Par-Due.com Backup

Frontyard Foodie

2010-02-13T23:44:00.003-06:00

We hope that you aren't as annoyed at us as we are with Comcast. Our service has been down all day, but we expect them to be resolving the issue tomorrow. Thanks for your patience!

Cleaning House

2008-10-25T15:26:00.001-05:00

I'm cleaning house and organizing the wires better where the server is so I'm having all Par-Due.com traffic (the couple of you) directed to this site so I can unplug the server and stuff. Have a good day!

Curse you Comcast

2008-10-14T12:51:00.002-05:00

Our internet connection went out at the house and thus the reason I have Par-Due.com being forwarded to this offsite storage location. Comcast had me exchange a modem with them at their store in hopes of fixing my internet connection. It doesn't seem to be back up yet, but I didn't get much time at all to mess with it at home. I'll look at it next time I go home..whenever that may be.

We'll get the Par-Due blog up as soon as we get internet connection restored at home.

Par-Due Blog Status Update

2008-03-28T14:29:00.003-05:00

I finally got the new hard drive today and managed to get the server powered up and the OS installed, but the website might be a little longer as I settle down from buying a car..and taking fun finals, etc...

Rescheduled Delivery Date

2008-03-25T09:39:00.002-05:00

Friday the 28th is when UPS is re-promising their delivery. We shall see.

UPS, you're killing me

2008-03-21T15:25:00.003-05:00

UPS may have lost my hard drive. I spoke with someone there and they advised me to have Newegg start a trace on this package. It may come today or it may be awhile. For now, learn about the beers I've enjoyed and have written about.

I usually just rate on ratebeer.com because it's easier and they have some cool information about each beer. Right now, I'm drinking O'Dell's IPA...O'Dell rules!

Par-Due.com

2008-03-18T11:34:00.003-05:00

The Par-Due blog is down due to a hard drive failure. I figured I'd redirect you here for some reading and keep you updated on the recovery of the Par-Due blog.

New website distracting me from posting here

2007-12-29T12:30:00.000-06:00

I'm sorry to tell my faithful readers (if there are any), that I am being distracted by another website that asks for my opinion more consistently. I would love to see some of my friends registered on it and be able to see their ratings on the best drink in the world. Here's the link...

http://ratebeer.com

Tonight

2007-12-04T22:46:00.000-06:00

Tonight I am drinking Double-Wide India Pale Ale and watching Home Alone. Merry Christmas everybody!!

Oh dear!

2007-11-15T21:02:00.000-06:00

These new boulevard beers are changing the way I view beer. That may sound cheesy, but it's true. If you haven't tried them yet, you're living in Lee's Summit and you have no life (or some other weird reason).

I don't really feel like reviewing these in detail, but my first impressions are the Long Strange Tripel is quite possibly the best beer I've ever had. I may be ignorant, but it's a sincere feeling of mine. It's a strong ale (thus the reason it's called a tripel) and has too much flavor to define right now. It gets 5 stars...

The Saison is also very excellent, but not as exceptional as the Tripel. It's a thick fruity flavor, but almost as bitter as their pale ale which makes for a good blend in my opinion. I'll give this one 4 1/2 stars because I can't say 4, but it's not as good as the Tripel. Maybe if it was a separate review, it would be a 5 also.

Please do yourself a favor and check out what our local brewery is up to..as for me, I'm visiting them tomorrow!!

Long Strange Tripel - 5 stars
Saison - 4 1/2 stars

A New Favorite Holiday Drink

2007-11-05T21:53:00.000-06:00

Leinenkugal's Apple Spice Ale has been officially added to my list of favorite holiday beverages. I didn't know what to expect from a beer such as this even after the first pour. It's a very light, clear beer which usually gives a bad first impression for me, but this beer is an exception.

It begins with a very thick apple flavor and slides into the spice portion to end it. It's very similar to a cider in that it has a thick fruity flavor, but it's not so much of a cider. It's an Apple Spiced Ale (as the label proclaims).

This beer gets 4 stars for being a great holiday drink and another great addition to the decent leinenkugal lineup.

Breckenridge's Avalanche

2007-10-30T18:25:00.001-05:00

I visited a new liquor store in Raytown and they let you build your own 6-pack for $7.99. What makes it a good deal is that they offer many higher end beers as options in that 6-pack. I think it's a pretty good deal. The name of the store is "The Whiskey Barrel" and it's a little mom and pop store worthy of your money.

