Beer Review - Meantime Coffee Porter.

New Brew Thursday continues! Sorry I missed last week... things have been hectic with home buying. Still working out of the archives here with this import.

Meantime Brewing Company - Coffee Porter

Beer Type: English Porter

Appearance: Nicely shaped 11.2 oz brown bottle with a classy label. Makes me think of steampunk for some reason. Beer pours a dark brown-amber that appears a bit hazy?     

Smell: No shock here, first up is the roasted malt, brewed coffee, and a sweet molasses smell.      

First Drink: Not sweet at all! First up is a bitter flavor from the malt (odd) that is a bit bright tasting? Kinda watery but the coffee comes through in the finish. 

Mouthfeel: Seems too thin for what I would normally consider a porter but still comes across as medium-bodied if that makes any sense at all? A bit highly carbonated?  

Last Drink: More sweetness and coffee coming though now. Seems balanced though I am not sure I like it.       

Drinkability: A nice sipping beer though pretty pricey here in the US. I think this one bottle was something like $4.00.       

Notes: Not as sweet or as heavy as I would have liked but the coffee flavor is nice and robust.     

Verdict: 3.25 out of 5. Not my favorite coffee brew but it's always good to try something new! 

Links: Beer Advocate and Meantime Brewing Company.

     

Progress Report 2/25/13 - Homeward bound?

Holy crows it is already almost the end of February!? Where oh where has time gone...

This month I have spent very little time on anything hobby related. New Warriors of Chaos? Sounds rad but I haven't even seen the cover of the new book. Then new Daemons? Mneh... not really a DoC player or fan.Michigan Beer Fest!? Didn't get a chance to go this year...

So what have I been doing? Not much... besides buying a house!? Yeah. Started the process early this month and at this point (today) we have submitted all of our loan approval paperwork on a house we intend to buy and move into sometime in April. DAMN THAT IS CRAZY!!! Now it is the waiting game to see if our loan is approved and to work out some small details with the seller.

Freaking out a little bit but mostly in good ways. New house has tons of character, nice neighborhood, huge garage and attached shop (for woodworking or other stuff), nice yard with a fence, and plenty of space in the basement for nerd hideout pursuits like setting up miniature wargaming tables on a more permanent basis. Oh yeah and it's close to folks who brew beer and can help me get that rolling again here in my hometown. So... all in all it is damn fine news !

I had hoped to finish up my (long) drawn out Blood Bowl Orc team this month and if you asked me at the beginning of last week I would have said I had failed at that. Then... voila! I slapped some paint on them in record time this week. And they don't look too bad either? Still thinking about how to finish the details (numbers, bases, spot colors, decals?) but here is where they stand today:

The mob with just basecoats applied.

Blitzers! Really happy with how the metal turned out.

Black Orcs! The metal was a bit of a happy accident.. or instinctual?

Giant Orc (Troll) and Thrower! I like the poses here a lot.

I didn't grab photos of the Lineorcs but they haven't changed much from the test models I did way back last year. Still no Goblin for the team though I will keep my eye out for a good addition. That's all for now! Off to play one of the last regular season KUBBL 3 games now. Wish me luck!

KUBBL 3 - Round 6 Results.

Played round 6 due to some schedule shakeups. Round 5 still to come!

The game started with a kickoff to the Red Cedar Riots which resulted in a touchback - moving 6 spaces from the center of the pitch and over the line. This was after the weather was rolled which came up as Sweltering Heat (this didn't come into play again until the second half).

The Red Cedar Riots quickly moved up the field and positioned their receivers to score. A few pillow handed blocks by the Khorne R'Backs put the pressure on the Red Cedar Riots and eventually caused them to throw a not ideal long pass. The pass was almost fumbled but then thrown then almost caught and then dropped. After a timely injury on Sharpuss the Red Cedar Riots used this advantage to recover the ball and score on turn 7 of the first half. After rolling on the heat a couple Red Cedar Riots players were exhausted but came in after the half ended. The kick off result was a RIOT brought on by the rowdy Red Cedar Riots fans which left the Khorne R'Backs with only one turn to score. With nothing to do they passed the ball around a little and took some blocks but their gentle hands failed to do any damage.

The second half began with two Khorne R'Backs players leaving the field due to the heat - Maim Fist'r and Bloodgutter both watched from the bench for the entire second half. Meanwhile the Red Cedar Riots brought all their players back and were at full strength. Then kick off and the weather changes back to nice. Despite being down two players the Khorne R'Backs still managed to punch a hole through the Red Cedar Riots lines and make for the end zone with Eyecankhorne handling the ball. The Red Cedar Riots managed to scramble back to defend after a second (in two turns) double skulls block from Gutsqueeze Gnarlroc left their left flank open and they lost the ball. After a couple maneuvers the ball was easily taken back by Spittleslash who was then knocked down in the open as he made his way towards the end zone. Another pick up and almost dropped pass by Captain Kirka Sins to another almost caught but dropped ball left the Red Cedar Riots in a good position to score. Outmanned and unable to do a single KO or Armor Break the Khorne R'Backs were easily handled and lost the match 2-0 with only 1 measly casualty to show for their work.

Beer Review - Lagunitas Imperial Stout.

New Brew Thursday!!! Happy VD and all that... here's one from a couple months back.

Lagunitas Brewing Company - Imperial Stout

Beer Type: Russian Imperial Stout

Appearance: 22 oz. brown bottle with the "classic" white label and some text. Beer poured a dark (dark!!) black-red-brown color with a thin off-white head that quickly faded.    

Smell: Dark roasted malt, sweet molasses/bread type aromas, and a bit of dark fried fruit.      

