My First Time

Wednesday 20 May 2009
Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar

Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar

Last summer, I took my first trip to the Northwest. I wanted to go somewhere where I could camp and hike and Jim wanted to go somewhere where he could drink lots of delicious beers that can’t be found in Kansas City. We settled on a week-long tour of Portland and Seattle. We wanted to arrange our trip to put us in Portland during the Oregon Brewers’ Festival in late July, which happened to be the same weekend as my 10-year high school reunion. It was really not a tough decision to make. Read more »

Our Neighborhood Pub

Tuesday 5 May 2009
My heart of Brookside

My heart of Brookside

Charlie Hooper’s Bar and Grill, in the Brookside neighborhood of Kansas City, is near and dear to our hearts. It was the favorite bar of each of us even before we had met. Our first date was there. The food is good, as is the beer selection. It has a nice neighborhood feeling, and the staff is (usually) friendly. We felt it was a good place to start our blog. Read more »

The Happy Beers

Tuesday 5 May 2009
Duchesse de Bourgogne

Duchesse de Bourgogne

Everyone needs a happy beer. Just like everyone needs a happy place–somewhere to run to when everything seems to be going wrong. Happy beers immediately make you smile. Anxiety and worry melt away, and for one glass, all is right with the world.

You can tell when someone has found his happy beer. The moment the beer hits his lips, his eyes close, and all the muscles on his face relax. As the beer is swallowed, any tension in the body has been relieved, and a sense of calm has overtaken him. A deep, calming exhale is followed by an eyes-closed smile. Read more »

Methods for Reviewing Bars

Friday 1 May 2009

We do occasionally leave the friendly confines of the house. For times when we go Bar Hunting we will use the following criteria to judge the establishment. The purpose or goal of the bar will be taken into account when we rate the place. A dive bar and a swank club should not be judged on the same scale. They serve different purposes. Read more »

Methods for Reviewing Homebrews

Friday 1 May 2009

For homebrews, we will also employ a blind tasting. Each of us, or a third party, will serve the homebrew along side a commercial beer brewed in the same style. This way we won’t be giving ourselves too much credit for our own creations.

When we review a homebrew, we will be using the Beer Judge Certification Forms. Now, neither of us is a certified beer judge, but we feel their form is an excellent guide to evaluating a beer and its characteristics. You can see and download their form from the competition page of their website (the form is a PDF under Beer Scoresheet), but a quick overview of the points is below. Read more »

Methods for Reviewing Beer

Friday 1 May 2009

When we review commercial beer, we will be using the Beer Judge Certification Forms. Now, neither of us is a certified beer judge, but we feel their form is an excellent guide to evaluating a beer and its characteristics. You can see and download their form from the competition page of their website (the form is a PDF under Beer Scoresheet), but a quick overview of the points is below. Read more »

Welcome to the Good Bottle

Friday 1 May 2009

Hi! We are excited that you have chosen to accompany us on our collective quest for happy beer.

We will begin regular posts, starting with a more complete welcome, next week. For now, we have posted some sketches of reviews and essays that we’ve been working on. We realize that’s not very professional, but we’re not very professional.

Check back soon and we will begin our blog toward liquid happiness.