You can read through my current list by going to My Goals Page.  After you read through it, I would love to get your feedback on what you think of my list so far.  More importantly, I would love to get your opinion on what craft beer I should try before my Year of Beer is out.  Just post your feedback in the comments below.

Second Beer of the Month Club Shipment

When I started my Year of Beer, one of the first things I did was research and find what I thought was the best Beer of the Month club.  I wanted to join one that would expose me to beer that I might not be able to get around here.   You can read the original post at joining a beer of the month club if you are interested.

I really enjoyed my first shipment and was really excited to get my second shipment.  It actually arrived about 2 weeks ago but with vacation and this being my busy season at work, I haven’t had the time to post anything about it.  I started getting low on beer in the fridge and didn’t want to crack into this shipment until I took some pics and wrote this article.  As it turns out, being low on beer was the perfect incentive to find the time to write this post.

I was extra excited when I found out that this shipment was going to include beer from Otter Creek Brewery up in Vermont.  I have heard a lot of really positive things about their beer but haven’t been able to find any locally. Otter Creek shipped their first keg of beer back in March of 1991.  The second brewery that is represented in this shipment is Shipyard Brewing Company, another excellent brewery that I have had the pleasure of sampling in the past.  In this case, it’s Shipyard’s Tremont brand that is actually in the shipment.    Tremont Brewery was founded in 1992 but for a variety of reasons went out of business in 2001.  In 2005, Shipyard purchased the rights to the brand and has been lovingly producing Tremont beer ever since.

Here are the beers that I received in October’s Beer of the Month club shipment:

• Otter Creek Stovepipe Porter
• Otter Creek Pale Ale
• Shipyard’s Tremont Mr. Oktoberfest
• Shipyard’s Tremont Freedom Trail India Pale Ale

I will be writing future reviews about all of these beers.  If you would like to follow along with me and receive the same beers each month, sign up for the Gourmet Beer of the Month Club.

First, I will say I am amazed at how awesome my wife has been through all of this.  She is almost as excited as I have been.  She doesn’t enjoy a  lot of the beers I like but she is certainly expanding her horizons and enjoying the trips to the breweries and brewpubs that we have been visiting.

So far, this month, I have brewed a batch of Irish Stout, started and almost finished The New Complete Joy of Home Brewing, visited 6 breweries, tried 32 new beers, reviewed 1 beer, joined the American Homebrew Association and got and read my first issue of Brew Your Own Magazine.

I don’t know about you but I would say that was a pretty great month!

First Shipment from Beer of the Month Club

A few weeks back I wrote a post about the Microbrew Beer of the Month club that I had joined.  I have been waiting patiently (or at least I have been trying to wait patiently) for my first shipment to arrive and it came today.  I had it shipped to my work since it required an adult signature and was pleasantly surprised to see that the packaging was very discreet.  It showed no signs of what might be inside.  For me, it’s not a problem either way, I am an owner of the business, but it’s still nice to see that they got the little things right with this beer of the month club.

For my first 3 months, I signed up to receive all domestic microbrews.  However, they must have run out of two of the selections as I got two domestic beers and two beers from the Czech Republic.  They did include a note letting me know that they had to make these substitutions.   I am not complaining, they have a club that sends 2 domestic beers and 2 International beers and it’s more expensive than the one I signed up for so I was glad that if they couldn’t fill my order, they upgraded me.

The shipment came with a newsletter that gives you background on the breweries as well as the beers that were chosen.  The newsletter was well written but I found the formatting to be a bit confusing.

I am going to do a review of all 4 beers that I received but until that time, here is what I got:

• Diamond Beer Brewing Company – Presidential IPA
• Florida Beer Company – Hurricane Reef Pale Ale
• Pivovar Herold – Bohemian Granat Lager
• Pivovar Herold – Bohemian Black Lager

I will update this post with links to each review as I do them.  you can follow along with me if you like and join the same Beer of the Month club that I belong to by going to the Gourmet Beer of the Month Club.

I was surprised to find how many Beer of the Month clubs there were to choose from.  I researched it for the last week before deciding on which one to go with and found at least 8 different Beer of the Month clubs.  Some are just reselling other clubs memberships as far as I can tell and some didn’t have as impressive of a selection of beer that they send out.

When you get right down to it, after you add in the shipping costs, a beer of the month club is not the cheapest way to get your hands on a good beer but it’s not all that expensive either.  At $35 for a 12-pack comes out to almost $3 a bottle.  The big advantage I see in a Beer of the Month club is most of the beer I expect to receive will be from microbreweries I wouldn’t have normally had access to.  The club I choose will give me access to a wide variety of regional microbrews that I wouldn’t have otherwise been exposed to.  For that reason alone, I think the club is more than worth it.

The club I joined today is called the Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club.  It’s put out by the Gourmet Clubs of America and from my research, it is the best reviewed club I could find.  They have several different clubs you can join:

• Original Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club – This is the one I joined.  It is all American microbrews, you get 3 bottles of 4 different American beers from microbreweries all over the country.  They advertise this club as $20.95 a month but with shipping the price is actually $34.95 a month.
• International and Domestic Variety Beer Club – The second club is a mix of American and International beers.  With the second club you get 3 bottles of 2 different American beers and 3 bottles of 2 different International beers.  They advertise this club as $28.95 a month but with shipping the price is actually $42.95 a month
• International Beer Club – The third option is 3 bottles of 4 different International beers.  They advertise this club at $32.95 a month but with shipping it’s actually $46.95 a month

I opted for a 3 month membership of the Original Microbrewed Beer of the Month club.  I opted for 3 months simply because I want to try more than one club.  I intend to do 3 months of the original club, 3 months of the variety club, 3 months of the International club.  I will finish out my year with another 3 month membership to the club I enjoyed the most.

I will be reviewing every beer I get from the club.  Want to follow along with me and drink the same beers I am drinking?  You can join by going to Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club

Updates:

• First Month

On the homebrew side of things I went to a local supplier and picked up some gear.  We don’t really have a homebrew store around here but we do have a place that sells some basic equipment.

I would have liked to have done more on my first day but I overdid it on the Negro Modelo’s and was wiped out in the evening.