BRUX (Sierra Nevada and Russian River Collaboration) Domesticated Wild Ale | Cheer to Beers Video Review

This is Cheer To Beers - Video Beer Reviews from Ohio. I will be posting a weekly review on The Better Beer Authority. My first review is BRUX a collaboration between Russian River and Sierra Nevada. Check out the video to see what these two powerhouse breweries could come up with. Please check out my channel on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/cheertobeers
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Deschutes Black Butte Porter - Blind Taste Test

Deschutes is distributed in the western half of the United States, so it was a joy when Richard Hartogs sent their Black Butte Porter to us in Ohio. This is Deschutes first beer and their flagships beer. Which one of the BBA members is going to like it the best? Tune in and find out?

On a side note:  I invited the other Ohio beertubers to contribute articles and videos for the site.  Make sure you check out the first installment from TheeJohnnyG below.  He reviews Hopslam - one of my personal favorites.

Bell's Hopslam | Crafty Beer Reviews: Intro + Episode #1

Hi guys my name is Jonathan (better known as TheeJohnnyG on YouTube) and once a week I will be posting my beer reviews from YouTube on here. I really enjoy all the content that BBA puts out and I was happy to get the chance to post on here with them in support of good beer.

Before I get to the video I would like to share a little of my history with craft beer and beer in general. (NOTE: It's a little long so feel free to skip to the video below.) 

Like many people I began drinking beer, but not for the taste. Me and my friends would always drink whatever macro produced beer was cheapest and I never knew any better. It wasn't about taste because I didn't think beer could have much of a taste.

After a few years I began to "experiment" with other breweries that I thought were on a higher scale (Heineken, Red Stripe, etc.) and provided me with more flavor. They were better, but nothing amazing and then I started taking notice of my first craft breweries. I knew there had to be something else out there and Sierra Nevada, Flying Dog, Samuel Adams and Magic Hat were the first craft breweries that caught my attention when I would visit the grocery store. 

I can't quite remember my very first craft beer, but I do remember my first "epiphany" moment; Snake Dog IPA by Flying Dog. It was the first time that I sipped on a beer and really enjoyed all of the nuances instead of just chugging something ice cold. I felt like my palate had been kept in the dark all these years and all of a sudden it was awakened to new and incredibly tasty flavors; I didn't know beer could taste GOOD. Ever since that beer, IPAs have been my favorite style and I still look back on Snake Dog and am eternally grateful my friend brought that for me to try. 

It's been 4 years since then and my palate, knowledge and passion has grown every year. I really and truly love craft beer and I'm excited about sharing information and "converting" people to the cause. Thankfully my current close circle of friends have all been very open-minded and gotten into craft beer just as much as me. I'm discovering new beers, breweries and cool folks all the time and that's all thanks to the wonderful craft beer community!

So, now that everyone has stopped reading and/or been put to sleep, I will post the video. Thanks for reading and I apologize if it was a bit long-winded; I'm just passionate about beer.

Philadelphia, Independence of Beer

Thank to Butch Dougherty of Molly Malloy's for the pictures

While shooting the finishing touches on a documentary series I have been working on for nearly a year, the last location for myself and film crew was Philadelphia and southern New Jersey.  It was a shame we didn’t wait a week as it was Philadelphia Beer week then.

After arriving at our hotel and shooting B-Roll of the city, we decided to have a light dinner and some beers at the renowned Monk’s Café.  Saying that Monk’s is heavily influenced by Belgium is a severe understatement.  They even have a replica statue of Mannekan Pis!

The two of us were able to belly-up in the back bar.  It was dark, but not uncomfortable.  I settled in with a Belgian ale and ordered the Red Light Mussels with Frites.  My second beer was a Belgian stout.  Both beers were good.  The mussels were outstanding.  I don’t get too excited about Belgian beer menus, but I do with mussels; after all, my father was born in Belgian.  The fries were delicious and even better when I dipped them into the Red Light broth.

Since we had to wake up early and film in southern New Jersey, we called it an early night.  Monk’s is regarded as one of the best beer bars in America.  While I agree it is very good, I would prefer a beer bar with a bigger variety mix of beers from North America.  Several events are run at Monk’s each year.  I missed a Russian River beer pairing dinner by one night.

