GUINNESS MILKSHAKES.

Enough said. New March tradition? Yes, please.

I MADE GUINNESS ICE CREAM.

Happy birthday, Paul! Even if you never write down the awesome beers you try anymore, you're still a super awesome friend and I hope your day is great.



Remember how much I love Guinness? So much.

A while back, this recipe came up in my Google Reader. I love stout (though I admit I have not had the one she uses in the recipe yet) and I love ice cream, so I kept this in the back of my head. Recently, my friend Mike said something about his ice cream maker.

Bingo.

So when I say that I made Guinness ice cream, really I mean I found the recipe and Mike did most of the work (except pouring the ingredients in the bowl, which his five year old nephew did*, and stirring, which I did).

BUT IT'S AWESOME. Initial taste tests post-churning were really, really good, though we found it to be a little icy the next day. I've never made ice cream before so I don't know why that is? And it was fine as long as I let it melt in my mouth a little bit. We obviously used Guinness instead of chocolate stout (mostly because of the pending Irish holiday/knowing Mike likes Guinness but not other stout/I love Guinness so who cares), and I love Guinness for its very plain and subtle sweetness, which is very conducive to a not overly, terribly sweet dessert (as noted here, when I made Guinness chocolate cupcakes). I would absolutely try this again with a chocolate or oatmeal (or maybe milk, or World Wide?!) stout.

2 eggs-- stir for two minutes alone, then stir in the rest of the stuff:
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
12 ounces stout

Chill for five hours. Churn for a while (we did for 40ish minutes, the original recipe called for 45). Freeze overnight. Enjoy.

Later today I will be serving as DD for several others, but I'm hoping that will earn me a single regular liquid Guinness early in the evening. Wishing you all a very happy and safe St. Patrick's Day/Paul's 26th birthday!



*We did not let the five year old try the beer ice cream. When he asked what flavor we were making, I told him grownup flavored, and Mike promised him we could make whatever flavor he wanted next week. He chose cookie dough. Not relevant to this blog, but I imagine it will be pretty great nonetheless.

Park Slope Ale House

in Brooklyn serves good beer and has happy hour all night on Tuesdays!

I discovered this at the end of a pretty interesting day in New York City this week-- Peace Corps interview (went well!), visiting the World Trade Center, lunch with my good old Heather at some delicious place near her work on Avenue of the Americas near Rockefeller Plaza, three and a half hours of wandering and people watching to kill time until Heather was off work. We then traveled to Brooklyn to this lovely place around the corner from her place, and were eventually met by my good friend from college Ross.

Did you ever have an evening spent with two awesome people who don't know each other, but both are so awesome that it's just a great time? That happened.

And beer happened--

Harpoon Chocolate Stout: I've had this before, but think it's worth rementioning. It's a really good, smooth, creamy chocolate stout, and really focused on the chocolate. If you like chocolate and stout but not necessarily coffee or weird fruits or whatever other flavors might float around in some stouts, this is a good one for you. And it's a good one for me too.

Chelsea Brewing Company's Hop Angel: Right out of New York City, I found this to be a pleasant and unobtrusive IPA, which was good considering I started with the heavier, more flavorful beer. It was refreshing but not distracting, and bonus points for being extremely local. I don't know what made me follow up the good stout with an IPA, maybe because this is what Heather was drinking (and apparently frequently drinks), but I enjoyed it.

Good beer and good company is such a good combination.

Some beers of late--

Founders Backwoods Bastard: Taylor left this at my house, so I drank it one night. I didn't like this beer because I don't like liquor, and it tastes like bourbon. It's technically a Scotch ale. That's about all I can say about it.

Heavy Seas Gold Ale: Hanging out with Paul on Thanksgiving Eve means plenty of interesting beer choices. This was one of the few in his fridge that I hadn't yet tried. It was pleasant and lighter feeling and tasting, and didn't overpower the homemade guacamole I brought to snack on. Win.

Sam Adams Old Fezziwig: Paul does not like this beer. Now, I can say the same. I split it with my friend (ok, and his fiancee) Laura, and neither of us were really crazy about it. It's just excessively underwhelming.

Sam Adams Black and Brew (coffee stout): I found this in the cooler on Thanksgiving after reaching in for a random handful of beers for my brothers and one of my uncles. Also in the handful: an Old Fezziwig (gave that to little brother), a Boston Lager (gave that to uncle) and a Becks (gave that to older brother). I totally disagree with the rating on Beer Advocate. This was a nice stout. It smells like coffee but tastes more chocolatey, isn't too heavy or strong, especially for being before I'd had anything more significant than crackers and baby carrots to eat. I approve of this stout. I kind of want to have it again, even.

Ommegang Rare Vos: I thought this was a solid Belgian with some extra awesome, which I thought was kind of pale ale like, but Brewery Ommegang reports as amber. Whatever, this was a great pint. Not too hoppy and not too boring. It's currently on tap at The Office, and definitely a steal on pint night.



In other beer news, I started brewing a stout last weekend, so I should have a case of that to share in January sometime. Once my fermenter is empty, I also have ingredients for an IPA, which takes way longer, so we'll see when I do that.

Also, I'm looking for suggestions for a good beer to buy for myself and put on a shelf until I get a job that actually utilizes my degrees (rather than the holiday retail purgatory I'm currently doing). Ideas?

VArious

I'm hanging out with my big brother at home, routing for the National League and listening to him play with Siri on his new iPhone machine. His puppy is curled up on the couch next to me, the Cardinals are winning, ...

I was busy catching up with my brother and enjoying the game. Go National League!

So. I spent the last week in Virginia, welcoming home one friend from Peace Corps service and another from grad school in England. That plus camping plus a visit to the alma mater plus catching up with one of my favorite girls plus meeting up with Paul for the first time in a while plus my college roommate playing a show means I have a few new beers to report--

Sam Adams Rauchbier: part of the Sam Adams seasonal pack, this is incredibly underwhelming. I mean, the last time I tried a rauchbier, I wasn't thoroughly impressed either, but this just had nothing to it. Don't bother.

Starr Hill Dark Starr: While hanging out in Fredericksburg with some awesome former professors of mine, I of course tried this Virginia stout. There was some chocolate flavor, some coffee flavor, and lots and lots of awesome flavor. It was dark and dry and smooth and wonderful. I like stout, and it's always fun to drink local.

Port City Porter: Another one at Cap Ale with a crew of Mary Washington geographers. This is a good porter from a relatively new brewer in Alexandria, Virginia. I'd say they're off to a good start. You can't see through it and it's got some hints of chocolate happening. Awesome.

Six Point Righteous Ale: I had another Six Point brew recently that I found to be not so great, but this was good. My good friend Emily and I had gone out on Sunday night in search of the Cardinals game, as she is from St. Louis, and ended up in a place in Columbia Heights that she'd never been. They were out of the Brooklyn Brown I'd ordered so the server recommended this instead. It was nothing like Brooklyn Brown, rather, more hoppy but really clean and nice. I'm surprised to learn it involves rye, but not upset about it. Rye beer. Hoppy rye beer. Good hoppy rye beer.

51st State Amber Ale: This is a pretty not-exciting house beer, but was how I kicked off my first ever bar trivia night, in which a team of Mary Washington Geographers owned the rest of the crowd at 51st State. If you go to this place in D.C., it's a reasonable beer for its price, but there are most definitely more exciting things on the menu.

