Beering on Dupont Circle: Brickskeller!!!

AT LAST!!!!

The beer bar that has eluded my many trips to the Marlyand area for years, and I finally make it down there with the wife and a couple of friends. SOMEBODY PLAY MY F*CKING MUSIC!!!

The Brickskeller has been said to be the best beer bar in America. We got over 1000 beers in the place. I don't really know what to expect as we dragass on foot from the metrorail station at Dupont circle. I'm loving the atmosphere of Dupont cirlce. Beautiful brownstones, great restaurant scene, lots of metro people walking the streets on a sunny Saturday afternoon. I can't help but wonder how many Senators and Reps are living in this area. Lot's of money, probably over $1 million per unit. And damned if there's not a Krispy Kreme's right there. Timeout

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Beer Log: June 28, 2010

State: eating spaghetti, catching up on DVR's of MMA fights I've missed

Svyturys Maksimum

Picked this up at Specs some time ago. High alcohol at 7.5%. I drank this one one time before but cannot remember it being all that good, kind of like a Lithuanian Malt Liquor, if that makes any sense. Sugar sweet nose on top of a clear straw colored beer with a HUGE white long lasting head (no homo). The nose has some caramel malt in there as well. Beer has a sickenly sweet taste to it. Like I'm drinking sugar water before the kool-aid was put in it. Makes me grimace a little bit. A little too sweet for my taste, especially considering the thin body and lack of hops. 2 Stars.

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Ok I'm back. Actually I poured that beer out, so that's officially a 1 Star beer. So I kept myself from doing any research about Brickskeller beyond the address and the taplist. I had no idea what this place really looked like. And lo and behold it's a damn DUNGEON. We dragass downstairs in a thin stairway through a creaking door, to a poorly lit street level bar. No taps at all. The decor is dark brown stonewalls with rectangular shadow boxes with beer bottles and beer cans. The waitress sits me in the very back of the cutout area, no natural light, in the very back. Very few people in there at the time. I'm thinking that if I eat the food here I could never leave.

The wife and I ask for Bells Two Hearted but they were out, so I just figured I would shoot for something I've never seen before. Not much in the way of local area beer I've never had before, so we roll with it:

Beer Log: June 19, 2010
State: Chillin' at the Skeller, eating french fries

Utica Club Pilsener by Saranac
Yeah I've been going dutch lately with my food choices with my beer, just straight up french fries. Anyway I order this one b/c I'm a still pretty hot after the walk outside. Clear and straw, with a bready and somehow watery smell. The beer is not bad at all. Clean finish, balanced. Good hops and bread. A pinch of funk. 3 Stars.

Next up:
Bell's Pale Ale
If I can't get the double IPA, I'll take the Pale Ale. Nose is metallic, funky hops, and cardboard. With Bell's reputation and the dust on the bottle, I take it this beer has sat in the fridge for quite some time, or maybe warmed up. Clear straw color. The taste is a warmish hoppiness with an English PA smoothness. Lemony and grapefruit hops. No rating as I think it's just over-aged.

As we beered it up, the crowd filled up the place on that Saturday afternoon. Turns out the rest of the place has some good light, we were just off in the cut. Probably a good place to bring one of your girlfriends, unless Cheaters finds you, then you have nowhere to run. Otherwise I noticed a couple of folks enjoying dinner and nursing a bottle of Shiner Bock each. I don't think I ever tried to appreciate a beer for an hour like that unless it was a Barleywine. They even got an ice bucket that's typically used for champagne. Great food selection, may try the Buffalo Burger next time. Maybe even stay at the Inn they've got upstairs. And of course, LOVE THE BEER.

Beering in Buffalo: Part 1

Ah back in the old Great Lakes. After our reunion in Atlanta, I took the baby on a plane up to Buffalo, NY to spend the week with my mother and grandmother. The baby does really well on airplanes and I figured that since I had the days off, why not. I haven't been back to Buffalo since I was a kid. My mother was actually driving back from Atlanta with her fiance, so I stayed at my grandmother's house in Williamsville. When we got there, we decided to get some food and made our way over to Pizza Plant.

