The Question we have to ask ourselves...

... is Saint Arnold Spring Bock one of the best bocks out there. I picked up another sixer at HEB today. Automatically puts it at 4 star. And I just can't stop drinking it. Dare I say a 5 Star beer for Saint Arnold that is not Divine Reserve?

The Tequila Brotha???

So I just knocked down a Sam Adams Pils, and it turns out I have a ton of weight watcher points available. I'm still upset I totally missed Camp Beer II, that it seemed like every beer blogger in Houston went to, I'm just hurt. Combined with the fact that the job has kicked it up a notch, how about we do a little tequila tasting. A few months ago I picked up some Tequila Cazadores . I heard about these guys with their 100% Blue Agave as a sponsor of the UFC. So I made it a point to support these guys with buying all three brands available, the Cristal, the Reposado, and the Anejo. And it's Tuesday, I managed to not have a meeting until about 8:30 tomorrow morning, so why the hell not?





Tequila Cazadores Blanco


A crystal clear spirit that you would think was water if not for the legs. The nose has a wood, pepper, and hot alcohol. As I try to supress a cough on my first sip, I get a citrusy lemon character and peppery alcohol flavor. The tequila does have that burn. I do the drink like they teach you on the cazadores website (sip, inhale, breath out through your nose, swallow, then exhale through your mouth). I like the crispiness of this drink. Has a nice spritzy nature to it. Very clean. The burn is not as bad on the 4th sip. By the way, I promise these are half shots. The last gulp goes down surprisingly smooth, but leaves a tingly feeling on the tongue. 3 out of 5 shots por el Blanco.

Cazardores Reposado
The three aged tequila has a tinged yellow color to it, but still very clear. The nose is about the same as the other tequila, just a touch more on the vanilla side. On taste, take the last one I had and decrease the pepper but increase the sweetness just a pinch. The spirit is a little more volatile, a touch more on the burn. The special drinking method, I get more of the oak flavor out of it. The last shooter of liquid has a pinch of burn near the bottom of the esophagus, enough to put some hair on your chest. 3 out of 5 shots.

Well, gotta cut this short. Will hit the aged tequila next time. Holla.

BeerBrotha Magazine Review: The Beer Connoisseur

I'm sitting here enjoying some Widmer Okto which we have left over from October 2009. We broke it out during my beer party, not bad for an aged Munich Lager, a touch metallic though.

Anyway the wife has been picking up the various craft beer magazines off the bookstore shelves whenever she happens by. So far we have a handful of Draft Mag and Beer Magazine. As an AHA'er I have my collection of Zymurgy. Draft and Beer mags are kind of like a bridge for the young hip dudes that had only had Michelob Ultra and Corona. Beer Mag has a hot woman on every color, who even admits in the magazine she doesn't like "dark beer". Both have some good stuff, and have a Maxim mag feel to it, except swap out the scattered ass with beer and there you go.

Zymurgy is great for homebrewers, and although I homebrew, I've stopped calling myself a homebrewer. Maybe it's just that it's challenging for me to carve out 8 hours of a day to brew beer, or that we live far enough out in the suburbs that my three kegs will have the same beer in it for months. But I just don't homebrew enough to get 'er done.

But NOW, there is a magazine that appeals to the snob in me: The Beer Connoisseur. But I think this magazine even outdoes me in the fine dining and serious travel. Finally a challenge. When it comes to fine dining, I love a place with a great beer menu. Mostly my adventures in Buffalo and Toronto were right up my alley. But BC has taken it to another level. In their second edition they of course had the Garrett Oliver spread, which makes sense as he's probably the guy who best mixes beer with fine dining. New York City will do that to you. But as I read the recipe for Terrine of Eel Filets "Au Vert" with Horseradish Cream, made with Hoegaarden, I knew these guys are NOT playing around.

The beer style pages were much more than just a reprinting of the BJCP guidelines mixed in with the word "wonderful". But a fuller story of how the style came to be, and a few examples. Typically the beer travel section shows a bunch of red-faced dudes at random bars, but their tours of the Czech republic were much more about the culture and history of it all, not to mention all the brewpub/hotels. And I can't wait to get to the article about beering in the various baseball parks in America that makes me even madder that I got to go to the upperdeck to find anything other than Miller Lite and Shiner Bock at Minute Maid.

With a what 10" X 11" size and glossy pages, it's perfect to display on your coffee so you can show your friends that your just not a lush who has beer all over the house, you are a lush who is not afraid to make your own Sweet and Spicy Pork Belly made with Kimchi and is a regular visitor to Brasserie Beck on K Street in Washington, DC to sip on the Kasteel Belgian Ale.

