American Beer Review LIVE!
Welcome to the American Beer Review podcast. Good times with good friends requires good beer, lucky for us we know how to pick all three. We’re a group of friends who grew up in the Pacific Northwest, giving us a jump start on our craft beer journey. Join Alec, Chad, and Brian while we review some beer, talk about beer topics, and whatever else comes up. We invite you to pour yourself a drink and hang out with us.
American Beer Review LIVE!
ABR LIVE! Episode 37 - The Cookies & DETHcast ft. Iron Horse Brewery & Revolution Brewing
On this episode of American Beer Review LIVE!, we are talking crabs, cookies, CFB rankings, and DETH. Brian kicks things off with an important crab handling question, Chad surprisingly keeps the response PG. Our first beer of the day is Iron Horse Brewery's Cookie Death - another tasty remix of an ABR LIVE! perennial favorite, Quilter's Irish Death. We dip our toes into some sports punditry and talk about the shortcomings of the 2023 CFB Championship Four and our post-race thoughts on the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix. Moving back to beer we crack open, from Revolution Brewing, Cafe DETH - a bold, boozy, barrel aged stout. Alec provides a nifty little factoid about Revolution that could help you on a future Jeopardy appearance. Chad laments his crippling case of Cold-itis.
What's on Tap Today:
Iron Horse Brewery
Cookie Death
- 12oz Can, 6-Pack
- 7.8% ABV
Revolution Brewing
Cafe DETH
- 12oz Can, 6-Pack
- 14.8% ABV
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Am I getting anything? I can't hear me at all. Yeah, I'm getting you. Oh, I can't hear myself.
Speaker 2:Well, kill mine and see if it still has a buzz, Not in the headphones but in the Okay, how are you getting?
Speaker 3:Hello, oh, you just couldn't hear myself.
Speaker 1:I couldn't hear myself.
Speaker 2:I can like so then the buzz wasn't you?
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Okay, that's okay in yourself. Very important question. Oh, okay, I've been tasked to ask this question. Uh-oh, welcome to another episode of the American Beer Review Podcast.
Speaker 3:Good times for good friends requires good beer. Lucky for us, we know how to pick all three.
Speaker 2:We're a group of friends who grew up in the Pacific Northwest, giving us a jump start on our craft beer journey.
Speaker 1:Join us today, while Brian bad pride myself on not getting to know other people, so do not put that on me, alec so the bananas, up until like the 60s, weren't entirely different species of banana.
Speaker 3:And Chad Get me like a bacon bar Review some beer, talk about beer topics and whatever else comes up.
Speaker 1:We invite you to pour yourself a drink and hang out with us. My son wants to know how, when you get the crabs, when you go not fishing but crabbing, how do you not get bit? He's been asking for weeks and I said I will ask Chad the next time I see him.
Speaker 3:You have to attack the crab from the rear. Take him from the rear. If the crab is facing you with his claws out, you just walk away. It's pissed, it's angry. I do not recommend getting your finger caught by it. Yeah, no, I've done that. But if it does happen, you do not, don't snap, you don't shake it, snap it off, say all the worst curse words that you know. You calmly and coolly lift your hand up so that the crab is hanging off your hand and feels gravity and hopefully it goes. Okay, I'm off the ground, I need to let go and I can run away. Okay, if that doesn't work and he's taking his vengeance out on you because he's probably been caught three or four times in his life, then you just take the pliers and you cut the claw off. Hopefully, no, but hopefully it's a legal crab and you didn't mutilate it for no reason. But, sorry, life and limb, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm keeping my finger. Yes, interesting.
Speaker 1:All right yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, no. So we're doing clams for a clam bake next weekend.
Speaker 1:Right, I almost didn't we almost didn't get on the calendar, but I made sure it was on the family calendar. You said it was on the calendar, like months ago. Let me rephrase that it was not on my son's calendar, oh okay, so we got a clam guy.
Speaker 2:Now you have a clam guy Got a clam guy.
Speaker 1:Right got to have a clam guy and I didn't. I don't have a clam guy.
Speaker 2:Nor should you. Okay, unless you need Kobe's amount of clams. I do not. So we're going through the list and there's like 50 people coming, oh jeez. So Hopefully the weather's a little better than the last time. It's supposed to be raining in 50 degrees.
Speaker 1:Ah, that's warmer.
Speaker 2:But we got a giant tent so it'll be. It should be fine. My dad found the clam guy. He's like, yeah, just let me know and I'll go out and grab them all in the morning and then you can pick them up and whatever, have them Okay. So my dad's calling and he's like, yeah, we're going to need like 40 pounds of clams. He's like oh, yeah, I know I need more than a morning to go harvest 40 pounds of clams. You want to grab a beer? Or we want to talk college football as our college football. Well, how about I crack this?
Speaker 1:We can talk about this and then so this is a perfect one to crack, because I cheated on the podcast.
Speaker 2:I saw that I cheated on the podcast.
