How do you know your Mother In-Law Knows You

Beer Log: December 26, 2007
State: Full

So it's the day after Christmas, and as most fathers out there, I got Jack Shit for Christmas. Actually, my wife hit me with a homebrewing kit and a monthly beer membership. Pretty Cool.

Well, my Mother-In-Law loves me a lot. I think she's glad that her daughter happened to get a black man to marry her rather than another of the thousands of strong black women who never find a brotha with credentials to match theirs. So I grab a couple Yuengling Black & Tan, and when I get back upstairs, there's twelve craft beers sitting there for us to try. How sweet. We all sat around and tried a few Belgians and stuff from the Stevens Point Brewery in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. We also had a couple local beers from our boys at Clipper City



Yuengling Black & Tan
How did I not try this beer before now. It's worse considering that Yuengling sponsored our Rugby jersies when I played for the Gulf Coast Club. Damn shame. It was served in the mid 40F. It had a rather fleeting head for a porter. I found a med/light roasted malt flavor. Med carbonation with a quick finish. As it warms up I'm getting a hint of Caramel. No bitterness to speak of. Very nice stuff. I drank plenty-o-this for the rest of the vacation.

Now on to the tasting. We ate fine cheeses and crackers in between most beers. We drank it in flight form with 5 ounce glasses. Although near the end I was feeling pretty buzzed.

Point Special Lager
Gotta start of with the light stuff. Has a vegetablish scent. Very weak head. As I drink it, it's got a light body, light carbo, light hops.. No maltyness to speak of. One word: BUDWEISER.

Point Special Beer
very pilsnerish. Light hops, weak head, light-med carbo.

Stella Artois
Had this several times over the years, though the last time I was on a cruise ship and with... um nevermind. Not much of a scent. A little bitter, I'll go on and say medium hops. Light to medium malt

McHenry Old Baltimore
Ah the local local stuff. Caramal baby. Light carbo, med malt. sticky/lacy head. It had some body, kinda like that one girl in the club. It has a light bitterness at the back of the tongue. Nice.

Hoegaarden Withier-Bierre Blanch
For those of you that are keeping score at home, I've already had this one at Ram's Head. Again we had strong head, with apple and grapefruit flavor. Low carbo with mother of pearl color on the head. I kinda take a look at the head first, then jump into the beer, than evaluate the head. Sorry, I'm a bit anxious and can pop off at any time (sorry baby, I swear that only happened to me once.)

Point Belgian White
And we're back to the Points. After getting on that Belgian white from Belgian, this one was a disappointing Belgian White from Wisconsin. Medium boy, light hops, somewhat malty. Not as smooth as we first thought, with a quick finish.

Point Honey Light
Good head, can I say "slippery" mouthfeel (heh). Medium carbo, light body, light hops. We looked in the beer, under the couch, in the bedroom, but none of us could find the Honey in this beer. I even grabbed this one a couple more times in the following days and STILL couldn't find the honey. It reminded me of Miller High Life.

Leffe Blonde Abby Ale
We didn't have the kickass glass, but it was cool. Strong head. Medium body, caramel, low carbonation, sweet residuey after tast. with some light hops. I found this one to be very complex. I'll need more training to nail this sucker down.

Point Amber Classic
Good red-amber color, excellent slight sweet smell. med maltiness, light carbo. THERE's the Honey! Had a medium body as well.

Balto Marzhon
Another local one. Weak head, medium malt in the taste. Spicey cinammon. Pretty complex with medium carbonation. Good stuff.

Point Cascade Pale Ale
I can smell that bitterness coming. Medium head, high hops. Kind of a regular Pale Ale level of hops. I'm getting butter, and some citrus flavor as well.

Review of Point
I think Point has some good beers in there. But of what we had, their lighter beers are uberlight and dare-I-say-it, uninspiring. Seems like they are going for the Mass Production factor.

Review of Belgians
Good stuff overall but I will back out and wait until I get to Europe in April for training and evaluation.