Year of Beer Paintings – Day 326

The featured beer painting of the day is of Racer 5 IPA by Bear Republic Brewing Company in Healdsburg, California. This West Coast style IPA is the brewery’s flagship beer. I found this bottle in Philadelphia, and brought it home, because I can’t buy it here in Anchorage, Alaska. Bear Republic’s Racer 5 has won a slew of awards, including the Gold medal at the 2009 Great American Beer Festival. I decided to give it higher honors by putting the Borg-Warner trophy in the background of this painting. This beer is decidedly awesome at 7.5% ABV and 75 IBUs. It tasted exactly what I think a fresh IPA should be like – big piney and citrus flavors with a floral hop aroma. I hope you cherish every drop, and don’t try to win any racing awards when you consume this product. It is too tasty to waste in a chug-a-thon. All right IPA lovers, get your engines ready, make a pit stop, and keep on racing right along to the check-out-line. As the checkered flag waves, you’ll be back home watching the Indy 500 while sipping on cold Racer 5 IPA. Vroom!

Cheers to Racer 5, the beer that drives you to cheer for racing carnage! I hope you can get a hold of this particular brew. It’s mighty fine!

The original painting sold. You can purchase a limited-edition print, or order a custom beer painting at my Etsy shop.

View the complete Year of Beer Paintings gallery.

Year of Beer 11.22. Racer 5 IPA by Bear Republic Brewing Company. Oil on panel, 8″x10″.

Year of Beer Paintings – Day 315

The featured beer painting of the day is of Russian River Brewing Company’s Supplication – a wild American brown ale that is fairly hard to find, especially on tap at a small bar in Pennsylvania. Joe Sixpack, Philly’s beer writer, suggested meeting for a beer, and a live painting session at one of his favorite bars in Mt. Airy. I was surprised to see this beer on tap, and savored every bit of my 6 oz serving. Russian River beer is not found every day, so when I saw it on the menu, I knew it was the one I was going to paint. I met the owner of this tavern and he told me that his grandfather opened it in 1939. He is very humble about his establishment, and wants to keep the bar stools available for locals, so he doesn’t boast about the amazing selection he offers on tap. We joked that I shouldn’t even mention the name of his bar in my blog, but to just say that it’s next to the oldest Lutheran church in the country. Going to a bar with Philly’s beer writer definitely has advantages. Not only did I get to meet the owner who came over to talk to Joe, but he also called the bar ahead of time to ask if I could paint live there. The previous evening we attended a craft beer tasting event that Joe had invited me to at the Convention Center during one of the nation’s best craft fairs. He introduced five new breweries and their craft beer to the beer enthusiasts who attended the tasting event. Thanks Joe Sixpack for making it possible for me to experience the truly local beer scene in Philly!

Russian River Supplication is a great beer, and rates 100 on Beer Advocate. Brown in color with a nose full of cherries, flavors of Pinot Noir oak, Brettanomyces, Pediococcus, and Lactobaccillius. This beer is complex in flavor and aroma. I spent several minutes just smelling it before I even had my first sip. No surprise, but Maria and Joe both ordered the same beer. My journey of sour beer tasting continued that evening when I attended Sam Magdovitz’s beer-themed birthday celebration and beer tasting, which included sours from Anchorage Brewing Company and even two Cantillon bottles. There were several bottles from Cascade Brewing from Portland, Oregon including an apricot and an elderberry lambic, and three bottles of Eclipse imperial stout each aged in different casks. As I mentioned the next morning to Sam at breakfast, that was the most epic beer tasting of my life, as it should have been, considering it was his 60^th birthday party!

Cheers to Russian River’s Supplication! A fantastic cherry sour brown that only the best bars would have on tap! Thanks Joe Sixpack for the great recommendation!

The original painting sold. You can purchase a different painting, and prints of this beer at my Etsy shop, RealArtIsBetter.

Year of Beer 11.11. Supplication by Russian River Brewing Co. Oil on panel, 8″x10″.

