The Stuff Legends Are Made Of?

If one of my English teachers saw the title of this blog post, they'd kill me because I ended it with a preposition. Oh well, I needed a title and since I've tried a bunch of Legend beers, I thought I was being clever. Since I had another three of their beers (bringing that total to four), I can make a judgment on their quality. My impression is that they make mediocre beer, that while is not bad, I wouldn't go out of my way to find.

This past week, I went down to Williamsburg to visit Laura, as she is finishing up staffing a summer program at William and Mary. We spent the day hanging out, eating, and planning our upcoming road trip. We also made a visit to Williamsburg AleWerks, where I made some custom six packs for a barbecue that I will be attending soon. Later that evening, we met a college friend of mine, Amanda, who is living and working in the area, but will be moving shortly. I was very nice to catch up with her, as she makes the short list of people I want to keep in touch with after college. We met at Center Street Grill, and I had a very good time.

Legend Hefeweizen: You know how most Hefeweizens are see through? By that I mean, a lot of visible light manages to get through? This one was the normal yellowish in color, but not as much visible light got through. As I try to codify this, I realize that I sound like an idiot, but that was my visual impression. The taste got maked by the bartender putting the lemon in the beer, as opposed to the edge of the glass. That said, it was an alright Hefeweizen. A little heavier in body, which coincides with my initial visual impression.

Legend Pale Ale: Personally, I thought this was a very drinkable pale ale. In that sense, I mean it wasn't overwhelmingly hoppy. I didn't get Laura's take on it, but I doubt a real hop-head would love this beer. Then again, it should be more subdued in hop flavor, since it is a pale ale and not an india pale ale.

Legend Lager: This was easily the worst of the three, and it probably unfairly dragged down my impression of Legend brewing. My advice would be to try something other than this. Generally, I was disappointed in it as a lager. I think it might have been a little too malty for a lager.

Yesterday, I caught up with another friend from college and her fiance. They just moved into the area, and, in addition to getting married, are looking to buy a house. It was very nice to catch up with my friend and her fiance (whom I had yet to meet). We met at Gordon Biersch outside of Annapolis to catch up over a beer, and coincidentally I got to see the end of the Germany world cup game. Gordon Biersch is a national chain of brewpubs. It's not a bad place to check out once in a while, but it's certainly nothing to write home about - mediocre beer and borderline expensive food.

Gordon Biersch Sommerbrau: This was their summer seasonal, which is a German Kolsch. For a lighter beer such as a Kolsch it wasn't that bad, but I am not a big fan of the Kolsch style. Don't get me wrong, I won't turn down a beer - especially a new one. That said, I think I'll try different beer of theirs the next time I'm there.

Continuing the college friend binge, I met with my friends Tim and Heather for dinner in Annapolis. We had dinner at the Boatyard, which is a local place off the beaten path of downtown Annapolis. The food is generally pretty good, but some of our entrees were disappointing. It was very nice to catch up with them. I held back on my alcohol, since Heather is expecting.

Flying Dog "Doggie Style" Pale Ale: I love Flying Dog, if for nothing else, they have the most interesting names attached to their beer. Seriously, how can you not expect me to pick that off a menu? I thought this was a pretty good pale ale. As a comparision, I would rate it better than its counterpart by Legend (see above). The beer snobs at ratebeer.com do not agree with me, but that's not the point.

I probably have about three to four weeks left to catch up to and pass Colleen. One would expect she'll have about six new beers in the first ten days after contract. I know she is going to Africa later in the summer, but I figure that I need to get to about 280 in the next three to four weeks to offset her initial tastings before Africa. In light of my new count, that is very doable.

The scorecard:
Colleen - 270
Paul - 259

Cheers,
Paul

belated update

Well, my contract began two weeks ago, and Paul is already working on catching up. He only has a little over a month to do so until my contract is up! Here are the last few beers I tried before I began my summer (which has been going well, thanks!):

Stone Smoked Porter: It's been a couple of weeks since I had this but I remember it being great and my notes say "Mmmmm" so I'll go ahead and guess that I liked it quite a bit. I seem to recall the smoky flavor, and the full flavor of a good porter. I'd have this again.

