First Post of 2014 - Photo Dump

 

October 12, 2012, Nero’s Apeccchio Red Ale

Picked this one up at Trader Joe’s and haven’t seen it there since, which is regrettable.  The notebook entry for this one reads:

Sweet malty smelling with a medium weak head.  Orange red with a beige head.  Surprising alcohol bite with a sweet almond finish.  Good. 

The alcohol content on this one was 6.5% but my notes show that there was more of a bite to this than was reflected in the posted abv.



 

June 24, 2012, Black Star Brewing, Black Star Lager

As I recall, I picked this one up when the new Winco store opened up down the road from BeerRant HQ.  It didn’t make enough of an impression on me that I have bothered to buy more after that first six-pack, but here’s my initial impression:

Weak Head, no noticeable smell.  Active beading, apple juice color.  No significant taste profile.  A bit corny or grainy – that’s it.  Good hot weather lager.

In hindsight, perhaps if the price is right, this is one to pick up in the middle of summer for use as a post lawn mower beer.

 

June 25, 2012, Murphy’s Premium Red Ale

Here’s another one that evidently didn’t make my price point as a bargain based on the notes, which read:

Pours reddish bronze with a decent head.  Smells malt sweet like a lot of reds.  No significant taste profile – somewhat bitter and a bit dry at the finish.  Okay beer but only if it’s cheap.  Bought as a single at BevMo.

 

Since I’m in the Beehive State at the moment, perhaps it’s best if I close this first entry of 2014 with a past review of a Utah beer.

December 27, 2011, Uinta Brewing, King’s Peak Porter

Dark coffee brown, not opaque.  Decent tan head with a distinct coffee smell.  Medium mouth feel.  Faint coffee taste at the finish.   Best Utah beer so far this visit (2011).

I have some King’s Peak Porter squirrelled away in a secret location that I hope to sample while I’m in Utah this season.  Wish me luck and Happy New Year to you all.

American Craft Beer Week

Let me see. Last year I started off American Craft Beer Week (ACBW) with a plan to taste a new craft beer each day of the week. I promptly fell ill and didn’t finish out the effort.

This year, I’ve neglected the first day, really. I did have a Bridgeport Brewing IPA with lunch here at Beer Rant HQ but my real effort was focused on tending a couple of grandkids and helping them make a birthday present for their mommy. (Shhhh. Don't tell.)

I guess you could say I got a jump on ACBW. Friday evening I had occasion to travel to Tucson for an event at the Arizona Historical Society and luckily, Gentle Ben’s brewpub was not more than about 500 feet from the Society museum. So, after my event was over, I strolled over to Gentle Ben’s with a couple of friends and sampled their Red Cat Amber and I took a growler of their Porter home. I’ll simply say here that the Red Cat Amber was passable, but not extraordinary. The Porter on the other hand was terrific and I’ll give it a more detailed post later – perhaps later this week.

I see that Arizona’s ACBW events are primarily centered at places like Rockbottom and BJ’s around town. I’ll probably not get out to any of those venues during the work week but I do have some rare and unusual limited edition beers in the fridge, which I may crack open. (A couple of them are produced in locales that have recently proclaimed a boycott against Arizona, so they may be the last of their kind I sample here at Beer Rant for the foreseeable future – sorry, I can be just as spiteful and petty as the next fellow.)

You can look up Arizona ACBW events at the American Craft Beer Week website.

We’re looking down the barrel of our first 100-degree day here at Beer Rant HQ. The weatherman says Wednesday. I’ve got some winter seasonals hidden in the back of a closet here. Maybe I need to crack those open this week in honor of our hitting the century mark.

Quick Riffs: Three Western Beers and Some British Dude

How’s ‘bout some Quick Riffs to keep my hand in the game, eh?

Sonoran Brewing
Victorian India Pale Ale
Sampled at the Mellow Mushroom on Happy Valley Road and I-17
(Bar sampling – sorry no photo.)

Even before making the ridiculous commitment to concentrate on only western beers, I’ve been eager to try local beers but I don’t believe I’ve sampled any of their products before. Here’s the dope straight from the notebook:

A bit dark for an IPA – I like the look of it. Steady beading with small bubbles. Sturdy looking off white head, heavy, heavy lacing. No smell of pineapple or citrus or sawdust. There’s definitely a nutty roasted component but if I were to do a blind tasting on this I would not peg it as an IPA. This is good but to me it misses the mark stylistically – more like an amber ale I think.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t probably going to have at least one more glass of this, since it may be part of the Mellow Mushroom’s Beer Club 75 required beers. Yeah, I’ll get around to joining that at some point.

Sierra Nevada
Glissade Golden Bock

I know “bock” is somehow related to the German word for “goat” and I’ve often associated “bock” beers with the prospect of getting head-butted in the nads by a goat (is it “nads” or “knads” or maybe “nards”?). But my perceptions are frequently wrong. This one weighs in at a simple 6.4% abv so there’s no nad-, knad- or nard head butting to speak of. Here’s the scoop on this goat:
Clear, light gold color with a thin white head. Smells nice; sweet vaguely grainy. Thicker mouth feel than I expected. Grainy but robust taste. Somewhat dry at the finish. Puts me in mind of what our dad’s beers probably tasted like back in the good old days.

I’d heard some negative comments about this one and for sure it’s not what you’d expect from Sierra Nevada in terms of taste and style, however in the area of quality and taste, it’s the typical top notch product most of us have come to expect from the Sierra Nevada crew. I’ll try it again.

