Year of Beer Paintings – Day 360

Wait, really? Only five days left in the Year of Beer Paintings? Insane! I still have paintings to make, and beers to try. Cool, it’s a good gig! I tried Winter Cheers Wheat Ale yesterday by Victory Brewing Company, and yes, it was available in Anchorage, Alaska! Thanks, La Bodega, for stocking such a great brewery’s beer! A hefeweizen is an unusual choice for a winter warmer, but refreshing in front of the perfect fireplace, nonetheless. Imagine your colonial home all decked for the holidays, and this beer sitting in a nice tulip glass, while you ponder the next holiday event. That’s what I was thinking about when I was painting this image, although, I live in a condo, not a colonial home. This beer had a unique citrus flavor for a wheat ale, with hints of nutmeg. We opened this bottle after drinking three of the hoppiest IPAs I could find in my cellar, so it was definitely a palate changer at that point, and I wish I had gone in reverse order. However, I still enjoyed this one, and I shared it with my fellow beer tasters, considering it was the only one I had of this style, and everyone always wants to sample the next day’s Year of Beer selection. Great end to a great X-mas brunch!

Winter Cheers! Good job, Victory! I hope your crew in Downingtown is hunkered down around the brew kettle, staying warm and brewing spring seasonals for me to try in a few months!

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 12.26. Winter Cheers Wheat Ale by Victory Brewing Co. Oil on panel, 8″x10″.

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Year of Beer Paintings – Day 350. Hop Ranch IPA by Victory Brewing Co.

Have a little Victory Hop Ranch! I have three bottles left (thanks for sending them my way, Rich), and I hope to share this hoppy ale with fellow Alaskans. This beer is uniquely different than the classic West Coast style IPA, and Alaska IPA. So what does Hop Ranch taste like? Just imagine a hop cone wearing boxing gloves, and punching your palate on the first sip. It will make your eyes roll back inside your head. This beer is a hop bomb for sure, with tons of IBUs. The website video lets you know all kinds of information about how the brewers arrived at the colossal beer known as Hop Ranch. It was originally released during Philly Beer Week as the Liberty Bell Ringer, and then they tweaked it slightly, adding extra fermentables to the mash, making it a slightly stronger beer.

The fellow in the video mentions pineapple and mango, exotic fruits and citrus as parts of the flavor and aroma profile of the Azacca and Mosaic hops that are steeped in this beer. Is it just me? Am I the only one who gets a little savory hint from the spicy hops that tastes a bit like green onions? I noticed a touch of the same flavor recently in the Enjoy By 12.26.2014 from Stone Brewing Co., and in the last few cans of Heady Topper I had during my trip to Vermont. Maybe it is the yeast that brings out the spicy flavor, because I know that Stone’s Enjoy By was probably not using the same hop bill. Maybe it is just my own palate developing as I taste so many different IPAs during this year. I wish I had a couple of bottles of DirtWolf to compare to the Hop Ranch right about now.

Three cheers for Victory! Love the Beer! Great job on everything you brew! Can’t wait to open my next bottle of Victory!

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

Year of Beer 12.16. Hop Ranch Imperial IPA by Victory Brewing Co. Oil on panel, 8″x10″.

Year of Beer Paintings – Day 346

The featured beer painting for the day is of the Martians Kidnap Santa Egg Nog Stout by Spring House Brewing Company located in Conestoga, PA.   Spring House wins for the most creative concepts for beer names and flavors. The egg nog stout was vey delicious, and since I don’t really ever drink egg nog, I don’t even know how close the stout comes to meeting the flavor, but my wife said it tasted just like egg nog. I do love the concept of Santa being kidnapped by aliens, so I played with the theme in my painting. As the legend goes according to me, Santa was tractored up into the Martian flying saucer, but his butt was too fat to fit inside the mini spaceship.   He had to hang halfway out of the ship all the way to Mars. Good thing Santa is magic, or he would have lost his legs and butt due to the exposure to outer space on the trip. I wonder how the landing will go? I am sure magic will take care of that too. What I didn’t paint is that Rudolf got into all the egg nog, which amplifies his flying ability and is on the way to the rescue. Anyhow, thanks Spring House for brewing up this interesting beer, and thanks Rich Morgan for sending it all the way to Alaska! A few more miles and you would have sent it to Santa’s Workshop in the North Pole.

