Monthly Archives: September 2009

Young’s Luxury Double Chocolate Stout

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Beer-a-Day #273Young's Luxury Double Chocolate Stout

Luxurious and at the same time with a hint of decadence, Young’s Double Chocolate Stout has it all, delivering a satisfying, indulgent taste without ever becoming overly sweet.

Pale Ale and Crystal malt, Chocolate Malt, a special blend of sugars, Fuggle and Golding hops, real dark chocolate and chocolate essence are combined to deliver a stout of with real credentials.

A beautiful cascade. Dark as night with a head the color of a chocolate milkshake. I get chocolate on top of a nice roasty stout in the aroma. The flavor follows, and it is smoooooth. A delicious dessert.

Young’s Double Chocolate Stout – Wells & Young’s Brewing Company Ltd

Baba Louie’s Pizza

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If you are ever traveling through the Berkshires in western Massachusetts and you are looking for a fun lunch you should seek out Baba Louie’s in Great Barrington.

Baba Louie’s serves up wood fired gourmet pizza and more. I love pizza but I am quite picky about it. It either has to be classic Jersey (NY) pizza, or gourmet – two completely different things, but both delicious in their own way.

One of the pizzas we tried here had parsnips, sweet potatoes, caramelized onions, goat cheese, and a balsamic reduction and it was amazing. You could tell that the crust is hand made which is crucial in my opinion.

Baba Louie’s also serves up some of Berkshire Brewing Company’s craft beers. We both had the Drayman’s Porter which was fantastic. It was not overly roasted and had a good thick barley mouth feel with a nice balance of hops. It matched well with our hearty pizzas, too.

Check it out and if you can swing it, do it in the fall like the last week in September when you can see the spectacular fall foliage.

Starr Hill Festie

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Beer-a-Day #272Starr Hill Festie

Rich and malty, Festie is available in September and October, and is our tribute to the great German lager. Its name invokes the German tradition of Oktoberfest, while also paying homage to the end of the summer music festival season.

I’m really beginning to like what I’ve been having from Starr Hill. After having never seen them ever, I’m now seeing them all over the place.

Medium gold color. Soft, malty aroma. Lighter than I was expecting. Still, it’s pretty good. I’d gladly have this again.

Starr Hill Brewery Festie

99 bottles of organic beer on the wall…

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Ideal Bite recently sampled a whole bunch or organic beer and chose their favorites.

The Benefits:

  • Eco-friendliness in a bottle. These microbreweries have made a commitment to sustainable agriculture; and organic farming reduces topsoil erosion – modern farming has wiped out 1/3 of America’s fertile topsoil already.
  • Healthier vocal cords. An FDA study found that 21% of wheat products it sampled contained pesticide residue. We prefer the less than 5% offered by organic bottles of beer.
  • Savings that repeat themselves. Most organic brews compare in price to regular microbrews (about $9/6-pack). And if more of us buy organic, it will help drive prices down.

Ideal Bite

Some of the organic beer we’ve had we’ve found pretty tasty and I like the idea of more sustainable brewing.

Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout

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Beer-a-Day #269Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout

With its deep, dark brown-black color, thick, full-bodied, velvety-smooth mouth feel, mocha character, and, strong yet subtle hop bite, Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout is one of the thickest, richest, and most complex stouts on the market today. In 1990, it became our first gold medal winner, at the Great American Beer Festival. Barney Flats was judged so superior to the other stouts that no other medals were even awarded in its category. Try it and see why Stewart Kallen described it as, “Slippery, creamy, dark, and sweet as a Pacific May morning,” in his book, The 50 Greatest Beers In The World.

Thick and dark. Smells of chocolate. Creamy and delicious. That’s good stuff.

Anderson Valley Brewing Company – Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout

Arizona Pizza Company

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So, what do I decide to do for lunch the day after a beer and wing festival? Of course go get some more! We tried out the Arizona Pizza Company in Clifton Park, New York.

First, the beer selection. They had Sam Adams Lager and the seasonal. They also had Red Hook Longhammer IPA and Kona Longboard. After that, they had a very limited selection of no less than two dozen crappy Bud’s and Amstel imports.

The wings, which came in several flavors, were excellent. We got classic hot Buffalo style and they were pretty hot. (My wife thought they were extremely hot.) They were crispy and meaty. They could easily have competed with the best from the festival.

Lastly, the pizza was pretty good for this small chain restaurant. We got the Kokopelli wood fired pizza and I thought the crust could have been better and the toppings distributed a little better but otherwise it was cheesy and tasty.

OK, I think I have had enough food for the entire weekend.