2/6: Five beers in six days

After month #1 of My Year of Beer, I was was tired.  Not tired of drinking beer, but tired of writing about drinking beer.  A post takes about an hour to write, and this is not my whole life or my career.  On Friday, February 1st, I worked until quitting time, walked to my car and found that my car wouldn't start.  I called my wife for a ride because I needed to get to one of my volunteer gigs - the monthly fish fry at my church.  She was able to get me to the fish fry 10 minutes before the doors opened.  (Just 20 minutes late.)  Other volunteers had organized my station, so I was ready to go when the doors opened.  My station?  I sell beverages; bottled water, soda and yes - beer - cans on Miller Genuine Draft and Miller Lite and bottles of the "mystery" Beer of the Month, (BOM).  This month the BOM was Killian's Irish Red. 

As the fish fry was wrapping up, one of the guys from the kitchen offered me a cup of the beer they use to batter the fish. (Pabst?) And when the event ended I was able to have one of the BOM's with my fish fry.  Then it was time to go home.  At home we had invited over my home-brewing friends; Jim S. and Jon P. (and their wives) - with whom we are hosting the "Beer Dinner" in June.  Jon and Jim brought beer - as did my father-in-law.  We opened a bottle of Trader Joe's 2012 Vintage Ale and shared its contents.

The next day, after getting my car battery replaced and coaching my basketball team, I attended a sheepshead party that was a fundraiser for my church.  While playing cards I had two bottles of New Glarus' Spotted Cow.

Over the next four days, I had three days of work, two basketball practices, my bocce night and a can of Tecate with dinner tonight.

So let us recap.  I worked a fish fry and attended a sheepshead party in successive nights.   That is why they call me...

-Jim from Milwaukee

1/31: Milwaukee Brewing's Booyah Farmhouse Ale

 

So my "Year of Beer" ends month number one with Booyah, a farmhouse ale from the Milwaukee Brewing Company.  (My first beer from the city of Milwaukee.)  Farmhouse ales are also known as "saisons."  These beers, which originated in the southern Belgian countryside, were typically brewed in the spring.  According to MJ, they "had to be sturdy enough to last for some months, but not too strong to be a summer and harvest thirst quencher." (Companion, p. 125)  But Booyah is year-round beer for Milwaukee Brewing

MJ describes the style as... "refreshingly crisp, tart beers" and "the flavor was heightened by a generous dose of hops, and perhaps spices." (p. 125)  To me, it tastes somewhere in between a summer wheat/white beer and a hoppy ale.  According to the brewery's website, one of the owners explains that Booyah was named after a soup/gathering-centered-around-eating-the-soup.  He said that the soup is made with a long list of ingredients, and their farmhouse ale is too. 

It is a fine beer.  The spices (if there are any) are subtle.  It starts out slightly fruity and ends on a hoppy note.  As I have said before "hoppy" is not my favorite taste in beer, but it might be yours.  It rates a 3.

-Jim from Milwaukee