other unmentionables. Stacey returns briefly from her Brunch Quest, Lauren falls down The Fact Hole, and Very Special Guest Ben brings us some amazing home brews and home brewing tips! Carrie and Leigh have us covered on sports, and we discuss a Mystery Sport new to GBS! Don’t forget the three rules of this episode: always return the bottle, always sit at the bar, and…what was that third one? Oui oui!

Listen to “Episode 72: 50 QUs and Carry On!” on Spreaker.

 

 

 

This week’s sharin’ beers (that’s right plural) came to us from our special homebrewer extraordinaire guest Ben.  Stacey,  Carrie and Lauren were all able to sample from several beers including XXX Abbey, Resting Peach Face, Basic Brown Ale and a fine Heffe.  Unfortunately Leigh got left out again this week on the sharin’ beer.  Ben wanted honest feedback and we gave it to him (you’ll have to listen to the show to find out what we said).  We all agreed that the Resting Peach Face was the best out of the four.  Made with real peach juice that Ben harvested himself, it was a great beer with a light fruit flavor and incredibly drinkable.   We were disappointed when he said is was a seasonal. Ben gave some great advice on getting started in home brewing, his best tip though, was if a homebrewer gives you a beer to tray always return the bottle if you ever want them to give you their beer again.

Leigh was back on the spiked seltzer this week.  Her pick, White Claw’s Black Cherry.  Spiked seltzer has become a big trend this summer and for good reason, it’s only 5 carbs and is very refreshing.  Unlike light beer it’s got  flavor and unlike cider it’s not too sweet.  If you are looking for an alternative to light beer or cider definitely pick some of these up before the end of the summer.

Stacey took a break from her brunch and tennis tour this week and she appropriately picked local Lexington favorite Country Boy Brewing’s Shotgun Wedding for her first beer back (note she also was actually working on the trifecta with this, the sharin’ beer and some of Lauren’s).   Although it’s been available at their taproom for a while, Country Boy just started canning and distributing it.  Of course with most things Stacey drinks on the show this was in the can.  Shotgun Wedding is a great brown ale aged on vanilla beans.  The  brown ale gives way to a smooth vanilla flavor that is not overpowering. It’s been a favorite at Country Boy for a while and we’re glad we can buy it in the can.  If you see a six pack of these pick some up, if you’ve never tried it we guarantee you will like it.

Lauren is still off the IPA train, but she did join Stacey on the local brewery wagon (Stacey drank like half of this beer too, because a whole one would have put Lauren on the table literally!)  Her pick this week comes from Lexington’s West 6th Brewery, one of the first craft breweries to open in Lexington.  The Six Fold Six Wild Sour is a sour with an interesting profile.  On first sip it had a little funky brett flavor, but as it opened up throughout the course of the show the brett lessened and the sour came through.  It wasn’t as sour as the Rhinegeist Maracuja we had last week, which made it more enjoyable.  Not sure you can get it in stores, but you can definitely find it in the West 6th taproom.  If you live in Lexington or are just visiting stop in and pick one up.

Even though it’s only the beginning of August, we can see the invasion of Oktoberfest/Pumpkin beers on the horizon and Carrie is trying to hold that off as long as possible.  Her pick this week comes from Golden Road brewery in California.  The Pico To Mexico is a cucumber, lime lager with a hint of Habanero.  We had Golden Road’s Palisades Pineapple a few shows ago and really enjoyed it, the Pico unfortunately didn’t seem to work.  The lime and cucumber created a melon flavor that tasted a bit artificial and overpowered the lager.  If a hint of habenero meant no habenero then the beer definitely succeeded, which was really disappointing, because Carrie loves the spicy beers. Even the Stanley Cup cup couldn’t save this one.

GBS podcast is now a proud member of WBLZ Sports! Before you listen to this week’s episode go like their page! Episode 71 we welcome Tamara and Leigh, The Kentucky TasteBuds (hint go like their page too), talk UK women’s football clinic, point out that we called Michael Phelps vs the Shark, play Would You Eat That Leftovers and more! You’ll just have to listen on wblzsports.com.

Listen to “Episode 71: Not My Kroger Field” on Spreaker.

 

Leigh’s streak of sharin’ beer came to an end this week as Lauren, Carrie, Tamara and Kentucky Tastebuds Leigh tried a limited release from Rhinegeist.  Maracuja is a passion fruit gose sour ale that definitely delivers a sour punch.  The first few sips of this beer were really, really sour, but as with most sharin’ beer we have the flavors really opened up the longer it sat.  By the end of the show the sour had lessened and had given way to a nice passion fruit flavor.

