David and Walker are drinking a different beer each day* for an entire year, 365 beers in all, starting August 5th, 2010. We're writing about our daily regime to share the experiences and delicious discoveries with our friends and mild acquaintances to inspire YOU to bring previously unknown beers to your lips. (*limit one new beer per day consumed before midnight, no catch up days allowed)
This is my third single hop IPA from Mikkeller but the hop, Willamette, I know very little about. My googling machine conveys that it's similar to the English style Fuggle but is more fruity and has floral notes. So what's the real story?
It's improbable, since most of/allMikkeller's beers are limited production, that he would make six packs of his single hop varitals, but Jebus I wish he would. He has the innate ability to balance the hops and malts to create brews that are delicious and showcase the IPA. He puts together the perfect backing band for the pop star, Willamette. The hop itself is delicious and tasting some light citrus, apple, pear flavors. I wish their was a Single Hop Super Hero who doled out six packs right now. Rrreal bad. TRANSFORMERS rating.
Side story, as I went out on the patio to grab the beer, I was almost past the screen door when something huge caught my eye and gave me a jolt. It's not every day you see a white Praying Mantis!
You have to understand, we are as far away from what you'd call 'nature' as possible in this urban parking lot called Los Angeles. David and I live in Marina del Rey, surrounded by huge apartment complexes, water and boats. Pizza delivery people rarely come down here, let alone insects. So this fella was a very cool surprise for me. Apparently their sightings symbolize the coming of personal growth and inner change. Science would say that because he was 4 inches long but still white, he was seeking a protective place to molt (shed his skin) for the final time, thus becoming green. But as a passive idealist, I will go with the former.
What's even weirder, is that Lindsey and David get home late and coincidently had a captured insect with them. A bee, which they want to "put a leash on" using floss. SOOOMEBODY has been sniffing paint chips. David is a little insulted that I hadn't captured the creature - "they're really rare you know." I'm beginning to feel 7 years old again.
What's with all these insects? Symbolism or are they just getting lost? I was never a kid who collected animals and such, although there was a kid in elementary school, Will, who grew frogs in order to skin their hides. He's a big rig truck driver now, I kid you not. Redneck to the core. Another story I just remembered from an old ex-girlfriend was from her childhood, her family caught a praying mantis and a scorpion and decided to invoke Darwin's Survival of the Fittest. They placed a glass bowl over the two unwilling participants to see which creature came out victorious, gladiator style. The main event was billed "WELCOME TO THE THUNDER DOME." HA. I just wanted to tell that story so I could say that phrase. Mad Max 3 rules. Bye
Last night at Beechwood, I actually had the original Great Divide Yeti after the Golden Monkey, which as always, was soul touching. I picked up this golden labeled gem at Whole Foods.
From a homebrewer's perspective, what's interesting about the Yeti is that the clone recipe uses White Labs 001, a very neutrel and hop friendly strain ubiquitously utilized by Stone. Most Stout and Imperial Stouts use a more malt friendly yeast such as an Irish or London. So the introduction of a sweet and possibly fruity (or spicy) Belgian Yeast will noticeably alter the Yeti's standard flavor.
I hold the Yeti and Oak Aged Yeti in the highest regard, how will this Belgian style yeast turn out?
Will the serendipitous showing of ARMAGEDDON define this beer's rating?
The Belgian yeast forcibly changes the very rich and distinctive Yeti roast. It brings a sweetness and light apple flavor that for me, doesn't mix well. This isn't doing it for me, the yeast not only adds a peculiar flavor to a dark stout, but it also detracts from the Yeti's inherent malty goodness. ARMAGEDDON rating. For the record, David finishes his pour and the rest of mine, so he doesn't mind the odd mix so much. To each his own. However, I'm sticking with the original gangster Yeti. Ho fo sho
Fortunately, David is making his famous and incredibly delicious Clam Chowder this afternoon, so I'm washing out the bad marriage with some good cream, bacon, and several glasses of The Bruery's Black Orchard, poured from a growler that was filled last weekend. Party on Wayne.
David, Lindsey and I are ending a whirlwind of house warming and birthday parties with some pints of malty goodness at Beachwood on Washington, which boasts a new menu by Roy Choi, the chef behind the Kogi trucks. Unfortunately I'm too full with cake and mac & cheese (did somebody just call me a fat kid?) to try the new stuff, but I still have room in my beer compartment for a tripel from Pennsylvania brewery Victory.
The yeasty aroma drowns out any other smells pretty well. The body is sweet but still pretty yeasty. I'm not picking up the complexity - spice, fruit, etc - that I was hoping for. The flavors are pretty restrained. I like the idea of magical golden monkeys and I'm enjoying drinking this at 11:45pm, but it's not particularly grabbing my attention. ARMAGEDDON rating.
For an outro, I'm adding an unnecessarily long (30 secs) of Beechwood's calming blue fire to ease your afternoon. Shalom. Hakuna Matata
I bought this during my July trip to Lake Tahoe and since I love all things Bear Republic, quite excited to see how they take on a non-IPA style of beer. Me thinks it will taste similar to a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, but let's check it out.
