Of super-heroes and super beers...

Thanks to the lovely Manny, my son, David and I now own these sweet
super-hero Birkenstocks. That's David on the left with Spider-Man, Thor,
Wolverine, Captain America and Iron Man on his while Daddy's are totally
Hulk Smash all the way! These are pretty much the coolest things ever!!!

The question, coming from my long-time friend Manuela, a.k.a. Manny, was a little odd but I'm somewhat used to that from my friends. Manny, who now lives in Germany, complete with hubby and son, wanted to know my shoe size. She also wanted to know my son David's shoe size. Why, I asked?

"Because I can found the perfect shoes for you two!" Now Manny and I used to run with the same wild crowd back in about 1985 to '95 in Toronto's Bloor West Village neighbourhood. There are literally dozens of crazy drinking stories I could tell here, except as I said, Manny now has a young soccer-loving son who is perfectly capable of reading a Canadian beer blog. So for his sake, I will simply say this to him. Justin, your Mom, me and the rest of our crowd spent a lot of time in church. The church happened to be a bar named Shakey's but trust me, it was all very spiritual and innocent. (That was convincing, right? I would totally believe that...) Anyway, in 1995, I went west to Oakville and a new editor's job while Manny went east... all the way to Germany. But of course, we reconnected on Facebook and she knows well the high esteem with which super-heroes are held in this household.

When the Denver Comic Con hit the Colorado Convention
Center June 13 to 15, it marked the debut of Brews Wayne,
a 6.1% hoppy amber ale, made by Denver's Breckenridge
Brewery. Last year, when the brewery teamed up with the
Comic Con organizers, it created a fruit-infused Belgian Wit
called "The Caped Brewsader". They love Batman there...

When the above super-hero-adorned Birkenstock sandals landed in my mail, I had, to be honest, kinda forgotten my and Manny's shoe size conversation. So yeah, pretty sweet surprise! When I showed co-workers Gordo and Marie the new sandals, their jaws dropped. "Birkenstocks cost, like, $125!" they exclaimed. So roughly $105 more than I've ever spent on a pair of sandals. Manny told me that the prices in Germany were much more relaxed because they're made there and her company has a wholesale deal with the sandal giant.

The Beers Musketeers' reactions were also ones of awe. Cat waxed eloquently about how these Birkenstocks would change my life, fit for the Roman Gods to wear and so forth. Stevil St. Evil got to the heart of the matter on a regular guy's level: they're just really cool because they have super-heroes on them. Exactly. The best part? They are unavailable here in North America. David and I are proud (and excited) owners of something very unique. Manny, you absolutely rock!!!!

This is what I usually drink my stouts in. 

All the super-hero talk reminded me of when the Beer Musketeers descended on Donny's Bar and Grill back in April. They noticed that David had these huge 20-ounce super-hero glasses - four from Marvel (Spider-Man, the Hulk, Iron Man and Captain America) and four from D.C. (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the Green Lantern.) For the afternoon drinking purposes, Glenn quickly commandeered the Spider-Man glass, saying it was the closest to his favourite hero, Daredevil (Marvel's biggest man-ho) while Cat, of course, opted for the Wonder Woman glass. She shivered when she saw the Green Lantern glass, noting one of her ex-beaus actually thought he was Green Lantern. Wow, talk about delusional, eh? I mean, after all, I'm Batman and I'm pretty sure I know who the Green Lantern is... They don't call me the Dark Knight Detective without reason. And Glenn, if you're willing to cross publishers, Batman is closer to Daredevil than Spider-Man. Just sayin'... But I digress...

Stevil recently showed us his new stout glasses, made by Spiegelau, the same Germany company that collaborated recently with American brewers, Doghead Fish and Sierra Nevada, to create the IPA glasses that the four of us use and love. The stout glass is pretty similar but without the re-heading ridges on the stem.

The latest from the good folks at Beau's All Natural
Brewing - Wag The Wolf Hopfenweisse. Damn good!

The glass looks pretty cool but I usually drink my stouts in David's Hulk glass. Like the Hulk, the stouts I favour are very high-alcohol, fruit, bourbon and/or chocolate-infused brews that will *smash* your taste-buds into puny human submission. And you tread carefully around these beasts - too many or too quickly and you will feel about the same shade of green as the Hulk the next day.

