I don't think I've ever talked about it here on the blog, but I'm a huge Spider-Man guy. The character's been my favorite superhero since I was a kid. When Tom Holland took the mantle as the MCU Webhead, I was impressed with how seamlessly he could be both Spidey and Peter Parker.

When he announced BERO last year, I told myself I'd be on the lookout for it for this year's Dry January. I found a variety pack of the stuff at Target the other week, picked it up, and drank all but one. That's what we're doing today: BERO's Kingston Golden Pils.

Here on the last day of August, the heat's outrageous. Hell, most of this month has been damn near unbearable, temperature-wise. There was a span of something like four days a few weeks back that was nice and cool, putting me in a pleasant early-autumn mood. Before I could get too comfortable in it, however, the oppressive heat came back full-force.

Oh, well. That just means that I'm not quite ready to shift into Oktoberfest season on the blog yet. I have three (looking for possibly one more) Oktoberfest-themed beers to do up next month. But, for now, let's send out the standard summer season. Michelle and our son are inside taking a nap and I'm out on my porch, weathering the humidity, with a beer in-hand and my laptop open on the wrought-iron table before me. Let's get into it. Here, for your reading (and my drinking pleasure) is State of Brewing's Shuteye Peak.

New Holland's doing a little something in that state up north. Dragon's Milk has long been a celebration of stout, barrel-aging, and (for the really good stuff) adjuncts. Yet, the brewery's been taking small steps away from that. It started with Solera (which I've yet to try). Dragon's Share was next. (I guess you could say Dragon's Milk White was the actual first step here, but it's still labeled as a stout which is why I'm not officially mentioning it; it's only here, in this typed aside.)

Today, I'm trying the next advance in this stoutless line: Dragon's Milk Crimson Keep. Let's see how this bourbon barrel-aged red ale stands against the rest of the noble lineage.

Wow. Turns out all of May slipped by without a single post. I think I've only missed an entire month once or twice (I can't be bothered to go check). Anyway, I'm here today with a special something, the kind of something that'd usually be reserved for a November post. Yet, I couldn't help myself.

Today, I'm taking a look at Jackie O's' coffee variant of my favorite beer: Bourbon Barrel Black Maple. I've had this before, when it was a draft-only offering (which was in 2017!). Fast-forward five years and Jackie O's is making dreams come true. Today's bottle isn't hitting distro, but you can order it directly from the brewery (as long as they're able to ship to you). Let's see how she's drinking.

Merry Christmas Eve! You might remember three years back when I drank a fresh bottle of Braxton Labs'  Bourbon Barrel Aged Kringle. I adored the beer. What I didn't mention on the blog is that I bought two bottles when it dropped, keeping one safely squirreled away in my cellar for some fateful Christmas season when the time was right for me to break into it.

As fate would have it, that fateful Christmas season is this year. Let's see how Kringle's drinking now, with a little age on it.

There was a definite chill in the air this morning when I woke up. It was still dark out when my alarm went off at 6:30. My morning commute is getting longer due to school traffic. Finally, finally it's seeming like summer's drawing to a close. The timing of all this is perfect since it's September 1st, meaning that the blog's officially shifting into autumn beers. These beers, of course, start with Oktoberfest--a beer season we'll recognize all month long.

This year I have six Oktoberfest brews lined up to feature. Today, we're kicking off the festivities with HighGrain's Meadow, a true festbier lager (as the HighGrain folks put it, at least). So, I encourage you to put on your favorite polka playlist, crack into an Oktobefest brew of your own, and settle in as we start this adventure together.

It's June 21st, the first full day of Summer 2021. We've reached what I call "hella hot" as of Saturday. If you've been around the blog for a while, you might know what that means. 

Bell's released Mango Oberon last summer. I drank it on one of those hella hot early-July days and loved it. You can believe I was ecstatic when Tropical Oberon was announced in late May. I knew I had to try it. And, now that summer's officially begun and the days are heating up, I figure the time's come at last. So throw on some shades and pull up a city pop playlist on YouTube: It's Tropical Oberon Time.