The first beer I'm reviewing from my custom 6-pack is from a brewery called Breckenridge Brewery. It's called Avalanche and it's an amber ale that lacks too much for me to think it's fantastic. I enjoy ambers that hit a little hard, but this one doesn't do that. It gives you a good, light sweetness, but goes nowhere and is too light in my opinion.

2 out of 5 for being bland and too weak.

p.s. Not worth a full review, but New Belgium's Abbey Belgian-style Ale sucks just like the rest of their beers. 2 stars (not as bad as their others so not a 1)

Jack's Pumpkin Spice Ale

2007-10-01T21:47:00.000-05:00

First pumpkin ale in my beer blog and while it was very interesting and at first tasty, Jack's Pumpkin Spice Ale falls short of a sturdy beer. It starts off with a burst of flavor that includes pumpkin, nutmeg, ginger, clove, and cinnamon, but then ends abruptly like all the other brews Anheuser Busch slaps it's name on. I was unaware of Anheuser's ownership until after I got home with the beer, but it wasn't as bad as most of their other beers that I've had.

This beer will get 3 out of 5 stars for having a lot of flavor, but no higher due to it's lack of longevity. Almost had me, but not quite there.

Stay tunes for more festive beers!

Paulaner's Oktoberfest Märzen Amber

2007-09-19T21:01:00.000-05:00

This Munich beer is both affordable (for an import) and delicious. It's that season where the Oktoberfest beers overflow my local Berbiglia and not to forget the Pumpkin Ales (which will be reviewed very soon).

This Paulaner amber is a very flavorful year-round beer that satisfies. It used to be a seasonal, but now is a year-round and for a good reason. For fans of Fat Tire, pony up a couple extra bucks for a six-pack and get a decent beer. It picks up where Fat Tire goes flat.

4 out of 5 stars. German greatness!

MacTarnahan's Amber Ale and Schlafly's Hefeweizen

2007-09-11T16:08:00.000-05:00

Both are sub-par beers.

The MacTarnahan's amber ale is much better than New Belgium's Fat Tire, but that's not saying much. It may sound harsh, but I'm just not impressed. It starts out with the sour kinda taste that Fat Tire begins with and doesn't stray far from that. 2 stars.

Schlafly's Hefeweizen is what you can expect from a generic hefeweizen. Very weak taste, no bitterness at all, and in my opinion..boring. It's a step up from Budweiser. 2 stars.

The reason these get 2 stars and not 1 is because I can swallow them without throwing up.

O'Malley's Cream Ale - Irish Style

2007-08-28T19:44:00.000-05:00

Mr. O'Malley brewed an interesting, yet not spectacular ale. The name had me convinced this was going to be a heavy, dark, creamy stout..but it's more like a creamy amber if that makes any sense. As it doesn't stick out as being horrible or even that bad, it's lacking the bitterness or punch that I enjoy in a beer. I won't bash this local beer (Weston, Missouri), but I also can't praise it much either. It almost tastes like what a beer float would taste like. It's got the amber flavor with a cream finish, but it just doesn't make a great finished product.

This beer deserves 2 stars since it's one I won't have a problem finishing, yet one I won't bother grabbing another six-pack of. There are just too many good beers out there!!

Ray Hill's American Pilsner

2007-08-28T19:36:00.000-05:00

I decided to try this beer with the idea that it was would be a weak summer pilsner that I've known most of them to be, but this one was much better that I expected. I have been very lucky with new beers as of late and this one helped continue that trend.

It's color was more like an amber ale, but an ale it was not. It started out with a strong subtle, sweet punch with a nice, yet distinct finish. The finish is hard to explain, but it's definitely not weak or even overpowering.

Ray Hill brews out of St Louis and will be making an appearance at the Raytown Berbiglia on Saturday for a free tasting if you'd like to experience it first hand.

Ray Hill's American Pilsner gets 4 stars for being the best pilsner I've ever had. (I haven't had too many)

O'Dell, not O'doul's

2007-08-11T22:51:00.000-05:00

O'Dell is a brewery located in Fort Collins, Colorado and is not to be mistaken with O'doul's. Their 5 barrel Pale Ale has alcohol and it is extremely flavorful with the lovely bitterness I tend to enjoy. I hate comparing beers to Boulevard's Pale Ale all the time, but this one is very similar. I would say the only difference is the flavor is a tad less bitter, but very strong nonetheless. The flavor is in no way weaker. I would recommend this beer to any fan of Boulevard's Pale Ale for a little competition. I'm curious to see how people compare these two.

