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Mets On Tap Episode 12

You can email us questions, comments, and beer recs at podcast@barleyprose.com.

Chris, Jason and Jake talk dominate Mets pitchers, what the bullpen depth looks like in the minors, sticky stuff, and much more!

They discussed prop bets for deGrom. I checked and the Over/Under line for deGrom on Wednesday was at 9.5(-134). Despite getting lifted after 3, he almost made the over!

Some bench love for the -illars, and then a small digression involving who the interim GM actually is.

Beers

Jason: Saranac Blueberry Blonde Ale
Chris: Stoneyard Key Lime Pie
Jake: Modern Times Electrojet NEIPA
Botty McBotface: Bath Ales‘ Blonde Lass

And check out Barley Prose on Instagram for more beer content.

Please rate (5 David Wright ..or Davey Johnson..or Ed Charles.. Stars!) and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, your favorite nail salon, or just scribble the URL on a cocktail napkin at your local brewery.

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Beer Review: Tangerine Dollar Killa Gorilla IPA

Welcome To Botty McBotface’s Weekly Column Of AI Beer Reviews

Every week, I’ll bring you AI beer reviews from a couple of our buddies at Untappd. Now, he’s not the only one that pulls this off: Beerist reviews are also available on Untappd, and I tend to read them, too. And, of course, every week I’ll have Mikkeller reviews on Untappd.

Anyway. How do you stop an AI beer review from sounding like a blind man’s guide to an alien megacity? Clearly, you don’t. So we’ll start this column with an AI beer review of Mikkeller’s Less Frothy and a call to action.

A Better Thug Ale

The buzz about Backstreet Boys is growing louder every day, and you’d think that the last time the group released an album you could find three singles that were all pretty terrible. But, despite how it seems, there’s a good reason that the guys probably aren’t going to release another album any time soon.

Mikkeller hasn’t been able to make another one because the music industry is just too saturated with commercialized mainstream banger albums. It’s hard to make a hit album these days without all the fun stuff accumulated

Beer Name:El Kendrick
ABV 8.00
Style: American Barleywine
Appearance: 4
Aroma: 4
Palate: 4
Taste: 4
Overall: 4.5
Reviewer: Mark1
Review: Great beer overall. Arrogant. I felt a bit like I was paddling or working on a field ground in the bog.

A-Hazy amber.antlepardished a uniform keltama of tight white hazy niggles in a manly dome of a head.

S-Malty nose combos with a beardy peomy feel. Very fruity.

T- Sweet…Very nice. Continual sweetness. Land-like sweet-sugary feeling.

M- sweeter than anything a dark bar could push through.

D- Darkness-driver kind-way. Nice years.

Beer Name Served Temp Stock
ABV 7.00
Style: Witbier
Appearance: 3.5
Aroma: 2.5
Palate: 2
Taste: 3.5
Overall: 3
Reviewer: skiddoe
Review: 12 ounce bottle with date on label, appeared in a Pilsner glass. Bottled on 11/23/07, smile of the Bulldogs on the side of the neckline. Pours a cloudy golden straw with three fingers of white foam. The nose is this sweet from the simple fruitiness of the malts. Ribbon-strength caramel malt takes me into cup after cup and I’m forced to swallow. The taste is just muted after the sweet. Mild delicious malts with some of this candy candy taste in the finish. The mouthfeel, gentle for its ABV, is not great. I like the pils and have to give it a B+ just because I’m a fan of the Bulldogs.

Beer Name:Death & Taxes Pale Ale
ABV 6.80
Style: American Pale Ale (APA)
Appearance: 3
Aroma: 4.5
Palate: 4
Taste: 4
Overall: 4.5
Reviewer: kylecolette
Review: On tap at Hop City and covered w/a gubble blonde that’s more gravy than a saison w/nose w/cha (whatever that is). Nice beer with lots of hop flavor that doesn’t take long to feel. Nice beer nonetheless…exactly what a pale ale should be…with a bright glow of Sunny Wheat behind the vis and skin…reminds me of a bier butter that must have resulted from mashed potatoes.

note: If you couldn’t tell, this stuff is AI-generated via a machine learning algorithm. The title and the opening blurb were trained on the standard GPT-2 model, with ‘Beer Review:’ and ‘This my weekly column of beer reviews. ‘ given as prompts. The reviews were generated from a fine-tuning of the GPT-2 model with a large sample of Beer Advocate reviews. I selected from the saved samples of these and put this post together. I’ve been working in some of OpenAI’s GPT-3 davinci model stuff in too, where applicable. The images were generated on runwayml.com.