Peanut butter is one of my favorite flavors. I'm not just talking about on a sandwich with jelly, no, I'm talking in ice cream, in milkshakes, enveloped in a chocolate cup, in smoothies with bananas, on toast with honey, on celery with raisins, and everything in-between. Have you paired a Reese's with a pumpkin ale? Try it this fall--it's luxurious.

Yet, if you searched for "peanut butter" here on the blog, you'd probably never realize this about me. I've written about one peanut butter beer on here and rated it more highly then than I would now. That's because peanut butter beers haven't really ever clicked for me. Like, once in a while I get a pint of some peanut butter stout at a taproom that's amazing, sure, but that's an rare occurrence. Most of the time it seems this adjunct is either under-utilized or used in a way that shows the brewer doesn't quite know how to add it into their beer.

This weekend will (very hopefully) show how that can be done. I was able to nab two peanut butter-infused stouts from New Holland. If any brewery can show how to best use this adjunct, it's these guys. Today, I'm drinking and writing about the first one: Peanut Butter Poet. I'll dive into the second tomorrow. At the end of this short series, we'll see (again, very hopefully) just how well peanut butter can work in a beer.

The subject of this evening's review is a stout I've been looking forward to for quite some time. Earlier this year (I want to say somewhere between April and June) I happened across a few cans of this at a local bottleshop (any beer with "Maple" in the name immediately catches my eye). 

I was interested, but balked a bit at the price on the can (each one was $11). However, the label art of cars in a tunnel and ABV convinced me. I grabbed two bottles from the shelf, figuring I'd drink one this November (a.k.a. now) and one sometime later on. The store was sold out of the beer entirely when I returned two days later.

I did no research on the stout first before making my purchase. I've done no research on it since. I have no idea if it'll be any good, if it's something people enjoy. All I know is that I'm excited to drink my pint of it. Here we go: Maple Imperial Stout from Hubbard's Cave.

Today we reach the end of the blog's Oktoberfest season. We're going out with something special.

A few years ago I went to my first Cincinnati Oktoberfest. No, not Zinzinnati; the Germania Society's Oktoberfest! I was happy that they were serving authentic German beer: Warsteiner. I'd never had anything from the brewery before so I got in touch with a German buddy about it. Apart from asking me why I was drinking it and telling me it was awful, he also let me know that Warsteiner isn't served at Oktoberfest. The quick conversation ended with him telling me that I should go to Germany and try good German beer (I still have to make it over there).

I hope I'm not breaking his heart by wrapping up my Oktoberfest month with this. I happened across a twelve-pack for $10 and couldn't resist. So, without further ado: Warsteiner's Oktoberfest Special Edition.

Bell's' Oberon is a summer constant. I have some when the air turns hot each year. Usually, I pick up a sixer or two and a mini-keg (I plow through the latter over the course of a week). Sure, it drops in March but I don't want an Oberon until it's hella hot out. The world needs the heat to make the beer special.

No Lottie today--she's busy sleeping off a big weekend.

Well, now we have today. It's 95° and, until moments ago, sunny. An Oberon would be especially nice today, sure, but I'm doing one better. See, on July 6th, Bell's announced that a mango variant of their ultra-popular summertime wheat ale was being bottled. To my utter delight, I found it stocked at a local grocery store last week. I'm happy to pop into it amid today's rumbling thunder and break it down for you.

This is it--the culmination of my COVID-19-induced Tales from the Cellar series. I'm now working from my office more often than I'm not. In July I'll be back there full hours. The pandemic's still with us, and likely will be for some time, but (I really hope) we can manage it. If not, I guess I'll be back with More Tales from the Cellar. For now, though, I'm taking time to ease back into life in the safest way I'm able while also replenishing my dwindled beer reserves.


But, today's post isn't a beer. No, this is the first and only Tales for the Cellar entry to feature a cider. I have no idea how old this bottle is, but I can tell you that I've had it in my possession since December 2018. We were visiting family in Michigan for the holidays then and I convinced my dad to swing us by South Haven's McIntosh Apple Orchards' Wine Cellar to sample some of their wares. I came back with two bottles of cider: a dry and a semi-dry. I drank the semi-dry with my father-in-law some time back and, well, now the dry's what's left.