Speaker 1:I saw that it's in my notes Because this had been on my list of a beer to. I've seen it on social media for a long time. It had been a beer on my list to get and I've specifically been talking with my sister about having it. Well, I was getting beers to drink for the Pac-12 championship game and happened to go to Chad's local store for my beer searching and, lo and behold, I found it. I found the cookie death.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Iron Horse's cookie death. Yeah, another variation of the Irish Death beer. So it seems to be a series basically. They just are constantly doing different ones.
Speaker 2:They are. So this one's 7.8% ABV, and then their notes on it.
Speaker 3:This was an excellent pickup for Thanksgiving.
Speaker 2:Oh, perfect, yeah. So we step inside Grandma's kitchen with a new chewy creation. The big body beer has notes of caramel, cinnamon, oatmeal and raisin To round out the dark, smooth base. No milk required, but obviously just a variation of one of our favorite collectively beers with Irish Death.
Speaker 1:Which I had just earlier in the week, I think picked up one of the best deals. You can get a four pack of Tallboys of Irish Death at Costco for like $6.50. Oh nice.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, what? Wow? Yeah, four pack of 16 ounce Irish Death for, like I think, 650 is. It might even be less than that Nice, but so every time I go I'm kind of like you could go buy that and sling them outside.
Speaker 3:Oh shoot, and I could buy them.
Speaker 1:So I've recently had Irish Death and then I accidentally ordered a mug of it at a restaurant the other night because it was a happy hour and I was like, yeah, I'll get the mug. Yeah, Like, oh God, that's a lot of Irish.
Speaker 3:Death, yeah, oh, not a pint, mug.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:Not a mug. Yeah, that's a. So I saw, yeah, you had rated this on like 12 hours before I was doing research. Yeah, so I think you had it like Friday night. Friday night, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:The smell is pretty similar. I'm not getting any like. There's like maybe a little more sweetness to it. For those who aren't in the area don't recall the many times we've talked about Irish Death before. It's a different variety.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But it's also. It's categorized as a dark. Ale yeah, they, it is not a stout, it's not a porter, it really is just kind of its own Conglomeration of like weird, different things.
Speaker 3:There's lots of like. If you were a porter person or a stout person, you could pull out bit that you like out of this. But it is a big dark multi-ail and so this is kitchen. It kicks in the teeth, it you know there's booze in it. Yeah, but it's not not in a bad way.
Speaker 1:It's a little Sweeter, I think is the key Over the standard Irish air stuff.
Speaker 3:Yeah yeah and after you said raisins in the description, because I never read the full description.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm, man, I taste the research, I taste, I literally drank it.
Speaker 3:I drink a second I read the back of the can the other day, when I taste the raisin now and I don't know if that's just because you said raisin, but now I'm kind of getting that, that raisin.
Speaker 2:Well, because the worstness chocolate chip cookie ever is one with raisins in it. Well, it's not a chocolate chip cookie, it's the oatmeal raisin cookie. Oh yeah, you're expecting chocolatey and you get raisin, but yeah. But you're not disappointing no but this does.
Speaker 1:It's gonna have a chocolatey bit to it because of the style of it. I honestly wonder how many of those Descriptors caramel, cinnamon, oatmeal, the raisin? Probably not, but how many of those are in a regular Irish death? A lot, probably. Not like, maybe not really cinnamon, some caramel. But like you're probably a little bit caramel, you're probably get like that Odie like but yeah, so to me this is probably the other than. Was it mocha death?
Speaker 3:Didn't they do the Mexican? They do like a Mexican chocolate death. I don't think I had that one.
Speaker 1:That one, we did the apple pie but what I was saying is, this one is probably the most similar, oh other than that to the original one because really you're just ramping up the sweetness, you're kind of Hitting a few different notes.
Speaker 1:Maybe it's that raisin ear, those extra cinnamon, and that's the main difference. I think that this is a very comparable Close and the booze one about it's the same. Seven, eight, I think, is exactly what Irish death is, and that's the other thing is some of the different variations. Like the apple pie one was like 12% or something ridiculous, conjecturing whether it was mixed with something.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I think it's pretty good. I had One and a half of them, I think. I split the first one with my sister about right for this style of beer For the, the football game, yeah, and then switch to wallet. That was a full night. I had some booze to eggnog oh, okay, you're mixing a matching a little. I had this. I drank some light beers. I had a, actually a light beer from Our iron horse. Their new one in the release, the B-Series, is a hella's logger. I have not seen that yet. I have brought one if you want to try it later. And then, and then we popped bottles of champagne.
Speaker 3:I was about to say yeah, yeah, then we had champagne so, yeah, I did not a, I was a.
Speaker 1:I was very nervous going into that game, more nervous than any other game this season. It came in close. I, mean, came out for a. We had a big lead, yes, but you needed to, you needed to that offense. Yeah, second half was a little tough not as bad as God was at Oregon State that I was out, or we didn't score the entire second half and just held on for like a two-point win. Like that was brutal while watching it in the pouring down rain in Corvallis.
Speaker 3:You. I think teams are better when they have to scrape and fight for a win. If you're just a team that does blows everyone out.
