Drink Real Beer

Throwback Brewery Campfire Smoked Porter 6.4% ABV

2011-10-17T14:53:00.000-04:00

This is the graphic that Throwback uses to brand Campfire Porter. Personally, I don't understand this imagery. It looks like a sate bear dancing in the waft of burning excrement, or possibly its leg is satisfyingly on fire. We can't see the other leg so there is speculation abound.

Wanton for White Birch, our beer/food serving person at Firefly asserted "distribution problems" and this left me on the doorstep of a classic near-terminal spiral of second choice beer indecision. Andy stepped in before it could even start and prompted this suggestion, and it was stellar.

It tastes weird, but like medicine that actually doesn't taste gross and makes you want to eat more medicine, it's a very pleasant weird. I haven't drank with any regularity for the better part of this year now, so my ability to describe beer is severely impaired by the fact that I now have the tolerance of a Utah middle schooler. But this beer must be acquired if you are local to southern New Hampshirechusetts. Locally sourced ingredients and made by CHICKS. This one wins big. Dark, rife with peculiar, interesting flavor, and in no way overwhelming to palate or a gut full of beef stroganoff, I implore you to try it.

Red Hook ESB

2011-08-07T21:06:00.000-04:00

ESB stands for Extra Special Bitter. There's nothing extra special about Red Hook's ESB. Red Hook brewery is the overly opinionated hot chick who is 1/8th as smart as she thinks she is. You really want to like her, but she keeps saying embarassingly stupid shit and you're tired of defending her to your friends. In defiance of your biological imperative, you decide it isn't worth it and move on.

In the 12 years that I've been legally drinking Red Hook's offerings, they have had about four amazing beers that enjoyed critical success and were subsequently torpedoed by the powers that be. This is like the aforementioned hot chick shaving her head for reasons that elude sense and rational thought. The end result is disappointment, a broken heart and a bitter taste in the mouth, not entirely unlike my experience with Red Hook ESB tonight.

In the glass, ESB looks and smells fantastic. In the mouth, coppery and bitter. I don't know what the hop bill is, but the flavor hops are right on while they went way over the top with bittering. The style known as "bitter" is really a bit of a misnomer and I'm not exactly sure how it came about. Bitters, according to style, tend more toward the sweet side than the bitter. This beer has everything it needs to be enjoyable, Red Hook just needs to back off on the hops.

Blue Moon Winter Abbey Ale 5.6% ABV

2010-11-16T19:56:00.000-05:00

My first sip of Coors Winter; my immediate impression is that this is not the worst beer in the world. The expected sweetness not overwhelming, I let it sit and tended to my Shake 'N Bake and assorted reheats.

A casual second sip some number of minutes later, and the finish was of particular note. This finishes like a cheap beer, I thought to myself. A peculiar, but familiar taste of alcohol. The monks of the Rockies must have been a little impatient cooking this one up. But who wouldn't in similar frustratingly pious circumstance. Pious being complimentary of course; props of some sort must be due the chaste. It's only right.

Third encounter and beyond, and as expected, the uncivilized finish has disappeared and things are mellowing out considerably as I almost certainly have consumed this too fast. I consider this mission accomplished, not so much in the 2003 on an aircraft carrier sense, but in the not overthinking a beer sense. It is precisely a winter ale, sharing the common characteristics, not that it's particularly my favorite species of beer but it delivers on it's name in a manner of economy that can be universally appreciated.

Hmm. That finish really comes and goes. It's there, or it isn't. Very strange. Anyway, I'm hungry. And some indiscernible fraction in the bag.

Cape Ann Brewing Company Fisherman's Pumpkin Stout 7.0% ABV

2010-10-05T14:37:00.001-04:00

Discovered on offer at the Great Brewers Grand Prix of Gloucester, the annual North Shore cyclocross tradition, Cape Ann's foray into autumn medicine is a delight. Subtly flavored, peculiarly headless, and lacking the punch and sweetness its ABV may insinuate, pumpkin stout has a place in the fridge from hereon in. Find it wherever beer is sold in Massachusetts, before they tax it into oblivion to subsidize some highway project gone awry.

Bells Two Hearted Ale

2010-08-10T17:00:00.003-04:00

What's not to like about a beer with a trout on the label?

Continuing my tour of Northern Michigan beers, I bought Bell's Two Hearted Ale. This is a fairly rich, IPA style ale. A nice floral hoppy aroma without being a hop bomb which is so common in IPA's lately. I really liked this as a result. i am all for full hop flavor, but am not a fan of feeling like I have just eaten some shrubbery. Two Hearted Ale is really well balanced and crisp which made it go down quite easily on a hot evening.

So so far, Bell's brewery is two for two.

Oberon Ale

2010-08-07T19:56:00.002-04:00

Picture a warm summer day in the far north of Michigan. Surrounded by family, young and old...

Need an anesthetic? Obviously. Well Bell's Brewery's Oberon is the beer for you. A malty lightly hopped ale with enough punch to keep you from noticing the chaos.

[Censored] Imperial Blonde

2010-06-22T20:34:00.000-04:00

My apologies to Manchester Brewing Company. I promised them that we'd do a review of their beers a long time ago, but we're just getting around to it now, nearly a year later.

When I cracked this bomb open I was greeted by a rush of lagery aroma. First sip was crisp and reinforced the lager character, which confused me, because I was sure that this was an ale. Visiting MBC's site, I discovered the reason, Saaz hops. These are typically used in lagers such as Pilsner Urquell and I think Budweiser. This is something I've always wanted to try in homebrewing, an ale with lagerry characteristics. The idea is to marry the heft of an ale with the crisp thirst quenching lightness of a Czech or domestic lager. If this was their goal, MBC has succeeded. The sweetness and bitterness is also well balanced and makes it easy to chug. This is the perfect choice following a few rounds of golf or a summer afternoon of yard work. Be sure to decant into an appropriate glass first unless you don't mind the sediment; indication of an unfiltered and therefore more flavorful beer. Personally, I've paired this beer up with a good stogie and a seat on the deck watching the lightning bugs get down. Good job guys, I'm glad the first review was a positive one. If Imperial Blonde is any indication of what to expect with their other offerings, MBC has a bright future in the New England beer scene.

Honey Moon Summer Ale 5.6% ABV

2010-05-04T10:36:00.011-04:00

I'm with AK on Blue Moon. Blue Moon proper is a staple. Solid performer, consistent, good balance, generally cheap - it's a go-to beverage you don't need to think too hard about.