Starr Hill Boxcar Pumpkin Porter: Of course, an extended stay in the D.C. Metro Area is never complete without a DBF Staff Meeting. Bailey's, located in Ballston and Crystal City, has a $2 pint special on Tuesdays. This was the only new beer I tried there though. This was more spice than pumpkin, but if you like pumpkin pie esque beers and you like dark beers, this is a good combination. The spices are good but not overwhelming, with a really nice, smooth porter underneath. I usually see pumpkin ales, not specifically porters, so this was a really nice change to that particular fall beer.

Tallgrass Buffalo Sweat: Selected partially because of the ridiculous name and partially because it's a stout, this was way sweet. I mean, I liked it, but a pint seemed like a lot due to the sweetness. If you like milk stout, it's great, but if you're not into the very sweet stouts, steer clear.

New Belgium's Ranger IPA: Taylor ordered this, but I ended up finishing it. It's good. Very recommendable.



Hooray for good beer, good friends, JT and Boo getting home, and the National League (and the team that knocked out the Phillies) winning! It is past my bedtime...

Hello again!

A summer under contract, a week without power and a two week roadtrip later, I'm back and have a few beers to share with you! Hope you have been well. I assure you that Paul is also alive, and probably even has a few beers to share. I'll do this in installments. Today's goes along with the pile of updates about my recent travels around the US. While my roadtrip companions searched for good gift shops to bring nice things back to their family and friends, I prefer to mark my travels by learning about new trees and trying new beers. My apologies to my family and friends. I do love you. Now I just know where to take you for a good beer should we ever travel together!

In Nashville
Yazoo Pale Ale: Really, really, really hoppy, bordering on tasting like a bouquet of flowers. So dry. My European friends did not like this at all. I liked it the more I drank. Very refreshing, smooth finish but holy hops, Batman.

Yazoo Dos Perros: Pretty malt-heavy brown ale. It was ok. I wonder if Yazoo does middle ground on the bitter to sweet spectrum of things? By the two I tasted, the answer is no.

Blues Brew: I can't find anything about this beer but I don't care. It wasn't about the beer, but where I had it. The beer was fine, whatever, kind of like an amber ale I guess, who cares. The BB King Blues Club was awesome. I've said it before, I know it's awesome because it's touristy, but I DON'T CARE. It's SO good! So whatever, I had a beer, got to keep the glass, beer was adequate, music was superb.

In Memphis
Lazy Magnolia Southern Pecan: Hearing the name made me think of pie, but that's not how it was. This was a pretty lightweight beer and I didn't get much pecan or nut flavor at all, just a plain brown ale. This was fine under the circumstances, the circumstances being that I was on Beale Street in Memphis, which gets closed off by police so you can just wander around with beer and listen to incredible blues bands. I was pretty overstimulated as it was, so I was happy to drink a relatively plain local beer at that moment.

In Chicago
Half Acre Daisy Cutter: Another very hoppy pale ale, but it was good. One of my travel buddies said it tasted like green tea. I'd disagree, but definitely had some kind of very fresh flavor going on... almost like grass, if that makes any sense. This has a very strong flavor but a very clean finish. I liked it. (Remember when I used to hate hoppy beers? I would have hated this beer once upon a time...)

Goose Island Green Line Pale Ale: After some deliberation, this was my second beer at Miller's Pub in the Windy City, mostly so I could compare two local pale ales. This was definitely a less severe pale ale, but still plenty hoppy and pale. I think I liked this one more because the first sip didn't completely punch me in the face. Still good though.

In West Virginia but not a local beer
Coopers Best Extra Stout: Not local as in Australia... but this was good. A little sweet, but good. I do love stout. It was like a sweeter Guinness. Very smooth and no particularly strong flavors that you sometimes find in stouts. Just stout.

Good roadtrip (3225 miles) and good beers (just these and a few assorted Miller Lights and Yuenglings).

hooray Heineken (sort of)

If I didn't already know that I didn't care for it, this commercial would have convinced me to drink Heineken:


It appeals to my liking of different cultures and everyone getting along. Open your world, indeed, just not your Heineken, if you can avoid it.

I've tried a couple of good beers recently--

Thirsty Dog's Siberian Night Imperial Stout: Reaaalllllly strong, really good. This was what I've come to hope for in this style. This reminds me of Victory's Storm King, which was probably my (and Paul's) first Imperial Stout, but also just a really good example of what it should be. Definitely got some coffee and a little bittersweetness, like dark chocolate. I like it.

Mikkeller's Coffee IPA: My older brother sent me to hunt this down several weeks ago, so when he stopped by this weekend, I shared it with him. It. was. good. This was a good IPA with an aftertaste of coffee-- not a coffee aftertaste, which is gross, but a taste of coffee after the sip goes down. It was definitely a bit different, but I thought it was good.

I'm looking forward to trying the two beers I got for celebrating my Masters, which I hopefully earn in the next five weeks: Flying Fish's Exit 9 (Hoppy Scarlet Ale, straight up Rutgers themed) and Dogfish Head's Red and White. Hopefully I'll be able to share my reviews next month!

can't think of a clever heading for these

Paul may have been quiet for a while, but I assure you, he's alive. We had dinner together on Monday. You should be hearing from him soon about his Earpeweizen experience and other beer adventures.

In the meantime, I've been able to enjoy a few new brews with a few good friends:

Avery Mephistopheles' Stout: I liked how strongly flavored it was, but not what the actual flavor was, if that makes sense. I like that it had a certain amount of bite to it just for being a nearly 16% ABV stout, but it tasted strongly of molasses, which is just not my favorite version of sweet in a beer. I remembered Avery for another very strong beer I once tried, but this one won't be remembered as positively.

21st Amendment Bitter American IPA: Florally. It was a decent IPA, but definitely with some kind of flowery taste to it.

Stone Cali-Belgique IPA: Taylor and I just shared this over breakfast burritos for dinner. It balanced nicely with the spicy pepper jack cheese I used on my eggs. Hoppy, but not offensive. Taylor got more of the Belgian aspect of it, but he's also a bigger IPA fan than I am. I got more of the IPA flavor because it's still just strong to me. But this was nice. Clean and refreshing.


Also of note, Cheryl brought me lunch and snowshoes to play with last week after it snowed six more inches in Warren County. We shared Dogfish Head's My Antonia, which was a little hoppy and a lot refreshing. It went perfectly with the slightly hot/spicy Baja Fresh lunch. Pilseners aren't usually something I go after on purpose, but this was totally worth my attention. Dogfish Head is awesome, as ever.

procrastination.

Well, I got back from Virginia yesterday afternoon and I leave for camp for a week tomorrow morning, stopping off at Rutgers on the way. I'm not motivated to pack again yet, so I'll share with you a few brews I've tried recently.

While I don't advocate the use of alcohol to soothe negative situations, I did keep Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout specifically for my most recent round of thesis revisions. I figured the strong coffee flavor to be expected from such a beer would perhaps trick me into staying awake longer to work on that thing while the alcohol helped lower my inhibitions just enough to open the floodgates of writing. Does it actually have caffeine in it? I don't know, or really care. It was a nice accompaniment to my work though. I really enjoyed the strong taste. It made me say wow. This is one of those beers that Taylor would accuse of "sucker punching" the taste buds. This is certainly not for the faint hearted or stout haters.

What was I in Virginia for this past week? This man. I did use Josh's Valentine's Day Brawl at the 9:30 Club on Monday as an excuse to visit that other dude I like to visit in Virginia though, and to make up for drinking all of the beers I left last time, he took me to the Dogfish Head Alehouse. The food was awesome, as were the beers (OBVIOUSLY). I ordered the Chicory Stout, which is so so good and I'm embarrassed to say I forgot was on my list. It's one I always see and mean to double check, but apparently never actually did. But it's so so good. It's a nice coffee stout, really mellow with a slightly fruity finish but it's not offensively fruity.

