Kona Koko Brown Toasted with Coconut services a summer bbq and the first preview of Heisenberg's Honey Wheat homebrew

Today was a big day! We gathered a group of 7 to hit the beach and do a run through for me and Tiff's joint birthday celebration. With 7 people though, there were no teams and there was always a shortage of fielders. Exhausting would be the word to describe the day. But back at the apartment, we dove into full bbq mode, or at least David and Matt did. I'm more of a people person.

Nic and Aj's wedding is in two weeks from today, and I can't wait to see them tie the knot! Nic brought a sixer of Kona Brown with coconut and it's today's beer o' day.

The fish that David prepared is amazing and these brat's were gone before I knew it. This is a brown ale with coconut, pretty simple. I'm tasting the brown ale and coffee and the coconut was either added late in the boil or during secondary fermentation, because it kicks in late in the sip. It's an interesting idea but not something that piques my interest. THE ISLAND beer.

Avery Maharaja Imperial IPA bites like Jaws

I couldn't pronounce this until I heard the bartender say it, so it seems worthy for my beer tonight (my standards are pretty shot this late in the week).

10.3% alcohol! Thank you doctor for that perscription. The alcohol is masked well thanks to a BIG fruit and piny hop bite. I didn't enjoy my first sip but it grew on me. Stu, a fellow I met who's in town from Pasadena for a concert on Sunset, loves it and he's a big hop head. I'm liking this a lot, it's just a really intense beer. It's like the Arrogant Bastard of IPA's. THE ROCK rating.

We had a big group tonight come out, including the regulars above - Rhiannon, Matt and Tiffany. Here's the whole group!

We all hit up Baby Blues afterwords. Nothing great than Foosball, Beer and BBQ. Party on

Gulden Draak makes it a solid night of leftovers

Thanks to Matt M, who weeks ago was gentlemanly enough dropped off this bottle of Golden Draak. It's a holdover from another month, so it's fitting that I'm munching some leftover Singapore Noodles from Chin Chin. Spicy food typically goes well with IPA's but Belgian's are the ultimate all-purpose beer. Thanks Matt!

The Draak is an unusual style of beer, a dark tripel. Usually dark Belgians are dubbels, but this brew clocks in at 10.5% so it's officially a tripel. Yayyy and the drinkers rejoiced for there was much booze to be had within the Draak.

Right off the bat, I have an issue with the brew. It's super carbonated - overwhelmingly so. Even after allowing time to dissipate - which sucks cause I need some liquid to put out the fiery Singapore noodles - it's still dominates the flavor profile. Wading through it, I love the sweet caramel notes and with time, I'm tasting the fruity dubbel properties. 

This beer is well known, but I still can't break past how carbonated this is. It's a great dessert or special occasion beer for sure, but the carbonation personally stops me from drinking this every day. TRANSFORMERS rating

Guinness for strength!

We don't usually drink beers as widely distributed as Guinness on our beereveryday quest, but it's St. Patty's day, what did you expect?!

My tribute to all things Irish. Specifically fighting and drinking. A timeless photo my parents are certain to scrapbook

We arrived at The Daily Pint and met Karl K, Ned, Andrew G and his friends Jordan and Monica. Even though the group was surrounded by sweat, drunk douchebags, the night turned excellent. We quickly took over the shuffleboard table. Hall and Oates came on the jukebox and it was on like Donkey Kong. First game was epic (have to brag because it was gangster), and I threw what people like this guy (see above) are calling the "Shuffleboard Toss Heard Round The World." A game winning throw with the final puck around Ned's barrier puck to knock his 3 pointer out and mine in. It was - wait for it -

LEGENDARY. We played two more games, all electrifying games of course, and mingled with the other locals. Tiffany, Matt, Tierney and Bryce showed up and took over the table. With steely resolve and I succeeded in not breaking my 'more than one beer a day rule.' I'm still surprised and personally impressed that I've gone a whole 4 days only drinking a single beer per day. I suppose with beer it's always been one day at a time, and not the amount has simply changed.

Anywho, Happy St. Patty's Day!

One of my favorite Guinness slogans

Russian River Rejection makes it all better

I'm stoked - not only is it Friday, as in Surly Goat Friday, but also because exotic Russian River brews are still on tap! Matt, Ri, Tiff, Glen, Rachel and Ross (they were great on Friends) came out for some pints, Foosball and tomfoolery. My Russian River selection is the Rejection, a limited release which they distribute around Valentines Day and to their credit, they have successfully personified the dark side of that holiday.

On your leg

The style is a dark Belgian ale. The flavor profile is dark, roasted malts with a little chocolate and a very nutty taste that's bitter, like really dark chocolate (think 85% + Cacao). If anything, rejection is bitter...Very clever River Russians. This is only 6.1% though, and you'd think they'd make a 'rejection' beer one that would put you on your ass. Like a forget me now from Arrested Development. Where were you when I need you GOB! This isn't a fantastic beer, but it's certainly noteworthy for a seasonal. TRANSFORMERS rating.

