Welcome to BeerWithBlake.com. This site / blog is designed to share with you my experiences with all things beer. This is where you will be able to find my latest tasting notes, as well as my travels to new breweries, and discussions with other beer lovers such as yourself. So, for starters I will begin with a little bit of background information on who I am, and why I drink the beer that I do.

I went to school at Texas A&M University from 2008-2010, where I graduated with a degree in Political Science. This alloted for a lot of time sitting around drinking beer in the Dixie Chicken and in circles where we would discuss the election, and other boring, liberal arts type topics. In my time at Texas A&M, I also was an attendee of Chilifest. A local music festival that I would compare to a “Redneck Woodstock”, thirty thousand drunk rednecks listening to Texas Country music. Fittingly, I would partake as a member of a Chilifest cookoff team appropriately named “Team I “Heart” Beer. How could one go wrong with that? I write these blogs as a lover of beers, but not an expert. I believe that all beer has its place, some beer should be left on the beer pong table, and some should never leave the state of Louisiana. My very first beer was a Miller Lite, courtesy of my buddy Raymond during the 2008 Superbowl. I did not touch alcohol in High school, or even my first couple of years in College. It was not until that February day that I had my first beer. I was NOT overly impressed. My second beer would come a couple of weeks later at a buddies house while the three of us were washing our Camaros, well except for Cory, he had a little Mustang GT that he was detailing. He offered me a Shiner 97 (A beer many of y’all know as Shiner Black) which I took and enjoyed. Thus began my beer drinking days.

Growing up in Texas, and not drinking beer, I made the decision a long time ago that when I was to drink beer, price was not a large concern. If I was going to poison my body with alcohol, it sure as hell was going to be tasty. I would begin with Shiner, branch into St. Arnolds, and then other “non-Texan” beers. I am a Shiner fanboy so to speak, I do love all things Shiner… well except their Dunkelweissen. It was my first taste of a Dunkel, and frankly, it didn’t mesh real well with my palate at that point in my life. I then branched out into European beers and found a few that I really enjoyed. As a general rule, my favorite beers fluctuate between Marzens and Porters. This is a wonderful time of year for me as everyone is putting out their Oktober fest seasonal brews, and I am in Avery’s “Hog Heaven” (Which I have not had yet, but I will note when I do). Doppelbocks and Dunkelweissens are near the bottom of my favorite types of beer, that is not to say that I do not enjoy them, there are just so many other varieties that I enjoy more. I do enjoy a good IPA from time to time. Stone produces an excellent one, and you cannot go wrong with St. Arnolds when it comes to hops. Hopefully this gives you a basic idea of where I am coming from as I write these blogs and reviews.