But the Blue Moon summer bastard offspring, hereby known as Honey Moon. SIGH. I'm in OMR's camp on this. Just stop. Stop overdoing shit.

Subtlety is long lost on whoever concocted this syrupy sweet libation. As it is on many things these days. Honey Moon cuffs you about the palate with an overreaching and unnecessary sweetness, wholly betraying its heritage. It's not intolerable dumpster runoff like, well, Peak Maple Oat, but it's definitely in the same area code.

Don't reach for this one. Stay the course. If you're driving down Blue Moon Boulevard, do not take this right hand turn into Flavortown. At this point I will stop writing because I have now cracked the lid on any number of Guy Fieri references.

Gritty's Scottish Ale - 6.3% ABV

2010-04-27T12:24:00.004-04:00

Ah Gritty's. I haven't had a Gritty's that I didn't like. Their beers have a distinctively British bent to them and as a hopeless Anglophile, that appeals to me. They don't get too fancy or burn you out with cloying sweetness or overpowering hops. I hate the cliche, but it's good honest beer.

Scottish ales tend to be sweeter, heavier and darker than their southern counterparts. I think this is a reaction to the rough terrain and harsher climes at that latitude. After a day of kilting it up in the highlands, tossing cabers in the moors and smoking peat, you'd want a strong sweet beer and the nearest fireplace too. Granted, this is just what I imagine life in Scotland is like, I've only spent a couple of days in Edinburgh, so I'm hardly an expert. Gritty's Scottish Ale is an "interpretation" of the style, which means that one or more of the characteristics on which beer is judged falls outside the boundaries set by the style. Who cares? The label is pretty inspiring though, I have to say. Who knew that Scottish women were so butch...and had beards. I will say though that this is a good comfort beer. On the lower end of the spectrum in alcohol content typical of this style, you can easily work this into your session rotation without getting thoroughly cranked, unless that's your goal. Delicious and refreshing, I give this beer 8 lifted kilts.
-qrash

Peak Organic Maple Oat Ale 5.2%

2010-04-26T14:33:00.006-04:00

Enough with you, Peak. I've had enough of your shit. You screwed me once with your insolent Pomegranate Ale. And for whatever reason, I went back to the well, throwing in a different bucket and expecting a different result.

I am hopelessly stupid to have given you another chance. Maple Oat has one or two good sips in it; the first ones. After that, this beer summons the forces of awfulness to bring forth, slowly, what will become an intolerable sweetness in half a pint's time. By the end of the glass, I am literally making bitter beer face-like contortions that a passerby would mistake for pepper spray-induced asphyxiation, evocative of the erratic, involuntary mimetic muscular response observed when a newborn is slipped a thimble of Genesee to chase the evening nutrition. Screw you Peak.

Victory Brewing Company Golden Monkey 9.5% ABV

2010-03-16T12:02:00.002-04:00

This beer is an intolerable tornado of flavor.

Also it gives you bad dreams.

End of review.

-cp

Redhook Saturnalia Double Red (2008) 8.0% ABV

2010-03-02T15:31:00.006-05:00

It had been quite a spell since my last trip to Redhook. Oh the days of abbreviating a work day, planting one's ass in a booth and quaffing half a half dozen IPAs. Just enough to make things vibrate on the walk to the bathroom and forget the day's tedium. The tedium of the days of a storied time. A time when a man could drive a golf ball with a putter inside an office without regard for his coworker's safety. A time when a man could destroy window blinds with a thrown banana and blame it on the confluence of an open window and a pigeon. What a time that was.

How I longed for a taste of that wonderful IPA once more on Sunday, which brought us belly up to the great gilded copper beer holdy thing, and squarely into the radar of two patrons simmering with lust for Saturnalia. Having personally never heard of it, these folks insisted I try some, having assessed my hop expectation requirement/percentage enjoyment (HERPE) to be higher than average. Well, toddler size portion in-hand, I savored and sampled this allegedly sought after libation. At a minimum it couldn't suck that bad because little plastic hops adorned the tap handle.

At first, good! Hoppitty hop hop here we go. And not the rugged finish I expected; very abrupt finish compared to other heavily hopped creations I've had. But this icky awful sweetness. BLECK. This lingering sweetness ruined it for me. As soon as the Saturnalia junkies left the establishment, I put out a code red on a Long Hammer and barely had the self control to snap this picture before literally eating it with a carnal lust known only to serial killers and Cheeto junkies.

Stop putting shit in my goddamn beer.

2009-12-01T15:35:00.004-05:00

Stop it. Stop putting pumpkin, cherries, berries, seeds, vegetables, lemons, cinnamon, nutmeg, umbrellas, etc in beer. Many have come before you and most if not all have failed. The trails of creative fermentation are well trod and thousands of years old. You are not going to be the one who finally finds the one ingredient when added to beer makes it better without making it much worse so stop kidding yourself. The last successful modification was the addition of hop flowers so let's leave it at that. The Germans know this, that's why they made the Reinheitsgebot.

I see the need to innovate as largely an American compulsion, novelty as commodity. We haven't yet learned that some things are perfect the way they are and that crafting within well established guidelines to achieve categorical excellence is an art form and should be celebrated. We're not comfortable with operating within standards so we create our own, thereby bypassing the mechanisms of proper evaluation. The end result: beer coolers filled with expensive niche beers that I feel obligated to try despite my better judgment. Some brewers can lay claim to 20+ oddball varieties of libation, but of those, how many are drinkable? Of those drinkable ones, how many are actually excellent? My advice to the brewer: drop the weirdo ingredients and focus on the art and craft of creating highly desirable, repeatable beverages, even if that means having a small selection of beers.

Dogfish Head Black & Blue*
This beer sucks unless you savor a mouthful of unripened berry puree. Though I can barely taste it, I get the impression that the base ale used as delivery vector for mouth puckering novelty is actually quite good, but of course they ruined it by dumping crap into it. I won't list the ABV or IBU's because it doesn't matter, you won't drink enough of it to worry or care. Just pass on this one, folks.

*I took a picture of the bottle, but I just don't care enough to upload it.

Peak Pomegranate Wheat Ale 6.0% ABV

2009-11-27T12:54:00.006-05:00

Sometimes in life, we make bad decisions that we can't take back. Like eating at Taco Bell, smuggling drugs through a Turkish airport, or spending the night in a strange girl's bed at an off-campus party on Young Drive. Or drinking Peak Pomegranate Wheat Ale.

