Bucky's 5th Quarter Barrel: Tapping the keg

Hey, guys, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Drew, D to the R-E. I used to move snowflakes by the, uh, shovel-full? I don't know, Wisconsin is different than Brooklyn, and hip-hop is confusing to me now.

Anywho, I'm going to start contributing to Bucky's 5th Quarter as Official Beer & Tailgating Expert now. You may have read some stuff by me (note: this is probably not true) over at BT Powerhouse or at The Nobler Experiment and now I'm going to bother you here as well.

Before you get all "we don't need this guy's advice, we're plenty capable of drinking beer on our own," allow me to present my credentials. I've been drinking beer for well over a decade, I'm pretty tough you'll come to find out, and have been drinking beer that isn't Red Dog Light for almost as long. I currently bartend in Chicago at Chop Shop, where I've continued drinking beer, and I previously managed The City Bar on State Street where *SPOILER ALERT* I drank a lot of beer. So, yeah, I've drank some beer in my day.

My favorite part about the beer drinking isn't usually the actual imbibing, but rather, the communal experience you get when you share a new beer with someone. I love talking about beer; I love sharing new beers with friends and I love seeing someone's face when they try a beer they think they'll hate and instead, end up finishing the bottle.

The Wisconsin fan base is like the Andrew W.K. of football fans -- where it's always time to party -- and I think trying some new beers at your next tailgate will only increase your likelihood of having a good time. Here is my first review, of my favorite beer from Ale Asylum:

Ale Asylum Bedlam!

Style: Belgian IPA
ABV: 7.5%
Availability: Year-round

Ale Asylum has been one of the preeminent breweries in Madison and has been producing boundary-pushing brews like Hopalicious and Ambergeddon since it opened in 2005. Bedlam! started off as a spring/summer seasonal for Ale Asylum in 2010, and almost didn't even make it that far.

Brewmaster Dean Coffey is a purist when it comes to beer styles, and the combination of an India Pale Ale's hoppiness and a Belgian style ale yeast's spiciness seemed abhorrent to Coffey.According to legend, he eventually tried the beer and liked it well enough for it to start off as a one-time summer seasonal. The beer was so popular, and customers so crestfallen that they would never have the beer again, that many emailed in and asked Ale Asylum to make it again the next year. I know this to be a fact because my fiancee (no big deal, I know girls) was one of the people to email, and she received a response saying she was one of many demanding more Bedlam!. It came back the next summer, and the next, and is now available year-round! WE DID IT, AMERICA (but mostly people in Madison and Milwaukee)!

The beer is hazy and orange in appearance with a frothy (gross word alert!) head. It's exploding with Citra hops and Belgian yeast, and leaves you tasting citrus fruits and good summer times (note: your experience of "good summer times" taste may differ). Bedlam! is one of my favorite beers from one of my favorite breweries, and I can't say enough nice things about it. The best news I've ever gotten is when I heard, earlier this year, that Ale Asylum was beginning to distribute to Illinois. I can now go to my corner liquor store here in Chicago and grab a sixer of Bedlam! and only break a little bit of a sweat. I'm not an athletic man.

Rating: Russell Wilson mixed with Devin Harris and a dash of MAKING THE GOD-DAMNED FINAL FOUR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's a really, really good beer.