Darwin Brewery (Durham, England)
Original Flag Porter

Sure, not a “Western Beer” but a unique thing to sample. Picked up a single at Total Wine back in early January and sampled it on January 9th. The notes for that date read: Brown like coffee, not opaque. Fair head, quickly gone. No beading visible. Malty smelling, thin mouth feel. Definitely comes across as a porter but the actual taste is weak – faintly roasted but not much else. I can quickly name 5 or six that are better. (Deschutes, Alaskan, Flying Dog, Stone…that’s four right off the top of my noggin.)

This beer’s claim to fame is some old yeast that was apparently dredged up from a sunken ship in the English Channel or Thames River. I love a cool story and that’s a cool story, so this one passes in my book, but I’m wondering why the porter isn’t listed on Darwin’s website.

What the heck was I drinking a year ago?

Alaskan Smoked Porter 2008
From the beer notebook entry for February 25, 2009:
Alaskan Smoked Porter 2008. Pours dark with a tan head. Smells like cigarette smoke, maybe fish. Smokiness is immediately obvious. Medium thick mouth feel. Roasted, sooty finish. Woody and rich.

As an endorsement of this terrific beer, I’ll simply say that I’ve already had some of the 2009 vintage. Plan to get some more, too.

My first instinct is to be pissed off….

Just got wind of the fact that Deschutes has chosen to discontinue their Cinder Cone Red and replace it with the Red Chair NWPA. I’ll be in therapy if you need me.

Wait, before I hit the therapist’s couch, I’m off to anyplace that stocks six-packs of this terrific endangered species! Know a place that stocks it in the greater Phoenix area, let me know…PLEASE.

Meanwhile. A picture from happier times…..ahhh.

"Good People Drink....Grolsch?" Really, Dr. Thompson?

February 20th marks five years since the death of Hunter S. Thompson.

Each year, as the Super Bowl approaches, occurs, then recedes into faded memory, I find myself giving a thought or two to the train wreck that was Hunter S. Thompson. This year, I’ve just finished reading the book Gonzo by Jann Wenner and some other dude whose name escapes me at the moment. Evidently, Thompson’s widow was not too happy with the book but I have to think it must be a pretty honest appraisal of the nutty Doctor since it includes dozens of recollections from his son Juan. Bottom line: Old HST was a lot of fun when he wanted to be, but damn he was a turd a fair share of the time, too. (Gosh, what middle-aged man hasn't said that about his own father a time or two.)

For those of you wanting to see last year’s screed on Doctor Thompson and a special beer dedicated to his good name and questionable legacy, click HERE!

In addition to knocking Hunter Thompson down a peg or two in my estimation, the book Gonzo also revealed what were, supposedly, Thompson’s favorite beers. Oddly enough, Heineken, Molson and Grolsch appear in the text as being on the good Doctor’s short list of yummy, fermented adult beverages. (Never mind that he was evidently a walking medicine chest of assorted illegal and legal drugs.)

So, while I’d planned to have another bottle of Gonzo Imperial Porter this year in honor of Hunter S. Thompson, I think it more appropriate that I knock back a sample of something he might have appreciated a bit more in his day. (Despite the quote attributed to Thompson: "Good people drink good beer.")

Grolsch Premium Lager

Let me just start by saying that no good beer that’s ever passed my lips had the words “premium lager” printed on the label. And let me add that no beer that I’ve ever seen sporting the handle “premium lager” has been without some sort of slick packaging whiz bang – usually a foil wrapped top. Grolsch is no different. Doc Thompson reportedly fancied Grolsch because of the nifty flip top bottles in which the beer is packaged. The fact that Thompson wasn’t a paragon of moderation leads me to ask, why he would care to reseal a bottle of beer, but I suppose when your hands are occupied with running an IBM Selectric typewriter, fending off inquisitive editors, firing up the odd doobie and popping the occasional hit of acid, it pays to have beer bottles that can be re-sealed.

The stuff pours a clear golden color with a thin white head. It smells sour and tastes of sour grain – perhaps corn. It’s thirst quenching and at just 5% abv a decent session beer if you’re not too hung up on taste or style. Currently, the swing top bottle is about all this one has going for it. Perhaps the marketing crew at Grolsch could capitalize on the fact that Hunter S. Thompson drank their beer. If nothing else, I plan to drop the folks at Flying Dog a note and strongly urge them to introduce a line of their Imperial Porter in flip top bottles. How cool would that be?

Postscript: The Very Crap He Would Have Despised.

Perhaps it’s a quirk of my nature that I’d rather read about famous writers than read what they’ve written. It’s true for Hemingway and Abbey and it’s definitely true for this nut job Thompson. It’s often difficult to divine meaning from their written word, but it’s a damned straightforward proposition to gather meaning (and sometimes inspiration) from their lives. As a result, my radar is far more acute in picking up references to the author and his persona than references to his works. Example: ambling the bright aisles of a local Target store I espied a strange little plastic skateboard (action?) figure with the handle “Hunter.” Given that this squat little plastic figure sported a slouch hat, Hawaiian shirt and a briefcase with “I (heart) L.V.” on the side, it was clear that what this was: a Hunter Thompson rip off! And all the more pathetic are the good Doctor’s words echoing from beyond the grave: “…nobody grows up wishing to be a comic strip character…” (I’m curious to know if the Hunter Thompson estate knows about this. The packaging doesn’t include any reference to Thompson or the Thompson post-mortem machine.) I bought the little dust collector because it was on sale and because it’s obviously meant to represent Hunter S. Thompson.