I also ordered the Lawnmower Light beer because it's not available commercially and I was curious what a craft light beer would taste like. As it turns out, it tastes like NOT WATER. It was interesting but still not heavy or strong in any way. It was pleasant.

Taylor also let me taste his beers-- he got the Palo Santo Marron, which I've also had before (drinks like a porter, really really malty, avorite Dogfish Head, but after getting over the fact that it's hardly your typical brown ale, I liked it), and the Shelter Pale Ale, which was very plain and hoppy and delightful. I imagine it'd go well with something spicy, but it was nice enough on its own. I approve, Dogfish Head, I approve. Keep up the good work. (For Taylor's side of the story, go here.)

On Monday night before the concert, I cooked dinner for Taylor and our friend Luke, and they gave me beers.

Leffe Blonde, which I swore I'd already had but it's not on my list, is a decent Belgian pale ale, tasting like a really strong hefeweizen.

Appalachian Trails' Hoppy Trails was not my favorite IPA ever, but not terrible. It just wasn't particularly impressive. It was an IPA, I guess.

Atwater Block Brewery's Vanilla Java Porter was my favorite of the evening, tasting like all of the things in its name, but not in an overly strong or sweet way. This was nice. Might be a better dessert beer rather than sitting outside on a nice evening with friends while waiting for the ziti to bake, but still enjoyable.


Another lovely trip to Virginia, another great concert by Josh Ritter and The Royal City Band, and now that I'm done writing, another attempt at thinking about packing...

fun, friends, falafel and beer

This year, I "watched" the Superbowl with Cheryl, Gurzo and Cristina at Cheryl and Gurzo's house. I may have been paying more attention to my friends, falafel and... there doesn't seem to be a synonym for drinks that starts with the letter F, so the alliteration ends there.

We split several 22 ounce bottles partially because good stuff came in them but also because I have realized that I do not have enough bottles for my homebrew, which I am set to bottle tomorrow (and will be buying more bottles in order to do so due to my poor planning).

HUB's Abominable Winter Ale: As much as I seem to have developed a taste for hoppy beers, I just felt like this was really unbalanced in favor of hops. It wasn't bad, just not particularly more interesting than a really hoppy beer.

Oakshire's Ill Tempered Gnome: This was relatively plain but had some nice spice to it, if that makes sense. It wasn't particularly complex tasting aside from the spices, I mean. Whatever. It was smooth and I enjoyed it and it seemed like a good beer to drink in winter when you're cold and just need something warm and spiced in your life.

Ninkas Oatis Oatmeal Stout: This was a little sweeter than the average oatmeal stout but very smooth and mellow. I liked it, but it's not about to win the favorite oatmeal stout award (that would most likely go to BORIS, Shakespeare or Samuel Smith, or the overly- built- up- in- my- mind- epic Southend Brewery Oatmeal Stout that I tried with the Mary Washington Geography Department at the SEDAAG conference in 2007).

Dogfish Head Sah'Tea: Ahhh, Dogfish Head, you almost never let me down. This was really excellent, like if beer and chai had a beautifully delicious spiced baby (my love of spiced chai is severe). You could kind of taste the spices and the tea, but it was just so unique and enjoyable. I was worried when I saw juniper berries in the description after not totally loving tree flavors in another beer, but no problem. It was a hint but not overpowering. Subtle and complimentary. Ah. Loved it. This also introduced me to a new type of brew: the sahti. I had never heard of it before. I suspect this is not super typical of the style though...

Fort Collins Brewery's Double Chocolate Stout: I had this on Tuesday in hopes that another 22 ounce bottle would alleviate the bottle crisis... not even close, but it was still a worthwhile beer. If you like offensive, sucker-punch flavored stouts, this is for you. I really enjoyed this. The chocolate was present but not super sweet. The stout was mostly just strong and... strong. Yep. Delicious. My kind of beer.

Long Trail Hibernator: My little brother gave me one of these this evening because I'm his favorite big sister (probably more because I picked up some snacks for him on my way home from choir tonight...). It was not as interesting when it was ridiculously cold from sitting in a fridge in our ridiculously cold garage, but once I let it sit for a few minutes, I got a hoppier- than- expected- but- not- overly- so kind of flavor. Decently balanced, pretty smooth going down. This was more delightful than I expected. It's reasonable and generally unoffensive.

So, tomorrow I bottle my first batch of beer! It will need a week or two to carbonate before I can find out if I did it right or not... I'm really nervous, but excited. In the meantime, I have a few beers around waiting to be tried, including Mikkeller's Coffee IPA (I got the last two available in the region as per my big brother's request), Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout (which I plan to use to get me through the latest round of thesis revisions... ugh) and Dogfish Head's My Antonia (which was purchased to cover up someone's worst boyfriend ever moment of drinking all of my beer).

beerproof camera

Aside from a bit of angst about driving places unlicensed, the rest of my time in Virginia was pretty lovely. The wedding was beautiful and the reception was a good time. It was awesome to see so many friends! (And I have since renewed my license.)

Hilary, Paige and I got ready for the wedding together in my hotel room, but did so without beer until Deron arrived with a bottle opener. You know, I really just need to get myself one. I actually have at least two, but they don't fit in my pockets. The problem is, it needs to be tiny-- I took the car door unlocker thingy off my keychain because it was too big for my pocket. I unlock my door by hand. I digress.

Deron arrived with a bottle opener, and before we left for the wedding, I had Lancaster Milk Stout from a mixed six pack that Taylor and I made that morning. It was a little sweet but mostly just unexciting, which was fine by me. Very smooth, pretty plain, very drinkable, which was good, because we had a wedding to get to.

Between the ceremony and reception, a few of us went back to the hotel and had a round of Starr Hill Northern Lights IPA. While I do seem to be on a bit of an IPA kick these past few weeks, this one was a bit strong for me. Really, really hoppy. It kind of obscured anything else. I didn't totally hate it but prefer my IPA's a little better rounded.

The wedding was lovely and we made use of the open Budweiser. These pictures are from my waterproof digital camera dunked in Taylor's Bud, because he's sweet and tolerant of me:







(And yes, we also drank the Bud-- not my favorite macro brew, but not my least favorite either, and yes it was already on the list.)

After the wedding, several of us went back to the hotel to watch the end of the Jets-Colts game. There were Miller High Lifes aplenty, but Taylor and I also split Dogfish Head's Burton Baton, another IPA (more specifically an Imperial IPA). This one was also a bit stronger than I'd like, super duper hoppy, but this one was a little smoother going down. Not my favorite Dogfish Head brew, not my favorite IPA of theirs either, but it was pretty good. You true IPA fans out there might appreciate it more than I did though.

I'm back in New Jersey now, traveling nearly 1300 miles so far this year. (Note to self: perhaps I should keep a running tally this year?) Before heading to camp to start working today, I had a layover in Edison with Cheryl (and Lauren, via Skype!). Cheryl and I shared Deschutes' The Abyss, a stout from the west coast brewed with licorice and molasses and aged in some kind of liquor barrels. I've had bad experience with licorice in beer; I've had bad experience with beer that even mentions liquor. However, the worst part of this beer was the pain in the butt wax seal. Really smooth. Basically it was a strong flavored stout that didn't taste like coffee or chocolate. Very good.

Well, my current position at camp doesn't require me to abstain from drinking, but I imagine living alone in my lakeside cabin part time up here will keep my sampling to a minimum. Visiting friends in Virginia always puts me way ahead, and it seems I have some extra encouragement.

