The Crew's Brew of the Week (Big Ten Week 2) - Bud Light Chelada

photo courtesy of Esquire.com

The disgusting performance last Saturday surely deserves a disgusting beer.  So here you have it, Budweiser's 'Chelada.

For me, it's highly appropriate after the Gopher/Badger tilt.  You get golden Bud Light mixed with red Clamato, two products I've consumed on their own and enjoyed in their own way.   At first thought, you might think that flavoring up a watery Bud Light with some salty, savory clam and tomato juice might just work.  Much like you might think mixing up Golden Gophers with the Red Badgers might make for a great football game (it has in Brew's recent past).  But sadly, sometimes these combos just don't work out.

Esquire.com states this beverage "looks like grapefruit juice, and tastes like the worst Bloody Mary you've ever had." Sounds kinda like   That sounds like a challenge to me, as I've had some absolutely abhorrent Bloody Marys.  Really though, if this faux beer is that bad, Anheiser-Busch should consider advertising this as a healthy beer, lo-cal and loaded with tomato-ey vitamins and minerals.  That or just scrapping it altogether, since we can pretty much make this concoction up on our own at home.  It's pretty much as pointless as 'Bud Light Lime'. 

And if we can't muster a better showing versus Purdon't this week, we might have to switch this weekly post's title to Crew's Liquor of the Week, which makes far less sense, given our head coach's nickname.  Come on Gophs - don't let that happen!

'What we learned' post coming late tomorrow night.  Drink up Gopher fans.

The Crew's Brew of the Week (Big Ten Week 1) - Surly Furious

Photo courtesy of WCCO

Ok, so with the difficult Big Ten season starting this week, and alcoholic beverages needed to make it through the remaining games, I'm taking infrequent site contributor 2Mutch's suggestion and running with it.  Welcome to the first of 8 installments of the GEGH Crew's Brew of the Week.

This week's entry, my favorite current beer - Surly Furious.  Its both sad and ironic that the beer I enjoy drinking most also describes my mood immediately following one of the most incompetent 2 minute drill's I've ever seen in recent memory, and I'm a Lions fan, so I've seen more incompetence in the last decade than most have seen in a lifetime.  Yes, I was Furious - you start with a fluke kick return with a weird forward fumble that gets advanced to our own 40 with 2 minutes to go, and we can't even get into position to attempt a long field goal?!?  Then we can't even pass protect on a 4-man rush long enough to let Weber throw.  Finish that off with some idiotic 3rd and long play calls and you've got no chance to score and take the game from a Wildcat team, that is frankly - soft on defense and protecting the ball.  Dammit!  I'm FURIOUS just thinking about it again.

Luckily for me, the hoppy taste of Surly Furious did the job at quenching my rage - putting all feeling in my body up into my tastebuds.  This tasty locally brewed (Brooklyn Park) American IPA is rightfully growing in recognition across the country.  WCCO recently rated it among the top 10 Minnesota beers. Heck, after 857 reviews on beeradvocate.com, Surly Furious received an 'A' grade.  So clearly, I'm not the only one who enjoys this flavorful brew.

And here, thefullpint.com briefly reviews Furious as such.
Surly Brewing Co. – Furious – 16 oz. can poured into my New Belgium beer glass. 6.2% abv.
Appearance: Pours a dark orange or amber with a perfect 1 inch off white head.
Aroma: Light whiffs of piny hops, a little bit of citrus, and crystal malt.
Taste: Orange, lemon, pineapple, bitter piny hops, and sugar sweetness. Finishes with a nice level of bitterness.
Mouthfeel: Juicy, thick. Flavors stick and linger long after the sip.
Overall: Bursting with flavor. I am noticing a trend in the IPAs and IIPA’s coming out of the region. This is a very west coast like beer.

I definitely agree with the assessment of the citrus and other fruity tastes present, and it couples with the bitterness of the hops beautifully.  Exactly what I needed to forget the last 2 minutes of the game vs. Northwestern.  Probably what I'll need to forget the DVR rewatch tomorrow too.  Sweet.