Lagunitas - The Waldo's Special Ale

A while back I stopped at my local bottle shop that just happens to be a grocery store.  As I've mentioned in the past Pittsburgh has some funky liquor laws.  Thankfully Giant Eagle (our large local chain of grocery stores) has found a nifty little loophole.  They became bars.  Not entirely, but added a section where you can drink and eat inside the store and this allows them to sell six packs, singles, growlers, and twelve packs.  Thankfully Giant Eagle has a ton of buying power and has allowed lots of stuff to come into the area and has lowered prices city wide.  As you can imagine I'm quite pleased with this scenario.

Like I was saying I went by looking for my dear friend Flying Dog' The Truth.  No surprise they didn't have any.  Sadly a tough find.  The staff at these are pretty good.  they usually know their stuff. So I checked with them just incase they had some in the back of the cooler or something.  The guy suggested this to me instead.  Imperial IPA, high alcohol content, and Lagunitas has a good reputation , so I figured, why not.

I popped it in the freezer, got it nice and cold, and poured it out into a nice tulip glass I had.  Nice deep golden color with a small head on it.  Gave it a sniff, sweet and dark.  The flavor is heavy, and as the label says dank.  It's incredibly resiny, and very sweet.  It's tasty but not what I was looking for, not very well balanced and a bit overpowering, an odd thing for me to say as many of my favorite beers are incredibly overpowering, and unbalanced.  (See my review of Gonzo Imperial Porter)  I got about three quarters of the way through and lost interest.  I had another one a few days later with similar results.  Recently I had another and I was able to get through the full thing without pause.  Maybe I wasn't in the mood for something like this those other times, but this beer sure has it's place.

Flying Dog - The Truth

Last year I went to my favorite beer festival in the Pittsburgh area, the Big Pour it's an annual thing that gets sold out in minutes.  They host this event in a unique kind of resale space.  The take in stuff from buildings getting renovated or demolished and sell them to the public.  This event helps keep this unique recycling opportunity running and I fully support that.  Also they have the greatest selection of food and beer in the city for you to enjoy for a couple hours.  During this event there are  almost 50 different brewers available including TRASH a local home-brew group.  So suffice to say there are lots of different beers to try, but there was only one I went back for seconds on.  The Truth brewed by my personal favorite brewery right now, Flying Dog.  I chose to try this beer because, quite honestly I hadn't heard of it before.  The Truth has a Ralph Steadman illustration of a man with close cropped hair in a black suit, white shirt, and black tie.  Is he with a government agency, a lawyer, or a generic suit?  who knows, but he does promise to solemnly tell the truth.  It's listed as an Imperial IPA, I get it, yeah that's what this style fits under, but I tell you that this is a West Cost IPA if I've ever tasted one.  When I think Imperial IPA I think something like Lagunitas Waldo's Special IPA.  Incredibly resiny and thick.  This however is a different breed.  It's much lighter than the Waldo with bright crisp citrus notes.  The bittering of the hops is there, but subtle.  The fruity flavors cut through much more, but with a solid malt backbone.  Isn't it funny how the best west coast style IPA I've had comes from Maryland?

Brooklyn Brewery - Sorachi Ace

It's hot out.  I need something refreshing.  Let's talk about this light golden brew that mages to quench my thirst starting with the name.  Sorachi Ace is a name that seems very strange, almost nonsensical at first glance.  Doesn't really tell you much about the beer at first glance right?  Wrong, Sorachi Ace is the name of the hops used in this saison that really helps you though the summer months.  Developed for Sapporo in japan the Sorachi Ace hop is a hybrid of Brewer's gold, Saaz, and Beikei Male #2 varietals that produce a very unique taste that reminds me of lemongrass and dill.  The saison is a fine summer style, it's light, flavorful, and smooth.  The Sorachi Ace is like character actress Margo Martindale.  Every time I hear about it, I'm in.  As soon as I hear the name I say yes, but at the same time, I don't really push myself to find something with her in it.  This beer is so perfect, flavorful, and heck relatively cheap, but when I'm out and about and hear about something else.... I kinda forget about it.  It's worth it though.  If you haven't tried the Ace, grab yourself a bomber, sit on the porch, and relax.

