Would you like some pepper in that beer?

After a great weekend of attending the Stone Brewery Beer Dinner at Vic and Anthony's, and hitting up Petrol Station to see my homegirl Moji singing with 2 Dollar Sound while slamming a ton of Indy Saison, and talking a ton of smack to the Cowboys fans at the Texans game, I'm just chilling out doing some work at the house and drinking another Longshot beer.

Sam Adams Longshot: Lemon Pepper Saison

I'm a somewhat fan of the "lemon pepper" type of flavor on things like chicken. But i've been drinking so much Saison lately... The nose has a veggie lager quality, and maybe the scallops the wife is grilling is throwing off the scent. The amber clear colored beer has a nice lightly fruity flavor, maybe some apple, with a soft body. Somewhere in the middle of the palate I get maybe some pepper. It's enough of want me to drink this Crystal Light to get it off my tongue. Otherwise it has the soft yet gritty body and light pinch of belgianess of a great saison. High 3 Stars only b/c I think the Independence Saison is four to five star.

Dogfish Head Theobroma

Light chocolate bar nose on top of a surprisingly light amber beer with high bubble carbonation. This beer has some caramel flavor and some toffee, not overwhelming. I think in the aftertaste I'm getting something like bitter chocolate. If ever ate chocolate, I could tell you exactly what the deal is. I've tasted Maibocks that are similar to this, maybe it's just the combo of honey and whatnot. Though it's certainly an ale. The back of my throat has some pepper heat to it. I can tell you right now that this pepper beer stuff is NOT working for me. I like spicy food and hot food, but not in my beer. Kinda like how I like crunchy food, but not crunchy bean sprouts in my fried rice, messes up the texture. Maybe this is a beer fad I'm just not going to get. No rating.

Video of Me Going to Work on Fridays

Ourtoberfest in BN Glass

Beer Log: Right now

State: Relaxed

Magic Hat Hex Ourtoberfest

Drinking this copper colored beer in my new Brewing Network Imperial Pint glass. Nose is a rustic somewhat earthy caramel malt. Lord only knows what the mad Hatters put in this beer. A rather malty beer that somehow exploded with flavor then went down so smooth (no homo) it was like the beer imploded, but in a good way. I think there is something like a sour fruit that actually caused my mouth to pucker a good 3/4 of the way on my tongue. Malt is tasting more white sugary as I get used to the whole thing, maybe some brown sugar with it. I wouldn't be surprised if there was some random fruit in this thing like Ms. Pac-Man. After visiting the website you see it right there: Cherry Wood Smoked Malt. Boo-yah. The malted rye gives it some pepper as well, which comes through in the aftertaste. Low to moderate hops. I can dig it, but wish I had a cigar with this one. High 3 Stars for the beer that oddly works for me as an Oktoberfest.

Sports Review: Strikeforce Houston and Sam Adam Harvest Pumpkin

One of the only two advantages of being black in America is that I can openly admit in writing that I root for the black guy in sporting competitions and no one will call me out. (The other is that people selling newspapers and doing promotional stuff at grocery stores exits leave you alone.) So I showed up to Strikeforce Houston last night pretty fired up to see King Mo and Bobby Lashley. And both of them consequently got f7cked up. Lashely just out-and-out gassed and gave up after some serious hammerfists by a guy that looked like a Confederate General. They did screw Lashley by standing him up while he had the full mount, but Lashley was fading to black very quickly anyway and probably would have keeled over and died if they made him go for a third round.

King Mo was doing ok the first couple rounds, but he pretty much tossed out any boxing skill at all and went in to brawl with a Muay Thai guy (bad idea). King Mo fell in love with the body shots, and although they had some stank on it, close range Balrog body shots open you up for the knee to the dome, everytime. Ask Rich Franklin (against Silva) and Rampage Jackson (the first two times against Wanderlei). Mo flattened, then got a single leg, then got elbowed down hard. Fight OVER! And the Texas crowd lustily cheered when the Dallas product was knocked out.

