Virtual Tasting Beering

So these guys say we should all drink up and review a Colorado Beer for this new beer blogger conference. I don't have any beers from "the sponsors", but I do have some beer from Boulder Colorado in the kegerator. We heard tell of this conference way back and honestly I'm glad Ronnie Crocker put it back in our minds. We are supposed to crack open the beer at 8PM Central time. So I've got just over 2 minutes according to Microsoft.

Beer Log: Right now
State: Watching Hard Knocks on DVR, should be catching up on some work.

Twisted Pine Honey Brown Ale
I've got 90 seconds to kill, so today I totally clam up all day at this company recruiting thing we had all day today. The night before at the Meet and Greet I was Mister Orator, but today I just didn't find anything all that inspiring. Can actually make you look bad, but at times I'll do that. I'm more of a backroom guy when it comes to my business transactions. Actually I'm a natural at working out deals and decisions "off-line". Preferably over a beer. Oh it's time.

Crack it open at 8PM sharp, and this thing pours with a big foamy head in my dimpled pint glass. I'm liking the sugar sweet malt nose coming off of this beer. I've been on this lager kick lately, slamming a lot of Pilsner Urquell of all things, but an ale could work. I even get a good bit of cinnamon and caramel. Nice soft beer, has a decent caramel malt and all that rot. I'm liking the cinnamon flavor as well, but it has a nice lighter more subtle flavor of a true session beer. The aftertaste has a gentle chocolate and roast notes. Moderate carbonation that leaves the tongue tingly, though the Pine was able to keep the beer very drinkable. At first sip this beer is kinda plain, but as it warms a touch I'm getting a lot more flavor. Certainly not a braggot level amount of honey, but a light amount to keep it interesting. The head remains throughout the drinking experience, which helps a lot as the nose is carrying a lot of flavor. The roast and choco notes make a stronger statement as the beer warms to probably 52 deg F. Like the man in the stall said to the man waiting: "Give me time baby". I get a little more choco and some sourness as it warms up. Not bad at all for a session beer. 3 Stars.

One time for Twisted Pine and of course a song from my baby momma.

16 Mile and Baird Beer

After suffering the disappointment of not making it out to Buffalo this weekend, we made up for it with some good fun at Houston Pavilions. Not to mention early stops at the Petrol Station and the Saucer. Reviews coming soon. But right now I am seriously behind.

Beer Log: the other day

16 Mile Amber Sun
Like how this one was in an aluminum bottle (that's right aluminum). Big head that's fizzy somehow. Sugar and Cinnamon malt nose. The taste is a good strong caramel malt, toasty lager, with an icky hop finish. The more I drink it the less the crappy aftertaste affects me and I just get that excellent big amber with the toast/English muffin character. Very balanced. 4 Stars. These guys hit the amber style out of the park, just need to clean up that aftertaste and I can see this one being one of the best beers I've had. A great pickup from our last trip to Maryland.

In keeping with the Asian style names, I'm sitting here hanging out with the wife and baby.

Beer Log: right now
Angry Boy Brown Ale by Baird Beer
The label is something like Picasso doing a Manga comic book. You wouldn't know by the name that this is a Japanese beer, but given the reputation of the lemony lagers the put out, I don't blame them going to a pure English name. Real big head with a lemony caramel thing going on. Not sure if they meant that. Beer is a rather cloudy beer-bottle-brown. Beer has a thinner body than I like in the brown ales, but has a decent malt/choco thing going on. Maybe it's the hops but this beer is kinda lemony to me. About 60 seconds after my first drink and I get this sticky/chalky, lemon-sour aftertaste developing on my tongue. Doesn't work for me. It doesn't have much for me at all, and that aftertaste is just plain terrible. Maybe it was aged wrong, but on aftertaste alone this one is a 1 Star.


Magic Hat Odd Notion Series, Summer '10
As usual with MH, I have no clue what style this will be...
Decent head on a cloudy straw beer. The nose is a funky banana and sour. The beer is not as sour/bretty as the nose. Just a smooth low banana and malt wheat beer. I'm not getting the ginger that they are doing, but certainly spontaneously fermented. More of a funked Belgia wit. Low hops. Maybe it's the BBQ chicken I'm eating now, but this is kinda light for me, just enough sweetness and spiciness to keep it interesting. 2 Stars.

Lot's of work to do tomorrow morning, so can't do my normal IPA to end the beering on a good note. Holla

New Kids in Houston, Twisted Pine

Beer Log: Right now
State: Chilling out watching the new True Blood

Twisted Pine Honey Brown Ale
Picked this up in a variety pack after we had their Blonde at the BRC. Great caramel and roast nose. Cloudy brown with tan head. Not bad. Kinda caramel and roasted notes. I get a moderate hops as well, pretty piney. I think that I will be drinking like a fish while watching Boardwalk Empire. The beer here is a pretty basic American Brown. I don't get much in the way of honey, maybe a light lingering sugar going on. Maybe a hint of sour. Low 3 star. Well, these guys on the website are claiming they won on the Gold at the GABF for an ENGLISH Brown Ale in 2000. I would have expected it to be a bit smoother and maltier. But whatever works. 10 years is a long time and they may have evolved, or I'm just wrong.

A little later on...