Speaker 3:I Don't think. Sometimes you see them like in a championship game or at a game. That actually means somebody who's been blowing people out. As soon as they aren't blowing someone out, sometimes you can see their mental's just and I'll go. I don't know how do I? So I think you dub yeah, they're 13 and oh, and everyone kind of been snubbing their nose at them, like not wanting to rank them high all year. But if you're out there grinding for your wins, yeah, I appreciate that and I think you're ready for Even though technically it's not a playoff, because notice, play is well. Next game is a Playoffs, more than one round. Okay, that's fair and it's not. It's not picked by committee, but that's, that's never.
Speaker 2:That's not gonna change any time soon, but oh, I think that's, but I don't that's like if you, if that's your job, you and obviously it's not your only job I think that one is out the window because the big controversy this year was FSU undefeated ACC champions, and then you had Alabama SEC championship champions with a loss, and I don't remember, I didn't follow out. Alabama was their loss to Georgia Texas.
Speaker 1:They're only lost to Texas.
Speaker 3:So that's I, but that's what they also have. But the SEC was also pretty mid this year.
Speaker 1:Like yeah, cuz LSU didn't do well, fsu beat LSU. They beat somebody else from the SEC and then the SEC does the thing that normally the Pac-12 does where they Not. I mean you can't really choose it, but like they cannibalize themselves. The Pac-12 usually is so like Unparity, that like what. Every time you think like, oh, like you'd have last year you know was rising doing well, and then we lose a ridiculous game and knocks us out of the the playoff championship and then all that stuff and you usually have that thing where you have this dumb loss to somebody else in the conference, what with Georgia going up and Alabama already losing to Texas.
Speaker 1:Then as soon as Georgia loses, you're like well, now you've made, you've knocked everybody down to a lower plant like level, instead of having this one elite team that's gonna obviously make the final four. I think I think the snub of FSU is Disgrace. I think it's terrible. I think it is the first time that they've gone out of this Noted thing of be a power five team undefeated when your conference championship, unless there are five, unless there are five of those teams.
Speaker 2:Those should be the teams that are in, and that's where I was going. The selection committee is basically over because the power five turns into the power four next year in that, and then I think that'll just be All right.
Speaker 1:We're just gonna take conference champions, yes right Straight up the power four and then almost for some of those it's gonna be then the next best team.
Speaker 3:We'll still make it, and then you'll pull a few randoms you so like in theory, if they expanded it to eight, it's 12, because it's 12 next year with buys so like the top four are getting a buy, in the first round, so basically you're gonna end up with then the runner-up and you change chip game and then you pull, then you make something like a it's a, then you have like a wild card for the last four.
Speaker 1:So like Ohio State would be in next year, yeah, I think Georgia and Alabama easily in next year, but probably even Oregon, yeah, maybe. Yeah, I mean they're still top 10 right now. So possibly. But putting in putting in Alabama with their one loss being to Texas, when literally head-to-head things, is it like I just don't over FSU with no matter what the injury yeah they still kept winning. Yeah, it wasn't pretty, but that shouldn't matter. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I still kept winning. And now they have a month to get their second string quarterback healthy, backup speed, yeah and to be able to get him going so that you're not playing with your third string freshman quarterback like it's it's stupid into me. Just showed like it's an SEC preference.
Speaker 2:It's a like for sure the thing that swayed me this morning was listening to, like national sports talk radio, which I don't do a ton of. Yeah, whatever, we don't have local on the weekends, every single caller. Who should make it in FSU why? Well, because I'm a Michigan fan. Who should make it in FSU? Why? Because it's an easier setup for Michigan. Oh yeah, and I think they were not happy with that. Alabama I think that was more telling is going Alabama's a tough first round they, they, they probably deserve to be where they're at.
Speaker 1:But Alabama, they they realistically head-to-head are they one of the best top four teams? Sure should.
Speaker 3:Texas. But you have a champ, you have an undefeated.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly that that should jump that FSU going. What else can we do? Yeah, we literally beat every single team you put in front of us.
Speaker 1:The poor quarterback sends out a tweet this morning after finding out that they didn't make it. It's like it's cuz me and he says I'm not in this order, but I'm sorry. I wish I'd have broken my legs sooner so we could have showed that this team is more than a quarterback, basically because of it being so late oh, there's not enough time.
Speaker 1:Yes, that there's not enough time for the team to show look, it's not overcame, that it's not just him like. How sad is that? Like, and these people in a stuffy eye picture it smoke filled room making like you're making these decisions over these kids lives, making a ton of money yeah, that a lot of them are not actually gonna get. Thank god they get some money now. No, yeah, but it's it's.
Speaker 3:I could go on for a long time, so I'm, I've been well, the kind of cap on that I they interviewed the committee chair this morning.
Speaker 3:Oh, and literally his just yeah, his I thought that was a type of his name was boo, but literally his justification was for Florida. Well, yeah, they've got injuries. They, yeah, they're injured, so they're not gonna play that. I was like you can't. Your project that was if that was an SEC school or a blue blood program. Yeah, and we're going. Well, they're gonna persevere and rise up. That's why we put him in. Yes, it was just. And. And the guy like after he said it, he is like okay, I'm done talking now.
Speaker 1:Right, it's like you bitch all I think of every time. Every time that guy's on TV, I just think boo this man and it just fits, because that's his freaking name.