I'm just glad we hit the Saucer before the event for some Blonde Bock and some Stone 14. The Blonde Bock by Gordon Biersch is one of those other beers that is kinda like a combo beer in the style, but not quite. It had a real syrupy malt to it and very drinkable, but the mesh of the "blonde" and the "bock" actually throw it off for me. I'd rather be slamming some Hofbrau maibocks like I have been these days. The Stone 14 Emperial IPA I picked up b/c we were eating some hot wings. The last time I had wings at the saucer, they put some fire on it, but this time the hot sauce seemed to be a little heavier on the butter, which my bloated gut 24 hours later can atest to. But the EIPA was f'n AWESOME! I knew that I could count on Stone to provide a very balanced perfect finishing Imperial IPA. One sec.

Beer Log: Right now
State: Chilling out, eating lunch

Sam Adams Harvest Pumpkin Ale
Pours brown and smooth with a tan head. Nose is pumpkin and cinnamon with some caramel. Tastes like a light bitter bread with some pumpkin. Not my cup of tea. 2 Stars.

Moving on, the Dynamo finally won a game last night. Taking big shots from Ching to beat the Chicago Fire. The Flaming Footballers of Chicago tried to come back, but Ching would not be denied despite our goaltender's best efforts. Also, the Texans got mollywhoped by the Saints in preseason, which nobody cares about. Holla.

Weedwacker BABY!!

So I cut out fo work smackdab at quitting time and make a B-Line for downtown to the Saucer for some Weedwacker . As I set up shop at the kiosk to get my beer receipts, I find out that the Saucer does NOT have the Lawnmower beer, so I cannot do a side-by-side tasting of the Kolsch and Bavarian Hefe (not Belg Wit), with the same ingredients but different yeast strains.

Not to worry, I start out sitting outside with some Saint Arnold Texas Wheat, which never really did it for me, and built up to the moment of truth with some Harpoon UFO White. The Saucer is pack led and it's like New Year's Eve in there. Everyone is awaiting 6PM when they tap the keg of Weedwacker, a rare specialty beer from Saint Arnold. I'm somewhat in the wrong as I'm hogging an entire picnic table outside though I'm just sitting by myself and chatting it up with one of my boys from FAMU.

A couple looks all lost and I tell them to sit the hell down with me. Turns out the dude is a Sport Jiu Jitsu fighter (awesome) and his lady friend is a white woman who wishes she were half black (even better). I kept telling her the money is not as good, but whatever. The Weedwacker shows up in a cloudy straw color with a bubbly white head. Much more bubbly than your normal Belgian, much closer to a German Hefe (b/c it IS a Hefe).

I like how the nose on this has the veggie-lagerness of a kolsch (Lawnmower) and the estery-banana of the yeast (Weedwacker). The taste is much the same. I get the crisp lageriness of the kolsch with that banana weisse flavor throughout. Low to moderate hops. It honestly tastes like a combination of the two beers. How about THAT! The body of the beer is such that I would have sworn they put some wheat in that son of a gun, but not quite. (Turns out there is like 50% wheat, like the Texas Wheat. I'm getting better at my beer sampling, worse at Research). Although I enjoy both styles, especially when sitting outside in 99 deg weather, I think I would honestly prefer one or the other. Give me the full on kolsch with that cream ale-lager thing, or go all out with the wiesse. 3 Stars.

International Beerfest... In GALVESTON?!?

Sitting here watching some World Series of Poker and flipping back and forth to the Concacaf game with Toronto taking on Cruz Azul. Got to pull for the MLS teams.