Kentucky Tastebuds Tamara and Leigh brought Stone brewing’s Tangerine Express IPA to try.  If you don’t like IPA’s this probably isn’t the best beer to pick up.  Tamara and Leigh didn’t hate it, but it wasn’t a favorite, there was just too much hops and not enough tangerine or pineapple flavor for either of them.  Carrie and Lauren also both gave this a try, the initial pour had way to much head and even though Lauren has been on the IPA train the last few weeks, she felt like the beer was too hoppy and bitter.

Leigh tried a new product from CiderBoys this week, their British Dry.  At the first few sips it was really, really dry, however, as the show went on it got much better.  Not too sweet, with just enough crispness, Leigh said she was going to go out and buy a six pack after the show.  If you like a dry cider, definitely pick this one up.

Lauren’s streak of IPAs finally came to an end this week with Carson Brewing’s Red Dawn.  Red Dawn is an Amber Wheat Ale with a great carmel malt flavor that pairs well with earthy hops.  Lauren really liked the smooth flavor of this one and since Carson’s is located in Evansville Indiana it’s just a short drive (at least from where we are) to their tap room to check out their other offerings.

Since Carrie was headed to Nashville this week to watch Tottenham take on Man City she decided to go with a local Nashville brew.  Tennessee Brew works just appeared in Kentucky, so she decided to check out their Walk the Lime.  Unfortunately the name Walk the Lime is a bit misleading.  The beer is an American Wheat and again based on the name you would think that there would be maybe even a hint of lime, but alas this was not the case.  The beer itself was a fine standard American Wheat, but the lack of lime made it kind of pedestrian.  Even drinking it out of the Stanley Cup cup didn’t do anything else for it.  Tennessee Brew works has some other products available, which maybe worth a try and if you’re looking for a decent American Wheat beer this is an ok choice.  If you’re looking for something with actual lime flavor, however, pick up Dogfish Head’s Sea Quench.

Episode 70; We welcome friend of the show Andrew to guest co-host while Stacey is on a brunch quest. We recap Lexington Burger week, wonder why there isn’t a taco week, hear about Andrew’s ghost adventure at Bobby Mackey’s and pick our walk up songs for everyday life tasks and much, much more! Listen and tell your friends!

Listen to “Episode 70 Ride With Yourself” on Spreaker.

Leigh is on a roll with the sharin’ beer, this week we shared a gluten free dubbel ale from Greens.  A lot of places carry Greens products in bottles and this is one of Leigh’s go to brands if she is out and would rather have beer over cider.  She hadn’t had this flavor before though.  Everyone was really pleasantly surprised at the drinkability of this beer.  It had a nice almost raisin or grape finish at the end, and tasted very much like a dubbel should.  It is made with sorghum, but definitely didn’t suffer from any over sweetness that usually comes with many gluten free beers.  Special co-host for the week Andrew said that this is something he would purchase.  Even if you’re not gluten free give this beer a try, if you are gluten free, cheers!

Leigh has discovered the wonderful world of Spiked Seltzer.  This is a gluten free product and comes in a variety of different flavors.  Leigh went with west indies lime this week.  This is a great choice if you are watching your carbs (5 per can), don’t want ultra light beer and want something with a fairly high ABV (6%).  This is definitely a pool, patio, summer beverage.  The lime was very refreshing and the seltzer itself wasn’t overly sweet.  These come in packs of 12 and with a variety of different flavors this is a great alternative to cider, ultra light beer or alcohol pop beverages.

Carrie picked out guest co-host Andrew’s beverage this week.  When she saw this in the singles section at Liquor Barn she knew Andrew had to drink it.  Rico Sauvin from Against the Grain Brewery in Louisville is a double IPA with a great name and even better can art (we’ve had other Againist the Grain products and all their can art is always great!)  It is labeled as a “sexy beer for a sexy man”, so of course Andrew had to drink it.  Don’t let the double IPA scare you away from this beer.  It is very smooth and easy drinking with some great hints of grape and passion fruits.  Andrew highly recommends this one and was ready to go out and buy a six pack after the show.

We really don’t know who Lauren is anymore.  When she first started the show she was not a fan of IPA’s at all, within the last month she keeps drinking IPA’s of her own free will.  Lauren blames this on the fact that her taste buds are dead, but we think that being a member of the GBS squad has broadened her horizons.  Her picked this week comes from Terrapin Brewery in Atlanta, Georgia and is her most hoppy IPA yet.  Aptly named Hopsecutioner, this beer is made with 6 different hops including Warrior, Chinook, Centennial, Simcoe, Amarillo and Cascade.  Surprisingly or not at this point Lauren really liked the beer.  It has a nice balance of hoppy bitterness and citrus.  It was a lot smoother than she thought that it would be.  It’s 7.3% so not really a pool or lawn mower beer, but it’s definitely something you could enjoy on a patio.  If you like IPA’s give this one a try for sure.

