Two Parter

Right, so I'm bad about updating. But I swear, it's all about how busy life is!

For example, a perfectly boring wednesday evening turned into a several hour long baseball games followed by celebratory beers with friends. Specifically, I was lured into buying a cheap seat for the last of the O's games against the A's - which turned out to be a good call.

We walked into the stadium and right up the seats in lower right field, and sat down to enjoy the game. Note that our lack of nervousness and sketchiness can probably be credited for the ushers not harassing us. Also, for whatever reason the lower level ushers are waaaaaay less anal about leaving people alone than upper level seat nazi ushers. How odd.

Anyway, it turned out to be a good game - Mark Reynolds acted like a real baseball player, Zach Britton pitched 6 solid innings, and the O's swept the A's for a 3 game series. Also, the opponents had such players as Dr. Jesus (dejesus but whatever) and Coco Crisp. Seriously. How the fuck is he named Coco Crisp?

Anyway, in the wake of our excellent victory, me, Metal Chef and Metal Chef's brother decided we needed excellent beers. Lucky for us, Alewife is just a few short blocks from Camden Yards, and welcomes us from the heat with AC and good beers. Imagine my thrill at seeing Heavy Seas limited release Plank 1 on tap! As my reader will know, I love wood aged beers, and here is one specifically made to showcase the flavor of wood aging (Poplar in this case).

The smell is dark and roasty, and the first sip reminds me of an amber or a nut brown. However, you're soon whisked away by the rich flavor of poplar, complemented by sweet malts and hints of caramel. Really an excellent beer, this needs to be sipped by itself to appreciate it, but I definitely recommend it as an interesting and challenging beer.

And then of course, we come to part II. A nice relaxing weekend is such a silly idea - so of course it ends up jam packed. Friday starts at 6:30am where I'm awoken and whisked off to the girlfriend's farm, for a day's labor in the hundred plus degree heat. Watering, weeding, shooting bbs at birds, and picking rhubarb are a good digest of the day, aside from hanging lines for some netting we were putting up. Sadly, it had been inelegantly cut and served mostly to piss us all off for several long hours. And oh they were long. Despite drinking multiple bottles of water, I felt like I was in the desert.

Anyway, my torture eventually ceases, and I make my way home for beers with the family. Nothing terribly interesting there, other than: avoid anderson valley's cream ale unless you really want super sweet butterscotch beer. Anyway, this evening transitioned into saturday morning, for which was planned a day of paintball! I love paintball. It's the best. But that didn't sound like enough effort, so of course CAPS LOCK and I went for a four mile run. Woooo!

The actual paintball was pretty fun - it started slow with some less than excellent courses, but got better throughout the day. I prefer more open-ended courses, while they did a lot of linear stuff, but it was still challenging and fun. Sadly, as weekend warriors we were ill-equipped to deal with the automatic weapon toting paintball pros we were up against, but fun was still had, and welts gained, by all.

The beer that capped this little adventure (as well as way too much driving and a lot of Popeyes food) was Great Divide's Colette - a farmhouse ale or saison. I'm a pretty big fan of saisons, and this was an interesting take. Light and refreshing, it refrained from a lot of the spice that most versions go fairly heavy one. Instead, the flavors had an enjoyable clarity, allowing me to pick out some nice lemon zest, as well as some yeasty notes, resulting in a lightly tart and extremely tasty beer. This goes on the list of excellent summer beers that don't skimp on flavor.

Anyway, hope your days are exciting and your beers delicious - til next time!

The Epitome of Class

That's how I'm defining the latest outing with Sparrow and CapsLock. See, when you're a twenty something, most people get these pretensions of class, and stop doing things like drinking at a playground. I, on the other hand, highly endorse all forms of ridiculosity.

Especially those that start at 11:45pm and end with the three of you drinking wine from a bottle, smoking cigars, and scaring off teenagers. Basically I get a call informing me that drinking adventures are happening. I ambush the car, giving Sparrow a heart attack, and we're off. After grabbing a 6-pack of Sierra Nevada Summerfest, a bottle of some red wine, and a cigar, we're off.

Sparrow and I have a long history of staking out the various little parks/playgrounds in suburbia and spending the early mornings there drinking beer and doing everything from talking deep philosophy to fan-casting our friends in Harry Potter. Also, swinging on the swings. This is a fantastic old tradition of ours, and so we were enjoying this once again, along with CapsLock.

