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).

Beering in San Francisco

I'm finally getting my nose above water. I've been staying up past midnight every night doing work for the job, and although I've been drinking some great beerrs, I've not had the chance or energy to do anything more than twitter. @beerbrotha

But I FIND MYSELF this morning in San Francisco, California. We flew in last night and after making sure the baby was with Grandma, the wife and I grabbed another friend of ours and hit the damn streets. I left my notebook at home but my wife brought her ipad, and I just took my notes on that. As I sit here, I can clearly see that the wife got up this morning and took her IPAD with her to her conference today, which means I don't have my notes.

We tried beers like Trumer and Speakeasy at this nice little restaurant Annabelles, from there we walked to the 2-1-A, the 21st Amendment. It was great to be in Brewing Network lore. The beers were alright, I loved the Cascadian Dark. Afterward we hit this little Indian place that had Taj Mahal beer on tap. The Kingfisher was pretty tasty actually. Dark amber color, a little metallic at first that went away. The Flying Horse was like cornmeal in beer form.

Afterward we did some assdragging over to Thirsty Bear, where I liked the Polar Bear Lager and we just got samplers of everything else. Not bad stuff. Will probably hit that one again since we ended up burning through samplers. Afterward we walked on up to Rogue's. Very cool spot if not rather subdued. They've got a ton of Rogue beer on tap, that was also very nice. I had the bitter. It was alright.

Hold on...

...okay I just got back from running "The Nob" or Nob's Hill. That is NOT to be effed with. Well I'm off to check out a little bit of the Giants Parade (may as well watch someone enjoy winning), and then I'm onward to do some beering somewhere in around the Golden Gate Park.

It's Friday, Imperial IPA please

Well, last night we figured we would just stay home and crack open a few bombers. So I went down to Coaches Pub on Barker-Cypress and I-10 to pick up a couple pounds of crawfish and had at it.

Beer Log: Last Night
State: Pretty tired after the job, week of hard work getting that oil.

Rogue Ale Northwestern Ale
Great caramel and choco nose, with huge poofy tan head. I would saythe color is caramel as well. I like the big caramel malt up topwith a pinch of choco, and it is followed by harsh pointed grapefruit hops, not cascade. Moderate carbo. I actually think the hops actually screw this oneup a bit. Just too unbalanced near the end there, but I like the hard grapefruit. I'm sure it fits a style, but what? Kinda likea beer with all the leftovers. High 3 Stars.

So the wife looked this beer up and it turns out most consider it an India Red Ale. I think that description is spot on. Biting caramel, a little chocolate, ruddish color, and biting hops. No softness anywhere.

Rogue Imperial Red Ale
Not to be confused with Northwestern, but this is the IRA in the fancy claylike bottle. We bought this one nearly 2 years ago and let it age in our cellar (on top of our cabinets in the kitchen). Dark brown color with tan bubbly head. Nose is caramel. The taste is a robust maltiness and a muted yet strong hops. Not much more I can really say about it than it is an aged version of the Northwestern, without the chocolate. 4 Stars.

Ska Decadence
Switching gears and losing sobriety, I really want to see what this one with the skeleton and the waxed up bottle cap. Dark amber color with a white head. Steel hops and malty nose. The taste is steely hops as well, thought not metal. The beer tastes much softer after the hardcore Red Ale's I've been drinking. Pleasant. 4 Stars.

As per all black men over the age of 25, whenever I think of "ska", I think of my babymomma Gwen Stefani...

Prepping for Dynamo Game: Orange Honey Ale

I'm halfway through a bomber of Somer Orange Honey Ale by Rogue. This beer clocks in pretty light and airy. I do get some orange and a pinch of honey sweetness that I would probably miss if "Honey" was not in the name of the beer. It has some pepper to it (a new flavor I've been detecting these days). Light hops and some body. Low 3 Star for what I gather is or should be a summer seasonal. I imagine ol' girl on the cover doing the black power fist is Somer. Nothing like doing a beer brewed for a woman. Men just love it as it combines two of our most favorite things, beer... and beer brewing.

Dynamo are in the playoffs against the durn Seattle "Already the most popular team" Sounders. The MLS has decided they hate the Dynamo as we are ALWAYS on the road, and this game is no exception. Hopefully we can get a big lead in the aggregate and take it to those chumps here in Houston. We gotta just jump on 'em right now. Of course in an attempt to mix things up, I bought some St Arnolds for Houston, and Widmer for what I thought was Seattle. Only to find out that Widmer is from Portland, OR. So I will be drinking Pyramid Juggernaut versus St. Arnold Christmas for the game tonight. Not sure how I'll drink it up, maybe pour a beer for every team's shot on goal. We'll see.

Drinking out of the can/bottle

I'm sitting here about 3-4 beers in before I have to go back to the water for a 2 week stint. I enjoyed some great beers over the weekend, including the Sam Adams Triple Chocolate Stout. It wasn't quite as chocolatey as I thought it would be, but fantastic for a desert beer.

Today I've been drinking beers like Heineken Dark, Oskar Blue's Mama's Little Yella Pils, and Michelob Marzen all out of the can or bottle. All I can say is that the Pils and Marzen were A LOT better out of the can/bottle than in a glass. In a glass I found both of them boring. But the Mama's had a great extra maltiness to it out of the can. The Marzen has the same thing. Nice and flavorful for a session beer. What I want to know is: why is it that some beer taste better straight out of the bottle or can? A few weeks ago the wife picked up some Fat Tire in a can and it was fantastic. One sec...

Beer Log: Right now
State: ever so slightly tipsy

St. Rogue Red Ale (dry hopped)
Moderate malt nose, not as hoppy on the nose as I would think. Slight cloudy dark amber color with a big tan head. Taste is extremely overly hopped. Big on the citrus and piney hops. Nowhere near the maltiness I smelled on the beer. Moderate to high carbonation with an excellent crisp finish. I'm they dry hopped it up, but the nose to flavor experience suggests there were a lot more hops in the boil. The malt is a little caramely. The beer leaves me feeling pretty dry as well. 3 Star if you are eating spicy food.

So how is it that some session beers are so much better out of the bottle? We think that when you put a beer in a glass, it opens up with exposure air. Just like wine, beer can breathe and give off flavors and scents. But we figure that certain low flavor craft beers will give away to nothing the little bit of flavor they have left if you put it in a glass and swirl it about. Straight out of the bottle I get a light choco/syrup from Shiner Bock, and I get an excellent smooth maltiness from Fat Tire. On tap or poured into a glass, they go down a full star rating. Amazing how that works. I guess we beer lovers and connoisseur's won't have to risk alienating ourselves when we drink out of the bottle for tailgating season. Anyway, more beering to come. I owe you guys my beer posts from Toronto. Holla.