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Bearcats, Knights, Gameday

All That Glitters is Championship Gold

Dark horse, noun, is a little-known person or team that emerges to prominence, especially in a competition of some sort or a contestant that seems unlikely to succeed.

The Cincinnati football Bearcats are in a unique position come this Saturday. For the first time the Bearcats are the feature game on ESPN’s College Gameday. From 9am to noon on Saturday the UCF Knights and the UC Bearcats will be the featured talking points for Corso and the boys. Of course the crew isn’t in Clifton, they’re in Orlando to focus on the UCF Knights.

The Gameday crew isn’t there to watch one of the most improved teams in college football, the Cincinnati Bearcats. They’re setting up shop in Orlando to see the UCF Knights try to extend the nations longest winning streak, which currently sits at 22 games in a row. The crew is there to watch the reigning national champions take on their first ranked opponent of the season. The spotlight is there to shine on the team from the sunshine state.

Most people outside of Cincinnati wonder why we’re even making the trip down there. We’re just going to be their 23rd victim.

Outside of the city, people don’t know the Bearcats are made for this role. The Bearcats have never been the Cinderella, the sweetheart, the darling team the masses fall in love with.

We’ve embraced this persona. The all black uniforms, the grit, the Cincinnati brand, not only of football, but basketball too. The Bearcats are used to living in the shadows, emerging victorious when no one else believes it can be done.

Its personified with Mike Warren II. His style of play, the relentlessness of his game is the perfect example.

Do you not believe me? Just check out the hype video after the UCLA win in week one. Desmond Howard said we didn’t stand a chance.  WE WERE AN UNDERDOG TO THE MIAMI (OH) REDHAWKS!

Cincinnati at UCLA
David Pollack: UCLA
Desmond Howard: UCLA — “I got UCLA big with Wilton Speight at quarterback for Chip Kelly.”
Lee Corso: UCLA
Kirk Herbstreit: UCLA — “I don’t think it’ll be easy. But UCLA, end of the day, too many athletes.”

Is this the only example? No but it illustrates my point. Just look at the CFP rankings if you need another example. We’re ranked 24th, that’s awesome, but we’re ranked behind 2 teams with 4 losses and behind 8 teams with 3 losses.

Here’s a drinking game for you to play from 9 to noon tomorrow. For every time they say something to the affect “The Bearcats have their hands full tonight” take a drink. For everyone who picks against UC take a drink. When Corso comes out in a full suit of armor, picking the Knights, chug a beer. What happens if he picks the Bearcats? He’s not going to do it. (If he does, chug 2 beers)

If I had to guess if someone was going to pick the Bearcats I’d pick Herbstreit. He was teammates with Fickell and knows his well, but still, highly unlikely.

The hype in Orlando has already arrived. People are already camping out to be first in line for the Gameday shooting.

Let the hype build. Let the Knight’s team, fanbase, and everyone else get drunk off of the spotlight before the game even starts because once that ball is kicked off it’s time for the dark horse to shine. It’s time for the Bearcats to show that grit, that Cincinnati brand of football, and emerge victorious.

 

Bearcats Basketball is Back

It’s Basketball Time in the Queen City!

-The Beercat

It’s the most wonderful time, of the year! The Cincinnati Bearcats are about to kick off the basketball season on Wednesday. There’s a lot to be excited for this year. We know the newly renovated 5/3rd area is looking amazing. If you went out to the exhibition game on Thursday you already have a head start on me. Odds are you did go because over 10,000 people showed up to a game that didn’t count. If you didn’t make it here are the highlights:

That dunk from LaQuill was NaStY!

The Lineup 

Losing your top 3 scorers is tough but over the years Cronin hasn’t had to rebuild, just reload. That’s what we hope happens this season too. There were some questions with who would start this season for the Bearcats and we got a preview of that this past Thursday. The line up looked like

Jenifer

Broome

Cumberland

Scott

Brooks

Cumberland, Scott, and Brooks isn’t that surprising to me. Cumberland is the #1 scoring option, Scott and Brooks are taking on new roles as starters but got minutes last year behind Washington and Clark. The dual threat of Broome/Jenifer was one that we didn’t get a lot of last season. They usually spit minutes about 50/50. Jenifer being the more defensive minded ball protector and Broome the scorer. I like the idea of starting them both. If they’re both on the floor you’d think they’d look to push the tempo and channel their inner “Showtime.”

