Live Blogging: Holiday Porter

We interrupt this lovefest with Atlanta to review a beer that has been sitting in our kegerator for some time.

Sam Adams Holiday Porter
"Shouldn't that be Christmas Porter Mr. Adams?" I'm sitting here watching the Heisman and the baby is doing well, so why not crack open a Christmas beer before I head out for offshore tomorrow. Pours deep mahogany with a seriously thick tan head that is taking its sweet time going down. My nose doth detect honey, chocolate, light coffee, and cinnamon. There could be a citrus/piney hops note in there as well. The head is so thick and has such consistency that I have watched the entire Heisman trophy trailer. Wow, taste is surprisingly not all that. I get a medium bodied porter with that is a touch too hopped up. It's not IPA, but that citrus and biting hop is not what we were looking for. It's rather citrusy with moderate carbonation. Oh lord, all the Heisman guys listen to Kenny Chesney. This beer does not work for me. I think I'm tasting some chocolate powder as opposed to chocolate or roasted malt. The lighter body is nice, but it's a low 3 Star. Rather disappointing for me.

Beering in Atlanta: Park Tavern

Next night

Beer Log: Tuesday December 9, 2008

State: Eating some hummus as well as a Buffalo Burger.

Sobering up just fine from the night at Taco Mac, I convinced a couple of guys in my training course to come beering with me, and I figured now is as good a time as any to hit Piedmont Park and Park Tavern.

Piedmont Park is Atlanta's interpretation of the downtown area inner city park. The real estate cost is SERIOUS in this area of town b/c you are within spitting distance of midtown and the business districts, yet you have this nice open park at your front door with a skyline around you. Nestled in one corner of the park is the appropriately named Park Tavern restaurant, which also happens to be a brewpub.

On a Tuesday night it's pretty quiet and we made our way down the winding walkway to the dimly lit restaurant. It was still pretty cold out there, so we sat inside, though the view of the skyscrapers at night is fantastic. Although this is a strong candidate for most picturesque brewpub I've been to in 2008, I don't know about the beer.

Park Trail Ale

We start out small with a 12 oz of their basic ale. Cloudy and orange with a thin white head. It's rather interesting on the nose as I get light caramel malt, some vegetalness (like a lager), and citrus hops. The taste is light citrus with a leaning on orange flavor. There is moderate bitter hops and a bread feeling. The hops remind me of what the "Craft Beer Radio" guys would call "cat pea". Not that I've ever tasted cat pea, but I think I know what they were getting at. It's a little icky and harsh, but not in a good way. High 2 star.

IPA

Not trying to get too creative on the names I see. Amber orange color with your basic white head. It has some malt on the nose. There is a strong harsh hops like an IPA with some apricot thrown in there. Nice surprise. I think we have some Cascade hops in there with that late rush in the back of the palette. The apricot is there but I think it just doesn't stand a chance with those hops. 3 Stars. It's kinda strong for the buffalo burger.

The burger was pretty well done, perfect medium style like I like it. Not as juicy as I like, but then again, it is bison.

Festive

The waitress said something about this beer being their Oktoberfest that they re-dubbed a "festive beer". Whatever works. Kinda of a dark amber color. I get that sour, veggy, and malt smell on there. It took me a while after a few sips, but I wrote down "chlorine". The head is offwhite. The first few sips I get an astringent and sourish flavor. It reminds me of the Rahr and Son's Oktoberfest, as it was also rather sour. After we kept drinking, the sourness wore off and I starting get those caramel malts and light hops. Not something I would recommend to friends trying to find the best beer in 'lanta. 1-2 Stars.

At least the park looks nice

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.

If Stuck in a Hip Hop Bar and Need a Good Beer

I'm still here in Atlanta trying to figure it all out. One thing you'll notice is in the ATL is that there are probably a hundred different hip hop clubs one could go to in a night in this city, and maybe 20 of them will be PACKED! And that's EVERY NIGHT. Most towns, there's one place on one night, one place on another night. Here's every one-off concert, new liquor, and Lil' Jon night is always going.

So my good friend who lives here knows that I'm more of a lounge guy, where we can sit down, drink, and here each other talk. Maybe a small dance floor. And of course the places we went to we couldn't find a seat, the bar is 3 layers thick of people all ordering watered down Hendog, and the music is too loud to hear yourself think.