Speaker 3:But that's it. That's what he's getting paid to do. He's it's like Roger Godel you are paid to be booed at yeah, but, but your name is boo but it, yeah, it was it and they probably wanted Alabama and so sell tickets. Sell tickets and the advertising dollars. Yeah, for the Michigan Alabama games can be way better than the Michigan.
Speaker 1:I am. I'm also annoyed. We got to go all the way to Louisiana. Are you going? I will not be going. I don't know if I don't have the money.
Speaker 1:If they make the championship game, I don't have the money if so, I have friends they went to because Texas is doable. Yes, they went. So I have friends who went to the playoff game against Alabama in 2016 and they said this year they're like I'm not. I did that, it was fun, but if I'm going to a game they're waiting, and so they have already like booked tickets, like flights, and got stuff ready for Texas, like basically everything you cancel. Yeah, so they have everything except for the game tickets.
Speaker 2:So far, I don't know, I don't know that I enjoy anything. We've been to a few NASCAR races. Oh right, if you told me a NASCAR race, even championship race, is a thousand bucks for a ticket, I go. I know, I mean, that's stuff, I can watch it on TV yeah, it really is.
Speaker 1:I think about that, like the Taylor Swift stuff people paying absurd amounts of money to go to a Taylor Swift concert and I'm like while she currently has a movie out of her concert. Yes, and it's like I just don't, I can't, I'm way too like frugal, yeah, I mean realistically.
Speaker 2:I'd like my money.
Speaker 1:I would like to be able to retire someday, yeah and and let's face it, I don't make nearly enough, so it's not gonna happen. If it's, if a thousand dollars were the same as like, okay, today I just went out and bought some coffee, when I normally don't buy coffee at a stand like if it's like that, if that's what it cost me to go, sure, guess what?
Speaker 1:that's not my life, so it would be literally just for the experience. It'd be tough. I heard somebody talking recently about going to the F1 race in Vegas, mm-hmm, and how they dropped a lot of money on it, huge, and even at one point I think it was so Friday night he said he got after it had a lot of fun, but he was like Saturday. He's like temper yourself paid a lot of money to be here. Don't be that guy right, just pace ourselves with that late night start gonna make it until 10 o'clock.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like and I heard somebody else talking about how they some concert and it was like you know you probably this guy probably paid $300 for these front row seats and he is literally like hammered and falling asleep for the concert or whatever it was, and it's just like, well, there's too many other things, so, no, I'm not paying for I'm not going.
Speaker 2:It's also a Monday night for the national team for the F1 race. You heard about that. The whole cover whatever but people like I paid two grand to watch practice because I couldn't afford seats for the race. I don't know you grand but a few hundred dollars at least. Well, they probably got like the luxury depending on what?
Speaker 1:yeah, that's true and you canceled.
Speaker 2:Practice like and you kicked and then kicked him out before anything can happen.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's because they didn't want to staff the places I from people who were there. It sounds like that it was there was a lot of learning that happened on the fly, but by the organizers but F1, they said, puts on a better because they know that the money is coming in.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is. They were like you go to the bar, it is actual bartenders making mixed drinks. It is not just like canned cocktail here you go right after you go there is like the level of stuff and what they're doing is top-notch. But it makes sense when you're spending what half a billion dollars or whatever it was, to just build the track.
Speaker 2:I'd rather spend a lot less than get a can of beer.
Speaker 3:Well, I genuinely thought so. After a while I watched the practice the manhole I was gonna sit down watch practice in the manhole cover thing happen. I was like, well, yeah, that's it, the track should have gone through old Vegas and you could have the straightaway. Be that covered section my god.
Speaker 1:So we want experience.
Speaker 3:But so in the lead up to the race you could have the actual track set up, that's under the free month, and you could have people months in advance being able to walk, walk on the track, yeah photos on the track, you could have signage and advertising. They could have a car out there and it's covered. Yeah, but with and it's already foot traffic, so you weren't with how big those barriers were but so I don't. It would be too narrow, but how cool to be see those cars bombing yeah that big old screen in Fremont oh, and they'd never allow it.
Speaker 2:But you do the zipline ride over the track, yeah totally dude.
Speaker 1:Do you know what times I've seen that thing stuck?
Speaker 3:no right but having the track around the sphere. If the sphere wasn't there, I think the race wouldn't have looked as cool, because that was kind of bombing up and out. You're, yeah, you're going down the strip, but then you're immediately going hanging a left and going in the area that you don't walk because you don't want to get mugged when you're in Vegas.
Speaker 2:So I watched the replay Sunday morning because I did not stay up until.
Speaker 1:I was still up after the it was surprisingly earlier, so we watched it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was like they were earlier than I thought, so I didn't watch until.
Speaker 1:Sunday. We all tested it and I was like no not watching it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, turns out. I did other than the aerial shots. It just looked like a street course race. Yeah, there was nothing Vegasi about it. They just put so much of the you have to for safety and whatever.
Speaker 1:From what I can tell, though I don't like watching F1, it's just not that entertained to me, this was one of the more entertaining races. They were overtaking each other, there were like sketchy turns and things, so like I was here for that part of it and he won.
