Final tastes from 2013

We headed to Colorado to see some of Brett's family after Christmas.  We had a very early flight out of Virginia so when we got to Denver, we decided to go to REI as they were having a post-holiday garage sale.  We found a couple good deals and then were surprised that there was a belgian-style pub right across the street, The Cheeky Monk (this is their Westminster location, rather than downtown Denver).  We shared 3 beers and an appetizer.

1127. BBQ Spud Buds - Bite size BBQ potato loaves filled with shredded pork, Jack, cheddar, and BBQ sauce. Served with sweet BBQ aioli.  These are seriously addictive and why no one out east has thought of these yet is a mystery.  
1128. Brouwerij Van Steenberge - Gulden Draak 
1129. Elevation Beer Company - Apis IV - an excellent quad 
1130. Dry Dock Brewing - Paragon Apricot Blonde 

On the 29th, we went to Brian and Teresa's house (Brett's brother and family) and shared some beers. Our cousin Blake provided some homebrewed beer to try (we didn't get to try all of them and honestly Brett forgot to write notes down so shame on him).  Brett had also sent Brian some beers from the East Coast that aren't distributed here for him to try so we sampled some of those.  Brian then pulled out a very very special beer to try.

1131. Homebrew by Blake - Blackberry wit
1132. Homebrew by Blake - Lemon wit
1133. Homebrew by Blake - chai-spiced porter
1134. Starr Hill - Double Platinum
1135. Wild Blue - This is probably the second worst tasting beer I've ever had.  Imagine fake blueberry flavor, overwhelming, with the syrupy consistency of cough syrup and then add some weird twig like flavor.  Apparently, although the label looks very much like that for Flying Dog, it's actually made by Anheuser-Busch.  It's disgusting.  If you see this, you should earn some karma by buying it then either killing your enemies with it or pouring it down the drain.  Have we mentioned it is utter swill.
1136. Westvleteren Abdij St. Sixtus - Westvleteren 12 (XII) - This is, seriously, the number one beer on ratebeer.com.  This is possibly the best bottle of beer ever consumed.  It's rich, round, velvety, almost rum-like.  It's subtle, yet complex and utterly delicious.  We can't thank Brian enough for allowing us to share that bottle and experience near perfection.  In one night we went from lowest of the low with Wild Blue to the utter reaches of beer heaven with Westvleteren 12.  

On the 30th, Brian joined us first at lunch at Dad and Dude's, then on a tasting trip to Epic Brewing's downtown Denver tasting room. 

1137. Dad & Dude’s Breweria - Dank IPA 
1138. Dad and Dude’s Breweria - Rough Draft 
1139. Epic Brewing - Sour Apple Saison-Style Ale - If you like sour apple, this is crisp and refreshing (and as far from the skankiness that is Carton Intermezzo as Mordor is from the Shire).
1140. Epic Brewing - Brainless on Peaches
1141. Epic Brewing - Utah Sage Saison - If you really, really like sage, you could drink this without food.  If not, you're gonna need food with this.  
1142. Epic Brewing - Brainless on Cherries
1143. Epic Brewing - Copper Cone Pale Ale
1144. Epic Brewing - Smoked & Oaked Belgian-Style Ale
1145. Epic Brewing - Santa Cruz Brown Ale
1146. Epic Brewing - Hopulent IPA
1147. Epic Brewing - Big Bad Baptist
1148. Epic Brewing - Barley Wine
1149. Epic Brewing - 825 State Stout
1150. Epic Brewing - Brainless Belgian-Style Golden Ale - This was just plain excellent.  
1151. Epic Brewing/Strange Brewing - Epically Strange - This is the absolute best beer of the tasting in Brett's opinion.  Complex, tart, round and warm.  Mix sour cherries from Cherry Kriek from Strange Brewing and Big Bad Baptist from Epic and you have a match made in heaven.  
1152. Epic Brewing - Escape To Colorado IPA
1153. Epic Brewing - Hop Syndrome Lager
1154. Epic Brewing - Mid Mountain Mild Ale

Finally, on New Year's Eve, we went to New Belgium in Fort Collins and then met up with Blake and Shannon to go to The Welsh Rabbit for dinner and then Coopersmith's for pool.  

Megan's flight at New Belgium:

1155. New Belgium - Frambozen - Most excellent raspberry sour brown.  
1156. New Belgium Lips of Faith - Yuzu - Yuzu is weird, but delicious.
1157. New Belgium Lips of Faith - Wild² Dubbel
1158. New Belgium Lips of Faith - Cascara Quad
      

Brett's flight at New Belgium:

1159. New Belgium - Abbey
1160. New Belgium - California Route Lager
1161. New Belgium / Cigar City Lips of Faith - Ale Brewed w/ Anaheim & Marash Chiles - Strangely weird and strangely good.  Must be excellent with spicy foods.
1162. New Belgium Hop Kitchen - Rewind India Pale Ale 
      

We had some wine at The Welsh Rabbit, but honestly it was mostly forgotten after eating cheeses, olives, and chocolate.  And, well, we didn't write a darn thing down about it.  Here's a list of the cheeses and one chocolate that were new.

1163. Honey chevre
1164. Humboldt fog - Megan didn't like this at all.  Brett could eat a huge wheel of this.  Seriously. Adding it to my birthday/Christmas/whatever day wish list now.
1165. Gouda extra aged (5 years)
1166. Grana padano
1167. Chimay grand cru
1168. Hafod
1169. Hopper - don't remember much about this one
1170. Espresso bellavitano - Again, Brett liked this and Megan, who doesn't like coffee, didn't.
1171. Bison pastrami - This was tasty.
1172. Chorizo - this was dried and we've never had it dried like this. 
1173. Napoli - a nice italian salami.
1174. Saucisson sec - also, quite good.
1175. Chocolate salami - this had lime zest, pistachio in chocolate  

And, last but not least, the two beers we tried at Coopersmith's.

1176. Coopersmith's - Black Powder Barleywine
1177. Coopersmith's - Horsetooth Stout

And that wraps up the final tastes of 2013.  We've already had some new tastes in 2014 and are looking forward to another great year!