Franz Solo

The Week Ahead In Beer: Rejoice, for Stout Month is upon us!

It’s Stout Month at last! Huzzah! Blessed was the darkest of beers, for it was good, and we love it, all of it. I mean, we pretty much enjoy the entire spectrum of beer, but stouts are special to us. In any event, not too much going on this week as we have a slight…

The Week Ahead in Beer: New year, same challenges

Here we are, what year is this? Beats me (Franz Solo). Nothing is quite as it was. Up is down, stout is IPA (Cascadian dark!), left is Tuesday, hawks and handsaws, or something of the sort. This year does begin somewhat ominously, with another onslaught of post-holiday COVID cases and the expected chaos which stems…

The Week Ahead In Beer: Did Somebody Say Imperial?

Just a few lovely imperial stouts and barleywines this week to keep us all warm and jolly through the rest of December. Second Street is turning 25(!) this week, so raise a glass or two of Skookum to that! There are a few more holiday markets this weekend, as well, so check those out in…

The Week Ahead In Beer: Raise a Cheer, December is Here!

Hails and Ales, everyone, Franz Solo here to once again peer into the darkness of the stout … wait, wrong idiom (or is it?). Anyway, here’s The Week Ahead in Beer. Somehow it is December already, full-on brown Ale, barleywine, Scotch ale, porter, winter warmer, and stout season. Though, if we’re being honest, I daresay…

The Week Ahead In Beer: Barleywines are here and the 2021 IPA Challenge concludes

Another beautiful autumn week full of delightful dark ales is behind us, the culmination of the 2021 IPA Challenge sits before us, and communal feasting just around the corner — tis a grand season. Franz Solo here, for another round of all things beer and the like. The final round of the 2021 IPA Challenge…

The Week Ahead In Beer: IPA Challenge 2021 Arrives

Greetings all, Franz Solo here, returned from adventures in Chicago and a week lost to a lingering cold. As the “hop head” of our fair group (I have been known to brew 300+ IBU IPAs and if you’ve ever asked if you could add more hops to a beer, the answer is yes), I’m always…

The Week Ahead in Beer: Spooky Events Emerge in Advance of Halloween

After kind of a lull the week after the Balloon Fiesta, this week looks to be chock full of new brews and a plethora of weekend events. New Draft: Bosque added Perpetual Sunset, a strawberry lager. Boxing Bear recently tapped Loose Seal Pale Ale and Falcon Mountain IPA. (UPDATE) Brew Lab 101 took some Boo-Berry…

TorC Brewing’s Bad Bully Pale Ale Collaboration

Sometimes we hear about collaboration beers that are deserving of a bit more attention than a simple line in The Week Ahead in Beer. Truth or Consequences Brewing Company’s Bad Bully Pale Ale, a collaboration with the Mesilla Valley Homebrew Club, is most certainly worthy of a closer look. On the origins of the collaboration,…

The Week Ahead in Beer: Balloons Take to the Skies as We Celebrate the Season of the Malt

Well, this is pretty cool. After a year and a half of waiting, events arrive like an avalanche this week to bury us in delicious beers, foods, and good times aplenty. So grab your stein, put on your Dirndl or Lederhosen, and let’s get right to it shall we. New Draft: Boese Brothers gets into…

B2B Garden Brewery Struck By Thieves

In the wake of last week’s brazen theft and vandalism at Quarter Celtic, I was contacted by Alicia Stelzer, the manager of B2B Garden Brewery about a disturbingly similar incident, which occurred on the same night as the Quarter Celtic break-in. Per what Alicia shared with me, the thieves threw a large rock through their…