Speaker 2:Verstappen won 18 of the 20 races for the season. So, oh, he won Again. Awesome, yeah, he's locked up the championship a couple weeks ago. Anyway, cookie Death, are we fridging this? I wasn't sure if we were waiting till the end or not, no, let's say this is seasonal for me?
Speaker 3:Obviously because it's a seasonal beer, and that's what I would love to sorry Chad.
Speaker 1:No, it's okay. I really wonder. I almost want to know like what their? How many of these are coming back, how many of these are on constant rotations, because it was probably almost a year ago that we did the Apple buy one Yep, and we haven't seen that one back.
Speaker 2:But like the Mocha, Death comes that one was so rare too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because that was on draft only Yep and I haven't seen Mocha Death in a while. So I'm wondering like are these on like two year cycles? Are they on like Keeps some demand going.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I don't know, but I've seen a lot, but I've seen a lot more other Iron Horse yes, they get put into the cold case. It used to just be Irish Death, and then High Five, heff and whatever, their IPA and Sub-Beltz, and then whatever the wrote the seasonal Irish Death. Now they're getting a whole lot more of all their other offerings. So you're seasonal on this one. Seasonal this would be on the inside fridge, just because when I buy it I'm going to drink it. Yeah, it's not a. I don't think I'm not going to buy and sit on it Mm-hmm, because I don't do that with Irish Death anyways. Like, when I go out to buy Irish Death, the intention is I'm going to drink at least two of these and not do anything else the rest of the day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I might have done that on one of the other nights. There you go, I don't remember what night that was. Yeah, this same seasonal it's. It basically just becomes my this season Irish Death. Yep, that I would just grab it. It's not too different, like the you talked about the Mexican chocolate one. I don't like spicy so I just I stayed away from it, probably the main reason I didn't. But, like, whenever I could find Mocha Death, I'm grabbing it Whenever I could find what was. There was another one before this that was similar-ish kind of style, but they also do a winter one called Cozy Sweater, which is a little bit different. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what I was thinking of, but I always do their kind of seasonal dark ones. This is a good fit for this time of year. So, yeah, I'd beer fridge it seasonally.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think this falls into the Irish Death seasonal, if I see it. If I haven't had it, I'm going to grab it, like you mean that season if you hadn't had it this season. Well, so this is a brand new one. I don't know, this is the first year Nope, never been around before Yep. So anytime they release a new Irish Death, I will drink a new Irish Death.
Speaker 1:But what if this one is back next year?
Speaker 2:Uh, maybe I don't think it's different enough from an Irish Death for me to make it a-.
Speaker 1:I can't decide whether that's a positive or a negative.
Speaker 2:Right, but I agree.
Speaker 1:It's a beer I like and enjoy.
Speaker 2:If I see it, it would be a coin flip between grabbing this and grabbing Irish Death. I would probably grab this just because it stands out, mm-hmm Right, because you see Irish Death every-.
Speaker 1:Especially if you know you're having people over for the holidays, having that kind of funky different option If I saw it on tap, it'd be worth it.
Speaker 2:Throw it in somewhere, so it's seasonal yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I get it.
Speaker 3:I should have got a can of Irish Death. Do it side by side.
Speaker 2:I almost bought one.
Speaker 3:See if this is kind of a gateway to a full-blown Irish Death.
Speaker 1:Okay, so maybe I'll sit down and do it yeah, but I almost I still have one more, at least one more of my regulars that I almost brought today To do it side by side. Yeah, do it at home.
Speaker 3:You're right, yeah, speaking of Death.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yes, we have another beer. The one thing I wanted to touch on before we left this one is they change up some of their branding. Yeah, especially online for Iron Horse, and so they're obviously independent craft beer, but now they're indie. Oh, they've been indie for a while.
Speaker 1:They called it indie. Yeah, they've still claimed to be for a while. That was the first time.
Speaker 2:They always have the, you're welcome. No, no, no, yeah, but like not independent, but like indie beer, I do also appreciate.
Speaker 1:It is very similar. Like you got the Skull and Crossbows. They really just changed a slight coloration, like some of the gold added the blue, add the cookies I mean the side writing on it is still the same as what it would be. So dark, smooth brew like it's-.
Speaker 3:You're not going to confuse it not being based off of Iron Staff. Yeah, and so now we've got-. Oh that is black. Yeah, this is a. This is probably one of the heaviest hitting beers we've got.
Speaker 2:Yeah, dude, you hate us, you're going to start us off.
Speaker 3:This is Cafe Death from Revolution Brewing out of Chicago. Okay.
Speaker 1:This to me, though, like you're just pouring it, like this is a perfect already look at this season.
Speaker 3:Feel this the glass is physically heavy. This is another one of those beers. It's this you said.
Speaker 1:Cafe Death. Yeah, oh, there it is D-E-T-H oh okay, so 14.8% alcohol by volume.
Speaker 2:Thank you, thor. Yeah, this is fresh whole bean coffee from Chicago's own Dark Matter Coffee Stirs the senses. In this barrel-aged Imperial Oatmeal Stout, haunting aromatics of roast and dried fruit enter the realm of toasted walnut and rich chocolate. And I think he said, from Revolution Brewing out of Chicago.