Recently I invested a minimal amount of time in researching the subject of beer tasting. So for the past few weeks, I have been equipped with a marginally better sense of what makes beer good and bad.

This is a horrible beer.

What I really wanted was Erdinger. But guess what, the Erdinger keg was dry. Changing it out for Peak Pomegranate, she said. Alright, fine - I'll give that a try.

Holy sh*t. One sniff should have been all the warning I needed not to even take a sip. I actually smelled a beer for the first time a week or so ago. Long Trail Ale. Smelled good. Had this really neat sweet smell to it that I can't quite place.

Oh guess what I can place though. The smell from Peak Pomegranate. It smells like a g*ddamn dumpster. I mean straight up dumpster runoff. You would never smell something like this and decide that it was okay to drink. You would drop it like a poison grenade with the pin missing and f*cking RUN. However, it's a beer - beer of any kind is meant to be consumed, and this is this only piece of logic that allowed my brain to OK the tasting portion of this experience. Idiot.

In the mouth. BLECK. My senses are immediately overwhelmed now. A whole spectrum of bad tastes are dancing around in my mouth. It's a veritable orgy of faintly fruity awfulness. I can't even tell what is going on anymore. Stunned at how disappointing this beer is, I'm drinking it out of anger now. Bitter feelings propel every awful sip down my throat; every sip wishing it was the Tuckerman I didn't re-order. I am a moron, and the self doubt is now propagating slowly through my organs, infecting my soul. This beer is so terrible I would rather put an ice pick through my face just to distract myself from the thought of ever having tried it. If this beer was the only thing left to drink on planet earth I would rather die of dehydration a thousand times. I would rather chew leaking batteries, I would rather piss staples, I would rather slam my tongue in a car door, and I would rather invent an elaborate process to distill and drink my own liquefied farts than have one more sip of Peak Pomegranate Wheat Ale. If someone gave me this beer and told me to bring it to a party, I would execute that person and throw the beer in a bottomless pit, which is the only place I know that it will not harm anyone. It doesn't deserve to exist. Don't buy it. Oh but it's organic. Hey guess what. Piss is organic too. I don't drink that either. Peak Pomegranate is obviously some kind of screwed-up mistake, much like the current recipe for Winter Warmer. Don't buy that, don't buy Peak Pom, and use this holiday season to get back to old fashioned family helpers like Captain and eggnog, Gritty's Christmas Ale, and Captain and eggnog.

Shipyard Smashed Pumpkin (Pugsley's Signature Series) 9.0% ABV

2009-10-19T13:38:00.005-04:00

It was time. Enough of this cat and mouse charade.

Pulled from the very back right of my refrigerator. A spot reserved for only the finest and most storied beverages. Your cap surrounded in a shroud of golden foil, off it goes; removed with needless care. The murky libation splits evenly in two pints. One for me, one for my best girl. She would sip, but I would sample and savor. Pumpkinhead is here, I can sense it, but we have company. There's a sweetness that betrays a great and wonderful ABV. And absent Pumpkinhead's watery finish there is a peculiar parting bitterness. It begs another taste. And another. And a third. And I've finished. And I'm already asking if we can go to the store and get more. Inspired and insistent, I can feel the surge of emotion; I'm pleading as a child would plead for a gumball or a quarter for the horsey ride. Can we please. Please. I know where to get it. But in no shape to drive, there will be no horsey ride. Horsey ride denied. Not tonight.

They next day I rushed to the only place I knew to find it, and after months of patient stalking, there they were. Dozens of them. Dozens. A miracle. The miracle I have waited so long for. Feigning class for a moment, I discarded all tact and brought an armload to the counter. At long last, Smashed Pumpkin is mine. The magically potent orange trophies are mine. Truly everything Pumpkinhead could be, if it only tried.

Giddyup.

Dogfish Head Punkin Ale

2009-10-11T19:26:00.003-04:00

It seems everywhere you go these days, pumpkin flavored items are all the rage. Every brewery around is milking the sweet teet of our orange autumn friend. Its only a matter of time before we see Turkey, Gravy or Cranberry Sauce flavored beers. Then it will all digress into a messy giblet flavored beer; the edible offal of a fowl, typically including the heart, gizzard, liver, anus in a cheery toasted hops and malty concoction. Yes I'm calling that one now.
Capping off a month long all things pumpkin binge, I've finally found the holy grail of "pumpkin" beers. That beer could only come in the form of Dogfish Head's aptly named "Punkin" ale. If you're a follower of hillbilly triathalons and backwoods smithies then you'll recognize the spelling of this beer is a homage to the greatest event on earth, Punkin Chunkin. That event in itself a walking billboard for ridiculousness, similarly so is this beers goodness.
You can pick up Punkin in a 9 dollar 4 pack just about anywhere that sells good beers. I scored mine up at Bunnies, and shared it with my dad. At 7% after two I had a nice light buzz associated with a higher ABV beer. The taste of this beer is unassuming, a distinct brown with solid flavor. Dogfish didn't even bother trying to make the beer taste pumpkiny, they just brewed with pumkin meat and the end flavor is what you get. Get some now, or be a looser and wait for some Sam Adams Giblet Stout.

Samuel Adams Coastal Wheat (huh?)

2009-10-06T13:21:00.004-04:00

Hey you like Sam, you don't like Sam. Personally, I'm a big Boston Lager fan - if it's on tap & super fresh, there's nothing like it I think. But generally I'm not overly enthusiastic about everything they make. Across the lineup it's just ok for me. Cherry Wheat though - f*cking terrible.

Anyway.

Coastal Wheat just hit the streets. It's excellent. It's lighter bodied than typical Sam fare, and the lemon is really more of a hint than an outright flavor. It's not the overwhelming, almost dry grain of paradise taste, as found in Summer Ale. I actually think this could and should replace the traditional summer offering. I guess I wonder why we're seeing it for the first time...in October.

Oh, but the name. Oh I know precisely where it came from. It came from one of the many surveys Sam sends out. I got that survey. As most of their surveys do, it pissed me off to no end. I really tried to finish it, but the damn thing went on forever, offering the same exact choices, using slightly modified iterations of the same exact question again and again and again until my f*cking eyeballs bled and I begged the internet and any listening deity for mercy. 'Coastal Wheat' was one of the choices; as I remember, one of the worst. My guess is that no one actually completed the survey, Sam put the choices in a lotto drum, and this is what came out.