Regardless, I think life is too short to drink bad beer, and I already know that I'm not going to find much of a selection there. And I REFUSE to pay the ridiculous prices they are pushing at us for hard liquor. So what to do.

First off: Avoid the Taps.
As Lew Bryson pontificated on, not many blackfolk are into beer like that... yet. So whatever is on tap has probably BEEN on tap forever. I know I ordered a Shiner Bock and a Sam Adams on tap at a nice jazz bar in Houston and I swear it tasted like I was licking the outside of the keg. That stuff can get way past its shelf life. Just say no to taps, even if it's craft beer. In fact, don't touch the tap unless the club has at least 20% non-black people, then you know you're at least getting some turnover on that draft beer.

Second: Get Bottle Only
The other thing about these bars is that watering down is the norm. You pretty much have to be in VIP to get the potent stuff. That goes for beer on tap. Must be a cultural thing.

Third: Guiness Baby
That's right. About the only non-megaswill beer I would get on a bottle is Guiness. And it actually tastes better in my opinion out of the bottle. Heineken is always available, but we all know how those green bottles let in light, and thus oxidation and funk. And again, you don't know how long that Heiney has been sitting in that fridge. Guiness comes in a black bottle, so it works out great with longevity. Not to mention that it will make you look a touch more sophisticated to the ladies if you're drinking the big G than Bud. Go figure.

Fourth: Deep South Clubs
One thing about your more country hip hop clubs in the deep south is that they will let you bring in your own drinks. That also includes some strip clubs. Obviously you need to do a little planning so you can pick up the Sierra Nevada at the grocery store. In most places in the South you cannot buy alcohol after midnight at a store, some lingering Bible Belt laws. But for some reasons gas stations are okay, but who the hell wants to be stuck with a bunch of tallboys of Bud Dry. At least make it PBR.

So there you have, how to at least enjoy some beer at a Hip Hop Club. Now get out there and the hip hoppery. Welcome to Atlanta Shawtay!!!

Beering in Atlanta: If you SMELL...What the Rock...Is Brewin

Here in Hotlanta where the weather is 35 deg F. Feel good to be back in my stomping ground, but actually with a few dollars to my name. The city is looking great these days, very clean, very classy. They're really upped the ante with Midtown and Downtown. I got one of the boys from FAMU living in town and we decide to get some food and brews. Atlanta has about 5 brewpubs I want to try, and first stop is

Beer Log: December 7, 2008

State: Happy to be in Atlanta, eating a steak

Rock Bottom Brewery in Buckhead

Buckhead is this swanky big money area of Atlanta just north of downtown. It used to be a slew of cool bars and hangouts, but after the "hood" started hanging out in Buckhead, they decided to condo up. There are still a lot of good places to go, and Rock Bottom is one of them. The decor is very nice with some Christmas theme, and there are a few Steelers fans in full regalia acting a fool watching the tube. The waitress seems to know her beer, and we go ahead and order a flight of all their beers.

Hooch Pilsner

First one is clear with a straw color with a white thin head. It's got a nice bread background with medium body. Very light hops that taste like Saaz. There is a slight malt there as well. Low 3 Stars.

Pinstripe Pale Ale

Getting into the hoppy stuff now. It smells of flowery hops and light caramel. It tastes like your basic English Pale Ale although she claimed it was an American Pale Ale. There's a moderate amount of hops, likely cascade, and it goes down great with it's low carbonation. 3 Stars.

IPA

Looking forward to this. Slgith malt smell with a strong hop presence, but not killer I'd expect of an IPA. It has that dark amber color. Low 3 Stars as the flavors did not mesh well for me.

Sweet Magnolia

No smell and it is dark brown and opaque. It has a nice roasted and choco malt flavor, but I'm getting a lot of butter. It's biscuity and buttery to me. Low 3 Stars. Sad as this one is their signature beer. I think they actually cook with this one.

Iron Horse Stout

Sounds like it should be pretty hard core. It smells of roasty smoke malts. It has a nice brown head with a black color. It's okay on the flavor, but not much there but some roast and malt. It's not budweiser, but it's still a 2 Star for me. That butter is hitting me once again.

Winter Seasonal

Finally the seasonal. It tastes like the last one, just a little better and a little more hoppy. I didn't write down a rating.

