AAA Craft Beer Blog (rating, drinking, brewing, etc.) and other Musings

2011-12-11T11:45:00.002-05:00

Prediction: lagering will be the new sour (like sours became the new imperial stouts and imperial stouts were the new barleywines). I can't wait for pilsners to be overpriced and frantically sought after.

Lets see in a year or so if I was correct (maybe 2 years).

2011-02-09T19:13:00.003-05:00

The Death of a Ratebeerian

Symptoms:

1. Have not traded in over 6 months

2. Average less than 10 ratings a month for the past 12 months

3. Have no idea what is or who makes Chocolate Rain

4. Often go days without checking an online beer site

5. No beers purchased "to age" over the past 12 months

I have not met these criteria but I almost did a few months ago. Once I think I'm out they pull me back in.

2010-02-28T22:31:00.002-05:00

Are there too many good beers?

It seems I can no longer keep up with all the special released beers and even the non-special releases that seem to be interesting or awesome brews. The beer scene is advancing so much that few brewers are just making the regular old light ale or lager through stout lineup but instead are making so many older styles, imperial styles, and experimental brews. Part of me feels said that I cannot try them all but a bigger part of me just loves the fact that everyone is taking chances. Since I can no longer try them all I am still satisfied with believing when I go somewhere new there is a good chance my choices wont be limited to just a Blonde, Amber, IPA, or Stout.

2009-07-06T16:18:00.005-04:00

More tasting glasses, here are some pics.

2009-05-09T18:04:00.005-04:00

The nip obsession continues, I have been able to come across a few more nips recently.

I have also been enjoying nips in small glasses.

This is a Little Kings Ale, I was hesitant to add this to my collection since I have a no macro policy, but this does not fall into that category. Little Kings was made by Schoenling Brewing Company who took over Hudepohl Brewing cmopany. Hudepohl -Schoenling operated in Cincinnati as an independent brewer until 1997 when the brewery itself was sold to Boston Brewing Company (makers of Sam Adams). Little Kings Ale continues to be contract brewed at other regional breweries. At the moment it is brewed at the Lion Brewery in Wilkes Barre, PA.

And yes "Little" Kings Ale has been available in much larger sizes.

Some more pics

2008-11-07T00:05:00.009-05:00

Outside of my affinity for nips I seem to now have an affinity for smaller (or tasting) versions of glassware. As with numerous hobbies the tool that provides the hobby is almost as important as the substance and beer is no different. There are beer geeks with a large collection of glassware. This obviously takes up a lot of room. So for me, it seems, smaller versions of glassware is a new "little" hobby. As pictured above there are 4 glasses that are smaller versions of the regular glasses.

There are more out there that I will hunt down as well. Smaller version of La Trappe, Moinette and Val Dieu goblets, as well as La Chouffe and Duvel tulips are out there and I will be looking for them as well. These versions hold between 3-6oz whereas the regular sized glasses hold over 12oz. For comparison the picture above show a regular sized glass from New Belgium as well as a 750mL bottle with the smaller/tasting glasses up front.

2008-11-04T01:18:00.003-05:00

Long time no write. Since the summer I have moved to Kansas, yup ruby red shoes, tornadoes, and everything KANSAS!

Well it's not that bad, I live in Lawrence, KS a college town with two brewpubs, both very good. The more famous one is Free State Brewing which has been known by beer geeks throughout the country for their Old Backus Barleywine and Owd Mac's Imperial Stout. A fine brewpub that is on the verge of expanding to bottling their brews. The second is 23rd Street Brewery, a younger brewpub but with a lot of potential. 23rd Street will be releasing a Bourbon Barrel Imperial Stout this winter, which should get them a lot more cred in the beer geek community. This will be a brewery on the rise.

I also live just about 30 minutes outside of Kansas City, which has a few brewpubs and many beer stores. The best part is the prices, much lower than what I was paying in NYC without losing much selection. Still plenty or imports and a lot of the Midwest beers I could never get on the East coast. This includes Schlafly, Bells, and Boulevard. I even get East coast brews like Southern Tier cheaper in Kansas than I do in NY and the damn beer is brewed in NY.

Speaking of Boulevard brewing, I moved into the area at the right time. Boulevard seems to be in a bit of an expansion, the fun kind. About a year ago they started to release their Smokestack series, a line of higher gravity, 750mL cork and wire bottled, specialty ales. This year they have expanded the line with a Saison-Brett, a beer that was bottled with one of beer geeks' favorite wild yeast, Brettanomyces. They will be expanding the line with a Russian Imperial Stout.

Outside of that I make lots of trips throughout the Midwest, particularly to Minneapolis, which it self is full of brew fun plus everything in between, which is all of Iowa. Plenty of stuff to discover in this part of the country so I will look forward to it.

2008-06-24T11:23:00.004-04:00

I guess this is where I reminisce about beery Belgium. First of all, it was amazing, amazingly amazing. I made a list of beers to find and I found almost all of them, particularly the sour ones. Everyone was extremely nice, almost every beer place we visited and started a conversation we were blown away by generosity. But here is the million dollar question, what was best. Was it the metropolitan Brussels, or the touristy Brugge, or maybe Antwerpen with its famous Kulminator. Well, if I could only visit one region on a follow up trip it would be the countryside between Brussels and Brugge, or better known as the Lambic region/Pattojenland. The flat meadows, small two way roads, and the out of the way places are amazing. We drove by the now defunct Eylenbosch brewery which was so cool. And the one place that blew my mind above all was De Heeren van Liedekercke and here is a nice write up by John White.

