More than just Beer?

So, this is a disturbing trend. I've always felt that scotch was scotch - aged and classy $50 scotch tasted just like plastic jug $10 scotch. And I was okay with this - I'm already a snob about beer, and I'm nursing a slight snobbery about cigars - do I need something else too?

Apparently so. Being here in Scotland, I've been offered the opportunity to try many more scotches than I ever have before. Now, I'm not to the point of differentiating flavors in a big way, or being able to tell you the regions. But I can tell young from an old, cheap from pricey, and generally pick out the overarching taste. Lucky for me, scotch is an *extremely* expensive habit, so I don't see this one continuing. Fingers crossed!

In the meantime, I've had a chance to try two more local beers! Apparently they're both classified as Scotch ales, although they have very different qualities. First is Isle of Skye Brewing Co's Cuillin Black, followed by Orkney Brewing Co's The Red MacGregor.

The Cuillin Black is a bit of an enigma - dark like a stout, with similar flavors, it's much lighter, like a black ale. However, it lacks the classic roasted malts that you expect from black ales or stout - it's flavored with heather honey and oatmeal, both of which really stick out. There are also some nice sweet malts to round it out. It satisfied my craving for dark beer, but was surprisingly light and sweet. Already craving another of these. Also got try a sip of the Cuillin Red, which was full bodied and delicious, but I didn't get a full glass sadly.

The Red MacGregor was similarly impressive. Not a red ale, not by my reckoning anyway, the flavors come out with bready malts matched with an aggressive and grassy hop note. There's also some caramel there, although it gets a little muddled. The hops were a little distracting, but the picture on the bottle of a giant Scotsman swinging a sword more than made up for that. Not my favorite beer, but well worth a try.

Brewdog!

Ah Brewdog. They kind of rock, in case I haven't ranted and raved enough about them before.

Brewdog is a new scottish brewer, doing interesting and quirky beers, everything from a .5% abv called Nanny State, to a whopping 41% abv called Sink the Bismarck. Needless to say, they're not afraid to be a little weird.

Now, in the states I've had a few of their beers and been really impressed, but most of their beers just aren't available. Thankfully, here in Scotland, things are different. While still not available at the local corner pub, some of the nicer places have them in bottles.

On this particular evening, I got to try both their Zeitgeist and their 77 Lager.

Zeitgeist is a black lager, but it masquerades quite aptly as a stout. Full bodied, rich, and dark, it's a very tasty beer, although pleasantly light as well. The flavors are the usual roasted malts, but also some sweetness - maybe molasses or brown sugar? There are also some sweeter dark fruit notes, and I think of blackberries, or black raspberries, with a little tartness. Overall, and excellent beer.

The 77 Lager, actually a pilsner, did not disappoint either. An aggressive beer, the taste is very clean but potently hopped, balanced by a nice sweet malt flavor. There's an herbal spiciness to the beer too, but I'm not totally sure what it is. Either way, certainly a beer I'd recommend, and one I'd like to try again on a hot summer day.

I also picked up a bottle of Paradox Isle of Arran (4 Pounds!), but I'm saving that for a special occasion, so it'll have to wait. Til next time!

Beers Abroad

Woah, it's been a while since I've updated. Life gets busy sometimes - specifically when you're traveling abroad for a month or so. I'm over in Aberdeen, Scotland, which is pretty damn cool.

Weirdly, they don't have a ton of beers over here. They tend to have a lot of british style bitters or IPAs, neither of which are my favorite. Still, there are a couple good fallbacks. Also, for some reason all their beers on tap are under 5% abv - anybody know if thats a local law or something?

The other weird thing is their focus on cold. I've always heard that a good british beer is best served chilled, but not cold. However, they have extra cold taps of Guinness, Fosters, and a couple other beers. They also serve their ciders on ice, which makes me feel like I'm drinking ginger ale.

So, the beers. Generally over here, they have the usual standbys - Budweiser, Carlsberg, Strongbow, and Fosters. They also have a local brew, Tennants, but these are all pretty much the same ubiquitous light macro beer. Not a huge fan of any of them, so thankfully they have a few others.

They also have Guinness, Belhaven's Best, and Magner's cider. Guinness is a little overrated - as stout's go it's pretty basic. On the other hand, it's consistently and reliably tasty - think the yuengling of stouts. Plus they can draw nifty shapes in the head.

Belhaven's Best is pretty darn good - it's a cream ale that's pleasantly light. It's not a really strong flavor, but the beer is very creamy and refreshing, with just your average malty flavor. Still, it's one of the better beers on tap.

My other option is Magner's cider. Known in Ireland as Bullmers, everywhere else in the world it's called Magners. It's a very dry cider, and deliciously crisp. I'm occasionally frowned upon for getting a girly drink at the pub, but I love this cider and feel no shame.

That's all for now - hopefully I'll find some other interesting Scottish beers to write about. Til then, Cheers!

Such a bad idea

So, no matter what your friends tell you, don't order two twenty ounce glasses of 10% abv beer. I am a lucky man and my evening of drinking only ended in me being overly loud and verbose. two twenty ounce beers, at 10%, is roughly 6 and 2/3 beers. In two glasses. Yikes.