In the recent past Cronin hasn’t switched up his starting line ups that much if he could help it (with injuries obviously he would of had to) but with Keith Williams and Trevor Moore seeing time last year some thought they would be in the mix as well. Then you have a new comer like Rashawn Fredericks. A player some thought could come in and start right away. He’s also a guy some who are close to the team say will be a Cincinnati fan favorite because of his style of play (a blue collar, hustle, and grid type of gamer).

In a tweet earlier this week I mentioned the guard combo that Illinois had a while back of Deron Williams and Dee Brown. If you don’t remember them, look it up. That backcourt could score and score quick! I’d love to see Broome and Jenifer light up the scoreboard pushing the tempo.

Game 1

When UC announced that the Buckeyes would be traveling south to Clifton I honestly didn’t believe it. It’s something that hasn’t happened in my lifetime, or my dad’s, or my 94 year old grandpa’s. So opening the newly renovated Shoemaker Center with the Big 10 team up north really got me jazzed up. Kicking off the season with the Buckeyes and having the impressive home schedule that we have this year I thought it wise to buy season tickets.

The last time the Bearcats and bUCkeys met on the hardwood, I was in Panama Beach, FL for spring break. My friends and I took over a small hole in the wall towny bar to watch the Sweet 16 game between the 2 Ohio schools. The year was 2012 and I remember that Justin Jackson was our leading scorer at half with 8 points. At the time, that wasn’t a great sign. OSU won the game 81-66. We continued to drink on the beach, heavily.

The last time OSU played at the home of the Bearcat’s you’d have to go back to 1920. The two teams also met a couple of time in the 1960’s as well, although, I’m sure Buckeye’s fans wouldn’t know anything about that.

You’ll remember that 2012 was the year of the infamous Crosstown Punchout game in Norwood.

The bUCkeyes will be ready to play though. Last season they exceeded most expectations under new coach and former Butler Bulldog Chris Holtmann. The bUCkeyes went 25-9 (15-3). They made it to the second round of the NCAA tournament before getting bounced by Gonzaga. The lowlight of the bUCkeyes season would had to have been losing to Penn State (26-13, 9-9) 3 times last season, twice in the regular season and once in the Big 10 tournament.

Prediction

Bearcats 64                          bUCkeyes 61

Tip off is at 6pm Wednesday night. I hope to see you there. I’ll be in section 207 that night, and every night the Bearcats play in Clifton.

Football Pergatory

Cautious Optimism

    -The Beercat

After posting a second half prediction of the football Bearcats my hopes and dreams were shot down by the Temple Owls in OT on Saturday. I thought we would bring home a W from Philly. That didn’t happen. Instead, our Bearcats panicked the last couple of minutes of the game. The first 3 minutes of the game is highly forgettable too. (A lost fumble on 3rd down and a botched return added onto a Temple touchdown where the receiver landed out of bounds. If you add in the ref icing our freshmen kicker you have a hell of Saturday afternoon) All of this while Temple was without its RB1 Ryquell Armstead.

Can you blame me for thinking the Bearcats could go 11-1 after starting off 6-0? Yeah beating USF is a stretch but if we would have been undefeated heading into that game in Nippert. What a stage that would have been. A perfect one for College Gameday to finally highlight in Clifton. If we win Saturday in Dallas and Nov 3 against Navy, two games that will be an absolute dog fight the next two games will be highly anticipated by Bearcats fans.

Here’s what I’m currently thinking. 8 weeks ago not many people had the Bearcats at 6-0 going into the bye week. Still not a lot of people had them 6-1 at this point. Moving forward though we’re caught in football fan purgatory. What does that mean? I feel like our fanbase doesn’t know how to feel right now. We’re caught in between preseason expectations and the redrawn expectations after going 6-0. Winning when you feel like you shouldn’t be is certainly much sweeter than expecting it. So you get addicted to that sweetness and expect more of it. That’s what happened before last Saturday’s game.

Sure some fans might have kept “realistic” expectations for this team and still have them. That’s fine, but the feeling you get when your team is winning against the odds makes it harder to keep those realistic expectations you started off with before week 1. It’s not wrong to reset expectations. That’s what I did before week 7. I expected the Cincinnati Football Bearcats to win every game in the second half of the season, except one. (UCF if you couldn’t guess)

If before the season started you told me the Bearcats would be 6-6 and bowl eligible I would have said,

“Hey! We’re getting there! A bowl game will be fun, what’s that even like anyway?”