Twisted Pine Raspberry Wheat Ale
Clear with sediment floating and nice raspberry scented head. High carbonation and light raspberry. A pinch poofy and soft, but not much else to it. Just a basic wheat beer with some raspberry. I get a slight pinch of hops in the aftertaste, but not much. 2 Stars.

Brown Ale off

Hit the Saucer last night to get to my 125th beer there. Samuel Smith Nut Brown Ale vs. Brooklyn Brown Ale vs. Saint Arnold Brown.

Sam Smith won. Saint Arnold came in at 2nd. And Brooklyn out-Englished Sam Smith and could never get warm enough to get any good flavor out of it. Something about Brooklyn and our friends at Boulevard that their regular 12 ounced bottled beer is pretty vanilla, and then they blow you out of the water with their bombers. I'm sure there's some marketing in there by not acting like Lagunitas whose beers kick you in the nuts everytime. Just procrastinating before doing a big stint offshore. Another 14 days without beer, starting tomorrow. Holla.

Fantasy Football and New Belgium Frambozen

I made the playoffs in one of my leagues, and I'm sitting here with 3 players left: Kurt Warner, Crabtree, and Weaver, RB for Philly. My boy Alan has Antonio Gates playing right now and after that only the Cardinals defense. I'm just holding my breath all game while watching the Dallas-San Diego game. I win this I go to our leagues final. Right now I'm up by 5. Just need Gates to have a quiet day and it's pretty much wrapped up.

I went ahead and ate the tickets to the Texans game today. Just too depressed to dragass all the way out to the stadium, especially when I had to keep the baby with me. And wouldn't you know it the Texans blowout the Seahawks. Actually had some measure of aggression. Oh well.

New Belgium Frambozen
Picked this up the other day at the massive Specs at Jones and 290. I'm drinking it in my champagne flute although the beers says it's a raspberry brown ale, not some sort of super Belgium bottle conditioned beer. Nose is malty, toasty, and strong raspberry. Brownish-Ruby colored beer has actually has a nice blend of brown ale and raspberry. Low carbo, nice raspberry all the way through, but backed up by some earthy malty brown ale character. I prefer this much more than the pureblood framboise. High 3 Star. Man this stuff is just plain awesome. I'm drinking it down big time. New Belgium is coming out with hit after hit like Master P in the late 90s.

Let's See what this woman's talking about...

Beer Log: February 20, 2009, Right now
State: Full, just put baby to sleep, watching Real Sports on DVR

Man, that Tonya Harding has put on a couple Ell Bee Esses since the old days. And here she is holding up a Channel Catfish, probably the most disgusting creature on God's Green Earth. Anyway, the ol' ball and chain bought a shyteload of beer while I was offshore (lucky, I know), and she got a lot of Sam Adams. She swears that the Sam Adams Brown Ale is fantastic. I've heard talk that the Boston Lager is basically a brown ale recipe brewed with lager yeast and methods. So who knows what their actual Brown Ale is talking about...

Sam Adams Brown Ale
Damned if that don't look and smell like the Boston Lager, just a touch fruitier and toastier. On second thought, the hop smell in there reminds me of the Boston Ale. A little high on the carbo, but has a nice maltiness all over the tongue. It has some sourness on the flavor, not sure if that's supposed to be there. It's not bad man, nice maltiness to it like a brown ale should. I'm a little partial these days to the bigger flavor beers, like the Indian Nut Brown by Dogfish or Real Ale's Brown Ale. It seems to get a little better as it warms up.

Dude, Sweet, Dude... Sweet

Date: April 17, 2008

I'm out here at the Sauce hangin downtown like Cameo. I was at a loss as what I should try, and I figured I should go ahead and go for something sweet and malty. I'm sitting outside in the just about hot Houston heat, so I forego the stouts and porters and settle on the Brown.

State: Chillin and Full
Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale
The color is a dark dark brown. The new waitress brought it out in a bottle, so I could tell that it pours easy. It has a sweet caramel malt smell that is making my mouth water as I type this damn near 6 weeks later, though there was NO HEAD. Amazing. Holding it up to the light reveals a red color. It has surprisingly high carbonation, yet medium body. First taste is sweet maltiness though not roasted. It's very low in hops and leaves a lingering caramel and tingle on the pallet. It's very nice and almost a WOW beer for me. It's probably a touch too cold. The aftertaste comes in kind of filmy wetness, though that was a good thing this time. As it warms, it gets pretty durn heavy and bold with the caramel and some very very light bitter AT. Near the end, I'm tasting the alcohol a bit, but the beer is still strong. I was very surprised that those dudes at Dogfish messed around and put RAISINETTES in the beer. Awesome surprise there. Seeing as how I hate raisins and don't eat chocolate, I wouldn't know what that taste was. Neato. Raisinettes still suck though.

Spaten Oktoberfest
I ask the hot young waitress if there was something ye maltier than what I already had, but that was not a porter or stout. She was a bit worried and eventually brought me the last Spaten Oktoberfest. I feel really bad because after the Indian Brown Ale, this thing tasted like water. I wrote down that it was clear, orangish with a white head. Kind of spicy yet vegetal... and then my pen ran out of ink. It's just as well, as I couldn't really taste it anyway. Note to self, get the Oktoberfest, then the Brown Ale. I won't count this one against Spaten.