Colleen: 354
Paul: 324

the good, the bad and the uggghhhhh-ly

Greetings from Midlothian, Virginia! My adventures leading up to Justin and Deb's wedding continue.

This post is a mix of all sorts of things, just like my week has been. These beers were all tried at Galaxy Hut in Arlington, a bit dark but overall a cool place. I met up with a gaggle of geographers and associates (hooray Jonathan "Crumpet" Trenary, Scott and Alison Berry, Taylor Harper, Matt Gallo and Anna Cloeter!) and it was really fun to catch up over a few new brews!

Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast Stout: This was a bit pricey but good. It had a strong coffee flavor to it (how appropriate for something named "breakfast") but surprisingly almost no aftertaste. Very clean finish. Really smooth beer.

After that one, I couldn't really decide what I wanted, so I made use of the bar's 4 ounce "flights" to sample a few different things:

Cricket Hill Wet Hopped Pale Ale: Where did this appreciation for hops come from? I really liked this. It was hoppy but still really gentle and drinkable. Hooray New Jersey beers!

BBC Bourbon Barrel Stout: This would be "the bad" part of this post. I should have known BBC stands for Bluegrass Brewing Company. I've had other beers that were aged in various barrels usually used for some sort of liquor or something, but this just tasted straight up like bourbon. Good for people who like bourbons and stouts, perhaps, because it definitely had stout weight to it, but I could barely finish this without gagging. I do not like liquor. I absolutely did not like this beer. (Alison rather enjoyed it though, as she is a fan of bourbon.)


After the epic disaster of the bourbon beer, I decided to try two IPAs side by side, just to see what happened-- Sierra Nevada IPA and Terrapin Hopsecutioner IPA. I found the Sierra Nevada to have less of an aftertaste and overall better balanced, while the Hopsecutioner had a bit of a lighter flavor but I found it to be a little weirder fruiter. Hopsecutioner had the better name, but I think I preferred the Sierra Nevada. Both were good though!

And now the uggghhhh part. Last night was spent in Richmond with the imminent newlyweds and assorted friends. That's not the ugghhh part-- that was pretty great! We hung out at Justin and Deb's place in the Church Hill section of town before heading a few blocks down to Patrick Henry Pub. This was the first time in a long time I was greeted by a ton of cigarette smoke, which I wasn't totally thrilled about, but focused on a new beer on tap, the french fries we planned to order, and the good company. Uggghhh number one: I was not served, as my license expired on the 31st. Not good. Uggghhh number two: the kitchen was closed?! At 10PM!? LAME. I wasn't offended that the bartender was following the law and not serving me, but I was offended that their kitchen was already closed before we arrived, not even that late in the evening. So much for "delicious and reasonably priced food" that they advertise first thing on their website. At least we had good company!

A few more days in Virginia, including tomorrow-- Justin and Deb's big day. Very excited! A slightly early congratulations, friends!

Paul: 324
Colleen: 350 (how nice and even!)

Holidays '10 - Part 2

This will be yet another short post, as I am still playing catch up on errands this week. Laura and I got snowed in at my parents, where the snowfall the day after Christmas was about 28 inches! It took over 7.5 hours to return to Virginia the other day - due to road conditions in Monmouth County, NJ and several days worth of Holiday travelers condensed on I-95 on the same day. I received several beers as Christmas gifts (all are new), so I will be reviewing those in the coming weeks.

St. Pauli Girl: Laura's Dad is a big fan of this one. I thought it was a little better than a Heineken. It's a generic pilsner from Germany. It's actually made by InBev. This means you can expect a highly manufactured beverage, but one with highly consistent taste.

Fordham Genius: A friend told me that this was a take on Guinness. The beer was very good, but I do not agree with their analysis. Guinness is very dark, but almost watery when it comes to taste. Guinness is also light in alcohol. On the other hand, this had almost twice the alcohol by volume (ABV). The nitrogen tap (as opposed to carbon dioxide) gave it a similar experience to Guinness, but the two are fundamentally different.

Dogfish Head World Wide Stout: Colleen summed this beer up here. Laura called the beer a "punch to the face." What did I think? This beer is not for the faint of heart. If you're not a fan of aggressive, heavy beers...this is not for you at all. If you like lagers, amber ales, hefewiezens, and perhaps the occasional pale ale - then you should avoid this beer. It's extremely dark. It has a very aggressive taste. It weighs in at 18% percent alcohol. I absolutely loved it. I took my time drinking it over the course of two hours. Those on my short list of hardcore beer drinkers would greatly enjoy this. It's expensive, but worth a try.

Anderson Valley Winter Solstice: I got this as a gift for Christmas from Laura's mother. This was very interesting, and it was a great seasonal. There was a blend of spices that did not overwhelm the beer, but added to it as the blizzard was rearing its ugly head. Most spiced beers are a lot to handle, so this was a pleasant surprise. The finish was nice and smooth, with a little dry flavor afterward. However, the slight spice flavor stays with you for fond memories- 6.9% alcohol doesn't hurt either.

Samuel Adams Latitude 48 IPA: This is one of very few Samuel Adams beers that I had yet to try. That list is narrowing down to a handful. I thought this was an excellent introductory IPA. It gives all the wonderful elements of an IPA without adding an offensive amount of hops. There was a bitterness to the flavor, but the was almost a sweetness to the hops as well. This is worth a try.

Dogfish Head Midas Touch: The ingredients for this beer were determined from pottery residue found in King Midas' exhumed tomb. An academic styled review can be found here (see page 4). The beverage is somewhere between beer, mead, and chardonnay. I thought it had a very interesting flavor that can't be found in beer today. It's interesting to note how beer has evolved over the past 2,700 years.

Wells Banana Bread Beer: My cousin Brendan graciously shared some of this with me. I've heard about it from him before, so I wanted to give it a try. I do love banana bread, but combining it with beer made me apprehensive. In short, it's a novelty beer. It smelled like banana bread and the flavor was there as well. It was nice to try, but I would recommend splitting a bottle with someone.

The scorecard:
Colleen - 341
Paul - 324

Cheers,
Paul

keeping busy

Well. It's a busy time of year: finals, holiday preparation, visiting lots of family and friends. And you know, it's all three of those things that have lead me to try the following new brews:

Rogue Santa's Private Reserve Ale: I picked this one up to help me meet a thesis deadline earlier this month. Appropriately a red ale, it was a decent combination of the bitter of hops and the sweetness of something citrus fruity. It was pleasant, and while it did not help me to stay awake and finish the section of thesis that I owed my advisor, it did help me in being less critical and over-thinking of what I was writing... but I don't think that was exclusive to this brew so much as beer in general. Hm. Anyway, this was not the most amazing thing ever, but not a terrible price or taste for being festive.

Flying Fish Exit 13: Very rarely do I seek out a beer. Usually I just keep a vague idea of what I've had and try to find things with funny or super unfamiliar names. However, embarrased by having missed two of the Flying Fish Exit Series so far (Exits 11 and 16 E W) (do you know how much I love Jersey!?), and having read of its release in an ongoing series in the Star Ledger, I asked the manager at the nearest liquor store with a decent beer selection. Surely enough, he'd received it-- hadn't even put it out on the floor yet, but I bought my bottle and opened it the moment I got home. This is a chocolate stout, and while the flavor is not overly complex or especially strong (think kick in the ass rather than punch in the face), it was really nice and smooth. I love me a strong stout, but I realize not everyone does. I love this beer because it's New Jersey themed and New Jersey brewed, but I also think it's a reasonably accessible stout.