After spending a day and the following night in southern New Jersey, we returned to rainy Philadelphia for lunch.  I had always wanted to visit Reading Terminal Market, and this was my opportunity! I love open markets like this.  So much great stuff is available: Cheese sellers, fresh seafood, produce, butchers, salumeria, souvenirs, books and more! What stands out the most at Reading Terminal are the food vendors.  There are so many great places there.  I settled for a three meat platter from Hershel’s Deli after I saw them cutting the corned beef.  I had that, plus pastrami and beef brisket.  Across the way Adam Richman was filming his new series Best Sandwiches in America at DiNics.  My twin brother swears by Sangkee’s Duck Noodle Soup.  I looked into going, but the line was too long.  I was not disappointed with my lunch.

Me at Molly Malloy's

But I digress back to beer.  As I went looking for the rest rooms I spotted a bar with several taps.  Upon further inspection (after my trip to rest room), I made an executive decision that myself and crew must have a few beers there.  The place: Molly Malloy’s!  With 24 beers on tap, and a really nice food menu, I knew I had unexpectedly found a winner!  My buddy and I took our saddles at the bar and ordered our first round.  I had Victory Headwaters pale ale, and recommended Troegs Sunshine Pils to Daniel.

Thank to Butch Dougherty of Molly Malloy's for the pictures

Many taps the day I was there were from Pennsylvania; Yards, Troegs, Victory, Stoudt's and Weyerbacher.  Other craft beers from Dogfish Head, Widmer Brothers, Goose Island and more were well represented.  The bartender was very nice and helpful in answering my questions about the local beers.  I was pleasantly surprised by finding Molly Malloy’s and sincerely recommend grabbing food and drink there.  But if you can’t pass up on the pork sandwiches from DiNic’s, you can always graba nice pint from Molly’s afterwards.  Follow Molly's on Facebook to find out about beer events they hose.  Some are even after Reading Terminal Market's closing hours!

After a great lunch and a few beers, I walked across the street to my hotel for a nap and a swim in the 7^th floor pool.  After all, I had a big night ahead of me.

Daniel, Ryan Star, ME, Eki @ Wordl Cafe Live

My friend Ryan Star was on tour and just happened to be playing in Philadelphia that night.  The venue was World Café Live, across the river from downtown near UPENN.  The venue is a nice intimate concert setting with an average sized stage, dining tables and a bar.  The acoustic sound quality was very good, which is critical to live music.  The craft beer selection was good as well; by no means the best in Philadelphia, but a good selection nonetheless.

I started off with Bear Republic’s Racer 5 and finished with Cabo Wabo Repesado Tequila.  Other offerings from Troegs, Stoudt’s, Harpoon,  Flying Fish, Rogue, Stone, Sierra Nevada, Victory, Oskar Blues and more were also available.  Three Racer 5s and the tequila did me in.  Ryan sounded great that night, and I don't think that was the booze talking.  Unfortunately my night was not over. 

World Café Live is a very good place to see great live music and enjoy a fine selection of craft beer.

After the show, we took a cab to Morgan’s Pier on the waterfront almost underneath the Benjamin Franklin Bridge.  According to their website, they have an outdoor beer garden with a foodie picnic.  I am not sure what that means, but looking at their menu, it looks pretty good.  The only exception is the vegan chorizo (I could write an entire book about why that is wrong!).

Morgan's Pier (from their website)

I remember the weather was perfect on the Wednesday night (after the rain showers moved away) that I was there and that the bar wasn’t too crowded.  The beer list is solid, but not epic, and I remember really loving the atmosphere there.  This is certainly a bar I want to revisit.

Philadelphia side notes:  Since this trip was more work related, I wasn’t able to go to a lot of other beer bars that I had heard about or was suggested to me, but I was very happy to find the places mentioned above.  I missed Philadelphia Beer Week by a week, but it could be worth a trip next year.

One more shameless pitch for my TV series, Bullied You're Not Alone.

Better Beer Authority T-Shirts For Sale

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You can also find a link to buy T-shirts on the right hand side of our home page at betterbeerauthority.com.

Please consider buying a BBA T-shirt to help support the show!

If you take a photo of you in your T-Shirt I will feature it on the show. Thanks for watching and thanks in advance for your purchase!

So, who really IS the biggest BeerTuber?

Check out these stats that were compiled by Chad Polenz (http://www.youtube.com/user/Chad9976). Our Youtube username is AgileHProductions. Our stats were skewed by our non-beer videos, but I think it was still an interesting comparison. Make sure to go on to Youtube and subscribe to some of these guys!