Maybe in the grand karmic scheme, it’s something of a punishment for the wacky Doctor Thompson, to be reborn as a plastic skateboard figurine in atonement for drinking Grolsch, Molson and Heineken. That and the drugs.

Here’s a recent Appraisal of Hunter S. Thompson’s legacy.

The revelations in Gonzo not withstanding, still hope to see you around, Doc.

For those of you with more than a passing interest, I’d strongly recommend Gonzo: The Life of Hunter S. Thompson by Jann Wenner and Corey Seymour. And don’t pay $30 for the damned thing either; it can be had for about 7 bucks if you look around.

Fun (and beer) At Old World Brewery

Dropped by Old World Brewery after work yesterday and managed to keep to my one beer promise and get back to Beer Rant HQ before sundown, which is nice. I didn’t try the anniversary ale, though I’d planned to originally, I just can’t keep away from that Dark Knight Porter of theirs and dang if I ain’t glad I did this time.

The current batch of porter is evidently the one they intend to submit for a major competition and I believe it’s one of the better Dark Knight Porter’s I’ve sampled there, but that’s just the tip of the tap room iceberg really.

After every visit to Old World I scratch my head and marvel at my good fortune for having a micro/craft brewery so close to the homestead. In the short hour I was there I was able to chat in the back brewing area with one of the owners about beer and bands, knock back a pleasant pint of porter chatting with the brewer and a buddy from work, peruse a recent issue of Beer Advocate magazine that I pulled from a stack of brewing related publications on the bar, sample the latest tapping of the Old World Wit (It was great but I got the stink eye from Matt when I called it an upscale Blue Moon) and share in the sampling from a bomber of Dark Knight Porter that had spent the previous week or so rolling around in the bed of the owner’s truck. To finish, I bought a bomber of Porter for myself (presumably not one that was a truck bed experiment) and a special First Anniversary Edition pint glass.

Now where the hell can you get that sort of fun along with a pint of beer, anywhere?

The Old World crew are off to the Arizona Strong Ale Festival tomorrow and I wish them all the very best. Me, I’ll be sofa shopping with Mrs. Beer Rant. Evidently, the couch we got as a wedding gift oh these many years ago is no longer up to speed. On the bright side, we’ll be in close proximity to Total Wine and Gordon Biersch...and the grandkids!

Incidentally, the issue of Beer Advocate that I was scanning had a page devoted to the top misunderstood beers or some such and you know they actually included an entry for that vile, nasty Chili Beer from Arizona (I think it's brewed in Mexico, but labeled as an Arizona beer to give me one more thing to be proud of, I guess.) If you doubt for one second that I abhor and detest this vile travesty of a beer, see my POST from May of 2008.

In the Tank: Kona Pipeline Porter (Probably the last one this year, folks.)

On the Desk: Boulder Brewing Sundance Amber Ale (eh, it's okay.)

Arizona Beer for the New Year!

I’ve always been an Arizona Booster, even when I wasn't actually in Arizona!

I read somewhere to “beware of thoughts that come in the middle of the night.” I had a flash of brilliance last night, thinking that perhaps it would be nice to pick up growlers of Arizona beer to enjoy while ringing in the New Year. Good plan, right?

So I sanitized my Old World Brewery and Brewer’s Den growlers and all day long contemplated the thrill of having the jugs filled after work. I swung by the Sun Up/Brewer’s Den location on Camelback Road and plunked down 10 bucks for a growler of what will likely be some of their last Nut Before Christmas Nut Brown Ale, then I hopped on 7th Street and tootled north to Old World Brewery where I plunked down 8 bucks for a growler of their Dark Knight Porter. But at Old World, I got something more.

First, the commentary, then the background, I guess.

Sun Up Brewing’s Nut Before Christmas Nut Brown Ale is, sadly, uninspiring. I tried their Vanilla Porter earlier this year and liked it very much, but this limited edition is best left alone. There is no discernible flavor up front and just a tiny hint of sweet nuttiness in the finish. I’ve been left wishing I’d gotten a jug of their IPA instead.

On the up side, the Sun Up brew pub/restaurant was hopping when I dropped in around 1:00 PM to get the growler topped off. There was easy, casual banter going on between the wait staff and the clientele seated at the bar and the bar tendress indicated they were nearly out of the Nut Before Christmas Nut Brown, so I can only gather that business is good. Will I be back? Hell yes, I’ll be back! Who wouldn’t buy beer from a brewer named Uwe? (I went to high school with a dude named Uwe. You think? Nah.) Listen; if I was looking for Big Mac consistency, I’d be buying the Miller/Coors/Bud products more often. You buy a seasonal beer from a craft brewer and you take your chance, right?

The Old World Dark Knight Porter is another deal altogether. Some time ago I stole a line from Edward Abbey when describing this dark devil. Dark Knight Porter “is faithful and never disappoints.” Is this to say every glass of Dark Knight has been a winner for me? Nope. (See my comment about Big Mac consistency.) But tonight, if there were to be a head to head comparison, the Old World Porter would easily trump the Sun Up Nut Brown Ale. The Dark Knight Porter poured coffee dark and opaque with a thin head. It smelled sweet and vaguely of caramel. The taste was initially a bit sour with a distinct smoky component. Certainly, the Dark Knight Porter is more flavorful than the Nut Before Christmas.

