Keg & Camera

Low-Calorie, low alcohol craft brews that retain some character are all the rage. This delicate and citrusy wheat ale from Great Lakes Brewing has summer written all over it. Personally, this style is lacking for me. It’s tough to fit very much flavor into a low-calorie package. But there’s a time and place for every kind of beer and there’s certainly a market for these “crush-worthy” easy drinkers. Cheers!

An all-time favorite that always holds up, Troegs Troegenator doppelbock is dominated by a huge, rich, silky, sweet malt character. It is full-bodied and loaded with intense dark fruit flavors. It’s deep, dark and complex and drinks like a meal, as the monks who pioneered the brewing of the double bock style intended. 

Always fun to play with the iconic Stone Brewing logo. Got an assist from some soft golden hour light illuminating this colorful bottle of Enjoy By 4/20. I remember when this beer’s release was a pretty momentous occasion in the craft beer community. The hype may have faded but the in-your-face juiciness and big flavors of these bold Stone IPAs still hold up for me.

Simply one of my favorite Cleveland beers, Union Pils from Noble Beast is a Bohemian style pilsner with outstanding depth of malt flavor. It has a super rich and complex maltiness for a pilsner, but still retains a light body, refreshing crispness and tremendous drinkability. Enjoy one as winter melts into spring! Or really any damn time. So good.

Great Lakes Chillwave remains one of my seasonal favorites after many years. It’s an IPA that strikes a wonderful balance between big, bold bitterness and complex, juicy flavors without being overly sweet or cloying and it finishes with a dry, citrusy flourish. Perfect beer to sip while celebrating the warming weather.

There aren’t many breweries as consistently excellent as Brew Gentlemen in Pittsburgh. Across every style their beers are well thought out, delicately balanced and smooth. In my personal tastes and travels I think I would rank only Vermont’s Hill Farmstead ahead of them. Much like Hill Farmstead BG seems to value balance, elegance, drinkability and purity of ingredients above all else.

It’s been far too long since I savored one of the terrific farmhouse style beers put out by Grimm. I photographed Tra La La, their biere de miel, in several different lights and each bathed the bottle in a different hue. Ultimately I like the bottom example best because of the golden, warm, honey colored light that washed over the delicious honey-infused brew.

The hits keep coming from Cleveland’s Noble Beast Brewing. Great new IPA that brings bright and vibrant tropical flavor notes, dances on the palate with a subdued but satisfying bitterness and finishes dry. Pretty creative label design on this one as well, looking forward to the next packaged release!

One of my favorite cold weather beer styles is the nice big, rich, roasty, warming imperial stout. This beauty from Wolf’s Ridge in Columbus was just what the weatherman ordered. Dark fruit and molasses and roasty coffee and rich dark chocolate all swirling around together to form a bold, full-bodied shelter from the snowstorm.

What better to brace yourself against the cold of winter than a hearty Icelandic ale. This beer from Einstok is medium bodied, lightly spicy and smoky and just a smooth and malty delight. Perfectly balanced cold weather brew.

I know this is the time of year for Marzens and pumpkin beers, but c’mon, you just cannot beat a big, juicy, bright, soft and smooth drinking hazy no matter what the calendar says! Gotta drink these fresh, right? I’ll be back to malty lagers tomorrow.

Wow, it’s been awhile since I’ve posted to this page! 

But I’m back! And drinking this delightfully light, fluffy, flavorful witbier to celebrate a beautiful fall day. 

It’s been a long time since I’ve had a Pilsner Urquell. Gotta admit I’d rather have it fresh ‘from the source’ in the Czech Republic, but this vintage design can bought in Cleveland will have to do. Still deliciously dry with that toasty, bready malt shining through with every crisp sip.

Another wonderfully bright and balanced hoppy beer from the folks at Troegs. Perfect to kick back with outdoors after some work in the field or maybe just mowing the lawn. And the gorgeous greens of the label fit right in with the soft greens of summer shooting up in my yard!

Floating through a starry night with this beautifully balanced, citrusy, dry and bitter celestial being from Bookhouse Brewing. If you search the sky you might even be able to map out a few constellations! Cheers!

Terrific new beer from Fat Heads. So glad that they've started packaging some of their hazy IPAs. This one is juicy and soft, in keeping with the New England IPA style, but it has that signature Fat Heads dry, dank, all be it subdued, hop bitterness as a nice backbone. Super drinkable, does not quite taste like it’s 8% abv. Looking forward to the next release! 

Every once in awhile I take a beer photo without a can or bottle in sight. When I saw this Fall dusk kind of light in my back yard (on a chilly spring day!) I had to take a photo. Just a lovely evening and a beautiful, amber colored tulip glass of beer to match the warm, moody sunset. Love this glass, unfortunately I dropped and broke it a few days later. Time for a new Spiegelau....