It’s over

Posted on October 13, 2009 by Al

All good things must come to an end, and so our “O-fest 2009” celebration is over. It was good to see Ron and Max and Don again; it happens all-too-rarely anymore. We stayed up way too late, got up way too early, ate way too much bad food, and had way too much lots of beer. My eyes are dried out from not blinking while driving really, really fast in Burnout Paradise and shooting hundreds of monsters in Serious Sam: The Second Encounter, plus a few other video games and a rousing game of Munchkin. These old bones can’t take sleeping on floors much anymore, but it was all worth it. Don’s friend Vic also joined us for an evening, which was fun and, in the spirit of things, brought four six-packs of his own.

Thanks guys. Let’s do it again next year.

We were only able to get through about half of the beer, so I left with about as much as I arrived with.

Here’s a (more-or-less complete) list of what we brought, in no particular order:

Ithaca Cascazilla
Green Flash IPA
Victory Moonglow
Lake Placid Ubu Ale
Stone Levitation Ale
Unibroue Trois Pistoles
Brooklyner-Schneider Hopfen-Weisse
Fort Collins Chocolate Stout
Troëgs Dead Reckoning Porter
Troëgs Java Head Stout
Rogue Morimoto Imperial Pilsner
Dogfish Head 60 minute IPA
Flying Dog Canis Major mixed pack
- Gonzo Imperial Porter
- Kerberos Tripel
- Double Dog Double Pale Ale
- Horn Dog Barley Wine
Oskar Blues Mama’s Little Yella Pils
Goose Island Honker’s Ale
Southampton IPA
Newcastle Brown Ale
Guinness Stout
Guinness Draught
Paulaner’s Octoberfest Märzen
Blue Point Toasted Lager
Morland Old Speckled Hen
Smithwick’s Irish Ale
Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA
New Holland Ichabod Pumpkin Ale
Arcadia Jaw-Jacker Ale
New Holland The Poet Oatmeal Stout
Captain Lawrence “Smoke from the Oak” from Apple Brandy barrels
Southern Tier Crème Brûlée Imperial Milk Stout
Great Divide Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout

Clipper City MärzHon

Posted on October 13, 2009 by Al

Beer-a-Day #286

A classic marzen style lager, amber in color with a rich, toasty malt flavor and finish. Well balanced and smooth. Marzen is the style of beer traditionally associated with Oktoberfest. The name is a play on words since in Baltimore, everyone is “hon!” Once a year this beer gets a special “Oktoberfest” label.

Clear and coppery with an off-white head. Nice malty aroma. Just a hint of sourness in the taste. Good stuff.

Clipper City Brands

Brooklyner-Schneider Hopfen-Weisse

Posted on October 12, 2009 by Al

Beer-a-Day #285

This unique and exciting beer is a collaboration between brewmasters Hans-Peter Dresler of the Schneider Brewery and Garrett Oliver of The Brooklyn Brewery.

[It is] a pale weisse-bock fermented with the Schneider yeast, then robustly dry-hopped with a blend of Amarillo and Palisade hops.

Pale yellow with some chill haze. Citrusy-pineapple in the aroma. A little sweet with a decent finish.

Ron says: Aroma reminds of old wood. A little marmalade in the flavor.

Hop Talk Advisory Panel says: Compares favorably to many wheat beers imbibed in Germany under several different levels of sobriety. Don doesn’t like wheat beers, though; he says they taste like soap.

Brooklyn Brewery

Southern Tier Crème Brûlée Imperial Milk Stout

Posted on October 11, 2009 by Al

Beer-a-Day #284

We are not the harbingers of truth as some may suggest but it may indeed be argued that our brewing philosophy is tantamount to a dessert with a bellicose past. How, you may ask, would a brewery determine a likeness to hard-coated custard? Our response is simple; it’s all in the power of history, and of course, the extra finesse needed to top off a contentious treat with definition.

By comprehending the labyrinthine movement of time, one would not think it strange to trace the errant path of an ordinary object such as a cream dessert only to discover that it has been the cause of cultural disputes since the middle ages. The British founders of burnt cream and from Spain, crema catalana, both stand by their creative originality and we respect that, but it was the French Crème Brûlée, amid the strife of contention, that survived to represent our deliciously creamy brew.

Opaque black beer with medium brown head. Vanilla dominates the aroma. It similarly owns the flavor, with a bit of a stout backbone and a little alcohol heat. This is a beer to share with friends as a dessert.

