FanPost

Bolts & Beers - Volume (i) - Preseason Game 1 v. Dallas Cowboys

This post is the first of a series I plan to do throughout the season. Treat this first one like you would with anything else in the preseason and bear with me while I iron out the kinks.

My plan is to present and discuss the best (or at least some of the best) craft beer breweries from the home of each San Diego Chargers opponent. During the regular season, I'm also thinking about possibly choosing a SD craft beer to go "head-to-head" against one from an opponent city.

As San Diego has practically become the capital of craft beer, I'm guessing a lot of folks at BFTB drink plenty of good beers, but my hope is to introduce some that perhaps you haven't tried before.

I would like to state that I do not proclaim to be any sort of "expert". I am no Cicerone. I am just a beer lover, and I try to sample as many new beers as I can get my hands on. I will be talking about what I know from my own tastings and discussions with other beer lovers. Please feel free to comment on any other good beer from these areas as we go through the season. I hope at least a few people read these posts and we all learn a thing or two.

Ok, time to get to the beer! This week the Bolts play the Dallas Cowboys. Now, Dallas is not exactly a city known for its craft beer. In fact, the entire state of Texas is not exactly known as a strong beer state. Possibly the most well-known beer to come out of Texas is Shiner Bock and most of the best craft beers to come out of the state either come from Austin or Houston and are not widely distributed outside of their area.

A couple of the top-rated breweries in the Dallas area are smaller breweries like Community Beer Co. and Deep Ellum. I have never had a beer from either of those, and I believe their distribution is pretty limited. So, the Dallas brewery for the inaugural Bolts & Beers series is Lakewood Brewing Company. Based out of Garland, TX (a Dallas suburb), the folks at Lakewood have only been in business since 2011, but have already built a steady following.

The beer that put them on the map is called The Temptress. It's an imperial milk stout that clocks in at 9.1% ABV and is absolutely delicious. It pours thick, has a very smooth mouth feel and offers hints of chocolate, caramel and vanilla. I had the pleasure of having one of these a few months ago and it did not disappoint. I don't think their beer is distributed outside of the state, but if you ever find yourself in Texas, go out and find one of these (and if you can find the bourbon-barrel aged version please send me one).

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Now, since most of us outside of Texas can't even find this beer, I want to highlight one other brewery today. They don't reside in Dallas, but they are in Austin which is close enough. There is no pun intended when I say that Jester King Brewery is the undisputed king of Texas craft beer.

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For the last few years, Jester King Brewery has been making some of the best wild ales (sours) and farmhouse brews in the country and I suggest you pick up a bottle the next time you see one. Craft beer nerds line up for hours for the release of some of their sour beers like the Atrial Rubicite. However, some of their regular beers like Noble King (a hoppy farmhouse ale), Black Metal (farmhouse stout), and Le Petit Prince (farmhouse beer) can be found on shelves around the country.

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That's it until next week folks. Hope you enjoy a couple of these in the future if you haven't already.

(Also, apologies for the length of this post, I will try and keep em shorter but equally informative in the future!)


This FanPost was written by a member of the Bolts From The Blue community and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Bolts From The Blue editors or SB Nation.