Speaker 1:So it looks like they have a regular version. That is Death's Tar barrel-aged Imperial Oatmeal Stout. Yeah, so this is just a ramped up coffee version of it. I couldn't quite tell if you said that in there. I was trying to listen and read at the same time. Yeah, there's coffee.
Speaker 2:Well, yes, we knew that part but it's.
Speaker 1:but so there is a just Death. No, I didn't know that, yeah.
Speaker 2:So it's Chicago's.
Speaker 1:That's barrel-aged.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's Chicago's largest independent brewery.
Speaker 1:Revolution Brewing.
Speaker 2:They're one of the top. They're top 50 in the country of overall breweries, including macros. Hey, great job doing some homework Did.
Speaker 1:I'm impressed.
Speaker 3:Sure did I'm just here to drink beer and not football. It's nice when the brewery puts all the important information on the website. On mine, yeah, the cool thing. So.
Speaker 1:Dude, that is so frickin' good. So this is the.
Speaker 2:Deathcast yeah, a little metal-oclipsed reference. Do you know where the Death name comes from? I do not. The D-E-T-H. Yeah, in this beer specifically, or.
Speaker 1:For the O-G.
Speaker 2:For the O-G? No, it's the dude's last name. Seriously, jason Death is the founder of Of.
Speaker 1:Revolution yeah.
Speaker 2:Oh, that is cool. How do you not make it Death Brewing? So he I think he this is his like. I don't want to knock it, but I think this is like second or third brewery that he's founded. Oh interesting. So he's had a couple.
Speaker 1:I don't think they ever got to like this scale or scope, but like they just Didn't make, it Didn't make it or whatever, but this one's been around for Since 2010.
Speaker 2:So, okay, long time. But yeah, he was a head brewer, or started in the trenches, worked his way up to like a brewmaster, for I should have written down somebody else. Dude, I'm just impressed with the homework you've already done. But then this is the one like Took off and I think they're in like a historic building yeah.
Speaker 3:Like a Looks like a very cool place to visit and go have a pint. Okay, put it on our list. I put it on my list if. I ever make it to Chicago.
Speaker 2:Chicago would be easier to get to than North Dakota. It's a pretty good hub.
Speaker 1:Listen. How about we? Go to Chicago and then drive to North Dakota.
Speaker 3:No, I'd still. So they hop on a plane of.
Speaker 2:Fargo. So this is a To VoreDrop right. Yes, because they distribute, they get pretty good distribution. I think it's like 11 or 12 states, mostly Midwest I mean that makes sense Illinois, Iowa, I think, maybe the Dakotas, ohio. But then they touch the East Coast with like New York, new Jersey.
Speaker 3:So and I've seen them every once in a while in a total line Revolution Out here. Yeah, Very rarely kind of this time of year when it's cold and you see more of their bailar stuff.
Speaker 1:Oh okay. Probably brewed only in Chicago. So they're not like Contract brewing or having like, oh, we're from Chicago but we get brewed in like I can't think of a suburb of Chicago right now, but I was trying to.
Speaker 1:I've never been there, so I don't know I've been there for about 14 hours. We flew in to go to a friend's wedding in Michigan. Flew in, I crashed on the floor of my sister and her friend's hotel room. They had plans to do other stuff. I wandered around for like a few hours in the morning and then spent a long, long long time kind of early smartphones trying to figure out how to get on the right subway to go where.
Speaker 2:I was supposed to go. You didn't wake up.
Speaker 1:on the wrong side of the river, in Portland, that's a different time and then it happens they were going to a Cubs game I ate Chicago deep dish pizza and then left, so it was like landing by like 11 o'clock at night and probably by like 1 pm the next day I was gone.
Speaker 3:Nice.
Speaker 1:So not to.
Speaker 2:And I've never been back Chicago deep dish in Chicago. You got to yes, yes, have you ordered it here?
Speaker 1:No, yeah, no. And I will say this we had a friend with us who's from Chicago. We sit down at the table. He was like close to 10 of us and we're like, okay, so like like me and my sister, like we'll split up, like we'll get a pizza, like you guys get a pizza, and he was like no, no, no, no, no, no Like he's like we might not even get two for all of us.
Speaker 1:And we're like what? And then you realize that like halfway through one slice, you're like oh, oh, slice of pizza I'm good, yeah, I'm good, this is back to the beer.
Speaker 3:This is great. Like I said, it's physically heavy, yeah, it's dense, and if I hold it up to the light, there's absolutely no light coming through. This is just a thick, dark, not thick as a Drecker beer but as thick as this beer has. Since it was brewed and put into a barrel, it's lived some life. There are some, there are demons in this brew.
Speaker 2:And so it's part of a Deep Wood series which I did not pick up on or do any research on. So obviously they have some sort of a.
Speaker 1:It's their Barrel.
Speaker 2:Age program.
Speaker 1:Which makes sense.
Speaker 3:But the aforementioned demons. I know this is 14%. It doesn't feel 14. It doesn't feel like 14. Like, even though it gives you that kind of carmel-y kick at the end, you get that little.
Speaker 1:It's the barrel, like that cream, almost Like in that you.
