Pub Dog

First of all, damned be to Baltimore. Everything here seems to close by like 8:30pm. Why is there no delicious quick food open late at night?

More importantly, beer. And not just any beer, Pub Dog beer. For those who don't know, Pub Dog is a Baltimore restaurant which makes both pizza and beer in house. For my money, it's one of the better local breweries. Not exceedingly complex or adventurous, but damned tasty.

I was at my local liquor store, checking out the bombers, when I spied a bottle of Pub Dog, Dog Fest. Dog Fest is their fall seasonal, an oktoberfest style beer, which I'd never tried. Further, I'd never seen their beer in the bottle, so needless to say I was excited.

The beer was a little rough at first, somewhat bitter, though that might have been the food. Either way, I poured a second glass and let it sit, as well as having finished my dinner, and was left with an excellent beer. Very drinkable, with a nicely spiced aftertaste. It's not quite as crisp as some beers I've tried, but the color is wonderful, a beautiful golden-amber. I see this more as a beer you'd sip in the evening, rather than a beer you'd have with friends, or with dinner; though I'm still working on why.

Either way, quite tasty, and highly recommended.

-The Unabashed Ungourmet

An aside, and more beer!

So, I promise I'll stick to my format, but a brief side note.

Turkey is a surprisingly easy to use meat. A little healthier than beer (who cares?), and more importantly a little cheaper. It's also a pretty bland meat by itself, so it absorbs other flavors well. It's less fatty, so you'll need to use a little oil or other fat-type-thing to make it adhere while cooking, but it's well worth it. I recently made turkey meatballs and a turkey burger, and they were delicious :-D

Also, sauteing garlic. Tougher than it seems. It needs a much higher temperature, but also burns unfortunately easily. I'm working on ways to make it work, but I'm 0 for 1 on the "throw it and butter into a pan at the same time" idea.

But what do these things have to do with burgers and beer you ask? Nothing! But this is my blog, so suck it. I will occasionally tangent off about whatever cooking thing I'm trying. Feel free to skip it if you are terribly offended.

Back to the point, more catching up!

The first beer I'm recounting was the Three Philosophers beer. I had been aching to try this since I heard about it. I studied a lot of philosophy in college (hahahahah oh god why?), and thought the name was just too funny. Little did I know what I was in store for.
The brewer of this beer, Ommegang, is a New York brewer that makes Belgian style beers. For those who don’t know, they tend to be a bit fruity, a bit spicy, and somewhat strange.
Three philosophers was all of that, in delicious form. The spices were palatable without being overwhelming, and worked well with the fruits to create a very interesting and entirely unique taste. I do not have a complex enough knowledge of beer to appreciate all the flavors, but I can tell you this much: this beer is way smarter than you. The best you can do is acknowledge that, and enjoy it anyway.

Also; a second, and sadly worse beer. This account will discuss a most unusual beer, which has greatly vexed me. I was out at a local bar, and saw that they had a Crème Brule stout. It sounded delicious, and I decided that I needed some. The first sip was fantastic. It smelled like the delicious desert, and I enjoyed it. It was the first beer I tried by Southern Tier, and I was suitably impressed.
But then, alas, it turned on me. The sweet smell became almost cloying, and made the beer taste more and more bitter. Combined with the potent alcohol content (something close to 9%), I was eventually struggling to choke down the bitter, alcoholic beer, all its former glory gone.
It may be my taste buds are just not mature enough yet, but this beer was altogether pretty bad. It started great, but the smell was in too sharp of a contrast to the flavor of the beer itself. A sad, sad day for stout lovers.

Mick O Sheas

So, I admit to being pretty skeptical of an Irish Pub in Baltimore. Not that it's tough to do, so much as they're dime a dozen.

Mick O Sheas though, was pretty impressive. They had a better than expected tap list (more in a moment), and the food was very good without being horribly expensive. I highly recommend getting O'Sheas Won tons; won tons stuffed with potato, cheddar, and bacon. Mmmmm good.