The other upside for Old World is the actual experience of visiting their shop. I rolled up to the front of the building to find what I thought were construction workers pouring over the place and for a moment I thought that perhaps they’d gone into some sort of remodeling mode (turns out they were just jazzing the place up for a party). A worker promptly pointed me to Patrick Fields who, again, recognized me. (Repeat offenders here will remember that it was Patrick Fields who greeted moviegoers as they exited the premier of the film Beer Wars at Desert Ridge, and it was Patrick Fields who handed out his business card to every swinging Richard and Regina and it was Patrick Fields who remembered yours truly as “the guy with the blog” in the midst of the dozens gathered there that night. Patrick Fields, folks, the hardest working man in Arizona craft brewing.)

Today, I wasn’t in the building more than 30 seconds before I’d been taken round back for a look at the latest operational workings and a sample of their upcoming First Anniversary ale. I got a look at the bottling machine, and the labeling machine and a sample of their new venture in root beer (more on that in a bit). Bottom line: for me it isn’t just about the beer when I visit Old World Brewery.

Flashback:

It’s been just over a year since I first visited Old World and though I didn’t say as much back then, I truly doubted their staying power. Today, nearly a year later, I have to say that my instincts were wrong (as usual). With a bottling and labeling line up and running, and an arrangement for Republic Distributing to proliferate their product, with a deal to sell bombers at places like Fry’s and A.J.’s Fine Foods and an up and coming root beer product, Old World looks to have dug in their heels for the long fight.

When I told Patrick about the recent “gimmick poll” here at Beer Rant and the proposed option of having Beer Rant focus only on beers from the western United States, he quickly quipped: “How about just beers from Arizona?” That’s a thought.

So, what have we got at Old World? The Dark Knight Porter is a staple in Old World’s repertoire of about half a dozen beers that run the gambit from a wit to a red to a porter. Not surprisingly, the lighter beers are the flagship brews for Old World, their Wit being a gateway brew in the same fashion as Blue Moon in the broader beer market. Patrick estimates that they are the first local brewer to have three beers in initial distribution. But there’s experimentation afoot at Old World, too. In a week, maybe two, they plan to have a first anniversary Scotch ale that will tip the scales at about 8% abv. Patrick says some of the Scotch Ale will be cask conditioned and that they’ll be switching from clear growlers to brown glass growlers. Also, there will be first anniversary glasses available. Old World seems to be coming into their own.

Don’t like beer? Fine.
I was surprised to learn that Old World is now producing a root beer line called Cole’s Old West Root Beer and the sample I tried in the taproom was first rate. I took home a growler of Cole’s Old West Root Beer for Mrs. Beer Rant and she gave it a definite thumbs up. According to Patrick, growlers of Cole's Old West are selling faster than growlers of their beer. Hmmm. There’s certainly a broader market for non-alcoholic beverages out there, I’d imagine.

My hope, my plan, at this point is to have at least one posting a month about Old World throughout 2010. That is my hope, that is my plan. Help keep me honest, folks.

In the tank:
Sun Up Brewing Nut Before Christmas Nut Brown Ale
Old World Brewing Dark Knight Porter
Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale 2009

On the desk:
An empty glass, formerly occupied by Nut Before Christmas Nut Brown Ale.

It's time for bed. Happy New Year, folks. God’s blessing for a 2010 full of health and the promise of happiness and prosperity. See you next year!

See you tomorrow 2010!

Colorado Trip

Dad Gum! This Is A Long Post!

My work as a low-level government functionary provides a single perk for which I have been constantly grateful ‘lo this past decade or more: ample vacation time. I accrue damned near 8 hours of vacation time every pay period! Mrs. Beer Rant, eh, not so much. Consequently, I found myself in Colorado by myself a couple of weeks ago. My primary purpose was to attend the annual reunion of the Civilian Conservation Corps Legacy, but with kinfolk scattered across the state, I enjoyed family company as well. Oh, and beer, too.

Normally, a visit to Colorado is a mixed blessing for me in that I’m always thrilled to be there and sad to leave. This time around, with temperatures dipping into the teens and the roads iced up, I wasn’t so sorry to hop that plane once my nine-day visit was over. (Naturally, the weather cleared up the following week and Denver once again basked under 70 degree sun, but that’s Colorado for you.)

Of course, if you’re one of the few folks likely to even read this post, you’re not likely to care much for stories of my having scrolled through old newspapers on microfilm in the library across the street from the Tommyknocker brewery in Idaho Springs. You’re likely to scroll through any account I might post about shooting pool with my brother-in-law, even if I make mention of the pitchers of Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale that we enjoyed while he systematically dismantled my sensitive billiard ego.

So, here’s the straight beer dope from Colorado:

I didn’t set foot in any breweries, though I did snap a picture of the sign painter touching up the Tommyknocker sign. The weather was so dicey during my stay; I preferred to drink at my sister’s house or in the warming environs of the local pool hall, with a few quick samplings made in a hotel room during the CCC reunion to round out the tasting notes.

By my rough count I sampled 13 new beers, mostly Colorado product and mostly singles, which doesn’t make for decent commentary. (Someone has posted a set of “rules” for beer sampling and one of them cautions against forming an opinion about a beer after only a single sample. Which is why I don’t really “rate” beers here, right.)

