1001 Beers: Sexual Chocolate

Beer Number 34: Foothills Sexual Chocolate

I still don't know everything I should know about beer in North Carolina, but Foothills is one of the names I do know. I ran into them at the Twin City Taps Festival and they had one of the biggest tents. I actually hovered around there for a little bit just trying each of their beers.

At the end of the festival I was feeling really good and trying to figure out how to learn more than I already knew about the brewery. One of the guys running the stand gave me their twitter account but that was a total disaster. I was searching terms like "Fullsails" & "Footsails". I never really figured it out until I got home.



One thing I did find when I started my search, was Sexual Chocolate. I have heard a lot of talk about this beer before but I never knew anything about it. I figured since I was actually in the state where it is produced this year, I should find it. I did not go out to the release event and all the local bottle shops were saving the bottles for special events and such so I went on a mission to find this one on tap... It had to be there, right?

Needless to say, after a long day out... I FOUND IT!!! and it was at one of my usual stops while in Raleigh, Tyler's Taproom. I did not have to go out of my way at all. What could be better than that?!?!

Sexual Chocolate was originally conceived in 1996 as a home-brewed beer to celebrate St. Valentines Day. A decade later, the beer was produced commercially for the first time at Foothills, and word spread quickly. Brewmaster and co-owner Jamie Bartholomaus uses cocoa nibs that are cold infused in the stout after fermentation and during conditioning. The beer's name is a semiobscure reference to the 1988 comedy movie Coming To America, which starred Eddie Murphy as Arsenio Hall. In the movie, a fictional band named Sexual Chocolate perform the song "Greatest Love of All" at a church-sponsored event.

Here is Sexual Chocolate and their performance. Anyway, this beer.



Completely dark, black. You could not see through this one if you tried and a small brown head. This glass really did not do it much justice when it comes to aromatics but you do get some roasted malts, coffee, and chocolate.

Sexual Chocolate had a lot going on, in a good way. Coffee and chocolate up front melding into a thick flavor flood. Layered on top of a nice malty body.Very rich and robust. The bitterness on this beer keeps it in line. Toffee, dark malts, and more chocolate. 10% ABV. Now that you can give half ratings on Untappd, this one got a 4.5

I wish I could have gotten a bottle of this one. Maybe I will find some lying around... or maybe when the barrel aged version is released, I can get that. I think Sexual Chocolate would probably be amazing on some wood... I didn't just say that though.

967 Bottles Of Beer To Go!

Cheers!

Mellow Mushroom Beers!

I have been to this Mellow Mushroom before, but besides that the only one I have been to was in Asheville, and I fell in love with that city and this restaurant. On this visit I did not get a picture of the pizza, I kind of just ate it but I did have a few beers. Were they good choices? Yes. Did I drink them in the right order? Probably not! But here they are.



Founders Dirty Bastard. The name alone was enough to make me get this beer. Sitting at 8.5%, probably a bad choice for the very first beer. Though, when I saw it labeled as a Scotch Ale, I had to do it. I thought this one was had a really rich, malty nose and a lot of that carried into your drinking experience. Dark fruits and a little pine and citrus in the finish. A nice full body and a little bit of a bite. Damn Good Beer. I gave this one a 5 out of 5.



Just as I was finishing that one up the pizza showed and I figured, hey, what else do you have? I asked for this taster of Strawberry Blonde by The Carolina Beer Company. I thought the Strawberry in this one seemed kind of artificial. I mean, I am sure it was but in the nose and the taste it was just kind of annoying. I think the base beer was pretty decent but it was hard to really determine that being, I had nothing to compare it to. Oh well.



Along with the taster they brought me a Gaelic Ale by Highland Brewing Company out in Asheville, NC. I had this beer once before, at the Twin City Taps Festival. It featured only North Carolina beer, and just like when I had it there, I was way too far palate dead to do much with this one. Here is a little information about it.