Anyway, I find I am enjoying the extra hoppiness of the Torpedo Extra IPA from Sierra Nevada. Very high on the cascade (citrus/grassy) hops, with a nice compliment of caramel malt to hold on just barely. As if SN needed a reason to add more hops, this one is obviously overdone on the hops, but with the thinner body works well with this weather. Low 4 Stars. Oh, I was eating some shrimp I overboiled in Corona Light and Fat Tire, no where near enough Old Bay. You can probably tell my wife is out on the town with one of her old friends, so my dinners get more exotic and not quite right. No matter, I'm hitting Petrol Station tomorrow night for some Weedwacker.

Oh great Phil Helmuth has finally showed up. I love seeing his b1tch @ss run out of the room crying when he gets eliminated.

So these Winefolk have moved to Galveston and managed to put together an international beer festival. The major location will be Moody Gardens, which you can easily spot in Galveston by looking for the glass pyramids. Although you would think a place like Galveston would be great for beer, they are relatively bereft save a couple of beer heavy bars on Post Office Street. Regardless, Florida A&M will be playing Univ of Miami on Thursday of that weekend, so I'm okay to hit this thing. Lots of beer dinners, a beer garden (one of my favorite places to drink beer), and high dollar beer pairing dinners. They have over 300 beers there, and the wife and I are debating how we will handle this thing. They said that if it's not sold in Texas, the Gestapo...errrr the TABC says they can only bring beers that are already sold in Texas, so to refrain from this being a festival version of Specs Downtown, I suggested that they try to get some beers on tap from the brewpubs in San Antonio and Austin.

By all means check this out and support these guys. The more support we give, the more the beer scene grows in our area. http://brewmastersinternationalbeerfestival.com/

Some Sour Ale

Beer Log: Right now
State: Just drank 12 ounces of Saint Arnold Summer Pils

Saboteur Brett Barrel Brown Ale by Odell Brewing
Try saying that three times fast. Drinking this out of my Stella Artois goblet. Brown smooth looking beer with a huge head, as expected with brett (infected beers). On the nose this is so sour it may me shiver all the way to my ankles, no homo. Nose is sour brett and sweet caramel (bourbon). Nice soft beer, with some oak and vanilla. Nice hoppiness. The sourness actually works for me here. An EARTHY sour beer that's working for me. We got this beer in our Rare Beer of the Month club. I think we held it for like a month. Great for a hot day, or for a cold night. I'm getting an apple, maybe cinnamon with it, something like a mix of Granny Smith and Washington Red apples, which the wife made for me when she was trying to get with me 10 years ago when we were still in college. This beer mixes very well together, very soft and low hops. Some sour finish as well. Their website says pineapple, and I can see that. Excellent fricken sour beer. All I need is my Hugh Hefner bathrobe, a couple of sistahs on each arm, and some Good Morning Heartache on Pandora and I'm good to go with this beer. 5 Stars. This is done so well that I could see some wine-makers shooting a guy.

And you know what, I'm thinking that if I ordered a beer like this at a bar, I think that I would look like a cartoon character of myself. "Sir, can I get a barrel aged brett brown ale, with a healthy amount of lacto and hints of vanilla". A lot different than, can I get a beer?

Le Freak

Beer Log: Right now
State: Just finishing up some Hofbrau Maibock in my Hofbrau Stein

Green Flash Le Freak
First off, is that one of the cooler comic style names for a brewery? Green Flash. Perfectly white head, very thin on a reddish-amber beer. Great candy sugar, some sour, some caramel, very complex sweetness, probably some cinnamon and nutmeg in there. Very mouthfilling yet airy, if that makes sense. Linger bitterness. The beer feels like it vaporizes on your tongue. I like the mild sugar sweetness and sourness. It has a strong hop bite just at the end there, very citrus/grapefruity as only Green Flash could do. 5 Stars for the freaked out hoppy belgian. You mean to tell me I get my two favorite styles (usually favorite), Imperial IPA and Belgian Trippel. Hellz yeah.

Countdown to Weedwacker

Saint Arnold is about ready to release the first of it's Movable Yeast beers on tap. The wife and I will probably be taking the baby with us to Petrol Station for dinner on Monday. But here's a great article on 29-25 listing the bars that will have it available.

