I've Gone Dry... For Now

Beer Log: March 18 and 20, 2008

State: First time, hungry and pissed off about delayed flights, second time chillin and kinda hungry

You may wonder why I have not blogged in a while. Well I'm training for the Paris Marathon, and for these long runs, I always go dry exactly one month before the race. I say race, knowing full well I don't stand a chance of coming in much better than 5 hours. So I have some beer that I'm brewing in the house, and I'm allowing myself a 2 ounce taster after it's been bottled for two, but otherwise I've not tasted a beer in a few weeks. Shame b/c the Sauce would give me a free pint for my birthday. But lo and behold, I totally forgot about Non-alcoholic beer. All the beer, without the guilt. So I ask the man in the airport to hit me with the St. Pauli Girl NA.This stuff is sold all over the place in Houston, so I think I'm good to go at the airport...

St. Pauli Girl NA

It shows up in a green bottle, never a good sign in my book, too much light. The smell seems kind of off, like a funky sweetness, a la rotting garbage. But whatever, the man served it to me ice cold... and it didn't help. Color and whatnot was regular lager. It has some sweetness and whatnot, but a terrible residuelike bitter thing going on at the back of the tongue, that remains there forever. My face cringed and stayed that way. I tried some bbq swine, still no good.

For the first time in forever, I could not finish this beer off. I even reviewed this on Beer advocate to see if it was just me. I figured I may have a skunked beer, so I figure I'll give it another go later on in life.

I get the beer in Orlando at a Houlihan's a couple days later, and it's the exact same experience. (Houlihan's know they need to do better, as they have craft beer posters all over the place and basically no selection.) I know St. Pauli's is pretty popular, but this beer is bad. Think of a Miller Lite, dry hopped with ass. Enough said. April 6th cannot come fast enough. I'm sorry, goodbye.

Guys, I need more Cowbell

Beer Log: March 6, 2008
State: Hungry

I've taken a couple days off from tasting, as I'm getting ready for a Marathon, which I probably will be too beat up to run, but the wife did have a bottle of some Vanilla Porter in there. She really really hated it, claiming waaaaay too much vanilla. What's up with these guys and the damn vanilla. First the Winter's Cask and Ale, and now this. Well, with a bias from the wife, I'm going in there.

Breckenridge Brewer's Vanilla Porter
A gorgeous deep dark brown color, with a tan strong head. I'm getting excited about this 'un. Coffee and light chocolate on the smell. I gave it a vigorous pour, so I'm smelling a little malt in there. First thing I'm getting is that it's kind of grainy on my tongue, not cool. Coffee and choco on the flavor with the rudimentary roasted malt. It' actually kinda hoppy with full-medium body. I don't know what the hell my wife was thinking, but the vanilla is not too bad. Oh yeah, I'm drinking it very cold. And now it has warmed up, and there's the vanilla and plenty of it. Here's the problem, the whole time I drank it my face was a bit cringed, and didn't relax until I finished it. It's that graininess. Not the best porter out there.

Live post: The Maharaja Himself

Beer Log: March 2, 2008
State: Full and slight dehydrated

Once upon a time called right now, I've got a 22 ounce Imperial India Pale Ale. Yeah. It's from Avery in Colorado. Very cool design, with some foil on the top. A big A. Enough of this ish talking, this is what the guy at Central Market called the most bitter beer on the shelf.

The Maharaja Imperial India Pale Ale
I poured it managed to get 3 fingers of head. I've got a big flower scent coming off of it. Slightly cloudy, with a good dark straw color. Head is nearly white and pops in decent sized bubbles. I can smell that bitterness on there. This is serious stuff. Not much lace on the head surprisingly. Oh that's bitter. Good and some balance of malts in there. That's why I effing love IPAs, they aren't bitter for sake of being bitter. Some bitter aftertaste as well, that's cool though. It's not too cold, as we let it sit in the bottle for a minute. Nearly full bodied, with a nice head on it. Sadly I only have a 12 ounce mug, and this one comes in 22. I can feel a touch of the alcohol in the taste is it continues to warm. Nice stuff. Good show. That's why I married the woman I married. I lament the lack of bitter beer, and she delivers.

Turboooooooooooo!!!!

Beer Log: March 1, 2008

State: Hungry and Chillin

We're at a FAMU Houston alumni meeting and it's at this cajun restaurant. These guys try to keep it real, so with the crawfish bucket you can order some Abita. Unfortunately, I had to drink it out of a plastic cup, or out of the bottle, so plastic we will go.

Abita Turbodog

You gotta love the name. I'm getting fired up over the dark color. And for authenticity's sake, I ordered some crawfish etouffe. Oh it's real. It's pours smooth and dark brown, with a tan head. I'm not getting much scent but the sista serving the beer had it in an ice chest. I'm getting some very light chocolate notes and light bitterness. High fine carbonation. I'm getting the word "burnt" in my mind, and I'm just not feeling it. The only thing I'm feeling is a horrible aftertaste. It's kind of silky on the mouthfeel. It gets better as it warms, and we've gone from very light choco to light choco. It's not a bad drink with the spicy etouffee, but not that great either.