First Drink: Similar to the smell, but with more hints of chocolate and coffee in the roasted malt. Some nice levels of dark flavors going here!

Mouthfeel: A medium to light mouthfeel that doesn't seem as thick as other imperial stouts I have had. Carbonation seems light and the high sugars/ABV make this one a little sticky.  

Last Drink: I can taste just a hint of hops in the finish now and a lot more of the alcohol is coming through as this beer warms up.      

Drinkability: A nicely made imperial stout with a capital "S". I'm no expert on this style but it seems to be lacking something?      

Notes: Pretty sure this beer is available all the time but I just found this for the first time here in Michigan.    

Verdict: 4 out of 5. Good flavor and complexity, quite affordable, and damn tasty.

Links: Beer Advocate and Lagunitas Brewing Company.

Dog Bowl 2013.

Dog Bowl 2013 presented by KUBBL is done and in the books! Thanks to everyone who came out and played 4 rounds of Blood Bowl at Marmalade Dog here in Kalamazoo, MI. It was a fun time and hopefully the start of a new BB tournament tradition?

View from the convention floor. Back corner for Blood Bowl whoo!

DarkOrk20 won the Junkyard Dog award for most Casualties (and he got his winning one in a game against me)

Valdric took home the coveted Hind Dog pile of plastic poop for his last place victory (thanks to me winning my fist game against him)

flyingdingle took home the Greyhound award for the most Touchdowns (he scored 7 against Valdric)

Delevus won Second Place with his Necromantic assault on the other contestants.

And the winner of Dog Bowl and Best In Show was Rowdiekatie with her Dwarfs (and yeah she beat me too)

I brought a Necromantic version of the Zlurp Out-casts and ended up the day with 1 win, 1 tie, and 2 losses (or something like that). My day started off like this against Rowdiekatie:

That's both Werewolves and some Zombies partying in the KO box (right after I took this photo they were joined by a Flesh Golem and both Wights who luckily passed their Regen rolls and came back into the game). Then I ended my day like this against DarkOrk20:

That's pretty much my whole team in the KO box then both Wights and a Werewolf were taken out and didn't manage a Regen roll. Those counting at home may notice that is 9 players from my roster of 12. This was the start of the second half vs Norse. 

All in all I can say my incredibly crappy luck came out to play big time and stuck with me all day... except in my game vs Valdric's Halflings where I killed two Treemen and almost took out Deeproot after dismantling the Halflings and getting him down to just a couple players. Even though my other games were tragic and made me sad I was quite happy to finally beat my own personal mini-boss and arch nemesis Valdric. Until we meet again (at the next tournament Chromatic Cup)...

Beer Review - Brewery Vicant Escoffier.

It's New Brew Thursday!!This time around we work through the archives back to just a few months ago when I first tried some tasty beer from Brewery Vivant by way of this collaboration...

Lost my photo of this beer! It looked quite similar though...

Brewery Vivant - Escoffier Bretta Ale

Beer Type: American Wild Ale

Appearance: A blue and silver Brewery Vivant 16 oz can contains a beer that is very clear and looks like apple juice! Beer poured very still with no real head to speak of. 

Smell: Maybe it is a trick of the eyes and nose but I swear I smell sweet apples like apple juice. Some nice yeast funk in there too with just a hint of malt.  

First Drink: Again with the apples, tart green ones in the flavor, but tart with a nice crispness that reminds me of a cider. A little of the yeast and fermented flavors coming through too.    

Mouthfeel: Very smooth, crisp bite, with a dry finish. Not that much in the way of carbonation.   

Last Drink: Well you can't taste the alcohol so take that for what you will! No bitterness either, but there is a good deal more wild funk as the beer warms.   

Drinkability: Refreshing with powerful drunk making flavors. What more can you ask for out of a beer?!

Notes: This beer was a very limited Michigan only release in collaboration with New Belgium Brewing. The main yeast is from Michigan (a Belgium) while the wild yeast comes from New Belgium in Colorado. Crazy! I love the idea of  collaborators brewing!     

Verdict: 4.75 out of 5. A fantastic and interesting wild yeast beer... in a can!? I will try to buy more of this before it goes away to save for a rainy day!     

Links: Beer Advocate and Brewery Vivant.

KUBBL 3 - Round 4 Results.

Khorne R'Backs versus Fancybottom Lads started on a very sunny day with the initial kick going to the Khorne R'Backs. While the first block from Bloodgutter didn't go well (skull, both down, reroll, two both downs) the Khorne R'Backs still managed to beat down the Fancybottom Lads and get away with a cage. At one point there were 7 Wood Elf players in the KO box. Frustrated by the lack of remaining blocks the Khorne R'Backs score on Turn 7 and give the Fancybottom Lads their own two turns to return the score. After some quick maneuvering by the Wardancers the Fancybottom Lads tied it up and head into the second half with most of their team returning from the KO box.

The Fancybottom Lads receive a quick snap and quickly move into scoring position on turn 1. The Khorne R'Backs manage to push around the elves near the sideline but cannot keep the Blodging/Side Stepping madness of the Woodies from scoring again on Turn 2. After dropping a high kick the Khorne R'Backs manage to drive in a passing score on Turn 5 to tie the game after a few choice casualties (including Wardancer Colonel Hurtstrong with a -AG). Left with 3 turns left to score again for the win the Fancybottom Lads drop the ball near the line of scrimmage and give the Khorne R'Backs a chance to blitz in and take the ball. After 3 turns of balls bouncing out of and into the hands of the Woodies the game ends in a tie.