I'm proud to announce, my first ever press release (holy crap, I'm famous)! Read below, this is great and fun news!

Arcade Brewery, a soon-to-open Chicago craft brewery, recently launched their first Public Brew Challenge; a crowd-sourced beer line. The Public Brew series engages Arcade Brewery's community to help create aspects of the beer from naming the beer, label design, and even suggestive aspects of recipe formulation. The first Public Brew will be a Scotch Ale.

Arcade Brewery recently polled their community for beer names on their Facebook page. More than 150 submission were reduced to 7 finalists and over 470 votes determined the Scotch Ale's future name: William Wallace Wrestle Fest.

Arcade Brewery is now accepting label design submissions for the newly named beer through March 15th, 2013. The artist of the winning design will be awarded $300 and have their design printed as the beer's label. more information on the label design challenge can be found at http://www.arcadebrewery.com/forum/design-challenge/

Arcade Brewery will also be launching 6 Pack Stories (a comic across 6 bottles of beer) this summer. 6 Pack Stories is written by Jason Aaron (Scalped, Thor, Wolverine) and designed by Tony moore (The Walking Dead, Venom, Fear Agent, Deadpool)

Please feel free to e-mail info@arcadebrewery.com with questions or for more details on the challange.

Cheers!

There is a funny little ditty about when I found Victoria's. I drove past it one day, coming back to the office from having lunch with my boss. The name "Gastro Pub" really stuck with me. In my plebeian mind, I was only able to connect "gastro" with "gastrointestinal" and my mind was a mess of a whole lot of "what the hell??"

I'm very dumb. It's painfully obvious, thank you.

So I got home and brought it up to fiancee, telling her about the word connection I had made in my mind. Well, you can only imagine how much laughter that idea was met with. And that was the night I learned what a "Gastro Pub" is (they aren't really a thing in my old stomping grounds, at least, not by that name).  That was also the first night I went to Victoria Gastro Pub. I've been there quite a few times since, bringing co-workers for lunch, attending business meetings, date nights with my lady, and sometimes just to go on my own for some "Brewfus alone time."

Located in Columbia, Maryland, Victoria is nestled among a growing complex of businesses. I'm lucky, its only about a 15 minute drive from my office in Hanover! The brick structure is nice, featuring a large covered patio section to the left. You walk in and you're greeted by the hostess, and the rather large bar area. The bar is beautiful, and there is about a dozen or so tables along side it. If you don't want to sit at the bar, there is a full seating area, partitioned off into a few different sections. The lighting is low and cozy, and the atmosphere is conducive to a nice, calm, relaxing night out. Or day out. Last time I was there, I brought my book with me, parked my ass down and read, ate, and drank to my hearts content. The walls aren't loaded with crap, nothing to distract you from the experience  I'd have taken pictures, but I'm still weirded out a little about taking pictures for my blog out in public, so I often err to the side of not doing it.

The Food

I've been to places with much larger menus, so at first I was a little thrown off. But quality over quantity, any day of the week. Each time I go there, I get something different. And each time my meal has been superb. They really have a little bit of everything. Here's a sampling of some of the dishes I've had:

"Cheese Plate:
A selection of artisanal  cheese,
house made pickles, grain mustard,
red grapes, grilled baguette"
Beer: Elysian Torrent Pale Beet Bock

"American Dip:
Roasted Angus rib eye, Vermont cheddar,
horseradish sauce, porter beef jus"

"Victoria Fish and Chips:
Allagash White beer battered cod,  crab remoullade"

Chili with pork. It wasn't on the menu. But
it was fantastic (not as good as mine though, Ha).

"Baugher's Farm Apple Grilled Cheese:
Vermont cheddar, walnut vinaigrette"

Now, I'm no food blogger, nor am I even close to amateurish in my photography  SO please forgive me if my photos make the food look less than appetizing. I promise you its quite the opposite. The burgers are top notch, too. And no matter what, you have to, HAVE TO get their duck fat fries. Holygoodgod they are amazing.

The Beer

Ah yes, the beer. The whole reason why you're here, Right? Well, they have an ever changing tap list of about two dozen different brews from all over. A lot of them are local, which makes me happy to see. Aside from that, there is an even larger list of bottles. The beer menu is full size, and very thick, with pages and pages of beer from all over the world. They break it down by country, and for the brews here in the states, they break them down by state. It's extensive, it's slightly overwhelming, and it is heaven.

On top of there being a ridiculous amount of beer to choose form, you have the option of joining their Beer Club. I wont try to explain it, as it's a lot to talk about, but I will provide you the link so you can read about it yourself. You can read about it here. It's a fun road fraught with beer and prizes!

