Live blogging from the iPad: Allagash

Screw that damn ipad. I'm on my Dell now. It wouldn't let me type in the screen. Just got back from San Fran on Sunday and I absolutely loved it. Speaking of today, I just finished an Abita Fall Fest and did not care for it. Too metallic for me. Anyway, let's finally crack open some of that Allagash I've got in the house

Beer Log: Right now
State: Hanging out with the wife and kid, a little HDNet Fights on the tube.

Allagash BLACK: Huge head on a sour smelling beer Nice and dark amber with big tan head (no homo). The nose has notes of plum, brown sugar, and caramel malt, and some roasted notes. We had this in our regular fridge and took it out of the fridge for about 20 minutes to give it a good sweating. The taste is a strong bitterness not necessarily from the hops, but kind of like a bitter root flavor going on. Like if you mess around and added too much cinnamon to your oatmeal. Second sip hits us with a nice brown sugar and malt, much better. I like the soft yet crisp nature of the beer. It's very drinkable and leaves a nice roasty/coffee flavor on the tongue. High 3 Stars for the combo belgian style stout.

As soon as I can get those damn beer reviews off the ipad, I'll go ahead and post my adventures in beer in San Francisco.

Hanging out in Houston

So last night I was able to get the Green Light to hit the mean streets of Houston. It was so great b/c it's American Craft Beer week and the Sauce was having an Allagash night. Turns out I had never had Allagash at the Saucer, though I've had plenty of their stuff in the past. I just can't get over how great Allagash Odyssey was. Finally I'm getting back into Belgian Strong dark ales. I've been doing the Tripel thing for a while. Anyway, it had a very nice combination of big poofy tan head, near black color, with a choco, raisin, and banana thing going on. Very very sweet. Kinda makes me want to see if we have it somewhere in the house for a breakfast beer. I didn't notice the 10%+ ABV as I just inhaled that beer after the terrible traffic getting to the Saucer.

Afterward I went completely backwards and copped the Allagash White (hey it was only 3 bucks). It barely held its own after the Odyssey, with that banana bread thing going on. A pinch of sour and a nice soft body to it. Fast forward and I'm thinking I'm going to be passing out at the Astros game, but we go ahead and get the Allagash Black. Tastebuds were blown at that point, only was a little chocolatey and roasty.

Afterward a quick trip to Minute Maid park to watch the Astros ACTUALLY WIN A GAME! And it was against Tampa Bay Rays. Their pitcher hit a couple of our guys including Brett Myers our pitcher, and I just kept yelling about how this is the National League, and the Rays pitcher has to get on that plate at some time. I was hoping Myers would at least give that chump a close shave with a 90 miler, but alas he let him off the hook. Which is why we are sitting pretty with only 16 wins going toward Memorial day and Roy Oswalt wants to be traded. Then again, we were 15-35 the year we went to the World Series, so who knows.

I was pretty tapped out, so we went for cigars and at Downing Street to cap off the night. Turns out the condos at Kirby and Westheimer have come up very nicely (if not bankrupt), and there is a great LAish feel while sitting at Taco Milagro and/or Downing Street. A little Grand Marnier with my Romeo y Julieta worked out well, while all the hot women seemed to be wearing red dresses. For a while there I thought Milagro had had it's time in the sun, but around midnight they had their little dance floor packed and plenty of folks posted up outside enjoying more drinks. I need to drag-ass back over there at some point like we used to do.

Got home at a decent hour and wanted to get the cigar and Marnier taste out of my mouth, so a Red Hook Mudslinger Spring seasonal worked out well enough. To cap off Craft beer week, we'll be hitting up Two Rows for lunch and Gingerman for their anniversary party. Word on the street is that Two Rows has a new head brewer. Curious if they have any special beers on tap.
Holla

Good Belgian

We hit the Specs Downtown to see what's poppin, and we grabs a Dubbel, a Triple, and a Quadruple. Seeing as how all of these are pretty high in alcohol content, we only tried one tonight. I had the Dubbel a couple nights before (though I'll review it later), so we reached for the Trip.

Allagash Tripel Reserve Batch #114
Bottle to Wine Goblet
Status:Eating Chicken breast basted in leftover Shiner Bock and Oatmeal Stout

Big head, malty smell oh yeah. A little sourness, (Bret I think that is). Light gold color with cloudiness. Head ain't going nowhere. Smooth, sweet, moderate drinkability.Feels good. Slight bitterness on AT. High-med fine carbonation. Oh yeah. No real taste of alcohol, nice and smooth. We're thinking 4 star here. Maybe some slight honey and fruit but not much. Getting better as it warms, more fruity. It was served in the upper 38ish degrees it was from my fridge. Kinda like Leffe but a little better done and a little more hops.

A little bit later I stood up and walked around, and am now feeling the 9% alcohol. Igot to get to work today, and I don't want to put a wine stopper in it and risk it going bad. The wife is not feeling it as much, she liked the Ommegang we had at a house party better.

I have some extra WW points so I knocks to what amounted to 24 ounces of this stuff. The wife is wearing her revealing gear while watching Good Eats, so I'm probably not going to be blogging much longer. Just waiting for that baby to go to sleep. Dammit man that's good beer. I have a double and a quadruple at the house for comparison, so right now, this one is 4 stars. I need a stash of this at the house at all times