Beer Review - Dark Horse Tres Blueberry Stout.

Dark Horse Brewing Company - Tres Blueberry Stout

Beer Type: American Stout - 7.5% ABV

Appearance: One of a series of special brew stouts all with similar label design. Beer poured a dark black/brown wit a thin tan head. I am sure it is my imagination but I can almost see a dark purple/blue tinge to this beer when held up to the light.      

Smell: Dark malt and ripe blueberries come first. Not too much after that actually. Smells tasty!

First Drink: Initial flavor is a little odd, bitter and sweet followed by some dark chocolate malt flavors.  

Mouthfeel: Quite smooth... silky smooth one might say? The aftertaste is a little bit sticky/tacky.  

Last Drink: More of the tart blueberry flavor comes through as this brew warms up.          

Drinkability: Do you like blueberries? Do you like stouts? If you answered yes to either then you will like this beer.          

Notes: Hooray for local brews featuring local fruits! Looking forward to drinking more of this down the road.          

Verdict: 4.25 out of 5. Not the every day stout of choice but it packs a lot of interesting flavors into one package. 

Progress Report 5/11/13 - The Trollgating Continues...

Hey look! I unpacked my stuff and got back to work on this Troll/Ogre thing for the 40 Miners Big House! Decided to add a few more details... in the form of Gnoblar/Goblin things. The theme here is a Trollgate party. Bring food, horse urine, rotting bits of food, and your team spirit!!

Got him primed and ready for some paint now too. In other news Massive Voodoo blew my brains out on the wall earlier today with the first (in a series!?) of "behind the scenes" photos for the stunning "Touch of Death" diorama. Wow. WOW. Must... get... better?!

Boxes, boxes, boxes...

Hello neglected blog! Life has been extremely busy as of late.. did I mention I bought a new house and moved into it? It's true! As all this has been occurring my hobby time has been reduced to zero. It has been 1 week since I began living in my new home full time and things are slowly progressing towards that "moved in" look. After some electrical work is done this week I hope to have my painting/hobby zone put together and complete. As of now it looks like this...

One view of the new painting sun room!

My S.O. was nice enough to let me, my minis, plants, and paints have this gorgeous sun room in our new home. Looking forward to getting some painting done in this damn near idyllic situation sometime soon! Until next time (hopefully later this week)...

Beer Review - Northwest Hoodoo Midwest Wet Hop IPA

 

North Peak Brewing Company - Hoodoo Midwest Wet Hop IPA

Beer Type: American Double/Imperial IPA - 9% ABV

Appearance: Cute little 12oz bottle in the typical North Peak style (white label, one color background, something in the middle). Beer poured a cloudy tan/burnt orange color with a thin beige head.      

Smell: I can smell some spicy hops before I ever put this near my sniffer! Closer sniffing gives me piney hops, some citrus, and again a trace of "spice".

First Drink: Strong bitter hop flavor up front followed by sour citrus notes and finishing with a cleaner "pine" hops flavor.  

Mouthfeel: A bit tacky/sticky in my mouth but the carbonation is nice. A good sippin' beer.  

Last Drink: A wider variety of citrus coming out now with some grapefruit and orange peel flavors. No real sense of the high ABV but I can feel the "warming" sensation. More sweet malt comes through in the end as well. Nicely varied.          

Drinkability: Full of interesting flavors and sensations you can't really go wrong with this brew... unless you aren't a fan of strong IPA!          

Notes: I dig this Michigan brewery. One of my favorites and this beer is a good example of why.          

Verdict: 4.25 out of 5. A lot going on here for a style that is mostly about high ABV and lots of hops! Now what the heck is a "wet hop IPA"??    

Links: Beer Advocate and North Peak Brewing Company.

Beer Review - New Belgium/Brewery Vivant Biere de Garde Ale

New Belgium - Biere de Garde Ale

Beer Type: Biere de Garde

Appearance: Roosters all over this 22 oz printed bottle. Looking good. Beer poured a hazy golden/straw color with a nice creamy off-white head that laced as I drank.     

Smell: Some funky old socks or yeast mixed in with some citrus and grass aromas. A little bit of herbs or spice in the sniffer too?

