1) Flat Tire??? Umm, you mean Fat Tire.

2) That's what happens when you try to say FLAT out of FAT tire when you've already consumed a couple of these bad boys. Totally fixed now, thank you professor Shoo.

3) Try a 22oz tall boy, then the words really start to fly.

4) Ooo, I need to try those.

5) yum...that pint looks delicious.

when I lived in Colorado, I loved Fat Tire, but for some reason, now that we have it in Illinois, I'm not as excited about it. Not to mention, it's way overpriced. I like Mothership, but how was that 1554?

6) I won't speak for Russ, but the 1554 is awesome.

7) then i will drink one, enjoy it, and say "that shoo was right"

i was drinking Kalamazoo Royal Amber tonight and it was tasty as well, but i'm told that it's the exact same beer as Bell's Amber.

8) Is Bells back in ILL yet?

9) I wasn't sure, so I googled it. Bells just changed their name to Kalamazoo, to get around legal issues of sending their beer to IL. And I had a couple bottles of Kalamazoo tonight in Chicago, so you might have it in Springfield as well.

10) The 1554 was tasty...but not my favorite - and a 180 turn from the Mothership - so maybe that threw me off a little. It's very dark and has a coffee/chocolate taste to it. I'll give it five more tries in the next couple of days and try to get a better feel for it. From the taste of it, I would guess it would be great with dinner.

11) Lots of the Belgian beers are like that. They all have special glasses made for them that seem more like brandy glasses and they're all quite rich. A totally different way of drinking beer when its Belgian.

12) If you need a second opinion on that 1554, let me know. I make house calls.

13) Russ, going from Mothership to 1554 would leave a sour taste. 1554 is definitely a dark rich taste that should be taken in by itself.

14) Oh, I worked for one of New Belgium's distributors here in AZ. Wow, what a great beer to stumble upon. The Mothership Wit is by far my favorite. I've coined it the "tomato beer" NOT because it's red or made with tomato juice, but because it is the PERFECT beer for tomato sauce dishes i.e. spaghetti, pizza, pastas, etc. It has a spicey finish that just adds a layer of yum! Also the Sunshine Wheat is a "breakfast beer" because there is some resemblance to fruit loops. It has a hint of sweet and fruity but still distinctly a beer. The Fat Tire is always a great beer to have on a hot day at a BBQ. It is their own version of Bud, so to speak. It is an everyday drinkable beer. I also liked Blue Paddle. Not a huge fan of darker beers but the Abbey was pretty good too.

I could go on and on and on and on about their beers. http://www.newbelgium.com

The brewer who created Blue Moon is now on staff at the NB brewery. Did you know that the company is totally green? Yes, amazing, I know! There are amazing stories behind the brewery itself, how it was created, and each of the beer names. If you are at all intersted let me know. I'd love to share it with you.