Cumberland Brown’s Brown

Cumberland Brews is a great watering hole in Louisville, Ky.  It’s a mix of brewery, hipsters, and featured quesadillas.  And every Monday, they will fill your growler for $5.  Yes, $5 for a growler refill.

Not every draft is available with the deal, but their staple brews (Nitro Porter, Cream Ale, Red Ale, and Pale Ale) are there every week along with a seasonal or two.  Recently I snagged a jug of the Brown’s Brown Ale.

Brown’s Brown is a nut brown ale (i.e., Newcastle), which is one of my favorite styles of beer.  It has a very dark brown color and a coffee colored head.  A nut aroma is expected along with some mild caramel notes.  A great aspect of this particular beer is the smooth mouth-feel.  I am not sure if it qualifies as a session beer, but beware that you can consume pints quickly. The balance of the beer flavor and the nut flavor is well done.  You know that you are drinking a beer.  There is a great hazelnut flavor that carries throughout the drink and through the aftertaste.  It is slightly less sweet than a New Castle, but they are in the business of beer not candy.

If you are in the neighborhood, I would highly recommend dropping in and grabbing a brew from Cumby’s.  The Brown’s Brown is a solid choice for all you New Castle fans out there, or for anyone trying to impress their friends and upgrade from Bud Light.  If you miss their Brown’s Brown, they also have a Simcoe IPA and a Special Bitter (the latter is eligible for a growler refill).

Cumberland Brews
1576 Bardstown Road
Louisville, KY 40205
(502) 458-8727

Cheers to your good health!

- Steve

Welcoming a new writer!

As you may know, I’m busy in real life launching a start-up. (Our software goes live Jan 21!) Because of that, I’m not as attentive to this blog as I would like. Kevin is helping here and there, but he is also working full-time. So we’re adding a new writer! We are keeping it in the family though.

Michelle & Steve

Steve is Kevin’s younger brother. He just graduated from the University of Louisville in May and is looking at law school for fall. He’s become quite the beer connoisseur and is also interested in spirits. I know this is My Wine Education, but I seem to have a lot of beer drinking readers as well. In addition to my wine posts, you’ll be watching Steve’s journey through learning about both beer and spirits. It should be fun, because he’s so much younger than Kevin and me. It should lead to some fun opinions and reviews.

So welcome Steve! His first post will be arriving here shortly.

Drink for a Cause at the Hebron Brew Haus

Tomorrow night, come on out and drink for the cause!

Thanks to all of you, my readers and friends, the Krystal Pepper Memorial Scholarship Fund is now only $1700 $1300 short of our goal of $25,000 by January. We need your help just a little more though.

On Wednesday night, Dec 1, join us at the Hebron Brew Haus for “Wet Wednesday.”  All tips will go to the scholarship fund, so tip big!  Additionally, we’ll have split the pot, raffles, and t-shirt sales.

You can learn more about the Hebron Brew Haus on Twitter, Facebook, and through the Hoperatives. Hebron Brew Haus has food (type: bar food) as well as beer in bottles and drafts.

Learn more about the Scholarship Fund and my little sister.  Can’t make it but feel the need to donate anyway? You can donate directly to the scholarship fund online or you can purchase cookie dough, restaurant gift certificates, or magazines at our online fundraising site.

I hope to see you Wednesday evening!

Hebron Brew Haus
2030 Northside Drive
Hebron, KY 41048

5-10 pm

Portobello at Downtown Disney

We’re in Disney!

Ahead of the Disney Epcot Food and Wine festival, Michelle and I stopped for dinner at Portobello in Downtown Disney. The past few years, we’ve kicked off our trip with Irish pub Raglan Road, but we decided to switch things up a little.

Eating at the bar allows for a choice of 4 different speciality meatballs. The beef, pork, or chicken meatballs are 1.95 each add a dollar for the salmon. You can also get a selection of 3 for 5.00 (6.00 if you pick salmon). Each type of meat is paired with a single spice to drive the pairing: Chicken with Sage, Salmon with Tarragon. My favorites were the spicy pork and beef meatballs, while Michelle enjoyed the chicken.

I was also able to try two beers from Orlando Brewing which is an organic brewery located not surprisingly in Orlando. I started with the EPA (English Pale Ale) which had a fantasic amount of malt to help balance the hops. There was almost a caramel flavor at the end right before the bitterness came in. It was a nice and round flavored beer that went really well with the Spicy Pork and Beef meatballs. The sage and the hops didn’t match as well.

For dessert, I tried a bottle of the Blackwater Porter, also from Orlando Brewing. Nice rich coffe flavor and a deeper color than I expected in a porter. The flavor was nice and paired well with one of the signature desserts, the Beerimisu. Michelle ordered this in order to keep her streak of trying Tiramisu deserts as often as possible.

Instead of an expresso, they added the same porter that I tried in order to get the roasted coffee flavor. It was a great switch that had us wondering if we could switch our tiramisu recipe at home to use a stout or porter. Nice and creamy with the light hint of coffee that Michelle prefers.

A great time the first night at the Meatball bar at Portobello in Downtown Disney.

Cincinnati Beer Fest Fountain Square

There are apparently several different events that are billing themselves as the Cincinnati Beer Fest. However the Beer Fest this weekend takes place on Fountain Square. It’s sort of a pre-Oktoberfest event … a warm-up if you will.

Why am I mentioning the Beer Fest on the wine blog? Oh, a couple of reasons. I am married to Kevin the Beer Guy, first of all. Next, you can find both Kevin and myself pouring beer on Friday night (after 7:45 pm) at either the Dogfish Head or Unibroue booths (not sure which yet). All tips go to charity.

Admission is free and 3oz beer tastings start at $1. Participating beer brands include
Guinness, Heinekin, Sam Adams, Pabst, North American Breweries, Christian Moerlein, Hudepohl, Sierra Nevada, Great Lakes, Mt. Carmel, Woodchuck Cider, Budweiser, InBev, Crown, Goose Island, Rivertown Brewery, Harpoon Brewery, Summit Brewing Company, Independent Brewers United, Bluegrass Brewing Co., Spaten, Full Sail Brewing, Jacob Leinekugel, Belles, Avery, Bear Republic, Dark Horse Brewing, Stone Brewing, North Coast, Breckenridge, Great Divide, Left Hand, Boulder Beer, Heavy Seas, Unibroue, Dogfish Head, Thirsty Dog, and Wooden Shoe.

In addition to beer, I believe there will be two different wine booths available.

In addition to over 200 different flavors of beer, there will be over 30 live music acts plus multiple food and merchandise vendors.

Fifth Street between Vine & Walnut will be closed for the weekend, but the Fountain Square parking garage will remain open.

You can visit the beer festival

• Friday, 6-11 pm
• Saturday, noon-11 pm
• Sunday, noon-9 pm

Hope to see you there!