Great Magazine, right on time, very well may get the subscription.

No real travel this springtime besides offshore to GET THAT OIL. Looking forward to a Caribbean cruise in June which will actually leave from Baltimore. Which means I will certainly hit Beck and Brickskeller before and maybe after the cruise. Holla.

Sam Adams Dunkelweizen

Beer Log: Right now
State: Just had some pork chops, watching the DVR of 24

Sam Adams Dunkelweizen
Reddish amber in color and rather cloudy. Strong poofy amber-white head. Nose is a little mettalic with a pinch of malt and ester. Beer is very smooth and low carbonation. Taste is a little bland at first, with some light sweetness. I get the banana and clove affects from the wheat on the second taste. Third taste is about the same, very poofy. Not getting much sweetness now. Come back and a little later it's still bland to me. I like the smoothness but I'm not getting much dunkel at all. High 2 Stars.

UFC on Versus Beering: Chiek Kongo fanclub

Beer Log: Now
State: Watching UFC on VS

Baltika (You gotta check out the music on this website, not very Russian)
Great big brown head on a deep opaque brown beer. Man I am so fired up for this UFC card. Only one beer tonight as I have to get up early tomorrow. Nose is a crisp chocolate if that makes any sense. Taste is a soft chocolate in the beginning and roastiness coating your tongue all throughout and in the aftertaste. There is a good sense of some bitterness there just enough to balance. Man I am liking this porter, save that HINT of copper that is somewhere in there. Maybe it will go away with some baked waffle fries. Now I'm getting more of a lemon citrusness in the beer with the roastiness a bit more fleeting. After it's warmed up a touch, I find that it has a fruitiness to it. Looks like James Irwin still has that scar Anderson Silva put on his face. One minute. Okay, had to hold the baby down to brush her teeth. Now that 10 minutes have passed, I notice the beer is just as fruity, and has a nice smoothness to it.

Here comes my boy Kongo. Got Buentello down. Come on Kongo!! HIS PINKY IS DISLOCATED!! He's GOOD. Hell Yeah. Why is Kongo going for the takedowns. Come on Kongo, trash this guy! EFF HIM UP KONGO! HE'S GOT HIM HURT DEAN! Dammit, Kongo got him with an illegal knee. This show is all jacked up. Everything is going to hell with these injuries and time-outs. Now Dean is TAKING A POINT AWAY FROM KONGO! COME ON MAN!!! Forget the knees, just pound this guy out. KONGO hit him with the knee, but he was playing the game. It's over, NO, he's playing possum. Kongo is molesting Buentello. Watch the knee to the crotch. Third round, Kongo has him down, and Buentello taps out to long term beatdownnedness. Hell yeah.


High 3 Stars for the beer from Russia. Will be getting another bottle of this when Fedor ever decideds to fight again. Now will enjoy the rest of the show. Holla.

Beer Brotha Sports Review: March Madness

Well, my bracket is totally f'd up. I've got more red on my Yahoo! sports bracket than when Dubya won the 2004 election. Georgia Tech got bounced today by Ohio State, which really really sucks. All those NBAish tall black nubian kings on Kansas' and Georgetown's teams got beat by a bunch of guys that look like they do paintball on the weekends. What kind of sh*t is this!?!?

I had a little get together at my house for my 30th birthday last night where we had a ton of beer. I think our beer collection actually scares some people, but whatever. Even had our guy at Specs show up with his wife. We toasted the night with some Deus. Just awesome. After about 6 hours of drinking I had to tap out. Only a few of the women were still at the house at the time, and all they were going to do was talk about the lack of quality black men they can marry. So moving on.

I've been trying many different beers for which we have sixpacks, so I guess I should formally review these sooner or later.

Beer Log: Right now

State: Watching some Yo Gabba Gabba with the baby and getting ready for UFC tonight

Good Juju

A beer brewed with Ginger, from the chronic porno watchers at Left Hand (get it?). Beer is amber colored and clear, with a somewhat fizzy and lasting head. The nose is kinda like moldy bread. Hold on the wife is getting me some ginger. The wife just put the ginger powder in front of my nose and after I finished coughing and then sniff my shirt, I smell the beer again. I guess there's a pinch of ginger. Tastes like a bready amber, not toasty though, not malty. Maybe there is some subtle ginger in there, but usually the only ginger I have is when it is chinese food, with plenty of sesame, soy, and other flavors masking it. A basic medium bodied amber beer that features ginger is not doing anything for me. No rating, and a mulligan for this beer.

On the homebrew front my belgian wit is not coming together right now. It's carbonated pretty well but not much flavor. I think I'll give it some time and hopefully we can get that orange flavor going. It was kinda bland this time. A bit too cold methinks. Oh well, time to hunker down for some UFC.