Ithaca Ground Break: This was a pretty refreshing beer. I can't say that I know much about saisons (I think I said that the last time I tried one, so here's a little more info), but I can say that I seem to enjoy them. This had a bit of flavor to it and was very enjoyable.

Southern Tier Oat: You know, I'm always looking for a great oatmeal stout, and sometimes that means trying some not so great ones. This would be one of those not so great ones. It was just too flat and just not impressive in the flavor department. This falls somewhere between kinda boring and kinda gross and I wouldn't really recommend it. Kind of disappointing that it was the last beer before midnight on the 24th.

That leaves me at an even 270 while Paul works on catching up from his 254.

Beer, Football, and Traveling

A few weeks ago, there was an extended family party in Richmond. Afterward, some of us met for dinner at Bilbo Baggins in Alexandria. They always have a good beer menu. I was looking for something lighter, being that I was tired from sitting in traffic all day, it was hot (I laugh at that now...it's going to top 100 today), and I was dehydrated.

Eggenberg Pilsner: I thought this beer was light, smooth, and refreshing. Unlike a macro light beer, it had a lot more flavor to it. It was slightly above average on alcohol content. To me, it was a great summer beer. It had a bit of a champagne body to it, which was surprising. Let's face it, you don't want a porter when you're overheated and dehydrated. Ok, maybe you do if you're Colleen...but that's not my thing.

Later that week, my beer adventures continued with a trip to Crystal City Sports Pub to watch the USA vs Algeria world cup game (yes, this was two weeks ago...it's been a lot of repeats recently). I have some flexibility with my work schedule, so this enabled me to watch the game there. It was a fantastic time. There's something about having two hundred people in a sports pub, drinking beer, and eating eggs while watching football. My beer of choice? Guinness, of course. Clearly, the beer gods smiled upon me that day.

The following weekend I traveled to Ann Arbor, Michigan for a friend's wedding. I saw this as an excellent opportunity to meet some great people, see my friend get married, hit the open bar (hard), and try some new beers. I was fortunate enough to be hosted by Laura's brother and his family the night before the wedding. Their hospitality was much appreciated. I really like that section of the country, and honsetly wished I could have tried more beers in the land of microbrews.

Grizzly Peak Bearpaw Porter: The groom recommended Grizzly Peak Brewing in downtown Ann Arbor. When I arrived in Ann Arbor, I was searching sustenance as the airports had no selection of micro-brews. I thought this was an excellent porter. I wish I could have brought a growler home. Unfortunately, I am told this is only distributed locally, so it's difficult to find in a bottle.

Grizzly Peak Liberty Lager: This was a seasonal by Grizzly Peak, so I am not surprised ratebeer.com has yet to have a page on it. I liked the porter a lot more, but this wasn't bad either. There can be a lot of variation in lagers, and this erred on the hoppy side. However, the hop choice was interesting, since the aftertaste had a bittersweet to it.

Labatt Blue Light: I brought this over for Laura's brother, as he requested a Canadian beer. It was your average light beer.

I helped my friend Andy move his sailboat on 4th of July weekend. It took 7 hours to move it through the Chesapeake Bay, about 3 hours longer than it should have. While it was hot that day, the wind allowed for it to not feel as bad. However, when we finished I was pretty exhausted and dehydrated. They graciously fed us, and the dinner was excellent.

Pabst Blue Ribbon: Andy's mom offered me this beer, and I housed it due to the conditions described above. The beer was fine, probably because it was cold, and I needed a beer more than I needed a good beer.

I haven't had many new ones lately, so I am squandering my chance to retake the lead. I think I will be heading to make a custom six pack soon. Also, Laura and I will be roadtripping in the next three weeks, so perhaps I can stop at some brewpubs or microbreweries soon.

During my travels, I also had two retreads of note:

Legend Brown Ale: If you like Brown Ales, this is probably a beer for you to try. I wasn't a huge fan of this, again. I thought it was a little too full bodied for a Brown Ale. However, I admit that there would be plenty of people that would like this.

Bell's Oberon: I had this a couple month's ago at the Brickskeller. While in Ann Arbor, I had the chance to have a few of these on tap. I think this is an excellent summer wheat ale. Bell's is perhaps one of the best microbrewers in the country, and this only proves that statement further.

The Scorecard:
Colleen - 267
Paul - 254

Cheers,
Paul