Rogue Yellow Snow IPA: Taylor came to visit and chose this while I drooled over the Exit 13, but he was nice and shared (possibly because we bought an entire growler). He said, "meh" but is way more of an IPA aficionado than I am (which leads me to believe I should go back and retry a lot of earlier IPAs now that I'm sort of getting a taste for them). This one tasted kind of like flowers. It wasn't the most incredible IPA I've tried, but it also wasn't super gross like some I've had. Rogue can be somewhat hit or miss, but again, given the price on this, I thought it was pretty good. If nothing else, hilariously novel name.

"Black Ice": While this doesn't by any means count as a new beer, this is an interesting idea I stole from my cousin Andrew after seeing him post something on facebook about it last winter. It's half Guinness, half Sam Adams Winter Lager. I tried this at The Office catching up with Paul and Laura (with Taylor, too) but found it to be kind of... bland. Sorry Andrew. I think I'm missing something. Definitely interesting in theory, and definitely motivates me to try the concept on other beers-- the half and half is a go-to for both authors of this blog (Guinness and Harp).


The incredible Cheryl gets credit for choosing three different beers that were not on my list when she hosted Taylor and me for dinner this past weekend--

21st Amendment Fireside Chat: a lovely winter warmer, nice spiced flavor. I wasn't crazy about the aftertaste but the beer itself was worthwhile. Also, it came in possibly the coolest cans I've ever seen, featuring Franklin Delano Roosevelt giving a fireside chat.

Boulder Never Summer Ale: This was another warm, malty, wintery beer, though it was hoppier than I expected. It was a nice balance though.

Stone Imperial Russian Stout: This was more the punch in the face kind of stout that I love. Very strong, definitely got a taste of coffee. I approve of this beer!


Taylor actually hung out for an extra day in order to get the Stuff Yer Face Monday night experience. I feel it's worth rementioning Dogfish Head's World Wide Stout, which is currently on tap there, and is awesome. It's 18% ABV and so delicious and strong. Oh man. Good. No, GREAT.

After my love affair with the World Wide Stout, both Taylor and I ordered Stone Ruination. We noticed upon pouring them out that mine was much lighter in color. We checked the bottles-- one of us had one that was best by this past July, one of us had one that was best by this coming January. I suspect I had the older one, because while it was a decent IPA, Taylor's had much more flavor to it-- the strong hops, something citrus, and even a bit of yeast taste. Obviously fresher is going to be better, but in this case, it made a very noticeable difference. Mine was ok, but his was pretty good.

Some good stuff lately.
Paul: 311
Colleen: 341 (no I did not count World Wide Stout again, although it counts as like 3 beers)

seals of approval

Paul summed up Mad Fox Brewing Company nicely, but I'll sum it up further: AWESOME. If you're in the area, it's worth a visit. Beer: awesome. French fries: awesome (especially the curry sauce they serve with them!). Also awesome, and to clarify one point of Paul's: yes, they make everything except the mayo and ice cream, but the ice cream is made from their beer. Our server brought us a sample of ice cream made with their porter. Oh my goodness amazing.

Right, on to the part where I tell you how I felt about the beers in more words than "awesome":

Oatmeal Stout: Probably my favorite brew of the evening. It was served on cask, which I don't think I've experienced before, but basically means smoother and less carbonated (which to me is a stellar thing). This was already a very smooth beer, not super overwhelming but definitely anything but wimpy. I approve.

Porter: This was good as a beer and also as an ice cream (I've mentioned before in this blog the merits of a beer float-- Mad Fox totally killed two birds with one stone for me here). A little sweeter but a similar weight and feel to the stout. Awesome.

Punkinator: This is the pumpkin beer I have been waiting for. It was smooth and had all of the spices I loved without being stupidly sweet. There was that nice vegetable flavor without being overwhelmed by that pie flavor that should really only be found in pies. Awesome.

Saison: While not as mind-bogglingly incredible as the Saison du BUFF I recently tried, this was still a very crisp, clean beer, lightweight and a little lemony. I enjoyed it quite a bit, though it seemed slightly out of season (in that those flavors align better with summer than autumn, the beer tasted plenty fresh).

Wee Heavy: While initially super impressed with how not see-through it was, I was a little disappointed with how sweet it was. It wasn't bad, just wasn't my favorite beer ever. Paul's right, this one is for dessert.

Alt beer: You know, this one was a little disappointing. I had forgotten I tried it until Paul mentioned that we each tried six-- Taylor actually ordered this one but wasn't crazy about it either, so we shared it (thus surpassing the 4 oz requirement). It was just... boring. Forgettable. Not bad, I guess, just not awesome.


I was actually in Virginia for a wedding this past weekend, but as per usual, ventured out and visited as many people in the area as I could pack into one short weekend. I was going to do a separate post to review the rest of the new brews I tried, but then I realized there were only three, so I'll just tack 'em on here:

Bell's Best Brown Ale: This was quite good. Very smooth and a great example of what a malty beer should taste like. Enjoyed on a friend's back porch area on a cool fall day-- excellent.

Natty Bo: I tried this because a friend had bought a twelve pack and Taylor asked if I'd had it before, to which I had to answer... no. We all know I'm not crazy about light beers, but I can tolerate some (see here or here). However, this was dreadful. Ugh. Sorry Luke, thank you for the beer, but more for you, man.

Founders Canadian Breakfast Stout: Whoa. Whoa. Well done, Founders. This was incredible. I think this puts a three way tie for first place for stouts in my life, alongside Dogfish Head's Bitches Brew and World Wide Stout. This beer was really, really, really strong, super dark, incredible. I could taste a hint of maple, not in a sweet offensive way, but nicely balanced with some other strong stouty flavors (chocolate and coffee). I had first learned of this beer in an article that the now infamous Taylor had sent to me, and then he found a bar in D.C. that served it. I approve (of both the beer and the boy who brought me to it).


Other seals of approval given: to Mad Fox, of Taylor by Paul, and of Paul's intention to finally regain the lead-- come on, I have a thesis to finish.

Colleen: 328
Paul: 306

Wait, PS: Upon returning to New Jersey on Monday, I did meet the usual suspects for a short while, where I ended up having New Jersey Brewing Co's Hudson Pale Ale because I love and had just returned to NJ. Gurzo really liked it, but I found it to be extremely mediocre. It was clean tasting and fine, but not super memorable. We have discussed lately though that sometimes that's ok. So I'm actually at 329.

Philly beers and silly beers

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." -Benjamin Franklin

He may or may not have actually said that, but it's still pretty amusing, and an appropriate way to open this entry since I spent a chunk of my weekend in and around Philadelphia, and tried a few new beers while I was at it (two thirds of them were even brewed in Philly!). It was nice to see some of the historic sites that I last saw on elementary school field trips, and just to walk around a different city. Nice change of pace. After visiting the Liberty Bell and Ben Franklin's grave, we wandered over to Yards Brewing Company to taste the local brews, sharing pints of the following:

Love Stout: Good stuff. This was nice and lightweight, like Guinness (I know some people find that statement to be completely ludicrous but it's true). Straightforward and smooth.

IPA: Good. Straightforward. No complaints here, and the IPA fan (the other half of this mysterious "we" I keep referring to) who I was sharing this with gave it his seal of approval too. That means it's pretty legit.

Poor Richard's Tavern Spruce Ale: Speaking of Ben Franklin... this was a very interesting beer. I can't say if it was good or bad so much as interesting because it tasted exactly like a spruce tree smells. I love trees and all but I'm not entirely sure a beer should taste like liquid tree. The verdict is still out. Definitely a strong flavor though, so if you have any sort of spruce-sensitivity, don't go near this.