Two New 5 Star Beers...

I rarely give the distinction of a 5 Star beer. I define a 5 Star beer as a beer the defines why we are doing this whole beer thing at all. Defines why we are doing what we are doing.

I was sitting at Watson's on the westside of Houston waiting forever for my Guinness. I was the only son of a b8tch that wore green today, but at least Watson's had a ton of St. Patrick's day themed stuff, like Guinness beads, 4 leaf clover beads, some live band, green decor, and the waitresses has green gear on and were smoking hot. I felt like Tiger Wood's out there.

So I got the Guinness and found it just way too dry for the weather. I downed it and I took my wife's advice and got a Sam Adams Nobel Pils. The way the various hops cut through that Guinness and the carbonation hit my tongue just right, it made me think, is this one of the best beers I've ever had? It was so good that I am highly considering getting a keg of it to put in my kegerator. I NEVER do that with any beer, and I want to do it now. This beer is so awesome that I have to change it from a 4 star to a 5 star beer. The Sam Adams boys just nailed it, BIG TIME. And it's so ironic that of all the far out styles Boston Beer is hitting us with, that a simple strong Pilsner is their best beer in the world of the Beerbrotha. Just. Awesome.

And since we're adding beers to the 5 Star list, I cannot forget the cocaine-like character of a very hoppy and very malty with a pinch of chocolate: Oskar Blue's Gordon Ale. The ONLY beer I make it a point to pick up whenever I'm at Specs. I can't get enough of it. I've walked by so many Allagashes, Avery's, and Dogfish to get this OBGA. The Oskar boys are showing their naked ass with this beer. Unbelievable.

Alright, I guess I need to do my bracket. Holla.

BJ's New Seasonal

I'm sitting here drinking a Magic Hat Howl (kinda dry, chalky, a nice choco, pretty thin though, low 3 star) fantasizing about the girls from the Slate DoubleX Podcast and footdragging on my NCAA Bracket. Turns out Oasis is a new seasonal amber from BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse.

Beer Log: this past Saturday
State: A little full and chilling out, chomping on their Pulled pork BBQ sandwich

Oasis Amber
Nice to see the black man is coming in with some new beer. Their Grand Cru was so awesome. Amber color and clear, no head. Toasty malt nose, which is what I like in my ambers. The beer tastes alright. Has an english muffin and light hops thng. I'm getting some lemon flavor as I keep drinking it. Moderate carbonation and smooth. High 2 Star.

The wife says this beer is meant for the masses, smart move. It will keep the lights on, but will not win you many points with the beer community.

Beer Log: Right Now

State: Chilling out, eating a burger

Widmer 84 09 Double Alt, 25th Anniversary

Dark color with a very thin head. Sugary caramel sweet nose with a dose of chocolate powder. Very smooth, low carbo, good notes of chocolate, malt, and low hops. May be b/c of the age that everything is mellow. We've had this one for many many months. Has some alcohol on the new couple sips with my Saint Arnold winter stout burgers. I like the quick finish, very quick. I'm trying to remember the last time I had an alt, but I alt have another sip. It's like a strong brown ale without any of the cloyingness. Perfect for the bock season. 4 Stars for Widmer's 25th Anniversary.

Moylan's has its work cut out for it.

Moylan's Hopsickle Imperial IPA

Well I love hops, and I'm okay about popsickles. But this one is orangish amber in color, has a poofy white head. Nose is a rathercitrus hops as I turn on the DVR of 24. Great citrus hop character. Plenty of hops in this thing, with probably some orange. Damn that orange is coming through in the aftertaste. And President Hassan's daughter could get it, big time. They have such hot arabic/persian women on this show. The moderately carbonated beer gets a 4 star from me. Two four stars in one night, a rarity.

Ok, now I'm rooting for the Black College Arkansas Pine Bluff against those chumps from Winthrop in the play-in game. PB is up by 11, and I'm loving life right now. Pine Bluff has won the game, fantastic. Black power baby. I'm going to down a Bohemia and walk away.

Dogfish Red and White

I didn't write it down, but how could I forget it. A couple days ago we were munching on some grilled pork and waffle fries, and the wife cracks open the Dogfish Head Red and White. We get this in bomber form, and we let it age for a few months. The beer pours a reddish amber with little head. The nose is a great wheat beer. On the flavor, it actually tastes like the colors red and white. You get a grape juice character, intermingled with a coriander, banana, and orange flavor. The perfect amalgamation of a smooth witbier and a robust red wine. Man that is just COOL man. Dogfish is just hitting us with such great beer we don't know what to do. Looking forward to swimming with the dogfish when we make it up to the Maryland area this June. 4 Stars.

