One Of My New Projects

Ok, so once again I am doing that revamp my blog thing... I guess it has been about 6 months since I said that, no? Well, I just need to keep it moving this time. So, to keep everything in line, here it is.

1001 Beers: Of Course, I can't give up on that quest.
Homebrewing: Well duh, I have a few projects coming up. 2 for December.
Visiting The New Belgium Asheville Brewery: What's interesting about this?

Well, I decided I am going to Bike there for the opening day. It is only about 255 miles from where I live... Probably add a few miles because I do not have an exact address right now. But it makes perfect sense! On their logo, A BIKE! New Belgium is my favorite brewery and... I can probably think of a third reason.... Though, those two are perfect.

I am in no way in shape to ride that distance right now... not in record time anyway. So what am I going to do? Well, ride to several other breweries and track my progress here of course!!! Lets just hope I am still at Bragg when this place opens... If not I will have to choose a different brewery and maybe rework my plan.

I haven't exactly planned out the whole thing yet but I have put together a list of breweries I want to ride to. Tentative list at this point. Things can easily change as I think of more awesome places to go or things to do.

Huske Hardware House - 12 Miles: Just the closest one to me.
Railhouse Brewing - 30 Miles: A good distance.
Aviator Brewing Company - 40 Miles: Some good ones at a fest.
Raleigh Brewing Company - 60 Miles: Yup
White Street - 73 Miles: An Awesome New-ish Brewery
Mother Earth - 98 Miles: Stretch it to 100
NoDa Brewing - 126 Mile: I want to go SO BAD!
Conquest Brewing - 167 Miles: Huge Ride
New Belgium Asheville - ~255 Miles: DUH! Not paying attention?

Maybe I will find something to fill in that last major gap, or maybe not. Looking at the NC Beer Map, not much is in the between places. Maybe I will ride to other breweries of the same/similar distances, too. Just for good measure. I mean, one is in South Carolina.

If you have any suggestions, be sure to let me know. I have quite a bit of time to work up to that last ride but I want to be ready for it.

Cheers!

Mother Earth: Sisters of the Moon

Alright, another beer from North Carolina. Mother Earth has quite a reputation. I had never heard of it until I moved to NC. I have heard of others from here, such as Duck Rabbit and... Ok. I think that is the only I have heard of. People asked me about Olde Hickory once I got here so I guess I should have been watching out for them. I learned a bit about NC Beer and the breweries at a festival last summer, so that is a plus and I first tasted Mother Earth at The Great American Beer Fest. I tasted a few good ones but lets see what this beer is about.

According to the website, I should have drank this one in a stemmed glass, but I did not pour this beer myself. So I guess I cannot complain too much. Not that I always get beer into it's proper glassware. But, you know.

Made with hops grown in the good 'ol USA... you'll proudly support American farmers when you drink this beer! Light copper in color, it has an intense hop aroma and strong hop bitterness. Our hopback process uses fresh hop cones to take this IPA to unexpected places. Prepare for a mouthful of flavor.

On top of this golden IPA I got a finger width head that dissipated rather quickly. I wonder if the aroma of this beer suffered any because I see that it has a bottle date of 11/02/12... Again, I need to quit getting caught up by the new, huge display in the front of the store. Damn You Sam's Quik Shop! I should have known something was up... The nose was kind of faint but malt forward with some nice citrus notes. That could be all there is to it in this beer but they do boast about using a hopback.

The texture is very creamy and it has a good malt base. Low carbonation level but an immediate citrus rush over. A touch grassy and an added sweetness with orange zest lingering in the back of your throat. Overall, it was a decent IPA. I think it actually conformed to it's style and did not try and break the mold. Something that should be done more often, if you ask me. I wonder how this is at the source...

Cheers!