"Proving that you can never learn enough about beer, Saint Arnold soon plans to let you do a little taste-test of Weedwacker - the first in its limited-edition Movable Yeast series. Weedwacker, best-seller Saint Arnold Fancy Lawnmower wort fermented with a Bavarian hefeweizen yeast, is being served side by side with the original Lawnmower so folks can understand the difference yeast makes in the taste of a beer."

The only risk is that we wouldn't be getting to a bar until like 7PM, and by then it could run out at most bars in the city. We'll have to see.

Some Cascadian Dark...

Apparently the folk out there has decided to put some effort in making hoppy dark ales. I don't know if you call them stouts, but they tend to use the citrus Cascade hops, hence the name Cascadian Dark Ale.



Deschutes Hop in the Dark CDA

Huge tan head in my dimpled pint glass. Nose is a huge cascade citrus/flowery hop. Loving life. Taste is a big citrus that nearly overpowers the chocolate and coffee notes from the darker malts. Body is medium to full, with a grapefruit hop finish. I'm loving this thing. On the second sip the dark malt has a light caramel sweetness to it. Awesome. 4 Stars.

Abita SOS

Nice head, golden straw, good noble hoppy nose, but a little thin on the body. I like my Pilsner's a little bigger on hops and malt, like a Pilsner Urquell. This one's a little too acidic and sour for my taste. Not sure if that's supposed to be classic or not. High 2 Stars.

You gotta give it up to Abita for brewing a beer and donating the funds to help the Gulf Coast residents with life after the oil spill has moved on.

Anyway, had a somewhat rough day at the job today, and I may be inhaling some beers tonight to calm my nerves.

The Bartending Brotha

So last night while missing Anderson Silva taking out Chael Sonnen in the most exciting fight finish of all time, I was at my wife's coworker's birthday party and they needed someone to bartend. Already they had someone taking pictures, and a DJ. I figured since I'm a beerman and I wouldn't know many people there, I could handle it. I'm popping out beer bottles, mixing drinks, shooting the sh1t, and having a great time doing it. I'm thinking this may be my calling. I really enjoyed that people were getting absolutely slizzard off of my concoctions (no homo). And I managed to stay sober all night (much to my wife's delight) as I was working the entire time. Many folks took my beer blog business cards. A few wanted to hire me for their upcoming parties, some of women wanted to give me some good quality lovin. Doubtful that bartenders at house parties can make per hour what I make in the petroleum business, but it would be "the ballz" if I were single. I could see learning a few more cocktail mixes and doing some parties for people if the price was right. We were just tripping that I was making some dinero at all.

The only problem is that you are on your feet all night, but I did make enough money in tips to buy my three beers at the Saucer later. And what beers they were.

Started out with some Spaten Light, since it was so hot outside, even at 1AM. Afterward I hit the Victory Prima Pils which was on Fire Sale. I thought it was a great strong Pilsner until I had the Real Ale Hans Pilsner. THOSE BOYS KNOW THEY CAN MAKE A PILSNER. That is probably the hoppiest pilsner I've had ever. 52 IBUS baby.

Shiner Oktoberfest and Red Steel 2

So the baby is finally asleep and the wife is out painting the town red. I copped the game Red Steel 2 for Nintendo Wii last week and it is the BALLZ. I'm loving the sword fighting and then the gunplay. You really have to wind up and swing to get a strong sword swing. I'm over there sweating up a storm while playing the game, as I play to win.

Anyway the wife and I hit the Spec's Downtown to hunt down Abita SOS and whatever else is new. It's over 100 degrees outside, I'm changing shirts after being outside for 30 minutes, my lawn is cooking like plantain grease, and I'm all over Wal-Mart looking for testicle deodorant. That must mean IT'S OKTOBERFEST TIME IN HOUSTON!!!