It's made with Centennial and Cascade hops, which are typical American style hops especially for the West Coast producers. It's full bodied and hoptastic, exactly what you might expect from the producer of Racer 5. The body has some nice light caramel and fruitiness to it. Overall, a very balanced hoppy pale ale that's easy to enjoy. TRANSFORMERS rating.
The Bruery's Snicklefritz is named after a minor but beloved line from PINEAPPLE EXPRESS by James Franco's character to Seth Rogan's.
He ain't getting any
of that Pineapple Express.(snidely)
Chris is getting Snicklefritz.
It's just a hilarious name, right? Say it out loud and languish over the words and if you don't giggle, then go enjoy a crossjoint and then repeat it. Will work every time. Here's my favorite scene from the movie, which is the opening. Bill Hader puts me in stitches every time, especially his musical interlude at :30.
The beer itself won second place in The Bruery's home brew Batch#50 contest several years ago (I recently had their last home brew winner, Batch 300, last week). It's a Belgian-Style Strong Pale ale spiced with cardamom, ginger, juniper berries and coriander, along with a long line of zests including lemon, orange and grapefruit. We tasted it at The Bruery last Saturday and I'm eager to give it a thorough once over.
Three characteristics in particular jump out at me; the aroma, the fullness of body and its complexity. The beer pours a dark golden color with a finger of head. The aroma has robust spice notes including cinnamon, as well as a slight yeasty smell. I'm not used to full bodied beers from the Bruery and this is a welcome change. Accordingly, the Snicklefritz's complexity quickly captures my attention. The spices compliment a sweet, slightly caramel body and a mild apple flavor. This is a distinctly Belgian style brew ha ha, that adds in enough spice to embarrass any Winter Warmer. I'm dually impressed they were able to achieve this complexity without overwhelming your palate or ruin the delicious Belgian body.
This is something to enjoy wrapped up in a blanket and sipped on while listening to good music, so you can spend time sifting through the library of spice and flavor. THE ROCK rating.
At age 28, I'm finally attending my first Trivia Night at a bar. Weird right? How else could I possibly spend my Wednesday nights? Oh wait, I used to be in a bowling league. Ah, balls get in the way of everything.
Speaking of, Susie and I's team name for trivia at South is "Black Turtleneck HandJobs" in honor of Steve Jobs resigning and becoming 'unemployed.' Hand job is still a job, right? Sadly, the team title was runner up in the best name category for the night, right behind "Michael J Fox says 'What earthquake?'" That's just all sorts of wrong and hilarious.
"Black Turtleneck HandJobs"
South has a decent selection of beers but I've had most of them, except for this dark butted beauty. The Oregon based Deschutes brewery makes one incredible porter, and it goes by the name Black Butte.
There's a wonderful dark roast aroma and the mouth feel is silky smooth. Small amounts of chocolate, biscuit and coffee roll together for a well balanced profile. The roasted malts roll off the tongue and stick to the back of your mouth for just a moment before disappearing, leaving you wanting more. This is a sports bar OR a parlor porter, able to be consumed in large quantities or sipped casually and appreciated. Simply, the Deschutes Black Butte Porter is one of the better porters I've tasted this year. THE ROCK rating.
Trivia wise, with the first round of Paul Rudd/Anchorman trivia and the second round of Saxophone solo's, we did pretty well for two people who were competing against teams of 4 or more, but after the third round asked us to name the top 10 fantasy football picks listed on yahoo, we were goners. I'm coming back with reinforcements -- David and Karl will destroy you. Together they are equal to the IBM machine that beat those dorks in Jeopardy. Your up'ms will come South Trivia Night!
Over this past July 4th weekend as I crossed the threshold of T-Minus 30 beers left in the year, I decided it was time for a little shameless self-promotion. I chose to keep relatively low on the publicity radar this year but hell, I've written every day for 300 days at this point, why shouldn't I get some love? Beards need love too.
So I sent word to a blog I follow, Drink with the Wench (http://drinkwiththewench.com/) asking if I she could interview me for her blog and she responded quickly and enthusiastically. She had a pretty busy summer but now it's up on her website!
I haven't read it since I wrote it, so I honestly have no idea what golden information nuggets lie within. Currently I'm furiously forgoing any work obligations (I'm leaving any way, eh) and am focusing on any unwritten posts the last two weeks and working on updating the back-list of reading. In the meantime, check out the interview!
I'm pouring this just as David is finishing up with TRON and it reminds me that I missed her coming to the office last week to meet my boss (I work at a production company). A little bummed, but I was in Napa so I can't complain. What about you - incredible wine or Olivia Wilde? Does Olivia taste like blackberries, chalk and pepper all at once? Doubtful.
Anderson Valley IPA is a good malty IPA with a light caramel flavor. Their beers tend to be maltier rather than hoppy and this IPA is no exception. However, the hops do balance their naturally malty beers nicely. I wouldn't say this is Hop Ottin, as their name advertises, but it results in a balanced ipa that's enjoyable. TRANSFORMERS rating.