Here are some pictures that say a 1000 words.

2008-05-24T08:40:00.006-04:00

So I just got back from my beer pilgrimage to Belgium, 8 days and 7 nights. It was wonderful in many respects, particularly the beer part. At the moment I want to cover some of my non-beer observations.

I visited Brussels, then drove through the Pajottenland (lambic region) to Brugge and finally one day in Antwerpen. Was supposed to visit Ghent but we were just to tired and loved Brugge to much to leave. There are some very stark differences between these places.

Brussels seems to be what we normally consider a capital city. The weekdays are packed with traffic and suits. On the weekend the whole thing just shuts down. I am a bit biased because I stayed in the European Quarters, the area where the NATO, European Union, and such things are placed. However, I got this impression from the whole city. While there is obviously a large tourist faction of the city its contained within a very small area. The rest is like walking through an empty old city. So basically, what I mean to say is Brussels is a large business city that happens to get tourists.

On the other hand, Brugge is a small city that gets all its business from tourists. I got the impression that Brugge is there for tourists only (and I do not mean to at all take away from the rich history and people of Brugge). It is understandably so, I read something close to 100,000 thousand people live in Brugge while the city sees over 2 million tourists a year, a tradition that started a long time ago when the Brits would come over all the time. This is still evident, I am pretty sure I saw more Brits than natives. These differences are most evident when entering any bar, restaurant, or store. In Brussels, everyone would always assume you speak French and engage you in that tongue. In Brugge, you are always engaged in either 2 languages at once or just straight English. I was amazed and of course being an American this made me feel much more comfortable. The city is built to maintain the "old" feel, almost akin to Disney Land, and of course as any tourist I really loved it. And while Belgium has its share of antiquity it does not seem like its forced upon the people. In Brussels there is a hustle and bustle of everyday life, in Brugge its just for a hustle to do all the touristy stuff.

Now the most dazzling places I saw were on my drives through the lambic region. To see this beautiful green fields with cows everywhere, I mean everywhere, while you are drive down a road that barely fits your car. Driving through these little, clean, beautiful full of farmer workers and townspeople, I could see myself living there. Just opening up a little bar, open 5 random hours during the week, that I could see for myself, something I did not want from either Brugge or Brussels.

Antwerpen, well, it felt like a smaller version of Brussels, like LA to NYC, one might say.

2008-04-28T00:37:00.001-04:00

I am moving to Kansas soon so my beer adventure will take on a whole new direction. Recently been brewing with my friend Boris Zee on his set up.

Been drinking a lot and got more new nips, will try to keep this updated.

2007-10-24T11:31:00.001-04:00

Finally got around to bottling my cranberry cider a few nights ago, it only took me almost 2 months to do so. But it seems to be coming together very nicely. The O.G was 1066 and the FG was straight 1000, so that was nice. For those that do not want to do the math that means a abv of about 8.7%, very nice. I used a Trappist Ale yeast, which really did a number on the cider. It's really not sweet and became nutty but the cranberries were wunderbar. Very acidic and tart, no alcohol presence at all. I ended up with 3 gallons of straight cider and I bottled half still and primed the other half with more cider.

I also did a little experiment I burrowed from someone on the ratebeer website. Got half a gallon of unpasteurized cider from a local orchard and added the dregs (the settled yeast) of a nicely sour beer (Jolly Pumpkin Oro de Calabaza). It took a bit of time for activation to start but then it EXPLODED with fermentation. Depending on how this works out I have a few possible routes to take:
A) take what happens and drink it
B) add more sour yeast, particularly from a geuze
C) and possibly if it is going well get a whole 3-5 gallons of unpasteurized cider and use this as a starter

2007-10-05T16:29:00.000-04:00

The great thing about beer hunting is visiting breweries in small cities and Keegan Ales happens to be one of this small cities. Located in Kingston, NY it is over two hours north of New York City and about an hour south of Albany, pretty much making it in the middle of no man's land. I finally decided to drive out there because of some special treats the brewery's restaurant had on tap, but I will get to that later.

Keegan Ales shares a lot of history with Long Island, particularly the name of a beer. Keegan Ales makes an American style IPA called Hurricane Kitty, which also happens to be the name of an IPA made at the BrickHouse Brewery, a small brewpub in Patchogue, NY. A little more than a year ago I stopped by there and ordered the Kitty and as I did a man next to me said "nice choice." Long story short, I was sitting next to Tom Keegan, the son of Hurricane Kitty, the craziest driver in Patchogue. Also, his son Tommy was the Keegan of Keegan Ales.

Now back to the point, I made a slight trek to Kingston to visit a recently opened restaurant and bar at the Keegan brewery, but more importantly they had 2 beers on tap that are not easy to come by. First and most important was the Super Kitty, a supped up version of the regular Kitty that weights in at 12% abv, is hand bottled, and released in a super small quantity during the holiday season. I got to try a draft version and, as a nice bonus, a brand new beer, a White Ale, the first Belgian style beer from this brewery.

The experience was a ball and I fully enjoyed both beers, reviews can be found here. The bar is beautiful decorated to fit the old town and the youthful brewery. The free peanuts were a kick. Outside of the house beers there were also 2-3 guest taps. The restaurant is original, not really a sit down order kind of place but more like order at the counter and the lady will bring it over to your picnic table or couch. But the food was great actually. Live music on the Saturday I was there, think hippie (the name of the band is IS, yeah, I know). Definitely recommended for anyone in the area.