O'Dell's 5 Barrel Pale Ale gets a 5 out of 5 stars. It's delicious!

If anyone who likes Pale Ale is reading this, please purchase this beer and comment with your ideas on the two. I would really appreciate it! Unfortunately, I am afraid no one reads this, but it definitely prevents me from buying two of the same crappy beers!

Thanks for reading!

Inspiration

2007-08-03T17:10:00.000-05:00

Ommegang is an ale brewed in Belgium and one can purchase a pint for $5.79 at Berbiglia. Not bad for an authentic Belgian ale! My first reaction to this beer is "this is what Fat Tire is trying to be". It's clear that many "Belgian-style" beers attempt to be like this beer. I love Belgium's styles in beers, but was not crazy about this one. I really enjoyed the thickness, but it had a concentrateish taste. Maybe it's that I'm not used to a true import and prefer my beer watered down? I sure hope not!

I will give this beer 2 out of 5 stars. It's not horrible, but I feel like any more than a pint would make me think even less of it. Here's to a cheap import though!

Red Bridge

2007-07-05T13:04:00.000-05:00

Parties make it easy to buy new beer because you don't have to finish a crappy 6-pack by yourself. I'm glad I didn't have to finish Anheuser-Busch's "alternative recipe". This lager is made without barley or wheat and contains sorghum as a special ingredient which makes for an absolutely disgusting beer!

I should've known what I was getting into when I purchased a beer made by the same people who actually sat and brainstormed the recipe for Bud Light.

Needless to say, this beer is getting 1 star because it sucks.

Goose Island - Honker's Ale

2007-07-04T12:05:00.001-05:00

I hope the party I'm going to tonight doesn't notice that the 6-pack I brought is missing a beer.

Like I said before, Goose Island's onto something here...

This ale starts off with the Pale Ale initial bitter, but ends with the Lunar aftertaste. I'd say it still has that hint of fruity that it's Pale Ale has also. It's a good refreshing beer similar to Lunar, but with a little more beginning punch.

Goose Island will get 3 stars for this one as it packs some good flavor and is a refreshing beer, but doesn't shock me with goodness or anything.

Goose Island's India Pale Ale

2007-06-22T00:33:00.000-05:00

I have a hard time getting in the mood to spend my money on a new beer that I've never tasted before. Mostly because I'm poor and also because a 6-pack of a crappy beer can be 5 too many of a crappy beer. This India Pale Ale was a pleasant surprise...

It's initial subtle fruity flavor is quickly erased by it's hard bitter punch much like Boulevard's Pale Ale and then rewritten back into the story is the inital fruitiness we fell in love with in the beginning. What's great is it maintains that bitterness through the return of the fruit. I dig it.

I really enjoyed this beer and am very interested in trying some of Goose Island's other beers. They offer quite the lineup, but we'll have to see all that Berbiglia will allow me to try.

Goose Island's Pale Ale gets 4 out of 5 stars.

There is only one good Wheat Beer

2007-05-09T21:54:00.000-05:00

Leinenkugal's Honey Weiss is too light for me. It's got a subtle honey aftertaste, but overall not much flavor. I suppose it's decent for a light beer, but I'm not much for light beers.

2 stars for not being gross.

The Cure for the Common Cold

2007-04-01T17:38:00.000-05:00

The bug has been going around Kansas City and I'm not really referring to the latest Boulevard beer, "Lunar". I'm not sure who gave this stupid virus to me, but it could be worse, I could have the hiv. The good news is that I've discovered the cure for the common cold and while it may not make you feel better at all, it will divert your thoughts.

The worst part of this spring's cold is waking up. You'll conk out at night without a problem, but you will most likely wake up many times in the night, and the morning leaves you gasping for air through your millimeter-sized holes in yer nostrils. I've found a remedy and it involves staying up...

You'll want to drink a cup of coffee to remain alert and away from the dreaded slumber, but you don't want to be able to think on your sickness and how crappy it really is...so you drink beer.. Let me break it down....

