Clown Shoes Beer

Fourteen Stone Drinking Crew #3

Another great get together with the crew, with some of our recent hauls, some beers Richard brought back from his trip to Seattle and Bill’s birthday beers. This was our first tasting since I finally cleaned up the basement enough to have some beers down there. I have a few stools, a nice 8 foot kitchen prep table I’m using as a makeshift “bar”. The beer cellar is repaired, we’ve got this nice water jug/dump bucket system going (although I really want to get a glass rinser but I don’t think that is in the cards for a while) and I should have a couple more glass racks installed in the ceiling by week’s end. Plus the card table, surround sound system, and the dart board that folds into the ceiling I’ve had for a while now. I’m pretty happy with how the man cave “tasting room” is shaping up.

So after a pretty successful night of running around with Mike, we went back to Chez Fuj and met up with the rest of the guys and a couple of friends of Bill’s from NJ. The lineup for the night:

  • Tsunami Stout by The Pelican Pub & Brewery
  • Madame Rose (2012) by Goose Island Beer Co.
  • The Cowboy by Evil Twin Brewing – pretty much locks in my hatred of smoked beers
  • Oude Tart by The Bruery – delish, like all Bruery sours
  • Meadowlark IPA by Pretty Things Beer & Ale Project – absolutely fantastic. Glad Bill brought this one to share, been meaning to try it for a while/
  • Curieux by Allagash Brewing Company – long time fave since first having it back in May. Richard hadn’t had it yet so I broke this one out from my Birthday Beers from Elise.
  • Hop 15 Ale by Port Brewing Company
  • Horny Devil by AleSmith Brewing Company – meh. Other than Speedway Stout and their IPAs not much has impressed me from AleSmith.
  • Survival 7-Grain Stout by Hopworks Urban Brewery – very solid, just like the IPA goofybear sent me
  • Sled Dog Trippelbock by Wagner Valley Brewing Company
  • Beer Hop Breakfast by Mikkeller
  • Black Hole Barrel Aged Bourbon by Mikkeller
  • Femme Fatale Brett by Evil Twin Brewing – Can’t get enough of this beer, really. Evil twin is killing it.
  • Rye Hopper Ale by French Broad Brewing Co.
  • Declaration by Backlash Beer Company
  • Fat Scotch Ale by Silver City Brewing Co. – Dave’s 500th unique Untappd beer
  • Tripel Threat by Cambridge Brewing Co.
  • Luscious by The Alchemist Pub & Brewery – my 500th unique Untappd beer
  • Head Hunter IPA by Fat Head’s Brewery
  • Winema Wit by The Pelican Pub & Brewery (Oregon)
  • Gandhi-Bot by New England Brewing Co.
  • Vampire Slayer by Clown Shoes
  • Aphrodisiaque by Brasserie Dieu du Ciel
  • Black Butte Porter by Deschutes Brewery

Other than Luscious, which we only incidentally opened because of Untappd, I don’t think any beer stood out as the clear “best beer of the night” or anything. A lot of really solid beers here, of all different types so it’s tough to compare. Fat Head’s never ceases to surprise me with that IPA, same with that Meadowlark. Black Butte was great, as was Curieux, Oude Tart and Madame Rose. No complaints here.

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Richard acting a damn fool.

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Dave showcasing pretty much how everyone felt by the end of the night morning.

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Manchester, VT: More Heady Topper Has Been Acquired [Crisis Averted]

After Merc cleared my house of Heady Topper Monday night, the withdrawal symptoms started to set in. Sleeplessness, anxiety, nausea, shakiness, grinding of teeth… I knew something had to be done.

The closest place that I knew who had HT was Manchester Discount Beverage (it turns out that Bennington Beverage Outlet has it, too, but I didn’t find out about that until I got home last night and their inventory isn’t online like MDB, either). I sent them a quick FB message to make sure they had it in stock, and they assured me that they just picked up fresh Heady Topper on Thursday, and they even had some Celia Saison I’ve been meaning to give a shot.

Obviously I can’t go to a bottle shop and not grab some shit I haven’t had yet. So Me and The Mule set out after work yesterday to go stock up on whatever the hell else was worth picking up. The score:

  • The Alchemist Heady Topper x infinity – obv
  • The Alchemist Celia Saison x 2 – I think most gluten-free beers taste like assholes so maybe this one will change my mind
  • Founders Old Curmudgeon x 2 – never had, but it’s Founders. C’mon.
  • Founders Imperial Stout x 4 – both this and FOC will go well when I break open my CBS and do a Founders tasting night
  • Maine Moe – haven’t had yet but all of Maine’s beers are phenom
  • Maine Mean Old Tom – Elise should love this stout aged with vanilla beans
  • Stone Vertical Epic 10.10.10 – I have 11.11.11 so when 12.12.12 comes out I’ll at least have a three year vertical. Not much but better than nothin’, right?
  • Clown Shoes Blaecorn Unidragon – Solid RIS that I just haven’t had yet
  • Allagash FOUR – I could have swore I picked this up but maybe I shelved it because it didn’t fit budget. I don’t see it in the pic, I’ll have to check back later. After drinking that Allagash Curieux I’m pretty much full-mast any time I see Allagash as long as it doesn’t have brettanomyces added, which make beers taste like full-blown AIDS.

The rest not listed here was Merc’s. After we were accosted by a stereotypical dirty Vermont Hippie (“Camping? You must mean car camping. That’s almost like real camping.”) we left there and headed to Madison Brewing Company for some pretty uneventful beers and pretty uneventful venison and bison burgers. Took a few pics there, maybe I’ll post them later. Maybe not.