I think it's obvious the top three beers were the

3. Hooch Pilsner

2. IPA

1. Pinstripe Pale Ale

They do a pretty good job with the drinkable lighter beers but something is off in my opinion with the dark beers. It could be that I was just having an offnight. I'll give them another shot next time I happen upon one of their chains.

In Atlanta

Don't worry I'm still blogging and beering. Currenlty I'm in Atlanta about to go back to Taco Mac with a few friends from Georgia Tech. They are STILL there. I got a Masters, got married, bought a house, had a baby, started up 2 businesses, and brewed 4 homebrews in the time it's taking them to get their PhDs. Oh well.

The Wine Brotha???

I'm selling out. No not that, or even that.



The company I work for has trimmed the budget on the big holiday parties, or Christmas parties if you're Bill O'reilly. It looks like every team is on its own, and our team did a lunch wine tasting at a great local french restaurant, Le Mistral. We had the ballroom to ourselves, got as much wine as we wanted, great food, and were NOT ALLOWED to go back to work since we would had been drinking. In fact, we were not even allowed back in the building.



There was a somalier from France as well. He would give these little powerpoint presentations on each wine we had, where it was from, and some of the history behind it. Even though I'm a beer man, I figured why not take a shot at some reviews. Don't worry, this won't be a habit.



Cue the music...



We started out with some lovely finger appertizers which consisted of a lovely Smoked Salmon Frillo Dough with lemon chives and creme fraiche. This appertizer was accompanied by a lovely little belgian endive leave topped with blue cheese mousse and carmalized pecans. The wine of choice:



Vouvray: Domaine De Vaugondy 2005 Demic-Sec, Style is Chemin Blanc

The boys...er... the gentlemen from the Loire Valley in France get us started with a very sweet and drinkable white wine. As good as my palette is, mine eyes simply see white wine that is tinged is clear with tinged yellow color. Although I used to consider myself a redman, I'm really enjoying the nice chill of this white wine. If I were to compare it to these neanderthal beer drinkers, I would hazard a guess that they stopped the fermentation to allow some of the sugars to up the sweetness factor.



Not to be outdown, they brought the quail breast rolled with bacon and plum, marinated in a nice port wine. I (peeled of the bacon), and enjoyed their



Chablis: Domaine de Long-Depaquit, Style is Chardonnay of 2006

Out of burgundy this one smells and tastes rather tangy and citrusy. There is a sourness in the middle of the palette. A stark chance from the Chemin, and not as tasty. A great match with the quail, but it does remind of a Saisson.



Onward to a nice salad de mistral, which sported the Mistral Blueberry balsamic dressing and pine nuts.



Oh the Pinot, lovely.

Pinot Noir: Albert Bichot 2005

One of my favorite wines, but I typically order it with a hearty steak, but a salad? This one smells like those red wines we know and love. The mouthfeel is dry and hearty, with some fruitiness. I'm getting something that makes me think of blood without the metal. A very thick wine that has plenty of legs on the glass. This one goes down very rapidly.



For the entree I wanted the sea bass filet, but they brought out the red wine anyway, which I did not get in a review.



Not bad. I never really tried to pick out flavors in wine and found many of the same techniques in beering translate to wine. I understand that unlike beer, wine is supposed to served a certain way from certain areas with certain foods. Beer on the otherhand, is meant to be experimented with.



Let's get a beer review before it's all said an done.



State: Chillin, playing with the baby, watching the SEC game

Beer Log: December 6, 2008



Arrogant Basted Ale OAKED
Oh I have been looking forward to this one. If you've been keeping score at home, I am back into hops. The layoff in fall (link) has done me some good. I now feel like I can enjoy those beers again. From the bottle to the wine glass. oh mahagony and malty. it's prolly 45 deg right now. almost ginger snaps sweet smell. It does the trick. Rather sweet and malty, but the hops are not there to balance it out. Reminds me of an imperial stout. Medium body and low carbo. Leaves hints of choco and twizzlers on your tongue, and maybe some grittiness. It's about 4PM right now, and maybe it's the day the time, or whatever, but I'm putting this as a low 3 Star. Lots of flavors and things going on there, and the hops are coming on stronger as it warms, but it is missing something. Perhaps some aging, but the flavors are not working for me.



10 minutes later, whoa is that banana and some sourness? not bad man.