Pizza Plant came up on my Ratebeer searches for a beer bar in Williamsville. A web search of the Plant shows that they are HUGE into craft beer, with brewer's nights and whatnot. The place was jam packed with flare and whatnot. We ordered the BBQ chicken pizza and I had a couple of great beers, Inferno Pale Ale and Flying Bison Aviator Red. I couldn't really get the review down but the beers went pretty well with the BBQ.

The next day the baby went to the daycare my grandmother owns and I tried to get some work done. To get out of the house, I hopped in the car and went on to the Buffalo Brewpub, which is also in Williamsville.

Buffalo's first brewpub had a nice wooded kind of decor. I counted 34 taps on the wall with 4 of their own beers and several other local beers. It was somewhat early in the afternoon, so you know the kind of dudes that hang out drinking in a bar at 3PM on a workday. So I belly up to the bar and order the flight.

Weisse
Bartender put a lemon on the glass, but if that's how they drink it... Nice banana and clove flavor. Low hops and a very good medium body. It tastes great cold and is kind of tingly on the tongue, nullus. Give me a High 3 Star even with the lemon.

Lager
Big white lasting head with lots of bubbles. The nose is bready and lemony. Taste is a big bread flavor without much else. The aftertaste is pretty bready as well. Low to medium hops. A little puckering feeling which to me means a hint of sourness. 3 Stars.

Amber
No head but a cookie nose (I know that's not specific). Medium body with a puckering sourness. Kinda like stale bread. 1 Star. I overheard some other guys saying they didn't like the Amber as well. They gotta work on this one.

Pale
Got to give them some props for the creative names. Cloudy orange color. No head, no nose but a sour hop flavor. And to think, we started off so well. Not cool. The beers are getting more sour on me. Kinda reminds me of Kona's Passion fruit wheat beer. No rating.

Stout
Deep ruby red color. Nose is sweet chocolate, cinnamon, and fruit. Flavors of chocolate, coffee and some lingering light malt. Very easy to drink with low hops. Full Body, 3 Star.

Three out of Five ain't bad. I'll say their top three beers are 1) Weisse, 2) Lager, and 3) Stout.

While I'm still here:

Saranac Pomegranate Wheat
Nose is pomegranate I guess. Who the hell knows what that smells like? Cloudy gold color with a big white head. There is an OK fruit flavor but a little light for a wheat beer. More like a bready beer. High carbonation and moderate drinkability. 2 Stars.

Flying Bison Rusty Chain
Nose is bready. Good citrus hops suddenly behind a light malt. Copper color. Low 3 Star.


To wrap it up, this place was pretty damn nice. I didn't order any food (still full from the reheated pizza), but it works for me. I'm sure I would enjoy frequenting this place from time to time. Looking forward to getting onto Ontario the next day.

Beering at Maryland after the Inauguration

Still clearing out the notebook. These reviews came from the Maryland area during the Obama Inauguration. The next day I just HAD to go back to DuClaw for some beering. They were the first place I ever reviewed formally, actually writing it down. I remember getting very fired up and thinking they were the best brewpub I've been to. Time for a little update now that I've been reviewing beers all over the world (at least the US and Paris) since then...

January 21, 2009

First off we had one more Saranac

Saranac Vanilla Porter
Deep brown and opaque. Seriously strong poofy tanish grey gead. Nose has a light choco and maybe some butter and veggie. Getting a hint of fruit as well. Tasting it I first notice the full body and strong bitterness, as well as a bitter finish. I can get a strong roast and subtle vanilla as well. As you get used to the bitterness with more drinking, I got some serious malt in the background. 3 Stars.

Now onto Du Claw. I loved these guys a lot but I do wonder what it will be like after a full year of reviewing beer all over the world (okay Texas and France).

RESPECT THE FLUID
We started out with a sampler like we did the last time.

Kangaroo Kove
A new style in the Australian tradition. Straw and clear colored with no smell. I rarely get a good nose off of the samplers anyway. Got to pay that price to sample all the beer. It's a little sour and bready. Another few sips and it's basically a bad kind of hops and water. 1 Star man. Right out the gate, DuClaw hit me with a beer that I put on the same level as Desperados and Southern Star Rauchbier.