Flying dog - Gonzo Imperial Porter

A perennial favorite of mine, Gonzo Imperial Porter.  To give you a little background... Flying dog brewery is out of Frederick MD and is pretty well known for it's interesting labels.  These interesting labels come from a man known as Ralph Stedman.  Mr. Stedman was made famous as Hunter S. Thompson's personal illustrator ever since being assigned to Hunter on his article on the Kentucky Derby.  Hunter and Ralph worked closely together for about 35 years.  As fans of Hunter's work Flying Dog decided to dedicate a brew to him and I cannot find a beer more fitting.  Gonzo journalism is what Hunter is well know for, it's described as "a style of Journalism that is written without claims of objectivity, often including the reporter as part of the story via a first-person narrative*" this style was defined by Hunter and his well, for lack of a better word, unique take on the world.  This beer is Gonzo distilled, or well, at least brewed.  

Gonzo Imperial Porter is a liquid kick in the head.  It's brash, bold, and unapologetic.  I've once described it as tasting like chocolate and hate, and even after sobering up I cannot think of a better way to put it.  This beer does not coddle you, it doesn't hold you hand, it doesn't want you to like it, it just is what it is.  To be frank that is all I want from this beer.  The people at Flying Dog knew that many people wouldn't like this beer for what is is, brutally hoppy, chocolately, hints of coffee, and a harsh alcoholic bite, but the people that do like it will sing it's praises from on high.  I am one of those people.  When I buy this beer I think very critically about who I am drinking with as they tend to ask if they can have a taste of what I'm drinking.  Usually I feel pretty good about saying yeah, have a taste, see what you think, but with the Gonzo... Well I'll warn them beforehand if I don't think it's their style.  For good reason too.  With my latest sixer I gave a taste to someone with the aforementioned description of chocolate and hate, her response was "well, I taste the hate."

Gonzo will never appeal to the mainstream, either the beer or style of journalism, and I can't imagine a world where they did.  It's the weird kid in a trench coat who you think is planning on bringing a gun to school, it's that guy who is in his 40's that still loves LSD, and it's that guy that installs security cameras to cover every inch of their house.  Gonzo is edgy, unsettling, dangerous, paranoid, and charming in it's own way, and if you don't like it you can go fuck yourself, because it isn't trying to win you over.  If you spend some time with it you will realize it's good qualities, you will see that it's a great friend that your significant other doesn't like you hanging out with because they are a bad influence, but it wants to just go out and have a great time with you, and it's not going to change to make your SO happy.

So, buy yourself a sixer, and hold on because this beer is about to make you sing The Song of the Sausage Creature.  If you survive, you might just thank it for taking you on such a wild ride.

Chatoe Rogue: Single Malt

Chatoe Rogue is the name if Rogue brewing's new line of GYO certified first growth ales made with hops and badly grown on their own hop yard and barley bench out in Portland Oregon. This beer is made with Rogue's special Dare malt and Revolution hops. I like this idea, you grow the hops, you grow the barley, you control the yeast (Rogue has been cultivating their famous Pacman yeast for quite a while now) as well as every step in the brewing process. Every part of the process in under your control, if there is a delay there is no one to pass the buck to and you have the benefit of being able to ensure your product lives up to your standards from start to finish.

On to the beer itself. Single malt is a very simple beer one kind of malt one kind of hops. The flavor is light and crisp with plenty of citrus and and a tad grassy. This reminds me a bit of a saison or farmhouse in a way. I'd love to drink this on a nice hot day sitting on the porch after a hard day of work.

Schneider Aventinus

This weekend I went out and picked up some beer for my girlfriend and I for the new year, sadly they did not last that long. I got myself a Chatoe Rogue Single Malt and my girlfriend her favorite a Schneider Aventinus. When we first started dating she kept searching for this beer everywhere we went. She had been drinking it while she lived in Ohio and couldn't find it now that she had moved back to PA. We had finally found it at the Market District in Robinson and she was thrilled We quickly ran back to my apartment and cracked the bottle open. We poured it out into a nice tall pilsner glass. It was a nice dark slightly creamy brown with a light creme head on it. The smell was was not terribly strong but some nice hints of banana and raisin. The flavor mimicked the smell quite a bit, reminded me of a good banana bread a little spicy with raisin and clove.