1) cup of coffee (in my case, a free wendy's coffee..yeah they're free today for some reason)
2) a couple beers to take your mind off of everything....and I recommend

LUNAR!!! The latest addition to the boulevard family!! (aka Dark Wheat "B" if you took a Boulevard tour last summer)

It's crisp amber beginning and fruity finish will leave you refreshed. As you may not pick this as your favorite beer of all-time, it will be a good alternative when you're tired of wheat and maybe not wanting a robust beer such as boulevard's pale ale.

It starts off like I said in an amber flavor obviously inspired by the Belgium people..While it reminds me of "New Belgium", it's definitely better than anything they've created. Some will notice similarities in Lunar's aftertaste as it resembles Zon's. Though I'm not a fan of Zon, Lunar seems to complete itself better..Zon just seems to lack something major.

Boulevard Lunar is a good beer, but it's not shockingly good so I think I'm going to give it a 3 out of 5 stars for being an ok beer and a good alternative to the regular rotation I find myself falling into.

Nic Neufeld's cool

2007-03-25T20:41:00.000-05:00

The title of this beer will be added once I find it out...

St Crispin's dinner was an amazing time for me. I was able to see both old and new friends and enjoy some very nice brews along with an authentic British cuisine. The most enjoyable beer for me during this event was the Belgian IPA, but this post won't be about that. I mentioned my liking to Chimay so Nic let me take a bottle of his closest brew to a Chimay.

This Belgian ale is a darker like the Chimay and even starts out as a nice amber initial taste. I believe from there it strays from the Chimay's lightness and leads you into more of a thick, strong alcoholic punch with a swing of sweetness. As I do enjoy this beer, it doesn't quite meet my standards as far as my favorite beer (which Chimay does). However, Nic really does have something going on with his home brews and I absolutely can NOT wait until the next dinner that I can drink his beer and eat his food. I can't help but feel indebted to him for the work he goes through for these parties.

This beer (name to be mentioned later) gets 3 stars and I hope to review that Belgian IPA at a later time.

Leinenkugel's Red

2007-03-02T21:46:00.000-06:00

Brewed since 1993 with five barley malts and an alcohol content of 4.9%, this lager starts off like a strong red then actually transitions into a strong alcoholic flavor. It's a quick-hitting beer ending abruptly without an aftertaste..It really doesn't have much of an aftertaste which can be a good or bad thing, but in this case, I enjoy the full flavor that goes down easy.

I do enjoy drinking this sweet, yet robust red beer and will continue to purchase it as one of my favorite ambers. I know most of my favorites come with a 4 out of 5 stars, but this one will only continue that trend.

Leinenkugel's Red - 4 stars.

Dessert beer?!?!?!?!

2007-02-20T12:21:00.000-06:00

I encountered a new breed of beer this weekend. I'm not sure if this title already exists, but the beer I had would definitely be classified under "Dessert Beer". I never thought I'd taste a beer that was sweet in the way beers usually aren't sweet and also a taste that reminds me of blueberry muffins!! The weirdest part of it all is, I liked it! This beer is like nothing else!

Leinenkugel's Sunset Wheat starts out like a regular wheat, but then evolves into a blueberry muffin! From the first swig, you can't help but like it...unless you absolutely hate blueberry muffins. It's a good combination of a light wheat that I'm sure is unfiltered with a sweet aftertaste. If you're not careful, the aftertaste will cause you to forget you're drinking a beer and leave you pleading your case with a pig (police officer). That's not a bad thing when it still has the good initial beer taste. This will definitely serve a good purpose in the summer time when your dry stouts leave you high and err umm..dry.

Don't pass on this beer...I'm gonna give it four stars for being the first of it's kind and doing it well!

Fat Tire Sometimes Goes Flat

2007-02-12T12:24:00.000-06:00

Like the ageless delight of pedaling a bicycle, Fat Tire Amber Ale’s appeal is in its feat of balance: Toasty malt flavors (sorta like biscuits just pulled from the oven) coasting in equilibrium with crisp hoppiness. Delicious stability - in the world of sometimes-precarious beer flavors – is perhaps what prompted one consumer who wrote us to say, “this beer just makes you smile.”

Fat Tire’s depth of flavor, achieved with neither a disproportionate sway toward hops or malts, tandems well with a full spectrum of today’s engaging cuisines. Salmon, dry-aged cheeses, roasted chilies, omelets at midnight, sweet potato French fries and just about anything with grill marks or garlic are just a few of the edibles we like to partner up with our Amber Ale.