But now after winning the first 6, losing the last 6 would almost be devastating. No one wants to end a season with 6 straight losses, especially if one is to ECU. Yeah we’re still bowl eligible but we’d have absolutely no momentum going into it.

So what do we do now? We proceed with cautious optimism. Maybe some of you were already doing that? Maybe after the bye week I was living dangerously. Let’s ride this thing out a couple of more games to see where we land this season. We hit #20 in the country, that was fun but maybe a bit too much too soon.

Beat SMU this week and get us back into Historic Nippert on Nov 3rd.

I hope to see all of you at The Den’s watch party at Taft’s Brewpourium on Saturday at 3:30pm! I’ll be the guy drinking delicious beer dressed in red and black!

Predicting the Last Half of the Season

Can the Bearcats Go Undefeated?

The Cincinnati Bearcats are 6-0 and are bowl eligible for the first time in 3 years. You know that already though.  The Bearcats are ranked #20 in the country and are coming off of a bye week with Temple waiting in Philly on Saturday.

So far the Bearcats have looked good beating

UCLA 26-17

Miami 21-0

Alabama A&M 63-7

Ohio U 34-30

UConn 49-7

Tulane 37-21

What lies ahead is a gauntlet of a schedule for an AAC team.

Temple looked soft in the early weeks of the season, losing to  Villanova and Buffalo in back to back weeks. Since then though they’ve come storming back beating Maryland, Tulsa, ECU, and Navy.

This one will be a close one for the Bearcats in the city of brotherly love but I think the Bearcats head home with a W. 7-0.

Next up, SMU. The Mustangs have struggled at times, like against North Texas when they lost 46-23. They went on to lose to TCU, Michigan, and UCF which isn’t a bad loss sheet (minus N Texas) They beat Navy in OT and UConn (who hasn’t) so the verdict is out on SMU although we’ll have a better idea after there game this weekend at Tulane. As it stands the Bearcats should leave Texas 8-0.

That takes us to Navy on November 3rd in Nippert. By this time the Bearcats could be in the top 15. Hopefully this is a night game, I’ll be there, you should too! The Midshipmen ran all over us last year. I mean Forest Gump level of running on us. They broke a record on us with their triple option offense. Our D is so much improved this year. Even with the record day of rushing Navy only beat us by 10 (42-32) in Annapolis. Navy has their share of bad losses this season too, losing to Air Force and Hawaii. They’ve managed to beat Memphis though. Assuming this is a night game in Historic Nippert Stadium the Bearcats should role a depleted Navy team. Dare I say 9-0 for the Bearcats.

The very next Saturday the Bearcats host the Bulls of USF. A team currently ranked in the top 25. They’re good and undefeated up to this point and the games up next up until they come to Clifton include UConn, Houston, and Tulane. There’s a strong possibility they roll into town undefeated setting up the biggest game in Nippert Stadium in 10 years. Legends will be made this day. Bearcats emerge victorious. Book it. 10-0

As a reward for beating the Bulls, the Bearcats will get to travel to Orlando, FL to take on the UCF Knights who will be undefeated and will beat us serving up the Bearcats their first loss of the season. We’re not there yet. 10-1

Finally, the Bearcats will finish their season at home against ECU. The Pirates torched us last year. It got ugly quick, which might be payback for the two nail biters the Bearcats pulled out the previous years. This season the Pirates are on about the same level as the UConn Huskies. It would take a monumental meltdown from the Bearcats to lose this one at home.  11-1.

In Fickell We Trust.

Barrels and Bearcats: We’re Still Undefeated

5-0

-The Beercat

The Cincinnati Bearcats (5-0, 1-0) took a business trip Saturday. They got the job done in a massacre of the UCONN Huskies (1-4, 0-2). The game started out reminiscent of last week’s game at Nippert against Ohio. The Huskies marched right down the field in a hardly contested drive right into the endzone to take an early 7-0 lead. The Bearcats responded though with 49 unanswered points. UCONN’s defense was as bas as promised and their offense wasn’t on par with the Bearcats.

Playmakers

After this game the playmakers have emerged on this team. When you need a big play you go to one of these guys. They’ll carry you to where you need to go.

Des Ridder: He went 20-for-26  with 270 yards passing and two touchdowns, with no interceptions. Ridder also ran for 47 yards and a touchdown. In other words. Ridder is the man. He rarely puts the ball in jeopardy and has super quick speed to get separation. My only critique so far is his need to get better at getting rid of the ball after being flushed from the pocket. I’ll live with it for now though.