2007-09-04T11:01:00.000-04:00

I recently held a small impromptu blind Flanders Red tasting for a few people. If you ask, what is a "blind" tasting, well its when individuals sample beer without knowing what brand/brewery it is (and in this case also rate it). What is Flanders Red? Well the BJCP has it's own way of describing it but basically I will say its a Belgian red ale that is barrel aged with bacteria for a long period to provide sourness and acidity and is often blended with an older beer to cut down the sour aspects. The most famous and widely available example of this beer is Rodenbach Grand Cru. This also happens to be one of my most favorite styles of beer. So, I decided we needed to have a blind tasting to see what people really think is the best, unfortunately I played host and poured all the beers but the other four people had no idea. I was also able to acquire various Flanders Red from America and Europe, in all i believe I was able to serve a nice array of takes on the style. Actually, I serves 10 different beers (3 of which were provided by another person) . The list:

American:
New Holland Moxie - New Holland Brewing Company, Holland, Michigan
New Glarus Unplugged Enigma - New Glarus Brewing Company, New Glarus, Wisconsin
New Belgium La Folie - New Belgium Brewing Company, Fort Collins, Colorado
Russian River Supplication - Russian River Brewing, Santa Rosa, California
Jolly Pumpkin La Roja Grand Reserve - Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales, Dexter, Michigan

Belgian:
Rodenbach Grand Cru - Brouwerij Rodenbach (Palm), Roeselare
Bios Vlaamse Bourgogne (labeled as Monk's) - Brouwerij Van Steenberge, Ertvelde
Zoetzuur Flemish Reserve Ale - De Proefbrouwerij, Lochristi

Other:
Mestreechs Aajt (5% ABV, unsweetened) - Gulpener Bierbrouwerij, Gulpen, Netherlands
Friend's homebrewed, 5 year old, straight from the barrel, uncarbonated, Flanders Red

All 10 were served blind in a random order, 1 person knew of 3 of the beers otherwise no one even knew what beers are being served, the results were interesting.

The Rundown

4 Blind raters + me
La Folie 3.98

RR Supplication batch 2 3.92

Rodenbach GC 3.82

Zoetzuur 3.76

homebrew 3.625

La Roja GR 3.56

Moxie 3.4

Monks 3.32

Mestreechts Aajt 3.22

Enigma 3.2

Minus 1 "against the grain" rater

La Folie 4.15

homebrew 4.03

Rodenbach GC 3.975

RR Supplication batch 2 3.925

Zoetzuur 3.725

Moxie 3.35

Monks 3.325

Enigma 3.125

Mestreechts Aajt 3.1

OVERALL: Either way you cut it La Folie scored best, it was also the one most recognized. No other beers were recognized except one person narrowed down the Rodenbach to 3 choices. The homebrew was spectacular outside of the one rater who hated it extremely (the HBers ratings were never used to calculate these numbers). The Enigma consistently scored badly, the La Roga was consistently just average and the Zoetzuur was consistently above average. All in all the RR was most globally liked.

2007-08-30T15:09:00.001-04:00

A truely sad day for all beer lovers, one of the first and greatest beer pioneers has passed today.
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art52716.asp

Some kind words from another beer writer.
http://lewbryson.blogspot.com/2007/08/michael-jackson.html

Michael Jackson's last article
http://www.allaboutbeer.com/

2007-07-15T22:31:00.000-04:00

Really Really Old Beer. Have you had some? The oldest beer I have tried (before this weekend) was around 15 or 16 years old and I have a bottle of something that is 18 right now (but I am waiting for its 20th anniversary). Not all beer is of course going to last decades and be anything close to drinkable, really only two kinds; an over the top, super strong barleywine or a sour, yeast beasties, who will consume ever last bit of sugar, beer. However, either way I never fathomed in my wildest dreams I would get to try something this old. I have heard others tell of similar experiences with really old beer, but I never, even for a second, thought I could at some time drink a similarly old beer. However, this weekend I was treated by a very generous beer lover (BTW, biggest thanks in the world for opening this up) to a... guess... a beer that is... over 100 years old!!!! To be precise it was brewed in 1869, it is 138 years old. Can you believe it? It was a big deal actually, a stash was found hidden in a brewery in England. Here is a nice article on the beer.

So not to burst anyone's bubble but it actually did not taste like anything. The aroma was decent enough, some cider aspects, very faint malt. Taste was completely water (pool water, as one person described it). So, I wont expect much from 100 year old beer but it was cool in itself.

2007-07-10T00:12:00.000-04:00

Its been too long, lots of things to report.

Homebrewing:
Made a stout with my buddy Boris, was bottled on 5/25/07. Had it 4 weeks later and was really disappointed but had some more yesterday and it was really good, maybe the best I have made so far.
Borris has gone on to make his first batch without me, a Double/Imperial Pale Ale, can't wait to try it, when its Boris... its got to be adventurous.
Planning on making a hard cider with cranberries (and possibly honey) next, just need to find some free time.
Also want to experiment with carob molasses, grape molasses, and figs in the future.

