Welcome to Cosmo's Beer Blog!

We’re a small group of friends and family scattered across the country who’ve all developed a thirst for craft and import beer. We decided that a blog would be a great venue for us to share our hobby. Here we will review beer, compare notes and challenge each other with "Beer Missions".

So welcome to our little world of discovering great tasting beer!

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Jester King Tasting

With a lot of  help from Charles and a friend / trading partner (SeaSparrow on BA), I rounded up some great brews from Jester King so that we could host a Midwest  Jester King tasting. At that time Jester King was not distributed to our area, so these were new to everyone. We had several more bottles of Jester King to open, but alas our numbers were small and our livers were pushed to capacity.


Friends brought some other awesome brews shown above. Dark Dark Goose was mind blowing. My bank account is thankful that I cannot buy this mead as I would likely spend myself into oblivion.

Cheers,
Randall

Friday, September 28, 2012

March 24th Tasting

After Three Floyd's introduced Baller at their 15th Anniversary, I got to thinking that it would be fun to sample Baller along with all of the brews used to create it. So I rounded up a Baller, Beer Geek Brunch Weasel, Dark Lord, Darkness, & Black Albert and extended some invitations. As you can see from the picture below, some other great brews were brought out as well! Thanks to everyone who brought out bottles to share! I really enjoyed everything we opened with one exception: Black Albert. That beer just did not suit my tastes. After everyone had worked through Baller and all of it's components, we took a vote for the favorite of the five beers and while Darkness got a nod, Dark Lord was the overall favorite. Just for the fun of it, we poured a small mix of all the brews together to see if there was any resemblance to Baller. There wasn't. It didn't taste bad, but it wasn't as good as any of it's parts... except maybe Black Albert...


I took way too long time to post this, but thanks to all who came out; we had a great time!

Eis Igian,
Randall

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Cigar City's Hunahpu's Day

I was honored to represent Cosmo's Beer Blog in the fantastical world that is Cigar City at this years' Hunahpu's Day.  Still being a little wet behind the ears as a beer guy I didn't know what to expect.  The only beer festivals I have visited in the past were a handful of Octoberfests that didn't excite me too much and Three Floyd's 35th Anniversary and Dark Lord Day 2011, which did excite me very much.

Three Floyds makes some of the best beer in the world (in my humble newbie opinion), but they still have a little bit to learn about how to throw a festival.  Be prepared to wait in long long long....long lines. 

So how did Cigar City's Hunahpu's Day compare to Three Floyd's Dark Lord Days?  It was amazing.  We arrived around 9:45 am waiting for the gates to open at 11:00...not too early, not too late.  The line was fairly long, but wasn't too scary yet.  While standing in line some new friends explained what was going to happen; a crew of Cigar City employees are working their way up the line checking IDs and giving us a wrist band.  After them will come a second crew of Cigar City employees giving us a second wrist band...a gold one, to be able to purchase Hunahpu's beer at 3:30pm that day.  Once the clock struck 11:00 am, the gate opened and we flooded into Cigar City's showcase of fun.  Amazing.

Armed with a map of the terrain, also provided by the crew from Cigar City, it was time to navigate to one of the many stations and acquire a beverage.  All of the stations provided Hunahpu's (genius) as well as their own special varieties in addition to the event beer; mixing it up while providing variety...again; genius.  So many amazing breweries were represented.  Check out tweets @cosmosbeerblog for some other pics and comments.

Also, check out the quick video of the adventure at Hunahpu's Day.  If you were there you might just see yourself :)



Broma Theon "food of the Gods"

-Charles

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Mission #4: Glassware


Over the years, I have spent the money to accumulate a fairly decent collection of glassware. I have snifters of varying size, tulips, stangs, pint glasses, chalices, Pilsner glasses, Weizen glasses, mugs, flutes, and wine glasses.

Yet, there are plenty of beer drinkers that drink beer directly from the decanter of origin. Others consider the pint glass to be the do-it-all beer glass. Have I wasted money and cabinet space by amassing a large collection of glassware? Or is there benefit to be enjoyed in selecting specific glassware to match the various ales and lagers?

Mission Parameters

Select
Pick out one beer from each of the following categories:
1) Any Belgian style ale
2) A Russian Imperial Stout
3) An American Pale Ale, IPA, or Double IPA

Drink
1) Sample each beer from at least three different styles of glass, making sure to pick at least one glass from the Beeradvocate recommended glasses.
2) Sample each beer from the bottle or can.

Report
Don't write a beer review, but rather a glass review. Take notes and report back on the following:
1) What, if any, are the differences in taste?
2) What, if any, are the differences in aroma?
3) From which glass did you prefer each beer?

I'll be excited to see the results of this Mission. I'm either going to feel justified in my collection of glassware or I'm going to be able to clear some space in my kitchen cabinets.

Eis Igian!
Randall

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Schlafly Reserve - Imperial Stout

2010 Schlafly Reserve - Imperial Stout by Schlafly Brewing
Style / abv: Russian Imperial Stout / 10.5%
Source / Temp: Bottle / 55 deg
Glass: Medium Snifter

Appearance: Black ale with a very thin tan head.

Aroma: I pick up alcohol, cherry, and bourbon.

Taste: I'm very surprised that the alcohol smell doesn't translate to the taste. This brew has a big sweet malty flavor and finishes with dry dark chocolate. Somewhere in the distance is a slight bourbon flavor.

Drinkability: This is a smooth, fairly thin ale with very low carbonation, and a slight hop bite at the finish.

Notes:
The alcohol sneaks up on you because, though it lingers in the aroma, it is virtually undetectable in the taste. This is a very nice, high quality beer, yet I find myself a little disappointed. When I have a bourbon barrel aged stout, I prefer a bigger bourbon flavor. To be fair, I need to try this beer fresh since two years of aging in the bottle has undoubtedly blended and mellowed the brew.

I give 2010 Schlafly Reserve - Imperial Stout 7.5 out of 10.

Eis Igian,
Randall

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Cedar Aged Jai Alai

Cedar Aged Jai Alai by Cigar City Brewing
Style / abv: American IPA / 7.5%
Source / Temp: Bottle / 50 deg
Glass: Small Snifter

Appearance: Medium golden peach brew with a fizzy white head.

Aroma: From the instant that I brought the glass to my nose, it was apparent that this would be another interesting brew by Cigar City. This beer has a big cedar aroma with marmalade, grapefruit, and a touch of spiciness.

Taste: Wow, what an interesting beer! The sweet citrusy front is followed by a slight marmalade middle and then a fairly strong dry cedar finish that bites the tongue.

Drinkability: This beer is quite drinkable in part because of the watery, medium carbonated body and in part because of the enticing flavor.

Notes:
I was skeptical that cedar could offer anything to Jai Alai. To be completely honest, I was skeptical that cedar could improve any beer. I was wrong. This is one of the most interesting beers that I've ever had and one that I greatly look forward to having again. As with Hunahpuh's and Marshal Zhukov's, I find that between the amazing aroma and delicious taste, I can hardly set my glass down. A buddy of mine once said that everything Cigar City brews is awesome. I'm only five brews in, but so far I am very impressed.

Thanks to Charles for sending me this for my birthday!

I give Cedar Aged Jai Alai 9 out of 10.

Eis Igian,
Randall

Monday, January 23, 2012

Waffles At Noon

Check out Mike's interview by the folks at Waffles At Noon about his thoughts on the Craft Beer Phenomenon.