Speaker 3:I'm not getting so much vanilla out of it, but it is imparted.
Speaker 1:Realizing that it is this beer makes you realize it is in barrels, and that's the only reason that you're like, oh, this could be kind of boozy.
Speaker 3:The smell a little bit. It's kind of Now that I'm halfway through my taster it's a little barleywine-y without being a barleywine I can kind of see that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's got a little bit of that and I think that's a nice sipper, it's a nice sipper beer. What's disguising? It is the coffee.
Speaker 3:That bitterness is really trying hard to cut through that booze, the booziness.
Speaker 1:What's really interesting. I mean just scrolling through their social media. I don't know when this normally got released. Okay, here's the first one. So I'm back to November 10th scrolling and that's the first that I see of this beer. Oh, really, yeah, but a lot of other. I mean they're into like a Christmas beer, a Christmas beer, red ale with ginger and orange peel. Okay, I can see that, but that's the first time where I see I don't want it. But I can see that. Yeah, today's talking about deep wood. So, and they got barleywine. Yeah, I'm not mad about this. I mean, this is the style that, like I always talk about for this time of year sitting down, this comes in. This is the difference, though 12 ounce can compared to usually, we're getting 16s of these.
Speaker 2:This type of beer is the reason I'm grateful that we switched to doing just tastered nuts instead of a 12 ounce can, because I may have to Uber home if I had.
Speaker 1:Oh, if you had a full one of these, yeah, like, especially when you are putting them in the same podcast as starting with a 7.8. Right, but this would be an awesome.
Speaker 2:I don't want to say Christmas morning, but Christmas Eve, something like Yep sitting around a fireplace hanging out with family and I have anything to do and I've ordered a drive. Yeah, late morning, yeah, there you go. After stockings, as everybody else is opening presents, you just crack one of these. Not that it's a Christmasy beer.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:Same thing could be said for like a snow day. Yeah, oh snow day.
Speaker 1:This is a great snow day beer.
Speaker 2:Kids are out of school. They're going to be playing in the yard.
Speaker 1:I don't have to go to work. I'm going to sit in front of the window and watch them and make sure they don't do anything dumb while I drink this. Yeah, absolutely yeah. It's interesting too that this style has now made its way where I don't know. Do they sell it in a four pack of 12 ounces? Do they only sell individual cans? But this style used to be like in some places still do. It are only in like 750 mil bottles, which to me that's a lot. It's a lot of booze. I don't. A 16 is kind of the max that I want of this. Yes, unless I'm sharing it. That's. The difference is and you're starting to see, some are doing the smaller bottles like instead of a 750 mil. Maybe you're doing like a 12 ounce or you're doing like.
Speaker 1:Oh well, I'm going to get a 12 and not a 22.
Speaker 3:And getting even smaller, and I'd almost like to see this one in a 22.
Speaker 2:That'd be good for a split. For a split yes.
Speaker 1:If that's what we were doing, if we were just sitting here watching football.
Speaker 2:you got a 22 of this, and each of us gets a glass watches the game. Yeah, that'd be. That's not bad, so it's actually not cold enough out.
Speaker 1:No, ironically it's one of those days that's actually kind of warm.
Speaker 3:No, I don't have my long underwear on today In the house.
Speaker 1:Not today.
Speaker 2:You have a heater.
Speaker 1:You would wear long underwear instead of just turning up the heat.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm a skinny bitch now.
Speaker 1:Huh.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that sucks.
Speaker 2:But you have a heater. I know it's awful, you can just turn it off.
Speaker 1:Oh, you're saying it doesn't go well, doesn't matter. If only we knew an age fat guy.
Speaker 3:No, no, I mean, I just like physically. My body's like oh no, I'm cold now. Huh, I don't have all the padding. It was like last year, trying to just get like, because I dumped all the weight like right before Christmas. So it was like you still just walk out. I'd be able to, I'd be the shirt, shirt and t-shirt guy. Oh it's a t-shirt guy in the middle of winter Like ah yeah, no, it's, oh no.
Speaker 1:I don't understand that, no.
Speaker 3:I don't mind the cold and the rain, the rain, I don't mind, I will tell her, but I just sit at a desk all day, so it just sucks all the heat out of me.
Speaker 1:I right now I'm in one of our extra bedrooms for when I work from home, but we don't turn the heat on in there at all the entire rest of the week, except for the days that I'm working in there. It literally takes me until like three o'clock to finally be like okay, now it's not freezing, Like I have the heat cranked like in there to try and like get it back to normal functioning temperature.
Speaker 2:So we didn't have a heater for most of the summer, which makes sense, fine, no, it wasn't working. Okay, but do you need the heat in the summer? No, but we actively knew it wasn't working and then, as it got closer, it was the Now we have to get a fix. So we need the heat to work and at one point I was out there banging on it with a wrench and it would work. Perfect, you talked about that. Yeah, until it turned off. It works now. Oh yeah, no, ours is 72 degrees now.