Beer loving:
Had a gathering to welcome a fellow Ratebeerian to the area recently PICURES HERE

Belgium Comes to Copperstown is happening in less than two weeks, if you don't know you better ask somebody
http://www.ommegang.com/index.php?event_view_id=125&event_view=2007-07-21&mcat=3

Drinking a Black Jack Porter right now. One of the many really nice breweries in Colorado. This is one of their regular offerings. A very cice beer, seems like they added chocolate and the hops are jus a bit stronger than I like in my porters. But overall great cocoa sweetness and a slight tea aspect, very quaffable.

2007-04-24T00:09:00.000-04:00

Just some words on what is probably the best beer bar in NYC right now. Blind Tiger Ale House took some time to re-open (liquor license problems) but it finally did. The selection is very nice, as well as the service. Beautiful place in an easy to get spot (for me at least). Good food and some things seem a bit pricey its well worth it. Check it out.

I have my next homebrew in the primary right now. Its a stout with a bit of a twist, some spices, and a bit more hops.

2007-03-06T11:57:00.000-05:00

Dictionary.com defines nip as "a small bit or quantity of anything." So in the beer world nips are small bottles of beer usually 7 ounces or less, a not too common occurrence in craft beer. Only a handful of breweries make any more nips. The most famous nip would probably be the Anchor Old Foghorn. One of the first American-style Barleywines produced was always sold only in 7 oz nips until 2004 (now boring old 12 oz bottles). Nips are usually saved for very strong beers, allowing the drinker to enjoy a high alcohol beer in moderation, not to mention save the cost of producing these beers. Possibly, the most sought after nip nowadays is the Raspberry Eisbock, produced by Kuhnhenn Brewing, a small family operation in Warren Michigan. One of the hardest to come by nips is made in Southampton, NY, the Double Icebock packs a punch at around 18%. The Southampton Publick House (Publick.com) produced less than 100 nips a year (and rumors are this year it wont even be released). Drakes Brewing Company in San Leandro, CA probably produces the most nips of any craft brewery (that does not mean a lot). These are their high octane beers that all weight in double digit abv (i.e. 15th Anniversary Bourbon Barrel Aged Lager). Not to be fooled, not all nips are created equal. Lakefront Brewery produced their own Barleywine in a nip, unfortunately some may consider that a waste of space (even if its just a nip of space).

I love nips for a few reasons:

A) Usually these are special beers that are hard to come by, so when I do I really appreciate it.

B) Sometimes you drink a big beer for the kick and sometimes you really just want to enjoy it and I am always forced to just enjoy these brews.

C) My enormous love for craft beer is offset by my small living space, a dichotomy I think is well represented in a nip (that's enough for humor).

D) I would have no where to store dishes if I saved all the cool bottles of beer that I have come across but nips are easy to save and display in a small area.

Some noteworthy nip-esque bottles:

A) Sam Adams Triple Bock is a beautiful dark cobalt blue, corked with rubber cover 8.45 ounce bottle containing an 18% beer. The beer is borderline nip for me, some say yes and some say no.

B) Thomas Hardy's, a British staple Barleywine come in 33cl (or 8.5 oz) bottles. Another big beer in a small bottle.

C) Rogue XS series was a lineup of 3 beers (Barleywine, Imperial Stout, and Scotch Ale) that at one time were sold in nips. They no longer are, the Barleywine and Imperial Stout are now produced in 750ml ceramic swing top bottles and the weakest of the series, the Scotch Ale, is no longer brewed.

2007-02-14T10:56:00.000-05:00

So I reached a monumental rating on the beer site by rating my 500th beer. Its a cool achievement for a beer geek like myself, but more importantly I wanted to do something special for the rating. I drank a Westvleteren 8, a beer that is rather difficult to come by. Why you ask, well let me give a little background:

The Westvleteren beers are brewed by the Abbey of Saint Sixtus in the Westvleteren region of Belgium. The Abbey makes Trappist beers or those made by Trappist monks. Of the world's 171 Trappist monasteries, seven produce beer (six in Belgium and one in The Netherlands). These seven breweries are authorized to label their beers with the Authentic Trappist Product logo that indicates a compliance to various rules edicted by the International Trappist Association (mainly that the beer be brewed within the walls of a Trappist monastry and the profits go toward assistance and not economic gain).

Of all the Trappist breweries, St. Sixtus produces the smallest amount and also produces by some to be the worldest best beers. These beers are not supposed to be sold outside of the Abbey, but I obviuosly did not travel to Belgium to pick up this bottle. I came across this bottle through some fun beer hunting.

Now back to the point, this bottle, with which I celebrated my 500th rating was about 5.5 years old. As expected it aged wonderfully, but if you want to see exactly what I thought you are going to have to go read the rating.

2007-02-04T11:36:00.000-05:00

I think this is a good time to discuss Samuel Adams, not the patriot but the beer company (actually its the Boston Beer Company that makes the Samuel Adams line of beers, as well as a few other labels). Nice little story of the brewery, started by Jim Koch (pronounced Cook, don't know why, damn crazy New Englanders). The story goes that in 1984 Jim Koch brewed the first Samuel Adams Boston Lager in his kitchen using his grandfathers recipe and to sell it bar to bar. Just some cynicism here, first of the beer is a lager meaning that it uses bottom fermenting yeast, which almost always requires cold fermention. It also means this type of beer almost always needs to be cold conditioned. Basically, this means that to make a beer like the Sam Adams Boston Lager would require more time and resources than most small start up breweries can afford. But whatever, its just a story now, similar to the Clydesdales of Budweiser, a bit of truth mixed with a lot of commercialism. But in general the Boston Beer Company produces different styles of beer, promotes beer knowledge, and supports the beer movement. While most of their product is underwhelming, they have produced some very interesting and innovative beers that no other company of their size can boast. For example, they have made the one of the strongest beers in the world, Utopias, an uncarbonated, 25% alcohol beast that runs well over $100 a bottle. I compared it to cheap cognac but it is still a very nice accomplishment. Outside of that, they recently held a nationwide homebrew competition of which the winners' recipes were reproduced by Sam Adams and released in special six packs. Two national winner and one comanpy winner each made a beer. This really is a cool thing for a company to do. So if you want to see my opinion on the beers, you got to check out my ratings.