Subscribers:
1. jjdaven 6,283
2. BeerGeekNation 5,106
3. GregsBeerReviews 4,910
4. AgileHproductions 4,286
5. VideoBeerReviews 3,100
6. RealAleGuide 2,022
7. ChadzBeerReviews 2,005
8. TheMasterOfHoppets 1,937
9. elharlock 1,928
10. Imasofat 1,698
11. Hog40305 1,260
12. ProperHopsTV 1,216
13. StumpyJoeJr 974
14. jjrudy41 924
15. Beerichituba 896
16. TheGrandOleHopry1 812
17. TheEndosymbiosis 798
18. BeerExpedition 731
19. albnorhyno 698
20. Tantrum777 642
21. DenisLD 583
22. RonaldTheriot 515
23. TheFoamingHead 481
24. MrsRealAleGuide 390
25. SnobbyBeer 356
26. WinoBeeroFoodo 346
27. BeerBetties 338
28. Hopzine 220


Total Views:
1. AgileHproductions 4,204,988
2. jjdaven 1,833,980
3. DenisLD 835,547
4. BeerGeekNation 732,788
5. elharlock 709,246
6. VideoBeerReviews 642,693
7. Imasofat 585,971
8. ChadzBeerReviews 414,565
9. GregsBeerReviews 413,807
10. TheMasterOfHoppets 356,350
11. Hog40305 232,433
12. RealAleGuide 222,263
13. albnorhyno 212,921
14. jjrudy41 168,543
15. BeerExpedition 120,844
16. StumpyJoeJr 119,448
17. RonaldTheriot 116,051
18. TheGrandOleHopry1 110,316
19. TheEndosymbiosis 93,916
20. Tantrum777 64,261
21. MrsRealAleGuide 46,784
22. BeerichiTuba 43,216
23. TheFoamingHead 42,168
24. ProperHopsTV 41,478
25. SnobbyBeer 25,924
26. BeerBetties 24,368
27. WinoBeeroFoodo 21,123
28. Hopzine 19,041

Uploaded Videos:
1. albnorhyno 1,113
2. TheMasterOfHoppets 833
3. GregsBeerReviews 716
4. ChadzBeerReviews 708
5. RealAleGuide 623
6. elharlock 615
7. jjrudy41 489
8. RonaldTheriot 478
9. StumpyJoeJr 468
10. TheEndosymbiosis 462
11. VideoBeerReviews 453
12. BeerGeekNation 414
13. Hog40305 386
14. BeerExpedition 377
15. DenisLD 376
16. Tantrum777 353
17. Imasofat 322
18. jjdaven 307
19. AgileHproductions 273
20. TheGrandOleHopry1 259
21. ProperHopsTV 207
22. Hopzine 192
23. TheFoamingHead 143
24. MrsRealAleGuide 136
25. BeerichiTuba 111
26. SnobbyBeer 100
27. BeerBetties 61
28. WinoBeeroFoodo 27


Average Views Per Video:
1. AgileHproductions 15,403
2. jjdaven 5,974
3. DenisLD 2,222
4. Imasofat 1,820
5. BeerGeekNation 1,770
6. VideoBeerReviews 1,418
7. elharlock 1,153
8. WinoBeeroFoodo 782
9. Hog40305 602
10. ChadzBeerReviews 586
11. GregsBeerReviews 578
12. TheMasterOfHoppets 427
13. TheGrandOleHopry1 425
14. BeerBetties 399
15. BeerichiTuba 389
16. RealAleGuide 357
17. jjrudy41 345
18. MrsRealAleGuide 344
19. BeerExpedition 321
20. SnobbyBeer 259
21. StumpyJoeJr 255
22. RonaldTheriot 225
23. TheEndosymbiosis 203
24. ProperHopsTV 200
25. albnorhyno 191
26. Tantrum777 182
27. Hopzine 99
28. TheFoamingHead 88

Moo Joos Oatmeal Milk Stout - Blind Taste Test

Moo Joos from Brau Bros Brewing in Lucan Minnesota was sent to us by Youtube user toddig. Thanks Todd! He also sent us Surly Furious - which was one of our highest rated beers of all time. Will Moo Joos score as high as Furious? Also, when we started the show, Joby proclaimed that he was a "dark beer lover". How will he react to this "dark beer" now? Brau Bros grows their own hops and two-row barley. How friggin' cool! Just that alone makes this a beer worth trying. So many angles, so little time. Tune in and learn about Moo Joos!