Next up the Chatoe Rogue Single Malt.

Hebrew Jewbilation 14

Let me tell you a short story about my introduction to Hebrew. I was staying down in Raleigh North Carolina at my Uncle's house. He had invited his brother, my father, and I down to join him for Beer Magazine's World Beer Festival. This point in my life the largest beer festival I had been to was the microbrewery festival at Penn Brewery. I was not prepared for what I was about to witness. In the center of downtown Raleigh a large park was lined with tents. The eight foot tables were lined up butt up against each other two rows in each tent one brewer at each table. Brewers from each corner of the world US, Belgium, Japan, Germany, and back to the US again, not to mention damn near every place in between. Where to begin? I stepped up to the first table I saw. On it hung a simple banner for Schmaltz Brewery out of New York. They had samples of Hebrew, a sub band of theirs. I had my first sample of the day, Origin pomegranate ale. I must say that this small brewery with a penchant for Semitic jokes was a wonderful start to the day.

Schmaltz has released Jewbilation their chosen beer. It's somewhat similar to a barlywine in that it's a big beer, 14%ABV brig, and lots of strong flavor. This beer could almost be treated like a cask strength bourbon, but I would not want to water this down I want to taste the grandeur of this fine brew. This fine brew is made with 14 different kind of hops and 14 kinds of barley. Complex is an oversimplification. Upon first ease you get hit with chocolate, coffee, and molasses malt like you wouldn't believe and a nice alcohol burn on the sides of the tounge. As you feel it pass across the rest of your ease buds you pick up plum, butterscotch, bourbon, oak, vanilla, and slight hints of citrus mainly lemon. I could spend days describing the flavors that come through but I need to stop for a moment to describe the look. I have stated before I don't generally go on about the look of a beer, but I'll be damned if this didn't look just like someone pulled a giant shot of espresso. Lots of lacing is left on the glass after each sip.

I must say that this is one beer that you must be on the lookout for. Not just because it's a great drink, but because every year the formula changes. Each year the number increments and the recipe changes. Pick up a couple bottles of this. One to drink now, and the rest to seller until you can compare it to the future incarnations.

Big Hop Harvest

Ok I mentioned this semi retail event thing that happened a little while ago. While I had some of the Chicory Red the real star of this show was the Big Hop Harvest.

Big Hop Harvest is a limited edition brew much like the Chicory red, however unlike it this one comes around once a year. The reason this is a limited release is our friends at East End Brewery have a short window of time where they can drive up to New York to pick up a batch of fresh, undried, wet hops.

The brewmaster himself took the drive up to the farm and filled his wife's Scion xB with 385lbs of fresh wet hops and updated us all over Facebook with his progress on his 12 hour trip. That's dedication, or maybe just love of the craft. I know I would love the smell inside of that car, grassy and citrusy, just wonderful. Come to think of it he recently mentioned her car still smells like wet hops.

I sat at that keg and downed about half a dozen small glasses of this wondrous brew. The flavor is a nice APA blended with a red ale, nice and toasty carmel with this great citrus grassy hop note. This dink is so well balanced, and it just dances on your tounge like a party of angels throwing a rager. Ok that's a little extreme, but I have to say it is indeed something to look forward to next season.

East End Chicory Red

Today I worked a semi retail event for my employer. This isn't terribly exciting, however the fact his brother volunteers at East End Brewery therefore he has a contact there is.
Tonight on our beer menu we had their latest session beer.  East End's sessions are normally one shot brews that you have to snag before they are gone.or else you will always have to wonder what could have been.
East End's Chicory Red has a wonderful smoothness about it. The roasted malt flavor coats your tongue just long enough till the chicory flavor hits the back of your tongue and you get this slightly spicy aftertaste that warms you up a little, just in time for fall.
That is if fall wasn't such a muggy prospect in Pittsburgh right now.  I love to sing the prases of a finely crafted brew I do have to speak of it's, um well I guess seasonality is the best way to put it. Upon starting the process of crafting this beer the brewmeister had no way of knowing that the beginning of September would feel like the middle of summer. This is a shame, because in the right atmosphere this beer would be just as comforting as a nice recliner, a tailored jacket, or even a well loved blankie.
No I don't have an awesome blankie, but sometimes I wish I did.