Mike Warren II: The man is a truck. Against the Huskies Warren rushed for 105 yards and 2 touchdowns. He averaged a little over 8 yards per carry. He has an AAC best 10 rushing touchdowns this season. That’s also good for one of the best in the country. The UC record for a season is 17. At this rate Warren should shatter that record.

Josiah Deguara: I have to admit before the season Deguara was not even on my radar as far as offensive playmakers go but so far through 5 weeks the tight end is one of the most valuable players on that side of the ball. He’s a wellrounded TE that can block when he needs to, catch short passes in the flats or run a route and catch a pass for major yardage. We saw all of that against the Huskies. He has Ridder’s trust, look for him to continue to put up T. Kelce numbers this season.

The Defense: It’s hard to pick out just a couple of stars on this defense. Last week they got caught off guard and it looked like we’d have that again for the second week in a row after a long drive for the Huskies to start the game and resulted in a TD. But no. Not the Black Cats. They held QB Pindell in check the rest of the game. The Bearcats D ranks second in the country for points allowed at 12.2 per game, only behind Washington.

Room for Improvement 

The 2018 Bearcats are better than expected. I for one didn’t have them undefeated going into week 6. (I had them at 5-1). The Cats are just 1 of 14 teams that remain undefeated through 5 weeks. There is still room for improvement though. The Bearcats have to buck the trend of starting out slow on defense to start the game. Ohio and UCONN are one thing. USF and UCF are a whole other beast. Additionally, the Bearcats wideouts need to focus or refocus or something. Going into the season WR1 was thought to senior Kahlil Lewis in Harford though he dropped 2 touchdown passes that were uncontested. If we can clear those two things up along with Ridder being just a little better with decision making after being kicked out of the pocket the Bearcats will be just fine.

Respect

People are starting to take notice of the Bearcats. One AP voter currently has them at 21.

Up Next

In week 6 the Bearcats go for bowl eligibility against Tulane in Nippert Stadium for Homecoming. The Bearcats squeaked one out in New Orleans last year after the Green Wave missed a game winning field goal in the final seconds of the game. Similar to the win against the Huskies last year. If this past week’s game was any indication of how the Tulane game will go we’re in for an big time Homecoming game and another week of being undefeated.

 

A Toast to Nick Van Exel

A Toast to Nick Van Exel

-The Beercat

Earlier this week the University of Cincinnati inducted former basketball stand out Nick Van Exel into the UC Sports Hall of Fame. For you younger UC fans that weren’t around yet Van Exel averaged 15.2 pts and 3.6 ast during his two seasons as a Bearcat from 1991 to 1993. He left his mark at UC while  leading the Bearcats to the 1992 NCAA Final Four as a junior. As a senior he averaged 18.3 pts and 4.5 ast earning third team all-America honors and was named a finalist for the John Wooden Award for the nation’s top player. Van Exel was drafted in the second round (37th overall pick) by my LA Lakers in the 1993 NBA Draft.

Former UC and Lakers alumni Corie Blount captured some of his speech from the ceremony

Nick the Quick was a JUCO transfer out of Trinity Valley Community College in Texas a school he had to go to for poor high school grades. After 2 years in central Texas he was ready to leave. He took 32 credit hours one semester to be eligible and transfer, he would become a Bearcat.

Once he came to UC he lived in the gym over the summer until he was eligible in the fall. I’m not talking about a cliché like how much he practiced or extra hours in the gym. I’m talking about all of his belongings in a bag and literally sleeping in the gym.

He was just the type of player Coach Bob Huggins would recruit and Exel with (see what I did there?). He could ball with the best of them but needed to prove himself in the classroom and the way he carried himself. Admittedly, the later took him a while to figure out.

Van Exel played in the NBA from 93-06. He averaged 14.4 points and 6.6 assists. He did his most damage as a Laker and a Nugget. He also spent time in Dallas, Golden State, and San Antonio.

“A leader, fierce competitor, explosive athlete and the Toast of Kenosha” are just a few ways that people have described his game. He was super quick (hints the nickname), shifty, and would drive, shoot, or pass and you wouldn’t know which way to look until it was too late.  He was a bully on the court and he always got his way.

How good was he? See for yourself.

 

Congratulations Nick! It’s well deserved and long overdue ! Cheers.