Fat Tire is so named for the bike trip Jeff took through Belgium that greatly inspired his homebrewing efforts.

That's what they print on their bottles..I have to say I used to like this beer quite a bit, but since I've had some of their other beers, the taste has been less than enjoyable. I might have been in a bad mood yesterday, but it just didn't seem as good as it used to be.

Fat Tire gets 2 stars from me.

No need to review

2007-02-03T23:35:00.000-06:00

Boulevard wheat was the beer of choice this week and I will neither rate or review it. It stands unprecedented.

p.s. KDE woops up on Gnome (final decision)
p.s.s just playing i like gnome better.

My fiance thinks she's 50% Irish

2007-01-27T00:04:00.000-06:00

Irish Ale may be the best beer Boulevard Brewing Company has ever discovered...

While I was at the Hyvee on Noland, a few people saw what I was buying and made a dash for the source I had picked over...I thought to myself that this beer may also be the most hyped beer Boulevard has ever created. I've had many discussions with random people about this specific seasonal which I couldn't understand. I remember having this beer last year, but I didn't remember the vivid details. Why was this beer having a problem being stocked?

Maybe it's due to the initial burst of flavor common amongst other brown ales similar to their Pale Ale, but it doesn't leave you there bitter or too sweet either. This beer dives head first into a subtle sweetness that comforts you when you're all alone in the corner of your house and your only other companion is wireless internet and woot's failed servers at midnight.

The aftertaste leaves you just as happy as when you saw the dark green box for the first time in January. Boulevard's got it right with this one and we can only hope this beer leaves it's seasonal comfort zone for a permanent status that furthers the possibility of my alcoholic dependency controlling my life.

Irish Ale gets a 5 out of 5.

Scratch that..I take what I can

2007-01-23T23:52:00.000-06:00

Irish Ale was not in yet when I was confronted with the opportunity for free beer so it's review will be postponed. In it's place we'll be looking into the thick, dark, dare I say..sinful, Boulevard Dry Stout.

Up front I must admit, my most favorite beers are not the darker than Barry White stouts like Guiness and it's predecessors, BUT this Dry Stout seems to have more flavor than most of these kinds of beers. Bully Porter and others are just straight up bitter and they taste like molasses, but this one is different. This one has a sweet initial tint that makes the bitterness of a black beer seem not so intolerable. Dry Stout gives me faith in new dark beers that I have not yet tried, knowing that it may still have some flavor and it won't be completely concentrated on it's image of being the coolest, darkest, boldest beer because let's face it, dark beers are for sissies and guys who drive big dodge ram dualies.

Boulevard Dry Stout gets 4 out of 5 stars for being the best of a crappy genre.

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webserver, crappy beer, and snow.

2007-01-21T00:00:00.000-06:00

Sitting up late on another snow-filled weekend, I decided to start this blog for the purpose of keeping a journal of the beers I come in contact with and my love affairs with them.

Tonight, I was wanting something different and I would soon find one of the worst beers I've ever had. There are now two beers (total in my life) that disgust me to where I would rather give them away than drink them myself. That's not a common virtue for me. Let me also make it clear that I can respect many things even in not-so-good beers, but these I'm about to mention, disgust me.

The first beer, which I had a few months ago, is Stella Artois. Now I must be fair and mention that it is an import and it may be it's duration of travel that causes this beer to taste so skunky so I won't go into detail about that one.

The second horrible beer, however, is brewed in Colorado and they have no excuse for their horrible creation. It's called Trippel and it's supposed to be a Belgian-style ale, but it tastes like a Robitussin-style ale. The first millisecond makes you think it's gonna be an awesome amber ale filled with strong flavor, but it quickly falls into early childhood memories of avoiding the nasty medicine your mom's forcing down your throat. It's brewed by New Belgium whom are best known for their Fat Tire ale. Fat Tire is a great beer which tells me this company may have just hit a sour note with Trippel. It makes me feel sick forcing me to swallow the rest of it to avoid the repulsive taste.

So both of these beers get one star (out of 5) and hopefully I won't have to bring up another set of beers so horribly incorrect with their brewing methods. Stay tuned for my review of Boulevard's upcoming seasonal, Irish Ale as soon as I get some money to pick up a sixer. It's bound to be a much more positive review.

Thanks for reading,
Par-Due