But you know, especially in the Summer, a good wheat is deserving of a super-hero glass and that's precisely what I got when I snagged a Beau's All-Natural Brewing's Wag The Wolf Hopfenweisse. Brewed with 65% wheat malts and lightly-hopped with organic New Zealand hops, this 6% wheat is fruity on the nose (citrus, banana and mango come through) but spicy and smooth on the tongue. Damn, this is a winner! It'll be back here soon... very soon. Love my wheats! Nice job, Beau's!

Cameron's is walking on sunshine... California sunshine!

Found another stunner from my hometown friends at Cameron's Brewery - their brand spankin' new California Sunshine APA. With citrus, pine and tropical fruit on the nose, the 5.1% pale ale almost comes across as a light-IPA with its light grapefruit on the tongue. We have a second return offender slated for the patio at Donny's Bar and Grill...

Sadly, their cross-town rivals, Trafalgar Brewing, didn't fare quite so well with their Maple Leaf Lager. According to RateBeer, this may be a rebottled version of their Old Mill Elora Grand Lager but it's not good. Corn and malt the nose, thin and bitter on the tongue, this actually got poured down the drain. (On the plus side, it unclogged it.) I will usually drink an average beer... but not a bad one. After four misses now, I think it's simply time to admit that Trafalgar's beer brewing style ain't my Cuppa Joe. They're now a distillery as well so I may sample their vodka, just to show support.

My Oakville buddy, Steve, an old high school crony,
has this sign up at his backyard bar. I instantly sent it
off to Stevil St Evil in New Zealand, saying he needs one

Another beer that I had way back at the Spring Beer Festival in March but forgot to review was Left Field Brewery's Resin Bag IPA, recommended to me by Toronto Craft Beer Queen Mel, who had gone the night before. As always, Mel was bang-on. At 6.4% and just 50 IBU (international bitterness units), this is a lighter IPA. All orange on the nose, it's lightly pine and citrus with a bit of malt on the tongue. This doesn't pound the taste-buds like my preferred Imperial IPAs but rather lightly caresses them. It's a solid beer. But it's their 6-4-3 Double IPA with its staggering 92 IBUs that first caught my attention at last year's Summer Craft Beer Fest, held at Steam Whistle. I like these guys - they're setting up their brewery in Toronto as we speak. I expect big things from this now-small brewery.

And finally, an interesting twist. Beer Stores are only allowed to sell malt-based beverages so they have never carried ciders, even though there is a Molson Canadian Cider, as well as an Alexander Keith's Cider - both names better associated with the Beer Store. To that end, Molson's has brewed up a 5% apple lager called Mad Jack. To me, it kinda tastes like, well, apple soda but I suspect it's meant to entice cider drinkers rather than beer bums like me. I don't drink cider so it may be remarkably similar. We'll have to wait and see.

Using Glenn's IPAs-Decide-The-Winner at
the FIFA World Cup, Stevil noted that since
New Zealand is not playing, that would make
the USA the obvious winner in the tourney

Okay, shout-outs and links. First up, Glenn is following the World Cup like everyone else on the globe. Personally, I'm cheering for Portugal because the last time, four years ago, I was dating a Portuguese woman so what the hell, eh? (Actually, the one immediately preceding her was also Portuguese - guess I was going through a phase?) That ended quite some time ago but my affinity for Team Portugal remains. But Glenn has written two blogs so far which predict the winners in each round based almost solely on which countries produce the best IPAs. An interesting approach to beer, geography and oh yeah, soccer, to be sure. Okay, so here we go. Start with: The IPA World Cup, Round One and then follow up with: The IPA World Cup, Round Two
Also from Thrillist.com, a hilarious look at what your favourite beer style says about you. It's a funny read right: HERE! As an IPA drinker, I apparently have an awesome bottle collection and as a stout drinker, I seldom shave. Actually, both true.
Then we have the food blogger that actually got the American beer giants to list the ingredients in their beer. I know - staggering, right? Stevil and I think the fact that she's a stunner may have helped. Right about her victory here at: Vani Hari Rocks!

Well, guys and dolls, that's it, that's all and I am outta here!!! Until next time, I remain...