Beer Drinker of the Week #03
Beer Drinker of the Week is a new segment we're starting here at Focus on the Beer. This will serve as a way to show off all that delicious beer you've been drinking, or just simply show us what beers you enjoy on a normal basis. This series allows you to present your beer in an artistic environment, tell us what you think about the beers you're trying, what beer is in your fridge regularly, or tell a story about how you acquired a hard to find beer. You and your beers are the focus here.
Beer Drinker of the week #03: Josh Adamski
Most craft beer fans have a story similar to mine. You know what I’m talking about, that eye opening moment when you tried the first beer that made you realize there was something else available besides that fizzy yellow stuff offered up in mass quantities. Well my journey into the world of craft beer took place sometime in 1997 at a tap bar in Tempe, Arizona called Timberwolves. Back then a friend of mine had been trying to persuade me to try some new beers that were starting to appear in what was quickly becoming a thriving Arizona beer scene. Sitting at the tap bar one night my friend ordered two Arrogant Bastards. At first all I could do was laugh, thinking who in the heck names a beer Arrogant Bastard? At the time I had been an avid drinker of Heineken and Molson, and all I kept thinking was “there is no way I am going to like this.” But after that first sip I knew that my beer drinking days were going to change. I instantly became a huge fan of Stone Brewing, and ultimately a fan of any craft brewery that challenged the possibilities of what beer should and can be.
Since that time I have become a big collector of various brewarania (collecting different beer related items). My collections include roughly 100 beer tap handles, various collectable bottles, and a beer cellar that weighs in around 320 bottles. All righ,t I know a beer cellar doesn’t technically count as a collectible item but I figured that if I had to trade for it, or shell out a lot of money for it, then it might as well be called collectible. I also keep a “bucket list” filled with breweries and events/festivals I would like to visit or attend before kicking the bucket so to speak. Yeah I know I am showing my ultimate beer geekness here but I am totally fine with that, just as long as I don’t cross over that line and become a beer snob!
I guess I should finally get to the point of this blog post, sharing the beers I’ve tried this week. I have a pretty busy schedule lately which means I don’t have the time I wish I had to enjoy many beers. Luckily this week was different. I started off on a high note by attending the Barrel Aged Tasting at the Warehouse Restaurant downtown. In all I tried fourteen great beers that were aged in various barrels such as bourbon and scotch barrels. My luck seemed to continue into the weekend when I was able to try a couple of beers from Hill Farmstead Brewery in Vermont. The first one was Twilight of the idols, an American Porter, and Birth of a Tragedy, which is the same American Porter aged in bourbon barrels. And to top off my weekend I had the new release of La Folie from New Belgium, and Deviant Dales from Oskar Blues. Overall not a bad beer week.
To prove his beer geekness Josh wanted us to show of this picture of his 2002 - 2011 stone vertical epic series.
How Do I Become a Part of This?
If you are interested in being our Beer Drinker Of The Week please e-mail us at csbeerdrinkeroftheweek@gmail.com. You can propose to us which week you'd like to take, or we can pick the week for you and send you information and some basic directions. We'll try to post every Thursday (or so) the beers that one reader drank the previous week. We try to focus on the Colorado Springs drinkers but may be willing to expand, so email us!
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