Let's Talk About Beer

Forget the food. Let's talk about brew. I'm a bit of a beer snob these days. No Bud Light or Coors for me. No way. I want a delicious craft brew (but I can get down with a PBR every now and again).

But let's back up a bit. Back in April, my BFF Greg and I went to the Memphis Brewfest at AutoZone Park. We tried tons of beers, but one really stood out for me. When I got my cup at the German beer table, the lady behind the table warned me that the beer I was about to drink tasted like meat. Meat? Yep, meat. Seeing that it was beer and not meat, I said why not?

One drink and I was in love. The heavy dark beer tasted like it had been spiked with Liquid Smoke. If you're not a dark beer fan, that might gross you out. But I like my beers dark, bitter, and somewhat reminiscent of black coffee. I didn't catch the name of my beloved German beer that night, but I'll never forget the flavor.

Enter O'Fallon Smoke Porter, my new favorite brew:

This is not my hand, by the way. My wrists are NOT that hairy!

This isn't quite as smoky as the mysterious German beer I sampled at Brewfest. But it's close. Imagine Samuel Smith's Taddy Porter spiked with Liquid Smoke. Oh yea. Either that sounds delicious to you or it doesn't. But I don't care. This is my new fave beer. O'Fallon is brewed in O'Falllon, Missouri, by the way. And for the record, it's vegan. I checked. For a full list of vegan beers, check out Barnivore's vegan beer and wine guide.

I found this stuff in Clarksville, a town about three and a half hours from Memphis, last weekend. They have this great beer shop called House of Brews. Though Clarksville is much smaller than Memphis, their beer shop is far, far superior to anything we have here. I'm pretty sure O'Fallon isn't available here. Sigh. Guess I'll have to wait until the next trip to Clarksville.