Oskar Blues Old Chub treats me like scottish royalty, minus bagpipes

I'm at the Alibi Room Friday night introducing the original and by far the best Food Truck food, Kogi, to my brother. Having planned to take him here at some point, I also know what beer I'm getting...OLD CHUB

No, that that old chubby guy, this beautiful scotch ale is from Colorado brewery Oskar Blues, makers of my favorite imperial red ale, Gordon's Red Ale. Oskar Blues also holds the distinction of being one of the first craft breweries to embrace the use of aluminum cans to distribute their product but there's a metallic taste to my first sips of the Chub, so I'm doing the American thing and granting it freedom from its aluminum bonds. Plus I'm a certified beer snob now and must have any beer other than Bud Light poured into a glass.  Excuse me, sir, after passing the grey poupon, can you pass me something Belgian?. That's me, a Snobby Chub.

Kogi knocks my socks off

Did somebody order a scotch, style? The hops are minimal and a rich, malty chocolate flavor permeates the profile. It's full bodied and smooth as jazz. Wow, if there was a chorus of Old Chub drinkers with me, we would all raise up and sing it's praises. Chub is by far the best beer out of a can I've ever had, but I'm glad it's in a glass. If you haven't tried beer from Oskar Blues, don't let the metal fool you - they're worth their weight in gold. THE ROCK rating.

Highway 78 Scotch Ale collaboration is the Brandon Flowers of side projects

I love me some Modern Family. It's consistently hilarious and one of the smartest comedies on TV. Tonight's episode, as do many others, focus on the parental relationships - specifically, how relationships are a give and take of two people who are totally in love but also have distinctly different personalities. Making it work is a real collaboration. Which is perfect because I bought three different collaboration beers to have while David is off watching space shuttles launch. I only wish all relationships troubles could be as funny as Modern Family and as delicious as this Stone, Green Flash Brewing and Pizza Port collaboration.

Collaborations are all the rage this year and I had two big collaborations over Christmas (Weihenstephan Samuel Adams collaboration & Brookly Schneider collaboration) which were very interesting beers. I love that craft brewers are celebrating their...craft....(cheese) instead of being agro and aggressively competitive. Everyone just wants to make delicious beer! Team America....F-yeah.


It's a dank 8.8% (yepee). It's super malty, with hints of chocolate and dark, rich roasted barley and caramel. This is the beer I want to drink driving night time driving across an empty desert road with the windows down...riding in the passenger seat, duh. Still not legal but who's gonna stop me in the desert? An ACME anvil? Pff, I'm not chasing the Road Runner.


What's interesting about these three breweries gathering to brew - as they note on back of the bottle - is they hail from the San Diego region and are all known for being hop-centric breweries. So what did they decide to brew when they came together?  To create one of least hoppiest beer styles around, a Scotch Ale. 


So I am surprised that hop heads made this. These guys are obviously pros who are passionate for all styles of beer, but after allowing the beer to help marinate the ideas floating in my gray matter, I realized the great opportunity this collaboration afforded the three brewers. 

Like any business, each brewery builds up a brand. Stone for example, once you get to know their beer, has a very unique set of hop expectations. This collaboration provides an opportunity for the brewers to to flex their creative muscles and create a beer outside of their established hop heavy brands. This is their side project! Take The Killers for example; they are a pop driven band channeling heavy weights like Joy Division, Morrissey, Springsteen (etc).  Brandon Flowers wanted to create a particular sound that he was passionate about but that is smaller and more focused than what The Killer stand for, so he created a solo project and produced an album 'Flamingo' that he channeled his Vegas-Country voice. It's completely different from The Killer's catalog but is still fantastic and stands distinctly on its' own. 

The actual State Highway 78 is a highway that runs from Oceanside (near San Diego) to Blythe (Central Cali). The Scotch Ale 78 is their solo project, and it's delicious. I might even pickup another one at Whole Foods, because who knows if they'll make another one like this. THE ROCK rating.

Ommegang Cup O' Kyndness Belgian Style Scotch Ale is all sorts of mixed up

Karl is here for his weekly Thursday brew and for the next couple weeks we'll be drinking beers from a brewery in his native state of New York - Ommegang.

Hail New York State!

Karl let us know that this style of beer started during WW2 when Scottish troops were stationed in Belgium and local bars began catering to the soldiers' tastes. I find it amusing to learn that several styles of beers, including IPA's, evolved out of military personnel's experience abroad. I wonder if that's still the case now.

Kyndness is a Belgian Style Scotch Ale full of toasty malts and it's an odd mix of styles. It's interesting but I won't drink it again; it's just not my cup o' tee.

Karl says it best: "Thank you for exposing me to Belgian/Scotch Ale, but kindly sir, give me a Belgian Golden (post-haste!)." Word Big Bird. ARMAGEDDON rating.

Rogue McRogue Scotch Ale welcomes me home

Picked up straight from the airport and over to dinner with old family friends who I will soon be skiing with in Utah. Below is a picture of us when we were about 'yay high.' That's me on the far left. So good to see everyone! My how you have grown.

I bought the McRogue over Thanksgiving and been saving it for a rainy day. It comes in a 7 ounce bottle and I haven't drunk many Scottish Ales, so I've been looking forward to this.

A strong chocolate/mocha smell.  At 7% alcohol it's refreshing amd light, but for 9 ingredients it's not a exceedingly complex beer but quite drinkable. This is how I can best equate its taste...If an ESB (Especially Strong Bitter) had a Kafka-isq nightmare, it would wake up one morning to discover all of its hops were gone and he had transformed into a frighteningly unknown creature made of especially bold roasted malts. AHHH. TRANSFORMERS rating, but with the bottle size and price ($4 and a 7.3 oz), this is a beer lover's beer.

P.S. Each entry while I'm at home will include a random object from my childhood, just for fun. Coming soon, Elephant Puzzle. You'll see.