Fill My Cup: Anchor of Hope

Fill My Cup is a weekly Bible and Beer review where I share notes from a Scripture passage and a critical review of a featured beer. May this series spark discourse, reflection, and promote new learning about craft beer and the Bible. I invite you to engage with me--share your thoughts, comments, and your musings!

Good News

"Hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God's inner sanctuary." Hebrews 6:19

Faith is confidence in what we hope for and an assurance of what we do not see. Hope is the strong an trustworthy anchor of our faith--hope grounds us in Christ. Hope allows us to see past current circumstances because of our belief in Christ and trust in what is yet to come. If you're like me, maybe hope is the very thing that got you through this past election cycle.

While half of the country seems to be living in fear of what is yet to come, Christ-followers have an assurance that God is in control and can, therefore, hope for great things on the horizon despite (or in spite) of whatever the circumstances may be.

Hope transcends fear, worry, doubt. Regardless of whatever you're going through, remember the promise found in Hebrews 6:19-- Hope leads us through the curtain into God's inner Sanctuary. 

Craft Brews

Our Special Ale 2016, Anchor Brewing Co. 6.5% ABV

Our Special Ale is Anchor Brewing's annual seasonal release. Each year, the recipe changes ever so slightly to bring a nuanced flavor to close out the calendar year. This 2016 batch is Anchor's 42nd release of what has now become a seasonal tradition. Just as the recipe changes every year, so does the hand-drawn Christmas tree seen on label in the picture above.

While the craft beer "movement" in America is still fairly young, This California-based brewery brings decades of tradition to the shelves with this holiday release.

"[S]old only from early November to mid-January, the ale's recipe is different every year--as is the tree on the label--but the intent with which we offer it remains the same: joy and celebration of the newness of life." Anchorbrewing.com

Our Special Ale pours a picturesque dark brown, almost black, color with a light head that laces the glass beautifully. The beer gives off a semi-sweet aroma of molasses, caramel, and hints of pine and roasted malt. Spices and sweet molasses lead the initial charge of flavor, followed by caramel, dark fruits, burnt sugar and an earthy hop finish. As the beer warms, the holiday spices and wood notes become more dominate on the palate; the initial sweetness takes a backseat.

The 2016 release of Our Special Ale is one of the better recipes they've released in recent years. Layers of flavor and complex characteristics make this a fun beer to sip and enjoy.

Fill My Cup: Psalm 73 and Beck's Oktoberfest

Fill My Cup is a weekly Bible and Beer review where I share notes from a Scripture passage and a critical review of a featured beer. May this series spark discourse, reflection, and promote new learning about craft beer and the Bible. I invite you to engage with me--share your thoughts, comments, and your musings!

Good News

The more I seek God and dig into the Word, the more I come to certain understandings about who I am and who God is. These epiphanies have led me to a place of gratitude and reflection. I'm thankful that God shares His truth through the Word. This passage from Psalm 73 underscores how important it is that we continue to seek and study the life applications that are found in Scripture, because the truth is: we are flawed.

We are flawed. You are flawed. I am flawed. Even when I'm at my best, I sometimes make some of my worst decisions. It's always a struggle not to give in to certain desires of the flesh and heart. Desires like potato chips. There may not be a better snack ever created.  They're deliciously greasy, salty, and flat out unhealthy. I am fully aware of the facts around potato chips, and yet I can't stay away. They pair well with everything. Literally--I can't think of a scenario that potato chips can't complement. While, I am being somewhat facetious, I think you get the point.

"My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." While we know that we can't count on our own strength because failure people fail all the time, God's strength is guaranteed and everlasting. I recall being in high school as a new Christian. I had this newfound faith in Christ and had experienced an internal transformation that I couldn't fully explain or describe, but nothing else around me was all that different. I had the same friends, same plans, same habits. I was constantly struggling to navigate how to reconcile who I was becoming in Christ and who I was and had been up until that point. I failed countless times. Reverted to old behaviors. Gave in to old pleasures. But God's strength was unwavering, and no matter how many times I messed up, I was able to set my sights back on Him and try again.

I am thankful that God's strength and love is constant. He is our portion forever. He'll always satisfy. He's always going to be enough.

Craft Brews

Now that we are in full swing of the Fall season, there are plenty of choices when it comes to seasonal beer. Beck's beer isn't one that I would typically buy or praise. It's owned by Anheuser-Busch and comes in a green bottle. That's two red flags (and one is usually enough to keep my money in my wallet). Nonetheless, I found this at a local store for $12.99/12-pack and, at just over a dollar a beer, I thought I'd give it an honest try.

