Untapped! Beer and Music Festival

You'd think I'd end with a beer festival, right?

Nah. My beer adventure started in Houston for Untapped's beer festival. I was lucky enough to get VIP tickets from a family member that couldn't go. I was even luckier to get the day off at work on such short notice.

Down I-10 East I went, three-hours later I was in Houston to sample as many beers as I wanted and enjoy some live music.

 It was fairly late by the time I arrived but it made for a better environment. The festival was held in Discovery Green, a park in the middle of downtown Houston that even had a small lake for attendees to paddle in. There were rows and rows of tents from different breweries, unfortunately I didn't get many pictures, it was quite dark and there were a ton of people.

Upon arrival I was given a beer ticket and a small glass. The beer ticket was good for twelve two-ounce beer samples. As the night progressed most breweries stopped counting and were just giving away samples.

I did manage to find a few beers I enjoyed, most notable were the shandy's from Traveler brewery. The Lemon Shandy by Traveler had to be my favorite beer of the night, it was light, refreshing, and had a pleasant tart lemon aftertaste. According to traveler it is a wheat ale with added lemon, it's alcohol content is 4.4%. I didn't have a physical bottle of it but there was also a measurment of BU, bitterness units. This shandy is at a 7 while the scale can go up to 40+. That was another beer I tried from Revolver brewery. I was able to sample Anodyne, a wheat ale with a content of 9% and a BU of 50. One sip was more than enough for me. It was bitter and complex, a flavor I'm still trying to wrap my head around.

Alas, in a festival of 70+ breweries I was only able to find one beer I enjoyed, then again I had to pace myself for the drive home. All in all it was good food, great music, and a taste shandy.

Introduction

I am convinced beer is the world's oldest running joke.

How anyone can enjoy it is beyond me, it's heavy, bitter, and sour.

Currently I am 22 and have tried more beers than you can shake a stick at yet I am unable to stomach any. The only exceptions being hard ciders, lambics, and shandys. I have been told many times that beer is an acquired taste but I just can't seem to catch on. In this blog I will try as many beers as I can in hopes that maybe, JUST MAYBE, I will find a beer that tastes decent.

As always, drink responsibly.

First things first, let's learn some more about beers.
You've got (in no particular order) lagers, stouts, ales, whits, porters, dry, blonde, dark...there's quite the variety of beers so it may be a bit daunting learning about them first. There's a ton of science behind the brewing of beer which is fascinating in itself but that's a different blog.

Anyway, let's get learning.

Generally beer is made with yeast, hops, barley, and water. This combination is brewed, the brew's specifics are what lead to the type of beer you'll get.
Lagers are brewed for long time periods at low temperatures giving them a "crisp" taste, the lager branches off to pilsner, bock, and dunkel.
Ales are the dark beers, they will be full-bodied and vary in color based on the grain used, most will have a "hoppier" (bitter) flavor to counter their sweetness. These branch off to porter, stout, amber, and wheat.

Throughout the course of this blog I am going to try to taste a beer from each category and get a feel for what I like.

Some of you may be apprehensive, the title of the blog may be deterring. It's just a title, in my beer tasting I am going to try and be as objective and open as possible. Complex beers deserve reviews.

Expect to learn more about beers, the occasional spirit/mixed drink, and maybe even a few pairings.

Happy drinking!