Three things strike me as unusual here; an 8% lager, a fruit lager (rather than being an ale) and a crown royal pillow case. I'm more surprised that I haven't featured a prized possession in my entire beer blogging year. Shame on you Walker. Shame. I'm also surprised with the choice of lagering a fruit beer and I'm tired of wondering what the result will be...
It's a lager, so I poured this into a pint glass but I can't smell anything. Online the website recommends a tulip glass, which would probably be the first lager poured into a tulip glass. This beer is crazy. The alcohol is surprisingly well masked. The berry flavor is sweet and tasty cold and as it warms, the flavor actually sticks with the body of the beer. In many fruit ales, as the beer warms the fruit flavor noticeably separates from the body of the beer - the result of using fruit syrup rather than real fruit - and it turns a decent beer into something considerably less so. I'm really enjoying this bizarre but tasty blueberry style. I'm a little bummed I chose to savor this tonight rather than on a summer afternoon, but you can't win'm all. Besides;
Despite this being made by Anheuser-Busch, I enjoyed it. Sue me. ARMAGEDDON rating.
Batch 300 is the winner of The Bruery's homebrew competition last Spring and David has been singing its praises around the house. Style wise, it's an interesting beer; a Belgian style ale brewed with citra hops and aged in oak cubes, i.e. an Oak Aged hoppy Tripel. Lov'n it. I'm also loving the witty repartee onscreen between Big Willie and Jeff Goldblum in INDEPENDENCE DAY.
It's also my brother Warren's last day in town (and we're eating Papa Johns pizza for breakfast, because that's how New Yorkers roll), and he told us a hilarious college memory. A pledge in his fraternity knew the below speech by heart and would get up at parties during band breaks and recite the entire speech. That would be too much for me, I would probably piss my pants to see that happen in its entirety, but you tell me.
Also, who would you vote for as President - Bill Pullman or President Palmer/Dennis Haysbert from 24?
The Batch 300 clocks in at 8.2% and thanks to a very intense piney hop flavor, it's a very American take on a Belgian tripel. The oak imparts a very vinous flavor as well but also contributes to a very balanced and smooth flavor that is without an overwhelming sweetness. As I continue drinking and the beer warms up a little and that complexity from the oak and hops combination really burns through. This is definitely a gentlemanly sipper, but it's oh so good! A tip of the hat to any homebrewer who makes a beer this complex. THE ROCK rating.
With my brother Warren in town and me moving out of LA in 6 weeks (you
heard it here first), a trip to our favorite brewery The Bruery is in
order. I'm designated driver on the way back, so naturally I drink
several beers beforehand and plan to sober up while I'm at the brewery,
but nobody believes I will! I don't know what I could have done to give
them that belief...
After a detour to The Bruery Provisions store where Nick G, Warren, David, Aaron B, Jamie, Karl and his crew order some sampler plates and I stock up on beers from there store such as the Stone 15th Anniversary Imperial Black IPA, Iron Fist Velvet Glove and the brand new brew from The Bruery's Provisions Series, Snickelfritz, we're onto the main brewery.
Beer drinkers take blurry pictures. It's an occupational hazard
Upon arrival, I note a sign posted above the bar noting the Bruery produced 2500bbls last year - that's 31 gallons per 1 bbl - so 77,500 gallons. This year they produced 5000 bbls - 155,000 gallons - double! Wow. I've seen The Bruery in Chicago and New York, but I didn't realize until today after I asked the bartender, that this 4 year old brewery is in over 16 states. It's absolutely amazing. We started drinking their beer 3 years ago, and I suddenly feel like I've been at the epicenter of what will become one of the most renowned breweries in the United States. Bruery's a pretty damn special place. This will probably be my last time here which makes me sad - I might even miss the creepy babies hanging around here (Creepy Babies), so I'm buying a long overdue hat to keep me company in San Francisco.
The one beer I am going to have today is their seasonal Black Orchard Wit. The style is unique and I've never heard of a black belgian wit bier. It's 5.7% and chamomile is added for the aroma. This could be really amazing or Patrick Rue's day dream gone wrong, what will it be?
The flavor profile is fascinating and delicious, a subtle dark roast bitterness at the beginning that fades as the sweet belgian wit and spice (coriander and orange peel) subtle kick in. I'm going to use that word again because I don't know how else to convey this beer; it's so subtle. As far as unusual styles go, this is up there. I feel like the Bruery pulled of a hat trick here, combining all these ingredients to make a smooth and delicious brew. At the end of the day, we had already filled up our 3 growlers for the party at home with Loakal Red, Mischief, and Snickelfritz, when David walked away from the car and back into the brewery. He returned sometime later with a newly purchased 4th growler full of the Black Orchard. He bought (a probably unnecessary) 4th growler just to make sure we had more of the wit to drink this week because it was that good. A true gauge to the tastiness of any beer is the length a person will go to find and drink it. I think the 4th growler speaks to the power of this beer. BAD BOYS rating.
