This is a bottle I've been sitting on for two years, waiting for the perfect time to break into it. Tomorrow's the last day of my vacation and I don't have any more PTO in sight (we might have a snow day this week if the weather reports are right, but I've learned to not hold my breath). As such, and especially now that we're just beyond the two year anniversary of the beer, I'm deeming the time perfect enough. Let's say goodbye to my vacation in style.
The beer is Paradise's Off Kilter. I had three bottles of it initially. I took one down to Texas with me a week after it released and split it with a buddy. After today, I'll have one left. Who knows how long that'll last in my cellar before the time is perfect enough to break into it again?
I've been holding onto this can for months, waiting for the right time to crack it open and share my thoughts. Unfortunately, plenty of those right times have come and gone when I've just been too damn busy to do anything.
Tonight that ends; I'm finally making time for this post.
I love the idea of adding coffee to hard cider--apple and coffee are two flavors that work super well together that rarely get any attention. The third cider I ever brewed on my own was a boozy dry cider with some homemade cold brew steeped into it (I also added some hazelnut extract). The result was an intensely satisfying summer drink that I named Purrline Ann, after my trusty four-pawed sidekick. According to my brother (who drank the last existent bottle of the stuff), the cider soured eventually, adding another, wholly unexpected, layer of awesomeness to it.
When Blake's announced that they were making a coffee cider I just about lost it. I stopped into my local bottleshop weekly after that announcement, hoping that I'd find this then-latest Kinder Cider offering on the shelves. Eventually, I did. Let's find out together if it's worthy of my self-imposed hype.
Tonight that ends; I'm finally making time for this post.
I love the idea of adding coffee to hard cider--apple and coffee are two flavors that work super well together that rarely get any attention. The third cider I ever brewed on my own was a boozy dry cider with some homemade cold brew steeped into it (I also added some hazelnut extract). The result was an intensely satisfying summer drink that I named Purrline Ann, after my trusty four-pawed sidekick. According to my brother (who drank the last existent bottle of the stuff), the cider soured eventually, adding another, wholly unexpected, layer of awesomeness to it.
When Blake's announced that they were making a coffee cider I just about lost it. I stopped into my local bottleshop weekly after that announcement, hoping that I'd find this then-latest Kinder Cider offering on the shelves. Eventually, I did. Let's find out together if it's worthy of my self-imposed hype.
We're on the cusp of October. It's around 80 degrees here, and it'll be in the 80s all week. Damn. Nothing like pulling into the best three months of year in a crazy sweat (that was sarcasm, if you couldn't tell).
But, honestly, 80 degrees in October is the new normal. The delivery method of beer for this post, though, is not normal. Nor will it ever be normal. I'd fully meant to nab a sixer of this stuff, but the cans didn't launch in time for my final September Oktoberfest post. So, I had to track down a growler.
At the end of August, Warped Wing announced Lagerstadt via their Instagram. I've had, and loved, all of their craft lagers. So, I felt a rush of joy when I learned that the newest entry would be an Oktoberfest Lager. Since then, I've planned on finishing this blog series with it. It launched on tap at the brewery on the 20th and was canned and sent to distro on Friday. I've been hunting furiously for cans for the last two days, to no avail. Today I went to a giant grocery store nearly an hour away, and managed to find it on tap as a carry-out beer in a growler. I didn't bring a growler with me, so I bought on and had it filled with Lagerstadt. Let's find out if it was worth the trouble of tracking down!
But, honestly, 80 degrees in October is the new normal. The delivery method of beer for this post, though, is not normal. Nor will it ever be normal. I'd fully meant to nab a sixer of this stuff, but the cans didn't launch in time for my final September Oktoberfest post. So, I had to track down a growler.
At the end of August, Warped Wing announced Lagerstadt via their Instagram. I've had, and loved, all of their craft lagers. So, I felt a rush of joy when I learned that the newest entry would be an Oktoberfest Lager. Since then, I've planned on finishing this blog series with it. It launched on tap at the brewery on the 20th and was canned and sent to distro on Friday. I've been hunting furiously for cans for the last two days, to no avail. Today I went to a giant grocery store nearly an hour away, and managed to find it on tap as a carry-out beer in a growler. I didn't bring a growler with me, so I bought on and had it filled with Lagerstadt. Let's find out if it was worth the trouble of tracking down!
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