Alchemy
I must have written all this down wrong, b/c I"m not seeing any of these on my last review. Oh well. Black color with light tan head. It has a strong malt and chocolate on the nose. Finally tasting it I get a full body and some citrus. It has a low malt but is way to sour and astringent for me. Not to mention the high carbonation. 2 Star.

Hellrazer
A little cloudy with a cascade hops and malt nose. Oh yeah baby. Strong hops on the tongue that is pretty unbalanced. Decent bitter finish. It has a nice lacy white head. The 2nd draught has some subtle fruit as well. Not bad at all. 3 Star

Venom IPA
Ah the "Venom". When I first had this, I used to think this venom (strong hops) was some blow your back out hops. After a year of drinking things from Avery, Green Flash, Sierra Nevada, Stone, and Victory. Not so much. It has a grassy hop nose. It actually smells kind of soda like. It's a little redder than hellrazer. Finally tasting it and I get a strong hops and a very smooth mouthfeel. Somewhere in there is a touch of bread, but these days I need some balance in my life. Strong hops... and strong malt. 3 Star.

Old Flame
Another new one. Copper and clear with a white very lasting low head. There little aroma. I taste it and there is a sense of malt. No real sweetness. It's more malty as it eat with the Thai style mussels. Low 3 Star.

Devil Milk
Oh what name. Nothing like the milk coming from wherever Satan lactates. Smells very sweet and almost appley. Copper-red color. WOW! All that alcohol in this one. Good medium body and maltiness. Lacy head. It's a very warming beer. High 3 Star.

Wrapping it all up, I'm glad we were able to head back to Du Claw. Looks like they are mixing things up quite a bit. Top three beers from this trip...

3. Hellrazer
2. Venom IPA
1. Devil Milk

That's Devil Milk is pretty painful stuff. I'm glad I had it on sampler or I wouldn't have made it back to the car. Great for drinking in the winter time. I could use some of that action while sitting outside on a chilly day. As per the rules of being a black blogger, I have to play a music video at some point.

And while we're here, I got me some Magic Hat

Magic Hat HI.P.A.

Perfect orange and some cloudiness in the appearance. Strong white foamy head. There is a nice citrus hop on the nose. It ahs a good malt balance to the strong citrus hops. Nice lace as well. The aftertaste has some hops and a touch of bread. High 3 Star. I was kinda hoping the Magic Hatters would have f'ed around and put some funky adjuncts in there like they like to do: calamine lotion, eyelashes, spaghetti sauce. Who knows.

Beering at the Inauguration

Well I'm back in town and looking forward to doing more blogging. I think I have about 20 beer reviews in my notebook going back to New Year's day. I have been studying pretty hard for the Professional Engineering Licensing exam. For those that are not in the know, this is a license for engineers that is on par with the Bar Card for Lawyers, or the Doctor's license for...um... Doctors. The test is extremely difficult as it is put together by engineers who are trying to find those that are competent enough by the state of Texas to do engineering for the public. I'm spending about 8 hours a day on my days off and 3 hours a day when I'm working studying for this puppy. I still get some good beering in after hours. But onward to the Inauguration.

We left our house in Houston to hit the airport on early Monday evening. It was a nice 70 Degrees outside, but I was wearing a sweatshirt, jeans, and leather coat b/c I knew what was coming. We get to BWI and it is cold as all get out. On the way back from the airport, we decided to try and hit Brickskeller in DC that night. We would leave the baby with her grandma, and the wife and I would got to the massive beer bar in DC and stay there all night, hit a breakfast diner, and be at the mall for the inauguration. Sadly, the Metro shutdown at Midnight, and we could not get there in time. So we took a 4 hour nap and got up a 4AM to start making our way to the trains.

The trains had lines going back a quarter mile, but it was moving pretty fast.

We got on the train and it was really packed. Again, no big deal.

I don't think there were that many black people on a train since the last 50 Cent concert on the L Train in Chicago.

