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.

Live Blogging: A couple Oktoberfests

Sitting here feeling pretty good on the weekend overall. My undergrad got blasted by South Carolina State, but Georgia Tech showed out against Virginia Tech. Now all we need is THE U to have a bad day and Tech is in the drivers seat for a BCS bowl bid. Not to mention that the Texans beat down on the Bengals, Carolina got the win, and now Randy Moss just got a third touchdown and he's on my fantasy team. My fantasy team last week got about 11 points, today we are over 100 and Isabella FC is right back in the drivers seat for a playoff bid.

Anyway, I'm been slacking just a bit on my Oktoberfest posts b/c my friend has all the good pictures on his camera, and he's studying for the PE exam, so I don't think we'll be seeing him until October 24 at Dontoberfest, my annual beer party.

Last night we went to an EXCELLENT beer dinner hosted by Pappas Steakhouse. This steakhouse is constantly rated as the top steakhouse in Houston. And in a city that has cows and ranches inside the city limits, that's really saying something. Post about that one coming soon.

So today I think I'll kick back and have myself a few Oktoberfest beers, get ready for the long work week.

State: Eating some spaghetti with Shiner 100 turkey meatballs

Bob 47 Oktoberfest

Boulevard Brewing is back on the um... boulevard, with another seasonal. I still can't get over how great their beers had been, as I just did not like the first couple Bully's that I had. Anyways...big poofy head in my Tar Heels 2005 Championship Mug. Clear amber color with some maltiness on the nose. It's pretty toasty for an oktoberfest, and has a nice caramel finish. Moderate to high carbo. I actually get something akin to chocolate on my tongue 60 seconds after drinking it. Very lightly hopped. With the spagh it doesn't quite hold up as a foil or a compliment. However pleasant slightly weaker Oktoberfest, but still true to style. 3 Stars.

And while we're at it...

Left Hand Oktoberfest

Rather light caramel malty nose despite the mondo tan head. Clear amber beer.

(Sidebar: I used to hate on Brett Favre for coming back and toying with teams' emotions. But now, you know what, if you still want to your thing, whatever it is, and there is an organization willing to give you that opportunity...why not. What are you going to do when you retire? Travel and play golf. Okay that covers 2 months, so what about the other 20 years?)

I get a chewier okto compared to the Bully's. A thicker body with a nice sweet Munich malt (basically caramel) and light hops. No real aftertaste. On second slug I'm getting some sourness lingering under the bread and malt. Aw man. Low 3 Stars

Left Hand Warrior: Can You Dig It

Beer Log: March 22, 2009
State: Trying to relax after driving back from Houma, LA

Everybody in the house knows when Daddy finally makes it to the Specs to pick out a few beers: LINE UP THE IPAs. The left handed bandits never fail me and I see they have Twin Sisters and Warrior IPA. In my beer evolution, I do like having a beer that features only one hop. Kinda like how Sierra Nevada will bash you over the head with Cascade hops, to the point that you'll always know it when you taste it (hello Budweiser Am Ale).

Left Hand Warrior IPA
Nose is moderate citrus, kinda like lime with some pine/grass thing going on. It has a nice poofy head sitting atop a tinged red amber color. Once the head gets a little out of the way, I can taste a nice citrus hops, with a low malt. There's no rush of hops or hop bite, but the finish leaves a hoppy residue in your mouth. (nullus) Light body, but I'm not getting much in the way of bread, biscuit, or caramel, just hops. Kinda like a hop tea. As it warms I do get more bread and light caramel with saves the day. I started drinking it at 42 deg F, which probably means it reached its best around 50 deg. I'm sorry, open bottles of IPAs don't last long around me to get up to 60 deg. In fact, any IPA that is chilled and somehow ends up OUTSIDE the fridge or kegerator will not last long. High 3 Star for the old hop bomb. I can dig it.

Oh, and unless I'm mistaken, Left Hand is selling their brew system to St Arnold Brewery in Houston for their expansion to that new facility just north of downtown. That's what it's all about man! Brew Love Man!


And Later on

Heiner Brau Kolsch
One time for a Louisiana brewery. A little funky and candy sweet nose. The taste has some light bread and hops to accompany its smooth body. Great drinkability as a kolsch should, with no aftertaste. This is a just a better version of your normal swill. At this point I was already starting to develop a taste for dark lager and bocks though. High 2 Star.

