Earp family Christmas beer selection 2011

Sorry this is overdue. My life has been busy with working holiday retail purgatory and family time. I wanted to share what happened when Mom gave me her credit card and told me to pick up eight 6 packs for the holidays. I had a stout fermenting but it wasn't going to be ready in time. It's now bottled and carbonating, should be ready to go in time to celebrate Grandma's birthday in another week (and oh man, is she looking forward to trying my beer). So, this Christmas's eight--

Miller Lite: Despite it being practically required in this family, there are still five left on today, the Twelfth Day of Christmas.

Lager: Stocking up on the standards. Worst case scenario I cook with this. Best case scenario we have Grandma over and enjoy a beer together.

Yuengling Black and Tan: You know what? I like this. So does my grandmother.


So, those first three are non-negotiable when Mom hands me the card and says go to town. The rest--


Killian's: I used to love this a lot, but to be honest, I haven't had it in a few years. I think it might be too carbonated for me, actually. I like red beers though, but this one I always get because I know my dad and my one uncle are fans.

Brooklyn Brown Ale: I got this because I know my big brother likes brown ales and I wanted to do something besides New Castle, which is good, but I always do for him. Well, I guess he was pleased, because I got none of them, and there are none left.

Sierra Nevada Kellerweis Hefeweizen: As much as I love beers that resemble black paint, I also love a good hefeweizen. This is definitely a good, good hefeweizen, tasting ever so slightly of cloves and bananas as well a good hefeweizen should, without being overwhelming. It's pleasant and feels warm and refreshing all at once. We always try to have a good mix around the holidays (basically meaning I can't get ALL stouts but I always won't allow for ALL light/plain beers), so the hefeweizen has been my go-to "see through" contribution. This one though goes so far above and beyond just filling a spot on the spectrum. Really. Drink it.

Magic Hat's Encore IPA: Another style I know Chris likes, and at this point I was desperate to try something new. This is part of the Magic Hat IPA World Tour, whatever that means-- last year I tried the Blind Faith IPA which I didn't find super incredible. This one, however, is pretty good. I don't know if the difference is that it's an American Wheat IPA (I do like wheat), but it's an IPA that does its job. It's bitter and refreshing without hurting my mouth or stomach. It's funny, because this one isn't anything exceptional, but I like it way more than I remember liking the Blind Faith. I'd recommend it.

Wolaver's Organic Oatmeal Stout: THIS WAS AWESOME. I know, I'm biased toward beer that you can't see through. I bought this because I hadn't tried it before, and only just learned in writing this post that Wolaver is the organic label for Otter Creek, a totally legit and good brewery in Middlebury, Vermont (which is clearly a great place, as that is where Dispatch formed). Anyway. I really only bought this because it was an oatmeal stout, but I was not disappointed. It's not very sweet, but it's very smooth and drinkable, a nice, not-too-heavy stout. I would get this again if I wasn't so hell bent on trying new beers all the time. What the heck. I'll probably get this again.


Other things I plan to repeat soon? Dogfish Head's World Wide Stout. Santa failed to leave one in my stocking but I think that's going to be my belated gift to myself as a reward for not messing up Christmas dinner this year (deep fried turkey! and half a dozen side dishes! all successful! AND THERE WAS GRAVY*!).







*Last year, there wasn't. And that may have also happened one other year that I was in charge of the meal. Sorry, vegetarians forget about these details...

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...

Guess what wasn't on the list?

I don't even know what made me check... but the Bud Light I had last night to celebrate my friend's brother's 21st birthday totally counts. Pathetic, but true.

My notes read, "Water?"

Colleen: 355
Paul: 324+ whatever he's been up to so far this year...

six great new beers that won't make the list

I had a really wonderful Friday night with some really wonderful friends. While I have six new beers to report as a result, none of them count toward my list as they were all part of an awesome sampler at Long Valley Brew Pub-- two ounces each. We finally have our list of rules on the blog, which Paul had referenced recently but we hadn't thought to post yet. However, Long Valley Brew Pub was so awesome that I have no qualms sacrificing those six points. So worth it, forget my score in this "contest"!

When I visited my friends Cheryl, Gurzo and Cristina last week, it came up that all would like to do a bit of hiking, so I invited them to visit me this week, adding the idea of visiting of the nearby brew pubs. Long Valley got our vote for having a well rounded menu that included veggie options for myself, Cristina and Cheryl. My friend Noah, a fellow nature and beer enthusiast who will also be under contract beginning this coming Friday, joined us for the evening.

Here's the thing about Long Valley Brew Pub: it's amazing. Just entering the place gave a great impression. It's in a beautifully restored 200 year old stone barn, in a lovely historic town, at the top of a windy road that goes up a pretty mountain that we got to watch the sun set behind as we anxiously awaited our awesome samplers of their brews.

Click on people's faces in the photo to tag them.

This is actually a photo from the drive to the brewery, but you get the idea-- such an incredible part of the state!

Hookerman's Light: While I don't generally pursue light beers, this was really excellent. Smooth and to the point, extremely drinkable. We were all really impressed with how not lame it was for being a light beer.

American Pale Ale: This was slightly hoppy, and yet I loved it. It's beers like this that will get me to like stronger hops flavors someday. It was very crisp and refreshing with just a hint of really tasty hops. One of my uncles once told me that a good pale ale is totally worth the trouble of looking for. This brew absolutely made me agree with that statement.

