UFC 106 Beering: Athens vs. SoCal

I'm here watching the Paulo Thiago fight getting ready for the co-main events. I'm actually more fired up for the Johnson v Koscheck fight. Both fighters are black I guess, so when situations like that occur, you pull for the darker skinned one, so go Johnson. Anyway, as is my little tradition when I watch UFC's at home, I try to find some beer from the areas of the main event fighters. The best one was when I had BJ Penn (Kona) and Georges St-Pierre (Unibrou). This tradition would be great if only we could get some fighters NOT from Brazil. How much Xingu can a brotha drink?

Tito Ortiz is from Huntington Beach in Southern California. Seeing as how they probably just drink Jamba Juice in Huntington Beach, I'm going with some Stone from San Diego. Griffin is from Athens, GA, so that's Terrapin all day long. Both beers are one-time releases, so it's all even to me.

Stone 13th Anniversary
Hell of a beer baby. The bottle says we should drink this in 2009, and we are coming on the end of the year, soon. The gargoyle on the bottle is holding up a beer mug, so that's what I'll drink this one out of. My North Carolina Tarheels 2008 NCAA Basketball champions beer mug to be exact. Pours deep dark ruby colored with lacy frothy head. Smell is just like Mrs. Buttersworth without the butter. Oh yes, a richly malty beer with a strong citrusy hops to cut. Low carbonation yet not cloying. Very very smooth as well. Hmm, only 9.5% ABV... I would have guessed they would have purposefully made it 13%. Amazing amazing beer. Probably should be in a snifter, but whatever. I can see I'll need to knock back this whole 22 ouncer. I just love how drinkable this beer is. So good I may even take the the time to read all that text on the bottle. 4 out of 5 Stars.

Aw snap man, here comes Anthony Rumble Johnson. This one is gonna be "the ballz". And now Kos is coming out to Stevie Wonder.

Terrapin Side Project Volume 6 90 Shelling Scotch Ale
Try saying that three times fast. This one is straight out of Athens, GA. Home of the Georgia Dawgs, and Forrest Griffin. I poured this black colored low head beer in my snifter. Nose is strong malt, cinnamon, and some cherry liquor. Taste, is none of that, just plain. I think the Stone blew my taste buds. Kinda sucks as this Scotch ale is a one time release we bought over the summer in Atlanta. The taste is malty and spicy. It has a great smoothness with a touch of dryness. 3 Stars.

Dammit man Johnson kneed Kos while he was down. I'm hoping Kos is good to go. If not, we'll have to do it again. Now in the second round Kos is poking in the eye. This fight is jacked up. Dammit, Josh Eyepoker Koscheck got the submission. Dammit all. Rumble will be back.

Well the wife hates the Stone as she hates all the hop bombs. She did like the Terrapin. I'll need to find the cork so I can put that in the fridge for her. Ok here comes Tito, the clear winner of the beer challenge with the Stone. Although it looks like Forrest is going to win on the cards. Oh well. It think the 45 bucks I laid down for this one would have been cheaper than going to a bar, ordering food, beer, and probably the DUI ticket thanks to all the beer I had watching the FAMU game.

To Getting Naked to Count to 21

You ever have one of those beers that the title coupled with the beer just has that appeal. For some, the downtown Specs had this huge display of "Drifter" in the corner near the freezer. A pale ale from Widmer should not disappoint. I just love that name "Drifter". Anyway...

Beer Log: February 26, 2009
State: At the house

Widmer Drifter Pale Ale
The Brothas give me a very orange citrus and piney hop nose. Strong tinged orange head with Baylor Gold clear color. The first thing you notice is the medium body followed by the rush of bread and citrus hops. (Ok, I must have been off b/c I get a lot more maltiness when I drink Drifter now...). Good tailgating beer. Funny how smells prepare you for a harsh hop and the taste doesn't deliver. It has a pretty quick finish as well. 3 Star.

Jomo Lager from Starr Hill
A Karrin Stefans amount of head with an orangish chill haze appearance. I get that caramel maltiness sweet smell that's kinda gentle. I think it soured and skunked up on me a bit. We got this one from a trade with a dude in Virginia and forgot about it. We've since put our low ABV stuff in one cabinet and the high ABV in another cabinet so we remember which ones to get to first. Back to the beer, I get some caramel and bready pilsner on the flavor. It has some bitterness but not biting. It's aiight. 2 Stars.