Haunting Baker Street
My sister and her husband weren’t home when I arrived at their place, so I ambled around the corner to the Baker Street Pub for lunch and some beer. The waitress drew my attention to a sale on Guinness 250 on draft, which was being offered for the bargain basement price of 2 bucks a pint. “Fill ‘er up says I.” I have to admit that Guinness 250 tastes better on draft, which shouldn’t come as a surprise. Perhaps it was the cut-rate price, too. At any rate, I liked it enough to have another one a few days later during a follow on visit.

With the first glass of Guinness 250 gone and still facing half a plate of bangers and mash, I ordered a glass of New Belgium’s Hoptoberfest, which must be some sort of locally protected secret because when I took my seat at the pub I made a point of asking the waitress what seasonals were currently available and all she offered was Sam Adams Octoberfest. (I shouldn’t beef too much; at least my waitress clued me in to the Guinness 250 sale, right?) Lucky for me I overheard another waitress telling other patrons about the Hoptoberfest. Well, sort of lucky. I was expecting something on the order of a marzen but this one arrived lager thin and only slightly darker than a Bud or a Coors. The hop smell is right up front with this one and the taste is hoppy and sweet, reminding me of another beer that I’m still unable to recall. Hoptoberfest is decidedly unlike any other New Belgium offering I’ve had in the past.

I paid a second visit to Baker Street Pub with my brother-in-law later in my stay and as we watched the Denver/Dallas football game I enjoyed a glass of the Baker Street Nut Brown ale, which smells a bit of maple or molasses and tastes great. This one would be too sweet to pound as a session beer. During the same stop I had a glass of Paulaner Hefeweizen, which arrived a cloudy light yellow color with no citrus attached per my instructions to the bartend-ress (who very kindly asked me if I wanted an orange or lemon). This hefe tastes vaguely of Hoegaarden but not as bad.

Drinking On The Kinfolk’s Couch
For light drinking around the house, I picked up a six pack of Great Divide Brewing's Samurai Rice Ale and a six pack of Grand Lake Brewing's Stumpjumper IPA. I found myself turning to these during my short stops by the family place, usually in the evenings between 8 and 10 pm after travels up Clear Creek Canyon or to top off a day with the CCC boys at the reunion.

As for the Samurai Rice Ale, in addition to really cool label graphics, the beer had a pleasant sweet grain smell and taste with a surprisingly light mouthfeel for an unfiltered beer. I will definitely seek this one out again – especially when the weather turns hot again. The Stumpjumper IPA was also a pleasant surprise. I’d not ever heard of Grand Lake Brewing before and I considered a jaunt over Berthoud Pass to pay them a visit but glitchy weather and a full schedule dictated otherwise. (I did drive to the summit of Berthoud Pass during my visit, but only because I worked on that road back in 1988.) The Stumpjumper poured with a sweet, piney smell that seemed right for an IPA. The taste was sweet, grainy, sour and piney if a beer can be all those things at once. The taste was almost too sweet for an IPA, seeming more like a hopped up pale ale instead. Still, a great effort by an evidently small, remote brewer. It’s just unfortunate they haven’t broken into the Arizona market yet, but judging from their website, it would seem they’ve had some growing pains recently. If you’re in an area where you can buy Grand Lakes beer – BUY IT.

To round things out around the homestead, I picked up a bomber of Breckenridge Brewing's Small Batch Imperial Porter Porter, which I purposely purchased one evening as I headed home in the face of an impending storm. Knowing the weather was about to turn decidedly winter-like, I figured a nice porter or stout was definitely in order. (I ended up scraping ice off the windshield of my rental car with a Gordon Biersh card the next morning.) The Porter Porter has an alcohol bite up front and is rather acidic tasting and it definitely warms going down. Though it isn’t an outstanding porter, it does represent the imperial style well enough.


I Drink Alone, and Sometimes, Not
I hit Lucky Strike Lanes for happy hour one afternoon and, in the process sampled some 2-for-1 beers that included Odell Brewing's Easy Street Wheat. The bartend-ress compared this one to Blue Moon, but Easy Street arrived smelling slightly alcoholic, so I’d describe it as Blue Moon’s slightly more aggressive sister, tasting more of wheat without the spice of Blue Moon. They may be related somehow, but they’re distinctly different. (For the record, I’d originally ordered an Odell’s 90 Shilling, but Lucky Strike evidently doesn’t carry that product any longer.) To follow up the Easy Street Wheat, I had a glass of Sam Adam’s October fest and marveled at the beauty of its orange color and nice caramel component. Boston Brewing rarely disappoints.

In another session, with my brother-in-law, we dropped in to Las Margaritas for a bottle or two of Lakefront Brewing's Pumpkin Lager. This one has more spice than pumpkin in the taste but it’s terrific. I made note in my beer notebook (per my brother-in-law’s instructions) that I was enjoying this beer as “a prelude to getting my ass kicked at pool,” which turned out to be a fairly accurate prediction.


Love in a Plastic Cup: Hotel Room Hook Ups
My very own, dear mother was attending the CCC reunion, too and, while I was imposing on my sister and her very patient husband, mom elected to roost at the hotel where the reunion was being held – with the potential for icy roads and the busy reunion schedule, I think that was a wise move on her part.