Sierra Nevada/Russian River Brux

New Belgium Lips of Faith Brett Beer

Wicked classy beer flight:
The Bruery Rugbrod
Unibroue La Terrible
Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous
Southern Tier Choklat
North Coast Old Rasputin (nitro)

I'm on a big sour, and dark beer kick as of late, obviously.

So this is another one of my happy places, where the staff makes me feel more than welcome, the food and drink are always great, and I just always have a great time. They host beer dinners, and always seem to have some sort of beer related event happening. I just regret that I've been unable to attend one yet. Some day! I could go on and on about this place, but I wont. Instead, you can check them out online, or better yet, you can actually go there and see for yourself. I'd tell you to tell them Brewfus sent you, but they have no idea who I am, and that would be kind of awkward.

Find Victoria Gastro Pub online:

Website: http://victoriagastropub.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/victoriagastropub
Twitter: https://twitter.com/VictoriaGPub

And if you plan on going after reading this, let me help you find your way there!


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I tend to shy away from reviewing IPAs. I mean, lets be real, they are EVERYWHERE. IPAs have saturated the market. That's not saying I don't enjoy them, I really do, but reviewing them? Meh. I'll leave it to other people, and I'll drink a bunch of other different styles and blather on about them to you.

For some reason, I felt the urge to write about Four in Hand IPA, and then I didn't. It was a struggle. It was something I picked up in one of the build your own 6 packs. I was sold on the bottle art, because it's totally bitchin'. Now, I get to share my thoughts and musings with you.

Looks cool, right? Yeah, well...

It poured a clear copper. No hazyness or anything. Just clean and clear. There was an obnoxiously large, fluffy head. It really stuck around around throughout drinking it. Speaking of which, ever see those people that use oils from their nose to get rid of the head? How disgusting is that??

Anyway, after a few sips, I was able to get my nose in their enough to get a smell of it. It really wasn't worth the wait. It's a bitter smell, almost astringent-like. I don't like my beer to smell like it would leave my tub and windows, clean and streak free. The taste? Well it's a barely average IPA. It's hoppy and piney. Sure, some citrus here and there. It's more malty than anything, so I'd call this just a Pale Ale before I called it an IPA. It's not bad, per se. It's just dreadfully boring and lacking. The body of it is paper thin, and the taste leaves a lot to be desired.

What it did leave though...was some nice lacing.

I really did judge this book by its cover. Label art is awesome.

Four in Hand is just an average beer in a beautiful decor. I did some research about the brewer, and didn't come up with too much in my initial search. I found out it's supplied by a company called World Brews (or Winery Exchange, I really don't know.) who actually have taken home a few medals. While that may be so, the general public consensus rides along the same lines as mine. More power to them, I guess.

Four in Hand is online, sort of: http://www.fourinhandbrews.com/

Four in Hand IPA

Smell: 1/5

Appearance: 3/5

Taste: 2/5

Feel: 2/5

Overall: 2/5

This beer pairs well with: Chevelle - Well Enough Alone

Have you ever been experienced? Well I have, now.

Thought Id take a break after all those reviews and share a pretty awesome experience that I had with Letspour.com.

Buying beer online was an idea I had, once. I forget what site I tried, but I remember (and this was several years ago) building up my cart with several bottles of things I couldn't get in Connecticut at the time. I got what I thought was awesome and respectable list of beers, and went to check out. Shipping was astronomical. I cant remember the exact dollar amount, but it was about $50, give or take a couple bucks. Do you know how much beer I could buy locally for $50? A lot. So I quickly closed the hell out of that window, but I was still feeling slightly optimistic as I continued to Google online beer sellers. It took me  another try with another retailer before I gave up completely. I'm a glutton for punishment.

Now is a new time for me, and I'm much more active in the community and far more open to ideas from others. So one day, I was fooling around on the Beer Advocate and someone mentioned Letspour.com, so I figured I'd head over and check it out. There were two things that enticed me. Well, three things.

• They have a really fun roulette flash game to win money off your order, or store credit, what have you. I won $10 off my first order. It's aptly named "Spin the Bottle."

• They offer free shipping after 6 bottles. That is really what sold me, completely. Free shipping? Hell yeah!

• They have a good selection of a lot of different breweries from all over.

Now im sure at this point you're thinking "Damnit Brewfus, just show us what you got already!" Well, calm your horses, dear reader. While I just highlighted some of the positive aspects, there are a few things more along the negative line, that you should be aware of.

• The first is you are timed to make your purchase. They gave me about 15 minutes to pick my brews. Now, When I'm at my local bottle shop, sometimes I'll scan the aisles and bottles for 20 to 30 minutes. Being forced to pick from a batch of beers I've never had before in an unfamiliar setting, in a short amount of time? That was stressful. Next time, I'll pick out the beers I want before hand.