2007-01-26T22:55:00.000-05:00

I love getting together to drink beer with other beer crazed maniacs, um.... I mean, ahh, friends that is. A few weeks ago a small social gathering led to this THIS. Some crazy stuff in there, two different but similar Southampton Biere de Garde's. A vertical of De Dolle Oerbier Reserve (02, 04, 05), a crazy ass Ice Cider (that's right a cider made using frozen apples. Guess where its made, Canadia of all places. A blissful beverage, silkiness of ice wine, smoothness of cider, and a nice strength to boot. This sort of get togethers are usually the most fun, this way you get to share the really really cool beers you have got and get some in return, its really a win/win situation.

Now on to some homebrew news. My spiced Irish Red is ready, worked out as well as I could have expected. A bit stronger on the cinnamon and clove but overall very nice. I got some good carbonation, will stick to dextrose (corn sugar) from now on. Got the red color I wanted, was afraid I might not.

2007-01-25T16:35:00.000-05:00

I promise more posting soon, lots to say.

2007-01-03T21:59:00.000-05:00

I got a beer package today, yup a whole box of beer. Luckily enough there are people all over this fine country that love, enjoy, and most importantly want to share the fine beer that they can acquire. So once in a while I am able to do a trade with someone, I send beer they want and in return get beer I want. Today, after a long wait (damn UPS likes to slow things down) I got a box of 12 beers. Some nice gems from Colorado, a crazy 10% smoked doppelbock and a hand bottled, barrel aged, and wild yeast beer, La Folie.

The great thing about trading is often people throw in extras and I was hooked up nicely. I'll be spending the next few weeks enjoying these goodies and some will get put away for a while as well.

2006-12-28T10:51:00.000-05:00

Today I am the Daily Devotee (or DD as it has been shortened to [no it doesnt mean dumb as dogshit]) on ratebeer.com. I wonder if this will attract mre people to this blog?

2006-12-27T00:32:00.000-05:00

Last night I did a little 5 year vertical of a beer. Each year the Anchor Brewing Company releases a holiday beer, Our Special Ale. Its a spiced beer and ever year the recipe is slightly altered. I had a 5 year vertical 2002-2006. One of the fun things to do with beer is these kind of verticals. See how the beer changes and evolves. If you are interested the 2005 was my favorite.

2006-12-24T00:44:00.000-05:00

Have you ever drank warm beer? How about hot beer? Well, tonight I did. A few beers out there are made to be mulled or heated up. These beers are usually either cherry heavy or very spiced up. So for the holiday season I thought I would experiment a little bit. Tonight I warmed up THIS in a mug and a microwave. It was a little weird to try to consume beer this way. In the end it was ok, check out a full RATING. I have another big bottle of beer to mull tomorrow. After that I doubt I will try it again.

On Thursday I bottled my holiday beer, its an Irish ale with spices in it, dont worry not enough to make it mull-worthy. It should carbonate in 4 weeks (hopefully) we could see whats up with it then.

2006-12-18T00:07:00.000-05:00

Holiday time and beer, for those that dont know a lot of breweries push out "holiday" or "christmas" beers this time of year. Often these are spiced beers but for a lot of Belgian breweries its just a special stronger beer. Fortunately, I found an aged St. Feuillien Noel on the selves of a local NY beer store. Also bought a new Italian beer (a bit disappointing) and another yearly christmas special. A few things came out of this,

a) I got to share these beers with my family for the holiday.

b) I really think I can cut myself off from shopping in NY. Let me explain more. This store was always my utopia, it seemed to not play by the rules when it came to commercialism. Well, without going into detail, this is no longer the situation. After shopping here I know I really dont need it and an every-other-month trip to Jersey may just suffice. Of course, some aged treats are still possibly and the store wont be cut off completely like a certain Long Island place.

c) I really live in a Christian society. Despite, the one company that obviously caters to a different market, Hebrew, hehe get it, its all Chrsitmas beer. By the way, I have a nice vertical of anniversary beers from here to crack open soon. There is more here but its really useless to continue.

Tonight I had homemade (DELICIOUS) mexican with a nice hoppy west coast beer. This is also the first time I had a beer and wanted it to be more hoppy. Man, who am I.

But despite it being Hanuakka (why, how do you spell it?)I will be basking in the glory of some nice Christmas beers in the next few days, maybe even a vertical if I am lucky enough to fit it in.

P.S. new obsessions: hopefully one day homebrewing will take over as the overarching hobby. And to tie everything together I should bottle my own spiced holiday beer sometime this week.

2006-12-10T23:27:00.000-05:00

Went to the Captain Lawrence Brewery yesterday for a little gathering. Lots of ratebeerians came by and got to meet many of the newer guys on the site. Lots of good beers going around but I felt jaded. I remember when I would die to try the Dark Lord, yesterday I was like been there done that. Despite all the good stuff there I wasn't even all that interested in everything. I was really happy to see the people though and still spent plenty of money in the beer stores in Jersey. I felt in myself that I was jaded by all the beer I had already tried and there was nothing new for me to see there. In hindsight, I didnt like that I was feeling that way. This could start me on a slippery slope I dont want to go down.

