Sep
12
2011
Comments Off on Breweries and Russian Imperial Stouts.

Howdy, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, I know that I did. I watched my team beat up on the Colts (34-7). I watched my brothers team lose in the final seconds to New York (27-24). I drank some good beer, and toured two breweries. So, on that note, lets get started.

Friday, I made the trek down to Blanco, Texas to tour Real Ale. Now I have toured Real Ale before, so I intended to get there for the tasting hours because I heard via their facebook page that they would have their W3TF?! ale as the Mysterium Verum (Real Mystery) this week. They also had their classic Firemans #4, Russian Imperial Stout (Also know as their 15th Anniversary Ale), Real Heavy (A Scotch ale aged in whisky barrels) and my favorite, their Oktoberfest. Now, as a general rule, I am a HUGE fan of any beers that are allowed to age in whisky barrels. Especially when those whisky barrels are bourbon barrels, and even moreso when they come from my favorite distillery in Kentucky (Makers Mark). However, I found Real Heavy to be a little too sweet for my tastes on Friday, a good ale, a strong ale (it weighs in at over 9% ABV) and yes, I will buy a six pack or two of it, but it just didn’t hit the spot on Friday. Their W3TF?! was also tasty, a 100% fermented beer with a single strain of yeast from my understanding. However, being the Mysterium Verum it is not one that I expect to see out on the shelves anytime soon, if ever. One of the great things about Real Ale, is that they like to experiment, and they let their consumers enjoy their experiments. The casks are limited release (if there is a release) and usually just available at the brewery during tasting hours, or if you are REAL lucky, you can find them at local drinking holes from time to time.

Now, the tour itself was very informative, and I highly recommend that if you have a free Friday afternoon to check them out. They have tours at 3pm and 4pm every Friday. I’ve had two different tour guides, and each tour was different, with new information, and a different take on the brewing process. After the tour, I went around and found a little liquor store out in BFE, off of a gravel road, and it barely constituted a shanty with a screen door, but it was there. Now in this store, I found what I believe to have been reminiscent of Mecca for Real Ale. A few lone four packs of the discontinued 15th Anniversary Ale, a few bottles of Sisyphus 2010, 2009, AND 2007. Now, Sisyphus is pretty cool. I love the naming that goes on at Real Ale. Sisyphus is an ancient Greek myth, and being the purveyor of history that I am, I am enthralled by all things Greek and Roman revolving around the mythologies. Sisyphus was a human, who stood up to the gods and as a result was condemned to pushing a large boulder up a hill, and then watching it roll into the depths of hades, then repeating…. for all eternity. Now, some say that this is the ultimate triumph over the gods as Sisyphus is able to revel in watching the boulder crash into hades for all eternity, and that the view from atop the mountain is one that overlooks all society. The theorem is that in that moment, where he is free from all bounds and above all, that ultimate freedom and being is epiphanized. (Yes, that IS a Blake-word). Anyways, I digress. I had not ever seen the Sisyphus 2009, much less the 2007 (I was not legally able to drink in 2007) so I had to buy them regardless of cost. So I will write reviews on those when I indulge later this week hopefully.

I also visited Jester King this weekend, however I will detail my adventures there later this afternoon or this evening. Suffice to say, I have a lot of good things to note about the guys (and gal) out there.

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