Tailgating Frenzy

I'm going to take this post in a slightly different direction as some of my others, I do this because I am partnering up with "Cooking for Regular Assholes" (http://cook4you.livejournal.com/) a blog written by a contemporary of mine who works in the food industry. While I write about the beers I enjoy he enjoys some success as someone who creates the dishes we regular assholes are normally served.

As a "Stillers" fan and part time "Yinzer" I feel it is my duty to my city to alert the world to the tradition of the Steerers Tailgate.

"Tailgating, you say? I've tailgated before, this isn't a Pittsburgh thing."

Ah but tailgating for a Steelers game is! Let me tell you a short story, My friend Marc is a diehard "Yinzer" (Pittsburgher is you want to be politically correct about it) who is holed up in FL currently with about 75% of our septuagenarians. Marc sprung for some primo seats to a Tampa Bay Buccaneers game. I may have to mention that the Steelers were in town as well. Upon entering the venue he was greeted by some fellow black and gold devotees. "We've been counting Buccs fans since we got here." "How many have you counted?" "27."

Now what does this tell us? Tampa Bay doesn't care about football? Not really i mean they put up the cash to start a team and get a stadium, right? No this tells us about the fanaticism of Steelers fans and just how nuts we get about football. You thought your college or high school was really pumped about their games, now lets imagine half a state like that. now you know why it's called the Steeler's nation.

Tailgating as a yinzer is one hell of an experience, there is food games and most of all beer. Marc may try and steal my thunder here about the focus of a tailgate, but we all know it's just once hell of an excuse to drink all day long. As a beer blogger I often joke about being an alcoholic, but to be honest, the tailgate has been the only thing that has ever gotten me drinking before noon.

In Pittsburgh when you tailgate you often see some standard faire like Coors Light and Miller Light, but quite honestly the real fans out there are drinking local brews, two to be exact IC Light and Penn Pils.

IC Light, for those of you in the know who enjoy fine beer you may cringe or laugh knowing that it is your yearly dose of Ohio river water. As well all know it's that Ohio river water that give all of us yinzers our pahers ¹. IC Light or as it's label states Iron City light, is brewed by the Iron city Brewing Company. The Iron City Brewing company has had it's ups and downs, to pittsburghers mainly downs, however if you view it from outside the city you begin to realize all of the innovations it produced, like most recently the aluminum bottle, and less recently the first snap top can. They also pioneered the use of the twist off cap and "Malt Cooler" known as Hop-N-Gator, you are welcome Smirnoff. IC light is your typical american lager, however it is not your typical light beer. While many light beers are produced as regular beers then simply watered down IC light is designed to have less calories. It;s brewing doesn't require it to be watered down and results in a fuller, less flat, taste. Though at about $20 for a 30 rack, you can't expect it to rival the Micros and Imports I usually cover. I must say however IC light has a certian Je Ne Sais Qua about it, i'm not sure what about this beer grabs me and keeps me returning to this when I need something cheap. My guess opiates.

Penn Pilsner, now I have talked about the Penn Brewery before on my review of Penn Dark. Penn Pils is the flagship product of the Penn Brewing family. Despite it's name it resembles a vienna lager more closely then a pils. However i have heard this beer described as the quintessential american pilsner, the pils that all other American pils are based off of. If this is true then they have quite a bit to stand up against. Penn Pils may not be the greatest beer under the sun, however it has a flavor that calls back the old days. All of Penn's products are brewed in accordance to the Reinheitsgebot, or German Beer Purity Laws. This means when you are tasting a Penn Brewing product you taste a little bit of history, and you get to taste a fine brew with absolutely no adulterants or filler grain. Truly a craft brew Penn Pils is my first reach at a tailgate.