A deep amber-colored American ale, featuring a rich malty body. Cascade and Willamette hops add a complex hop flavor and aroma. This ale is exceptionally balanced between malty sweetness and delicate hop bitterness. It has a universal appeal and is our workhorse, accounting for about half of our total production.

This was our first beer and was originally named Celtic Ale in honor of the Scots and Irish who originally settled the Appalachian region. We had to change the name – unbeknownst to us, Bert Grant Brewery had trademarked “Celtic Ale." The term "Gaelic" more commonly refers to the language of the Celtic peoples in Scotland and Ireland and particularly to the Scottish Highlanders. The dark amber color is similar to a Scottish Ale but the flavor and body is more in the style of American Amber.

I remember it being good last time and I thought it was good this time as well. I just cannot go into detail. Lame. I should have thought about my first choice of beer a little more before I did it. Live and drink, right? Next time I find this one, I will have to be sure to have it FIRST! or if I had the Strawberry Blonde first, which sat at 4.5%, I should have this after that. It just makes way more sense.

Anyway, a night of great food, great beer, and great times.

Cheers!

Twin City Taps

So I know my experience with festivals is very limited but I would say that this is the best one I have been to thus far. When I first heard of Twin City Taps North Carolina Beer Festival, the thing that got me excited was the fact that it was being held in a baseball stadium. What could be better than that? Well, it was sad news to hear that nearly last minute the festival may have to be cancelled due to various issues at BT&T. One of the sponsors, Ziggy's, stepped up and decided that the even could be held at their venue. They were already involved in setting up the musical acts, and that is what the place was known for, so why not combine the two? I think it was a good call.



Being new to North Carolina, Twin City Taps gave me the opportunity to find out what this state has to offer. Coming from Los Angeles, Seattle, & Portland, I guess you can say I am kind of spoiled when it comes to beer but there is still so much out there that I have not had. I really appreciated the fact that the festival was North Carolina beer exclusive. It is too easy to call up a distributor and ask for what is big, rare, and popular but this was a change to let the locals shine. I know people always say drink local and others say that not all local beer is good beer but this event was seriously like a showcase for why North Carolina is heading the direction that it is. Asheville is being called "Beer City USA", but the state as a whole deserves recognition.

While talking to the people behind the various breweries, I found out that the majority of them were brand new breweries. The ones pouring were from their respective breweries as well. They were not just random servers they pulled off the street so you could actually get into a decent conversation about the beer and the brewery. Some were there that have been around for a while, like The Carolina Brewery and The Duck Rabbit Brewery but I was talking to the head brewer of NoDa Brewing and found out that they have only been around for about 7 months. The youngest brewery that I can remember said they have only been around for 3 months. Just the range of experience and what was being presented was amazing. One of the coolest things there was the fact that a homebrew club, The WortHawgs, was pouring as well.


I really need to learn to play this game. It's at every festival ever... why is that?

One thing I did not really care for at the festival was the ticket prices. I am not saying I thought it was over priced or anything. For the time I had and what was there, it was totally worth it. They offered 2 ticket prices, Regular Admission and VIP. The prices were $35 and $60 respectively. I purchased the VIP ticket. The difference between the two was The VIP ticket got you access to a room with food and cask ale. Cask ale is what made my decision immediately. I guess maybe I got caught up in the whole CAMRA movement and as a Craft Beer Enthusiast, things like this are supposed to excite me. I was not expecting too much, but when I found out there were only 4 cask, I was kind of disappointed. The food was decent, but again, if that were the only difference I would not have went with it. Don't get me wrong, I had no issue paying the price. Especially since it went to benefit the NC Brewers Guild and I for sure ate my fair share of food, which if I purchased it, would have more than made up for the cost with vendor prices. But I was still just expecting more in the way of Cask Ale.

All in all though, it was a great event. Really introduced me to the beer of North Carolina and I met a lot of cool people. I guess I don't have to worry about finding local favorites being that there is so much good beer around me. Though, there is still so much here for me to discover.

Cheers!