I'm at the Alibi Room Friday night introducing the original and by far the best Food Truck food, Kogi, to my brother. Having planned to take him here at some point, I also know what beer I'm getting...OLD CHUB
No, that that old chubby guy, this beautiful scotch ale is from Colorado brewery Oskar Blues, makers of my favorite imperial red ale, Gordon's Red Ale. Oskar Blues also holds the distinction of being one of the first craft breweries to embrace the use of aluminum cans to distribute their product but there's a metallic taste to my first sips of the Chub, so I'm doing the American thing and granting it freedom from its aluminum bonds. Plus I'm a certified beer snobnow and must have any beer other than Bud Light poured into a glass. Excuse me, sir, after passing the grey poupon, can you pass me something Belgian?. That's me, a Snobby Chub.
Kogi knocks my socks off
Did somebody order a scotch, style? The hops are minimal and a rich, malty chocolate flavor permeates the profile. It's full bodied and smooth as jazz. Wow, if there was a chorus of Old Chub drinkers with me, we would all raise up and sing it's praises. Chub is by far the best beer out of a can I've ever had, but I'm glad it's in a glass. If you haven't tried beer from Oskar Blues, don't let the metal fool you - they're worth their weight in gold. THE ROCK rating.
David's been saving this AleSmith since December 2010 and we're hoping to compare it to a newer Horny Devil soon. The room is filling with great irony as Warren, David and I are watching Louie C.K.'s latest episode, which is entirely focused upon the topic of masturbation. This season of LOUIE has been outrageously funny. This is the opening sequence from tonight's episode:
Louie is awesome, but the Fox News reporter gets a few jabs in as well, "Shakespeare definitely masturbated" being my favorite. Onto the beer! And Louie's "O" Face...oh oh oh
This is an 11% belgian golden strong brewed with coriander. The spice is deftly utilized with a soft touch. There's a light yeast aroma and the flavor is smooth and slightly sweet, not a lot of caramel going on but a very balanced sweetness. The alcohol is skillfuly hidden as well. This is a nectar of the gods. Did Michelangelo brew this ale? I'm very excited to see what an un-aged 2011 Horny Devil is like. BAD BOYS rating.
I'm crossing out another item off my Los Angeles bucket list by eating at Hara Sushi, but since there's a line (always a line now), I'm over at Bar Food to kill some time with a pint. I used to go to Hara when it had a plastic banner for a sign that said "SUSHI" and it still had a B rating. They lured us in there with a nearly all afternoon and night happy hour and we stayed for the cheap but also delicious sushi. My favorite is the gratuitous baked lobster roll:
First day in Napa! We're here with over 16 people and staying at the same hotel as we did for my parent's 40th wedding anniversary 3 years ago, the Wine Country Inn http://www.winecountryinn.com/. I'm reallly excited about the wine and all, but the breakfast at this place is AMAZING. Make your own waffles with peanut butter and nutella and a rotating eggs casserole every morning that is to die for. Everything one needs for a good wine drinking base.
This post will be mostly pictures and the beer review at the end. Now why did Walker wait until the end of the night after drinking wine all day to drink his Russian River beer? Hmmm...is it because it was a sour ale? Mayhaps
Parents rule
Dudes rule
Miner winery has a wild yeast chardonnay, which creates a flavor profile similar to that of a wild yeast beer. Interwesting...
This is Napa on a bad day...psych, Napa doesn't have bad days fool.
This castle was fun and all, but the wine was blah. It was like going to Disneyland only to realize that Star Tours was broken after you waited in line for 45 minutes. And then a bird pooped on you.
So I'm very excited about this trip, because not only are the wines amazing, but the beer is rated highly too. Russian River makes amazing beers IPA's and Sour Ales, although I really detest Sours. All but one sour I've ever tasted made me want to write a strongly worded letter asking why they would want to put those particular flavors in someone's mouth. Tonight's beer, Russian River Supplication, is one of the highest rated sours in the world and since I'm in Napa, near Russian River, I feel compelled to heed the Sour's Siren Song.
The Supplication is a Brown Ale aged in French oak Pinot Noir barrels with three strains of Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus, Pediococcus and sour cherries. The whole gang is outside here tasting the beer. A few like sour candy, etc and somewhat like this. Others think I just poured them a cup of panther piss.They're accusing me of shenanigans but I tell them "I said that you should try this, not that it was a good." Ha. Now they know what a sour ale tastes like. Some things really have to be experienced.
I'm getting used to it, but IT IS SO OVERWHELMING. WHY WOULD YOU MAKE ANYTHING THAT SOUR THIS INTENSE. Imagine Emril saying "BAM" while kicking you in the balls while jamming sour starburst on steroids into your mouth over and over again.
