Piece Brewery (awesome sponsor and home of the world-famous Nerd City podcast) is hosting their “Jam For Haiti” featuring legendary Cheap Trick-er Rick Nielsen Tonight!

Party starts @ 9 p.m.  With beer sales and $5 cover going to an important cause, you can finally use your drinking problem for good (after so much bad).

Direct Youtube Link

Piece Brewery

1927 W. North Ave.

Chicago, Il 60622

Happy Monday Nerd City! I want to talk about a style of beer that people either love or hate, it has polarized more people then the Phantom Menace, I am talking about Double IPA’s or Imperial IPA’s. It’s a full on blitzkrieg of hops in your month that you don’t get with a normal IPA. When brewing beer hops & malt act as the Yin & Yang of beer; malt adds sweetness to beer and hops add bitterness. Most beers are balancing act between the two. Double IPA’s however are full on bitter tongue bruising hop over load. It used to be hard to find a Double IPA because for a short time in the early 00’s there was a hop shortage and hop prices made it hard for a brewery to make a cost effective Double IPA. Now they are becoming increasingly available year round. I will list my top 5 (This is just my opinion and according to my ex-girlfriend it doesn’t matter)

5) Great Lakes Brewery: The Lake Erie Monster. Great Lakes is one of my favorite breweries, the beers they make are always spot on for the style. I got excited to see their interpretation of a Double IPA and it did not disappoint big hop flavor with soft caramel malt flavors.

4) Southern Tier: Unearthly IPA & Inequity . Unearthly has big grassy hop flavors with soft citrus notes that is surprisingly well balanced for the style. I also wanted to mention Inequity because it’s a twist on the style. It’s a Black Double IPA, they use black malt similar to the malt used in stouts to give it a darker color but the citrus hop flavors are not masked by the darker malt.

3) Three Floyd’s: Dreadnaught & Apocalypse Cow. “I love the smell of hops in the morning, it smells like victory” Nick Floyd. Dreadnaught is a slick oily citrus hop assault a well crafted hop bomb from Three Floyd’s. Apocalypse Cow is another twist on the Double IPA, they use lactose sugar that adds a creamy texture to the the onslaught of hop flavor.

2) Lagunitas: A Little Sumpin’ Extra. It’s cool to see a west coast breweries take on a Double IPA, west coast breweries are known for making hoppy pale ales. Big grapefruit citrus hop flavors with a creamy malt. I really enjoyed this beer because it was real easy drinking for a Double IPA, the 8% ABV was well hidden.

1) Bell’s: Hopslam. The Double IPA every hop head dreams of. It comes out once a year and beer geeks squirrel away as many six packs as their fridge will allow. If I could I would dress this beer like Sailor Moon and marry it in Las Vegas. Hopslam is hopped to the gills but has this pleasant creamy finish.

Honerable mentions: Left Hand Brewery Twin Sisters, New Holland Double Hatter, Two Brother’s Heavy Handed, Founders Double Trouble & Dogfish Head 90 & 120 minute.

Till next time, Cheers!

Happy Wednesday, Nerd City. “The craft beer industry is 99% asshole free” -Sam Calagione. The craft beer scene is full of great characters; guys who name their breweries Rogue & Surly, name their beers Hopslam & Lil Sumpin’ Extra. People who work 18 hours a day 7 days a week because they wanted to help change the landscape of craft beer in America. Recently 2 of the biggest names, Sam Calagione & Ken Grossman, got together to make a collaboration beer. In 1980 Ken Grossman, using old dairy equipment and a soft drink bottling line, opened Sierra Nevada brewing company. A daunting task opening a craft brewery in 1980 when 3 company’s (Miller, Bud & Coors) controlled 90% of the market. In 1995, Sam Calagione opened Dogfish Head Brewery and Eats, the smallest commercial brewery in America (at the time), with each batch yielding only 12 gallons of beer. In the beginning, Sam Calagione would brew 3 batches of beer a day 7 days a week just to keep up with the demand at the brew pub. When he was not making beer he slept on a mattress in the basement of the brew pub. Today both men are at the top of craft beer scene, Sam Calagione a young maverick and Ken Grossman one of the founding fathers of the American craft beer. Their passion for craft beer brought them together to brew a beer called Life & Limb. Life & Limb defies styles, it was brewed with syrup from Sam Calagione’s father’s farm and estate barley grown at the Sierra Nevada brewery. The idea was to brew a strong ale that could age over time. A beer that Sam & Ken could share with their children when they reach the proper drinking age. Certain styles of beer age well, Barley wines and Imperial stouts are perfect for aging. These beers are well suited for aging because they are higher in ABV and darker. Keep an eye out for Life & Limb at you local liquor stores and bars and if you can buy a bottle and keep it in cool and dry place then save it for a special occasion. Till next time, Cheers!