Bearcats and Bobcats in an Ohio Showdown

UC & OU in Historic Nippert

On Saturday the Cincinnati Bearcats (3-0) host the Ohio Bobcats (1-1) at Historic Nippert Stadium. The Bearcats are looking to continue their hot start with an in state foe this Saturday.  UC holds the advantage in the series 24-23-4 all time. The last meeting was in 1981, a Bearcats victory.

I for one love a good in state game and this Saturday’s game is sure to deliver on that.  We know that team in the middle of the state likes to shy away from playing in state schools or if they do they put up Murray State in week 1. I’m glad to see UC schedule these games, let’s spread the love around the state to know exactly where everyone stands.

What to look for this week

The Bearcats demolished Alabama A&M in week 3 to the tune of 63-7. The Bearcats put up close to historic numbers and looked good doing it. They seek to continue that look this week. Des Ridder let the pigskin fly early and often. Look for his confidence to grow this week and get Sr. WR Kahlil Lewis involved early as well as freshmen phenom Jayshon Jackson.

In a quote about Joey Votto, Marty Brennaman once said, “That man is a horse, I suggest you ride him to the winner’s circle every chance you get!”

I believe that saying holds true for one Michael Warren, star running back at the University of Cincinnati. I don’t see him being stopped this week.

The special teams and the kicker from down under look to keep their dominating performances going Saturday as well.

Earlier this week Ohio coach Frank Solich talked about the Bearcats in his press conference

“… I think they’ve held those three opponents to eight points a game, which is a little scary. You need to put points on the board to win a game, and they don’t allow you to do that. Something has to give here. They are very physical, very strong, and they play with a lot of energy.

The Black Cats as they call themselves, the Bearcats defense, is gaining a reputation for kicking ass and taking names. They’re a hard-hitting, play making, physical bunch. A good reputation to have for a defense.

The Bobcats are kind of headed in the opposite direction as the Bearcats. They struggled against Howard and got handled by Virginia. They are coming off of a bye week which should help them out but I don’t see how they’ll have the talent or composure to pull off an upset at Historic Nippert.

The Bobcats and Bearcats kickoff at noon on Saturday on ESPNU.

Official Prediction:

Bearcats 42 Bobcats 17

Bearcats Bully the Bulldogs

Bearcats Bully the Bulldogs

-The Beercat

The Cincinnati Bearcats push their winning streak to 4 (dating back to the last game of the 2017 season) after a dominating performance against Alabama A&M. The Bearcats looked impressive in all aspects of the game including the passing game. At half time UC QBs were on pace to throw for over 500 yards.

There was a lot going on in my Bearcats world yesterday. It was the home opener and that’s always fun. As Bearcats fans know Nippert is a special place so I was excited to finally get back in there for week 3. Kickoff off was at 7 but I showed up to The Grid at 3.

GoBeercats teamed up with The Den tailgating group and experienced quite the pregame party. If you’re looking to tailgate but don’t know where to start I highly recommend looking into the group. Most everyone was very welcoming and die hard Bearcats fans. You can’t ask for more, except delicious food and cold craft beer…. which they had!

In addition to tailgating our faces off we also sat down with The Voice of Cincy Craft, The Gnarly Gnome himself. We were joined by Collin and Patrick of Taft’s Alehouse for a live on location episode of Cincy Brew Cast. I’m not going to lie it was a little intimidating but I had fun and I’d definitely do it again if the Gnome would have me. Look out for that episode airing sometime this week. You can find Cincy Brew Cast anywhere you find any other podcast. If you have an iphone like me it’s the purple icon with a stick figure person with rings radioing out of its head.

I also met Tim from Q102 and told him an embarrassing story from my college days in Clifton. Hopefully, that never makes it to air.

After all of that …

There were some big questions coming into this game. Would Ridder be QB1? Can he even throw the football? Will be Bearcats come out focused for this opponent?

Yes to everything. Ridder started for the second week in a row and looked great doing it. He came out ready to sling the football around too. He got WR Kahlil Lewis involved early and often marking down the field 79 yards for a TD on the first drive. Lewis would finish with Four catches for 92 yards and one touchdown. Ridder would have a short night though as Fickell played 3 other QBs because of a commanding lead. He finished the night 9-of-10 passing for 199 yards and three passing touchdowns to go along with one 12 yards rushing touchdown.