Knowing I’d have a convenient sampling room near the center of reunion activities, I snagged a few odd beers at a huge liquor store called Tipsy's Liquor World near the hotel. Here in quick riff fashion are those beers:

Fort Collins Brewery
Chocolate Stout
Roasted tasting with only a vague hint of chocolate. Pours dark opaque with a beige-brown head, it’s okay as a stout but weak as a “chocolate stout.”

Odell Brewing
Cutthroat Porter
Smells a bit like Deschutes Porter, and pours opaque with a beige head. Unfortunately, while it may smell like Deschutes Porter it certainly doesn’t taste as good. It finishes with a faint coffee taste. The low, 4.8% abv is a plus in my book.

Boulder Beer
Planet Porter
Poured opaque coffee brown with a beige head and a vague alcohol smell. No roasted, malted or hoppy component. Slightly warming with a hint of coffee at the finish

Great Divide Brewing
Saint Bridget’s Porter
Had no significant smell – perhaps coffee. Certainly had a distinct coffee taste and pours dark coffee color but not opaque with a yellow/beige head.

Tommyknocker Brewing
Maple Nut Brown Ale
Dark tea color with a robust head and a faint but noticeable maple smell. This one offers a good taste with “just enough” maple to make it a contender.

The Civilian Conservation Corps reunion wrapped up, I enjoyed a day or two with my sisters in the Denver area and then hopped the bird to fly back to the Arizona desert. It was a nice trip with just enough of the gold and amber stuff to knock the edge off. Life’s good. Now back to work. No really!

This post has been far too verbose. I’m going to tack on some photos I took during the visit and leave it at that for the time being. If you’ve read this far, you have the patience of a saint or the curiosity of a cat. God bless you.

Up next...Grand Canyon Beer with my nephew and "Closing the Book."

Bisbee Deferred: Barrio and Nimbus Brewing, Tucson, Arizona

I traveled to southeastern Arizona earlier this month for a work-related conference in Sierra Vista. Johnny Southside was kind enough to let me ride with him and our plan was to visit a couple breweries in Tucson before proceeding to Sierra Vista where we would check into the hotel, dump our bags, then make a dash in to Bisbee to hit some of the pubs there. My hope was to score a sample of some local beers, including products offered by Electric Dave in the Bisbee area.

What’s that old Yiddish saying? “Man plans and God laughs.” We didn’t get to Bisbee as we’d hoped due to equipment trouble. Still, it was a worthwhile trip, with nice stops at two places in Tucson. Here’s the dope:

Our first stop was at Barrio Brewing Company in a gritty industrial area of Tucson. The old warehouse building is enough to make you want to come inside for a closer look, but add fresh, local beer and the draw is just too strong to resist! The exterior of the building seems largely unchanged from the days when it housed the Tucson Warehouse and Transfer Company. The loading dock has been cleverly converted for use as a patio and you’ve got to climb some steps to enter the front door. The music and atmosphere at Barrios are top-notch and when we visited, early afternoon on a weekday, the place was not especially busy.

Once seated we were quickly greeted by a waitress and we had our orders placed in no time. I liked the fact that all the available microbrews were listed on a chalkboard along with their respective abv percentages – that’s always a nice bit of information to display for weary travelers who might be planning to have only a single beer for the road.

With my lunch I had a pint of their seasonal Copperhead Pale Ale, which weighs in at 5.7% abv. It was darker than most pales in my experience with a faintly sweet smell. The Copperhead Pale was a bit dry and grainy tasting and altogether a worthy beer and a nice companion to the plate of tacos that I had.

Next, I sampled a pint of Barrio’s Red Cat Amber (which gets its name from the fact that Tucson is home to the U of A Wildcats, I guess). The Red Cat Amber was darker than the Copperhead Pale (rightly so) and seemed more hoppy to me, though their website indicates otherwise. It also had a slightly thicker mouth feel and struck me as closer to an IPA than the Copperhead oddly enough. The Red Cat was sweet and not as dry as the Copperhead Pale Ale.

Southside and I settled the tab, thanked the nice waitress – who’ll be celebrating a birthday soon evidently – and we proceeded down the road to our next stop.

Nimbus Brewing Company sits in a similarly gritty part of Tucson and is located not too far from Barrios – though you wouldn’t know it from the drive because streets and traffic in Tucson are a bit of a nightmare. The thing that sets Nimbus’ location apart – I think - is its proximity to Davis Monthan Air Force Base. (That, and the giant hand protruding from the front of the building…holding, what else? A beer.) Johnny Southside and I took a couple of seats on the patio where we could watch the A-10 Warthogs coming in on approach just across the railroad tracks. We ordered up a dose of onion rings from a scruffy-faced bartender and I had a pint of Porter that didn’t appear to be on the printed menu. (Nimbus offers six beers packaged in bottles for sale but there are more beers available at the brewery.) The porter looked, smelled and tasted just like a porter should in my book; faintly sweet tasting with a hint of chocolate. I’d give it high marks and only regret that it isn’t one of the beers they offer for sale in bottles. I bought a t-shirt as a souvenir of the visit and in short order we were back on the road, never suspecting for a moment that we’d never actually get to Bisbee on this trip.

Ah well, it all worked out for the best. We survived the trip, survived the conference and managed to sample some new beers from Arizona brewers. I can’t say that I find reason to visit Tucson very often – maybe once every year or so – but I’m going to make a point of stopping at either Barrio Brewing Company or Nimbus Brewing Company (or both) the very next time I do get down that way. Perhaps we’ll even get to Bisbee next time!

