Fixed Gear by Lakefront Brewery

I guess I consider Lakefront Brewery to be local even though I haven't lived by it in 10 yrs.  Located in Milwaukee it's only an hour away from the  town I grew up in.  Easily a day trip if the grandparents want to babysit...although we've never actually visited.  It would be a blast though...Milwaukee seems like a fun city.

Fixed Gear American Red Ale is a strong beer.  It would be perfect on a day like today...high of 75, storming like crazy outside.  It's so dark right now (9am) that it looks like its 830-9pm.  I'm a sucker for red and amber beers.  This one packs a punch.  The front flavors are nice and smooth and full and then the back end hits you with the hops.  Not too much hops, just enough to say whoa there it is.  And then it brings you back to take another sip.  I don't get tired of the whoa kick at the end. 

I also have to give them props for the label.  I'm really not sure on the price of this one.  My guess is that it's around 10 bucks a 6 pack here in Ptown.

Wake up Blog!

I thought I'd wake up the Winey Thoughts to share what I've been drinking this summer.  I've been mixing it up between expensive beer and cheap wine.  Get excited!

First up my FAVORITE beer right now is Domaine Dupage by Two Brothers Brewery.  A "local" brewery from Warrenville IL.  C and I need to make a trip to do a tour because really all their beers are good.

Domaine is a versitile beer.  I would describe it as a really good red or amber ale, loaded with lots of flavor.  It tasted great during the hottest hot stretch of summer (100 plus degrees) and now that it's starting to chill out a bit for fall I'm still craving this beer.  That's hard to do for me...I'm usually a seasonal beer drinker and a summer one does not go great for me in fall.  Honestly though, I can see myself sticking w/ Domaine until winter hits and almost skipping the Oktoberfests...almost.  It's a pricey beer.  You can easily spend $10 on a six pack, I think we've even seen it higher down here in Ptown.  But to my delight lots of bars have started carrying it on tap.  I might have had a tall Domaine Dupage at Buffalo Wild Wings for $5.75!  and it was delish.

beer obsession

I'm not winey snobby enough to only be a wine drinker. In fact I love a good beer and tend to have a beer regularly. Beers are great, like wine different beers can go with the season, or the mood. One of our fave beers in the house are from Leinenkugel's. It's a brewery in Wisconsin that we discovered years ago.
Our first Leinie obsession was their honey weiss, a summer beer that has become available year round. It's light and flavorful, and we very much enjoy this in late spring and summer. The first time we tried Leinie's Oktoberfest was about 3 years ago and we were in love. A seasonal beer that comes out in mid August and by October most places were sold out. It was about all we drank for those few months. Since then we've tasted lots of oktoberfest beers from other breweries, but this one has a special place for both of us.
2 years ago we tried one of their new seasonals, FireSide Nut Brown. A warm darker beer with spice flavors. It comes out after the Oktoberfest and we fell in love with this for around the Thanksgiving season as well as through out the winter. The spices and hazelnut flavor reminded me of holidays and cozy fireplaces. Last year I was pregnant so not much beer obsession was had by me. Although I did smell a few and look longingly at Chris a few times.
This year the obsession is Leinie's Creamy Dark. They've had this beer for a long time and we've just now tried it. It's similar to the Nut Brown but w/out the nut flavor and the spices are toned down slight. The beer isn't as dark as a stout but it's still a sipping beer which is perfect for this time of year. We're very much enjoying it and it's just about all we've bought over the past month or so.