¹ Yinzer pahers (powers) include the alcohol tolerance of John Belushi, the eyes of a seasoned referee, and the strategic mind of Napoleon Bonaparte (but only in football.) Oh i almost forgot, we can also make drunk calls to your sister.

Victory Wild Devil

It's not often that I get upset that I can't find a beer, generally I will just pick something else up since I like to try new beers all the time. This beer got to me though, I went searching far and wide in the city of Pittsburgh to find more. The inopportune holiday season pushed this fine product off the shelves and left me craving more. Feeling like a crack addict on hard times I actually wrote to Victory asking where my next fix was. I was quickly assured that demand was high and with the holidays many retailers had held back orders to fill their shelves with more seasonal fare.

So why does Wild Devil get me so flustered? What is it about a simple IPA that gets me all weak in the knees? One word "brettanomyces." I'm sure that has caused a few head scratches, but let me explain. Brettanomyces is a strain of yeast that is generally regarded as a plague to the brewing industry, causing off flavors that ruin the balance of a beer and show that the brewer was less then diligent in his sanitation regimen. In fact Brett is the reason for the name of this brew as Brett is a commonly occurring strain of wild yeast. Why do I love this yeast so much then? Well I think good ol' Brett has gotten a bad rap, Brett is also responsible for some of the flavors in lambics, Gueuze and Flanders ales and when a recipe is tailored to the, let's say unique, flavors Brett produces something wonderful occurs. Brett creates flavors that sound absolutely horrible when they are described like wet horse blanket, band-aid, and burnt plastic, but in actual practice they are quite delicious.

My first impression of this beer was, "Wow this is beautiful!" If you have read my other posts then you should know that I don't often describe the look of a beer, but this deserves a description. The color is somewhere between a gold and orange, a little light for my tastes but I was intrigued. The head was an off white, a stark contrast to the bright crisp white I am accustomed to. I generally don't care much about head retention or lacing but this beer is what changed that for me. As I drank the head barley dissipated at all and the lacing left behind was heavy to say the least, when I was done you could see the amount I drank with each sip, it was amazing. The smell and flavor are dominated mostly by the "funk" Brett produces, difficult to put into words but easy to put on the tongue. Next up was the hops, as Hop Devil's evil twin the hops take hold over much of the flavor as well, a nice citrusy bite with a little spicy burn as well. Biscuit and carmel malts dominate the hop profile balancing out this crazy concoction.

I applaud the brewmasters at Victory for making lemonade out of lemons here. They took what is widely considered a horrible plague and turned it into liquid gold.

Westmalle Dubbel

Ah Westmalle, the trappist abbey that gave us the terms dubbel and trippel to describe our beers. Tonight I have decided to review the first and my personal favorite of the trappist dubbels.

The dubbel from Westmalle is incredibly complex, it mixes some nice fruity esters (similar to plum or raisin) with some spice I can't quite put my finger on, along with a wonderful malty characteristic and a little hoppiness in the end it really shines out as a bacon of what the Belgian's can accomplish in their brewing.

One of my favorite characteristics of this brew is also a favorite of mine with good wines (reds mainly,) the temperature it is served at has a profound effect on it's flavor. Refrigerator temps tend to make it taste sharper bring out a little more of the hop characteristics and move the malts and fruity esters aside. When you let a glass of this sit for a little while two wonderful things happen, 1 the glass warms and it allows the flavors to meld, 2 the beer oxidizes a little and brings out the spice more. My serving suggestion is to get yourself a nice chalice style glass, or at least something with a nice wide mouth, pour it trying to leave a little at the bottom (this is a bottle conditioned brew and there are active yeast as well as something called trub that lies on the bottom) and just let it sit for maybe 5 minutes. I know 5 minutes seems like a long time but your mouth will thank me.

