Overly strong Belgian-style homebrew. The high octane is coming in handy with the end of this Bulls game.

My Champions League final watching libation, Urthel Hop It, a hoppy Belgian ale. This tastes like the result of a drunken one-night stand between an American IPA and a Belgian blonde. I really enjoyed it -- the typical Belgian flavor profile and a bit of funk with a fairly bitter hop finish. But I probably tend towards the hoppy end of the spectrum, so this is the type of beer that would appeal to me. It's Belgian beer month at Binny's, and most of the Belgians (whether single 330 ml bottle, large format, or 4 or 6 pack) are $1 to $2 off; worth a try if this is your type of thing.

Developing a new cocktail . . .

1.5 oz Broker's
.75 oz Ransom Old Tom
.5 oz St. Germaine
.5 oz Domaine du Canton
.75 oz fresh lime
2 barspoons 1:1 tupelo honey syrup
Stir with ice, strain over large ice form in rocks glass, garnish with fresh mint sprig

=R=

Trying to reverse engineer a drink off the menu at Eleven Madison Park, the Leisure Suit. There, it's Beefeater, Noilly Prat Dry, Cocchi Americano, Maraschino & Absinthe.

I made mine:

2 oz Tanqueray
1 oz Noilly Prat
1 oz Cocchi Americano
1/2 oz Maraschino
1/4 oz Jade Edouard

Stir, strain, large rock.

Next time I'd cut the absinthe back to just a couple dashes and maybe up the Cocchi or Maraschino a smidgen. As made, the absinthe dominated and it was pretty dry. But, as I'm now looking at it again, it's essentially an 'Improved Perfect Martini' if you think of the Cocchi as more of a sweet vermouth...so, perhaps bringing the maraschino down to 1/4 and the absinthe to 1-2 dashes would be more in keeping with the concept.

Bayerischer Bahnhof Original Leipziger Gose - light, slightly acidic, tangy, flavorful - perfect for a warm, sunny afternoon. Now if I could just find a warm sunny afternoon.

Meant to post this on Friday but forgot--in honor of miss Petite Gourmande's birthday, I created a drink in her honor

muddled mint
2 oz Weller's Rye
1 oz Carpano Antica
2 dashes of Bittercube Bolivar bitters
1 dash of Peychaud's
good squeeze of a fresh Ruby grapefruit.
Shake and pour over good crushed ice

Happy Memorial Day weekend!

My new favorite (for me) for the summer...lemonade with club soda and a twist of lime. It isn't fancy and doesn't contain alcohol, but it works for me!

Mr. X wanted a French 75 last night so I went along for the ride. The first round used Bombay Sapphire along with the Piper Heidsieck Brut we had in the fridge. The next round used North Shore Gin #11. Both versions were delicious but had different flavor profiles given the characteristics of the gins. (And possibly that the bartender got a little less precise in adding the simple syrup...

I have been loving Bell's Third Coast, nice mild ale. Three Floyds Evil Power with tacos at Big Star cannot be f'd with.

Hendrick's Gin Smash with Hibiscus and Cilantro

3 oz Hendrick's Gin
1 oz Hibiscus-Lemon Simple Syrup (Hibiscus 'tea' steeped with lemon zest, cooled and shaken with an equal volume of sugar)
1 Lemon, (1/2 squeezed into the shaker, 1/2 quartered and muddled with ingredients above)
6-10 micro cilantro leaves

Shaken and strained over ice.

Herbal, floral...decent citrus backbone and not without a kick. Bit of a spicy finish from the cilantro. Not bad at all..

First up tonight...
Dreadnaught IPA (American Double / Imperial IPA) from Three Floyds Brewing Co.

much less of the hop bomb then I remember when last tasted (on tap)
it is still a filling rich imperial IPA that is more seamless then i remember but
being somewhat of a hop head, I'm a bit disappointing on the nose and missing a touch of bitterness on
the taste.

mhill95149 wrote:First up tonight...
Dreadnaught IPA (American Double / Imperial IPA) from Three Floyds Brewing Co.
[img]http://melhill.com/food_porn/WB/three_floyds_4553.jpg[/img
much less of the hop bomb then I remember when last tasted (on tap)
it is still a filling rich imperial IPA that is more seamless then i remember but
being somewhat of a hop head, I'm a bit disappointing on the nose and missing a touch of bitterness on
the taste.