Terrapin Rye Pale Ale
Copped this one in Hotlanta on a trip to Georgia Tech. Terrapin is brewed by the dudes in Athens, Georgia (or Jawhja if you went to U(sic)GA). Copper color with white basic head. Nose is a little crisper with malt and bread. (then again I have a stuffy nose). High carbonation with some bite from the spice and the hops. Very tingly but not all that inspirational. Low 3 Star.

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.

Beering in Charlotte: Hit the Brixx, then Squeal on me

And here we go with the local beering. Big Money Rich Lyke recommended I check out Brixx. One of my homegirls from college said she would meet me at the Uptown location. Sounded cool until she told me she was bringing her boyfriend along, dammit man.

I had just come from meeting up with my old high school friends at the school. NOBODY was thinking about going to the football game that was going on that night as it was raining, and our school has the best program in the State, if not the country. Add to that we were playing an 0-8 team, so no one was worried about the game. After marvelling over how many people's names I forgot, I caught up with ol' girl and her man at Brixx. You have to love the fact that Charlotte is small enough to zip right Uptown from the suburbs in 15 minutes. I would have to pack a lunch to do the same in Houston.

I got there earlier than they did, so I belly up to the bar, beer notepad in hand an peruse the local beer on the menu. You got to love the fact that there are different distributors in Charlotte, and they get some of the different beers we don't get, like Bells and Magic Hat.

Beer Log: October 24, 2008
State: Chillin and anxious for the local beering.

Brixx had plenty of local brew, but there was one that seemed to be a staple craft beer. Go to start out with ye olde

Carolina Blonde
Got it on draft in a sampler glass. Clear gold, low head, with little to no smell I could detect. Taste is a nice light malt with medium hops (maybe Saaz). Follow that up with a light bitter bread thing going on in the finish. The hops is NICE, but more than most blondes I've had. I can see why this one is popular in Carolina. Solid 3 Star beer.

I'm not a big fan of samplers, but that's what I got for these Carolina Beers. I think Samplers are cool, but I think they lose too much of the head, which means a lack of smell. Lastly, you have the issue of not tasting the beer from being cold to warming up. Each beer has it's sweet spot in temperature, and most bars keep all beers at the same temp, very cold. So it is just another dynamic of beering that you can find that sweet spot.

Red Oak
Another local one, repping Greensboro. White head but can't get the scent as the head is gone. Amber color, kinda like that amber they found the mosquito in Jurassic Park. It's sour and bready. A little heavy on the biscuit with a low hop character. I'm still not there for these sour beers. And I was not expecting that biscuit. Not much flavor to be honest. I guess sour beers is an acquired taste on top of the acquired taste for beer in general. 2 star. Too bad b/c its purity law beer.

Highland Gaelic Ale
Big ups to Asheville, NC, the mecca of microbrews apparently. Excellent crimson color, kinda like that True Blood drink in the show. I'm getting alight malt on the nose but head is not there again. Taste is a nice low malt, but slight butter, followed by roast. Low noticeable hops, maybe Centennial or Cascade. As I keep sipping it, I'm getting more sourness as it warms up a touch. Low 3 Star.

Terrapin India Brown
Athens, GA baby. Brown color yet red in the light. Light tan head with a buttery smell. It has a buttery taste to go along with that. Low hops at the back of the palette. But WTF is going on with all this butter. It's not as malty or hoppy as the description would suggest, (a brown ale with IPA hops). I'm starting to see a pattern here, so I refrained from rating this one.

I gets the feeling there is something up with the lines or something in this place. Everything is tasting like butter. I ordered the BBQ Chicken pizza, and it was awesome (did not taste like butter).

While eating the pizza and talking about beer with my friends (when they finally showed up), I decided to try my first Bells beer.

Bells Porter
Figured it would go well with the beer. Got a full glass in a pint glass. Light-medium body, with a slight smoke and malt taste. Nothing to get fired up about. I think there was more butter in this one too. No rating.

All in all, the food and the decor was awesome. Kind of a snazzy slightly upscale restaurant with about 30 taps of craft beer. I don't know the deal with that butterness going on. I imagine it's the lines or something, but whatever. I'm sure I'll try these beers again some time down the road. And I'll be back at the Brixx.

After some sobering up, I caught back up with the old high school crew at the Stool Pigeons back in the 'burbs. This is a cool beer bar as well, just not as much selection. A few daps and people being all surprised that I curse these days and am more flirty, but whatever. Up to the bar to order a Carolina Blonde, and what do they have, a Carolina Blonde BLUEBERRY.

To my knowledge, this is my first blueberry beer. It basically tasted like the Carolina Blonde, but with some slight blueberry. Cool stuff.