2006-12-08T14:14:00.000-05:00

I went to a local brewpub yesterday that I really enjoy. There are not a lot of good brewpubs around this area. Here is the skinny, as a restaurant the place sucks. As a place for a good beer it’s really good. Made the trip out there specifically to try the Smoked Cherry Dunkelweisse. Just sounds delicious. While there they tapped the Imperial Pilsner, which was great as well. The brewer Joe is always a very jovial guy, cleaned up recently as well. My advice, come out before 7 on a weeknight, sit at the bar, and enjoy your beer with the half price appetizers.

Want to see which brewpub? Well, you got to check my ratings -------->

2006-12-01T00:25:00.000-05:00

I have been ignoring my own blog what a shame. Nothing too big happened beer wise. But I think I need to talk about how cheap I am. Not am I only a beer hunter I am a bargain beer hunter in fact. There is a small beer distributor in Ronkonkoma and they have the best prices. The selection is ok, I mean their best thing is they carry the Southampton stuff. They dont get it first and they dont sell the Old Herb but they are the cheapest and I mean by far. For their region the are about 2-3 bucks cheaper. Plus everything else they carry is cheap as well, its basically a selection worth of a visit but not true beer geekdom. But I was considering curtailing my beer buying. Only buy from this one guy. He has the stuff I would like to drink in general and of course its cheap. He gets the Southampton beers and eventually gets some new stuff. Also, he orders the Saranac carmel Porter ever year. So basically, he would have me covered as long as I didnt need to be the first alchy on my block to try the new "hot" beer. And even then I could do a Jersey trip every few months as well. Only list the beers this store carries as tradables, yada, yada, yada.

I am bit sick tonight so I am drink tea instead of beer. I was thinking Lipton is probably like the Bud of teas. And the Herbal Seasonings stuff is like Heiniken. So why yank my chain and drink the Herbal Seasoning, I'll stick to the Lipton. Hey I am all up for real tea from China but only one obsessive hobby at a time.

I guess this is my first "other musings" post, partially. I promise to return fully to beer once I feel better.

2006-11-25T02:03:00.000-05:00

I am starting to run out of beer to buy in NY. I bet one shopping spree of a 100 bucks and I will have everything I want that is sold in NY. Now I have to go out to Jersey to satisfy my urges. I bet my girlfriend will find that just peachy.

2006-11-21T15:45:00.000-05:00

Some great little things rating allows me to do. I am just copying my review from Ratebeer.

Saranac Caramel Porter

Got two bottle one from the Febuary, 2006 release and a new one I guess late October 2006 in the 12 pack mixer that was recently released. I thoroughly enjoyed this beer and bought two cases early in the year when it was released by itself. Dont know if they will do it this year. The great thing about this site is I can do a vertical of a beer that most other RBers might find useless.

Major differences off the bat are the labels. The late 05 and early 06 bottles are labeld as pictured. The new bottles are a bit different - different stream pic, instead of "robust porter" it says "the spirit of the adirondacks" plus below it adds a few extra words. Actually, the whole label is a bit lighter. Both beers are split among two people. The old Saranac is poured into a NJ craft brewers guild sampling glass which I got while at the last HW open house. The newer Saranac is poured into a taller Brewtopia’05 sampling glass.

Similarities: Both pour exactly the same, medium head, with a dark amber color. Cant see through the beer but a good amount of clarity into it. Fades into a nice lacing on both, the newer bottle’s lacing stays afloat a bit longer. Aroma is still fairly similar, strong caramel aroma, some from caramel malts but mostly added aroma. But not over the top and very sweet and mellow. Both are easy drinking with a medium to light body.

Differences: the newer one has a bit of stronger hop bite. While the hops are not really central in this beer, one can definitely feel a fading of bitterness and overall sharpness to the older bottle. The big difference is a bit of oxidation is settling into the older bottle. Just a hint where a oxi-sweetness is starting to form. For me a positive actually, I look for this flavor. It is common in an aged Old Ale or sometimes a barleywine (recently I had a wonderful Pocono Black and Tan that was rather old that tasted heavenly). The older bottle is having a hint of chocolate come out at the end of the taste. But only drinking these beers side by side do I notice the slight hop bitterness at the end of the newer bottle.

Overall: I still think this is a fine beer either way I like it. The slight oxidation makes the older one seem a bit more full bodied. But the slight hop biting finish makes the newer one taste, well newer and a bit firey. I am ajusting my scores just a bit.

2006-11-15T23:36:00.000-05:00

Sour beer, might sound like a turn off to some but a delicacy to most in the beer world. I am drinking a Fantôme Black Ghost (PIC), a Strong Belgian Ale with added spices and brett. Without going into much details Brett is strain of yeast not natural to normal fermentation that turns beer sour. Basically, it is purposefully added by brewers to create sourness. Crazy you might say, even a year ago I might have felt the same but now I crave the brett character. Luckily, a few brewers on the west coast make their bread and butter with brett, but they're on the west coast. So this beer perfectly balances a strong belgian sweetness, a high alcohol (8%), some spice character, and a good strong brett, ummm.

