Around the world

That's the gimmick of the latest beer I tried. My friend The Culinator came over this past wednesday to share some beer and enjoy Top Chef goodness. Currently the show is Top Chef masters, and while Culinator is not as amused with the contestants ("There's nobody to hate!"), the host ("She doesn't eat anything!", or the skill level ("I like it better when they fuck up"), I think the show is pretty badass.

The chefs on the show are all famous restaurant owners, well known in their craft, so there is less amateurism, and more impressive competition. The latest chef was eliminated because although their dish was delicious and well made, it was too simple and ordinary (toast with coconut jam, and a soy sauce egg. More than I could do, but less than the crusted swordfish, the pan fried scallops, the cured salmon and steak tartar.

With it, we enjoyed Dogfish Head's Pangea. Uncertain at first what kind of boooze it was, we looked it up. It is, as reported by Beer Advocate, a Belgian Strong Pale Ale. A bit of a mouthful, but I was intrigued. The flavor profile, perhaps unsurprisingly, is pretty similar to a Saison or Biere de Garde. It's got some serious fruity esters, with a nice hop finish, and an interesting ginger note.

Really, the big complaint from us both was how timid and mild it was. It felt like the flavors were all very dissipated, as if I was seeing them from a long way off. The flavors were each tasty, but just hints of their full potential. I was pretty unimpressed, considering how much I like dogfish head, but this beer just didn't do it for me. It's not a bad beer by any stretch of the imagination, but it just feels like a shadow of what it could and should be/what other beers are. Worth a try, but don't think I'd get it again.

Now, a word to the wise. We had the beer at room temperature, but we wondered whether chilling with concentrate the somewhat weak flavors. The bottle warned us not to, that the beer was best served chilled, but not cold. Luckily we only used about a sip each to get it cold, because it was AWFUL. All alcohol and bitterness, without any real flavor until the aftertaste. Definitely follow the bottle here folks - chilled, not cold.

In retrospect, I wonder whether judging this as if a saison or biere de garde is wrong - after all, in terms of a pale ale it wasn't all that bad. Crisp and refreshing, with enough bite to be interesting but not too much. However, they didn't call it a belgian pale ale. They called it belgian strong pale ale. And I expect something a little more forceful when they call it a strong ale - Arrogant Bastard and Brooklyn Local #2 are strong ales. This just isn't in the same weight class as those heavy hitters.

Revisiting the past

So, most of my early forays into craft beer are due to my dad. He drinks interesting and odd beers, and he has usually been okay with me sipping them. One of the first of these I remember was at the grand opening of Victoria Gastro Pub, so it was years ago, maybe even before I went to college.

He had ordered this hilariously named beer, Arrogant Bastard. It sounded ridiculous and I had to try some. It went down like tile cleaner though, bitter and horrid. Ever since then I've always shied away from Stone's Arrogant Bastard. But I realized that it's been years, and I owed it another try. If just for the name, I had to try Arrogant Bastard again.

And much to my surprise, it was pretty damn delicious. The beer has a pretty prodigious head, which sticks around for a while. The bitterness is still a pretty major aftertaste, lingering for quite a while. But as the beer warms, the bitterness becomes less pronounced, and overall the taste isn't super bitter. Definitely hoppy, with some grapefruit and chocolate. This wasn't my favorite beer ever, but it was challenging, and interesting, and I feel like I conquered a pretty major part of my past.

I also had the good fortune to try Lagunitas Wilco Tango Foxtrot, an imperial brown ale. The name is absolutely fitting, as this beer comes on strong and stays powerful but delicious. It's nutty, with some caramel and chocolate, and a nice malt sweetness, but an undertone of hops that keeps this from being a sweet beer. A seriously tasty brown ale, this is a more powerful version of a typically tame beer. Definitely recommend a try for anyone who likes brown ales.

Recap time!

So, with finals taking up all my time, I saved all my wonderful beer for a single blog post. Bear with me, this is gonna get a little long.

I wasn't planning to jump into ridiculous beers, but the first weekend of finals, I went home to find out my friends were having a horse racing party. Which race? I don't know! However, I was able to acquire some delicious beers, and branch out a little.

The first was Troeg's Sunshine Pils. This aggressive looking beer seemed like a nice compliment to a hot spring day. And oh it was. Nice and refreshing, with a pleasant hop taste that never overwhelmed the nice lemony citrus. I'm not necessarily a huge pilsner fan, but this was a great beer to sip on a hot day.