Great Article About Oliver on The Root

Sorry for not posting. I was busy beering it up on some hardcore sour beer over my birthday weekend, and I am consequently sick today. Anyway, I'm sitting here in the guest bedroom waitng for the Nyquil to kick in, and I noticed this article on The Root. The Root.com is basically a black newspaper website sponsored by the Washington Post. I rarely read it, but they've got a great article today. Maybe they'll get me on there next as a major black beer blogger..

Garrett Oliver: The Black Man Who Knows What’s on Tap
America’s only black brewmaster wants you to stop thinking of beer as just a “cold one.”

Garrett Oliver wasn’t looking to start a revolution; he just wanted a good beer.
Oliver’s interest is not so unusual by today’s standards, when high–caliber, micro-brewed beer can be found at convenience markets, and nearly every major city can tout a craft brewery as a local icon. But Oliver’s quest began in the mid-‘80s, when the beer landscape in America was a veritable wasteland.

It hasn’t escaped Oliver’s attention that he is the only black brewmaster in America. His enthusiastic ramble slows a bit when the subject of why there are so few black beer geeks comes up. He attributes some of it to class issues. “So many of us are just getting to mainstream economic status,” he said. “Activities of genuine leisure won’t be far behind.”

The genuine leisure Oliver refers to isn’t drinking beer, which doesn’t require much of an investment, it is travel. He figures most beer fanatics caught their passion in Europe. “Just look at how few Americans have their passport [even generous estimates put it at one in three]; it’s even worse in the African-American community.”

He also noted the success of Heineken’s marketing campaign toward the African-American community. “Heineken is like a Cadillac,” he said, noting that it’s a good car but that people who treated it as a great car were showing what they don’t know as much as what they know. Oliver expects that in a generation, black craft beer brewmasters will begin to mirror the African-American presence in the population at large.

Click the link to read more...

A Pale Ale

Beer Log: Right now
State: Cleaning the kitchen

Moylan's Tipperary Pale Ale
Clear amber color with slightly tan somewhat bubbly head. Has a good caramel malt to the smell. Moderate hops with a good caramel malt. I get hints of chocolate somewhere in there. This one is just a notch above the stronger ambers I've had. Kind of a good break from all the Imperial beer I've been knocking down. Beer has an icky hop taste to it now. Kinda funky, a little bready now. Low 3 Stars.

Hey it's kegging time on the homebrew.

The Southern Tier Boys Never Dissappoint

Reddish orange in color with an orangish creamy head. Sweet caramel malt and piney hops on the nose. Oh I needed that. We're talking a strong caramel and raisiny malt just slightly overbalanced on the malt, but the hops make an appearance in the back of the palette. It's more of a barley wine than an Imperial IPA, but who the hell buys barley wine. 4 Stars for the Southern Tier Unearthly IPA.

So it turns out my birthday is this Saturday, my 30th birthday. And I must getting simpler as I get older. All my other birthdays I tried to invite everyone I've ever known for a cookout, beer, and maybe some UFC. Now I may still do all that, but Don Taylor is perfectly happy smoking cigars and drinking high quality beer with some of the boys at Downing Street at night with 18 holes of golf that morning. Otherwise, I'm just going to renovate my wardrobe a JA Bank and leave it alone. Must be old age.

As an added bonus to my birthday week, I made it to the AHA Rally at St. Arnold's Newery just north of downtown Houston last Sunday. Oh so sweet. This place was very spacious, with a drinking room that was lightly but tastefully decked out in brick and cream walls. Has the space to be a killer beer hall. The kettles provided the perfect backdrop. Brock Wagner himself did a one room tour. I bought a couple SA glasses which I used to drink the Spring Bock. I walked around waiting for someone to start speaking. But there was no agenda at all. I just chatted it up with the Foam Ranger boys and the Defalco's guys, as well as some other beer enthusiasts. And you could drink all the beer you wanted until 3PM. Now THAT'S A DAMN POLITICAL RALLY. You pay your money to join, then you drink beer as much beer as you can stomach until they kick you out. If the Tea Parties had this one, I would be right up there with Sarah Palin.

Had to cancel my trip to Toronto (sad face) as the job is more important and my projects come to a head right when I would be on my 5th pint at Volo. So I sent the email today to back out. (crying face). To make things better, I've resolved to drink Imperial IPA for the rest of this week, as I have a LOT of it and the wife doesn't like it. So that's a bomber a night all to myself. Should be fun. Thursday night we'll hit the Saucer and probably Downing Street. If I can get box seats to the rodeo, I'll check that out on Friday night. Saturday and Sunday I'll just visit some friends and relax.