Anyway, so we had the fortune of a server error, and end up with an extra dogfish head 60 minute IPA to split. I found it surprisingly drinkable, especially considering I'm not a fan of pale ales, much less IPAs. The bitterness was ever present, but it didn't interfere with the potent (but indistinguishable to my immature palette) flavors.

The real treat though was the Resurrection Ale. It's a Belgian style ale, brewed here in Baltimore at The Brewer's Art. It was a delicious ale, sweet without being sugary, and with full rich flavors that made me think a little bit of a dubbel(later confirmed as the actual style!), or maybe just a more flavorful brown ale. Either way, it was all manner of delicious, especially at a robust 9% abv. Definitely give this a try if you get a chance.

More DuClaw goodness

So, as any of you residents know, Baltimore has just been a hellhole this past week. Overcast, with a constant frigid drizzle. It's just been a gross place to live.

To improve on this condition, I decided to have a beer at DuClaw, brighten my spirits a bit.

I started out with a pint of their seasonal Scotch Ale, Twisted Kilt. Now, Sam Adams Scotch Ale is far and away one of the better beers I've had, so I had pretty high expectations. Overall though, I found the taste of alcohol tended to override the other tastes. There were hints of a smoky flavor, and maybe some sort of woody or nutty flavor as well, but they weren't terribly well defined. There was also a sweetness to the beer that was somewhat unsettling. It wasn't a bad beer, but it definitely didn't live up to expectations.

I also tried their nut brown ale, Consecration. That was actually quite tasty, with a powerful flavor of chestnut, or something similar. Nicely enough, it was still refreshing without being heavy, but was richly flavored.

I should side note, I had a sampler of their Oktoberfest seasonal, Mad Bishop. Now, those tiny samplers are hardly enough to really judge a beer, but my impression was favorable. Like many other Oktoberfest beers, there was a rich taste of spices, along with a fairly crisp taste. I've always felt that a good Oktoberfest should remind me of a fall day, and this one certainly seemed to pass the test. I'm going to try it again next weekend, so more on it then, for sure.

Beers in Annapolis?

I know, what blasphemy, right? Well, by chance, I found myself in that other Maryland city this past friday night. After enjoying a sampler of the local brews, but finding nothing too amazing, I saw that they had Old Dominion Oak Barrel Stout on tap.

I should preface this by saying that Dominion's stout is easily one of my favorite beers, but I'd never had it on tap before.

I feel like I could sing the praises of this beer forever and a day. Dominion’s stout is simply amazing. It’s delicious and full flavored, bringing in strong flavors of oak, and a deep, full taste. It is neither bitter nor sweet, but surprisingly refreshing for a stout. For once I didn’t feel like I was full after a single beer.

However, this is not to be toyed with. This beer is a delicious treat, but I wouldn’t go so far as to pair it with food. This is a sipping beer, to be appreciated by itself (hopefully on a pedestal if you have one handy). Very possibly my favorite stout.

In fact, it's even better on tap than bottled. On tap, it brings out the oak flavor even more, and has a delightfully frothy head. Just a fantastic beer.

DuClaw

So, as I may have noted on several occasions, I do live and breathe sometimes for a brewery in Maryland called DuClaw. The name is weird, but don't let it throw you off. Apart from some seriously tasty bar food (I recommend the buffalo dip), they have wonderful, amazing beers.

My favorites are definitely Alchemy, and Venom though.

Alchemy is DuClaw’s stout. Oh Gosh. Coffee and chocolate float through this hefty drink, sweetening it from the first sip to the last drop. A very sweet stout, some people are not big fans, but they can go suck it. I love this beer, and order it most any time I go to DuClaw. It goes well with most any food too, as the flavor doesn’t interfere, but doesn’t get overwhelmed by the food either. A very balanced, and tasty drink.

Venom on the other hand is their pale ale, kind of a polar opposite. A brief into: I hate pale ales. They are bitter. I find bitter gross. Cool?