(For the record, we did attempt to purchase some Electric Dave beer while in Sierra Vista but the nice lady at the liquor store said his shipments don't come in regularly. Too bad. Sorry Electric Dave.)

Beers For Smart@ss: Pipeline Porter.

I’ll try to keep this brief.

I have reports that Smart@ss is still on the no beer wagon. I’ve also heard that Smart@ss was recently wandering the aisles of a local liquor emporium, a dazed look on his face. I think Smart@ss needs a quick trip to Hawaii. Since I can’t spring for the cost of a flight to Hawaii, I’m springing for the price of a bottle of Kona Brewing’s Pipeline Porter. Who-hoo.

If you visit Musings of a Smart@ss (and I insist that you do), you’ll quickly figure out that he’s infinitely more intelligent than the head cook here at Beer Rant. (His comment about HopKnot IPA: They should come out with a beer that has no hops and call it Hop Not…who are the advertising wizards that came up with this one….I added that last part, sorry, I’m infantile.) You might also ask the question: if he’s such an articulate wordsmith when he’s been barred from drinking beer, what sort of writer, philosopher, scientist might he be when he’s on the brew? If you ask that question, log off and get the hell out of here! You think too much and ask too many questions and you’re spoiling the trip to Hawaii!

So, I’m thinking that Smart@ss has his smelly feet propped up on some convenient piece of rattan furniture on some glistening beach on “the big island” or the “second to largest island” or perhaps “that measly turd of an island that hangs out on the end of the chain,” I don’t know. It’s Hawaii for crying out loud! I don’t imagine the day is too hot or too humid since, though it’s relatively low in abv percentage, Pipeline Porter is probably best suited for a mild climate setting. The pour is coffee dark, the tan colored foam a beauty to behold. The smell is vaguely of coffee and chocolate. The taste is of roasted coffee with a slightly sooty finish. Smart@ss smiles, takes another drink and watches as the sun sets and the local surf folk amble up the beach retreating to their nocturnal haunts.

Cheer’s Smart@ss. Surf's up!

The Great Arizona Beer Festival is this weekend. I won’t be there. Why would I? Someone’s got to get Smart@ss back from Hawaii and he’s certainly not in any shape to fly the plane himself!! Geez! Do you people listen at all?

For a list of all the beers that have been “had” for Smart@ss, go over to Vbg-log where everything is way hipper than here at the Rant – he twitters! Hell I don’t even flutter anymore.

Not brief after all, huh? Suffah.

Gonzo Imperial Porter: Honoring Doctor Thompson One Bottle at a Time

(Warning: This is a long post and it contains some editorial content. If you're only here for the beer, skip down and read the last three paragraphs, I'll understand.)

I’ll be the first to admit; I know damned little about Hunter S. Thompson. I think I read his Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas while I was in the army, maybe before. I know that I read his Hell’s Angels while I was in the army because I remember that my section sergeant asked to borrow it and my paperback copy is hammered from traveling inside an alice pack during field duty. I’ll also admit that for a time, Doc Thompson was an appealing figure to me. I aspired to be a writer at one point and I believed, mistakenly, that the road to literary success traversed a vast wasteland of drug and alcohol abuse. I bought into the notion that the likes of Hemingway and Fitzgerald and Thompson were great writers because of their addictions. Now, I know they were great writers in spite of their addictions and because of the times in which they lived. Thankfully, I managed to survive my little sabbatical from sanity having sampled nothing stronger than the odd guzzle of Everclear and MD20/20. Unfortunately, I didn’t turn out to be much of a writer either, but it isn’t because I wasn’t drunk enough or high enough; I’m just lazy.

I still have a warm spot in my heart for Thompson and I must confess to being mildly uncomfortable with the close connection between Flying Dog Brewing and Hunter Thompson – mostly because, like Elvis, Hunter Thompson is living somewhere else these days.

How is Flying Dog connected to Thompson, you might ask? Thompson, the alcohol and drug addled “gonzo journalist” evidently introduced “artist” Ralph Steadman to Flying Dog founder George Stranahan in Aspen, Colorado. You can read the details at the Flying Dog website here.

Monumental figures attract hangers-on like “free beer” advertisements attract drunks. Unquestionably a monumental figure, Thompson appears to have attracted his fair share of folks who seemed content to warm themselves in the reflected glow of his notoriety, picking up the odd scrap of fun and profit along the way. In my opinion one such example is Johnny Depp – whose hipster, cynic, doper-expatriate persona will never live up to his royal Gonzo-ness - but I won’t go into further detail regarding that except to say that when the likes of Johnny Depp can serve as a surrogate for a Hunter Thompson, we’re seeing a real dumbing down of coolness, folks.

So, “hanger-on” might be a way I’d describe the whole line of Flying Dog beers, but that would be wrong since most of the folks who are drinking Flying Dog products probably don’t have the foggiest idea who Hunter Thompson was – or is, depending on your propensity to buy into conspiracy theory. (Hell, Thompson is, this very second, partying with Jim Morrison in Africa!) It may be more apt to say that the Flying Dog people have used the Thompson persona as something of an inside joke, pulling back the beaded curtain just enough to let a few of us squares have a peek from time to time and their Gonzo Imperial Porter is perhaps the best example of that little trick.

