The Year in Beer

Name: Pride & Joy Mild Ale

Brewer: Three Floyds Brewing Co., Munster, Ind.

By the numbers: About 150 calories per 12 oz.; 5.0 percent alcohol by volume

Notes: Three Floyds describes itself as an “artisanal” brewer. It was founded by Nick, Simon and Mike Floyd in Hammond, Ind. in 1996 and moved to Munster in 2000. Three Floyds has the distinction of having three beers ranked as among the Top 25 best beers in the world for 2011 by ratebeer.com. This mild ale, however, is not one of them. Their highest rated beer is their Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout, which they only sell one day a year. Anyhoo, I wouldn’t put Pride & Joy in my list of top beers, but it’s still a pretty decent brew. It poured a golden amber color with a thick white head and had a citrus aroma. Basically, it tasted like a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. It was light and crisp, with medium bitterness.

Try it with: A return to football and its evil twin, fantasy football. This year, I completely forgot about my online draft and probably still ended up with a better team than if I had drafted it myself. I just don’t have the time to watch preseason games and pore over stats like I used to. But it still makes watching meaningless games fun.

    — Posted by Mike Freimann