General Washington's Tavern Porter: This was a good porter. Nothing so strong tasting that it knocked me over or startled me, but definitely not a boring beer, either. Count me a fan.


After faffing about for a while in the city, we went to a Halloween party, to which I brought a variety twelve pack of Butternuts brews. I'd previously tried the Moo Thunder (great) and Pork Slap Pale Ale (also very good), and I figured Halloween is all about fun, silly, weird things, so why not get beers in goofy looking cans with ridiculous names? I would be driving to the D.C. area later that night, so I just stuck to trying the two I hadn't already had.

Heinnieweisse: What's not to love about a beer called named heinnie? Well, I guess that's an exaggeration. I liked this beer, don't get me wrong, but I didn't love it. It's a decent hefeweizen but nothing particularly remarkable about it (though as we've been discussing lately, sometimes that's ok).

Snapperhead IPA: This was not good, and it wasn't even the hops that bothered me. In fact, it wasn't that hoppy at all, it was just super sweet and weird tasting. I liked their other beers, especially the first two I tried, but not really this one. And all of the other IPA fans in the room didn't like it either, so it's not just me and my immature taste for the style.


Some winners, some losers, some in-betweeners, but as always, excellent adventures in beer and in life.
Paul: 300
Colleen: 317

Road trip with a side of beer

So this post reviews my recent vacation, where Laura and I drove from southwest Colorado to Virginia. Our route took us to Mesa Verde, a small town called Dolores, CO, the south rim of the Grand Canyon, Santa Fe, Dallas, New Orleans, and Atlanta. Admittedly, this was not the most direct route, but it was a blast. We drove 3,200 miles in eight days, and that includes one day of no driving at all! For Laura's thoughts on this trip, see her blog.

Upon my arrival in Colorado (we drove out a couple months ago and I flew back to DC), Laura and I went to Durango, CO for Mass (since it was Sunday), which was preceded by a cup of coffee at a local shop. Once we were done with Mass, she took me to an awesome brewpub in the town called Steamworks. If you know your beer history (or if you saw the movie I lasted posted about), you would know there was a time in this country when each town had its own brewery. At some point, we lost that trend. However, I am glad to report than in Colorado, it seems that the local brewpub is on the rise once again.

Steamworks Backside Stout: This beer won a gold medal and a silver medal at the 2010 Great American Beer Festival. As an aside, I must go to the Great American Beer Festival one year. Despite the mediocre ratebeer ratings, I agree with the medal distinction. I thought this stout was amazing, well balanced, and full of flavor. It also was not that heavy. Tenured stout drinkers know that, believe it or not, Guinness comes across as light as water sometimes. This beer had a similar characteristic.

Steamworks Night Train: This was a dark lager than can be described as Yuengling on steroids. By that I mean, it was darker in color and heavier on flavor. It was a little hoppy, but I could otherwise drink a beer like this all night without getting tired of it.

We went to Mesa Verde National Park, which was beautiful. They are known for their 13th century cliff dwellings, some of which still stand today. We didn't stay for more than about 3 hours because the lack of sleep from an early morning flight and the altitude were getting to me. We stayed the night in the Rio Grande Southern Hotel. It's a pretty sweet, and might I add reasonably priced, bed and breakfast that is over 100 years old. Our room came with an awesome breakfast the next morning, and was cheaper than every macro chain hotel we stayed at the rest of the week. The best part about Dolores? They too had a local brewpub. The Dolores River Brewery was 1 block from the hotel, and was a sweet local place to eat. Their specialty is brick oven pizza, but they add pesto sauce which gives the pizza an interesting kick.

Dolores River Dry Stout: This beer was dry, yet well balanced. Experienced alcohol drinkers know the descriptor "dry." In a sense, it's that dryness that appears in your mouth after sipping a dry red wine. In no way was this similar to wine, but the same effect was there. This came across as well balanced and, despite the dry taste, as very drinkable.

Dolores River ESB: Their ESB (or pale ale) was hoppy, but not overwhelmingly. In other words, it fit its style very well. The hop (or bitter) flavor initially escalated during the sip, but trailed off into a malty flavor after the glass was pulled away. It went well with a slice of pizza.

Our next day took us to the Grand Canyon. While we stayed there, we found out that the grocery store at the south rim sells beer. There is a Grand Canyon brew. The part where Colleen pounds her fist into the desk? They let you buy individual bottles, so you can make your own six pack. Never fear dear beer friend, they only had three brews I could try anyway. The Grand Canyon was awesome. It rained while we were there, but it provided some really unique views of the canyon - we saw clouds/fog roll in and out as the weather changed, and the rain brought out a lot of color from the canyon walls.

Grand Canyon Pilsner: I thought this was a crisp, gold colored beer. For the most part, it fit the mold as an average pilsner. The unique part being the slight creamy flavor from the beer head. It didn't significantly improve the beer, but certainly made an impression.

Grand Canyon Horseshoe Bend Pale Ale: Pale Ales have more hops than malts, which give them a bitter flavor most of the time. It's important to note though, that hops are actually flowers. Therefore, hops can give a variety of different flavors to a beer. In this case, the floral aroma came across in the smell and taste.

Grand Canyon Sunset Amber Ale: The beer was below average. The amber did meet its style in the sense that it was mostly malty. Caramel malts were certainly used and they were present in the taste. Unfortunately, I thought the beer was too light in body for me to consider an above average amber ale.

On our way from the Grand Canyon to Santa Fe, we ran into some interesting weather outside of Flagstaff, AZ. While on I-40, we experienced hail (which accumulated), heavy winds, and sat in traffic due to many accidents. A tornado touched down and crossed the highway about 40 minutes before we got there. The storm system wasn't moving, so needless to say, we drove out of there as quickly and safely as possible. Upon our arrival in Santa Fe, we explored the city plaza and the Cathedral. For dinner we went to a place where I ate when I was there about 10 years ago, the Blue Corn Cafe. They had great food and their own beer. I highly recommend it if you are in that neck of the woods.

Blue Corn Cafe Oatmeal Stout: This was a gold medal winner at the 2007 Great American Beer Festival. With oatmeal stouts, you can definitely pick up the difference in flavor and body compared to a traditional stout. Both chocolate and coffee malts were used - with the coffee malt taking control as the majority influence on the taste. I liked this oatmeal stout.

Between Santa Fe and New Orleans, we drove through the long, dark of Texas. We stayed outside of Dallas, but about 11 hours of driving with maybe 20 minutes of stopping took its toll. We used the night to recharge for the next day's drive and the following night in New Orleans.

Our arrival in New Orleans was nice, we stayed in the French Quarter. This allowed us to see Bourbon Street, Jackson Square, and Cafe Du Monde. We got drinks at a brewpub in New Orleans called Crescent City Brewing; I thought the beer was mediocre for the price. We ate at a really local hole in the wall called Coops. We got the tip to eat there by asking a local who worked in a gift shop where she liked to eat. We both had cups of Gumbo. Laura had seafood gumbo. I sincerely hope Colleen will still be friends with me after this, because I had rabbit and sausage gumbo - which had quite the kick.

Crescent City Black Forest: I thought this fell into the category of a traditional dark lager. By that I mean, it's a little more complex than Yuengling and has a darker color.

Crescent City Oktoberfest: Like its counterpart, this was a rather mediocre Oktoberfest. The dark color and malty flavor were there, but nothing else really distinguished it.

Abita Amber Lager: We had this beer at the hole-in-the-wall place. The beer definitely had a clean taste to it, and went well with my dinner. The bottle advertises that the beer is brewed with spring water. Other than that, I didn't think it was that special. Being that Abita is the signature brew of New Orleans, trying this was necessary.