Happy Saturday Nerd City. This weekend was the Great American Beer Festival in Denver Colorado. Hoards of thirsty beer geeks descended upon the beautiful wilderness of Colorado for 3 days of beer. Dressed in their in finest cargo shorts (Camo or Khaki), socks from REI (meant for hiking but work just as well for standing in line for beer) and sporting their best/cleanest beer shirt (I like to wear my Hofbrau beer shirt to such events because it give the false impression to the ladys that I am very well traveled). The Great American Beer Festival is in its 27th year, started in 1982 with a modest 20 breweries and 35 beers available for sampling. This year they had 495 breweries from across the USA and they had 2,100 beers available for sampling. To win a medal at the festival is a huge deal for young breweries/brew pubs. It shows that your beer is the same caliber of beer as the big guys who have been at this for years. Here are a couple of my favorite beers that won awards today.

Surly Brewery- Coffee Bender- Bronze Medal Coffee Beer

Green Flash Brewery- Hop Head Red- Bronze Medal American Amber/ Red Ale

Ska Brewing- True Blonde Ale- Bronze Medal English Style Summer Ale

Here are the big winners from Chicago.

Goose Island- Demolition- Silver Medal Belgian/French Style Ale

IPA- Silver Medal English Style India Pale Ale

Red Woody- Silver Medal Wood/Barrel Aged Beer

(The category invented by Goose Island’s Bourbon County Stout)

Rock Bottom Chicago- Drunken Angel- Bronze Medal Specialty Beer

(Dogfish Head took the Gold & Silver to show you who they were up against)

The Crow and the Sparrow- Silver Medal American/Belgo Style Ale

Piece Brewery- Fornicator- Bronze Medal Bock Beer

Top Heavy Hefeweizen- Gold Medal South German Style Hefeweizen

Mad props to our Chi-town breweries Goose Island & Rock Bottom and congrats to Johnathan Cutler of Piece Brewery Nerd City is drinking to you tonight. Till next time, Cheers!

Happy Monday Nerd City. I am going to tell you guys a travel secret that the fat cats that run the hotels don’t want you to know about its called late check out if you politely ask the concierge they will most likely do it for you so you don’t wake up at noon and run around the room shoveling your belongings into your bag trying to figure out who ordered all this room service. After I got back from the Great Taste I decided to go to the hotel bar to check out the local talent and ended up drinking the better half of a bottle of Jameson while watching the Brewers game. Sunday my friend and I decided to go check out O’so Brewing Company in Plover Wisconsin. He does their graphic design work and I thought it would be cool to check out the brewery. Marc Buttera and Bart Peterson opened O’so with an idea of creating unique beers that don’t fit into one given style. Four years ago Marc and his wife Katina opened Point Brew Supply, a home brew supply store. A lot of successful breweries started as home brew supply shops Bell’s and local Chicago favorites Two Brothers. I had a chance to talk to Marc and his enthusiasm for beer is contagious, he reminded me of other brewery owners that I have met. O’so has been having a great year with better distribution around Wisconsin they have gone from producing 350 barrels last year to 1200 already this year. With the current economic hardships around the country supporting local brands is as important now then it has been in years. O’so has some solid year round beers but the beer I think is going to put them on the map is Night Train Porter. A big dark beer with a deep chocolate/coffee noise. I am not a fan of porters but I really like this beer because it drinks more like a really creamy ale and I find that some porters have a real bitter finish but Night Train doesn’t. Night Train is very drinkable and flavorful. Nerd City looks forward to O’so Brewing Company’s contribution to the craft beer scene and if your Wisconsin keep an eye for them you can’t miss their tap handles. Till next time, Cheers!

Happy Wednesday Nerd City! It’s hump day and I am going to lay down something heavy for you girl. Something big and dark from the north. That’s right I am talking about Surly Bender. Nothing says summer time like a big brown ale from Minnesota. Surly has a brilliant logo and design for their cans, I think the graphic design team behind the Surly labels are genius. You can have the greatest beer in the world but if the labels suck why would some one buy it at the liquor store. Surly has both great brand identity and great beer. Did I mention Surly comes in 16oz. pub cans. Lets talk about the good stuff inside the cans. Surly is described as a brown ale but upon trying you will notice it has the body of a pale ale, very drinkable silky and creamy. There are so many flavors at play in the Surly Bender soft coffee notes, subtle chocolate & vanilla, toasty caramel and the sweetness off sets the bitterness perfectly. Surly makes a coffee bender in the fall that is amazing, its like a barista and a brewer had a beautiful baby. Its makes my morning drinking less awkward. Surly has the winning combo in my opinion great design and even better beer. Till next time, Cheers!