Michael Warren II is still a mack truck on the field in case you were wondering. The Bearcats went down the depth chart at RB as well, getting young guys reps while the team is up big.

Today is Sunday September 16th and the Bearcats are half way to bowl eligibility.

After this 63-7 victory in Nippert on a Saturday night we can now turn our focus on Ohio U as they come to town next week. We’ll have a preview of this game up on the blog later this week.

#OUNoWay

We cant’ forget about the beer of the game, this week coming from Taft’s

 

 

The Victory Bell Shall Forever Remain in Clifton

We are the 13 Time(in a row) WOOOOOOOOOO! Victory Bell Champions

The Cincinnati Bearcats dominated from start to finish on Saturday night against their rival the Miami (OH) Redhawks, winning 21-0. For most of the game though the Bearcats held onto a 7-0 lead that felt more like a 30-0 lead over the Redhawks. Here are some random thoughts while watching the game.

  • This rain is miserable I hope it’s not like this in the Nippert opener next week.
  • I love seeing previous Bearcats players cheering on this team on twitter.

  • Des Ridder is fast. Like track star fast
  • Michael Warren II is a man among boys out there again
  • The Defense is so improved it doesn’t seem possible.
  • Remember when we couldn’t tackle anything
  • Not only is the defense really good but they’re out to murder someone tonight too.
  • Can Warren continue to handle 30 carries a game?
  • I know it was monsooning in the tri state today but we need more from the WRs
  • The TE Josiah Deguara was the most productive receiver and caught Ridder’s first touchdown pass.  
  • The Bearcats are half way to last year’s win total and it’s week 2.

The Bearcats look to go 3-0 with Alabama A&T coming to Nippert for the first home game of the season!

GoBeercats will be on location tailgating with The Den and doing a live podcasting with the Gnarley Gnome and CincyBrew Cast, the voice of Cincy craft. 

Nippert at Night is one of the greatest things in all of sports. Come out and stop by to say hello on The Grid.

Beers Across American pt 4

Pt  4 of Terry’s Beer Cap Adventure

Beer 31 of 177
I found this bottle and cap I was keeping in the closet and I couldn’t help but include it on the map. Goose Island Bourbon Count Brand Stout 2017 version 15% abv and 60 ibu this beer was the first 5 I have ever gave on Untappd.  Was just so good can’t wait for 2018 version. 

Beer 32 of 177
From Nantahala Brewing Company in North Carolina, the Judaculla Barrel-Aged Russian Imperial Stout was paired with a couple cigars and made for a wild night for first night of vacation in Tennessee.

Beer 33 of 177
From Green Man Brewery 
The Harvester is 6% abv and 30 ibu that was enjoyed on a small Sunday fun day visit from Brandon.  Cheers Brandon good seeing you.

Beer 34 of 177

Abita brewery first beer in the beers of USA that hit the state of Louisiana.  Packed full of strawberries this strawberry lager was a welcome for the warm days of summer.

Beer 35 of 177
Kentucky pumpkin Barrel ale at 10% abv the pumpkin wasn’t overwhelming and had just enough hints of fall to make me realize fall is right around the corner and summer is about over.  Good job alltech Lexington brewery and distillery. 

Beer 36 of 177
Erik the Red from Dragonmead Microbrewery is a refreshing amber ale at 5% abv.  Nice way to end my day of mowing the yard “forest “.

Beer 37 of 177

Sunday fun day beer that I picked up from Slatemills gas station. Sweetwater Brewing company did an excellent job on this tropical India  pale ale and another state entered on the map, Georgia.

Beer 38 of 177
Pumpkin spice and everything nice.  Imperial Pumpkin Smash was first pumpkin beer of the year that Crown Valley Brewing put out and at 10.6% abv and 48 ibu fall is upon us and another state entered, Missouri, is on the map.

Beer 39 of 177
Collaboration beer from wild Haven brewery and Cigar City Brewery. Cold Southern Symphony barrel aged with native Brett beer with Georgia grapes.  5.8% ABV enjoyed after a long day at work in the pharmacy.  It was aged in three different kinds of barrels. Gin, Chardonnay, and Second pass barrels.  This has a ton going on.  Sour, dry, and funky best describes it. 

Beer 40 of 177
From Atwater brewery lip lock cherry stout 6% ABV and 16 IBU’s.   It’s a cherry stout that has a great start but different on the finish. It’s a 3.25 out of five on untapped. But overall a decent beer.