We left New Orleans the next morning en route to the suburbs of Atlanta to stay with Laura's aunt for the final night. She was very hospitable despite her broken leg. We certainly hope she gets better soon. The key note of that day's drive was US-90 along the water in Mississippi which had amazing views of the Gulf of Mexico.

This last beer was in my fridge. It may have been part of my last custom six pack, but I am not entirely sure. It seems Colleen and I tend to drink a beer as we write posts, and today is no different.

Left Hand Oktoberfest: I definitely picked up the caramel malt in this beer, and it had a slight sweetness to it. The brewer says they upped the alcohol from last year. 6.6% alcohol is a little high for an Oktoberfest, so it may have led to a different tasting experience. I tend to like Left Hand's brews, but I thought this was average.

I really need to post more frequently, and review fewer beers. I get the feeling its grueling to read through and digest this many reviews. I also need to get ahead of Colleen.

The scorecard:
Colleen - 304
Paul - 300

Cheers,
Paul

the Miles Davis of beers. Literally.

Imagine me as a college senior, about a month before graduation. Hint: I look almost exactly the same now, give or take an inch of hair.

In my last semester at Mary Washington, I only took 13 credits, and only 10 for a grade (as opposed to the 18 credits I took the other seven semesters there). I was relaxed and enjoying the last few months of living in Fredericksburg. Those three credits that I was taking pass/fail? History of Jazz. This was an awesome choice. I sat with a few music major friends in this class, which usually consisted of listening to music and having a slight amount of discussion about it. This was a pretty laid back three hours of my life per week.

Toward the end of the semester, we got to fusion. And I loved it. I mean, I knew it was out there, but I never really thought about it before. I woke up one Sunday and decided: I needed to own Bitches Brew, the album by Miles Davis that helped define jazz fusion. And I would drive all over Fredericksburg until I found a copy. And I sat on my bed for the rest of that dark, rainy day, listening to it and drinking tea. It was everything I hoped it would be. That was a very chill and wonderful day.

Why did I tell you all of this? Because while looking for a hoppy beer for Cheryl, sitting next to the wonderful Lagunitas Hop Stoopid was Dogfish Head's Bitches Brew. I recognized the album cover on the label. And, just as I needed to own the album, I needed to add this beer to my list.

Paul posed the question a while back, what craft brewer in the country do I like the most? And now, I will finally answer: probably Dogfish Head. With the exception of Festina Peche (and they're entitled a dud), everything of theirs I've tried has been really, really great, including the beer that I think was made specifically for me: their World Wide Stout, which was geographically themed and strong and heavy and wonderful. Their Punkin Ale is probably my favorite pumpkin beer, the Indian Brown Ale was great (and made great marinade, too), even their IPA is... survivable... and that's saying a lot for me. (I tried the 60 Minute.)

So was Bitches Brew, like World Wide Stout, everything I hoped and dream a stout could be?

Yes. Yes. A thousand times yes. I think I loved this more than the World Wide Stout, as if that was possible. It's rich and smooth. It doesn't feel particularly heavy going down, but there's a lot of flavor happening. Good and malty. There was evidence of chocolate and honey. A fusion of awesomeness and amazingness, just like the album.


Other wonderful beers I've tried lately:

Coopers Original Pale Ale: Good, legit pale ale. And I thought that before my good, legit Australian coworker arrived to the party where I tried this brew from Down Under.

Cisco Nantucket's Whale's Tale Pale Ale: Admittedly purchased after Paul added 18 new beers to the blog. But it was pretty good. Not particularly amazing, but a decent pale ale-- a little hoppy, but balanced with a little sweet and no weird aftertaste, which is always a plus.

Dogfish Head Namaste: This was a very, very, very good witbier. I am sorry that it's not getting the true love it deserves because I tried it the same day I tried Bitches Brew. Brewed with lemongrass, oranges and coriander, it's got a slightly more complex flavor that just a straight light wheat beer, it's very interesting. Very fresh. VERY good.

Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA: I tried this spur of the moment at Stuff Yer Face, because it was Monday and this is one of the only beers left there that I haven't had. Cheryl had the 60 Minute at the same time so I had a sip of hers to compare. This is a little sweeter and a LOT smoother than the 60 Minute, which I find to be a little sour in addition to the hoppy flavor typical of the style. Given the choice, I'd totally go with 90 Minute. I'm still not in love with IPAs, but this was good. Perhaps my next conquest should be the 120 Minute...


Given his current roadtrip, I suspect Paul might actually beat me to 300, but only if he updates before me. I'm going to try and make him sweat a little bit over it though...
Colleen: 295
Paul: 288

A Medley of Sorts

Part of me doesn't want to make a post this long, but the other part of me wants to update the blog and get back to my regularly scheduled programming. I've been working a lot of hours since Laura has been in Colorado, and now that the craziness is about to end, it's time to go through my notes that I've left here, on the back of receipts, and in my cell phone...so here we go.

In August, Brendan and I got a beer at Fireflies. Almost everyone I have taken there enjoys the the vibe and beer list. We talked about life, had some beer and some wings.

Boulder Beer Singletrack Copper Ale: I had some high hopes for this beer, thinking it might be more like an amber ale. I was sorely mistaken. It did have the smooth, light malty characteristics of an amber ale. However, this beer was had too much hop flavor, which ruined it for me stylistically.

I started off September with a Jimmy Buffett concert. If you have not been to one before, I would recommend it. It's basically just one monstrous, but chill, party. It gave me the opportunity to momentarily kick back and relax with a few beers and some friends. I managed to try a new, large macro brew.

Bud Light: It wasn't on my list yet, but according to Colleen, if it's beer it can be reviewed. I find this beer useful if I am out drinking and I don't want to load up on alcohol content. Other than that, it might find purpose to boil brats in or wash my car.

That same weekend, Colleen came to visit. It was great to catch up with her, and hear about her trip. As a thank you, she bought me a custom six pack. I've worked my way through them, some of which I had at the Virginia Tech vs. Boise State game, and the rest I had at a couple pizza and beer nights with the roommates.

Samuel Adams Dunkelweizen: I really liked this beer. It was a good transition from the summer beers that I've been complaining about in recent posts. Essentially, it's a dark hefeweizen. The difference being there is more malt to it, hence the darker color and different taste. Samuel Adams usually doesn't steer you wrong (EXCEPT: when there is a fruit/pumpkin in it or its name is Old Fezziwig).

Samuel Adams Harvest Pumpkin Ale: I don't like pumpkin beers. I tend to avoid them. However, I am also behind in our beer count, so I can't be choosy. This tasted a bit like pumpkin pie, because I tasted cinnamon. It's an experimental seasonal. That said, the taste was better than most pumpkin beers that I've tried.

Holy Brew Purgatory Pilsner: It shouldn't surprise most that I bought this beer for the name on the bottle. Overall, it was an average pilsner. It was the light body, medium taste that you would expect to find from the style.

Smuttynose Robust Porter: This was a fantastic porter. Really, it might be one of the best porters I have ever tried. The beer was everything a porter should be, and nothing else. The brewers did a great job of not messing with a good thing. The beer was just the right body, with the perfect roasted malt flavor. I highly recommend it.

The Duck-Rabbit Amber Ale: Bottom Line: This was a sub-par amber ale that didn't seem to distinguish itself from any other amber ales that I've had in the past. If anything else, it left an odd aftertaste in my mouth. Perhaps it could have been the individual bottle, but I wasn't impressed.