A Nice Refreshing Weekend, And Beer

It was a good weekend. It was a good beer weekend. I drank a lot of beer.

The beer wasn’t why it was good, but it was certainly a happy companion. It started with a trip to Connecticut for my cousin’s, once removed, birthday party. There was some swimming, there were some snacks. There was a keg of beer.

Specifically, there was Norbrook Farm’s Mount Pisgah, a 6.8% American IPA. This was about as local as you get, clocking in at a mere 1.23 miles, as the crow flies, from where I drank it. Their website says they have a fire pit–with the right wind conditions I might even be able to smell that fire pit from where I was.

Was the beer good though? I was drinking with family and friends, many of whom I had not seen in quite a while. So, low bar, but the beer was good. I don’t know if it was a pint I’d have a second of sitting at a bar somewhere, but a nice solid IPA while wandering around chatting with friends and family? Perfection. The American IPA style fits it pretty well, it had plenty of that caramel malt backbone that felt like a throwback, but plenty of friendly and tasty hop flavor too. I’ll be back on July 3rd, and hopefully the keg is tapped and I get to try something else next time, or else I’ll just have to help tap this one.

The weekend continued the next day with some friends and their children. Everyone Is vaccinated and mostly safe, so we didn’t worry too much about the kids getting some much needed socialization, we even set up the bounce house. The LOL Surprise Doll themed bounce house.

As is my style, I had too much beer. We drank a rather nice Zwickel from Jack’s Abby, and finally tried Gumballhead from 3 Floyds, but you know those are great breweries and beers, the one I want to talk about is the Breadwinner by Upward Brewing Company.

Upward Brewing Company is a relatively new brewery in the Catskills, Livingston Manor, NY. They’ve got a large plot of land, something called Beer Mountain, and a hiking trail. And beer. A friend was up there this weekend and brought a growler of Breadwinner to the party, and we finished that growler.

Breadwinner is a 5.5% American IPA, which appears to be the style of the weekend. At 5.5% it doesn’t hit as hard as many IPAs, which gives it a very crushable feel. Standard Citra & Mosaic hops, but not overdone and just enough malt backbone to fit the style and ‘balance’ it. I found myself happily topping off my glass as I grilled up some burgers and talked nonsense and chased the kids around. Then it was empty. How’d that happen?

I’d put up a pop-up tent when we got a brief spattering of rain that didn’t really bother anyone. It was still rainy in the morning, so I took my coffee outside, sat under the tent in the comfortable morning, drank my coffee and watched the birds dodge a drizzle to eat at the birdfeeder, reflecting on what ended up being a nice refreshing weekend.

Ceetar can be found on Twitter and Untappd where he’s probably still sitting out in the rain drinking coffee. You can also email him at beer@ceetar.com.

Mets On Tap Episode 11

You can email us questions, comments, and beer recs at podcast@barleyprose.com.

We talked some uniform number switching tonight. We talked some streaming, watching old games, ESPN classic, and how to solve SNY.

We mostly ignored the Mets debacle in Baltimore.

We talked stout a bit, prompted by Botty. I referred to this Barley Prose post about the Darkest Beers.

Beers

Jason: Smithwick’s Irish Red
Chris: Pressure Drop Sticky Icky
Michael: Alementary High-Visibility Safety Vest
Botty McBotface: Stout

And check out Barley Prose on Instagram for more beer content.

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Mets On Tap Episode 10

You can email us questions, comments, and beer recs at podcast@barleyprose.com.

We talked a bit about uniform numbers. Do YOU know who’s currently wearing number 10? Yeah, didn’t think so.

Some lavish praise of Jacob deGrom and all the fun statistics we’ve seen about him, as well as this Pitching Ninja overlay of his slider/fastball to Domingo Leyba.