Ron says: Huge vanilla aroma. Huge. A little of the alcohol smell but none of the burn. A couple of four-ounce glasses and a brunette are a perfect end to an evening.

Hop Talk Advisory Panel says: An enjoyable stout with some complex flavors, though the vanilla definitely stands out. While not unpleasant, the higher alcohol content is not unnoticed.

Southern Tier Brewing – The Beers

Captain Lawrence Smoke From The Oak – Apple Brandy Barrel Aged

Posted on October 10, 2009 by Al

Beer-a-Day #283

I am a big fan of oak aged beers, as you can probably tell from yet another addition to the “Smoke from the Oak” series. And I have to tell you, it is getting harder and harder to find new and exciting barrels to age our Smoked Porter in. This one was simply dumb luck smacking me in the face as I perused the shelves at my local liquor store. Apple Brandy has been produced in this country for centuries, so why not age our full bodied Smoked Porter in freshly emptied barrels from one of America’s oldest distilleries. Straight from the Captain’s cellar to yours, we hope you enjoy.

Last year for our Oktoberfest weekend we visited the Captain Lawrence brewery. That’s where we learned about their Smoked from the Oak series and the different barrels they had lined up to age them in. One of them was the apple brandy barrels.

Absolutely opaque; thick head. Smells like a spiced apple pie. Apple brandy flavor dominates; I don’t get much smoke at all.

Ron says: Tastes like smoked brandy.

Hop Talk Advisory Panel says: Smoke flavor a little too strong, but otherwise okay. It almost didn’t seem like a beer.

Trois Pistoles

Posted on October 9, 2009 by Al

Beer-a-Day #282

Trois Pistoles was launched in June of 1997. It contains 9% alcohol and is brewed with roasted malt. Its rich, smooth texture, and the presence of yeast used for in-bottle refermentation give it a very distinctive flavour.

This dark beer and has an aroma of ripe fruit and a pleasant aftertaste that lingers like old port wine.

Trois Pistoles can be enjoyed before a meal or after, and is excellent with pasta as well as game meat and wild fowl.

It also enhances the flavour of desserts like chocolate mousse and fruit salad, and can even replace coffee as an after dinner drink

Deep mahogany color with a strong head. Fruit and cereal aroma; fairly complex. Maybe a bit of chocolate in the taste as well. Interesting.

Ron says: Earthy, cereal aroma. Reminded me of dark chocolate covered cherries.

Hop Talk Advisory Panel says: Taste lingers too long and unpleasantly so, like a party guest that just doesn’t know when to go. There is a less-then-pleasant clove flavor.

Unibroue Trois Pistoles

O-fest 2009

Posted on October 9, 2009 by Al

Today begins the “official” (note inappropriate use of air quotes) start of our annual Oktoberfest celebration. We’ve been doing this for years and this is the one weekend a year that we carve out for ourselves. It has become harder over the years as each of us has gotten married, had kids, bought a house, et cetera. We’ve also gotten farther apart physically; the closest any of us are to the other is at least a two-hour drive.

Our general modus operandi is this: We each bring our computers and network them up for some digital mayhem. When we’re not doing that we’ll play cards or watch a movie, or even go out in the world to get some of the local cuisine (boy, I miss New Jersey pizza) or something crazy like tour a brewery. But—and this is why I’m writing this—we each bring four (or so) six-packs of some interesting beer (or some bombers, or growlers, or whatever) to share.

Over the course of this long weekend we’ll catch up on the goings-on of our lives, have a lot of laughs, and drink some pretty good beer.

Oh, this is also a meeting of the Hop Talk Advisory Council. They’ll be helping me with my Beer-a-Day project for the next few days.

Boont Extra Special Beer

Posted on October 8, 2009 by Al

Beer-a-Day #281

The abundant hopping in this four-time gold medal winner, creates arousing aromatics, accompanied by a pleasantly bitter bite. Boont Extra Special Beer is deep gold in color, with a spicy hop aroma. Starts with a big, malty backbone and finishes with a refreshingly bitter bite. Boont Extra Special Beer is excellent alone or as an accompaniment to your favorite well-seasoned meals (such as Mexican, Korean, Chinese, Indian, or Thai, cuisine).

(Formerly Belk’s ESB)

Medium amber with an ivory head and haze. Floral and spice in the aroma. Medium body with a nice full hop flavor. (Ron, you’d like this too.) This is my kind of beer. 6.8% ABV is a bit high for me to make it my usual though.

» Anderson Valley Brewing Company – Boont Extra Special Beer