So ignore the name, label, everything on the outside, and enjoy this little bit of summer in October.

Peaches and Herb said it best

2009-09-16T11:32:00.014-04:00

Much time (two weeks) has passed since the season's first taste of Pumpkinhead crossed my palette. That lifeless liquid anticlimax, for some reason my favorite fall beer of all time. But such contempt? It didn't make sense, and I searched for the reason.

Weeks of experimentation with Wolaver's and a renewal of interest in Autumn Brew ensued. I savored both, appreciating their distinctive, spicy slaps to the mouth. I enjoyed them, devil may care, as my compatriot from Portland sat idly by, wondering when I would return. When would I? I couldn't say.

Then a chance encounter at Firefly saw my old friend paired with Stoli Vanil. A time honored combination. To me it represents what Pumpkinhead could be, if it only tried. Of course, this is the tale of the tape for Shipyard's Smashed Pumpkin, which I believe is only a fairytale beverage. But staying on point - without Russia's finest, what is Pumpkinhead anyway. You can't put Brian Daubach on steroids and call him a great hitter.

More days of Wolaver's, and a return to form with Halloween Ale. But a collective buildup of flavor that was reaching a pinnacle now. Little did I know.

An icy cold Pumpkinhead draft last night at the Backroom spoke to me. Suddenly, after weeks of flavor anhilliation, the senses were liberated. For the first time, the subtlety of Pumpkinhead shined through like a vehicle mounted spotlight pierces the translucent curtains in a random woman's bedroom window on a cold November night. The stunning simplicity struck me in way it never has. Or maybe it was the effect imparted by pounding two in a row. Nonetheless, in that moment, we reunited. And it felt so good.

Hello old Friend!

2009-09-03T09:38:00.004-04:00

Beer date: September 2. After a morally satisfying 10-mile mountain bike ride in the quiet night wilderness of Bear Brook State Park, I take my usual seat at the roadhouse, where I order up the season's first Pumpkinhead. Steeped in anticipation, my mind floods with pleasant memories of my favorite fall staple. It arrives; it's subdued coppery hue looking just as wonderful as I remember. In my haste, not a taste, but a first gulp - and it all comes back to me now as I sit here. Watery and completely unfulfilling, this is Pumpkinhead.

Three Philosophers

2009-09-01T20:53:00.006-04:00

Ommegang Brewery
9.8% Alc./vol.
Unknown IBU

I've never been a big fan of belgian or "Belgian style" beers which this brew happens to be. There have been a few I've enjoyed, but for the most part I'm a meat and potatoes kind of beer drinker. I get more excited by the masterful execution or a novel twist of the more pedestrian styles of ale than I do sampling exotic brews.

I'm about 5 sips in so I'll start with my first impressions and see how it progresses from there. I began by pouring my first glass into the wrong type of glass; a Duvel tulip. Three Philosophers should probably be served in a Chimay chalice, but I can't find mine at the moment. I'll toast St. Anthony and see if he knows where it is.

The initial pour released a surprisingly complex arrangement of fruit, champagne, floral notes and a hint of yeast. Very pleasant, but it dissipated quickly. Thick, rich and foamy head tinted slightly beige. The flavor is subtle, malty with a hint of cherry. It finishes sharp and dry reminiscent of biting into a green apple. I'm reminded again of champagne and wouldn't be surprised if they used champagne yeast in the final fermentation. Clean aftertaste though slightly boozy, which I like; kind of a warm fuzzy feeling.

Three Philosophers is a Belgian style ale blended with Kriek, which explains the cherries. I can tell while sipping that if it weren't for the Kriek, this would be a very rich and sweet ale. The Kriek balances that out nicely and counters the sweetness with sour cherries.

All in all this is an enjoyable beer, but not an everyday one for me. The clean taste makes it a versatile beer and would be welcome at cocktail hour, during and after dinner or even with a sorbet and fruit course, if your pants are fancy.

Wolaver's Will Stevens' Pumpkin Ale ?ABV

2009-08-31T20:23:00.005-04:00

I know Andy told me Wolaver's is never good. I understand Andy. He had a bad experience with swimmer piss. So he is cautious.

I like shiny things so I bought this. I had two (2) (1+1 other) and put on some Richard Burgess. And Spase Peepole. All the hits. Jennifor Hal-o-way.

I think I'm halfway bombed. I'm such a lightweight.

I have to go

Just when I thought I was off IPA

2009-08-10T21:26:00.003-04:00

XXXX India Pale Ale 9.25% 70 IBU
Shipyard Pugsley's Signature Series

I've been drinking Smuttynose IPA almost exclusively for the last six months but the resulting hop induced perma burn (heartburn) has made drinking IPA's less appealing.

Anyone who is a fan of the American IPA would admit that we have abused the little flower, concocting mouth puckering and palatte destroying hop bombs of beers. Such is not the case with XXXX IPA. The hops are there, but mostly in aroma. They are used to balance out the syrupy sweetness inevitable in a beer this big (9.25%), but not to the point of obliterating the sweetness or overwhelming the malty flavor. The richness of this beer doesn't make it a chugger, but it would fare well alongside some 'que, mexican or anything with some heat.

This isn't the best I've had of its type, but it's good and worth a shot. Like other Pugsley Signature beers, I believe it's only available in the 1 1/3 pint bottles which I call "samplers."

Summer Round Up

2009-08-10T15:52:00.008-04:00

Ah, fleeting summer. Before you know it Pumpkinhead will be........holy sh*t are you serious? It's the first week of August and it's already in every neighborhood cooler. That should excite me, but the concept of Pumpkinhead 2 has me extremely distracted.

A few brief reviews:

UFO Raspberry Hefeweizen 5.1%ABV: Is good. It could be better but it's good enough.

Leinenkugel Summer Shandy 4.2%ABV: Ack. Shandy. When I think of shandy I'm reminded of my 'ol Irish friend John who used to run a pub downtown. "ETS FOEKEN BEEREN SPROIT" he'd say. Don't go out of your way to figure out what that means or to try this beverage.

Tuckerman 6288 Stout 5.9%ABV: Named for Mt. Washington, it is basically impossible for this beer to suck. Like Wash it is epic and awesome and takes me way too long to finish.

Kona Wailua Wheat 5.4%ABV: Boring. This is one of the most uninteresting things I've tried since I tried wiping front to back. Yes, people say it's different but it's impossible to really tell and in the end you accomplish basically the same thing. If you understood any of that, don't buy this yawn in a bottle.

Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA 7.2% ABV

2009-07-21T19:24:00.004-04:00

Here's how to enjoy Sierra Nevada Torpedo:
1. Buy some.
2. Throw your keys in a pond. You won't need 'em.
3. Drink.

Holy crap am I hung over. Good luck.

Schwelmer Pils

2009-02-08T18:40:00.002-05:00

As a rule I don't trust two things, German Beer and names that don't carry at least 25% vowels in them. This beer fails both tests. The old-man picked me up a nice sixer of this stuff at the redemption center on ultra clearance, which means he paid 3 bucks or less. It comes in a cutesy little boutique case and the bottles have the Grolsh beugel type bottle. Brewers like these bottles because of their re-usability; I like them for my collection of piss and bile. Back the the review. This beer was drinkable, but boring, stale and lacking of testicular power. I don't remember the ratings we give on this site mostly because alcohol has long ago clouded my memory and left me for dead at a Holiday Inn on Rt 1-A; but if I were to rate this, in the German spirit I would give it two out of four "Rusty" berets.
Next review - How many "Full Moons" can you drink in an art gallery before you think its "ok" to touch the Renoir?

Arrogant Turbo Bastard Dog

2009-02-04T10:03:00.004-05:00

I wanted to try new stuff tonight. But minutes are simply not enough when browsing the Strangebrew beer menu. When she came to take our order, I blurted out "Sam Winter" in haste, not wanting to miss out on the first round. But Sam wasn't my endgame here. So I pounded it.

On to something new. I ordered Anita Brewing's Turbodog. I wish I could remember what it tasted like, because I pounded that one too. The problem here is that we had momentum going.

Sometimes momentum can be hard to stop. Next on my list was the Arrogant Bastard. It spoke to me from the menu. I have some recall of this beverage. It was exceptionally hoppy. But I could discern no further detail at this point as a consequence of my earlier decision to simply tear through my other two pints. So I more or less tore through this one too, since I didn't really feel like having a super hoppy beer tonight, and I didn't feel like savoring it.

The moral here is that this was a terrible combination of pace and mixological execution. By virtue of my ever-expanding body mass, I was by no means impaired. But this morning I sure feel like I must have been. I usually try to follow a 1:1 glass of water to beer ratio before hitting the pillow, and in spite of that, I felt none too good at sunrise. I have a wound up dog trying to scratch it's way out of my skull, and an arrogant prick kicking me in the back of the eyeballs. Alright I'm exaggerating. Anyway drink those beers and not in that order and not in the same night the end.

Endurance Pale Ale; Ephemere chaser

2009-01-25T13:02:00.002-05:00

A stop in at The Squealing Pig in Mission Hill left a plethora of options. First order of business, the Endurance Pale Ale, a product of the Commonwealth. Hoppy, sure, you betcha. Bitter, oh sure, just a bit. It was halfway up the trail between my good friend General Chamberlain and a typically stiff IPA from the Portsmouth Brewery. But how could I concentrate with all this food. And with the Mars Bar Toastie coming quickly, I had to find something lighter.

A scan of the beer menu led me to "Eph-emmer", which was promptly corrected by my server. "Eph-uh-mare" she snootily mused. Oh for the love of G*d whatever lady.

Call it what you will; I call it a sleeping pill. Those canucks put the kibosh on the rest of my evening in one fell swill. It was like drinking Unisom. Or maybe my hipster waitress spiked it and slipped me something as punishment for my awkward mispronunciation. Who really knows. Blame her for this sh*tty review.

Fall Beer Update

2008-10-21T11:39:00.006-04:00

The days of fall are passing, and it's getting colder. And that's fine, because to stay warm I am opting to drink more beer and use less oil this year. Actually if you do the math on this you end up needing to drink absolutely punishingly horrible beer for this to make financial sense. But who cares.

In truth I must admit that the Woodstock Inn fallT liquor is growing on me. It took a big dent in the 6er to come around, but I think I am a fan at this point. I am moving from 'recommend' to 'strong buy' on that commodity.

So as we get into October, we're all finding ourselves in the same boat with Pumpkinhead. We've sort of moved on from it for the time being, still holding it in our hearts somewhere, maybe a little burned out of it, might get back to it when the season wraps up. Alright to be honest, you can't get drunk on this beer and it's the fall. Alcohol is your only weapon against seasonal affective disorder.

I have been offered this concoction several times, but Friday night was the first time I caved in and tried it. Pumpkinhead + shot of Vanilla Stolichnaya Vodka + frivolous cinnamon sugar rimmed glass. Say what you will about it on paper, but I have to say, this is money in the bank. Technically it's about $7 money out of bank, hair splitter, who cares. If you drink two of these I guarantee you will run for president or solve a crime.

It's The Great Pumpkinhead Debate, Charlie Brown!

2008-10-15T06:30:00.003-04:00

Personally, I hate the stuff, but there are a lot of people out there who can't wait for this to hit the shelves. It's become a welcome harbinger of fall like changing foliage, pumpkins and better beer. Ok, that was a pot shot. I'd like to hear what everyone thinks of this divisive brew.

Woodstock Inn Autumn Ale Brew 4.4% ABV

2008-10-14T20:39:00.003-04:00

I have no idea. I figured I'd give it a go. It has a spooky label. And we just plowed through a case of Pumpkinhead so I thought it would be good to take a little reprieve.

Then I get it home in my fridge, and there under refrigerated illumination I notice this is...a malt beverage? How did this little nugget of information elude me at Gary's Discount Beverage this afternoon? And then I see it - deceptively advertised I might add - Autumn Ale Brew. Malt Beverage with Natural Flavor Added. Oh.

I don't know exactly what this is. It's kind of like a flat, malty Pumpkinhead. Allegedly it has some apple flavor. It's not awful, it's just not what I expected. I was hoping for something beer-y-er. This really isn't. Who am I kidding. I'm just disappointed that I couldn't find any Halloween Ale, which is what I really wanted. This is worth trying I guess. And at 4.4%, you'll be full of wisdom after two bottles. -cp

Treasure Chest

2008-09-29T16:08:00.003-04:00

YARRRRRRRR! Fight high prices and buy in quantity. This box of booty was only $20 at Gary's Discount Beverage. At 83 cents a pop, this is a home run. This will get you through the next week while you evaluate your next move in the complex joy of autumn beer selection.