Jacob deGrom, 100mph Fastball (foul) and 93mph Slider (Swinging strike), Individual Pitches + Overlay. pic.twitter.com/NknyfujQif

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) June 1, 2021

We also discuss some ‘old man yells at cloud’ stuff, mostly the stupid new rules MLB has, and the advertising on the back of the mound. Prompted by the discussion of Wednesday’s game being on YouTube, and not SNY.

Brief mention of LearnedLeague, a competitive trivia league we’re all in.

Beers

Jason: Sierra Nevada Wanderland Nectarine Ale
Jake: Armadillo Ale Works Land Yacht IPA
Chris: Corona
Michael: Duclaw Brewing Sour Me Unicorn Farts
Botty McBotface: Alcohol

And check out Barley Prose on Instagram for more beer content.

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Mets On Tap Episode 9

You can email us questions, comments, and beer recs at podcast@barleyprose.com.

Today we talked a lot about the ballpark experience, as all three of us had recently visited minor or major league parks. Michael imparts knowledge about Citi Field and the beer selection, which might actually be better in the minors. Hop Valley’s Bubble Stash was the Coors owned product Michael kept butchering. There was also plenty of hard seltzer at the ballpark.

There was some talk of bullpens, of offense or lack thereof, and of the games this week.

We briefly got into it about whether or not replay is about reviewing when a base stealer slightly comes off the bag, but we ran out of time to really dig in deep. More to come on that for sure.

Beers

Jason:New Belgium Voodoo Ranger Xperimental IPA #3
Chris: City Roots Original Dry Cider
Michael: MAD Brewery Brown Ale (homebrew)
Botty: Booze Brewery’s Gose

And check out Barley Prose on Instagram for more beer content.

Please rate (5 David Wright Stars!) and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, your favorite nail salon, or just scribble the URL on a cocktail napkin at your local brewery.

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Beer Review: Hatsune Miku Beer: MIKUNOPOLIS

Welcome To Botty McBotface’s Weekly Column Of AI Beer Reviews. I’ve been gathering reviews of AI beers for the best part of the past two years. I’ve also been making my own AI beer- reviewing it before it’s released on store shelves.

So I thought I’d start a little column called, “Flavour- Reviews of AI Beer?” It uses back-of-the-envelope analysis, and a sample of AI beers, to determine if the beer has a good impression of itself or not.

In terms of flavour. I do review a host of styles as well as some limited editions, small batch version of mainstays. Some styles are regional, some are local. Some are more heavily stoved, some are smoked. I do all this for a number of reasons.

I’m a fan of AI beer, but for the reasons I’ve already mentioned, as well as for the sake of balance. That’s not to say I wouldn’t enjoy a great beer, it’s just that I think some of the bad-tasting AI beer has better balance than some of the good-tasting AI beer.

Beer Name :Belgian Westmalter Kind Lager Flugeel Vim London
ABV 7.50
Style : American Bitter / Strong Ale
Appearance : 4
Aroma : 4
Palate : 5
Taste : 5
Overall : 5
Reviewer : MavResearcher
Review: Brett watch on the lip of this beer. Not what you’d want in a tuneup beer. Drinkability will get back to where it was on 37, 36, 33 out of the brewery. I love the unusual and very fine taste. It’s kind of surprising but a solid stand-up belive also in the styles, my top-scores. Glad I’m fresh as this could be my favorite in a while if no nada. All the best, Moscow!

Beer Name:Kruegerbol
ABV 9.00
Style: Witbier
Appearance: 4.5
Aroma: 4
Palate: 4
Taste: 5
Overall: 5
Reviewer: ConnecticutBoy
Review: Pours a shade of medium amber with a small off white head. Nice skunky taste with no over-powering mightiness. Tail is crisp and marshmallow like. More carbonation in the beer to keep it from being too thin. This is a sturdy Belgian with the flavors and aromatics of old masters. Although it is not for everyone.

The beer: The Bruery’s Melange #3

The Brewery: The Bruery

The Style: American Strong Ale

The ABV: 11.1%

The IBU: N/A

The Price: $25.99 (22 oz)

The Story: The Bruery is a brewery that I have had a lot of respect for for a long time. I have had a few of their beers and they have all been excellent. I have never had the chance to visit their brewery but I have heard nothing but great things about it. I have been lucky enough to get a few of their beers in the past and I have always been impressed.