Why do I call him CapsLock? Well, see, everything he does IS IN CAPITAL LETTERS. He doesn't cook breakfast, he COOKS BREAKFAST AHHHHHH! He doesn't do push-ups, he DOES PUSH-UPS GRAAAARRRRRGGHHHHH! He doesn't head-but tables, he HEAD-BUTS THE FUCKING TABLE TO DEATH. He's a lot of fun to say the least.

Now, when we arrived at our old spot, it was already full of teenagers. And while CapsLock and I debated a hostile takeover, we realized there was an identical spot just a little ways away. So a short drive and a walk down a sketchy path through the dark woods (which wasn't actually that bad), we arrived at the other playground. We'd heard voices, but they'd disappeared as we'd gotten close so we figured they'd run off. Except, as I explored the area with my flashlight, I had the sneaking suspicion that several large forms weren't actually part of the equipment.

Starting a conversation with "Hi? We're not cops guys. It's ok" is pretty awkward, but apparently pretty effective, because it quickly defused a weird situation, and let us get back to what was important: the beer.

In between debates about personal philosophy, finishing the cigar, and swigging red wine from the bottle, I was thankful to have on hand my Summerfest. As those who've read this before know, this is one of my favorite beers. It's a great example of a beer that doesn't try to hard, but manages to be tasty and flavorful without being super aggressive. From start to finish Summerfest is a pretty mild beer, but that makes it perfect for a hot summer day (or spring evening as may be the case). It's got a lot of sweet malts with a nice hoppy undercurrent, and the sensation of a cool drink of water without lacking in the flavor department. The malts are grassy and the hops add a nice clean bitterness to the finish.

All in all, one of my favorite session beers for the summer, this was a great beer for a great night. Oh, and someone tell CapsLock that holding a position based on an unknowable factor is ultimately not very useful, even if it is interesting :-P

May your days be hot and your beers refreshing! Cheers!

The thing about spring

A wonderful thing happens during spring, where the cold weather finally flees off back to wherever it comes from (Minnesota obviously). However, I admit to sometimes feeling a little bit lost when my dark, dark heavy beers feel out of place. Those beers make me feel warm and content and full, not light and refreshed. And I love them for that, but come summer time, I'm a little lost.

Luckily, brewing companies recognize this and release all manner of deliciously lighter beers - oftentime a fruity or hoppy beer to compliment the hot weather and long days outside. I'm currently grooving on Sierra Nevada's Glissade, a Golden Bock that is lightly hopped but very flavorful. The nose is hoppy and wheaty, and the flavor goes along with that bring out nice sweet malts to match the mild IPAs. Not the most aggressive, but a really pleasant session beer, this is a good one for the long hot days outside,

I've also been enjoying a friend's leftover Snake Dog IPAs from Flying Dog. I'm not typically a big IPA fan, but this one is light and refreshing and exactly the sort of splash of water I need on hot days. The smell is all hops from the generous head, and the taste just enhances more nice floral hops and citrus fruits. About the depth of my IPA enjoyment, it's still a great beer.

I also feel I should mention another beer I really dug on, although admittedly it doesn't fit with my spring theme. Recently local brewer DuClaw has come out with a beer called Black Lightning. Now, I'm all about storms and lightning, but I was distraught to hear that this wasn't a black ale but a black IPA. I was concerned about the hoppiness of this beer, but my first sip set my heart at ease. The roasted malts and coffee flavors blend nicely with the hops, opposing eachother but creating a nice balance in the process. Definitely an aggressive beer, this isn't for the weak of heart. And like I said, it doesn't exactly make you think of spring, but it's delicious enough to deserve a mention.

Hopefully you're enjoying some of this lovely weather - see you all next time!

Something to distract me during finals

Seriously, this is why I'm writing this. The more I focus on outlining my notes, the stronger my headache grows and the more I suspect my eyes might pop out and go scampering off.

For those of you lucky enough to love things other than the legal profession, you may not know what outlining is. Basically, because law school doesn't give multiple grades, you have one exam. One giant test, covering an entire semester's worth of knowledge, which will determine your grade in this class. Outlining is the process whereby you take the notes you took in class, and turn them into some manner of organized mass about the material for class.

Saintly teachers will allow you to bring these into exams, from whence you can check and receck your definitions of trespass to chattels. Sadly, evil, evil professors will sometimes refuse to let you use these outlines. Or your textbook. In case of that, I recommend lots of studying. Or, if you're me, slacking off with my roommates and having a good beer.