• It was two weeks between me placing my order and me actually picking up my order. With that said, they DO state that it will take 3-5 business days for shipping. I ordered on a Sunday, didn't get my shipping notice until the following Saturday, and picked up my package from UPS the NEXT Friday. This isn't so bad, but I'm also really impatient. So while it was annoying to me, maybe it won't be so bad for you. Also, you must be there to sign for the package, and be 21. I opted to just pick up my package from UPS, so I didn't have to fret about being home on time.

• Quite a few of the bottles I saw on the site, that I can buy locally, were easily 3 or 4 dollars more than  what I can pick them up at locally. That kind of put me off a bit. It' was only some though, and not all (I don't think). I still find the service handy for all the bottles I cant get here.

So If none of those are deal breakers, then I highly recommend giving them a shot. Alright, so lets open these bad boys!

The packaging was awesome. If you've received bottle from me, you know that I tend to go a bit...batshit crazy with the bubble wrap. There wasn't a bubble to be found in this box. Instead they use these neat cardboard things with bottle-shaped cavities. For a trip from Washington to Maryland, they arrived in perfect shape, albeit a bit dusty.

Here is the total haul! 6 bottles out the door for about $50. Not bad!

Sam Adams
New World

Justice Brewing
White & Nerdier

Bear Republic Brewing
Race 5 IPA

Full Sail Brewing
LTD Series 06

Left Coast Brewing Co.
Hop Juice

Left Hand Brewing
Fade to Black Vol 4

So there we have it, my first experience with buying beer online. It was more or less painless, and I got some great beer. Have you ever gone through letspour.com? Do you have a website that's different? Let me know your experiences!

**Third in a totally awesome trilogy of posts**

Hello again, nice of you to join me on this grey and miserable day. After playing COD: Black Ops II all day (Xbox 360, if you're interested), I thought perhaps it would be an appropriate day to hunker down and pound out the last installment of this awesome trilogy devoted to New York's very own, Sixpoint Brewery.

I saved Righteous Ale for last because its a relatively new style for me. I can probably count on one hand how many I've had. The only one that really comes to mind is Rich and Dan's Rye IPA from Harpoon. That was an excellent beer, but for different reasons than today's subject. I hit the interwebs for a little more information about Rye beers on Wikipedia, and learned some new nuggets of information. I am now fully capable to write this review!

Righteous pours a nice dark, wood with some amber highlights in the light. There was about a 1.5 finger head that was foamy and bubbly, definitely not fluffy. The last 1/8" of the head really sticks around, leaving a thick lacing on my glass. It has a very sharp nose, with some mingling scents of sweetness, some roasted, and a slight, slight hint of hops. The sharpness really comes through in the taste, also. It's an extremely crisp flavor, and dry finish. I'm not getting the the same burnt, roasted flavors that you would in a porter or stout, but the the caramelized flavor of the malt and the sweetness of the rye really shine here. There is definitely a bitter finish to it due to the hops. I'm glad the rye, and not the hops was the focus.

I would drink this again in a heartbeat. It's a simple, no bullshit, good beer. It's a nice medium body, goes down easy, and the whole time you get to enjoy the delightful taste of it all. I've certainly never had a beer quite like it, but would welcome one again, if the chance arises.

I need to learn me some photoshop or
photography to get my ugly mug out
of the reflection on the can!

"They should be good men; their affairs as righteous;
but all hoods make not monks. Beneath a deep blanket of
snow there is a cereal grain that can survive the harsh
winters and acidic soils- RYE. Like a draped hood over a
monk, it is the righteousness inside that shines."

Find them, follow them, and stalk them online!

Website: http://sixpoint.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sixpoint

Twitter: https://twitter.com/sixpoint

Instagram: http://instagram.com/sixpointbrewery

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/sixpointvision

Pintrist: http://pinterest.com/sixpointbrewery/

Sixpoint Righteous Ale

Smell: 3.5/5

Appearance: 3.5/5

Taste: 4/5

Feel: 3.5/5

Overall: 3.625/5

This beer pairs well with: The Sword - The Hidden Masters

**Second in a totally awesome trilogy of posts**

Hi guys, que pasa? You'll have to forgive my slight absence from my social media hubs. I've been busy saving the world at work, and wandering aimlessly trying not to succumb to wanting to curl up in fetal position under my desk and sleep it all away. Oh, and driving my new car.

My sexy, sexy, new car.

And also learning up on my homebrewing. But that's a post for another day...probably a Tuesday.

