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Saison might have been the first beer style that made me go “whoa.” I had drank a lot of American craft styles, such as Ambers, Browns, Stouts, Pale Ales and IPAs, but hadn’t ventured into the Belgian styles yet. I think my first Saison was probably Ommegang’s “Hennepin” or Boulevard’s “Tank 7.” Once I got my hands on one, I was obsessed. It almost immediately became my favorite beer style (for a time, at least). To this day, it is…

Originally named Whale’s Tail Winter Warmer after the ski run at Breckenridge, Alpenglow is one of our oldest recipes from our homebrew days, and it was the first beer we won an award with. We had been homebrewing for less than a year and we finally felt comfortable entering beers into competition, so we entered the Snowdown Homebrew Competition hosted by Ska Brewing and took home first place in it’s category. Imagine our excitement for winning a blue ribbon in…

The genesis of Naughty and Nice comes from our homebrewing days, back in December of 2012. During that time, we had brewed 12 different beers and gave them to our friends and family as Christmas gifts, and the project was affectionately known as the 12 Beers Of Christmas. One of the beers we had been brewing on an annual basis since 2009, which was a stout that we infused with vanilla beans and bourbon soaked oak chips. To add some…

Growing up, Thanksgiving was always my favorite holiday, but in the past 5 years or so, it has almost grown to a mythical status. Instead of it just being another holiday, it has become my holy day. A large part of that is due to my training and certification with the CiceroneⓇ Program, which required me to immerse myself in the world of beer and food pairing. Thanksgiving has now become the perfect opportunity to do a beer pairing dinner,…

One of my favorite all-time Simpsons characters has to be Groundskeeper Willie. Between his appearances in the annual “Treehouse of Horror” episodes, his overall surliness and catch phrase, it’s hard to find a Simpsons fan out there who doesn’t appreciate ol’ Willie. According to the internet (so it has to be true), Willie’s character was originally just supposed to be an angry janitor. Dan Castellaneta, who does the voice, originally tried out the character in a Spanish accent, secondly as…