2006-11-13T00:24:00.000-05:00

Oh my God, I have never had this much freaking Barelywine in my life. For those of you who do not know, a Barleywine is a very strong style of beer that starts at about 9%. Of course, in America we like everything big, so with brewers today there is no limit. I think we topped out at a 17% homebrewed Barleywine. But thanks to our gracious host, John, we did a blind tasting of about 20 different BWs. About half of which were aged in barrels. Blind tastings are great b/c one has no biased opinions of the beer they are drinking. Which pretty much explains why most of the ratings were very similar. After the tasting we broke into a bunch of other BWs. We had different vintages of Old Salty and Full Sail. Surprisingly, the Full Sails were all holding up really well. I wouldnt say so for the Old Saltys. In between we even snuck in some other beers like the tomato and basil beer. Sounded interesting but I wasn't going to be the first one to pass out. I got there at 2:00 in the afternoon, by 1:00 in the morning it was Paul and I just opening random bottles of BW, while everyone else slept.

Sunday morning was a different story. Slept fine and had no problems but in the morning my stomach was not a happy camper. No matter how much water I drank, my belly wasnt having it. I am still not sure if it was the BW, the Buffalo Chicken pizza, or the warm green pickled tomato that I ate around midnight but I had the urge to purge. Driving home was very hard but by around 6pm I was feeling fine. Had my little cousins come over, ate some good food and the Jets beat the Pats, that pretty much just topped everything off. And while 12 hours ago I was thinking that I wont drink for a week, right now I am in the mood for a beer... just not barleywine.

2006-11-10T23:47:00.000-05:00

I think I am enjoying this little part of the evening, just adding a thought about beer. Had the Westmalle Tripel tonight out of my good old Duvel glass. Havent had this in a while, have been drinking a lot of Tripels since and I have to think of this as a standard, meaning anything good at least needs to be at its level. But there are truly much more interesting Tripels out there. I will however keep the bottle for homebrewing.

Though there are bigger things I want to incorporate in here.

2006-11-09T21:38:00.000-05:00

Had the Three Floyds Brian Boru (http://ratebeer.com/beerimages/full_size/31696.jpg) tonight. Its a cool label and a cool bottle cap. There is a lot of "ohhh, ahh" appeal surrounding the Three Floyds beers. That quickly starts to fade when one gets a chance to drink them. I mean this is a fine beer, its just that when I buy an Irish Red I want to drink an Irish Red. I know, its a weird habit of mine. This was more like an Irish Red completely covered up by hops. Unfortunately, I often face similar problems .

Check out a better beer that I rated
http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/val-dieu-grand-cru/59715/7542/

2006-11-09T15:32:00.000-05:00

I'm showing this blog to some people and everybody has an opinion. I need construcive criticism people, u know who u r.

2006-11-09T01:20:00.000-05:00

I have this war in my head with Double or Imperial IPAs. Tonight I had the Reaper Ale DIPA. I mean I have had good DIPAs but this just seemed bad to me. Got lots of this nasty grassiness from it, too oily, and the strong bitterness doesnt work well here. At least the 9.1% did its job.

2006-11-07T18:42:00.000-05:00

Lets start this off with my top 10 ratings. I am leaving the actually numbers out and this is not actually my top 10 but my top 10 rated beers. There is a slight difference. Now one with the show from 1-10.

Rogue old Crustacean Barleywine

RATING OF THE MONTH - 1994 vintage bottle, 6 oz. Drank it about an hour ago. Got it at Jimmy’s, a bar on the Lower East Side in NY. Paid $14. Served in a small pilsner glass. This is by far the best beer I have ever experienced. It is also one of the oldest and it really shows how well barely wines age. It poured with no head. It was a dark bar so it is difficult to be accurate on the color. But it was dark, not black but a really murky, dark ruby color. The smell was magnificent. Definitly a hint of chocolate. Along withe the alcoholic sweetness of a barely wine. The taste was not as strong as a Samiclaus, vey unnoticable alcohol for this type of beer. Must have mellowed with age. Also a hint of chocolate and a slight sourness at the end, very slight. The body was perfect, not light but not heavy like a heavy imperial stout. Finished with a great sweetness. Made me want to fall off the bar stole. This beer is the exact the reason why all beer lovers should cellar barelywines.

RERATE 5/14/06 2002 bottle. Fridged for about 30 minutes. Poured into a St. Bernardus glass. Color is a slight murky brown, slightly translucent. Smell is strong with the barleywine sweetness, raisins and plums. Some hop presence and a bit of chocolate. The taste still has a hop presence, not overwellming but pleasantly present. Some bitterness at the end. Very good but of course nothing as special as the 1994 old crusty so the rating goes down a bit.I love to rerate this beer.

Had a bit of the 1997 7 oz bottle at Jimmy’s. I wanted to bring up that this still had a strong hop presence in the aftertaste, especially bitterness. A bit thinner than the 1994 bottle, may just be a fluke. This is just a freaking great beer.

Rochefort Trappistes 10

This beer lived up to the hype. At 11% I couldn’t taste a hint of alcohol. It is one of those yummy beers thats goes down real nice. Hard to discribe the aroma but definitly original and sweet. Beautiful murky brown color. Not a large head however but this is definitly one of the best belgians I have ever tried.

Ah, the youthful rating. Very malty and sweet aroma and taste. I don’t need to go further, for me this is the best Quad, I was moved to rerate after drinking a Westy 12, which I followed with this beauty. Sure it doesn’t have the same mistique but its superb.