Here is the Beer Advocate review, which rates it as an A. If you might like a sour ale, this review is for you because I can't say anything, good or bad, other than what I wrote. It's just too wild: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/863/22227/?ba=bros
The good news is, I also bought Russian River Pliny the Elder for my dad and others, who LOVES IT. It makes me very happy to see my dad enjoy beer so much. We're sitting out on a deck above a winery under a cloudy night drinking great beer and wine. This is an amazing.
I'm afraid to rate this beer, because it's so well regarded but I hated it so very much. TRANSFORMERS 2 rating? Nuts
Having to drive straight to LAX from work to catch a flight to meet my family in Napa Valley for the weekend, but the short window won't stop me from having my beer of the day though!The Parking Spot has crappy scenery though.
In honor of my destination, I'm having a local Napa brew from Napa Smith. There's a saying in Napa; "it takes a lot of good beer to make good wine." During harvest, the pickers work crazy hours and can only maintain their sanity by drinking the one thing that they're not picking - beer.
This is the third brew from Napa Smith I've tried and while the first one surprised me in the best of ways - napa-valley-wedding-day-1-napa-smith.html - this Lost Dog Red Ale doesn't warrant further sipping past what's left in my to-go cup. It tastes like they used an English yeast, but there's no backbone to the brew. The caramel and sweetness isn't there and it's rather lackluster to be honest. I'm looking forward to drinking more Napa wine and less Napa Smith this weekend. THE ISLAND rating.
Today is the nexus of two ideas I hatched weeks ago; buying a fruit beer actually made with fruit and not syrup and brewing my first dark beer. My spidey senses are tingling
First the beer. From the same brewery that brought you the delicious seasonal Smashed Pumpkin (smashed-pumpkin), Shipyard introduces another fruit infused beer, Smashed Blueberry.
A little yeast starter goes a long way
It's a whopping 9% blueberry beer that lies somewhere between a porter
and scotch ale. There's a lot going on in this, coffee and chocolate notes and a bitterness at the end that takes away from the blueberry, which is surprisingly subtle. I feel like this is a little "Midsummer Night's Dream" in a way, the dark chocolate and fruit mix together in a moody way. David isn't a fan, but I'm enjoying this latest entry. Will I buy it again? Probably not, it didn't appeal to me that much, but I'm happy that I experienced it. TRANSFORMERS rating. I would buy this again and pair it with food, duck or lamb. That would be really interesting.
Brew day is upon us! I began a yeast starter (above) two days ago and picked up the supplies yesterday. The apartment smelled like malt when I walked into the door, which is such an appetizing aroma. I'm working on my third partial mash home brew today and I'm still learning the process. One of the tubes in the sparge cooler popped out and 180 degree water poured out all over my hand, burning it decently. I fudged up on another aspect, which made me angrier at myself than the water cooler, so that cooler is in the clear...for now.
Untitled Oatmeal Stout
Here is a link to the recipe that is reprinted below: Oatmeal Stout. This is a Walker original recipe:
Malt Extract: Pale 3 lbs
Grain Bill: American Two-Row Pale 4 lbs
(8.5lbs) Flaked Oats 1.5 lbs
Munich Malt 1 lb
Chocolate Malt 12 oz
90 L Crystal Malt 12 oz
Cara Pils 10 oz
Roasted Barley 8 oz
Special B Malt 4 oz
Hop Schedule: Northdown (7.5%) 1.5 oz at 60 mins
Yeast: White Labs London Ale (WLP013)
My other mistake was I misunderstood how much water to mash and sparge
with, so while my original gravity was 1.065, it turned out to be 1.056, which
means I will have about 5.5% alcohol and 28.2 IBU's (previously it
would be 6.1%). I thought at the time this would be a huge loss, but, not
really. I had to take about a gallon of wort out of the boil kettle
and there was less efficiency for starch extraction during mashing.
Usually you want to hit between 70% 75%. The pro's do it way better, of
course. I hit 55%. Stupid math skills getting in the way of fun again.
The color is going to be 42 SRM, which is black as a moonless
night. It's going to look great. What's interesting about the hop schedule with stouts, is that you don't
use any flavoring or aroma hops, just bittering to balance out the malt.
By excluding hops later in the boil, more of the roasted malt is
exhibited. Not all breweries follow that rule of thumb, but it's pretty standard.
Failure to brew on Sunday resulted in an unavoidable late Thursday night. We didn't even start cooling the wort until after midnight. I started boiling water at 7:15pm.
We finished around 1am and cleaned up and then shot the sh*t till late.Not the smartest of moves to do on a school night, but sometimes the Chappelle show comes on, home brews are opened and you start talking about life and suddenly the clock reads 4am. Worth it.
I picked up supplies for my 3rd partial mash homebrew today, an Oatmeal Stout, including a good look'n 7 gallon brew kettle. Hubba hubba. The 7 gallon kettle hopefully ensures that I will not have another fiasco like my Sea Salt Caramel brew day (link).
I'm getting into the Stout spirit with an 8.75% Imperial Stout from Drake's Brewing, one of my favorite breweries. They make great reds and IPA's, but what about the dark stuff that gives you strength?