Really?

2008-09-09T15:18:00.002-04:00

This is wicked retahded.

Samuel Adams Devil Mountain

2008-08-29T10:54:00.004-04:00

I have tasted beer glory and it is located in Jamaica Plain. A special offering only for Samuel Adams select accounts, this slightly sweet and hoppy masterpiece rests comfortably on tap at Doyle's Pub, awaiting release into the glasses of patrons with the most discerning of palates. It is a masterpiece; a libation of the true hero of the day that Metallica thus spake in 19 hundred 96. Don your flak jacket and make your way to the intersection of Washington and Williams where destiny awaits, for it is atop DEVIL MOUNTAIN!

Red, White and Blew.

2008-08-11T10:09:00.003-04:00

There has been a lot of buzz lately in regard to Pabst being the new American brewery since Anheuser Busch sold their soul to the Nazi's. In respose Pabst sales have skyrocketed and the black framed glasses community couldn't be more content. Here are my thoughts...
There is an inherent need within some humans to identify themselves with trendy subculture, in order to compensate for gaping insecurities. Case in point, Pabst, the Blue Ribbon Beer. As every card carrying hipster knows, there is no better form of street cred than guzzling down a PBR, after a hard night of emoting over teenaged themed rock. Instead of taking the beer at face value, on its merits, the hipster lets others decide for him, the emperor is naked and everyone agrees those clothes look great. For anyone who's actually enjoyed beer beyond a 7th grade level (I'm talking you JW Dundee Honey-Brown drinkers), you'll know that Pabst tastes like piss, and the horse it rode in on. The only reason anyone would subject themselves to the hateful taste of PBR is to fulfill a clause in the hipster handbook.
Growing up my next door neighbor, a die hard Blue Ribbon man, would occasionally drop by and drink a few with the old man. He was affectionately known in the neighborhood as "DumbDumbDickie," which as the name suggests, is the reason why he drank what he did. Sometimes DumbDumb would leave a few extras in the fridge at our house, and they would stay there for months until my mom had to empty them - amazingly surviving the old man's pass through the fridge time and time again. The point to all this, is what trust funder hipsters can't grasp; their desperate attempt to relate to the common man through materialism grossly underestimates the fact that blue collar joe actually exercises personal choice in his drinking preferences! It comes down to a simple fact. PBR tastes like sh*t!

Switchback Ale

2008-08-08T12:55:00.003-04:00

As a general rule you shouldn't buy anything from hippies, mostly because of their substandard hygiene and shaky general cleanliness ethics, but moreso because you're probably just going to end up getting screwed over and arrested. But I found myself at Peter Christian's Tavern, the hippie epicenter, and figured any decision I made was probably no better or worse than another at this point. Anyway, speaking of the point, lets get there - Switchback Ale is pretty good. Apparently it was made by some extremely happy Vermonter in flannel (probably redundant who cares). The end. Is it PUMPKINHEAD time yet?

Fly Fishing and Brew

2008-04-30T21:22:00.004-04:00

What the hell is going on here? Will the real Cutthroat Pale Ale please step forward? Anyway, here's an old-ass article about fly fishing and beer.

Springtime

2008-04-22T16:16:00.004-04:00

Balmy and agreeable weather has finally struck New England. After a relentlessly long winter which brought snow to my doorstep at least once a week, I'm ready for Spring's rewards; chief among those being short shorts on willowy yet well proportioned co-eds attempting to enjoy the sun with as much of their skin as possible.

Spring also brings some of the more unique varieties of beer to market. One of my personal favorites is Smuttynose's Maibock. I'm not going to wax connoisseur on this one other than to mention that it's a big malty bruiser. AK and I once ordered some pints of this on Easter Sunday at the brewpub. That was, until, the bartender realized that our conviviality had gone beyond what might be considered appropriate for the celebration of the Lord's resurrection. By some stupid law they were supposed to serve this beer in their dainty, smaller glasses to mitigate intoxication. Realizing the error, she, being the excellent bartender that she was, didn't cut us off, but instead just made sure that our subsequent servings were poured in the smaller glasses. We forgave her and tipped her well, it was Easter after all.

More Sinning in Salt Lake

2008-02-13T11:24:00.002-05:00

Uinta Brewing Company's Cutthroat Pale Ale is chock full of hoppy goodness with some fruity background from the esters. I am not sure of the AC but after more than a couple of pints, I didn't even care that I was in Salt Lake anymore.

Sinning in Salt Lake

2008-02-13T11:09:00.002-05:00

At 4.0% Wasatch Brewing Company's Polygamy Porter makes it easy to follow their slogan of Why have just one? This light creamy porter has some chocolate background and a clean finish. My only real complaint is that I had to be in the stepford city to enjoy this beverage.

JR

Rogue Chipotle Ale 5.5% ABV

2008-02-07T13:07:00.000-05:00

Yahoooooooooooooooo doggy! Finally on tap at Shorty's, my only regret is that I tanked up on chips and salsa prior to my first sip. As such, I can't honestly tell you what it really tastes like. That more or less makes this review worthless. So buy some and give it a go. All I can tell you is that I drained two of these and didn't regret it.

I have a problem

2008-01-19T00:23:00.000-05:00

100%ALCOHOLIC

It's been awhile since I or anyone eles has posted, but as you can see by my rating I'm still in the booze game.

-qrash

Allagash White ABV: 5.0%

2007-11-30T16:44:00.001-05:00

I had not planned on picking this beer for my review, but a weeknight stop at the local pub piqued my interest in this finely crafted brew. The origins of this beer are as cloudy as the bottle fermented yeast its served in, coming out of the Portland area in the mid-90's. I like to believe the recipe came from a century old Trappist Monk, toiling laboriously in a Dr. Frankenstein-like laboratory in deepest Belgium. Lightening strikes and what awakens is a smooth, meaty, flavorful beast. The head is billowy and stacked high from bottle or tap, and the aftertaste elbows one with a slight whiff of lemongrass. Unlike many Belgium Whites, or "Wits," Allagash does not try to knock you over with a powerful array of spices. Again, subtle hints of flavor are more than enough to let you know you are drinking something that was not composed fat-handedly. Many complaints about this beer are that it is "too drinkable," which is like saying your girlfriend is "too hot..." Exactly. I enjoy this beer, when I can get it, year round. It doesn't have to be 100 degrees to enjoy a white, especially this one.
70 Hops

Gritty's Christmas Ale 6.2% ABV

2007-11-27T09:56:00.001-05:00

It's a Christmas miracle. A holiday beer that isn't heavy and over-flavored and actually tastes like BEER!

