In the beginning...

We're going to attempt to pick out some good beers, tell you what we like about them, and when/how you should drink them. We're bossy like that.

We're excited to turn our love for beer into useful information for you when you make your next trip to the liquor store. We've created a simple rating system on a scale of 1 - 100 that we think you'll find effective in making your next malt beverage choice.

Once a week, sometimes more often, you can expect a review of a new beer. Eventually, you'll be able to sort by:

• Alphabetically
• Region
• Type
• Occasion
• Season

To the upper right is Free State Brewery's Oatmeal Stout. We'd spend time telling you all about it, but unfortunately, it isn't available outside of the Kansas City area.

Ok, we changed our minds. It's too good to ignore.

The Oatmeal Stout is a year-round beer at Free State, and is one of our personal favorites. It's rich, bold character gives a hint of spice and molasses, yet it's not too thick to order more than one. It's versatile character allows it to be drank in any season.

From their website:

In 1989 the Free State Brewery in Lawrence opened its doors as the first licensed brewery
in Kansas since 1881 and joined the resurgence of small-scale breweries across the United States offering fresh, full-flavored beer in a variety of styles.

Free State is famous in Lawrence for their Monday night Pint Nights. They select usually three beers to put on special for $1.75, and the Oatmeal Stout is often one of them. Oh yeah, and they're also a great place to eat. The food is fantastic. Your server can recommend a beer to go with your entreé selection.

On our rating scale, we assign points on both subjective and objective characteristics:

Free State Brewing Company's Oatmeal Stout:

Character - 18 points
Exclusitivity - 19 points
Flavor - 18 points
Originality - 16 points
Versatility - 17 points

Total: 88 points

Pretty darn good.

Check them out at http://www.freestatebrewing.com/.

We'll eventually be up at www.beergenius.net. Give us a little time.

If you have any suggestions of brews you'd like us to review, we'd love to hear them! Shoot us an email at beergenius@gmail.com and hopefully your favorite brew will be available in our area.

Thanks!
Beer Geniuses