Craft beer is growing everyday.  More and more breweries and brewpubs keep popping up all over the country as well.  And if you aspire to do the same you better get started with brewing.  If you are in the South Florida locale like me I would recommend that you head to your local home brew shop and pick up a starter kit.  Or maybe a gift certificate if they are already brewing and just might need some things.  South Florida has AJ’s Beer City in Jupiter, BX Beer Depot in Lake Worth, Funky Buddha Home Brew in Boca Raton and BrewBox in Miami.  You can go in and support a local business to support your brewer.  If you aren’t in South Florida Northern Brewer and Midwest Supplies both have deals going on.

Okay so let’s say your special beer geek is already a home brewer.  But are they are a part of the largest home brew organization in the country?  They aren’t?  Well they can be.  The American Homebrewers Association (AHA) offers 1 year memberships that you can give as a gift.  As a member you will receive a card that gives you the right to discounts at over 500 different breweries, brewpubs and bars all over the United States.  You get a one year subscription to Zymurgy magazine.  And finally you get early access to purchase tickets to the Great American Beer Festival in Colorado and can purchase tickets for the AHA Members Only Session. Head over to their site and you can buy one today.

Okay so your beer geek doesn’t brew and doesn’t want to brew, they just want to drink good beer.  Gotcha.  Well the holidays offers a ton of great items to choose from in great specialty packs.  St. Bernardus, Ommegang and Innis & Gunn each have specialty packs out that include numerous beers and glass.  As a former recipient and owner of the St. Bernardus and and Innis & Gunn packs I can say that they are both awesome and the glasses are really cool.  The Ommegang pack out there has three big 750 ml bottles and a glass.  Great deal in my opinion.  Just check where you like to shop for beer and ask what types of gift boxes they have.

And lastly don’t forget that most breweries have online stores as well.  So if your beer geek just loves a particular brewery be sure to check out their online store and maybe you can find a shirt, hat, tacker or glass that will be perfect for under the tree, in a stocking, next to a Menorah or besides a pole.

Just have fun with it and I can assure you that your beer geek will be happy with your choice.

Name

It can be quite a treat finding a beer on the shelves that you’ve never seen, or even heard of, before.  This happened a few days ago with Ommegang Aphrodite.  I didn’t recall reading about this one coming out in the beer news.  No one locally told me anything about it so I was a bit taken back.

The bottles said it is fermented with brettanomyces, raspberries and pear.  Sounded interesting enough to me so I had to grab a bottle.

So I popped the cork and poured it into my Funky Buddha snifter.  It pours out a ruby red color with a big pink colored head.  I’ve seen a few beers with this color head before but it always looks cool every time.

The nose right away had raspberries in it.  There was a slight yeasty funk to it but I say the raspberries power through the most.

In the taste you are immediately hit with a nice tart raspberry taste.  The brett can be picked up for sure with some funky notes in there to boot.  It finishes dry and crisp with little to no sign of the 8.9% ABV in there.  Dangerous!

This beer drinks so well.  And not just as a sour fan but I believe you could get a few people that have never tried sours hooked on this.  The tartness is not overboard and extremely approachable.

I wish Ommegang made more sours.  I’ve liked everyone I have tried from this to Zuur all the way back to Rouge.  They seem to know what they are doing with them but don’t do them all that often.  Just great stuff.

So if you are a sour fan I think you should try this.  If you are new to sours and want to try one you should try this.  You might end up hooked on the pucker of sour ales like me.

Apologies for the image quality. Damn iPhone.

Grade - A-

Appearance – Poured a slightly hazy orange color with a big foamy white head.

Smell – The Belgian yeast stands out but you also get some lemony scents and citrus hops along with it.

Taste – Grapefruit and other citrus hops mix well with the yeast.  Lemony and a bit of clove presence there as well.  Very refreshing.

A limited edition brew from the folks at Ommegang this is a very easy to drink Belgian pale ale.  Oh so refreshing.  I think this should have waited a bit to come out for the summer and it would be great after being in the sun all day.  Definitely a must try.

Overall Grade – A-