First Drink: Bitter in a really pleasant way like eating strong citrus quickly followed by a very smooth (almost oily or buttery) malt and hops aftertaste.  

Mouthfeel: Crisp yet smooth? A very interesting sensation and not one I can easily pinpoint. A little sticky on the finish. 

Last Drink: Not getting much of the high 9% ABV but I feel darn good. More citrus and herbs (floral flavors?) coming through now. Quite nice.        

Drinkability: It would be a shame to drink this beer too fast yet I really want to slam it for some reason.         

Notes: The Lips of Faith series does it again! This time around we have another collaboration between two of my favorite breweries!? Fantastic!         

Verdict: 4.25 out of 5. Unique flavor, unique finish, and a one-time brew makes this one to remember. Go go Brewery Vivant!    

Links: Beer Advocate and New Belgium Brewing Co.        

Progress Report 3/25/13 - Stuck between a rock and a lobsterman's hard place.

What the heck!? March is almost over!? Where does the time go...

It has been a very busy few weeks here. Still finishing the new house buying process, still trying to get my Necromunda Goliath gang built up, still working on terrain, and now I have a new Lobsterman themed Halfling Blood Bowl team in the works?! All while trying to pack up all my stuff so I can move it to a new nerd cave? Oh yeah and I played in Headbanger's Ball III last weekend and took something like 5th with my Vampires. That was cool. 

On to the photos! First up we have some primed terrain that I want to paint. Added a couple more pieces since the last photos I posted.

Pretty happy with how they turned out. Can't remember who I stole the idea of staples as ladder rungs from but thanks for that! The super glue "rivets" are passable but not fantastic. Still some areas I could touch up but I am okay with the medium level of quality on these. 

Next up we have the miniature I am painting to add to the Big House! I figure a big dumb Ogre/Troll is just what the stands need with all those drunk Dwarfs hanging around.

Got this guy from Ramshackle Miniatures last year and have been wanting to paint him up for awhile. Didn't really have a reason to until now! Gotta figure out how to work in the Maize & Blue.

"But wait Randroid... you said something about a lobsterman's hard place!?" Why yes... yes I did. On a whim I picked up enough small Lobstermen from Tor to make a Halfling team for Blood Bowl. Got them in the mail and giddily ripped them open and started gluing them on bases.

The bigger Lobstermen are the "Treemen" of the team and they represent what the smaller fellows grow into (assuming they survive that long) later on. I have a special mini coming in the mail to represent Deeproot but I will save that for another day (it's a mini I have wanted a reason to paint since I first saw it). Got them all built and primed so I thought I would do a quick test model too...

Pretty happy with how this looks and it was super quick and easy to do. Might still add a bit of highlights to the back carapace but otherwise I think this is a go! Going to add some water to the bases later on but you can see my attempt at "faking it" with gloss varnish on this one. 

So that's what I have been up to! Oh... and also playing in a D&D 3.5 game too. I'll have some minis for that coming sometime soon. Tonight is the first game in the KUBBL 4 season and it's KRB against... ELVES. There will be blood, oh yes, there will be blood.

KUBBL 3 - Khorne R'backs Season 1 Finish.

Today was the day... the end of the third season of KUBBL. The Khorne R'backs played their last game of the season (to secure fifth place) against the Human powerhouse of the Red Cedar Riots. While the Humans were down an Ogre, and had a few less players due to their playoff games, the Riots beat KRB in the regular season and this time the forces of Chaos were out for blood!

Sadly they brought pillows instead of powerful claws. Though they managed to break armor many times in the first half of the game the KRB only did 1 KO and no casualties during the first half. A short rash of KO rolls came in early on in the second half but the one and only casualty for the KRB during the game was towards the end of the game by "new" player Bloodgutter the Minotaur. 

After scoring to secure a skill up for the Chaos Warrior Gutsqueeze Gnarloc, the KRB had to fight the Riots back in order not to tie. A last ditch effort on the part of the Riots almost allowed them the score but the final pass was inaccurate and scattered out of bounds leaving the KRB with the 2-1 win and only 1 casualty for the entire game. The KRB finish their first season in the league with a 5-1-3 record and a total of 24 casualties for the mighty KHORNE.

On to KUBBL 4... hopefully this time with more SKULLS and BLOOD.