Review of Wells & Young's Brewing Co's Banana Bread Beer

This week, we reviewed a Banana Bread Beer manufactured by Wells and Young's Brewing Co.

Today (and hopefully for all reviews in the future) we have a special treat for you! The Random Guy Review. Yep, you heard right. Not only will you get mine and Holly's thoughts on the beer, but the opinion of a guy, because, as you well know, guys think differently than us girls do. And now, onto our first Random Guy Review!

Banana bread beer!  Who come up with this stuff?  I have always been a fan of banana bread and what random male does not like beer.  This should be great…  The darkish color and banana aroma sort of drew me in; it smelled like it should taste great.  It definitely got the flavor of banana bread when I first tasted it.  It was not terrible, but I felt it was lacking any of the traditional tastes that make beer great for me.  It was too thin to be a smooth creamy beer and as I drank more just began to strike me as too sweet.  All in all I’d call it a beer for those people that don’t drink beer and are not comfortable being seen drinking Zima.  Much like bowling and sobriety I think I will keep my beer and banana bread separate in the future.

Brian Jarecki, Random Guy

Wells Banana Bread Beer smells like...Bananas!! And beer. Lol! There IS truth in advertising! I like this beer cold. Really, really cold. Like beer-cicle cold. So, if you put this beer in the freezer, then start paper-piecing Anne's Folley, then unsew it a bunch of times...You get to come back to a frozen beer. So then you take a shower. And then you can drink a partially thawed Banana Bread Beer WHILE you're picking out all those little pieces of paper. It has a nice medium golden color to it. And it tastes sweet, just like a slice of the banana bread itself :) yum. This came in a 1pt 0.9 US fl.oz. bottle and is 5.2% alcohol by volume. Wells brewed it with bananas and added banana flavor after brewing to make it extra banana-y. If you like those yellow things that most people put in their morning krispies, or you're part monkey, I think there's a good chance you'll like this beer. I give it 4 thimbles.
Holly


I guess a good place to start with this beer would be the smell.  It smelled just like banana bread!  Needless to say, I was shocked...and intrigued.  The lovely golden color looked warm and inviting.  There was very little foam or carbonation in this one.  I took a sip, expecting a mouthful of sweet, moist banana bread, but instead got the neighbor lady's over-done dry version of something she calls banana bread.  I was disappointed to say the least.  Maybe the beer would have tasted better at a colder temperature; maybe it would have tasted better if it had not smelled soooo good.  The remainder of the beer went down smooth and satisfying.  Overall, a decent beer, just know what is coming before you take that first swig.  I would have to say 2.5 thimbles for the banana bread beer.
Mary

Ann's Folly - Template Pieced - Makeup from Week 4

Okay...here we go.  Due to the number of pictures, we will be posting Week 5 in pieces. The first piece will be the template pieced Ann's Folly block that should have been done in week 4. This block will reside in spot K6.

This block, when done properly with templates, has 37 pieces. Our block, however, only has 33 pieces. We decided that because the size of piece 'a' was teeny tiny and piece 'a' and 'b' are the same fabric to combine them as illustrated in picture #2.

Template pieces for Ann's Folly laid out for the block

To start, you should cut out all of your template pieces. I printed mine from the Dear Jane software for EQ6. I always make sure to use 'paper' scissors to cut the templates, and not my good 'fabric' scissors.

After cutting out the paper templates, you will need to cut out the fabric pieces from the templates. I find it easier to do this with a rotary and ruler. Once all the pieces are cut out, lay them out so that you can see where everything goes (see photo above).

Here is where the fun starts...follow the pictures to put your block together.

Sew the sets of 'F' strips together and press

Sew an 'E' triangle to both sides of 2 of the 'F' strip sets.

Now, just in case you think "how can they do this without making mistakes?", see below for what NOT to do.

Sew the 'E' triangle on upside down and you get the piece in the picture above and have to rip it out and do it again. Arggg.

Sew the remaining 'F' strip sets to opposite sides of the center 'G' square.

 Middle pieces pieced and pressed

Sew a 'D' triangle to both sides of the middle strip and to the tips of both side triangles as pictured.

Middle with triangle tips pieced and pressed

Sew the middle pieced triangles to both sides of the middle pieced strip. I used pins to help line it up properly.

Middle pieced and pressed

For the frame, sew 2 'B' pieces to either side of 2 of the 'C' pieces.

Sew the 'A'/'B' combo pieces to the ends of the remaining 2 'C' pieces.

Sew the 'B'/'C' pieces on to opposite sides of the center piece and press

Sew the 'A'/'B'/'C' pieces to the remaining to sides of the center.  DON'T PRESS YET

On the left is what you should have. Use a ruler to line up the edge and cut off the excess on both sides.

NOW PRESS

My completed block (left) and Holly's completed block (right).

Week 5 Preview

Block completed by Jacqui at Treadle Quilts

This week, we feature Ann's Folly by Jacqui over at Treadle Quilts. I just love how she fussy cut the center piece to have the star in it! She has many Dear Jane blocks posted as well as several other projects. Go check it out!

Ann's Folly is located in slot K6. We will both be doing it with template and paper-piecing. With luck, there will be very detailed instructions to help you complete your block.

Well, that was for the missed block last week. The block for this week is Anna's Anchor in slot J8.

Block completed by Melanie at Crazy About Quilts

For our second block of the week, we feature Anna's Anchor by Melanie at Crazy About Quilts! It looks like she has been working very hard on her Dear Jane quilt. Please stop by her blog and show some love.

Also, we will be tasting another new beer!

Review of Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale & an apology

First, we have to apologize.  We did not get a Dear Jane block completed this weekend.  We will try to get 2 done this coming weekend.  Shhhh.  Don't tell Holly!  I didn't ask her first.  LOL.

