Beer of the Month Club: Three from Shipment Three

Beer Luvvas,

It's summer in Portland, which means that although my brew quaffing has not dwindled, my blog time has taken a back seat to many other outdoor activities. So I'm a bit behind.

This post will attempt to catch you up on what's going on with my Beer of the Month subscription. First, I recently found out that Gooney (of the Blind Beer Tasting Brackets) was recently the receiver of a gift membership from the club I'm touting (ad in upper right hand corner) for Fathers Day! Congrats Gooney!

This month's shipment brought beers from Millstream Brewing Company in Amana, Iowa, and Joseph James Brewing Company in Henderson, Nevada. As will eventually happen when someone besides yourself is selecting your brews, this month I received two samples from my least favorite style -Belgian Wit: John's Generations White Ale from Millstream, and Alpine Wit from Joseph James. Needless to say, I was not a fan of either - especially the Coriander/Orange Peel additions to the Alpine Wit. However, they did come in handy when it was time to boil up some beer brats.

The third offering this month was JJ's Tahoe Blue Nevada Pale Ale. This is a very respectable summer sipper. It's balance between the caramel malts and citrus hops is almost perfect; making it an excellent companion for anything you plan to throw on the barbi this summer.

I have yet to sample the last, and most interesting, beer of this shipment: Millstream's Colony Oatmeal Stout LAGER. Yes, that's a stout lager, rather than ale. I'm intrigued by their attempt to bring the full flavor of espresso with the clean finish of a lager. So I plan to dedicate a separate post to this interesting offering.

My last Beer of the Month club note is a follow on to my previous post regarding Santa Fe Brewing's Pen Porter. After declaring this beer to be the Best Porter Ever, I decided to hold the last bottle for a friend. Let's call her Suzy Porter. She loves porters. Her dog's name is...Porter.

Anywho...she tried the Pen Porter over the Fourth of July Weekend....and concurred. The best porter she's tasted as well.

Prost to Beer of the Month Club!