In this case, I would say go for something dark and filling. Your impulse, in these times of lovely weather, may be to reach for something crisp, refreshing, and maybe even a little hoppy. And normally I'd be with you. Currently chilling in my fridge are Flying Dog's Snake Dog IPA, and Sierra Nevada's Glissade. I'm even dreaming a little of Troeg's Sunshine Pils and Sierra's Summerfest.

However! Be swayed not by these tempting brews. You're about to settle in for several hours of mind numbing horror as you re-read, re-interpret, translate, and organize the mass of horror known as your (my) notes. A good beer for this would be Great Divide's Yeti, preferably the espresso aged variety. Lacking that however, I'll go ahead and pimp the beer I'm currently stocked of in my fridge - Breckenridge's Vanilla Porter.

Now, when I first tried this porter, I was sad. It tasted...watery. It was sort of dark and a little roasty, but pretty underwhelming. Especially for a beer performing well in Washington Post's Beer Madness 2011 (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/artsandliving/foodanddining/features/2011/beer-madness/). But, as they tell me, patience is indeed a virtue. Like a wonderful flower in springtime, as this beer warmed it's flavors opened up into a wave of delicious tastes. Vanilla bean fresh off the...vine? (orchid seed pod, thanks Sparrow). Chocolate, and wonderful mild chocolate malts. Mmmmmm. Truly a beer for me to brace myself against the madness of outling and help me last long into the evening, tapping frantically.

For those of you done with exams, cheers to you. For those about to take them, good luck. And for those without exams, will kindly die in a fire :-P. Hope you're all having a good spring out there - I'm curious to know if you have a favorite spring beer (Corona, classified as pisswater, doesn't count. Even with lime. Especially with lime). Leave it in the comments if you've got a favorite/have a new beer you think I should try. Cheers!

So it's been a while...

So, clearly it's been a while since I updated my blog - sadly I havent had as much time or money for good beer this semester, and rarely am I possessed by the same urge to write about it that I once had.

However, I am still struck from time to time with the urge to write about a recipee I just tried, or a restaraunt I enjoyed, or sometimes even the latest bottle of beer I finagled.

What I'm wondering is whether you, my loyal readership, feel like it'd be interesting to read about these things, or whether it's time to hang up the hat and admit that I'm not cut out for a life of blogging.

I got inspired by eating at this new local food truck which blew my socks off, so be prepared for more of that if you encourage my listless ramblings :-P

So, let me know your thoughts when you get a chance - it's much appreciated.

Cheers!

Beer is relaxing

This is just a fact. Beer can be very relaxing. Much like a hot bath, or a nice cigar, a cold beer can really offset a tiring day. Case in point - today I was sick and tired and exhausted, and just generally pissed off. What at? Nothing, really. Just pissed.

So I poured myself a glass of Troeg's Pale Ale. I've had troeg's twice and been impressed both times, so I was intrigued.

The beer poured golden, and that cold crisp first sip just relaxed every muscle. I sighed and quaffed more, enjoying the simple pleasure of the beer, to the exclusion of all else.

The beer itself, apart from magic relaxing qualities, was quite good. A pretty typical pale ale, the citrusy hops were nicely balanced by some sweet malts. Not a terribly complex beer, but just really simply and tasty. And sometimes thats all I want. Not a beer that I have to consider and attacks me from all angles. Just a nice simple beer at the end of an exhausting day.

Definitely something I'd look to for a session beer - worth a try for both the casual beer drinker and the regular.

Stone's brilliance

Good god. I had originally planned to consolidate my posts, but this isn't possible. This beer was so good that it deserves it's own post. I've written before about Stone's Smoke Porter with Chipotle, but the other night I got a full 12oz pour of it. And good god. There's a reason that I like that new bar, Alewife, as much as I do.

The flavor starts out, rich and dark, with roasted malts, some smokiness, and a slight coffee flavor. And then you're hit the face, WHAM, with rich spicy flavor. It's not overwhelming, and it blends nicely with the dark flavors.

The best part though, is after the sip. After you've swallowed the beer, and are resting, you feel a little tingling. It's the spiciness of the beer in the back of your throat, providing a deliciously heated, but not extremely spicy finish.

This is no hot sauce beer, no gimmick. This is a beer with an awesome flavor profile, that will knock your socks off. Or at least, it did mine anyway. This beer is up there with the Italian Chili Pepper stout, although sadly no less rare.

Really just a fantastic beer. My hat is off to stone for their innovation and creativity. Hope your beers are just as good, Cheers!