To be fair, they were delicious. At my new favorite pub (apparently), Victoria Gastro, they have a Sunday evening happy hour which is half off draft beer. You can get high quality beer for less then a five spot. This particular evening, I was torn between Heavy Seas Below Decks Barleywine that was Bourbon barrel aged, and Cabernet barrel aged. Truly a dilemma for the ages.

As stated above, after some encouragement from my friends, I ended up getting both. Now, I've never tried Below Decks before, but I could tell right away that it was a pretty tasty barleywine. The dark fruits and candy sugar make it quite drinkable, despite it's high alcohol content. The beer itself isn't particularly adventurous for a barleywine, but the barrel aging changes the game.

Now, a lot of breweries are doing barrel aging - it's sort of the cool new thing. And I for one couldn't be more thrilled. I love barrel aging - it imparts delicious flavors and mellows beers pleasantly. I expected to really like the bourbon barrel aging, but I was surprised to find that I favored the Cabernet barrel aged variety.

The Bourbon variety had some tasty notes of oak and vanilla, but a sharply alcohol bourbon taste combined with the high alcohol content to make the beer a little too boozy for me. The Cabernet variety, on the other hand, had a really nice acidity and tartness that worked well with the dark fruits and masked the heavy booziness of the beer.

Overall, I'd highly recommend giving either of them a try, as they were both very impressive beers. But not both. Even if you can get 20 oz. of both for under ten bucks. Pick your favorite or share with a friend, but even one of these beers will end in a cab ride home, or bringing a DD.

Collaboration is good

So, I was at the neighborhood late-night booze shop. Thankfully, even the super late night stores in the area carry interesting craft beers. I grabbed a bottle of Stone's smoked porter, but I'm saving that for a later date. What grabbed me though, and didn't let go, was a collaboration beer between stone, dogfish head, and victory brewing. A saison, it proudly proclaimed to have been brewed with sage, rosemary, thyme, and parsley.

The beer is called Saison du Buff. Buff stands for Brewers United for Freedom of Flavors, and you can see why. The first smell is pungently spicy, and the taste doesn't do any less. You're hit with a very yeasty flavor, and then with all the aforementioned herbs, shocking your taste buds. This is beer, not a turkey dinner.

The beer is pleasant, and dry, but I felt like it didn't necessarily follow through. The taste is powerful upfront, but then kind of drops off without a noticeable or appreciable aftertaste. Still, for such an interesting beer, I find it hard to judge it too harshly. Obviously there are also some malts, with a pleasant sweetness countering the mild citrusy hops.

Overall, worth a try. This is an *odd* beer, mostly in a good way, and I doubt we'll see another beer like it for a long time. Give it a try, at a little under $4 a bottle, you can't cry too much if you don't like it.

This one took way too long

Seriously, it's been a looong time since I've tried more than a few of these beers. I apologize to my loyal reader (there's one out there, right? :-P) but I just haven't found the time to sit down and hash my thoughts out.

We'll start with the best of the bunch - I was at Victoria Gastro Pub, quickly becoming a favorite of mine, debating between an Oyster Stout and a Saison, when I saw that there was an odd beer. It was a Strawberry Weisse, a "short batch" from Smuttynose. It was described as a sour strawberry beer, and I was hooked. I love Smuttynose, and I liked the idea of trying something limited edition.

The beer was fantastic. It poured a rich, ruby red, and was deliciously sour with a nice flavor of strawberries. This was no thin wheat beer with a hint of fruit - it was a punch in the face. To be fair, I desperately love all things sour, so be prepared to deal with a lot of sour. A relatively uncomplicated beer, I was nonetheless wholly impressed by their ability to make a strong and delicious fruit beer. Fruli strawberry can suck it - this is far and away the best fruit beer I've ever had.

Now, I also feel like I've made a mistake somewhere, because apparently I've never written about Sierra Nevada's Summerfest. This seems wrong, as it's quickly become one of my favorites for summer. Nonetheless, I'll give you my impression, and hopefully you'll forgive any accidental doubling.

Their Summerfest is a lager, but this is no bland golden beer. It has a very nice clean, crisp, and refreshing taste with floral and grassy notes, with a pleasantly assertive hop flavor rounding it out. Not too bitter, it's excellent for hot days and lazing around, with an interesting character but light enough to drink more than a few. According to beer advocate, the beer is a Czech Pilsner, but seeing as the bottle calls it a lager, I'm sticking to that.

I also had a chance, oddly enough, to try their Celebration ale. It's a winter beer from them, but apparently it'd been hiding in the back of my friend, The Culinator's, fridge. Classified as an American IPA, I admit to having my doubts. The beer is excellent - darker and spicy, with a nice hop profile. However, it just doesn't taste as bitter as I expect for an IPA. There are also some sweet malts in there as well, making a nicely balanced beer. Tasty and delicious, although misclassified for my money.

Now, the last beer was good, but a little surprising. While at the Perfect Pour, I picked up a mixed pack of Star Hill. On the box was listed the numerous awards each beer had won - multiple medals at the great American beer festival. Needless to say, I was excited.

Star Hill's Amber Ale is good. It's a nice copper red, with flavors of toffee and caramel, as well as some bready malts. Really though, it was pretty boring. I want to reiterate - it wasn't bad. But it wasn't terribly interesting, especially for a medal winning beer. Not a bad session beer, as I had a couple without evening noticing it, but nothing to write home about.

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.