There is a rich roast aroma but damn can I can taste that alcohol from my tongue's first papillae. Wow, I should be having a steak and a bogarting a cigar with this brew, not eating a salad while watching today's Ellen (I'm kidding, it's a Rachel Ray rerun).
Either I'm getting used to the alcohol or it settles down a bit, most likely the former. I'm really enjoying the malt profile, but I'm desiring an ever bolder roast and chocolate flavor to match the draconian alcohol. This a decent stout, but not Drake's finest entry. ARMAGEDDON rating.
I can't describe the beer's taste taste better than what's described on the label. "Smooth malt and lightly sweet with a hint of spice and velvety flavor." I not only appreciate it when beers are 'as advertised,' but I love summer brews (especially Alaskan Summer) and this is no exception better than on the back. Smootj malty and lightly swee with a hint of spice and velvety flavor. This is perfect for an afternoon in the hammock.
This is technically an amber ale and using my newly posted Beer & Food Pairing table, I'm in luck. Leftover pizza goes swimmingly with this brew. The sweetness and the touch of spice pair excellently with a savory meat pizzer. I'm not a typically a fan of Ambers, but I will drink more knowing how well they accompany dough and marinara. TRANSFORMERS rating.
I have a week's worth of posting to ketchup on, but in the meantime I wanted to let you know about two new features you can find on the website to the right of the page.
The newest addition is my top 50 beers of the year page. Looking lovingly at the 7 page excel sheet I printed out and gloriously realizing what a terrific lush I have been this year, I selected 50 beers that will any craft beer drinker will enjoy. Don't be loco en la cabeza, check this page out next time you're in the liquor store and see if there's a bottle available. If it doesn't blow your mind, and some of them will, at least your eyes will be open to the awesomeness that is out there. That's what these beers did for me. Check it out!
I own a fantastic book called, "What To Drink With What You Eat" that I furiously typed up notes from about two weeks ago. I've run into many people this year who, after learning I have a beer blog, have poured out their new found passion for beer (mostly people a generation older than me). One common thread is the expanding selection beers found on restaurant menus. Not your Coors Light, Heineken, or Stella, but Belgian beers and bottles from local breweries. As more restaurateurs discover the quality of beer available, I have the feeling that pairing beer with food in the next decade will take off. Beers offer a range of complexity and I'm foreseeing a host of former wine drinkers who would rather drink a 12 oz of beer rather than a 5 oz glass of wine at dinner (and at a fraction of the price). Check out the Beer & Food Pairing page and impress your next friend or client at dinner. Chances are at least someone will be surprised at how well their oysters pair with a Guinness. I sure as hell was.
This will be beer number 368 for those of you notching your bedposts at home, three past the beer every day finale. David and I have split ways at the end of the year. He wants to take a month off and I want to keep going till I hit a nice round number. Saturday and Sunday, I had partners in crime to share my beers with, but today I'm drinking alone. This doesn't present a moral problem, but after coordinating every beer drunk each day for the past year, it's really weird drinking completely solo. Part of this year's glorious experience was bonding with someone over beer, but now I've gone rogue. I'm without a side kick from here on out and the unfamiliar reality is sinking in.
Doubling the weirdness is a mug from the CHEERS bar which David brought home, and it's sitting on the counter all alone. It's an fitting symbol of the change that happened after beer 365. Wah waaa. So it goes, the drinking most go on!
I've stockpiled single beers from six packs over the last month, readying for this drinking-alone-time. This and the other upcoming Anderson Valley ales were pilfered during a recent bachelor party trip to Tahoe. The Poleeko Pale Ale tastes like a pale ale from the NW might taste like, very malty with citrus elements from the hops. This is a quintessential West Coast Pale Ale, but as it warms, a weird off taste develops which I'm not digging. ARMAGEDDON rating.
I was planning to make my 7th home brew today, but after a 2 hour cleanup, the brew store was already closed. To console myself, I'm attacking my body with a 4 meat pizza and the highly touted 9.5% collaboration beer between The Bruery and Laweon's Finest Liquids, a nano brewery in Vermont.
It’s technically a rye beer, but there’s so much more infused
into this - an oak aged ale brewed with maple syrup and date sugar (and smoked
malt). I'm hoping the rich combination will overload my senses and lull me into a blissful food coma.
The aroma is incredibly malty and the syrup balances out the bitter roasted malt with a fascinating sweetness. The smoked malt is subtle and kicks in at the end. Acer is smooth and complex, a true sweet stout. I think this is inspired and a ingeniously Promethean beer. BAD BOYS rating. Drinking this saved my day, until I realize that this is a limited production and there isn't any more to go around....NOOOOO
After our libation filled 365 Beer Every Day Great Success party last night, I wake up, drag myself out of bed at 8:30am to drive 3 hours up the coast to attend my wine club's, Ampelos, annual summer bbq. Two red bulls later and I'm there with a smile in my face.
I know what you're thinking: why does this beer enthused weirdo also belong to a wine club? The answer lies in the subtle updating of a Chinese proverb. Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. Well for a birthday, give your son a box of wine and he will drink well. Give him a wine club subscription, and he will drink well for several years. Some gifts just keep giving.