The beer pours a clear copper color with a decent head. Malt aromas and caramel notes with some subtle spices are easily detected on the nose. It's a pretty nice aroma. The taste follows suit: light bodied with malt characteristics up front, followed by a smooth caramel sweetness. The finish includes a touch of fall spices and a bready aftertaste. As the beer warms, I pick up some hop dryness as well.

Beck's Oktoberfest isn't as bad as I thought. It's light and easy to drink. Living in Florida, it's a nice alternative to some of the heavier and sweeter Marzens, but it lacks on overall flavor and complexity. It's a nice bargain beer, but won't knock your socks off.

As the saying goes, "You get what you pay for." 

Fill My Cup: Sincere Love and Highland's Oktoberfest

Fill My Cup is a weekly Bible and Beer review where I share notes from a Scripture passage and a critical review of a featured beer. May this series spark discourse, reflection, and promote new learning about craft beer and the Bible. I invite you to engage with me--share your thoughts, comments, and your musings!

Good News

Sincere love is a recurring theme of the Bible. It's rare in man but constant in Christ. He sets the example for us countless times. Christ leads like a servant and humbles Himself while elevating others. He loves in a way that, to be honest, sometimes feels impossible to emulate.

Fortunately for us, God commands us to love and also calls us to repent...probably because he knows we'll fail frequently on the first part. Romans 12:9-10 establishes a bar of excellence not only in regards to how we should show love, but how we should cling to love. Christ epitomizes love. To cling to love is to cling to Christ.

Romans 12:9-10 paints the ultimate picture of Christ's self-sacrificing love on the cross; 

He loved and died so that we may be loved and live.

Craft Brews

I've been reluctant to try any Oktoberfest beers prior to now, but I recently received a bottle of Clawhammer from Highland Brewing and wanted to give it a try. With college and professional football starting back this week, it's a bit easier to transition into the autumn beers.

The aroma is pretty mild with a faint malt sweetness. Clawhammer provides a smooth taste that starts with malt sugars on the front of the palate followed by caramel, toasted grains, and light hops. It's a clean beer--a nice malty marzen that is a solid representation of the style. This not my favorite Oktoberfest, but certainly one I enjoyed.

Fill My Cup: Abram and Intuition

Fill My Cup is a weekly Bible and Beer review where I share notes from a Scripture passage and a critical review of a featured beer. May this series spark discourse, reflection, and promote new learning about craft beer and the Bible. I invite you to engage with me--share your thoughts, comments, and your musings!

Good News

Last week, I talked about how much we are a culture of people who value directions and "how-to" instructions. Genesis 12 begins with God telling Abram to leave everything and everyone he knows and go to a place that God will eventually show Abram. Can you imagine the conversation that must have taken place between Abram and every other rational person around? Abram is about to set out towards a destination that hasn't even been revealed to him yet!

God provides a great promise to Abram, but demands faith and obedience in return. It would have been easy for Abram to be talked out of going. He could have easily talked himself out of going! If nothing else, it certainly would have been a whole lot less inconvenient for Abram to simply stay put where he was settled and comfortable.

Stepping out in faith is uncomfortable. It's risky. Yet it's also rewarding. In this scenario, God not only promises Abram a great nation and a blessing upon his name, but God goes as far to say, "I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." God's promises and His blessings have a broad reach. and often have an overflowing impact that extends beyond us. When we are willing to listen to God's direction for our lives and take steps in our faith, we can be assured that God will honor our faithful obedience.

In what way is God calling you to step out in faith?

Craft Brews

I took a trip back to Jacksonville this past week and picked up a can of Easy on the Eyes from Intuition Ale Works. This is a session IPA which simply mostly means it's a lighter IPA with a lower ABV (4.7%). Often, session IPAs (and session beers in general) are made for easy drinkin'.

There's a big aroma that comes with this beer--bright citrus notes and a slight dankness. Easy on the Eyes is also easy on the palate. There are flavors of bitter orange peel, melon, and a nice tropical juiciness that I enjoyed. It's a medium bodied beer--a bit more than I expected--that ends with a very crisp and slightly cloying finish.

Easy on the Eyes is no chump. While it is a session IPA, Intuition did not skimp on the hop flavors, but it's balanced just enough to make this a nice summer-time IPA. The aroma oversells the beer just a tad and was definitely my favorite part about the beer, but it's still a nice choice and lighter alternative to Intuition's flagship I-10 IPA.