As far as the yeast and trub go, I for one kind of like the flavor it brings but many people do not. My suggestion for dealing with it is to try leaving it at the bottom of the bottle, then once you finish your glass pour the remainder in and give it a taste, that way you can decide for yourself. the yeast and trub are not harmful in anyway, in fact brewer's yeast is rather good for you, well at least hippies think so and they brought us granola so who knows.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brewer%27s_yeast#Nutritional_supplements

New review

Ok I havn't written a review in a long time so in an effort to see if anyone reads my blog I'm asking for suggestions on beers to review I could spit out one on either Westmalle Dubble or Roquefort Dubble pretty easily as I ha e both of them in my fridge right now. I recently drank the wacko from Macic Hat as well. You can suggest other beers as well just put your suggestions in the comments and I'll either choose one that gets an overwhelming response or one that intregues me. Please keep them reasonable though something I can aquire here in the 'Burgh.

Chimay Grande Reserve Magnum 2007 vintage

It's been a long time coming but I'm bound and determined to do a review of one of the most famed beers in the world, the Trappists.

First some background on me acquiring this bottle then on the Trappists.

A few weeks ago while I was in Chicago I got some very interesting news, it seems my girlfriend was pregnant and we didn't know it and she was in labor ( gave birth to the most adorable baby girl ever names Zoey, we aren't sure who the father is yet though.) Well me being out of town there really was very little I could do so I continued working. During some of my free time I wandered about the city looking for something to do, this particular day I found a little place called Sam's it was a beer/wine/liquor store. Me loving most things alcoholic I decided to wander about a bit. I decided to see if I could find a bottle of USB ____ wine witch is not sold here in the great state of Pennsylvania, sadly there was only one place in Illinois who carried it. Then I decided to go upstairs where they kept the Beer. Now being from the great state of Pennsylvania I am unaccustomed to Beer Wine and Liquor all being in the same store as we have an odd separation of wine and liquor from beer. We also have case laws. For those Unfamiliar let me lay this down for you. When you want to purchase beer in PA you must go to either a bar or a beer distributer. what about grocery stores and six pack shops you say? Technically bars since you must be allowed to drink any beer you purchase on premises. Why is this so strange you say? Because at a beer distributer you must buy a case or more (24 cans/bottles at 12oz. or 288oz in any combination this includes Kegs), and at a bar you must buy less then a 12 pack (six pack under each arm). Oh and the beer in bars' price is over inflated. Now what gets even stranger is that if you walk out of a bar with 12 beers, throw them in the car and walk back in, guess what, you can buy 12 more beers (12 12oz bottles cans ect. so 144oz or less in any combination.) Anyway where I was going with this was that the singles and six packs were nice and cheap here. Walking through I saw the Belgian section, my eyes lit up like a kid in a candy store. Orval, Roquefort, Westmalle, Chimay oh my! I quickly snagged a 1 Liter bottle of Westmalle Dubbel for $11 and a 12oz of Roquefort for $4 and when I looked up I was greeted by the sight of a magnum of Chimay Grande Reserve 2007 for only $26. Now for those of you out side of PA no big deal but for me, that's huge! To give you some Comparison at one of my favorite beer bars here that same bottle goes for $130 and at a six pack shop it's about $67. That's when I realize my girlfriend loves Chimay and that this bottle will make a wonderful congratulations gift.

Now I have mentioned a few time the Trappists, and I'm sure you are wondering just who or what these Trappists are. The Trappists are an order of Monks that follow the order of St. Benedict albeit a relaxed order. They are allowed drink and are allowed to sell it (along with other goods) in order to support the monastery. There are about 170 odd Trappist monestaries in the world and not all of them make amazing beer, but the ones that do certainly did it right. The distinctness of the Trappist ales is generally in the yeasts they use, they bring a certain unique flavor to the party that I just can't describe, it's almost a bread-e-ness.

This beer in particular was just incredible, the Grande Reserve or Bleu is a darker ale with a nice thick head. I loved the nice balance of hops and malt, it's not overly dry nor is it so heavy you can't drink another glass. It has a sweet but deep flavor, carmel figs cherries and the like with some spiciness too like a little touch of cinnamon. I would recommend this to anyone who is feeling like getting pampered, because that exactly what drinking this felt like.

