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I was aimlessly wandering around the Internet and found what looks like a useful resource. They seem to be Euro (Belgian) centric, but a full service site nonetheless. Here is the link.

Kevin v. Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov

In a quest for a beer that would challenge me, I turned to the newly expanded shelves at Hegedorns and searched for something different. Something that scared all of the bottles nearby into leaping off the shelves and into the baskets and carts of lesser beer drinkers. Something that, in the event of an air raid, could be poured on the windows of my house and allow me to keep the TV on while not letting a lick of light spill out to alert the bombers of my presence.

Stone Brewing Company's Russian Imperial Stout is such a beer. It's 10.8% ABV, and it doesn't do a damn thing to stop those who sample it from figuring that out. It pours out looking like a glass of motor oil with a head like Goldilocks...after the bears have scalped her and tossed their prize in the dirt of the forest. It smells like the Earth itself, especially the thin layer of chocolate coffee that hides just below the crust. The taste is similar, but with hints of the crust itself thrown in for good measure. Oh, and then it kicks you in the appendix - or your colon, if you've had your appendix out - with the alcohol. At all temperatures (between about 40 and 65 degrees), the alcohol bites like a million PMSing fire ants in every sip.

This beer is the reason I have been going to the gym regularly for the last four months. I don't need to be hot; I don't need a healthy heart. I just need to be man enough to handle a drink like this when it's all I can get my hands on. If I ever get placed on a liquid diet, this drink alone will be thick enough to sustain me through the harshest of winters or the most scorching of summers.

Aged Storm King!

I am drinking a 2004 Victory Storm King, aged approximately 3.5 years (courtesy of Ben). TOTALLY RADLY SWEETLY GNARLY.

Let me start by saying that fresh Storm King is one of my favorites, and one I have semi-frequently. It is very strong flavored, coffee-y and chocolaty and bitter, just a very strong beer overall.

The 2004 seems to have lost it's youthful strength. It smells sweet, almost like the stale gum drop dish my Grammie used to have in her home (I mean this in a good way). Its just a cloyingly sweet and syrupy smell. I could tell from the pour it was overly carbonated, and that was especially evident in my mouth. The carbonation really dominates in this beer, while the young version has little carbonation and is very smooth. However, this Storm King is very smooth in the sense that it has lost a lot of its bad-assness (AKA strong flavor), and goes down pretty easy. So, the carbonation hits right off, it gets very sweet, smooth, kind of plum-like in flavor, and then a tiny bit of the hop bitterness arrives in the end without any alcohol flavor (like you would in the younger version).

I really feel it has lost its strong complexity (coffee/chocolate/roasted flavor); it has been replaced with carbon dioxide and sweetness. Though it truly is a long-awaited treat, I don't think I'd let one sit for over a year and a half.

However, it was just really really cool to have a 3.5 year old beer. Thanks, Ben!

A triumph for IPA drinkers in the Rochester area!

I visited my brother Ben in San Diego last summer (Riveting, enthralling, and relevant information for you, I know).

Regardless, there I had various IPAs and Double IPAs, as these styles are known to be extremely delicious in this part of the United States of America. One of the IPAs I enjoyed was from a company called Green Flash and it was excellent. To augment this delight, Ben tried without success to find one of the doubles of this style from the same company. I was left broken, dead, lost, more negative and forlorn adjectives, and without a clean pair of spandex (Though I did acquire some really sweet shades). HOWEVER, NOW, in the PRESENT, both Beers of the World in Henrietta and Hegedorn's in Webster are now carrying Green Flash's Imperial (Double) IPA (DIPA); this is one of the best beers I have ever had. It is so smooth and "easy-drinking"that I had trouble identifying it as a 9% DIPA, and maybe not even an IPA. In fact, as I tried this Green Flash Imperial IPA for the first time, Neil was trying their regular IPA... I think their IPA might even taste hoppier and more bitter than the DIPA. Regardless, the IPA is equally as delicious. So friends, keep an out for the Green Flash (Something I've always wished to see in real life!), buy it, and drink it!


In other news, I saw in Hegedorn's ad in the Sunday Newspaper today that they have added over 200 beers to their already delicious and cheaper-than-Beers-of-the-World selection, and IT IS SOOOO TRUE. This augmentation includes a variety of Belgians (including La Chouffe, a Wisniewski favorite), Green Flash, and Stone Double Bastard (One of my favoritest favorites) for nearly $2.50 cheaper than it is at BOTW. Victory!

Oh, the memories

As you may recall, one of my cameras recently blew up. That is, one of my Canon bodies fell victim to a blown out shutter, which was hanging limp in front of my pictures. So naturally, on a subsequent trip to Beers of the World I set my sights on Clipper City Brewery's Loose Cannon, a 7.25% IPA.

First, let me apologize for not photographing this beer. I've been shooting all day, and I'm sick of it. Tough. But this particular beverage filled my trusty clear mug with fluid ounce after fluid ounce of golden refreshment. It may start acting crazy though, as it appears to have lost its head. No biggie; I'm fine with getting straight to business with my IPAs.

