I can skin a buck and I’ve run quite a few trotlines in my day (I lived on a farm for 18 years ya’ know), but if there is one thing I am sure of…Country Boy Brewing will survive for quite some time. Located just a few blocks off downtown Lexington, this up-and-coming brewery has been keeping their taproom packed since they opened. Actually, they just had their first weekend brewing to keep their supply up with the high demand of their beer. In fact, in the next month of so, they will be getting some new equipment from a North Carolina brewery to produce even more of their non-traditional beer styles. Although somewhat known in Kentucky as “that awesome place in Lexington that makes a kickass Jalapeño Porter”, Country Boy Brewing wants to be known for their wide-ranging beer portfolio (in fact, Jalapeño Porter will be on hiatus until the Fall) not just their pepper potables.
Yesterday, I got the chance to sit down, taste, and shoot the breeze with Jeff Beagle from Country Boy and get a little better idea of how brewing is going on the other end of I-64. My wife and I were in town for the Bluegrass 10,000 race and Jeff was gracious enough to give us a tour and a tasting of everything Country Boy had to offer. It was already 11am and the sun was beating down pretty good when I ran into Jeff at the Chase Tap Rooms Booth. I had already been there twice getting some West 6th IPA and Country Boy’s Cougar Bait to re-hydrate from the early morning race.
Myself, Ashley, two friends, Jeff and his wife made the short 10-minute walk down to Country Boy. Jeff gave us a tour of the brewery, show us what’s staying and what’s going, and what things he would like to see happen. A pretty cool warehouse with a decent amount of room for growth and expansion (did someone say “funk room”?). After checking out the whole set up, we all bellied up to the bar for a pouring and description of all twelve beers Country Boy had to offer. When I looked at the other breweries on tap, I noticed Cumberland and Against the Grain, which led me to the question of when Country Boy was going to make their way to Louisville.
The answer? Sooner than we think. Country Boy just signed on with the Louisville Beer Store for a beer release in the last weekend in July (mark your calendars!) and will be doing another with Nachbar.
I asked numerous questions about each beer and the best thing about Jeff was his honesty with whether he felt the beer was ready or still needing a little tweaking in regards to recipe. Jeff knows his beer too. Unknown to me, he was the winner of one of the Alltech’s Pro-Am competition with his Kentucky Coal Porter (which I think I had at Boombozz one night).
Although the Jalapeño Porter is one of my favorites, my top two beers were the Amos Moses (if a brown ale and a porter hooked up and had a beer baby), Heart of Dankness (who doesn’t love some dank?), and Redneck Alt (spot on in style). The wife was a big fan of Cougar Bait (go figure) and Amos Moses. Attached you will find her drinking a Cougar Bait out of her 5th place finishers cup. So if you haven’t made the trip yet, head down I-64 for some good beer. If you’re hungry at Country Boy, you can actually have outside food delivered instead of having to venture out. Special thanks again to Jeff Beagle and the fellas at Country Boy.
Cheers!
