Snowed in.....with beer

This weekend was supposed to mark the beginning of my holiday season, as the extended family planned to gather in New Jersey for our annual Christmas dinner. Unfortunately, A blizzard decided to crash the party. On Friday, it was evident we needed to cancel our plans. In the Washington, DC area - we had 23 inches of snow! Fortunately, I stocked up on supplies for the weekend. My girlfriend gave me part of my Christmas gift early - a custom six pack. Needless to say, she's a keeper.

Williamsburg AleWerks Washington's Porter: It's becoming evident that I love porters. George Washington was a great man who left this country with countless gifts. One of the his most overlooked talents was his recipe for porter, which he left in the New York Public library. Several companies make this. I highly recommend it.

Smuttynose Shoals Pale Ale: Smuttynose generally makes a quality beer. This was your run-of-the-mill Pale Ale. I thought it was decent, and it went well with the DiGiorno I was eating at the time.

Smuttynose Really Old Brown Dog Ale: Like the previous beer I had from Smuttynose, this beer is worth giving a try. My girlfriend said this tasted like an old dog. I thought it was better than that. It had some depth, but I think I'd need another one to get a better description.

Troegs Troegenator Doublebock: This beer is basically liquid bread. It's rather aggressive on the malts as well. Troegs is a fairly popular micro-brew. I haven't had much of their beer, but I'll try a few different types to get a good sampling at some point.

Troegs Hopback Amber Ale: I do like amber ales. They tend to be a nice mix between malts and hops. However, this one was heavy on the hops for an amber ale. Hence, it was quite bitter in taste - almost painstakingly so.

This past week, I also had two other beers worth mentioning (one of which already has been accounted for on my list). On Thursday, my cousin and I went for beers at Fireflies. Friday brought me to Chadwick's for lunch.

North Coast Old Rasputin Imperial Russian Stout: This beer was excellent. I love an Imperial Russian Stout, and this beer did not disappoint. It was complex, but not overbearing. It poured out like syrup, but was much smoother than it appeared. The head on the beer was darker than normal. I need to have this again.

Morland Old Speckled Hen: This beer was already in my beer count, but I thought I'd document it here. This beer comes highly recommended from two people I respect: my old sailing buddy, Jim, and a family friend, Frank. The beer looks a bit like hard cider, but we won't hold that against it. It tasted a little creamy to me on first taste. I thought the hops and malts were fairly balanced though.

Scorecard:
Paul: 165
Colleen: 157

Cheers,
Paul