Three Floyd's - Gumballhead

Last week I spent some time in Chicago on a business trip thanks to the little bit of free time I got and coworkers who share my love of beer I was able to try a few things I couldn't get here in PA.

The first one I want to talk about was a little something called Gumballhead, "Gumballhead you say?" Yes i say Gumball head, mainly cause I like to say Gumball head. Alright I admit it sometimes I do like to order beer based off of the name alone, I'll drink any beer once and I like to tell people I drank something I couldn't pronounce, had so many umlauts that it put metal bands to shame, or was just as strange and unique as Gumballhead. That being said I've had some disappointments in my time, and i have disproved my German friend's theory that more umlauts equals more better. Not this time though, I was not disappointed. though I have to say I was a little surprised.

I was at a little bar called Kasey's in printer's row with one of my coworkers having a few beers while watching one of the games of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. I had just finished off a Hop Devil and just found the tap list. Scanning quickly I couldn't pull my eyes from that name for some reason, I knew I had to try it.

Fast forward to today I know know that Gumball head is made by three Floyds Brewing in Indiana (imagine that) and it's considered an American pale wheat ale. That right there is what surprised me.

This is the first wheat I've ever reviewed and for good reason. I don't drink many wheats. Don't get me wrong it's not like I hate wheats or anything it's just, I usually find something else i like better and would much rather go for something maltier or hoppy-er (honestly I'm not sure if either of those are real words or not but they work for me.)

Whell when it came to my table I was amazed to see this brew with a pale yellow hue and thick white head (ok not so surprised about the thick white head.) I looked through the glass or at least attempted to as it was quite hazy. I got a big ol' whiff off the top of it almost putting my nose into the foam, rather citrus-ey I must say. Finally I took a sip and it's got a bit of hops I taste nice and crisp something I wish I got from more wheats. Honestly this is what I want when I order a wheat a nice refreshing beverage. Extremely drinkable went down nice and easy. If I can find this in PA I'm defiantly keeping it around for an outdoor drinking experience.

Tom Seefurth's Mamma Mia Pizza Beer, yea that's right i said Pizza Beer

So this weekend I got to go to one of my favorite restaurants in the area, Bocktown. Now Bocktown doesn't have the largest selection of beers on tap or anything they have quite a nice cooler and good food to boot. I got myself a nice heaping pile of fries with "onion crisps" on top, one of my personal favorite beers, Tröegs' Trogenator Dopplebock, I got to try the Moylan's Kilt Lifter, and I even left with a Rogue's Chocolate Stout. However I am not going to talk about these beers, no not yet because they were overshadowed by another, Pizza Beer.

I can see the confused look on your face from here, it's probably better that you don't know how I can see it from here, but believe me i can. Pizza Beer, brewed with tomato, basil, and garlic for a most... unique beer experience.

Alright you got me I didn't say delicious or wonderful or any of those adjectives, it wasn't exactly the greatest beer I've ever tasted nor was it the worst. I do need to give them credit however they set forth to make a beer made with pizza ingredients and by god they did it and despite the madness that brought about this brew it's not too bad.

Now to the tasting, while I didn't have the privilege of drinking a whole bottle of this I did get a big enough taste to pull out the flavors. The first thing I tasted right away was basil then after that died down a little I got that nice garlic kick finally finishing off with the dueling flavors of tomato and well a beer that kind of reminded me of Miller Light. One of my comrades at the table (the one who ordered the fabled drink) described it saying that it was like someone through pizza lunchables in a blender along with a cheap beer, and I have to say I'd agree.

So now that I have tried pizza beer I can rest easy knowing that one of the strangest beers ever created has passed across my taste buds. I suppose I will have to review Dogfish Head's Midas Touch to compete with this one.

Guinness - A unique taste...

Alright I know what you are thinking right now, "Guinness everyone has had Guinness why do you have to review that. Two reasons, one to let you know it's Guinness stout not just Guinness and two because this beer was a year old...