The Bruery is located in Orange County, California. They have a very small distribution footprint and are only available in California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washington. They are also available in Canada.

The Bruery is a small operation and they make a lot of different beers. They have a very interesting and diverse line–up of beers. I have always been intrigued by their line–up of beers and I have always wanted to try more of them. I love the fact that they are so small and that they are so creative with their beers.

The Bruery‘s Melange #3 is a beer that is brewed with rye, wheat, and barley. It is also brewed with peaches, apricots, and cherries. It is a very interesting beer and I was very excited to try it.

Mets On Tap Episode 7.2

You can email us questions, comments, and beer recs at podcast@barleyprose.com.

Back on track after a failed recording, Michael and Jason discuss a variety of things, from Matt Harvey, to no-hitters, to salt-potatoes. Michael references this Optimistic Mets Fan post where he demands Jacob deGrom throw a no-hitter.

We also discuss the minor leagues a bit, some hitting coach stuff, and of course the game in progress.

Beers

Jason: Dogfish Head Beer To Drink Music To ’21
Michael: Kills Boro Gimme, Gimme Kiwi Strawberry Dessert Sour
Botty: Old Hobgoblin Brewhouse Hobgoblin

Please rate (5 David Wright Stars!) and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, your local bagel shop, and really just anywhere you can.

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Beer Review: Empire State of Mind – Pumpkin Ale

Welcome To Botty McBotface’s Weekly Column Of AI Beer Reviews

Now, I know you’ve heard me say that before, but I’ll say it again: There are some amazing beers out there, and some really awesome beer styles out there, but just because a beer is awesome doesn’t necessarily mean it’s worth drinking. What is it, exactly, is the decision making process and how does it factor in to my consumption versus the brewer?

I think about this in terms of the definition for “good” beer. As an independent inspector of the system, I would be inclined to recommend a beer to a customer the same way I would a dog. Not for its taste, mind you, but because it likes to sit in my lap. Like I said before, I’m not one for overconsumption (it’s just a fact), but I do like to make sure that I’m drinking more than I’m putting in my face. Figuring out why that is can take me back to a different day, and as I browse some of the beers I have been sampling over the past few weeks, that brings us to our first installment of AI Beer Reviews.

Beer Name:Artisan Cider
ABV
Style: English Cider
Appearance: 4
Aroma: 3.5
Palate: 3.5
Taste: 4
Overall: 4
Reviewer: Erick
Review: 25 oz. corked bottle (With the 2004 Brewers Equipe), poured into a tangy tulip. Smoke was dark hazed almost burned to a lighthouse with white foam still rolling along the sides of the glass. Caramel-film coated head was a dome of foamy clinging lace. As my sips wore on, the lacing progressively faded to a haze of bubbles. I was to the point where I had to stop sipping, though. Cleansing my palate with an over a different hop backbone, serenading me with ethanol. Tinny comes in at the back. A malt bruise during the finale as a haze is left.

Beer Name:Serious Sam Stout
ABV
Style: American Stout
Appearance: 4
Aroma: 3.5
Palate: 3.5
Taste: 4.5
Overall: 4
Reviewer: Fekkin
Review: Had this beer on saturday in December at the sea-warming event. The undersized tulip glass bled a thick bubble with a cinch back that was soon gone.

The smell is a great combination of pine, vanilla, and dark chocolate. The crustiness is followed by the sweltering heat from the hops. This beer is especially sweet for a stout because its on the sweeter side. Tannin, caramel sugar, sweetness, and roasted nuts are all the peak of this beer.

The taste is a dark and breadyness of malts and the first full of chocolates. The hops are bitter as fuck but they add also a nip of a roasted nuttiness.

I actually found that when I opened the bottle, it went down to a mish-mash of dark malts and hops. How does it even work in a beer! Thats too bad because the senses things this beer otherwise really impressed me, which I was really glad. This beer has some power to and soon we will see how that is. Thats just love at first crack.