Cheers to the Martians Kidnap Santa! Egg nog stout is a very good thing!

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 12.12. The Martians Kidnap Santa Egg Nog Stout by Spring House Brewing Co. Oil on panel, 8″x10″.

Year of Beer Paintings – Day 334

Well, today is the last day of November, which means there is only one month left in the Year of Beer Paintings. I’m confident that I’ll make it to the end without skipping a day.

The featured beer painting of the day is of Bean Dream Milk Porter Aged on Vanilla Beans by Pizza Boy Brewing Company in Enola, Pennsylvania. I wish I had gone to Al’s of Hampden (the home of Pizza Boy Brewing) when we were in Pennsylvania a couple weeks ago. That place has 99 beers on draft, three firkins, and ten bottle release offerings. Dang! I was within 25 minutes when I was at Tröegs Brewing. I should have gotten lodging in Harrisburg just to stop in at this beer/pizza spot. Instead we went to Tired Hands Brewing and Earth Bread and Brewery that day, which was really cool too. I will just have to be content knowing that I did my best with the time I had, and I’ll definitely be coming back to Pennsylvania. My friend, Rich, gave me this bottle of Bean Dream, and I brought it home to Anchorage. We opened this bottle to drink with leftover apple pie for dessert, after a delicious Cioppino dinner. This porter is very smooth, silky and delicious. If you let your glass warm up a bit, the vanilla really comes out. I’d rather pair this beer with apple pie than have ice cream on the side.

Cheers to the Bean Dream! The beer with vanilla flavor that just won’t quit.

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 11.30. Bean Dream Milk Porter Aged on Vanilla Beans by Pizza Boy Brewing Company. Oil on panel, 8″x10″.

Year of Beer Paintings – Day 314

The featured beer painting of the day is of Brawler Ale by Yards Brewing Company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Known as the pugilist ale, the Brawler is a fairly authentic English mild at 4.2% ABV, a true session brew. The label on the bottle, which I didn’t have, considering I was painting a draft pint right at the source, depicts a revolution era boxer battling the devil. I am particularly fond of this malt-forward, delicately hopped beer, and what better place to consume it than at the brewery in Philly! I sampled several beers at the tasting room while I painted this one, including the Revolution series and the signature IPA. All were very tasty. The ales of the revolution are modeled after historic recipes by America’s founders: George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. I don’t know of any other brewery that attempts to recreate these recipes. I have ties to the Brawler, as I painted it as a commission a few years back, and it was the first Philly beer I had ever consumed. That bottle was hand-delivered to Anchorage all the way from Philly. I like to taste what I paint, and won’t even put a painting in the Year of Beer Paintings series unless I have tried it, since I have to blog about it. The more I paint live in brewery tasting rooms, the more I’m starting to like it. The first time I ever did that was in Fairbanks, Alaska. People have been asking what my favorite beer is from the series, and I may have to say HooDoo IPA from Fairbanks. Mainly because it was the first time I painted beer live in a tasting room, and I was well received at the brewery. Yards reminded me of that occasion, so this may be my second favorite painting session. I felt in the zone as I listened to the buzz of a busy pub.

Cheers to the Pugilist Ale, I hope you don’t have to start a bar brawl before the beer is gone! Watch out because the devil doesn’t want to lose.

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

View the complete Year of Beer Paintings gallery.

Year of Beer 11.10. Brawler Ale by Yards Brewing Co. Oil on panel, 8″x10″.

Year of Beer Paintings – Day 313

The featured beer painting of the day is of HopHands American Pale Ale by Tired Hands Brewing Company located in Ardmore, Pennsylvania. I stopped there to paint live and to drink a few of the amazingly tasty beers. This small brewery only produces 1,000 barrels of beer a year! Constructing a new, larger brewery, Jean Broillet IV, owner and operator, is a busy man these days. I didn’t get a chance to meet him, probably because I was not sure of my schedule, and arrived unannounced.