Winter Warmer is fine, but sometimes it's like drinking a spice rack. And Sam Winter, I dunno. Everyone drinks it because it's something different and because it's there. But it's too sweet for my taste.

Gritty's has it nailed. Christmas Ale has absolutely nothing to do with "Christmas flavors". You get a bottle with a picture of Santa Claus getting loaded. Like you're about to.

Propaganda purports this beer to be a darker ESB with a rich, full-bodied, malty taste with a slightly roasted undertone. But I don't know what that really means and it isn't important. It's damn good and you need to buy it now, before some politically correct elitist left-wing liberal takes it away from us. -cp

A Beer For Geriatric Hooliganry - 10.2% ABV, 90 IBU

2007-11-22T18:07:00.001-05:00

Old Ruffian, beer two of my Thanksgiving Barleywine Review Series. Quite contrary to the Criminally Bad Elf, this beer has greater body, heavy caramel character and is even sweeter than the Elf. Large amounts of hops are necessary to balance out the sweetness, thus the 90 IBU rating. Despite the mouth raping bitterness that 90 IBUs would indicate, the balance is effective and makes for a good compromise with the malty sweetness. Great Divide brewery calls this a "hop forward" beer, but hop aroma and flavor really doesn't come across, which is appropriate for the style.

70 Hops

A Felonious Faerie - 10.5% ABV

2007-11-22T17:46:00.000-05:00

Criminally Bad Elf, imported from Ridgeway Brewery in Oxfordshire, UK. Sweet for a barleywine and malty in character and mouthfeel. No hop aroma of note; typical for the style. On the lower end of the spectrum in terms of alcohol content, making it very drinkable.

I enjoyed drinking this festive overseas offering, but then I love me some barleywine. I definitely recommend serving it in specialized glassware. Pictured is a Riedel crystal snifter, but if all you can afford is a used mayonnaise jar, prost!

80 Hops.

Barley & Hop Shortage

2007-11-19T16:45:00.000-05:00

There has never been a better time to learn how to brew your own. The hop harvest this year wasn't great and I'm hearing rumblings that barley won't fare much better. Might have something to do with the lack of honeybees, global climate change or aliens making too many goddamn crop circles. Whatever the cause, beer is going to cost 10-15 cents more over the next year. Granted, that's not a huge amount, but it adds up. Beer prices have already gone up quite a bit just in the last 7 years, and now we can expect up to an additional $1.80(USD) per 12 pack.

Mathmatology time:
If the average 12 pack at Shaw's runs about 11 bucks, with no sales tax in beautiful NH, that will mean next year's 12 packs will be close to 13 bucks. Beer is awesome, so I'm willing to part with the extra pocket change to make up the difference. Now what if you were to take up your kettle and wooden spoon and DIY? The average pale malt based extract brew kit costs about 23 bucks and 2 to 3 hours of your time. This yields 5 gallons of delicious beer. If you do it all grain, it can be done for as little as 8 bucks per 5 gallons + 8 hours of time. Depending on how much you value your time and enjoy brewing, your point of diminishing returns will vary.

Let's break it down some more, assuming current, pre-apocalypse grain and hop prices.

5 gallons of beer @ 23.00 = 640 ounces = about 53 bottles @ $0.43/bottle
12 bottles of beer @ 11.00 = $0.92/bottle

Some would argue that you could save money by buying your beer in kegs, but that's hardly practical. Most people buying higher end craft brews prefer variety over slavish dedication to one particular beer.

Still others may cry folly, brewing your own is a false economy because inevitably you will decide either it's too much work after brewing one beer or you will go buck wild and build your own nano brewery in your garage.

So what it really comes down to is an excuse for me to proselytize the virtues of brewing your own under the shadow of looming price increases.

Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale 4.5% ABV

2007-11-13T12:59:00.000-05:00

Anyone will tell you I've long been a proponent of the Pumpkin. That happy little headless bastard has been a staple of my fall drinking season for years now, and in 2007 we were all treated to a late-August debut on tap, which seems incredibly early. But it's hardly worth lodging a complaint over. And to whom would one complain. It's all complicated.

While my favorite, I feel my favoritism permits me license to cite the following criticisms of this beer. One - it's the weakest 4.5% brew I've ever had. You can go the distance on PUMPKINHEAD and be quite sick of it before you get sick on it. I don't like that. I want to get loaded and throw up.

Two - I am wholly disturbed by the growing trend of barmaids offering PUMPKINHEAD in sugar-and-spice-rimmed glasses. I don't know who started this tragedy but it severely hurts my feelings and makes me want to cut people.

These qualms aside, the positives of PUMPKINHEAD are too pronounced to ignore. It's tasty and you can drink it like water. And that means you can drink a lot. And when you drink a lot, you are cool. And when you drink a lot and are cool, you are an alcoholic. -cp

Meddybemps?

2007-11-06T12:33:00.000-05:00

Atlantic Brewing Co. Bar Harbor Blueberry 5.4% ABV

Its rare to find a beer that is equally at home in the galley of a cod boat steaming out to George's Bank, or in the hands of a wealthy socialite looking to wash down his gluttonous endangered species dinner. Alas, our friends at the Atlantic Brewing Co. have concocted such an ale. This beer is well balanced, crisp and snappy like a Braeburn off the tree, with a smooth aftertaste leaving you thirsty for more. Most brewers, when tasked with creating a flavored beer, spend to much time focusing on the fruit to appease the ill trained pallets of the masses. Not so with the Bar Harbor Blue, as it treats the berry as an afterthought, which is just about how much "flavor" I want in a niche brew. You will not go wrong purchasing this beer in season, which is usually late summer, early fall - and at an average 8 dollars a six pack it is definitely in the premium beer range. Feel free to drink it with any expensive steak, or in the front seat of your F-150 driving through the town of Meddybemps Maine. 9 out of 10 Hops.

Bitter Brown - 4% ABV

2007-11-05T21:36:00.000-05:00

Mmmmmunich. OK, I know these fine young lasses are drinking Maerzen, but come on, they deserve their own blog.