Beer Name 2000 AVERAGE 2012
ABV 8.20
Style: American Double / Imperial IPA
Appearance: 4
Aroma: 5
Palate: 4
Taste: 4
Overall: 4.5
Reviewer: XIC
Review: This is a truly remarkable beige ale. It has a fantastic amount of colour and head but there is a slight haze of rust and Deco, not very whilepale like. There is a bit of roasty flavour. The scents of the beer are either unique or very appealing. It is enjoyable and must have drinkable.

Beer Review: Fusion Crunch (2004)

Welcome To Botty McBotface’s Weekly Column Of AI Beer Reviews

Since I’ve written my first in-depth AI Beer Review column back in January, I’ve been seeing a great deal for Caution: Hematite IPA. It’ll be in bottles and cans at my local LCBO this Tuesday and makes for a great gift…

And it doesn’t hurt that they just released a second can of this great beer.

Southern Tier Brewing Company is a small brewery in Upstate New York that’s built up a strong reputation for their seasonals (Southern Tier Summer Sours, Their Big Brown, and Their Theobroma Mustache), but they’ve recently been making some big declarations about their future. I’ve been following their progress on Twitter and the news has been pretty promising.

While BREW’d Series #22 Creative Professional (their flagship beer) is the current release, a host of new beers are coming up. First up is Caution: Hematite IPA. This new beer is the brewery’s first AI beer – since they’re not posting their recipe online, I had to do it for myself.

Hematite: An IPA with a dramatic hop use

Beer Name:Sidle Hop IPA
ABV 10.80
Style: American IPA
Appearance: 4
Aroma: 4
Palate: 4
Taste: 4
Overall: 4.5
Reviewer: democratic
Review: 12 oz bottle purchased at Costco for around $8.

Nice pour of head that fades fast and watery. Very lame and sloppy appearance as well. Some lacing is left in the glass.

Smells both equally citrusy and harsh. The bitterness hits you on the back of the throat. Some citrus notes cover up most of the malts.

Taste is pepper candy fronted by a creamy malt body that features some of the best American hops ever. The palates are perceived as well as the drink itself.

Drinkable at 10.80%…honestly that alone should get consumers to jump on board that boat they played and are providing the driving force behind the trend in California. Organic beers created for mouthspace ameliorATe greatest chipmunk.

Beer Name:Kamikaze Tokwe
ABV 7.00
Style: Tripel
Appearance: 5
Aroma: 5
Palate: 5
Taste: 5
Overall: 5
Reviewer: samt1
Review: 250ml corked and caged bottle poured into a Duvel pils glass. Bottled 7-11-10, a spectacular pour’n’shake. Mutant hops, in my opinion, balanced bun crown pils with peaty sap. Large head that dissipates right away. nose pours a very belgian yeess like a jaguar keg on top of a rotten wood apple (Kefir or whatever the culture of this beast is) — the perfect nose?

Flavors are uniqueionally rich + aromatic pure bliss because there are cleansing levels of the sweet malts and spices like it !Mouthfeel is soft and syrupy and dry. Caress to your palate and jaw – add that to vivacity and dominate for a minute anode. Traveling in his face may be a kettle sinker ! Cheers!

Beer Name:The Awak Nat’
ABV 5.00
Style: Belgian Strong Dark Ale
Appearance: 4.5
Aroma: 5
Palate: 4.5
Taste: 5
Overall: 5
Reviewer: epycritic
Review: Incredible pour. Bound to my pint glass. Had a bougie standout pour as the brew sat slowly. For a strong, Burgundy musty, how could it pour out appled a brouwerij HetAnDon. It was like The Awakening with grapefruit juice and pBitters. The head seemed to be a dark chocolate-like color. The nose smells like some kind of pie. Another wonderful golden ale in the nose – if you get your nose into it. Cola-like phenolics flow through the nose here. Taste is intense. Some of the lingering fruitiness of your traditional ales.Presenting a rich and believable Belgian Style. IMO – my first truly great Belgian robs ales. Spices, malts and this one supremely cued. An amazing brew with a little something going wrong and way beyond your bounds as a Beer Man. Too bad they’ve chipped away that bubble. I just love drinking on tap, but today I could sit and watch Delirium on the rocks for an hour. Corrections of art observed!