I chose to paint HopHands at the brewery, because the beertender advised that it could be considered the flagship beer. This beer didn’t fail to deliver. Hopped with Amarillo, Centennial, and Columbus hops, the resulting aroma brought to mind tropical fruit. The finish of the beer was a nice solid bitter pine. Overall, a fantastic beer, at a great place to grab a pint after work. The unique atmosphere of brick interior lit with candles made it difficult to work as the light was changing from daylight to dusk during a rainstorm, but I felt like I was in old Philadelphia back in the 1700s. I have only one regret from my visit to Tired Hands, and that is that I didn’t order bread and butter, which is considered a staple there. But we didn’t know that until people on Instagram and Facebook mentioned it after we left.

Cheers to HopHands, a unique beer brewed by unique people in a unique location. I hope you get a chance to visit this Philly brew stop. Be sure to order bread and butter.

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 11.09. HopHands American Pale Ale by Tired Hands Brewing Co. Oil on panel, 8″x10″.

Year of Beer Paintings – Day 299

The featured beer painting for today is of the Astounding She-Monster Mango IPA from Spring House Brewing Company. Hold on to your hats, gentlemen, the monster from outer space may look beautiful, but she will get you with one touch! As she brings on the wrath of death for any poor unsuspecting fool who dares to cross her path… Oh wait, I’m talking about the budget classic movie, and I should be talking about the beer. I am not a big fan of flavored beers, but Spring House seems to be doing it just fine. I didn’t notice too much mango flavor in this particular beer, which is not a bad thing. This bottle traveled a long way from Pennsylvania, and I’m looking forward to tasting this beer straight at the source when I visit the brewery in a couple weeks. I’m especially excited about my visit, because Spring House gave me permission to paint live at the brew pub!

I think the best part about this beer is its label. I love the graphics the Spring House team uses, and I’m glad to be able to play with them in this small composition. I don’t know if you should be taking the mango from this lady. According to the movie, if she touches you… well, you die. I don’t think the beer is deadly, well, the alcohol might be, but that is the beauty of beer already premixed to a healthy level, and 7% beer is going to take a lot more than one bottle to hurt you. Spring House is a very avant garde brewery, making delicious beers. Great work, and keep it up! Watch out for the monsters lurking this Halloween, trying to blend in with the costume-clad crowd. The Zombie Apocolypse just happened here in downtown Anchorage, although they were all hung up dancing to the Thriller in Town Square.

Cheers to the Astounding She-Monster, I don’t think she knows her own strength, so be careful around her!

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 10.26. The Astounding She-Monster Mango IPA by Spring House Brewing Co. Oil on panel, 8″x10″.

Year of Beer Paintings – Day 289

The featured beer painting of the day is of the Big Gruesome Chocolate Peanut Butter Stout from Spring House Brewing Company in Conestoga, Pennsylvania. The only other peanut butter beer I’ve tried was Sweet Baby Jesus Porter by DuClaw Brewing, and it had too much imitation flavoring added, but tasted good with ice cream. The amazing thing about the Big Gruesome is the lack of any flavoring, it has only legit beer ingredients: two types of chocolate malt and vanilla beans, with real peanut butter added throughout the whole brewing process. This brew was excellent paired with a chocolate cupcake. If this product were locally distributed, I would consider buying a bottle to share with my mom who is not really a beer drinker. Although, I am willing to bet a person like my brother would not really be into it, because he is not a chocolate candy guy, sticking to sweets with coloring and flavoring. I have had to give up candy like Skittles, Jelly Bellies, and M&Ms because they have so much food coloring, which may be harmful to humans. I am not scared of sugar, glutens or alcohol, so I still get my treats. I wish breweries were required to list ingredients on every bottle, just like all other beverage products. Well, as a good friend always says, “Moderation in all things, including moderation.” I painted the Big Gruesome tossing a peanut butter and chocolate cookie into his mouth. Wait, he doesn’t seem to have a mouth. Poor guy!

Cheers to the Big Gruesome, an amazing beer flavored with dark chocolate malt, vanilla beans and a truckload of peanut butter! What a delicious dark ale!

The original painting sold. You can purchase a limited-edition print at my Etsy shop.

View the complete Year of Beer Paintings gallery.

Year of Beer 10.16. Big Gruesome Chocolate Peanut Butter Stout by Spring House Brewing Co. Oil on panel, 8″x10″.