Probably an older bottle. Dreadnaught fades so fast. It really would be nice if 3 Floyds would put any type of dating on the bottle or case.

That ain't happening, they'd lose too much money.

I've grown to appreciate this Wild Turkey rye, it's a nice sip. And a good bang for the buck.

Earlier tonight . . .


A whole messa' sour beers (communal byo) at Aroy Thai

=R=

Awesome

With sours being so popular lately, I thought I'd pass this along:

Our latest collaborative effort, Small Animal Big Machine, is set for release this coming Friday, June 10th [starting at 12pm].

Small Animal Big Machine will be available ONLY in 22 oz. bottles.

Brewing trailblazers, Pipeworks & De Struise co-outfitted our foray into the funky realm of sour mash brews, fermented with dark cherries and red currants. The fruit cuts the funk but jumps back before crossing into candyland. A three-point landing for this steampunk: aroma complexity, balanced flavor, ABV punch.

Bottles will retail for $11.99 each.

There will be a four bottle limit per customer.

Quiet about that

I'm hoping these last until Saturday, as I can't make it in on Friday.

Another awesome Half Acre label, thanks for sharing.

the wimperoo wrote:Quiet about that

I'm hoping these last until Saturday, as I can't make it in on Friday.

Eh, I suspect if they do run out (which, really, I doubt - I don't think they have ever sold out same day before, even for something like Double Daisy Cutter), it won't be because of the people here on LTH.

Fans of the artwork can follow updates/new labels/prints from the artist here (http://twitter.com/#!/octophant) & purchase prints here (http://octophant.us/#).

I'll be curious to hear who this new beer from Half Acre works out (particular as it ages) -- as much as I enjoy Half Acre, their beers do not seem to age well. I just finished my last bottle of Meat Wave (purchased about a month ago) and the finish has pretty much disappeared. During Craft Beer Week, I was able to try some of the brandy barrel-aged Ambrosia and while it was delicious, it finished like water (ie. no finish at all). I don't know enough about the chemistry of brewing beer to understand why one beer (like Alpha King, for example) can have a long, full finish while something like Meat Wave does not.

It's the involvement of the Pipeworks guys that makes it especially interesting.

the wimperoo wrote:Quiet about that

I'm hoping these last until Saturday, as I can't make it in on Friday.

This might have to be my first trip up to Half-Acre...

SSDD

headcase wrote:

the wimperoo wrote:Quiet about that

I'm hoping these last until Saturday, as I can't make it in on Friday.

This might have to be my first trip up to Half-Acre...

SSDD

Hope you still have your Dark Lord commemorative 4-pack -- makes transporting bombers very easy!

danimalarkey wrote:

headcase wrote:

the wimperoo wrote:Quiet about that

I'm hoping these last until Saturday, as I can't make it in on Friday.

This might have to be my first trip up to Half-Acre...

SSDD

Hope you still have your Dark Lord commemorative 4-pack -- makes transporting bombers very easy!

The DL is still sitting in it, haven't touched a bottle since we got back from DLD.

SSDD

I'm gonna have to find a way to get up there Friday for this, my buddies and I have been looking forward to this release.

Yesterday I took drastic measures to beat the heat. I sat in our Olympic sized kiddie pool and downed a bottle of Raspberry Sparkletini.

I'm planning on being at Half Acre at noon on Friday.
Then heading over to Hopleaf for some lunch. (assuming they do lunch??)

Hopleaf opens at 3:00 on Fridays and kitchen not until 5:00.

Matt wrote:Hopleaf opens at 3:00 on Fridays and kitchen not until 5:00.

thanks for intel

mhill95149 wrote:I'm planning on being at Half Acre at noon on Friday.
Then heading over to Hopleaf for some lunch. (assuming they do lunch??)

Consider Bad Apple, nearly across the street from Half Acre if you've never been there. Bar food is better than it needs to be and the beer list is pretty un-impeachable, too. Updated on 6/8, here's the beer list: http://www.beermenus.com/cities/chicago ... -bad-apple

If you like coffee beers, Left Hand's Week Sauce should be great. Strong coffee notes but balanced with a medium body, nice carbonation and a sessionable 6.5% abv, I really enjoyed this when I had some during Craft Beer Week. And while I don't often like anything by Brewdog, seeing their Tokyo (http://www.brewdog.com/tokyo) on draft is kind of exciting.