German Valley Amber: This was also slighty hoppy but very smooth and tasty, somewhat akin to some sort of nice Irish Red but not quite. I don't think I described that very well, but whatever-- this is also a great beer.

Lazy Jake Porter: SO GOOD. I love my dark beers, and this was really great. When I go through samplers, I tend to take a sip of each and then finish them in the order from least favorite to most favorite. This was the one I saved for last. Definitely a strong coffee flavor but such a smooth, tasty beer. Oh man.

Dusseldorf Altbier: This one I was less crazy about, it being kind of heavy on the malts for being so light in feeling. That's a combination I tend not to totally embrace, such as in the case of bocks. That being said, this was still a solid beer and it wasn't so strong or sweet that I didn't enjoy it.

English Pale Ale: This one didn't have too much exciting about it, but was their current feature beer-- "great beer for no particular reason" it says on the menu. I definitely preferred the American Pale Ale, but this was pretty straightforward and not offensive in any way. I imagine most people would like it.

In addition to great beers, the service was good and we all really enjoyed our meals. The five of us split two orders of some really excellent nachos (the chips themselves were great, with a good mix of fresh veggies and a really good salsa). I had a homemade vegetable burger with fries, phenomenal. This place was awesome and I'd totally recommend it to anyone, the only drawback being it's not particularly close to anything or on the way to anywhere. Well worth the visit if you ever find yourself even remotely in the neighborhood!

trading places

Wait until you see how clever that title actually is!

I've been all over the place since my last post, surprise surprise, catching up with friends and family. That occasionally includes having a beer, surprise surprise. Before I get into the actually interesting beers I've tried during my adventurous winter break, I'm just going to put out there that a few beers never made my list despite having had them before, but I had them again in the past week, so they're official now: Miller Lite, the Earp family standard issue (see Christmas, for example); Red Stripe, which I've listed as "another non-descript lager"; and Miller High Life, which was actually my first beer ever. (Note about Miller Lite-- I think I understand why that is my family's light beer of choice, it really is ridiculously smooth!)

Now, Paul and I have been unable to meet up so I could tell him in person that he is now a few beers behind me, even with his last post. (See?! See! My clever title?! He's behind and I'm ahead! I said I'd do it by New Year's...) The reason we've been unable to meet up is also because we've traded places-- over and over and over again. I spent the last two weekends in Northern Virginia. He spent the last two weekends in New Jersey. I mean, even to the point where I drove back to Jersey last night, but he had only come up for the day and was heading back down when I called him. RIDICULOUS. But, here are the interesting things I've tried in the meantime:

Pinkus Organic Hefe-weizen: this is a pretty good hef, although has a bit more bite than some others I've tried lately, not as smooth. Tasted very good though!

Redbridge Gluten Free Lager: I'd file this under "non-descript lager" but it's worth mentioning just how not bad it is. Like, you can actually serve this to your friends who are gluten intolerant. Apparently it's made from sorghum, whatever, tastes like beer to me. I am grateful that my body processes wheat and barley though, not just because I enjoy a good beer, but as a general rule.

Moreland's Old Speckled Hen: This one has an interesting story. This appeared at a family gathering today because of its history which basically comes down to the MG, which my uncle has owned and restored a few of over the years. The beer was brewed in honor of the factory's 50th anniversary. There was a car they used to run around the factory which was called the "Owld Speckl’d Un" because it was splatted in paint. Read that to yourself out loud with some sort of British accent. You get it now.

Unfortunetly, this beer was a bit outdated. It seemed pretty smooth and drinkable under the unfortunate air of SKUNK. Its label says "crafted fine ale", and it's all sorts of British, so I imagine it's not so bad... it has subsequently been noted as "skunked-- try again?"

But for now, that leaves the count at Colleen 172, Paul 169. I'm sure we'll trade places again soon enough. Tomorrow I officially start getting that masters thesis thing together... but till we meet/trade places again,
Colleen

oh hey I'm Colleen!

Paul did a good job summing up how we know each other and what our deal with beer is, so I'll just briefly introduce myself.

I'm currently in my second year of grad school, working on a Master of Science in Geography. That's right, Geography. It's real. I specialize in biogeography and human- environment interactions. Basically, I hug trees and play in the dirt. My thesis is about invasive plants and slash and burn agriculture in Mexico, where I spent part of my summer doing research, and where their beer is all the same (not very exciting).

My top five beers at the moment:
1. Sam Adams Hefeweizen
2. Guinness (though this is what I have most often)
3. Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout
4. Victory Storm King
5. Flying Fish Oktoberfish


Also, the score is actually currently 153- 142, as I just tried Bud Light Golden Wheat. Don't ask me why, since I generally avoid stuff with "light" in the name, but it was surprisingly not crappy. I like wheat beer, what can I say.

Other stuff I like: old family photos, traveling, the beach, hugging trees, making and/or listening to music, the state of New Jersey

Also, if Brendan the cousin gets credit for encouraging us to blog about our beer adventures, and Paul gets credit for actually signing us up for the address and starting the blog, I totally get credit for the name. Paul is a dear friend, and my beer friend. I'm so clever sometimes.