Grizzly Growler

My buddy Beau is a really good home brewer. His passion for good beer and dedication to beer experimentation is really outstanding in a town with a great bunch of  home brewers. I’ve enjoyed every batch of Beau’s beer that I’ve tried so far, and this isn’t usually the case for homemade beer, which can suffer greatly due to sanitation issues.

Last night Beau brought a couple bottles of his homemade barley wine over for the Super Bowl. This is one of the few of his beers I hadn’t tried yet, and I was really looking forward to it. This one blew me away. Like I said, I haven’t had a bad Beau beer yet, but this bad boy was not only one of the best homemade beers I’ve ever had, it was one of the best barley wines I’ve ever had.

When I say it was like Nilla Wafers in a glass, I do not exaggerate. Sweet caramel and toffee with vanilla and tropical fruit are simplistic ways of describing a very complex and exciting beer. The yeast characteristic  in this beer seriously has a cookie-wafer taste to is, which really brings out the vanilla and some sweet dried pineapple and coconut.

So why am I writing about a beer that you will probably never have?

Because I think Beau, and the other homebrewers around here deserve a little notice once-in-a-while. It’s easy to focus on the craft beer industry and forget that if it weren’t for homebrewers, well, we wouldn’t have much of an industry.

So the next time your neighbor or homebrewing friend offers you a bottle of something they made in their garage, take it and pour it in a good beer glass. You never know, you just might be drinking the best thing you’ll ever drink.

And if you have an inclination to brew something amazing yourself, join the Zoo City Zymurgists. There are plenty of people like Beau out there who will be glad to help you get started.

Prost,

GG