Year of Beer Paintings – Day 269

The featured beer painting of the day is of Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale by Stone Brewing Company in Escondido, California. I liked this beer, it was very good, but did it require a paragraph on the back of the bottle describing why I am not worthy? Maybe, but probably not. I have already been schooled by Stone Brewing Company on beer drinking, and can handle anything Stone can dish out. I was actually surprised at the mild oak flavor, I was expecting a bigger punch. I routinely drink beers from Midnight Sun Brewing Co. like Bar Fly, Arctic Devil, and oaked Monks Mistress. Evidently, the amount of oak flavor that comes from barrel aging must exceed the chips added to this beer, because, although the beer is quite palatable and also very tasty, I could hardly taste oak over this already malt- and hop-forward ale. As a home brewer and beer connoisseur, I prefer the flavor of beer aged in a foudre. Especially if it was aged in a cave! Then, maybe, Stone could tell me that I’m not worthy of this beer. Don’t get me wrong, I love all Stone beer, even the brews berated with the big marketing campaigns, but why make a big fuss over a beer that is probably best described within my beer circle as fairly normal?

Cheers to Oaked Arrogant Bastard! The beer that will make you feel worthy.

You can purchase this painting, or a limited-edition print at my Etsy shop.

View the complete Year of Beer Paintings gallery.

Year of Beer 09.26. Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale by Stone Brewing Co. Oil on panel, 8″x10″.

Year of Beer Paintings – Day 226

Another day, another beer painting.  This one is at the top of the pinnacle — ACME California IPA by North Coast Brewing Company.  I really like North Coast Brewing; every type of beer I’ve had from there has been delicious, so when I saw that this IPA was from North Coast, I had to nab it.

This beer was good, fresh and juicy.  Not a hop bomb, but a balanced joy of an IPA to drink.  I think it would be good for people who normally steer away from IPA, as a trainer IPA.  Dry is the word.  I am looking for not too much bittering, or flavoring hops.  This beer was all smell.  You can taste the aroma in the beer; it is fresh and floral .

So I painted this Anvil of a beer on the edge of the roadrunner’s cliff.  I feel the poor coyote deserves a beer after having 50 lbs of wrought iron dropped on his head.  I hope it doesn’t break on the way down.  I have a thing for anvils, and I hope some day I get to start a small blacksmith foundry for making hand wrought iron tools and parts.  The heart of the blacksmithy is the foundry and the anvil.  You can’t work on iron without a proper anvil.  But I need to graduate from my log building status first, then I have to build a sauna, a proper studio, a dome oven, a guest cabin, and then maybe I will get onto the blacksmithy.  I’ll be fifty by then, but fifty is the new thirty anyway.

Cheers to ACME IPA from North Coast Brewing Co!  I know this brewery is top of the form.  Nailing the freshest tastiest brews time after time!  Oh, and by the way, the Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout painting is still available (one of my paintings I’m most proud of).  I always think of the Tetris song when I look at it.

You can purchase this painting, or a limited-edition print at my Etsy shop.

View the complete Year of Beer Paintings gallery.

Year of Beer 08.14. ACME California IPA by North Coast Brewing Co. Oil on panel, 8″x10″.

 

 

Year of Beer Paintings – Day 223

It’s Beer Camp time!  Okay, so for those of you in-the-know, you must be as excited as I am when I see the Beer Camp mix-pack from Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. in stores.  In the past, Sierra Nevada has held a home-brewer video challenge and the winners got to attend Beer Camp in Chico, California where they brewed their favorite recipes with the Sierra Nevada brewmasters.  This year Sierra Nevada opened a new brewery in Mills River, North Carolina and I guess they wanted to take a road trip between the two breweries.  Instead of hosting home-brewers, SN invited their favorite breweries to collaborate at the closest SN headquarters (Chico, or Mills River) to brew up a collaboration Beer Camp beer.  The program was to make the beer, and then host the longest road-trip beer fest ever hosted by an American brewery.  They didn’t come to Alaska (grump!) but Humpy’s Great Alaskan Alehouse just hosted a tasting event last week.  I unfortunately missed it as I was at the Alaska Sailing Club enjoying Beer Camp beer in a boat.  I bought two packs, so I still have a few left.

The featured beer painting of the day is of Beer Camp Myron’s Walk – a collaboration by Sierra Nevada and Allagash Brewing Company of Portland, Maine.  I chose this particular Beer Camp beer because it talks about the Appalachian Trail right on the bottle, and because I haven’t found a Maine beer here in Alaska as of yet.  Myron Avery, the name sake of this beer, was the founder of the Appalachian Trail (AT).  The AT spans the entire East coast, and it takes most of a year to walk the whole thing.  This is a great concept for a beer’s name, and although I know they say these are a one-time only release, this one would be a good one to re-release.  The beer is a Belgian-style pale hopped up in true SN style with whole cone Citra and Mosaic hops.  I don’t think there are many Belgian beers that actually have this much hop content.  At 38 IBUs, I think they might be a little underscoring this one, or maybe it is the coriander playing off the bold American hops that perfectly compliment each other, creating a piney, citrusy flavor.  Then Allagash’s proprietary Belgian-style yeast was addded, which I might add is bready and delicious, making a great beer that I wish was a permanent offering available here in Alaska!