One sip, and it all comes rushing back: I've had this before. It's the day before the day before Christmas, and in two hours I'll be at work. On a Sunday. While the Bills are playing, and my brother is in town. But that's not important. What's important is that I had lost a bet to Jeff, a bet that my fantasy team would best his in an epic battle, and I now owed him my own fiendish suggestion for payment: a cover song, written and performed live, about my failure.

Needless to say, being the tone-deaf buffoon that I am, I needed a little coaxing. But more importantly, there was a Bills game on, which is the first and foremost reason for reaching for a beer. And that beer...you guessed it...Loose Cannon!

This beer has hops like Kermit. Something about three different types; three pounds per barrel, etc, is printed on the label. All I know is that it tastes good. Not like frog legs, but like a strong IPA should. In fact, this may even be stronger than the 8.4% Lagunita Maximus IPA that I had last week, although I'd have to taste them side by side to say that with any real confidence.

All I know is that this beer has commanded my attention. It didn't look at me with those big round Kentucky Derby eyes that my Labatt Blue looked at me with last week, pleading "put me out my misery". No. This beer stared into my soul like my elementary school crossing guard. "SLOW DOWN!" it yelled. Then, like a whiny feminist, it begged for me to respect it and appreciate it. To which, unlike a whiny feminist, I agreed.

Just for me!

I'd just like to point out that my local bar, The Idle Hour, has had Bear Republic's Hop Rod Rye on for two months at least now; this is one of my favorite beers. However, I guess I'm the only one who drinks it other than the people I get to go to the Idle with me that I can convince to order it. As a result, after so much time, they have reduced their price for a pint (16 oz.) of said beer to $2.50. This is compared to the $5-$6 I pay for 22 oz. at various beer-carrying stores.

So, GNARLY, it pays off to like delicious and strong beers in Western New York. Write that down and remember it.

Other than that, Saranac's 12 Beers of Summer kind of suck this year (a variety pack I wait for with great enthusiasm each year); they're pretty weak and there is no new addition (By the way, I especially dislike the Kölsch). I sampled a Unibroue Ephemere, the glorious Canadian brewing company's hard cider-smelling beer, and it was pretty good and easy to drink, just too expensive in the bar world.

So, my plan for next weekend when some of my family is here for my "graduation" (I still have 3 classes left until entry into Masters Land) is to take them to the Idle for beers immediately after the ceremony to get them all Storm Kings. Do you think that's a good idea???

This picture should reduce you to trembling and tears.

What a beer!

Just drinkin a He'Brew Jewbelation Eleven to celebrate the end of classes and a successful interview today. Other than the punny name, the label on the neck features a knob that goes to 11; this must truly be a bad-ass beer!

Since I don't feel like going into tons of detail here, I won't. Just be aware of this: This is a huge beer, at 11% it smells delicious, complex, and strong, while pouring like maple syrup, but darker. It tastes thick, sweet, complex and hoppy. It's awesome, it truly is.

On the label it claims that it is made with 11 hops and 11 malts (That's a lot of elevens!), and it sure tastes it. I wouldn't call it an imperial stout, but maybe a super strong ale-porter-beer-thingy. Definitely try this one out if you can! I give it a 9.4 out of 10!

P.S. Thanks to Andrew for forgetting this beer in my fridge... And let it be noted: I owe him 2 drinks at the Idle for this beer!

A Golden Tale of Love and Spirituality!

Lakers versus Jazz. Obama versus Clinton. Apples versus bananas. Yes versus no. Love and understanding versus hate and pineapples.

MILLER HIGH LIFE VERSUS JEFF

It was a cool and golden evening, yet refreshing and corny. A man dives, elegantly yet with masterful precision; his nose penetrates the surface. What's this? Before his body is consumed by the brilliant liquid the man hovers, suspended, an odor enshrouding his nasal membranes. "Corn..." The wind whispers as if it were a maligned lover, leprous and proud. A taste, a taste, oh what an urge! The man's lips embrace the golden tears and a word, possibly the most important word in the history of the English language, infiltrates his brain, "Husk..."

He ponders, "Yes, husk. It's as though life, at this moment, has been transmogrified into a pool... A golden pool of corn! But wait! Husk, or is it life? Is it life?!"

"Life..." The wind whispers as the man finally immerses his entire being, both physically and spiritually into the sparkling pool. Once suspended, face merely grazing the surface, the man now enters the realm of Cheap-and-Refreshing.

Fin.

Hey, Look over there!

<------ Yes, right over there folks. I have added a nice feed subscription function for your RSS pleasure. If you don't currently use a news reader, might I suggest Google Reader? It's quite functional and plays nice with the rest of your fun Google add-ins. It's a nice way to manage your information intake if you read a variety of blogs and would like all the updates easily readable from a central source. Also, if you're a fool like me and forget to bookmark your lesser read, but still interesting, blogs it's a godsend. Enjoy.