It's the curse of a father in love with wine. Three birthdays ago, I asked for a membership for my favorite winery and have been grape-content ever since, although my collection is now stockpiling because I haven't the libido to drink a beer every day AND wine. I'm unfortunately mortal and have found my limit but that doesn't exclude me from taking advantage of free food and vertical flights of wine up in beautiful Solvang, CA.
Classic 2006 Pinot Noir with classic coke
The owners, Peter and Rebbecca, are both awesome and hilarious. Their story is also really fascinating. They were working in SoCal for Disney while their son studied Viticulture at UC Davis (THE place to study wine making). They bought the amazing land you see for their retirement, and one summer in between class their son asked if he could live in a trailer on the land and grow wine. Soon after, Peter and Rebbecca become sick of the corporate world and leave Orange County for the greener hills. They learned winemaking from their son, who now is the winemaker at the prestigious Sea Smoke, and then they began their own business. How often does a parent learn a profession from their son?
They make really good wine and you should check out their Rho Pinot Noir or their Grenache if it's available. Under its influence, bearded people wear Justin Timberlake hats for the first time. It's science.
Even silly hats can't disguise a beer nerd
Driving 6 hours round trip for 4 hours of wine drinking and eating slow roasted pork can get me pretty thirsty for something light and refreshing. Good thing I have a low alcohol neo-berliner style weisse bier that's fermented with peach juice waiting for me at home. Also awaiting me is the disaster that is my apartment.
Drinking Jenga!
The wheat beer style lays the foundation for a light and refreshing brew with a relatively low alcohol percentage for Dogfish Head, 4.5%. The style is also pretty sour, which makes it a good choice to partner with peach juice. I'm unfortunately not a fan of tart beers, evidenced by my dislike of every sour beer ever drunk and this one kinda assaults your tongue with that character. But there will certainly be those who like this style and the flavor, so if you like lighter beers give it a shot. THE ISLAND rating.
We're about an hour away from the crush of people coming to the Beer Every Day Great Success Party. David cracks open our last beer, the highest rated beer in the world, the Westvleteren 12, a quadruple. I'll let the video do most of the talking.
It really is the smoothest quadruple, at 10.2%, I've ever had. There isn't a whole lot of complexity, but jebus it tastes so good and smooth. BAD BOYS rating, obviously. I'm a little high on the excitement right now, I can't believe this milestone is happening.
A cookie and a cake, the best of both worlds. THANKS TIFFANY!
A lot of people didn't think we would actually drink a different beer every day. Most thought there weren't that many beers available, to which I respond with:
or:
I don't really blame them for thinking this, it's a huge commitment and required focused dedication. And let's be honest, my longest relationship with a girlfriend is 6 months. 3 years ago. This year has doubled my longest relationship and guess what baby? It's still go'n strong. So whoever out there thought that I would date someone for a year before I drank a beer for a year, you obviously didn't realize I had my priorities straight. Zing.
A few people I'm especially thankful for, who experienced so many of the beers with us, are Karl, Tiffany, and Nick G. You guys were incredible this year and I am so proud and thankful that you are my friends. Karl is the most mentioned person on the blog besides David and is tagged in over 40 posts, nearly 1/9th of the beer we had this year, which if you consider the number of nights David and I were sitting in our apartment or having beers across town or countries from each other, incredibly impressive.
And, if I can toot my horn for a minute, I'm freaking damn proud that I've written about each and everyone one of these beers. Half of life, some people say, is just showing up. Well I showed up, drank a beer, and then chronicled my experiences. Too-tooot.
Having a blog is a lot of work, but it's also immensely rewarding. 14 months ago I had never thought I would be a blogger, but I really encourage everyone if that have a passion, to write about it. Take a picture every other day. Express yourself. Even if you don't share the blog, just go online and write about anything and everything, your life will change for the better. Anywho...
THE PARTY
So for our party, Karl orchestrated a blind tasting of five different beers from the year for David and I to compete with. I'll let the video I put together tell the tale of that and the overall party. About 25 people came to celebrate and celebrate we did. The evening was an amazing way to end an incredible year. I joked the next day with David, that even though we just finished drinking a every day for the last year, apparently, we can still party.
I'm going to post in the forthcoming weeks additional posts describing my year and what it meant to me. In the meantime, I put together a video slide-show of photos created from freeze frames in the 60 minutes of footage to hold you over in the meantime until I can edit the film down to an viewable duration.
This was an incredible year, thank you following along!
Slide-show below:
Tomorrow, David is going to take his first day off in 365 days from drinking a different beer, but I plan on continuing the experience until I reach a nice round number, maybe 400 or 425. And after that, I will absolutely still be reporting on beers and experiences. I can't just get enough.