Cheers to Beer Camp!  I have represented all but three of these collaboration breweries so far this year.  All of these have been delicious!  Nothing like drinking Beer Camp at a campsite!  Whether that is on the lake, near the ocean, or in the mountains!

You can purchase this painting, or a limited-edition print at my Etsy shop.

View the complete Year of Beer Paintings gallery.

Year of Beer 08.11. Beer Camp Myron’s Walk by Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. and Allagash Brewing Co. Oil on panel, 8″x10″.

Year of Beer Paintings – Day 213

The featured beer painting for the day is of Maximus India Pale Ale by Lagunitas Brewing Company. I was wondering why Lagunitas has two different strong IPAs in its lineup: Hop Stoopid and now Maximus. The percentage may be similar, but when you look at the IBU rating, it becomes clear that Maximus is a different animal with nearly half the IBU rating of Hop Stoopid. The verbiage on the bottle is kind of strange, because I expected to see notes on the hop, or grain bill, but instead, I read a mysterious message about what I imagine to be a private eye slipping out of his office and walking to a seedy pub and ordering this beer. I had a hard time relating to that while I am here in McCarthy, Alaska. Hardly anybody hangs out in offices with their names etched on the door here. And there is certainly no need for a private eye. You could just ask the town gossip if you wanted to know something about anyone.

I have a different story in mind, about Magnus Maximus who earned his seat of power by wielding this sword to victory. The sword of power was the sword of kings and was lost in history for nearly 700 years until another mysterious man received it from the lady of the lake. This man was Merlin the Magician. Merlin sank it into a stone until his pupil Arthur could pull it forth uniting England under one king, creating the golden age of Arthurian legend. Now if I were Arthur, I would want a beer fit for a king, and I think I would want it to be an IPA. I would like to believe that this beer is what would be served at the round table. This was a kingly beverage. I shared this one with my wife and then we sampled a couple of other IPAs that I won’t mention, because they paled in comparison to Maximus and tasted watery in comparison. This is a truly amazing IPA!

Three cheers for Lagunitas! Hooray for the malt! Hooray for the hops! And hooray for the brewers who make Maximus! A kingly beer for sure!

You can purchase this painting, or a limited-edition print at my Etsy shop.

View the complete Year of Beer Paintings gallery.

Year of Beer 08.01. Maximus IPA by Lagunitas Brewing Co. Oil on panel, 8″x10″.

Year of Beer Paintings – Day 207

The featured beer painting of the day is of Hop Crisis Imperial IPA by 21st Amendment Brewery. Watch out, this beer is strong! I remember when I tasted the first batch in January, 2009 at the Great Alaska Beer and Barleywine Festival. Correct me if I am wrong, but that beer was different than what we have in our hands today. It originally was a full 10% and was a wet hop IPA. Today’s Hop Crisis is aged on oak spirals, which has significantly changed the flavor from what I remember tasting five years ago. I like the oak addition, and I like the high IBU strong ale. It is a solid contender. I should age a couple cans to see if this IPA will do similar things that the Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA did after five years.

Fruity, oaky, and highly hopped, this beer has a booziness that is covered by the intensity of the flavor. It is supposed to be a hop bomb, but I just don’t get that from the way it tastes, because it has so much malt and oak, and actually tastes very well balanced! I painted hops in the background because the name is about the hops. I hope Nico and Shaun have no problem breaking out of Alcatraz. I heard there are a number of monsters living there, so they better bring some Hop Crisis to help combat the creatures for a battle of monster IPA versus ghostly ghouls of the incarcerated! I bet Hop Crisis comes up on top and those bros will be surfing to victory on their ironing boards (you’ll need to read the text on the can to figure out what I’m talking about).

Cheers to another fine product from 21^st Amendment! Good work guys! I love your beer!

The original oil painting sold, but limited-edition prints are available at my Etsy shop.

Year of Beer 07.26. Hop Crisis Imperial IPA by 21st Amendment Brewing Co. Oil on panel, 8″x10″.