Yards General Washington Tavern Porter: The recipe was originally created by Washington himself. He used molasses with his recipe. The molasses creates an interesting twist to the flavor and aftertaste. Porters tend to have chocolate malts, so the taste is not entirely foreign either. I thought this was good as well.

The roommates and I went to RFD in Washington DC. They have about 50 beers on tap at any given time, and a good bottle list. Their location near Chinatown makes for a good location. Matt, Brendan, and I enjoyed time to make sarcastic comments. It's nice to kick back with them and have a few new beers.

Troegs Dead Reckoning Porter: The fact that it is the time of the year for porters makes me very happy. This porter also made me happy, because it was done well. The beer was heavy, which should be expected, but didn't overbear my stomach. The malts seemed varied in flavors, but were very well balanced.

Stone Sublimely Self Righteous Ale: The guys at Stone brewing are most likely the best in the country. They aren't afraid to experiment, but everything they put on a shelf seems to be liquid gold to a beer snob. This was an incredibly complex beer, which is par for the course with Stone. It's kind of like drinking an IPA, but it's dark with plenty of malts.

I joined my friends Tim and Heather for dinner a couple of weekends ago. We went to Victoria's Gastro Pub. I have been there before with them, and I highly recommend it as a place to eat as well as enjoy new beers. They are on the cutting edge of complimenting food with beer. When paired well together, I think beer and food make a better combination than wine and cheese.

That same weekend, I went to West Chester, PA to their yearly restaurant festival. It's a really good time, plus I get to hang out with my cousin Scott. He was kind enough to buy a six pack of Guinness, since he knew I was coming. Quote of the weekend: At one point, I went to get another beer and I said, "I guess I'll preserve the Miller Lite and get a Guinness for myself". I intended this to mean, that since most people won't drink Guinness, that's what I will stay with in order to be polite. However, after a good laugh, the group decided this would make a great beer commercial.

Evolution Lucky 7 Porter: I enjoyed this porter. As far as the style goes, it was above average. There was that smoky/roasted taste that is endemic of most porters. The malts were well blended between coffee and chocolate characteristics.

This past weekend, I went with my cousin Brendan and a few friends to the DC Oktoberfest. In short, it was a small piece of heaven. I ended up with an extra ticket, so that meant more tokens. The best part was the smallest samples (which cost one token) were 4 oz. That follows our rule. Secondly, I had enough tokens and time to get decent samples (8+ oz) and still maintain a good review. I will be going back to this next year. Colleen, you should come down for it. Most of the brewers were ones that I hadn't heard of before - win.

Julius Echter Hefe-Weissbier: I thought this was a very light bodied hefeweizen. The beer was unfiltered, and thus a little heavy on the yeast. However, it did have a sweet characteristic that complimented the hot September day.

Evolution Rise Up Stout: This was heavy on the coffee malts. I traditionally don't like coffee stouts that much, and this wasn't an exception to that rule.

Goose Island Honker's Ale: I have some interesting notes for this beer. I thought it came across as rather malty on contact, became mild and very good in between, and ended off hoppy. And those are the impressions I got on each sip. I need to find this beer again so I can break it down more.

Pyramid Juggernaut Red Ale: The lone descriptor I included was the beer was rather malty. Other than that, it was very forgettable. I wouldn't go out of your way to find this.

Lancaster Oktoberfest: I tend to think of Oktoberfest style beers as being on the heavier side, and erring mostly toward the malt side of things. If you don't like IPAs, then Oktoberfest might be your thing. For an Oktoberfest, I thought this was very light. By that I mean it wasn't as heavy as I expected, nor did it contain as much of a malt characteristic as I expected.

Sierra Nevada Tumbler Autumn Brown Ale: Like Colleen, I found this to be a very drinkable beer that was very, very smooth. The malt character is extremely well balanced. For those of you who aren't big on hops, but want to try something from one of America's best brewers, give this beer a shot. I had more of this beer than any other at the DC Oktoberfest.

Lastly, I went to Rock Bottom to celebrate my good friend Andy's birthday. Colleen and I have both reviewed Rock Bottom (since it is a chain of brew pubs). We also happen to like it, since their beers are pretty good. My advice is to look at the boards on the wall to see which beer is freshest and go with that. My biggest complaint is sometimes the beer gets a little old there.

Rock Bottom Rocktoberfest: After a summer of light, fruity beers we finally reach autumn, which means the style of beers predominantly found changes (praise Jesus). I thought this Oktoberfest was rather well done. It was very well balanced, and had a great malt characteristic to it. It's certainly above average for the style.

I'll be on a road trip with Laura in the next couple of weeks. Expect some updates on great brewpubs from around different parts of the country. I need to keep pace with Colleen somehow...

The scorecard:
Colleen - 290
Paul - 288

Cheers,
Paul

apologies for neglect

Sorry for neglecting to tell you about some of the good beers I've been trying lately.

Actually, it's funny. This past week has been my week of "detox"-- the first time since early July that I'm off all forms of medication. Detox does not mean "don't drink beer" for me though, in fact, as a result of not being on strong antibiotics, I was able to enjoy my beer much more!

Breckenridge Remarkable Vanilla Porter: This doesn't have a strong vanilla flavor, per se, but is just a good porter that's slightly different. I liked it.

Bell's Kalamazoo Stout: The consistency was great, but something about the flavor was just too intense. Since it says "brewer's licorice" on the label, I'm going to guess that's what it was.

Sam Adams Dunkelweizen: Dunkel weizen means "dark wheat". It was like a heavy wheat beer. I liked it. Very good. Not too crazy, just good.

Sam Adams Harvest Pumpkin: This was a good pumpkin because it didn't taste like pie. I know pumpkin pie is the bomb, but I appreciate pumpkin as a vegetable, too. This just tasted like an interesting, meaty beer. Except vegetable, not meat, but you know what I mean? It had something to it.

Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales Weizen Bam: This was sour tasting, but I didn't dislike it. Definitely a light feel to it. I couldn't quite figure out how else to explain it.

Harpoon Chocolate Stout: THIS WAS GOOD. Got some coffee flavor happening but also a rich, dark chocolate taste that I just adored. So smooth. Very, very good.

Chimay Blue: I did not like this as much as I remember liking the Red, which I can't seem to find in the blog but is definitely in my beer list. This was a little bit sour tasting but not bad.


It's Pumpkin beer and Oktoberfest season and I am very happy about this, although two that I've had so far were already on my list. I am pleased to report my reviews are consistent.

The Shipyard's Pumpkinhead Ale: I was surprised to see beer advocate's review so low. While this is hardly my favorite pumpkin beer, I didn't think it was terrible. The problem is that it's one of those pumpkin beers that leans more toward pumpkin pie than pumpkin as a vegetable, so it's kind of sweet and has a lot of spice to it, and then you have no idea what to drink next because your taste buds are all confused. But on its own, not bad. Maybe this is a better beer to end the evening with, if you're having more than one.

Späten's Oktoberfest Märzen: While a little bit sweeter than some Oktoberfests, this is definitely a good choice if you're going for authenticity. Deutsche Oktoberfest bier. JA WOHL! I always forget how much I like Oktoberfest brews, and then September rolls around (which is when Oktoberfest actually starts). Good stuff here.

And then while writing these things, I had another that gets added into the count:

Left Hand Oktoberfest Märzen: This was really nice. This is a really good example of what Oktoberfest should be. Not too strong, not too sweet, not too bubbly, just a solid, good beer that is perfect for the fall weather to come.

So, until Paul takes a moment to share some beers with you all, I remain ahead.
Paul: 270
Colleen: 287