HBO provided information today about their upcoming fall schedule and series renewals. First of all Hung, True Blood and Entourage have all been renewed for additional seasons. But the big news is that the new season of Curb Your Enthusiasm is set to begin on Sept 20th. This will be the 7th season for Larry David’s hit show and will feature the whole cast returning from last season along with many guest stars including the full cast of Seinfeld. This will mark Michael Richards first appearance on the series. On top of that HBO provided information on the upcoming new series, Bored to Death, starring Jason Schwartzman, Ted Danson And Zach Galifianakis. Full Press release and info after the jump.

(more…)

There’s something about the onset of warm weather that draws your beer tastes back to the straight-out-of-the-can flavor of the beers of, erm, yesteryear.  OK, fair enough, that’s a bit cheesy.  But, there’s something really cool about drinking a beer that reminds you of the taste of stealing a sip from your Grandfather’s can when you were a kid.

So Schlitz, “The Beer that Made Milwaukee Famous” has recently seen both a return to it’s classic recipe and a significant increase in distribution.  After taste testing 6-8 of these last weekend, I’ve got to say that I’m 100% down with the Schlitz!  What does “the kiss of the hops” taste like, you ask?  Well, I’ll tell you.  Think classic midwestern beer flavor on par with a PBR or Old Style.  But, where the crisp, bright flavor of a PBR might be a paralllel to a more sophisticated Stella, think of the tangy/hoppy bitterness of Schlitz to be relatively comprable to an IPA.  Sure, Schlitz is still basically a light, highly carbonated beer that must be drank directly from the can, but in a world in which we’re all so familiar with so many high end craft beers, it just might be the right choice for your summer beer drinking.

The wiki on Schlitz is here.

This Saturday, May 2nd, Nerd City will be @ Chicago Comics @ 2 o.m.,  recording a podcast/giving out merch/ drinking 40’s etc. Do not miss it. It should absolutely be the shit.

Also, Ben promises not to have sex with any of the kids in this ad. (Although no mention has been made of the dog). See you this Saturday.

Max has been drinking the shit out of Scrimshaw pilsner from California’s North Coast Brewing Company: “The Best Beers In This World…Or Any Other.” You hear that Heaven? Your beer sucks dick. They also have a cool slideshow about Acme beer here.

The boys go barely legal as they celebrate the show turning 21 by discussing hillbilly horror movies, drinking fall beers, and pontificating on why Max is such a lady with Nerd City’s resident horror nerd Joey Gallimore in this very scary, uber-spooky episode of Nerd City. (creaking door, cat hiss, rattling chains, etc.)

Pics and links after the jump…

(more…)

Holy Sweet Freaking Jesus! Coolest thing ever!
After spending a bit of time at our local fly by night Halloween costume shop, I stumbled upon the greatest piece of seasonal drinking paraphernalia of all time, the “Skull Funnel”. “Use with your favorite beverage”, suggests the packaging. Hmmm… I think I’ll choose… beer!
Seriously, this little fellow will be sure to spice up the next Nerd City recording session as well as every upcoming holiday party through May Day. Huzzah!
You can buy your own online here, but you’d probably do just as well to check your local Halloween costume shop.

Occasionally it’s nice to go for quantity over quality.  Sometimes drinking gallons of swill is a fun way to spend a weekend.  After spending the past week in the Northwoods, I think all of us agreed that cheap beer has a place in the world.  Whether you’re tubing down a shitty river, spending a day drinking on the cheap, or trying to sober up after sampling a variety of stronger craft beers and homebrew, these beers are up to the challenge.  Plus, you’re not overpaying for watered down flavorless lager mass produced by the “Legion of Doom” of breweries.

http://www.salon.com/mwt/food/eat_drink/2008/08/11/cheap_beer/index.html

On our way up to Hayward last week, we stopped off at an amazing tiki lounge in Minneapolis called Psycho Suzie’s. As I’ve stated in a previous episode of the podcast, I love tiki lounges not only for the drinks (well, mostly for the drinks), but also for the amazing selection of tiki mugs that you can sometimes take home with you. Psycho Suzie’s didn’t disappoint, and most of the walls were covered with tiki muggs far crazier than I had ever seen. In my internet quest to track down some of these tiki oddities, I stumbled upon the coolest thing ever…

Tired of having to choose between your love of robots and your love of drinking? Then take yo ass to the internets and get a Drinkbot Tiki Drink Decanter. And yes, he does have a lampshade on his head.

I just realized that Nerd City has both a “drunk” and a “drinking” tag.  It is very important to make that distinction.