With that in mind, I love this beer. I love it so much; I can’t even have it that often because I’m afraid I’ll spoil it for myself. It has all the flavor of complex pale ale, very refreshing and delicious, with none of the bitter after taste. The whole time, you’ll be expecting it to come like a roundhouse to the face, but it mercifully stays the pain that follows most of its brethren. I have tried many, many pale ales, and this is the only one I have ever enjoyed. It is a fantastic beer, and I wish I knew how they made it that way.

All of the below are beers I’ve tried at some time or other. They’re all pretty goof in their own ways, but I haven’t enjoyed them enough to have them repeatedly.

Hellraiser IPA – Wow. Very bitter. If you like bitter beers, this is your bag, but otherwise be warned. It’s a very clear taste, with a BITE for an aftertaste

Misfit Red – Oh so delicious. I don’t get this often, and I kick myself for that. It’s a fantastic Irish Red, flavorful without being bitter, sweet without losing body and flavor. Highly recommended

That Blonde Ale – Eh. I don’t even remember its name. It’s a more complex Budweiser. What else can I say?

Kangaroo Love – It tasted like soap. No, seriously. I don’t know why. It just wasn’t my kind of beer I suppose, very weak. It's supposed to be an Australian beer, but I just wasn't having any of their shenanigans.

Sawtooth – Their seasonal Wit Beer. Very impressive, somewhat spicy, and deliciously refreshing for summer time. Still, you really have to like Wheat beers to be into this bad boy. Enjoyed it but not desperate to try it again.

Celtic Fury – One of their spring beers, a delicious stout reminiscent of Guinness. I was actually very impressed by it, a nice coffee flavor without being bitter or tasting burnt, but others didn’t share my enthusiasm. Sadly, it has a somewhat abbreviated run, so I’m eagerly awaiting trying it again next year.

Playing catch up...

So, the freaking title of my blog mentions burgers, and yet thus far nary a sentence about what may well be my favorite food. Well, that's all about to change. I realize I wrote a lot of these reviews, then promptly forgot to post them. I've got a good bit of catch up to do, hopefully in somewhat reasonable installments. So, we'll start with the best.

Oh Five Guys. How do I even begin?

The first time I tried Five Guys, I was in Washington DC, visiting a friend. I’d heard of this place before, but had never been convenient to try it. Needless to say, I consider that among the top five mistakes I’ve made in my entire life.
The first thing that strikes you is that this place isn’t run by greedy jerks. There are free peanuts, cups for water are free, and they have a list of burger toppers to shame most anywhere, everything from mushrooms to hot sauce.

Being the simple man I am, I order the regular cheeseburger, just lettuce and mayo. Wow. From the first bite you get juicy meat without it tasting greasy or cold. The burger is smashed together with a bun that is spongy (in a good way), and doesn’t fall apart. The cheese is delightfully melted, and the toppings surround the whole thing. The regular cheeseburger is two patties, and more than filling enough, even for a hungry guy like me.

Simply put: this is the best fast food burger I have ever had. And I continue to be impressed. Every time I go to Five Guys, I come away extremely satisfied. They rock. Go there, now. In fact, just writing about them makes me hungry.

P.S. – The Fries. Good god. They deserve their own article. Coming in either regular or Cajun, they take a cup, put it in a bag, and proceed to fill the bag up past the level of the cup, with fries. A regular is good enough for two people; a large can feed as many as four. Or, if you’re a fat kid like me, you can eat them all yourself.

And, since I'm never done talking, I'll even through in a beer review of a variety I got to try recently. I was at my local snobby liquor store, and saw that Dominion had released an Oktoberfest beer. Que Interresante!

Yikes. This was a dark beer. Dominion’s stout, which I worship, doesn’t hold a candle to this inky bastard. It’s a seasonal Marzen, and it lives up to the name with all the flavors of a crisp fall centered around a good balance of hops. A little bitter at points, the overall flavor is very smooth for such a dark beer. I really enjoyed it, but many of my friends find it loathsome, so drink at your own peril. This is definitely more of a sipping beer that needs your full attention.