Today, I'm going to try to convince you to go out and get some Bengali Tiger from Sixpoint. I have a good feeling that it wont take much persuasion either. I mean, after all, it was one of my favorite beers of 2012.

A favorite for a reason, I mean, can you see how handsome I look in that can?!

Busting out my new favorite beer glass from my Ommegang gift pack, I poured that sucker out with some vigor. It looks like beer. An unassuming amber, slightly hazy with a finger and a half of fluffy, sticky head. Leaves behind quite a bit of lacing. I kind of wanted to spread it on some bread. The nose is different for an IPA, as in I'm not getting much hops from it, at all. In fact, grapefruit, and other citrus-y scents are what I'm getting mostly. It smells awesome, like that first peel of a clementine..or..whatever.

Sometimes, the hardest part about photographing the beers, is
not grabbing the glass and attacking the beer with my mouth.

Bengali is a wicked mellow, dry, and hoppy on the tongue with an almost refreshing sensation on the back end. It's not the (sometimes) over-whelming hop monster that a lot of west coast IPAs can be. It's extremely well balanced, a sweet tang, followed by a nice fresh blast of hops. It's no wonder why this seemed to be the beer of this past summer, it was MADE for summer days. Seriously, Sixpoint and Green Flash were the two breweries that dominated craft beer conversation in Connecticut this summer. I digress...Bengali has a nice medium body, with a heavier carbonation. And if you exhale, the hops leaves that cooling feeling in your mouth, like a piece of mint gum. Like some of my favorite beers, it's modest at first, but then unfolds in your mouth and makes you all kinds of happy. Delicious. Have you had it? What do you think?

"Strides forward with a malty cadence, then leaps with a wave of bitterness.
Slashed with a giant paw of citrus, pine, and resin! Note, the lacing of stripes
around your glass-It's the mark of the Tiger!"

Now I know where the name comes from!

Go ahead and stalk them online!


Website: http://sixpoint.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sixpoint
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sixpoint
Instagram: http://instagram.com/sixpointbrewery
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/sixpointvision
Pintrist: http://pinterest.com/sixpointbrewery/

Sixpoint Bengali Tiger

Smell: 4.5/5

Appearance: 3.5/5

Taste: 4.5/5

Feel: 3/5

Overall: 3.875/5

This beer pairs well with: Black Light Burns - Tiger By the Tail

**First in a totally awesome trilogy of posts**

I thought that perhaps the best way to start the new year, would be with a series of posts focused on the brewery that amazed me most last year. And when I say amazed, I mean both their beer and the people that run the joint. It was all very personal, and stuff.

Anyway, Sixpoint Brownstone is an American Brown Ale. Browns are typically a style I haven't really gravitated towards. I think the only one I can recall having  is Newcastle, and that never did much for me. I'm not a big fan of "nutty" flavors. And it always tasted really thin, kind of flat. It's been years since I've had one. I could be way off, but in my head, that's how it is.

Sixpoint took everything I didn't like about my Brown Ale experience and omitted it from their brew. I'm going to tell you how.

It pours an attractive toffee brown with burgundy tones when held up to the light. There's a foamy, fluffy cream colored head that went away pretty quickly, leaving a sticky, long lasting lacing (say THAT ten times fast). I didn't wait long enough and got foam on my nose, but it smells vaguely sweet, with lots of malts, brown sugar, and dare I say a bit smokey? I dare say. Here's my favorite part, the taste. It's a nice, smooth, mouth feel. Mellow malts kind of roll around the tongue with a slight bitter hops at back end. There were lingering flavors of toffee and chocolate as it warmed up. It was way more complex than I was expecting. Very crisp flavors.

From what I've been reading, American Brown Ales are aggressively hopped, which would explain why I prefer it a  lot more. Do yourself a favor, if you're like me and Browns don't do much for you, give this beer a shot. It might change your mind like it did mine. Or if you already like Browns, but haven't had this one, get it.

And thus ends my first review in a month! I'll be back with more!

"...and coming out of the brownstone house to the
gray sidewalk, the watered street, one side of the
building rises with the sun like a glistening field of wheat"

These guys are all over the internet! Tell them I sent you!

Website: http://sixpoint.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sixpoint
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sixpoint
Instagram: http://instagram.com/sixpointbrewery
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/sixpointvision
Pintrist: http://pinterest.com/sixpointbrewery/

Sixpoint Brownstone

Smell: 4/5

Appearance: 3.5/5

Taste: 4/5

Feel: 3.5/5

Overall: 3.75/5

This beer pairs well with: Guns N Roses - Mr. Brownstone

I swear I don't condone heroin, just liked the names working together, that's all. Plus I mean  this is a pretty rocking song!