 

 

Carrie’s pick this week is a limited release collaboration between Sweet Water brewing and Telluride Brewing.  Torikumi is a wasabi infused blonde ale.  There is a whole story that goes along with the beer, and unfortunately the story is more interesting than the beer.  Carrie really loves beer infused with spice, jalapenos, habaneros etc. and she was really excited to try something with wasabi.  The blonde ale was fine, a bit creamy and smooth, but here was no heat at all.  Even drinking it out of the Stanley Cup cup didn’t improve it.  Either there wasn’t enough wasabi to give it a kick or the wasabi just didn’t hold up to the beer.  If you are looking for something with a lot of heat or spice, unfortunately, Carrie can’t recommend this one.

Episode 69 is a special one as we start our new Fact of the Week segment. What’s our first trip down the ole fact hole? You’ll have to listen to find out! Plus we talk about burgers, Wimbledon, and Carrie’s obsession with David Duchovny. We round it out with a special baseball Pick Em to honor the All Star game, which we all know embiggens the spirit of baseball! Give us a listen and tell your friends!

Listen to “Episode 69: Right in the Fact Hole” on Spreaker.

 

The Sharin’ beer this week is actually a cider and because it was a cider, Leigh got to participate in the sharin’ two weeks in a row!  South Cider comes to us from our favorite non beer/meadery place New Day up in Indianapolis.  Just as we have enjoyed their products in the past South Cider was no exception.  It is a basic straight forward cider, with honey, that at first sips felt like it was going to be too sweet.  Lauren, Carrie, Leigh and Stacey all agreed, however, that it turned out to be a really nice balance of dry and sweet, which is what you want in a cider.  It comes in at 6% and like with all New Day products has some great label art.  Highly recommend picking this one up, while your purchasing this, go ahead and buy some of their other products as well, you won’t be disappointed.

Leigh was doubling down on the cider this week with her pick from Original Sin.  Leigh wasn’t sure what an elderberry was or what one was supposed to taste like when she decided to go with this, but it was an Original Sin product she hadn’t had before, so why not.  The only knowledge that Lauren, Stacey and Carrie had about elderberries all derived from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, so they weren’t much help deciphering what the cider should taste like.  Surprisingly the elderberry cider tasted like…….cider, just regular cider.  We can attest to this because we passed the bottle around and all tried it.  Elderberries must be really subtle because neither Leigh or the rest of the group got any kind of berry flavor at all from this cider.  If you want to make numerous Monty Python jokes while you drink this then by all means pick some up, if you want to know what elderberries taste like…..ask your mother, she would probably know since she smells of them.

 

Stacey returned to the show this week, taking a break from following the off broadway production of Dirty Dancing around the country and was greeted by Lauren’s refrigerator with Golden Road’s Palisades Pineapple.  Golden Road is a brewery out of California and their Palisades Pineapple reflects that California vibe.  Stacey really enjoys it in the can (beer, she enjoys beer in the can, get your mind out of the gutter) and the Palisades Pinapple continued her streak of beers to drink in a koozie by the pool.  This American Wheat Ale with apricot and pineapple is very light and refreshing.  The classic wheat ale is the perfect balance to the subtle fruit flavors, you could drink more than one of these and not get overwhelmed by the fruit.  Add this to your pool cooler.

 

As someone who claims not to like IPA’s Lauren keeps drinking them every week and this week’s pick continues that trend.  Either she has started to like them or they have killed her sense of taste, she isn’t sure which, but either way she has continued to bring them to the table.  This week’s selection comes from Sierra Nevada, their Tropical Torpedo is a Tropical IPA.  You would think that a Tropical IPA would have maybe some fruit flavor, but this was not the case.  In fact Lauren stated that she really couldn’t taste any fruit, but she did like the beer.  It was a smooth IPA with just a hint of bitterness.  This is definitely a sipping beer,  if your interested also check out their regular Torpedo which is probably a better straightforward IPA without the “tropical”.

 

Carrie’s selection this week comes from Rogue Brewery in Oregon.  Rogue is one of what we would consider the older craft breweries around.  They were one of the first craft breweries we remember seeing at places here in Lexington, and most of their products are pretty good.  Their Hot Tub Scholarship Lager is a  pretty standard German Helles style Lager.  It’s not too hoppy and has a bit of creamy finish to it (of course it was being drunk out of the Stanely Cup cup, which always makes all beer taste better), definitely great really cold.  The great thing about this beer, however, is not the beer itself, but the story behind it and the cause it supports.   Rogue beer started a scholarship in honor of its late founder Jack Joyce.  The scholarship goes to support a student studying in the Fermentation program at Oregon State University.  The second student to receive the award stated that they used part of the money to buy a hot tub, something that Jack Joyce would have fully supported.  Rogue ran with this and created Hot Tub Scholarship Lager, 10% of the proceeds from this beer go to support the Jack Joyce scholarship.  Drinking beer for a cause always embiggens the spirit, embiggen your spirit and pick up some Hot Tub Scholarship Lager.