Dogfish and Alewife

Seriously, in case you can't tell from all my posts, I couldn't be more thrilled about Alewife opening. It's utterly fantastic to have a beer bar of that quality that close. I love it.

Specifically, tonight I was enjoying their featuring of several dogfish head beers. I was having trouble deciding what to get - between several old stone taps and the dogfish beers, they were featuring a lot of beers I wasn't terribly sold on, or had tried before.

Luckily, my conundrum was quickly resolved. Standing at the bar, I was chatting with the Dogfish rep about a dark beer that I'd seen people sipping. In response, she handed me a glass and said "Yeah, it's on Sam". The beer turned out to be their limited edition Bitches Brew, a tribute to Miles Davis. The beer is very dark, with a cocoa colored head. The flavor is roasted malts and cocoa, as per the usual. The shocker, though, comes with the finish.

The beer is actually flavored with honey, so the finish is devilishly subtle and sweet. It's not a cloying bite of sweetness, but it's a deliciously sweet finish, which contrasts nicely to the dark and roasted flavors of the beer. It dovetails nicely with some sweet fruit notes, and just provides a fantastic finish to the beer.

Although I thought I was done, I was apparently wrong. Padre, who I was having my beer with, had orderd a glass of My Antonia, Dogfish's continually hopped imperial pilsner. However, the waiter came back after he'd gotten his beer, and apologized. Apparently the bar had poured two, instead of one. Whoops! So, that's how I got my second free beer of the night.

My Antonia was surprisingly good. I'm not a huge hop fan, but the hop flavors really brought out the crisp, clean flavor of the beer, and the ending wasn't terribly bitter. The beer itself brought out flavors of grains and breads - but in such a light way that they didn't bog down the beer. Overall a really elegant version of a Pilsner, full of flavor.

So here's my shout out to Alewife and to Dogfish. To good beer (and to free beer)! May you have the same fortune, and go enjoy a beer!

The Great Pumpkin Beer Taste-off

I think part of the fun of beers is comparing them. A big reason that I started this blog was to start writing down my impressions, thoughts, and feelings on beer so I could recall them, and compare various beers.

With that in mind, my friends and I decided to go a pumpkin beer tasting. I'm not a huge pumpkin beer fan, but there are so many out right now, it seemed silly to do otherwise.

Now, I should preface this by saying that my favorite pumpkin beer was tried well before the tasting. I managed to get my hands on a bottle of Heavy Seas Great'er Pumpkin - their normal pumpkin beer that is aged in bourbon barrels. It was delicious. The bourbony vanilla really complemented the pumpkin spice flavor of the beer. However, this beer is fairly rare, so we weren't able to get another bottle of the tasting, despite Rouge driving damn near an hour to try and find some.

Of the beers we tried, I didn't really have a least favorite. The Heavy Seas was a little too boozy for my taste, but in it's defense, we didn't let it cool long enough. The flavor was all ginger and alcohol, with none of the lovely lightness of it's greater cousin.

Sam Adams was a tasty, light, and sweet beer - it tasted the "beeriest" of all the beers, but in doing so it lacked any serious pumpkin flavor. I like Sam Adams, but I realize now that a lot of their beers are kind of the entry level version of the microbrews. They make good beer, but it's not terribly adventurous - they're a middle ground between macro and micro, between Bud and Dogfish.

Speaking of Dogfish, their Punkin Ale had a very strong pumpkin spice flavor, which was tasty, but the beer itself lacked body. It was fairly thin, which didn't give the beer the sort of hearty backbone that a great pumpkin beer seems to need in my opinion. Still, fairly tasty.

Saranac, surprisingly, came out with one of the favorites of the evening. I thought that the flavor was a little herbaceous, but the flavor was indisputably pumpkin-ish, and although it wasn't terribly complex, it did the job of being a pumpkin beer.

My favorite of the evening, and a popular choice, was Southern Tier's Pumking. A full body, flavors of ginger and nutmeg and cinnamon, and an interestingly sweet finish made this beer taste like spice cake to some, pumpkin pie to others. Either way, a very, very solid beer, and winner of the evening. Highly recommended that you give this beer a shot, even if you're not a huge pumpkin beer fan.

Pure Wine and Stone at Alewife

Sometimes you're just lucky enough to have a couple of good places to eat, and this is clearly one of those times. I've had back to back weekends of glorious dining experiences, at both Alewife in Baltimore and Pure Wine Cafe in Ellicott City.