UFC 97 Beering

My main man Anderson Silva is fighting tonight, as well as one of my other favorites Chiek Kongo. Unlike last time, I don't have any beer from the home countries of the main event participants. Both Anderson Silva and Thales Leites are from Brazil, and I actually had Xingu yesterday at Lucky's Pub. Turns out it tastes kinda like Shiner Bock.

So, no sense in crying over spilled milk. Let's IPA it up shall we...

KONGO WINS, KONGO WINS, KONGO WINS. That's how you get it done Kongo!!! I'm getting me some Double IPA.

Left Hand Twin Sisters Double IPA
The Southpaws put together a very pale straw color with some chill haze. Nice superstrong white head. Nose is nice citrus hops and strong caramel malt. The wife tried it first and she couldn't stand it with all the hops, so I'm looking forward to this puppy. Can't wait for the main events tonight. Monster hops with enough sweet malt to balance. The aftertaste is a little cloying sweetness with some nice bitter hoppiness as well. Some of the taste reminds me of the Rio Blanco Pale Ale from Real Ale (Texas represent!), which makes me think of some rye in the beer. It's basically a more hardcore version of the Rio Blanco, which ain't a bad thing. I've got 22 ounces of this one, so this may be the only new beer of the night. I've already down some Choco porter and my homebrew IPA. More drinks of this beer makes me think that it is certainly a double (or imperial) IPA, but on the lower end of the hardcore bigness. Maybe I'm just getting used to the whole "Big Beer" thing. High 3 Star. Would be 4, but not feeling that aftertaste.

While I keep drinking, I'm looking forward to doing more beering in Houston. We plan on hitting some of the beer bars. Yesterday the wife and I made it to Angelos (beer bar next door to the Sauce) and dropped by Lucky's for a pint, who advertises that they have 3 more beers than the Sauce. I would have made it to the Sauce today, but the rain was just too thick. Tomorrow the wife and I will try to squeeze in a trip to Coaches Pub for some crawfish and to take a look at their beer selection. I just have a serious hankering for some crawfish. I even made it to the Houston International Fest today, in which the feature country was Ireland. Although it rained like Mother Nature had PMS, so they eventually shut it down. But I was able to squeeze in a pint of Guiness at the Mucky Ducks tent, another beer bar. Fantastic stuff going on in Houston, and maybe the more we look, the more beer bars we see.

The wife picked up one of those magazines which features clubs and bars, and it turns out we have a gay beer bar in the Heights, Beer Island. Of course that means I have to check it out, just have to make sure the wife is with me. Hey, nothing wrong with hanging out with the gays occassionally, just can't do it too often. Who wants to hear that much techno. I'm sure these various bars have mostly swill beer and may have 2 or 3 beers I've never tried (unlike the Sauce which has about 100 I haven't tried), but it's worth the trip. We even have a "The Yardhouse" coming to town in December at CityCentre. Hot shit.

My trips to New Orleans and Las Vegas were great and once I get through this PE exam, I'll catch up on those posts. Real funny stories come along with those reviews, including shots of tequila, me doing my best to get divorced, to waking up f'ed up everyday.

The wife and I plan on taking a tour through the German Texas towns in the Hill Country for our anniversary in June. That will include towns like New Braunfels, Fredricksburg, and maybe Shiner. We'll probably wrap it up in Austin just to go there again.

Chuck Liddell just came out, always exciting to see what he's got going on.

Beering in Atlanta: Taco Mac

Back at the Mac here in the ATL. I got a few of my friends from undergrad and grad school together to enjoy some brews with the Brotha. No better place to hang out and watch the Panthers game than Taco Mac. The place we not too packed, and the waitress knew her beer. Only problem is, I ordered the tacos. How is it that the tacos at TACO Mac suck so much? Their paraphanelia and whatnot suggest that they are all about Buffalo Wings, but why did the tacos have to taste like Taco Bell? I wouldn't be surprised if the girl took my order, walked out the back door, ran by the drive through at Taco Bell, and brought it back on my plate. Damn shame.

Anyway, the restaurant and bar has lots of open space, conducive for large groups. You have to love what has to be 2 dozen big screen HD TVs. They even have about 5 TVs facing the window, so I guess the folks walking by on Peachtree St can check the score of the Thrashers game. There are no bad angles for watching any game. The menu is pretty simple barfood and features its buffalo wings. Unlike other wing joints, these wings don't come in 30 different sauces. There are just 5 levels of HOT. Last time I got the sauce called "Death" and had to chug down some IPAs just to keep up. But with my tacos this time I decided to make a run on their local and winter beers. On to the beer...