I also grabbed Flying Dog's Garde Dog. I've been more and more intrigued with Biere De Garde, a style similar to the Saison. This was a pretty meek version of the style though. Not bad by any means, but a little timid, especially for Flying Dog. A great introduction to the style though for any wary newcomers. It's generically yeasty and spicy, and not a lot more can be said.

I figured I'd be done with beer for a little while at least, crazy me. I had forgotten that I planned to go out for drinks after my first final with Sparrow, Stark, and The Girlfried (aka llama lady aka cat staring at a butterfly aka cutiesaurus rex). I was determined to try this little chic wine bar in Hamden called 13.5%

The place is awesome. I can't even pretend to be snobbish - it was a great mix of classy and relaxed. The food was also ridiculously good. I had stout braised short ribs that literally fell apart and melted in my mouth. Oh god so good. I also had their tiramisu, which was less impressive, but still very tasty.

Mostly though, I was excited to try some beer. I had noticed that they had Evolution's Lucky 7 Porter on tap. I'd been dying to try this for a while, and had even contemplated getting some for the horse racing party, but realized that porter and hot spring days don't mix for most people.

It was delicious, but a little disappointing towards the end. The beer started out as everything I'd ever loved about porters - full flavors of roasted malts, some nice coffee notes, and a little chocolate too, not too bitter and pleasantly light. Mmmm porters. The problem though came after a little while of sipping - maybe it was my excessive hunger, but the beer started to just have a sickly sweet aftertaste. It was just upsetting at the end of a dark, roasty beer to suddenly taste brown sugar everywhere. I feel like I owe this beer another try though, because I've heard so many good things.

What's better than Porter? More Porter! And luckily for me, I'd chosen a hell of a porter to follow up Lucky 7. I got my hands on a probably too expensive but oh so worth it bottle of Rogue's Double Mocha Porter. The taste is boozy, but oh so much coffee/chocolate mix, and roasted malts. I realize that this is how I describe every porter, but c'mon. Until someone does something crazy with the style, that is how you make a delicious porter. This one packs a ridiculous punch of espresso and dark chocolate, satisfying the biggest fan of coffee beer.

And I thought I was done until after finals. I'd had a good week of delicious beers, and was ready to relax until the end of finals. Oh, but I was wrong. I went home for mothers day, with ChefSister and DudeBrah, as well as the rest of the family. What I didn't expect was to be sent out to get beer. Oh, and beer I got.

Started out with a 6 pack of Allagash white, which was absolutely delicious. Allagash white might be my favorite wheat beer, always ridiculously refreshing and surprisingly flavorful. Oh, but that wasn't the end.

No, I was asked to get an oatmeal stout. Oh darn, right? And what did I find there, but a beer I'd been searching for - Rogue's Shakespeare Stout. I know I promised to avoid stouts, but what can I do? It pours a gorgeous black with a cocoa colored head. It's sweet oats and milk chocolate all the way through for this one.

And finally, just when I thought I was done, DudeBrah pulled out the Fordham Scotch Ale, with which to marinate the brats (which was amazing, by the way). I'd had my eye on Fordham's scotch ale for a while, as a big fan of scotch ales. It pours a nice copper brown, and smells all manner of smoke. The taste is standard scotch ale, peat moss, smoke, and some sweet fruits. Really a great example of scotch ales, if not too exciting - think of it as a good mid point.

Finally, last but far from least, I saved a real mad man for my last finals beer. I received from a friend at law school a bottle of Samichlaus. For those who don't know, it's a famous Barleywine that is barrel aged and bottle aged, and is basically a wine among beers.

it pours a gorgeous cherry wood red, with little to no head. The first smell is all alcohol and a cloyingly sweet note of candied sugar and licorice. The taste follows up with a sharp shock of alcohol that warms nicely and tastes of cherries and raisins, and maybe some plum. Not even a hint of hops to be found, but the abundant malts more than make up for it, with a surprisingly sweet (molasses? syrup?) aftertaste despite the booziness.

The beer is a little overpowering at first, but as it warms it settles into a delicious desert of a beer. Not that I've tried it before, but I'd put this up against Port any day of the week for a nice after dinner drink. One is enough though - and then some. At 14% abv, you'll want to sip this one nice and slow.

So yeah. My alcohol infused, ridiculous finals week and a half. Yikes. Glad to be done, sad to see those delicious beers disappear. Until next time!