In anticipation of the arrival of my new beer engine, I kegged my latest brew. It's a recipe I modified slightly from The Homebrewer's Companion. Here's the recipe listing from ProMash:

Partial Mash
Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
82.0 6.00 lbs. Alexander LME - Amber America 1.037 14
13.7 1.00 lbs. Crystal 20L America 1.035 20
4.3 0.31 lbs. Chocolate Malt America 1.029 350

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.

Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.00 oz. Willamette Whole 5.00 44.5 60 min.
1.00 oz. Goldings - E.K. Whole 4.75 3.5 5 min.
0.75 oz. Goldings - E.K. Whole 4.75 2.6 1 min.

Yeast
-----

Danstar Nottingham

I'm very pleased with how this beer turned out. It's a lot more bitter than it should have been, due to the differences between the hop bill that a 20 year old recipe called for and what hops are actually producing today. I have enough ingredients to do this one again, this time I'll back off on the Willamettes a bit. Pretty soon my electric all grain brewery will be finished so I'll be back on the grain wagon. That is, if i don't electrocute myself first.

Reunited and it feels so......ugh

2007-10-30T22:54:00.001-04:00

JW Dundee's Original Honey Brown
4.5% ABV 10 IBU

The last time JW Dundee's Honey Brown passed by my lips it was going the wrong way and was likely accompanied by UNH dining hall chow. That was 11 years ago. To us, reaching for a bottle of this was reaching for the top shelf of affordable micro brews. It was our secret handshake into the arcane world of the beer snob. Ok, maybe it was just me that thought that, what the hell did I know, as long as it filled the beirut cups I was happy.

Drinking this coppery lager tonight takes me back to my early college days. Honestly though, it reminds me most of that dull nausea that portends imminent hurl. Of course, that's a fair sampling of how I went through my freshman year feeling.

I really don't know what else to say about this beer. It's not horrible, but I think I'll let another 11 years pass before I try it again. I could probably use some boozy memories of my youthful indiscretions by then anyway.

A Wee Heavy

2007-10-30T20:29:00.000-04:00

Smuttynose Scotch Ale, from the Smuttynose Big Beer Series, 7.8% ABV

A big beer indeed, in spite of the Scottish nickname for this style: "Wee Heavy." Scotch Ale, not to be confused with Scottish Ales, are characterized by sweetness, pronounced maltiness and very little hop bitterness and aroma. Since Scotland isn't as well suited for the growing of hops as their southern neighbor, hops were never a major feature of this style, or many other Scottish beers. Scottish beer was often bittered using various herbs and spices. Now that hops are widely and relatively cheaply available, we don't have to drink our Scotch ale through a mess of twigs and leaves. I've had some very sweet Scotch ales in the past; overbearing and cloying sweetness, but this beer is pretty well balanced. In the glass it features a deep amber color with little head and the aroma of caramel. Long boiling time leads to a caramelization of the wort which greatly deepens the color, drives up the starting gravity and delivers that caramel character. Eat a salty snack with this to cut the sweetness. This beer is a bruiser at nearly 8% ABV. I'm halfway through my first glass and my cheeks are already red. I have one more beer to review tonight and I'm not sure I'm going to make it. And yet I press on because I suffer for my art.

Gritty's Halloween Ale 6% ABV

2007-10-29T22:45:00.001-04:00

It's a little late to talk about this beer, but it's arguably one of the best seasonal brews of New England. Billed as an extra special bitter, this gem is nice and malty according to style and features a nice British hop finish that doesn't confuse itself with an IPA. I prefer this one on draught, but it's great out of the bottle too. Pour it into a nice imperial pint glass and let it warm up a bit before you put it to your lips. This one definitely belongs in the cooler at hunting camp. Cheers.

Real Ale

2007-10-28T02:41:00.000-04:00

My precious, soon it will be mine. This is an Angram beer engine. According to CAMRA, this is the only way to serve real ale, besides pouring it straight from the cask. Rather than the beer being forced out of the keg with CO2, the beer engine is a standard pump which pulls it from the cask. The links above explain why not using CO2 is necessary for serving real ale.

Real ale served out of a cask is by far my favorite. This may be colored slightly by my visit to England in 2002, but I don't think my memory of it has been enhanced by nostalgia for the trip. I've had decent real ale here in the states, but it isn't always cared for properly. It takes quite a bit of skill and experience to store and serve it and outside of England, it's probably difficult to find the appropriate training. Especially so, given its limited appeal in the States. Case in point, I got a pint of Old Thumper cask ale at the Strange Brew tavern last night and it had turned into malt vinegar. The cask had not been drunk fast enough and so acetobacter had time to take hold. That can't be good for promoting the joys of real ale.

Real ale is a bit warmer and less carbonated than what we're used to, but that is what makes it so flavorful. Your tongue isn't assaulted by fizziness and ice cold temperatures. All that's left is the beer. When it's served from the beer engine or any other draught system in England, law states that the glass must be filled to the very top. To do this requires several pulls of the handle, and to do it in a reasonable amount of time, much of the resulting foam is forced out by continuing to fill the glass to overflowing. The result is creamy foam cascading down the side of the glass, making the sides delightfully sticky. It takes a bit longer, and at the end of the day a lot of beer is wasted, but it's worth it.

So anyway, I finally pulled the trigger and ordered one of these bad boys with which to serve my homebrew. Since my trip to England, I've been trying to recreate some of the beers I've had there with varying success. Admittedly this device won't necessarily help me with that, but at least I can have a decent real ale anytime I want.

Smuttynose IPA ~5.5? ABV 65 IBU

2007-10-28T02:14:00.001-04:00

This is a great beer. I remember a number of years ago when they were first working on it at the Portsmouth Brewery brew pub. It was so hoppy you could smell it before the waitress put the beer on the table. This is a pretty strong beer, I think it's at least 5.5, but I couldn't verify this on their website. In addition to being strong, it's also very drinkable, which is a deadly combination. I've been shot down by many a brewery waitress thanks to the sloppy mess into which this concoction transforms me. As a result it has cost me a quid or two in compensatory tips for their exceptional handling of my drunkenly amorous advances. The brewpub in downtown Portsmouth usually has it on cask, which is a real treat. I recommend this beer, just watch the intake.

Introduction

2007-10-28T01:54:00.000-04:00

Beer is fantastic. It's delicious, comforting, pain-relieving and easily made at home. I plan to use this blog to discuss beers I'm brewing, beers I drink and where I drink them. Beer is best enjoyed in moderation, but I've been known to occasionally yield to the temptations of over indulgence. As such, I'm sure some of my postings will walk the line between coherence and drunken rambling.