Fill My Cup: God's Direction and Tampa-Style Lager

Welcome to the new weekly series, "Fill My Cup." The series will invite readers to share in and engage with my personal review of the Bible and also my critical tasting notes of a beer from the week. May this series spark discourse and reflection, while learning something new about craft beer and the Bible. I invite you all to engage with me--share your thoughts, comments, and musings along the way!

Good News

We are obsessed with directions. It's no wonder four of the top ten self-made YouTube millionaires made their money by posting "how-to" videos. Looking for the best Thai food in a 10 mile radius? There's an app for that. Need directions on how to learn a new instrument? There are dozens of videos online to get you started. Heading on a road trip and need directions on the quickest route? Cellphones now come with built-in GPS apps that not only provide you with a turn-by-turn direction, but they will calculate the best route given traffic and roadside hazards. If you're anything like me, you like to have your GPS on even when you know where you're going because sometimes it's nice to see you're still going the right way.

The directions we rely on everyday are only helpful when we have access to and can understand them (IKEA, I'm looking at you). God provides us with the ultimate set of directions: His voice. All we have to do is hear it. I love the line, "Whether you turn to the right or the left," because God knows that we are constantly losing our focus and that we have an inkling to lead ourselves astray. But the assurance we have is that at anytime, no matter how far off the path we've gone, His voice is always behind us, always leading.

Perhaps, the hardest thing to do is listen.

Craft Brews

If you're looking for directions to the best beer to help you finish out the summer heat, Cigar City's Tampa-Style Lager may be your beer. This American lager is a refreshing and light beer that has hints of tropical bitterness to make this an easy winner over some of the alternative light lagers on the shelves. The initial flavors on the palate are light cracker and grain malt with sweet corn and a dry, slightly bitter finish.

Tampa-Style Lager has been my go-to summer beer. It's highly drinkable, mildly crisp, and smooth. I could have used a bit more crispness on the finish, but other than that this is a very good beer that I suspect most people who try it will like.

The New Beer Apostle Logo

I am excited to share the new and official logo for this site! The logo was designed by Stephen Nichols of Tallahassee Craft Beer. I asked Stephen to help me capture the essence of the Beer Apostle, and this logo does exactly that.

I also want to thank all those who voted to help me decide which logo you preferred. The votes came in at nearly 70% in favor of the logo you see here. So, YOU literally had a hand in this decision. And I couldn't be happier with this logo!

Feel free to contact Stephen for design work by clicking on any of the links above, or you can find him on Twitter: @TallyCraftBeer

Interested in learning more about how Beer Apostle came to be? Want to learn about how you can contribute to this site? You'll find everything you're looking for below. Just keep reading...

Interested in contributing to the Beer Apostle Site? Want to write a guest review?

I am always open to having guest contributions to the site. I am not the only person with a message, thus I am not the only Beer Apostle!

If you're interested in writing a review of a beer, event, or bar (or any other topic relating to beer), you can contact me by Email, Twitter, or Facebook.

Have beer you want me to review? 

If you enjoy this site and have a brew you'd like me to review, you can contact me for the address and information. As a beer enthusiast, I am always excited to expand my horizons and try new beers. This absolutely includes homebrews, too!

If you're a bar or restaurant owner, or are planning an event that you'd like me to feature, please email me for more details on how we can work together.

So, Beer Apostle. Is that like, beer and Christianity, or something?

The etymology of Apostle is a Middle English word meaning "one who is sent on a mission." The word has several religious contexts, and in this case, I am deliberately identifying with the Christian context of the word.

I am a Christian. I am also a person who enjoys tasting, sharing, and reviewing craft beer. I don't find that to be a bad blend. In fact, I find them to be quite compatible.

Beer has a rich history with Christianity--it was invented by Monks--and later enjoyed by amazing Christian leaders (CS Lewis and Pope John Paul are just two that come to mind).

Beer brings people together in unique ways. It's a common bond among people with vast differences. Craft beer has given me the opportunity to share my story, my experiences, my passions with people with whom I otherwise might never have met.

This site is not religious by any means, and I don't mean it to be. However, just as I cannot separate who I am from my Christian beliefs, I also cannot separate this blog from its Christian author. Thus, the Beer Apostle is nothing more than a beer blog, written by a Christian, who believes these things--beer and Christianity--can coexist.

Want to read more about the history of beer and Christianity? Check out these cool links!

• Cults, Christians, and Lagers--Where Did the Idea that Alcohol was a Sin Come From?
• The Story of God and Guinness
• Christians Drink Beer Too