Beer Log: Right the hell now
State: Starting to crash a little bit as I was up late shooting the sh1t and hitting the high gravity stuff at the Saucer last night.

Shiner Oktoberfest
Nose has a toasty biscuit thing going on, didn't see that coming. Maybe some veggie and caramel malt as it warms up. Perfect white head and clear copper color of the Oktoberfest style. The beer has a light sweet malt flavor with moderate hops. Kinda bleh to me with the bitter finish, not sure how noble that is. I'm getting some copper metal flavor about 3/4 of the way back. Dammit man. Upon slamming a big bit of it down, there's nothing to get fired up about with the lighter flavor. If they told me this was an amber lager, I'd believe it. I'll give it some time while I fire up the Red Steel 2.

An hour after slicing and dicing cats on RS2. Beer is more refreshing, but and with the warmup there's a little more of that malt showing through. Rating High 2 Stars.

BeerBrotha Sports Review: Beatdowns all Around

So last weekend I hit the mean streets of Houston to see some mixed martial arts at Legacy Fights out in the Sharpestown area of the Houston at Arena Theatre. It's a little hood over there, and when you get close you will hear this music...



The place was so Sharpestown I loved it! Super loud music, tons of security, the place looks like it was designed in the 70s, and even guys throwing up hand signs for what part of town their from.

Anyway, it works out well for me, b/c I saw some great local guys go at it in the ring (no homo), and then made it a B-Line to one of my friends' house for a midnight brunch, pretty cool. And then the next night Jon Jones blasts this dude and is ready to take on the best in the UFC. And even better, tomorrow night we've got my favorite fighter Anderson Silva taking on Chael "the Mouth" Sonnen. Loving life.

Anyway, the other day I finally was able to drink the Deathly Pale Ale by Reaper Ale , who wins the award for the scariest craft beer website. This is kinda freaking me out. Pretty hardcore name. It had a nice set up with huge head, light amber color and cloudy. Nose is a good strong citrus hops, light on the malt. Nice and strong on the hops, taking over that low caramel malt. Very smooth as well. High 3 Stars. I can only imagine how good it would be if I didn't leave it in the back of my cabinet for like 3 years.

Sam Adams Longshot: Old Ben Ale

At LONG LAST!!!!!!!!!!! We have had these beer in our fridge for some time, and I'm finally getting to it. If you don't know about the Sam Adams Longshot beers, basically they are some serious beers brewed at the National Homebrew Competition, chosen by Boston Beer Company to brew on their system and distribute to the masses. If you can get, GET IT!

Beer Log: Right now
State: Chillin out, thinking about making money

Old Ben Ale
Pours a nice dark amber to brown color with a decent head. The beers smells of excellent raisin, caramel malt, brown sugar, and a touch of citrus hops. All very strong overall. YES YES YES. The beer tastes of caramel malt, raisin, brown or white sugar, hops are very balanced, a pinch of sourness, and amazingly it finishes pretty quick. We actually starting drinking this cold, and let it warm up over time. I am absolutely loving the very English level of smoothness with the cutting hops to keep it from getting too sweet. I could see myself just drinking a ton of this beer. I love a good Old Ale, but this cat improved on the style with the hops and the sour. 5 Stars all day long.

Sierra Nevada Kellerweis

Beer Log: Right Now
State: Slight headache after jogging in 100 deg weather at Bear Creek Park. If you can't run 4 miles in 100 degs in Houston, then you need to quit.

Sierra Nevada Kellerweis
Light golden/orange color with big poofy white head. Nose is uber-bananay and estery. Taste is nice soft banana (no homo) with low hops and a slight watery/hop finish. Not sure what to think there. Taste great save the finish. Has some of that German Weiss character, but a pinch more on the hops, probably American. It's rather thin on the body with high carbo. There is a little spice in there, maybe clove or pepper. I can drink a good chunk of this, but not over the Fransiskaner Hefe. Low 4 Stars.