Petrol Station Black Party, Jester King

So a couple weeks ago I find thought I was able to squeeze in enough time to run by Petrol Station for some stout/porter party, which Ben said I can call the "Black Party". The place was packed with people and had one special guest, the head man at Jester King, Jeff.

Hold up....

Beer Log: Right now
State: Tongue a little burnt from tea and hot tomato catfish I was eating

Breckenridge Pandora's Bock
Ruby-brown color with a great clarity. I love how this puppy has a nice light head and that sweet malt nose of the lighter bocks, though it's darker in color. The taste is that perfect light caramel-cookie-cinnamon with a pinch of chocolate and toast that makes Bock season my favorite beer season of all. Light bitterness, dare I say English hops with the simpleness of it all. I can see I'll be drinking these steely bocks as long as they'll let me. 4 Stars for the simple and excellently crafted beer.

The beeradvocate dudes are hating on it, but whatever. Those guys are like how I used to be, where only the hugest mega-hopped barrel aged with a specialty strains harvested from the Lost City of Atlantis would spark my interest. You just weren't a true craft brewer if you were spitting out a pilsner or helles. After surfing the strong, creative stuff which I still love, I find that I'm getting a major appreciation for the subtly of a Bohemian pilsner, the gentleness of a German maibock, and sometimes the smoothness of an English mild. Plus I don't have to have a DD to get home. Funny that I find myself copping a sixer of Pilsner Urquell more often than say a Broken Halo IPA.

OK, so Petrol was jam packed with people and I had an excellent long conversation with Jeff about his beer and how things are going. Being the consummate Houston oil-man, I couldn't help but try to sell our city and how great it is for craft beer, just has not had much success in the brewpub scene. I couldn't help but point out that sheer number of people drove many miles to the hood just for a stout party at some bar the size of a postage stamp. It's instances like that that show me we really are thirsty" for craft beer in Houston. Luckily Jeff has some space to get beer to the larger Houston beer bars, so I should be able to drown in Wytchmaker IPA all I want.

Just quickly on the beering...

Beer Log: January 22, 2011

State: Relaxed, just downed a ton of PS's great french fries, not really in the mood for the Oxtails, fried chicken, waffles, and collard greens they were cooking out back. Just a quick thing on the food, I had a few tweets and texts with some of the brothas out there. I think it's ultra cool that Petrol broke out the soul food for this event. These guys are awesome.

Rogue Hazelnut John John
The John John boys are at it again, this time with a hazelnut thing juicing with what I thought were whiskey barrels. Dark Amber gold. No head do no nose, but I get a great hazelnut flavor aged in probably whiskey. Low nutty AT. Has this thin body that makes it feel sessionable. Turns out it's rum barrels. 3 stars

Somewhere around this point I caught with several of the other Houston beer-munity, including a nice lady who recognized me from this blog and gave me a few really cool knit beer coozies, which I use all the time.

Jester King Black Metal
Good strong roast and toast. Low hops and alc flavor. High carbo, very drinkable. As I kept drinking it, the hops came out as it warmed, and the black patent smoke starting coming through. Not bad at all. I typically shy away from black patent beers as I get a lot of smoke and band-aid flavor, but this one did not overdue it. 3 stars.

Rogue Dirtoir
Very smooth and choco. The JK blows it up. I should have had this one first. Turns out this one was a black lager, which won't taste like much after you drink a smokey imperial stout and a rum-barrel stout.

512 Cream Stout

Much later on I did try this one.
Very candy like. Chocolate/butterscotch thing going on. Again should have had this one first.

I am so far behind in my beer adventures blogging it's ridiculous. I've got San Francisco, Indianapolis, Cleveland, and Houston beer adventures of note since November. And I'm only getting further behind with the new beering available in Houston, and Bock season coming on strong. Future travels in the 1st and 2nd quarter should include Tampa (Ybor of course) Cozumel, St. Louis, and I'll probably hit up Austin for my birthday. Of course there are a couple of trips to New Orleans/Covington.

I'll probably fly Southwest this time to NO b/c they've got the NOLA and Covington beers on that side of the airport. On the Continental side they can only get you a bomber of Abita SOS and a shot glass of Jack, not that that's a bad thing, but I need that NOLA Blonde like a crackhead needs crack, and they ain't bottling. We are also looking at a trip to Boston some time soon to visit my wife's Alma Mater (MIT baby).

Sam Adams Infinium!!!

Well I'm about to start a new position at the job, same company and all. I was pretty comfortable where I was but these changes can happen. At least for the first time in my life, I'll actually have an office with a door, all to myself, with a view. I'm thinking about getting a tap handle put in somewhere along with a kegerator. Maybe score some Southern Star Pine Belt. A couple of guys on my new team are homebrewers, so this could get pretty cool. Well I step into the new job tomorrow at the new building and I know how I'm going to walk into the building.

Who says engineer's can't be sexy.

This beer comes in highly touted in beer geek world, as this a collaboration of Sam Adams and Weihenstephan. Infinium comes gorgeous 750ml bottle, complete with cork a la a champagne. Haven't really looked up the style, so I'm putting these in our Stella Artois goblets.

Beer Log: right now
State: Kinda out of it with football, sitting at home with the fam

Sam Adams Infinium

Nose is kinda sour musty thing going on with a lot of bubbles coming off the amber color and white head. The first I notice something akin to sugar like belgian candy sugar you get in Westmalle. Has that musty, danky taste going on. Some sweet, some sour, some jolly rancher, high carbonation. Gets better the more you drink it, but um... It's very spicy and whatnot, but it's hard to believe they actually got all of this and still be a Purity Law Beer. This one is a little cloying to me. The Beeradvocates tore it a new one, especially the Bros. As I sit and chill with this beer, it does grow on me. I can get those herbal notes and whatnot, but I think I'll take DeuS over this one. It's surprisingly belgian/french to me. Some sourdough bread, cherry-tart, sugar sweet. Medium body that the hops and carbo cannot cut through. I wish it was a few shades more dry. 3 Stars. I know when I'm trying to impress folks with a Brut beer it's always been DeuS, and I think I'll stick to that one for now. We bought another one we put way back in the beer cellar, so we'll see how it works for now.

Local No. 2

Beer Log: Right now
State: Slightly Inebriated, watching college football

Brooklyn Local No. 2
Don't even remember when we bought this one, but I think it was at Specs. Deep brown color with a heavenly honey and orange nose. Kinda what I figure orange blossoms smell like. It's like I'm dancing through an orange and honey field, probably naked. This beer has a great strong orange zest thing going on. Lots of honey sweetness as well. Low hop bitterness and a quick jumping off the tongue. No HINT of the 9%+ ABV, which makes this beer very dangerous, as I could see myself drinking this one all day long. The dark color is deceptive, in that you think it's going to be all roasty and it's the exact opposite. Aftertaste is kinda dry, which is great. I'm giving this one a high 4 stars. I just love the lightness of it. Easily the best beer I've had by Bully.