Day 17 of ChurchKey’s advent beer box: a nicely seasonal porter.
12/11: Schilling's Landbier
Day 11 of the advent beer box is a lager with yeast resuscitated from Weihenstephan.
12/15: Man, Am I Ever Over NEIPAs
Day 15 of ChurchKey’s Advent Beer Box brings our tally of NEIPAs up to 8/15 beers so far. Porters and stouts: zilch.
12/10: Great Notion's DDH Hissyfit
ChurchKey’s 10th advent beer: a fifth hazy IPA.
12/8: Humble Sea's Willy Wonka and the Foggy Factory
Day 8 of ChurchKey’s Advent Beer Box: a fourth NEIPA.
12/7: Wheatland Spring's Later Flowers
That’s a picture of Wheatland Spring Farm + Brewery, the brewery behind Day 7 of ChurchKey’s Advent Beer Box, a dark lager.
12/6: Magnify's Very Thirsty Caterpillar
Day 6 of ChurchKey’s Advent Beer Box offers a literary allusion to suit this blog.
12/5: Perennial's Fantastic Voyage
Day 5 of ChurchKey’s Advent Beer Box gives us a big ol’ imperial stout with lactose and dried coconut. An apt end to a weekend of family, picking up a Christmas tree from Oyster-Adams’s annual sale, baking spiced pecans, sipping egg nog, and watching bad Christmas movies.
12/4: Timber Ales Miles of Trials
Day 4 of ChurchKey’s Advent Beer Box: a hazy IPA from Timber Ales (NY).
12/3: Oxbow's Luppolo
Day 3 of ChurchKey’s Advent Beer Box: an Italian pilsner from Oxbow.
12/2: Vitamin Sea's Perception Is Still Spoonfed
Day 2 of ChurchKey’s Advent Beer Box: a raspberry key lime sour from Weymouth, MA.
12/1: Bluejacket Build or Destroy Hazy IPA
Day 1 of ChurchKey’s Advent Beer Box! Bluejacket’s Build or Destroy (served in juice glasses, appropriately).
"Dulce et Decorum Est" and Peabody Height's T.S. Eliot Lost Generation
A very sweet series of imperial stouts, named after the Lost Generation, calls to mind Wilfred Owens’s critique of Horace’s “old Lie” that it is “sweet and fitting to die for one’s country.”
"Spontaneous Me" and Bell's Leaves of Grass VII
The final installment in Bell’s seven-beer Leaves of Grass series is a wild-yeast fermentation that connects the unseen creation of all sorts of life.
Much Ado About Nothing and Aslin's Much Ado
The perfect beer for this blog: Aslin’s Much Ado Helles, as bubbly as the play that inspires its name.
Autumnal Poems and Land Grant's Lawnraker
An Oktoberfest beer for October 1, one that reminds me of the coziness offered by fall and a hometown brewery.
The Wizard of Oz and 7 Locks' Surrender Dorothy
7 Locks’ RyePA nods to my favorite movie, The Wizard of Oz. It also happens to nod to a key difference between the movie and the original book: Dorothy’s ruby slippers.
The Great Gatsby and Right Proper's "Diamonds, Fur Coat, Champagne"
Nick Carraway’s exuberance for Gatsby echoes the over-the-top ebullience of America’s Jazz Age. The fizzy zippiness of Right Proper’s Berliner Weisse “Diamonds, Fur Coats, Champagne” lives up to both, with just the right sourness to echo the book’s tragedies.
Tips on Taking the Tasting Portion of the Certified Cicerone Exam
I was better prepared to retake the tasting portion of my exam, to be sure - but I also approached the retake much more effectively. Here are my top tips on how to sit for the tasting portion of the Cicerone exam.