We get into DC and it is pretty hype already with the mass of people. The capital building is lit up in the night, and there is a crush of Bootleg shirts, hats, calendars and whatnot. We make our way into the Mall at about 7AM and it is already pretty cold. We do not have tickets, so we just have to post up in the mall with the crowd. Luckily that had a bunch of monitors ready to go. Before the festivities began, they had a bunch of tips for staying warm and whatnot, including eating. Neither the wife or I drank anything as the port-o-potties were so far away. Some folks were very industrious and brought blankets and whatnot.

There was a gentleman with an American Flag superimposed on the Kenyan flag walking very rapidly through the crowd. In a gruff East African voice he just kept saying: "My President is Black, I am from Africa. My President is Black, I am from Africa. My President is Black, I am from Africa." Needless to say, he had NO problem negotiating the crowd and moving up to the front. I wouldn't be surprised if they just went ahead and let him on the stage. Wasn't nobody going to try this guy.

Anyway, they fire up the monitors and show that whole "We Are One" show they did a couple days earlier. I was making jokes the whole time, and folks were enjoying the music. I had no idea Garth Brooks had that much soul. Some time while we were freezing, they started bringing in the VIPs. They were showing them pull up in black Explorers. And we eventually saw the Beast show up, Obama's Cadillac. You can be the president all you want, all black men over the age of 40 desire a Cadillac.

The inaug was nice. Some folks were chanting boo and "Hey hey hey, Goodbye" to Jorge W. Bush. I was telling folks that we've come to take Bush back to Texas with us. But really I was there to see a brotha get inaugurated. He's already gone a lot more center than his rhetoric during the campaign, as I knew he would. So my conservative sensibilities are at ease.

We are very proud of what he has done and what he continues to do. But if exiting DC was a first sign of things to come, we've got some problems. Exiting the city on the train was an all out nightmare. They closed the bigger metro train stops at the Mall, but didn't tell us. Nobody knew what was going on, and we eventually said screw it and walked our way to the stop at RFK stadium, a good 19 blocks from the capital building. It was hardcore stuff, and somebody fell out. But there were no cops to help anybody, they were all at the parade and guarding the VIPs. We later learned that Ted Kennendy fell out at the lunch, and he should have had a hat on. Regardless, it was a great time and it was nice being in the throng.

We made our way back to the train station and eventually to my wife's mother's fiance's car. We were tired, we were freezing, we had not eaten anything but granola bars, we had not had anything to drink or used a restroom in over 12 hours, and we just HAD to run by the local beer place to get some local beer to try that night. We stop by Latela's in Maryland and walk into the freezing cold walk-in beer cooler. We see a lot of stuff from Clipper City and whatnot, but I really preferred a variety pack. When it comes to picking up beers in new places, I just prefer beer that I cannot get at home. So we got a variety pack from Saranac.

When we finally got home, the parade had just started. And who was one of the first marching bands to go through. My Alma mater's Marching Band. I was in the band myself in 1998 and was loving how they held it down during the parade.

I went ahead and cracked open some Saranac and went at it...

Saranac Belgian Ale
Clear auburn color, super strong light tan-orange head. Smells include some subtle banana, fruit, and light sourness. On the mouth it's a little gritty, but nice banana. It's kind of hoppy with that icky aftertaste that may come from our old friend Cascade hop. Moderate drinkability and carbonation. It's belgianess increases and hoppiness decreases the more you get used to. Great first one out the gate. High 3 Star.

Saranac ESB
Haven't had an ESB in some time. Clear auburn color again. With head with some fruitness on the nose. It tastes like a basic English ale with nothing much going on one way or the other. Just a little roasty with low hops. There is a nice medium body and the hop character comes out a bit better as it warms. Low 3 Star.

Troegenator Doublebock
Got this one as well as the store. Dark copper color. Light white head that goes down fast. Nose has some sweetness notes, like light syrup. Nice moderate mouthfilling body. I enjoy the somewhat sweet malt with a touch of chocolate. There is also a light choco in the quick finish. 3 Star.

Much later on that night before clocking out, I had to grab one more beer.

Saranac Bohemian Pilsner
Clear straw color with a veggie smell. White poofy head. It has that basic pilsner smell with the light bread and hops. There is a touch of sourness that brings it down a peg. 2 Star.