Alewife hosted a Stone Brewing Company event, offering 40 different Stone beers, many rare and old. I was floored by almost everything I tried that day. Best of the best would have been Stone's smoked porter with chipotle pepper. Similarly, their Mad Man Mix - a blend of 10 different years of their russian imperial stout, their sublimely self righteous ale, and some chipotle pepper was spicy and delicious. Their Vertical Epic 07.07.07 aged in red wine barrels was also impressive, tangy and light, with full flavors. Finally, one of their best that flew under the radar for me was their bitter chocolate oatmeal stout. Extremely creamy and smooth, with a lot of excellent chocolate flavors, this was a big surprise.

I also tried their smoked porter with vanilla, which was good but couldn't compare to the one with chipotle pepper, their aged russian imperial stout and their russian imperial aged in bourbon, both of which were dark and delicious, but a little boozy at times. Overall it was a really excellent time, and the beers were fantastic.

I also lunched, the other day, at Pure Wine Cafe. On main street in Old Ellicott City, it's a tiny little bistro with an amazing menu. I had Dogfish head's festina peche, delicious as always, as well as a tasty white wine named Infamous Goose. Really though, the food stole the show. Kobe Beef meatball sliders, truffled fries with pepper aoli, my god. Just amazing.

Hope your weeks are full of good beer and good food - til next time! Cheers!

The Alewife

So, admittedly, this post will be more about a bar than about beer. But really, when it's a craft beer bar that's just opened up in Baltimore, I hope you'll forgive me.

Alewife is a new place, just opened near the Hippodrome. With 40 beers on tap, I had to check this place out. The building is great - high ceilings and big windows take advantage of what was once a bank. The beer list is impressive, as hoped, with a good mix of styles and breweries, both local and foreign.

The food is a little expensive, with main dishes running in thwe $20-$30 range, but they have a fantastic selection of sides, small plates, and appatizers, which are less expensive but equally delicious. For the record, I reccomend the duck fat fries with sundried tomato ketchup.

I went there, in fact, this very evening, and availed myself of their delicious beers. My first beer was Victory's FestBier, a marzen/oktoberfest style beer from Victory. The beer had a really solid malty flavor, accented by bready notes, and some nutty flavors too. I wasn't wild about the aftertaste, which reminded me of fake sugar and bitter hops, but the beer was refreshing, with a very clean taste.

I then moved on to Stone's Smoke Porter, which I've reviewed before, but will reiterate: Damn. That is one tasty beer. For all you Baltimore natives out there, Stone breweries is taking over Alewife on October 1st for a special Stone-centeric evening with over 40 of stone's beers on tap. I for one, am pumped.

I should also mention, in the course of things, that I finally got to try my once favorite beer again. That's right, on two separate vists to Max's recently, they had Del Ducato Verdi's Imperial Stout. It's a stout made with chilipeppers, the mention of which makes me drool a little. In fact, I was extremely pleased to find that time had not exagerated the genius of this beer, which was every bit as chocolately, spicy, and delicious as I remebered. Still my favorite beer, hands down.

I also got to try, at Max's, Mikkeller's Beer Geek Breakfast, a smoked oatmeal stout. My compatriots all complained of it tasting like charcoal, but I thought it was a bold use of smokiness and roasted flavors, along with a nice hit of coffee, in an oatmeal stout, with a delicious result. It's certaintly a unique beer, and won't please all, but I loved it.

Also on tap was Heavy Sea's Smoke on the Water, a smoked porter. Sadly, we all agreed that this was hopefully a bad batch, as it tasted sour, as if it had gone bad, and was just not a very good beer, despite coming from an excellent brewer.

So, as you may notice, my posts have been less frequent. Well, sadly, I have moved far from my favorite beer store, and being busy with school and all, this blog may receive less love. How sad. I know how much you all loved it :-P. Still, I'll try and update when I can. Cheers!

Back in the swing of things

Oh man. I'm always so excited to come back home and try the bevvy of new beers. I've been settled in for a few weeks, but it still feels all new as I just finished moving into a new house.

And with new houses comes new beer. This time we've got two delicious Dogfish head beers, and one from a new brewery, Great Divide.

Great Divide is a Colorado brewery that I've heard a lot about, but never had the pleasure of getting to try. Specifically, I've heard about their Yeti stout - and what was awaiting me at my favorite local boozery? A big ol' bomber of Espresso Oak Aged Yeti.