Year of Beer Paintings – Day 201

The featured beer painting of the day is of West Coast IPA by Green Flash Brewing Company in San Diego.  This beer was very good!  I opened it at a family barbeque, while we were discussing the possibility of having a family reunion on the Oregon coast.  I am in love with the west coast.  My wife and I bike-toured on our tandem bicycle from Vancouver, Canada to the Mexican border in 2009.  You would think at the end of a 2,000-mile bike tour there would be some big finale, but sadly, no.  After asking a stranger to take a photo of us looking triumphant at the border, we had to wait for over an hour at a McDonalds parking lot to be picked up by my mother-in-law, while sipping on a six-pack of luke-warm Tecate.  However, the trip was epic, and I would never have traded a day.

Being a hop-head, I’ve had many IPAs in my day.  This one is a great example of an excellent IPA.  I don’t know the hop bill, but I drank it right after an Inversion IPA and I noticed that the West Coast IPA tasted fresher, and was strong, yet very palatable on the hops.  The aroma was fantastic.

Cheers to drinking great beers on the Pacific Coast!  Give West Coast IPA a try, it’s about time you saw a sunset from the beach anyway!  Cheers!

The original painting sold. You can purchase a limited-edition print, or order a custom beer painting at my Etsy shop.

View the complete Year of Beer Paintings gallery.

Year of Beer 07.20. West Coast IPA by Green Flash Brewing Co. Oil on panel, 8″x10″.

Year of Beer Paintings – Day 195

The featured beer painting of the day is of Ballast Point Brewing Company’s Imperial Stout Sea Monster.  I had a monster of a day completing the timber framing for the second level of my cabin, and driving for the first time on my new driveway to the cabin!  No more carrying building supplies to the worksite!  Yeah!  Now I’m drinking a monster of a beer, Sea Monster, that is.  And delicious it is too!  Full of flavor: vanilla, chocolate, and roasted grain.  This beer is as good as any one of the imperial stouts I have been consuming all week!  A decadent week it has been, but also very productive and rewarding.

I head back to Anchorage tomorrow morning, a short 310-mile commute from McCarthy.  When I get home a ton of work must be done, and my sister is getting married!  We’ll have houseguests, and I’ll be pouring ten gallons of my homebrew at the reception!  Stay tuned for another homebrew painting, Kevin and Glo.  This one will be of the Drippy Hippy — a fabulous ginger-honey ale!  What could be better than sending two lovebirds on a spicy honeymoon!

Thanks Ballast Point for making a perfect monster of a stout!  Cheers to the Sea Monster!  Don’t let it swallow your submarine!

You can purchase this painting, or a limited-edition print at my Etsy shop.

View the complete Year of Beer Paintings gallery.

Year of Beer 07.14. Sea Monster Imperial Stout by Ballast Point Brewing Co. Oil on panel, 8″x10″.

Year of Beer Paintings – Day 191

The featured beer painting of the day is of The Lost Abbey Deliverance Ale, a blended ale aged in bourbon and brandy barrels, brewed by Port Brewing Company in San Marcos, CA.  The beer is a mixture of the Serpent’s Stout aged in bourbon barrels and the Angel’s Share aged in brandy barrels.  This beer truly is a battle between good and evil!  It is a phenomenal American strong ale!  The cork on this one popped all the way to the ceiling — must have been the angels taking their share.  I did my part here back on earth sipping on this delectable brew!  No serpents here though, just a deliverance-type of setting.  Where is the banjo?

I loved, loved, loved, this beer!  My wife said, “It’s amazing!”  When I first tasted the 2 oz serving at the Culmination Beer Festival I knew it was good, but had already tasted so many dynamic beers, including Deal With The Devil by Anchorage Brewing Co!  Having it here in McCarthy where PBR is considered normal beer and Alaskan White a “very good beer,” this beer was a colossal oak-aged winner hands down!  I know the Serpent’s Stout must be blacker than sin, but what color is the Angel’s Share?  I wish I had some of it, but I am imagining a deep dark-roasted-grain tan.  So I guess this is actually a Black and Tan.  Well, if it is, it is the best one I ever had!

Cheers to the Deliverance Ale, let the “sin” hold you where you want to be, or let the angels help you ascend into heaven!  This beer is both bold and worth its weight in gold!  Non-denominational, but at 12.5 percent, it dominates.  Share accordingly.

You can purchase this painting, or a limited-edition print at my Etsy shop.

View the complete Year of Beer Paintings gallery.

Year of Beer 07.10. The Lost Abbey Deliverance Ale. Oil on panel, 8″x10″.