Half Marathon Celebrating!

After a few weeks on the few-beers-pre-race diet, I was super ready for yummy beers and bar food.  The menu: 2 Torpedos, and a chopped cajun chicken sandwich with fried onions/peppers, hot sauce, and cheese. YUM!!! Felt great post race/lawn mowing.  Even though all I can get at Lloyd's as far as IPAs go is Torpedo, it seems Naked Dove IPA on tap is in the works due to constant asking to the owner (who bought us shots and fried yummies a few days ago) and bartenders.

Power to the people!

Honky Tonk Beerdonkadonk

"The recent lease of a new barrel warehouse on AB's dime has allowed Goose Island to double the size of its barrel program and will soon lead to Bourbon County Stout being made available available year-round."  Wooo!


Just had an '08 bottle this week.  Super duper wonderful!  I have some '09 and '10 (I believe) growing old back home, as well as a couple of bombers of the original Coffee and Vanilla variations.  Needless to say, this is one of my favorite "I'm feeling rich today" beers.  So while I don't really buy large quantities in the first place, I'm excited to see this news!

Of COURSE you need be99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999oi8999999999uuer on a Snow Day!

A snow day on the 23rd of April, one week after spring break 2k12, six days before the Rochester half marathon.  CRAZY! Really, my diet is pretty strict right now and I shouldn't be having beer, but it's a snow day for grandma's sake!

I open my fridge and what do I see?  Nothing but IPAs! This won't do.  It's 11 am and I want something light.  A quick trip to Morgan's should fix me up nice.

Walking by the the coolers I see that 12 Beers of Summer is here.  Wow! Already?  The line-up looks great this year and includes a session IPA, rye IPA, kolsch, and hefe.  I'm tempted by the irony of drinking one of these on this day of all days but my heart lies elsewhere.

Hark! The newest Genny Heritage Pack!  Time to bring it home and cool it as fast as possible; the ole Mythbusters ice+water+salt+5 minutes trick should do.

Fyfe and Drum:
Angela's thawts-If I had my choice between a fyfe or a drum, it would be the sweet melody of the fyfe and the liberty beat of the drum.  It's a nice, light snow day beer or hot hot summer day beer.
Jeff's thawts- There's a sweet piccolo/snare metal duet going on in my mouth right now! A little too sweet for me, but goes down nice. Drink it cold! Biddly biddly biddly biddly rata-tat-tat!!!!

Summer Brew:
A: If I were walking through an enchanted forest on a hot summer's day, and I came across the Mad Madam Mimm's cottage, I would hope she would have this summer brew in her brew pot.
J: Light and effervescent like a vernal butterfly tiptoeing on flowing sunshiney grass tips.  It's light and a bit sweet! I'd like this one for the summer fo sho!

'bout time!

I won't lie - I tend to follow "beer seasons".  Maybe I've been brainwashed, but I just tend to find myself uninterested in big stouts on hot sunny days, or citrusy IPAs in a blizzard.  

This has proven troublesome lately in my tiny little part of PA.  I bought a full case of Breakfast Stout in October with the intent of saving the bottles for the colder and snowier nights...and it only snowed ONCE in the later months of 2011, and ONCE in 2012.  Between first falls and melting, there was less than one week of snow on the ground this winter.

So now, with several bottles left over, I find myself with a bit of a reprieve.  The temps are dropping down to near freezing at night for the first time since February, and it's been raining and/or thundering almost all weekend.  The result?  No ambition to do anything whatsoever except sit in my comfy pink recliner and watch reruns of West Wing on my big ol' HDTV while sipping FBS from my American made Dollar Tree tulip glass.  And I gotta tell you: it's wonderful.  It's swell.  It really is the bee's knees.  This is the kind of life I could get used to.  But alas, I'm sure it'll be back to warm weather by next weekend, and I'll have to go buy more Torpedo for my Saturday afternoon post-ride/reading on the deck relaxor times.

Oh darn.

I tried it!

Bud Light Platinum: If you like Bud Light with extra sugar, this is the beer for you! Hooray!!!

Cotton bad, barley good.

For the first time this year, I went for a run with a sleeveless t-shirt instead of one of my fancy schmancy moisture wicking t-shirts.

NEVER AGAIN (was a good band)

I got way sweatier, way more dehydrated, and cramped up a lot more.  No more cotton!  However, I did learn something beer related afterwards.  When paired with pizza, Genny Bock + Genny Cream Ale = good row beers!  WOOO!  I was going to add a 12 Horse, but I fell asleep watching some hoops.  Thanks, ESPN3!

LIFE

My large new tractor that just showed up has a cup holder.  SO, I just mowed over an acre in less than 40 minutes with a Genny Bock along the way for a ride.  WOO.

MassachuBeer in no particular order!

Beers had at bars/restaurants in :

Baxter Stowaway IPA from Maine- Probably good but tasted bad after eating a large dinner (with Sam Adams Summer) at Aunt Betty's
Some sort of imperial mild ale brewed somewhere in New England that I can't remember the name of-  It was good, but tasted pretty much like a fancy high gravity malt liquor.  That's that necessarily a bad thing.
Green Flash Palate Wrecker- Intensely hoppy in a super way! Nice!  Worth trying.
Port Brewing Co. Shark Attack Double Red-  Also super good... Like a stronger but still really balanced Cascazilla.

Beers consumed at residences:

Sam Adams Summer- Good, but it doesn't seem as good as it used to be.  Weird?
Chouffe (not the IPA)- Great as always!  I like it LOTS!
Butternuts Snapperhad IPA- Not very good.
Butternuts Weissbeer- Just okay, nothing to write home about.  Many better weissen out there.
Element Extra Special Oak from Massa.- Interesting beer! It had 3 flavors. The initial flavor was very oaky/aley, the middle flavor was dry and smooth (this was the best part!) and the after taste was pretty alcoholy.  Still, worth having and different!
Pretty Things Fluffy White Rabbits- Labeled as a hoppy tripel.  It was alright.  The great thing about tripels are the smoothness, this one didn't quite get there.  It has a slight medicinal flavor to me.