It pours a viscous black - damn close to molasses. The smell is all coffee. Hooo boy, and then some - the coffee flavor comes from them adding local espresso to the beer itself. The flavor has all my favorite notes - oak, chocolate, roasted malts, espresso beans, mmmmm. It tasted a little like a chocolate covered espresso bean actually, which was delicious. It was a little heavy for summer, but this is a beer I'd go after in any weather.

Namaste, from Dogfish head, is basically the opposite. A take on the Belgian Wit beer, it is extremely light and refreshing, and is a very tasty summer beer. Rather than a bland wit though, it is full of orange and lemongrass flavors. As is typical with wit beers, there is also some wheat flavor. There is also a light citrus hop, but nothing to make the beer anything more than a clean, clear, refreshing beer.

Third, and not last by any means, is dogfish head's festina peche. Now, this is classified as Berliner Weissbier. I'm not wholly certain what that is, but I'm not complaining. The beer pours a nice golden orange, with little to no head but plenty of carbonation. It's easy to confuse this beer for cider or sparkling wine on first taste, but after a few sips you can taste the malty undertones. The flavor is all sour peach, which is delicious in my opinion. Folks seem split on this beer, but it is an absolutely perfect summer beer in my opinion - light, bubbly, and full of fruit flavors without being overly sweet.

I should also note that I got to visit the Dogfish head brewpub in Rehoboth, which was pretty cool. The food was very tasty, and everything was woodgrilled, which was tasty. I also got to sample a few of their beers that I hadn't had in a while. The best of the bunch might actually have been the 60 minute IPA, which is weird because I despise IPAs. However, it was pleasantly cirtusy and very drinkable. All of the beers tasted were good though, so it was sort of the tallest NBA player sort of thing.

Anyway, more beer to come no doubt. Cheers!

Home again!

Oh man, being home is nice. Being abroad is fun and exciting, but it really just kind of gets tiring and expensive eventually. Also, the beer isn't as good :-P

Case in point - the first few days home I received bottles of Brooklyn Black Ops stout, as well as Sam Adams Chocolate Bock. Life is good.

In more pedestrian but equally delicious news, I also got to try Brooklyn's Sorachi Ace and Smuttynose's Hanami Ale.

The Sorachi was a bit of a whim - I like Brooklyn and I like saisons, so this was a pretty easy call. Poured it a little warm and it was none too tasty. Stuck it in the fridge, and found a solid improvement. Still, not really a beer I enjoyed that much. A lot of the powerful spicy flavor in saisons, but just a lot of bitterness that didn't seem to contribute. I'm thinking we should've chilled it further.

The Hanami, on the other hand, is one I've been eyeballing for a while. I like cherry ales - none of this stupid fruit beer nonsense, just another flavor in a nice solid ale. Hanami is an excellent example - an excellent sour cherry tang without sacrificing the character of the ale, or loading it with sugar. Really a tasty beer, nice sweet malts complimented by a sour cherry tang that is present but not overwhelming.

The deceptively mainstream

Here's the thing about beer - it can be crappy and mass produced even if it's tougher to get in some areas. Guinness, for all the enjoyment is can produce, is basically the budweiser of another country. Just because it's foreign, doesn't make it good.

The point isn't to bitch about Guinness though - no, the point is to remind people about all the awesome local beers that are around.

in Dublin, there is an awesome local brewpub called The Porterhouse. I wasn't able to try everything, but I enjoyed all that I had. They have a deliciously creamy oyster stout, a nice mild porter, and a surprisingly bitter-sweet stout called "wrassler XXXX", which was tasty. They also have a fantastic and full bodied red ale.

Speaking of excellent red ales, Cork has a similarly excellent brewpub. Called the Franciscan Well, this little place lies down an alley, and sits behind a big brass door. Inside are delicious beers, an excellent dry stout and a fantastically rich and tasty red ale.

Yes, I usually try and be more divorced, objective, and descriptive of beers. But really, it can be enjoyable to not be super critical, but just sit down and enjoy a delicious local beer without obsessing over it. So I apologize for my somewhat brief reviews, but I stand behind my judgments of these beers as absolutely delicious.

Again, the point is to look locally. Yes, there is a popular beer, with a well funded ad campaign that everyone knows. But don't stop there. Look for brew pubs, microbrews, and most of all local beers. These are beers that receive care and attention on a far greater level than mass produced macrobrews, and often have a lot more to offer in terms of flavors, taste, and overall adventurousness. They take risks that are abhorred by mass produced beers who strive for boring acceptance by as many people as possible.

Also? If you're ever in Ireland, look up these bars. They are delicious oases. And be sure to try the red ale

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.