I had an imperial red for my follow up beer, the Coronado Red Devil (10%), and it was fantastic, I'm really looking forward to featuring this beer on the website sometime soon.

Drake's Denogganizer Imperial IPA is the beer support I need for a big BBQ

The rain has stopped and the sun broke through the clouds, so I'm cooking up a big BBQ today. Three stacks of ribs, lines of cider-simmered bratwurst with onions and salmon with red-curry coconut sauce. Having a bunch of people over, mostly old friends but a few new ones as well, Heather, Jamie, Brent, Nick G, Beth, Sara, Josh, Lisa, Jake, Matt and Ri.

David's usually the cook but he's out of town, so I'm going to Emeril this shit up and I'm charging hard. I need a big beer to propel me through the day and Drake's comes through once again.

Deliciousness!

I love Drake's and at 9.75%, this beer is big and bad. This is more malt than IPA, but it's a bold malt and an accented bitterness. The beer may be dank but it's finely tuned. Love this and would love to create a home brew inspired by this. THE ROCK rating.


If the Discovery Channel was on hand filming the day, they would have mistook my friends for Jackals because all three racks of ribs were gone within the first half hour. Only a pile of cleanly picked bones were left as evidence of their existence. The Bratwurst and Salmon were met with love by everyone as well, and later we played Jenga while I finished off an Arrogant Bastard. Beautiful Day indeed and except for the war zone that is my kitchen, I'm one happy camper.

To Josh, Heather and Lisa for helping out with the curry sauce and manning the grill whilst I played host and/or boozed, thank you so much for your help!

Russian River Mortification dissolves my sobriety but not my foosball skills

Friday night at Surly Goat is in full swing with Matt and Ri but sanz Tiffany. I started out with a Red Velvet Ale from Eagle Rock on the happy hour menu and it's really, really good. I can't wait to have it as my beer of the day.

While waiting for others to arrive, I rope two guys in, Charlie and Cameron, to play foosball 1 vs. 2. Turns out Charlie played football at Rice for a year and we talked about Houston for a while. I also discovered that both these guys can destroy the $4 well drinks the Goat offers. If they had four hands, they'd have four drinks. Party on

Love the sign, but the Mortification sure as hell ain't Pabst

Matt and Ri arrive and we set up a seminar at the Foosball table. We set up a clinic and rage for, maybe close to two hours while 80's hair music jams continuously. It's a blur. Halfway through I go for my beer of the day and pick a Russian River because a couple days ago they had the breweries up for a pouring/tasting. I spy the Mortification on tap, a dank 10.5% cuadruple. This is my third or fourth cuadruple in as many weeks (I didn't even know they existed a month ago), and I jump to have it.

The Mortification is a great name for a cuadruple. There's a strong malt chocolate taste mixed with dark fruits. It's not very complex and the alcohol is very apparent, but it's good. I love rich foods - dark chocolate, sinfully chocolate cake - and so I love these dank ass cuadruples. They're bold and rich and help me forget my scruples, darn cuadruples. TRANSFORMERS rating.

Ri and Matt ordered Baby Blues BBQ for dinner and I got some cornbread, which was exactly what the doctor ordered after the 10.5%. I introduced Matt to Pliny the Elder and his mind exploded. Another convert! Notch up another great success at the Surly Goat.

Drake's Hop Salad distracts me from Foosball but not from awesome handshakes

It's Friday, and I know what time it is...Unhappy Rammed Sheep night! No but seriously, Tiffany actually found out tonight the origin for the bar's name. It came about  because the owners had a failed graphic t-shirt venture and had a large quantity of left over t-shirts available with 'Surly Goat.' So they named their bar after it. I feel like that would be like naming my first born child after my unpublished spec screenplay, the Untitled Dennis Dugan Comedy Project. I still believe they could use my help writing the Grown Ups sequel.

We have a huge group here with Tiffany, Matt, Maryelle and Glen, who brought several more excellent friends. We're having a fairly outrageously good time here and these wonderful peeps are inspiring me to break into Eddie Murphy's golden hit featuring Rick James:

After smelling and tasting this salad o' hops, it's safe to presume they named this beer because it's like a mixed fruit salad, but with hops. There's a complexity of hops here that results in a VERY intense pine aroma and taste. And apparently the Drake's brewers eat their mixed fruit salad with grain vodka, because this IPA clocks in a startling 9% alcohol.

The reviews online are overwhelmingly positive for this brew but I'm not a huge fan, it's not well balanced and is a little intense for me. ARMAGEDDON rating.


Of course I played Foosball tonight with Tiff, Maryelle and Glen. Maryelle and I created a handshake that's almost but not quite as cool as this one. Something to aspire too...