Beers bought:

Cambridge Brewing Co Sgt. Pepper- REALLY excited for this one but haven't had it yet.  Will let you know! (Saison with peppercorns YES!)
Founders Double Trouble-  Had this last year the night before the Indy 500 in a hotel room and remembered it to be GREAT.  I've been saying for a while now that regular IPAs are almost ALWAYS better then the doubles and this one doesn't change my mind.  HOWEVER, it is assuredly one of my FAVORITE double IPAs!

Woo!

Sunshine!

Today, I decided to join up with one of the Lancaster County Bike Club's weekend rides. 20+ miles around town. It was beautiful. Endless farmland, gorgeous old houses, sheep, pigs, cows, cats, and a boy with an accordion being pulled in a wooden cart by a pony. I couldn't make that up if I tried.

When it was done, I knew the two hour ride in roughly 80 degree heat needed to be countered with something unhealthy. Enter: Founders Double Trouble. I still haven't quite decided how I feel about this beer, but since it really hit the spot during a Madden tournament last night, I thought it would be the best bet today.

Wrong.

Sure, it was tasty. And it smelled soooooooooooo good. But after a ride like that, it was just too heavy to be refreshing. Honestly, a Genny Cream Ale (!!!!!!) would probably have been a better choice in the immediate post-ride minutes. What a fool I was! So now I need help: what beer should I have in the fridge before I embark on my next ride?

SOCIAL (BEER) ACTION!

My recent post on Naked Dove's Facebook wall:

Hey Naked Dove! You might might remember me from frequent IPA growler fills since opening day. For me this is very depressing, but my Naked Dove consumption has severely decreased due to a fairly recent move to Penn Yan. 

Regardless, Lloyd's Limited is the best pub in Penn Yan but much to my chagrin they NEVER have an IPA on tap. I had the pleasure of convincing the owner today that he should offer your IPA and the bartender (who is also a big fan) had my back. He seemed enthusiastic but you know how these things can be.

So what do you think? Any chance you can make the half hour drive down to PY in order to infiltrate the Finger Lakes wine-soaked/macro brew market with some amazing Finger Lakes beer? I'll do whatever I can do to convince Lloyd's to bring you in permanently! It would severely increase my quality of life (and the lives of Keuka lakers as well as the wings-eating college crowd). Let me know what I can do to help convince both you and Lloyd's!

A "Wow!" Beer

Lost Abbey Devotion.  Ben brought it with him from California.   I've never had a "dry" beer before, but it most certainly was.  A non-sweet ale? SO GOOD!

DISSED

Nugget Nectar is good, but it's too expensive (a skewed price to yumminess ratio for sure) and definitely overrated.  I say it every year.  Next year I refuse to buy a six!

What to do?!??!!

Just looked at the tap list for MacGregors.

Racer 5!

Mach 10!

Union Jack!

Double Jack!

Unearthly!

West Coast IPA!

I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO! Smaller pours = more different delicious beers, but more money. Larger pours = less money, but fewer different delicious beers. HELP!

Froggies!

Back in 2010, I drove nearly cross-country in just over two days with my brother. Despite being a bit draining, it was an incredible experience that I wouldn't mind repeating some day. Lots of brewery visits (well, one a day), and a beer shopping spree that we both spent too much money on.

My worst purchase from a fiscal perspective? A $20 (un-labeled) bomber of Hoppin Frog Barrel Aged B.O.R.I.S Imperial Oatmeal Stout. Purchased nearly two years ago, and sitting in various basements and refrigerators ever since.

Until tonight.

I'd been saving this for a horrible, blizzard-esque night where I was stuck indoors, but PA just can't get a grasp on winter. So tonight, with grey skies and temps in the low 40s, I decided it was as good a time as any. It wasn't just the weather, it was the camaraderie that only a four-state Mario Kart tournament can provide that made me realize that it was finally time to pour this gem into an American made Dollar Tree tulip glass.

Right decision. After two years, the beer mellowed beautifully. It's only 9.4% ABV, so a bomber isn't going to do too much damage. The smell? Wonderful. The taste? Not the in-your-face robustness that you'd expect from an imperial stout, but much richer than your typical "dark beer". It wasn't a stretch to taste the bourbon, but it was far from overpowering. And the mouthfeel? Outstanding. Thick, but without creating that feeling in your gut like you've consumed far too much. Smooth. Not flat, but not "fizzy".

While I'd certainly hesitate to spend that much money on a bomber again, it's definitely given me cause to keep an eye out on Hoppin Frog's bottle selection out here. I have a feeling I haven't seen the last of them.

Weekend Beer Update II

Hey they beer world (Kevin)! Yesterday night I had Three Heads Kind IPA and an excellent reuben.  I would recommend this pairing to anyone!!

Now, after running twelve miles and feeling like a ravenous lethargy monster, I am slowly enjoying a turbo-delicious Ommegang Hennepin.  Here is my best ravenous lethargy monster beer face:

Anchors Away!

Last night, I tried to drink a bottle of Anchor Porter while Neil and I attempted to destroy each other via various Xbox games. Both missions ended poorly.

This beer is...uhh...well, it's pretty bad. Like, first time in years I didn't finish a single 12 ounce bottle bad. If I'd powered through the whole thing while it was cold, I could've managed. But once it started warming a bit, it was just downright awful. Cringe inducing.

Coming up next: five loaves of beer bread, baked with Anchor Porter.