Speaker 1:If I had something that could maintain better. Ours do is like this is central. Yeah that's not central air, so it, like heat, goes on for a while, ramps up till you're like about to start sweating, and then it turns off and you get back down to like, okay, I'm gonna grab a blanket, and then it runs back up and so.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no way. We had fireplaces that kept it a little bit warm, but it was panic. So this, for me this would be an event beer, I think, is kind of where we're going. If there was a bomber of this or a couple cans of this for watching a game hanging out or campfire, I'm in a social setting. We're all gonna split it Delicious At 14.8,. This does not, I mean. I guess I put it in the beer fridge to have a can for that kind of setting. This is not a regular go-to.
Speaker 1:If this, I assume, is a seasonal release, if, like they were like, the only way to get it is like a four pack of 12 ounce cans, I might buy it and then have those four ounce those cans through the season, right, and grab one every once in a while to do that Possibly until the next season.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, because I think I'd want to make sure that by and they're only in cans, so it's not like you're aging it, right? Like, don't leave it in a can for three years. That's a bad idea, but I would definitely try to do that. I'd want to. I always want some version of this. Throughout the holidays, usually this is my get at the brewery or get at the place. Yeah, yeah, like getting, because you could get a eight out A five or 10 ounce pour is kind of perfect, so that this would be like if I lived nearby.
Speaker 1:There each year I would go in and around the season and when I'm in there a couple of times, if that's my like go-to, like seven seas I talked about it before I almost always get a pour of their barrel age Like every few months. Whatever the new one they have is, I pop in and I'll grab it and have that as part of my trip. So that's more where I see this one, but would gladly have it to like get taken chair with somebody or do that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so their distribution in those 11 states. I don't know if that's, If you found cans of revolution up here that might just be like keg distribution, because if you Not New York, but if I'm in Ohio or wherever and they had revolution brewing and this is one of the things on tap, not necessarily just Chicago, I would be intrigued. Yeah.
Speaker 3:And go after it. Yeah, and I did put a Tavor Alert on revolution. How many? So I get a little blurb. When they get something new, I'm probably going to get one of their normal Normal finger quotes offerings. Yeah, because everything that was on the site when I ordered this was all barrel aged stuff. I would love to try the non-aged version of a couple of their beers.
Speaker 2:Well, and I think that comes down to the price point. Yeah, because once you hit Tavor, it's going to be a spendier ring. It wasn't terrible? No, it wasn't terrible. But you're not buying a light beer on Tavor? Yeah, or a pale.
Speaker 3:With the booze in it, the price per can is way more palatable Because it's the same price no matter what how much diesel's in it. But I would say this is probably one of my top five beers we reviewed.
Speaker 2:Really, do you know about how?
Speaker 3:is it? Yeah, I think just from a beer standpoint. But that said, this is a outside cooler beer or an event beer. Yeah, I'm bringing it, I'm picking this up. I know when it's going to be drank. I don't see myself. You're not sitting on it. I've never, because I buy and sit on enough beer already. I don't need a barrel aged thing, beer that is really on a timer to consume. Overall, very tasty beer. If you are a Marlene wine aficionado or barrel aged aficionado, this is definitely a pickup, especially in a 12. If you can find it in a 12 locally where you're at, that is a nice little entry. Way better than back in the day doing 22s.
Speaker 1:Well, and the coffee takes the edge off of it, Because they have this non-coffee. They also have Death by Cherries. They've got so the whole Deepwood series. You can buy a season ticket. So then you get a discount on a 4 pack of all of their. Deepwood releases for the whole year If you were local. You're looking at like, oh like 9 to 12 different versions throughout the year.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I'm not mad about it. Swigs a little bit much, huh.
Speaker 1:Yeah, don't chug that.
Speaker 2:This is definitely sipper.
Speaker 1:Yeah, sip it folks. Yeah. But it does say some of these do come on Tvor, because they are not allowed to legally ship them to you. Probably Illinois laws, oh, could be yeah, yeah, that they can give them to Tvor and Tvor can sell them, but they can't directly ship.
Speaker 3:They can't. Yeah, they can ship. You can go pick up or they can ship to you in state is a lot of those laws.
Speaker 2:Weird, all right. Well, brian's just about to finish his glass.
Speaker 1:Dude, it's been a nice sipper, though.
Speaker 2:You know it's a perfect sipper.
Speaker 3:I just took the last so. I'm gonna keep sipping on mine the rest of the day.
Speaker 2:Oh, I thought you finished it.
Speaker 3:No.
Speaker 2:There's some left in the can if you want it.
Speaker 3:If the board starts, if I start seeing double on the board, it's just bad news.
Speaker 1:Well, just slowly start pouring the rest of the can into his glass.
Speaker 2:For the rest of the afternoon it's not gonna go anywhere. That's part of it. Yeah, all right. Well, our glasses aren't quite empty. Hopefully yours are, and we'll catch you next time, okay.
Speaker 3:And then what did Chad put as next? It is Emperor Citra. The king is dead. Long live the emperor.
Speaker 1:If you've enjoyed what you just heard, make sure you subscribe to get new episodes when they drop, and don't forget to leave us a review. If you want to see what we're drinking, we're not on the pod. You can follow us on social media at A-Beer Review. Feel free to send us any beer suggestions that we can make Chad go buy off of to vor.