I agreed to meet up with my girlfriend for St. Paddy's day and share a beer or two while watching some DVDs. So I get there knowing she has the majority of a case of Killian's Irish Red, not quite the most Irish beer on the block despite the name (It's brewed by Coors a company I have a love/hate relationship with, but mostly hate.) I get there bringing a four pack of Pepsi Natural witch I had been waiting for as I had to drive home at the end of the night and didn't want a DUI on my record, when my girlfriend tells me that she found four bottles of Guinness Stout Draught in her fridge, left over from last St. Patricks day. She laughed about it and was about to throw it away when I grabbed her and said na I'll drink it, after all it's been in a closed drawer in your fridge so no light has gotten to it and Guinness is a pasteurized drink so I doubt it would get too funky over the year.

Well I was kinda right, it stayed pretty close to taste and the widget still worked, but something was just off... It had gained a little bit of an almost sour note in the aftertaste not necessarily bad just, not what I was expecting. I was unable to get her to try it witch I find kind of funny since she is more willing to try foods then I am, though I guess I'm better at trying beverages then her. well I hot about 1/4 of it drank on her couch (from a blue hexagonal glass she had since there were no pilsner glasses around) when it tipped backwards and coated my lower back and ass with the frothy brew. I was able to change into a pair of scrubs she had laying around and I was able to finish off the other 1/4 that had not spilled out.

So what's my final word on this experience... Well if pressed I would have to say if you decide to try a year old bottle of Guinness Stout, make sure your girlfriend has a pair of scrubs.

Yea that makes perfect sense.

Magic Hat #9

Trifecta of party beers that is.

Magic Hat has really done something wonderful here, they have created a micro you can find damn near anywhere.  Their other offerings are not bad but the #9 is the shining light of their brewery.

I brought a case of this to a christmas party thrown at my friend's house while her parents were out of town.  It was quickly ripped into and the drunken debauchery began.  

Imagine if you will a nice light pale ale with just the slightest hint of dried apricots.  It's a simple explanation of the taste for a simple concept.  nice and dry this beer is drinkable all night long.  when you are looking for something to give that friend of yours who wants something just a little fruity.

Flying Dog Brewery's Old Scratch Amber Lager

Ah Old Scratch, as I mentioned in a previous post Penn Dark is a good party beer, as is this.  I brought a case of this over to my friend's first house party.  I got thrown alongside a case of Sam Adams honey porter.  By the end of the night 6 bottles were left and that's about it 3 of each.

Flying Dog Brewery founded in Maryland as a brewpub and another in Aspen a little later.  They soon opened a brewery in Denver and later another in Maryland as demand increased.  They are pretty well known for their love of Hunter S. Thompson so much so to hire Ralph Steadman to do all their artwork as well as dedicate a brew to Hunter himself, but now is not the time or place for that.

Old Scratch is a sassy brew with a nice bite to it (ya see what I did there ha ha ha sorry.)  in all seriousness it is rather sharp in it's initial flavor with some nice carmel backup and a fairly smooth finish nice and sweet.  It's very nice for those people who you are trying to get to shy away from Yeungling for something a bit better.

And now for the trifecta...

Penn Dark

Ah Penn Brewery a microbrewery close to my heart... literally I live like 15 min away.

It opened in 1986 so it's pretty save to call it an adolescent as far as breweries go.  They produce the quintessential American style Pilsner, you guessed it Penn Pilsner.  not much to be said about this establishment other then they have a pretty B.A. German restaurant on site and they host a wicked microbrewery festival.

First time i had this brew was believe it or not at my great aunt's funeral.  My uncle was head chef at the restaurant where the wake was so typical Irish we are there was an open bar (funny I went for a German beer though.)  Right after the wake my father, three of my uncles and I moseyed on over to the Penn Brewery for the previously mentioned micro brewery festival.  

On to the beer.

Well the name does not disappoint this beer is nice and dark, about a quarter inch of foam on top (I'm drinking from a basic pilsner glass) other then that almost no light to be seen through there.  It's got a nice carmel toffee (general burnt sugar but in a good way) flavor to it with just a taste of hops in the after taste.  Very drinkable but nothing terribly special.  Great if you are going to a party and want to bring something good without alienating the miller and coors fans too much.  Which brings me to my next review...