usa vs england

Today, I did some grilling and watched the USA vs England football game on TV. For those of you who don't know, my knowledge and passion for the world's game are only slightly better than this. That said, I enjoyed the game and hope the US can advance from our group this year. The group rankings could get interesting because it's 1 point for a tie and 3 points for a win - I guess we shall see how Slovenia and Algeria do. Without further ado, here are my recent tastings.

Yards Extra Special Ale: This is my second beer from Yards brewing, and I enjoyed it. This is in stark contrast to the previous beer I tried (Philadelphia Pale Ale). This was an English style pale ale, which was very characteristic of the style. If you want to get a sense of what hoppy beers might be like, just get a pale ale - this one wouldn't be a bad idea.

Sierra Nevada Extra IPA: I bought this beer to Laura's parents earlier in the week to have with dinner, since Laura likes IPAs. I thought it was very good, and was even a little interesting. The American hops had a slight sweetness to them, as opposed to a traditional bitterness that one finds with hops. I generally trust Sierra Nevada's beer, and look forward to giving this as a gift to the other hop-heads that I know.

New Holland Golden Cap: This is a wheat beer that is made with spelt, which is an acestor to wheat. From the taste, the beer seemed unfiltered. I thought the beer was pleasant when making burgers before the game. The fact that it was an American beer for such an occasion probably made it taste better.

New Holland Mad Hatter Ale: I'm not an expert on IPAs, but I thought this was an above average IPA. If you like that kind of beer, you'd probably enjoy this one as well. Unlike the aforementioned Sierra Nevada, this one tasted more cannonical to the style.

Lagunita's The Hairy Eyeball Ale: Sometimes I come across a beer that I truly find terrible, and I can't wait to finish the requisite four ounces before I can pawn it off on someone else in the room. This was one of those beers. I basically bought it for the name, since I would remember having a beer with that kind of name.

The scorecard:
Colleen: 261
Paul: 244

Cheers,
Paul