Outrunning a Blizzard

Last Thursday, I went out with a few people to celebrate my friend Jeremy's promotion at work. We met at a place called Overwood. I thought it was a good time. A few good people, and couple of good beers tried on my part. The food was pretty good too, but that's clearly not the point of this blog. The beers I had were:

Oskar Blues Dale's Pale Ale: This beer was exactly what you would expect, clean finish that was slightly hoppy. Now, hops cause the bitter, or bite, in the after taste. Pale Ales are generally more balanced and subdued - this beer being no exception. IPAs, by contrast, are much heavier on the hops - and thus more bitter.

Avery IPA: Using the description for the previous beer as a guide, we'd know that this beer has more bite. I thought this beer was a good IPA, categorically speaking. I can get tired of IPAs after a while, but this beer was solid nonetheless.

Immediately after the celebration, I drove down to Williamsburg, VA to visit my girlfriend, Laura. The timetable of my departure was moved up due to the snowpocalypse. They got 3-4 inches of snow there, as opposed to the 3+ feet in some parts of the DC-Baltimore Metro area. With another storm on the way, this could get fun. Today, I returned gingerly to my place, careful not total my car and kill/injure myself/someone else. I'd say the drive was a little long, but a succcess.

Over the course of the weekend, I tried several beers. I bought my girlfriend and her roommates a Samuel Adams mix pack, and tried a new beer from it. I went to the Green Leafe twice on Sunday, once to wait out a meeting and once to watch the Super Bowl with the girlfriend. She and I also went to The Cheese Shop, which has a selection of micro-brews in the basement.

Teaser: I bought a new beer, and will taste and review Stone Double Bastard Ale next week. Enough with my rambling, and on with the reviews:

Samuel Adams Coastal Wheat: So I have a confession to make, this is my 17th beer from the Samuel Adams brewery. That means about about 1/11 beers I've tried have been from them. Across the board, they make some very good brews. There are some very noticeable exceptions: Cherry Wheat, Cranberry Lambic, and Old Fezziwig Ale. This beer was very smooth for a wheat beer. There was a lemon-y after taste to it, that reminded me of their Summer Ale. It was a beer that could easily be enjoyed without food, but would get repetitive after a few.

Dominion Oak Barrel Stout: For most people, stouts are not the most accessible beer. They are thick liquids to drink, and typically are fairly complex in taste. This beer was that description on 'roids. It was highly complex, and very aggressive in flavor.

Legend Brown Ale: I've had a lot of brown ales in my life (ok, maybe 10-15). This was a mediocre-sub par Brown Ale. The typical smoothness of a Brown Ale was sort of there, but not really. I wasn't completely impressed with this one.

St. George IPA: This beer was from the bottom of the keg. Upside, a few ounces of free beer. Downside, the quality of any beer is less than ideal. Nonetheless, this was a fairly typical IPA. The hop aroma and flavors were there, which is to be expected.

Legend Chocolate Porter: Ok, I like porters. This beer, however, sucked. A porter should have a roasted malt (usually chocolate) after taste. It's more a subtlety than anything. This was like drinking a blend between beer and chocolate milk. This was my mug night beer, so it was a 32 oz beer (for six bucks!). Needless to say, it was torture from the first sip but the price was right.

Next weekend, I expect to add a few more to my list. The hope is to keep pace with Colleen and, dare I say, retake the lead at some point. Right now though, I'm just praying that I don't get snowed in for the next week.

The scorecard:
Colleen: 198
Paul: 192

Cheers,
Paul