Red Brick Ale

Started out with this one on the full 16 oz from the Atlanta Brewing Company. It has a nice amber color but not much of a head. The smell and taste is malty and toasty, with a nice hop balance. This one goes down great as an ale and has a nice touch of syrup and medium bread. Nothing to knock you out of your seat and I imagine that is by design. 3 Stars.

My homegirl from grad school showed up first, and I ordered her a Sweetwater Blue. Got myself a couple of sips as well.

Sweetwater Blue

Straw colored with a low white head. It has nice not too powerful blueberry nose. The taste is basically a light blueberry and makes for a very drinkable blonde ale. Just plain nice fruit beer. I can see the Sweetwater boys did not go overboard with the blueberry like others have done with other blond fruit beers. 3 Stars.

At this point more of the crew is showing up and it is time to revive the Winter/Christmas beer tastings. I'll go outside the state for the first one...

Lagunitas Brown Sugga

Can certainly appreciate the spelling. Amber colored with a smell of sugar, malt and alcohol. The taste reminds me of saaz hops (that piney citrus hop) with some malt. This one is very smooth and I can tell that even in a 2 oz sampler. I gets high on ya love. High 3 Star.

Sweetwater Festive

Back to the local boys with this sampler of their winter beer. Dark brown and opaque. Roast and toffee smell. This thing has a high brown sugar thing going on at first. Then it hit me, this tastes like Absinthe. Someone break out the Anne Rice novels and Italian style New Orleans paste. The malt is strong in this one and I will rate it a high 3 star for now. I got another bottle of this one that I will smuggle into Texas, so I may have to review it again.

Terrapin Oaked Hoppy Monster

What's the good word? To Hell with Georgia! Of course that's the University (sic) of Georgia to be precise. But they do have a good brewery in Athens, GA, and this is their winter seasonal. Ruby color. Very nice look. Smells of moderate hops and strong malt. The taste is also a moderately hopped caramelly beverage, with a residual MALT on the aftertaste. I like the way they put this one together in that the malt is the aftertaste. It should do really well in Georgia, where it seems I cannot find a truly hoppy beer. But this is an excellent winter beer interpretation with the hops they added, I'm thinking Centennial. Maybe it's because I have nightmares of the unnatural ass whoopin I got at grad school in Georgia Tech every time I visit Atlanta, but I'm giving 4 Stars for the Dawgs.

Lefthand Snowbound Ale

At this point in the night my notebook notes were getting pretty scratchy and all the women started looking really good. This Lefthander Wowed me with the cinnamon and nutmeg. I actually wrote down in my book "Ho Ho Ho Motherf8cker". Malty beverage. Oh yeah, the color is black with a white head. Did not get a rating written down. Certainly a wow beer as this hits you hard with the sweet spice flavor, even after I had all those winter beers already.

I can certainly say I've got some strong candidates for top winter and Christmas beers out of this trip to the ATL. Kind of surprising as I figured the warm weather beers (wheat beers and ambers) would be their better ones. I've got reviews for Park Tavern and Five Seasons coming up. The night at Taco Mac was excellent as usual, and I may slide by there again as I joined their beer passport club. I officially had 6 beers, the samplers count, so all I need are 7 more and I get a T-shirt or something. I think I ordered the shirt size as "extra medium". As long as they don't try to push anymore tacos on me it should be straight.

The Malt of the Earth Club

Beer Log: January 24, 25, 2008
State: Eating Dinner both times

So my wife has me in this club that sends you some random beer every other month. Gotta love that. When in the blue hell would I ever go to Vermont. Do they even have brothas up there? Probably a couple.

Otter Creek Copper Ale
We were eating some ribs with brocolli and corn, good woman.
Never had "Copper" Ale, so I'm curious. Well it pours smooth, with a copper color (wow!). Malt and cinnamon flavor smell. It's got a damn near white head (cream color perhaps). It's got noticeable but light-medium hops, some malt. Has some medium carbo, and a (damn) metallic taste. I took several drinks before I could figure out what that was, damned if it ain't metallic. It has a bitter aftertaste with some spiceyness.

New night, we broke out the stuff. Left Hand
Gotta love the bright red hand on the bottle cap.
While munching on some chicken and fries, we hit the...

Left Hand Sawtooth Ale
It's got a dark straw color, with a poofy white head and spicy caramel scent. Suprisingly full bodied, with spice and medium hops. Just when you think you got away from it, there's a slight hops aftertaste on the back of the tongue. Wet (not dry) with maltiness and some light hops tasts after it warms up. Well done Left Hand.