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Our Beerversary is upon us! 1 year ago today, we started our different beer every day quest and it's come full circle. I'm a couple days behind thanks to the potent combination of work, shark week and early on-set menopause but there are some great posts waiting to be published. That's a lie actually, I've been reading and doing a lot of research in my spare time, which is why I haven't posted. See, isn't the truth much more boring than the lie?
We finished our second to last trappist beer on Wednesday with our final midnight beer, the Westvleteren 8. And last night we had the 18% alcohol limited-release Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA, which was a trip. Tonight we celebrate with the highest rated beer in the world, the Westvleteren 12. David and I plan to blow it out in style and there will be all sorts of video, pictures, and stories next week. Stay tuned!
I'm dragging David halfway across town after his long drive back from Carlsbad in an open air and doorless Jeep for good reason. At the Surly Goat, and several bars even further away from us, Dogfish Head has distributed an IPA that don't come around heeear very often.There is a single keg of Dogfish Head 120 min IPA on tap. We arrive to find Nick G already mixing it up with the owner of the Surly Goat, Alan.
David just saw the evil monkey from Family Guy behind the camera
The bartender brings our pours out in Sherry glasses and I'm at first, a bit put off. Do you know who I am? A international, well known, vaguely familiar beer blogger and I deserve more...What's that? It's 18%?! Sweet Jesus Mary and Jebediah, I should've done my homework! I have only read about the mystery of this beer and for some reason didn't realize it's that strong. Touche bartender, touche.
I initially feel ridiculous holding a glass the size of a child's tea cup, but not after the first sip. If I hadn't known it was brewed by Dogfish Head, I would assume it's moonshine. David and I just had a discussion earlier this week about the perfect alcohol percent in beer, and we both agreed it was 8%. In our experience, anything over that and you begin tasting the alcohol. It's simply difficult to hide an element that intense. At 18%, how do you combat the sheer overwhelming power of alcohol? More hops of course.
A few sips in, I still feel like I'm drinking moonshine tea, but I'm extremely impressed with how well the signature Dogfish hops are hiding it. This is the strongest beer I've ever tasted (previous record, the 14.5% Bruery Cuir), but they have done an amazing job disguising it. Oh, be certain my face is turning red after a few sips, but wow, color me impressed. BAD BOYS rating.
David is headed to Carlsbad tomorrow for the night so we're doing our first midnight beer in a long time. Beer 363. Wow. Never would've thunk that our last 12:01am/next day beer would be the sought after Westvleteren. The real irony can be found in Davids 'beer a day' calender, announcing today's beer as the Ballast Point Calico Amber. I not only dislike ambers, but this particular one is...blerg. The Westvleteren 8 is basically the highest rated Dubbel in the world, so it should be a billion times better than any amber. Phew
There is a frothy, thick head that introduces a crisp body that's cleaner than most dubbels. It's richer too, with a bready center that numbs the sweet caramels down. What's really interesting and unusual, is the 8 has a grainy characteristic, probably from the use of a flaked malt. Imagine walking up a museum's modern, polished marble steps and then seeing the Rosetta Stone. Later, you probably don't remember the marble walking into the museum, but you remember the Rosetta Stone, its face marked and scratched up. It has history and character. For me, the grainy quality of this dubbel and the subtle construction of malts make this a truly unique brew. It's something to behold, not quite meeting my lofty expectations, rather, surprising them instead. BAD BOYS rating.
David and I are only days away from wrapping up the year and we're about to do our last 12:01 next day beer of the year, but first, the final chapter from La Trappe, the 10% Quadrupel. God I love me some quadruples! COMPLEXITYYYYYY
Sweet, sweet caramel mixes it up with all sorts of characters in this fellow including breads, figs raisins and a very unique Belgian yeast flavor. It's as if the monks combined the characteristics of their dubbel and tripel into their opus. The various flavors smoothly mix together under some fantastic carbonation. This is a beer of kings, something to buy and sip on after a job well done. Pat yourself on the back, kick off your shoes and have a La Trappe Quadruple. THE ROCK rating.
So maybe you're unfortunately not a subscriber HBO, or maybe you receive HBO and are simply not an avid viewer of the 7th season of the acclaimed CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM, which in case you're just plain silly. If you are the latter, do yourself a favor and watch this season through On Demand. It's probably the best season yet and I've laughed hard enough during the last two episodes to make my sides split like a tauntaun in Empire Strikes Back. Here's a clip from the funniest show I've seen in a long time, that garnered the highest ratings in the show's history. It may seem graphic, but settle down and curb that incredible feeling of awkwardness that rises up inside you and allow that laugh you don't feel coming to happen. And it will:
While catching up on the latest and greatest Larry, David and I pour out the 2nd La Trappe, an 8% tripel.
The beer pours a patchy Belgian lace, which is a bit surprising. The tripel still has a smooth taste and a medium body with mild bread and phenolic notes (pepper and herbal). There's a bit of grapefruit the flavor as well. The tripel is smooth as sailing. Nothing that stands out, but it's delicious to set back and relax with. THE ROCK rating. This tripel isn't the best, but provides a solid performance. It' one blonde that I wouldn't mind asking out on a date again.