Struise Pannepot

2005 Bottle courtesy of MartinT, thank you very much. Poured into a Chimay glass. Looks beautiful with a strong creamy, off white color that actually sticks to the glass as the middle settles. Color is a dark dark brown with no clarity and just a bit of translucence. Aroma is very present - very nicely sweet bread, strong licoricey fruitness, great malt character. Strong, sweet, tasty and yet balanced and not overwhelming. Taste is nice but not as impressive. Sweet and creamy but heavy. Pretty much if bread was turned into a liquid. I really get a strong presence of taste in my mouth but again nothing that overwhelms. Oatmeal, cereal, milk as well. Mouthfeel is nice as well. Carbonation is slightyl tamed yet present. A malty fruit aftertaste left. Low bitterness.

Girardin Gueuze Black Label

So I have been waiting a while to try this and just on chance I walked into New beer in NYC and this was laying around. Dont think a shipment came in to NY, probably just a misplaced case. Also, lots of crude in the neck makes me think its been sitting around for a while. So I split this into two glasses a Lindeman’s flute and a small tulip glass. Cork pops with lots of power, barely had to force it off. Pours with a vicious head in the flute and a small but strong head in the tulip. Color is a very nice light amber orange, murky, cannot see through it yet full of bouncing light. Visible carbonation but not too much. Aroma is strong, a strong but aged tartiness, I’ll compare it to the tartiness I get in a lot of Cantillon’s but much more subdued. I figure age has done this. There is what I feel is a burnt rubber aroma akin to a 3 Fonteinen Gueze, which I am not a fan of but here it is a background character enhancing the aroma. Also imagine smelling fruit, more particularly strawberrys but without any of the sweetness. I know its weird but its what I get. Some hay and funk all around. Taste is incredibly mellow and funky with a sharp tartiness kicking in just as you swallow and passing fast. Leaving a leathery aftertaste that quickly subsides into dryness. I really am impressed by the mellowness of this lambic. A spiky carbonation to offset the tartiness. But all of it passes and nothing is left but a dry feeling in your mouth begging for more.

New Belgium La Folie

Bottle provided by BeerandBlues2, thanks Brad. Shared this at NYRBG. First of all, FUCKING WOW. This is the best sour beer I have ever had. Aroma is a good Kriek, akin to Drie Fonteinen Kriek. Tarty, sour and cherry. Taste however is amazing. It starts out Sour kriek lambic-esque. But then becomes a strawberry sweet taste. Aftertaste isnt even tart but sweet. Mouthfeel is pillowy and smooth.

North Coast Old Stock Ale

2004 bottle, Poured into Hennessy snifter. No head of course. Color is dark copper. slightly translucent. Aroma is great. not overbearing. Less hops in the aroma than an Old Horizontal. I prefer the less hoppy ones and this is perfect but above the average British BW. The fllavor is sweet with a nice bitterness at the end. For me a great balance of a west coast BW without the overbearing hops. Going to let another bottle sit around for a few years and then rerate 8/4/8/4/17.

Rerate 9/27/06: Well, I am overtaken by how different this 2006 bottle came out. I mean I get all these sherry notes which I never got before. I taste no overbearing hops and this has become the traditional BW. Its extremely mellow, with a very moderate bitterness. Lots of sweetness but the sherry and the mellowness just blow me away now. I’ll keep a few of these bottles as well. 9/4/9/4/17

Southampton Double Ice Bock

7oz bottle at the Publick house. 2006 # 82/100. Poured into a snifer. Color is a translucent copper. Smell is of course strong. Pierces my noise hairs. Here comes the taste, wow, sooooo smooth. Almost no alcohol present. Goes down with no bitterness. Coats the tongue and throat just a bit. As it warms the aroma grows stronger. The flavor is almost rye-like. A great beer!!!

Oggis Witch Doctor

Got to try this puppy thanks to Eyedrinkale last night at Spuyten Duyvil. Poured completely black with a small brown lacing. Aroma is strong and great - all sweetness. Its like a plum/raison alcohol mixed with chocolate. Leaves a coffee and roasty aftertaste. My one complaint, I would like a bit thicker body, otherwise for me so far the best Impy Stout if you are looking for sweetness (sweeter than Meph, IMO).

Westvleteren Abt 12

Bottle thanks to tever. this bottle took a long journey, from Belgium to Cali and from Cali to NY in a trade. Cellared it for 2 weeks and fridged it for about 2 hours. Poured into a small glass Budum coffee cup, split three ways. Pours murky brown with a small head. Cannot see through the beer. Aroma is very present. I get a grape aroma behind the sweetness and malt. Same in taste. Overall, its a good beer but ’divine’ or ’greatest beer in the world’ I don’t think so. This did cause me to break out the Rochefort 10 in comparision, which I enjoy more.

St. Bernardus Abt 12

This is a great beer, the model belgian abt beer. Strong 10% thats hidden well. Beautiful dark brown color not murky but dark. Floral flavors and a sweetness at the end. I love it and I want more of it.I’m on a Belgian Quad rerate binge. This is also some great stuff. I would prefer a bit more malt but good stugg all around.

Yeah, some of these need a better rating and we should all take ratings with a grain of salt.

Now to keep an air of suspense, I just got something on a recent beer hunt that has a really really good chance of entering this top 10.

2006-10-05T12:50:00.000-04:00

This will get started soon, not too much time at the moment.

2006-08-23T23:25:00.000-04:00

test, 1, 2, 3 test