Homework
Posted by brianS on Saturday, July 19th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
I do it all for you, Nation, out of love 
The Beer Run
This is what happens when the wife leaves town.
[ed: word to E-6. I'm working on it!!]
to kick off the festivities, I went with one of my favorite styles: Ginger Beer!
Bundaberg Australian Ginger Beer hails from, you guessed it, Australia. The company is pretty small -- only about 120 employees. They make a line of old-style sodas, including a sarsaparilla I'd love to try; lemon-lime & bitters (ooooo!), and a few others.
This is a more-or-less naturally brewed ginger ale. Per the label: "It's always cloudy in a bottle of good, old-fashioned ginger beer. Hold this bottle to the light and you'll see it's full of real ginger pieces, traditionally brewed to a genuine old recipe to release the natural flavours of ginger."
Bundaberg Australian Ginger Beer
Ingredients: carbonated water, cane sugar, ginger root, flavors, acid (citric acid), yeast, preservatives (sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate), antioxidant (300).
$5.69 for a 4-pack at my local Bevmo.
Sorry, no pic of this in the glass. I was thirsty. It pours a pale, clear golden color, with very little head, no lacing and not much for bubbles. I didn't notice any cloudiness or "real ginger pieces" in the glass or the bottle and there was almost no trace of yeast in the bottle. Looks to me as though they either are selling me a line or this was filtered (perhaps for the export market?).
Regardless, it was a nice, balanced ginger ale, with a bit of ginger bite (not enough for me; I like to get beeyatch-slapped by my ginger ale) and not too much sweetness. Comparable to Reed's Extra Ginger Brew, but with extra points for being the real thing, brewed with yeast and stuff.
It went great with the Dagwood sandwiches the Boy and I wolfed down tonight (salami, ham, pepper turkey, pastrami, swiss and pecorino romano cheeses, mayo and mustard on garlic-toasted hoagie rolls and broiled, then pickles, pepperoncini and lettuce. ZOMG! Almost as good as the Josh Hamilton Story!).
to be continued....
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Homework, huh? Better get cracking.
Beerstravaganza. That should brighten up a few evenings.
Updated
Note: while this is a fermented product, the fermentation time is very short, so this counts as a "non-alcoholic" beverage. Suitable for family consumption.
Have you tried Rush River Bubblejack IPA? Delicious stuff. Brewed in River Falls. They just started bottling it recently.
sadly, no.
the ONLY Minnesota/Wisconsin craft brew I saw yesterday at Bevmo was Leine's Sunset Wheat. Now, I like Leine just fine, but that one just didn't call my name out loud.
My selections were heavy on bocks. 2 maibocks, 2 weizenbocks, and a sixer of a polish bock. Also, 2 rauchbiers, a dunkelweisse, a "schwarzweizen" -- how that is different from a dunkelweisse remains to be seen -- a mixed sixer of belgian ales, etc., etc.
word to meat: I'm looking forward to the Shiner. I'm not a huge fan of Shiner Bock, but I really like Schwarzbiers. Sadly, I didn't see any great schwarzbiers -- e.g., Köstritzer -- for comparison purposes. Alas. [if you haven't tried it, I highly recommend the Sprecher Black Bavarian. Sweeter than the Köstritzer and really rich. Definitely worth a try]
I see the Shiner Black Lager in the pic, that stuff is mighty tasty. I'll be interested in how you rate it.