Kentucky Bourbon Ale gives off a rich, sweet, yeasty aroma. It has a lovely medium dark amber brown color. I've never had bourbon before (I know. It's probably some kind of tragedy to somebody out there. I apologize.) But, this beer makes me want to try it! I'm guessing it's the bourbon flavor that's coming through. This ale goes feels smooth going down. The first time I ordered this was at a bar in Dublin. Uh, don't get too excited for me. It was Dublin, OH :D Anyway, they served it up in a brandy snifter. It did add way more charm than drinking it out of the bottle, but it's yummy either way! I think it's my new favorite! Fun fact: this ale has an alcohol volume is 8.1% I give it 5 thimbles and it isn't even pink!
Holly

I just loved the aroma from this bottle of Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale. The color was a very nice red clay color. The flavor was unexpected. I expected more beer than bourbon and was surprised to find that the bourbon flavor came soaring through. The beer went down smoothly and I found myself shocked when I went to take another drink and the glass was empty. It was lovely. I give this one 4.5 thimbles!
Mary

Special Valentine Review of Brasserie de Silly's Pink Killer

We decided to taste-test a special beer for Valentine's Day. A pink beer called Pink Killer. Not only is the label pink, but the beer. It is based on malt, wheat and pink grapefruit. Yum!

Dude! It's. PINK. beer. That should be nuff said to make you want to go try some. Ok, it's a pink malt beverage. But we decided that was beer like enough to qualify. Pink Killer has a pleasing perfume like aroma. It tastes like a not so sweet artisan soda...which translates to: I don't really taste alcohol. The "killer" has a nice mellow grapefruit flavor. Yum! I give this 5 thimbles. I was gonna give it 4, but it's pink! So it got a style point. Lol
Holly

As I poured this in the glass, I became excited by the lovely grapefruit pink color. After I enjoyed staring at it for a while, I picked the glass up off the counter and smelled it. You can smell the grapefruit and the orange in it. At first sip, you get the bitter of the pink grapefruit. All I can compare it to is a mix of grapefruit juice and champagne. I drank every last drop!Not only does the bottle have a pink killer dog on the label, but the cutest pink dog collar printed on the label around the neck of the bottle. 5 thimbles from me, too!
Mary

Review of Loose Cannon

This week, we reviewed Heavy Seas' Loose Cannon made by Clipper City Brewing.  Hop on over to their site and check out the details!

Loose Cannon has a honey color when poured and not much head. There's definitely a citrusy aroma to it. It has a sour grapefruit taste which I like. This would be really great ice cold on a hot summer day! I give this one 4 thimbles. Me likey :D

Holly

Loose Cannon has a nice aroma both in the bottle and in the glass. It is definitely citrusy. I wasn't careful pouring it and ended up with more head on the beer than beer. I had to scoop as much as I could out with a spoon. I know, bad beer drinker. Oh well. I did not like the bitter taste and the after taste was even worse. I couldn't finish this one. I give it 1 thimble.

Mary

Alison's Guiding Light

Alison's Guiding Light is a relatively simple block, but at 4.5 inches finished, the pieces are tiny. Some of the pieces have seam allowances that are bigger than the piece you see.

Holly and I both did this block as a template block and then as a paper-pieced block.

Tamplate Method:

Templates for Alison's Guiding Light

 Holly and I both used the templates in the picture (we figure if we share the templates through the whole quilt, we could save a small tree!) to cut our fabric for this block. Holly cut her pieces old school.  She laid the template piece on top and held it there with no pins while cutting with her trusty scissors. I, on the other hand, took the templates and fabric to my cutting mat and used a rotary to cut out all the pieces. For the last 2 blocks, I cut mine out the old school way and was having trouble with it. I found the rotary to be much easier for me to handle.

Pieces cut using templates

 Unfortunately, we both forgot to take any pictures between cutting out the pieces and the finished block.  Oops. The best we can do now is tell you how we sewed them together.

We started by sewing 2 of the purple triangles to the white stick (on an angle above) that goes between them. Once we had 4 units like that, we sewed 2 of the small white squares to one of the outer purple sticks as laid out above. You should have 2 of these units. After pressing, we sewed 2 of the units that used the purple triangles to the straight white sticks on either side, yielding 2 units. Next, we sewed the 2 large units to either side of the long white stick in the middle and then the 2 remaining outer purple sticks to opposite sides of the full unit. Last, sew the 2 units of purple sticks and small white squares to the sides you didn't sew the outer purple sticks to. Use a finished block or a diagram as your guide.

Mary's finished Template-pieced block

 Hopefully, your block turns out as nice as mine (above) and Holly's block did.  :)

Now, for the paper-pieced block...

Paper Pieced Method:

Paper-pieced template

Above is the template we used for our paper-pieced block. Unfortunately, we had to use 3 prints of that for our 2 blocks due to a couple of mistakes. Oops. We also didn't take any pictures as we constructed this block. Oops again! What were we thinking? We will definitely try to do better next time...I promise!

Anyway, to construc the paper-pieced block, the order printed on the pieces works great. Follow carefully and you should be fine. One tip, though...once you start piecing units together, make sure you remove some of the paper bits as you go or they are sewn in there forever. Mine will forever have a few bits of paper inside of it.

Now, for the comparison. I found it harder to get my corners and points to line up with the paper pieced pattern on this one. For this block, for me, the template pieces were definitely better than the paper-piecing.

Our finished blocks

Pictured above are mine and Holly's finished blocks. Paper-piecing on the left and template piecing on the right. Holly's on top and mine on the bottom.

Feel free to link pictures of your blocks up on the right of the blog and share any tips you may have or problems you discovered in the comments.

Mary