And, in honor of this day in history, I offer my sampling notes for Gonzo Imperial Porter:
Smells like a stout in the bottle. No alcohol bite in the smell as I’d expected. Pours dark with a thin head and light lacing. Chocolate/sweet tasting with a thick mouth feel at first. Perhaps a hint of licorice in the finish. I expected an off-putting alcohol bite but I’m happily proven wrong. This beer is one I’ll try again.

Why honor this day in history? On February 20th, 2005, Doc Thompson, reportedly bummed because the Super Bowl had come and gone for another season and figuring his best days were behind him, and perhaps contemplating a sink full of dishes, took his life by shooting himself. Like Hemingway, but not like Fitzgerald. Not fade away, as the hipsters are want to say, right?

For something regarding Thompson’s “accidental outlaw” status, check this out. For more stuff on Thompson and the myth of Thompson, do your own search, but don’t futz around with that so much you forget to go out and buy some Gonzo Imperial Porter – perhaps like so many things associated with Hunter Thompson, it comes at a fairly high price but it’s worth it.

Hope to see you 'round, Doc.

A Deschutes Trifecta

I’ve already stated somewhere that I like everything I’ve tried from Deschutes Brewing out of Bend, Oregon. That’s never happened and I suppose it’s time I actually elaborated on which of their products I have tried and to give some background, right?

Mirror Pond Pale Ale
My first experience with this beer and this brewer was during a history symposium at Grand Canyon National Park a couple months ago. Mirror Pond and Black Butte Porter are available in the cafeteria-style restaurant of the Yavapai Lodge on the South Rim. Nice.

I had a couple of these during our lunch breaks, and found them to be very refreshing and just dark enough to be attractive. (I’ve mentioned already that I have an affinity for darker beers – equating light color with weak taste, rightly or wrongly.) Mirror Pond makes a nice lunchtime accompaniment.

Since that first experience I’ve purchased a couple of six packs of this and it was especially nice to have around when I helped my daughter and her family move into their new home recently. (I stocked their new fridge with three six-packs of beer: Rolling Rock, Mirror Pond and Black Butte. My son-in-law is on a Rolling Rock kick, for which I can’t fault him since I was there once myself. I bought the Deschutes beers thinking that the Porter would be too dark for my son-in-law so he’d leave it alone, and the Pale Ale would be a happy medium that he might be willing to try. I think he tried it, but I’m not going to hold his hand for heaven’s sake, and I’m not going to wait forever before finishing the six-pack!)

Black Butte Porter
This one smells faintly of chocolate and grass in the bottle. It pours as dark as coffee and has an initial faint sweetness to it that builds ever so slightly to caramel. It is mildly warming as you work your way through a glassful and isn’t so heavy that you couldn’t enjoy a few in a sitting. I think if I’m going to convince my son-in-law to step over to the dark side of beers, this will be the beer upon which he takes that first tentative step. (C’mon lad, you can do it.)

Cinder Cone Red
Based on the positive experience with both the Mirror Pond and the Black Butte, I snagged a single bottle of Cinder Cone Red at the local cigar and wine emporium and on tasting it, immediately wished I’d hunted down a six-pack.

In the bottle, the vegetable smell is somewhat off-putting, but this one pours a rich red color (of course) with a handsome cream-colored head. The taste is somewhat sweet with hints of caramel or perhaps licorice.

The bottle sports an attractive, eye-catching label that makes the product stand out on the shelves amongst the other wannabes, which may be why I spotted this amid the myriad other single craft brews on the shelf.

Curious, I skipped on over to Deschutes’ website and found that Cinder Cone is only available April through June. Naturally, I picked up two six-packs of Cinder Cone and stashed them in the closet. (I paid just a tad under 6 bucks each for the six-packs, which makes beer one of the best beverage bargains out there these days, I think.) Then, oh joy, my daughter picked up two more and brought them to me on Independence Day! Now I’ve got those three six packs of Cinder Cone (Yes, “three.” We finished one off on July 4th.) hidden away and I’m hoping I’ll forget about them until say, mid-September, early October.

Add Cinder Cone to your beer wish list and try to find it this year before the stock is gone. Otherwise, pencil it in as something to look for next spring and then in the meantime, go out and get some Black Butte Porter and Mirror Pond Pale Ale!

Links and such…

Here’s the link to the Deschutes website:
Deschutes Brewery

Here’s Deschutes’ Cinder Cone page:
Cinder Cone Red

I’m not a registered member at Beer Advocate (never was much of a “joiner” I guess), but I like to use them as the demographic dipstick by which beers are measured. All three of these Deschutes Brewing beers scored well with the Beer Advocates. Here are the individual reviews:

Beer Advocate on Mirror Pond

Beer Advocate on Black Butte Porter

Beer Advocate on Cinder Cone Red

(And while we’re on the subject of beer review websites, I’d like to give a quick tip of the hat to the guys -and gals? - at Beer Review Online . I am a member of this site and will get around to posting an entry about them in the coming weeks, I hope.)

I don’t know that I’ve ever been able to proclaim a fondness for all the beers produced by a single brewer, and having tried three of their beers, my experience with Deschutes Brewing may not be exactly far-reaching or broad-based. But I know a positive trend when I see one. I try different beers from different brewers and some I like (a lot) and some I don’t care so much about but I always try to stay open minded and sample new beers from a brewer even if they’ve disappointed me in the past. Hey, nowadays when you can buy single bottles of beer to sample, there isn’t any excuse for not keeping an open mind and trying a variety of product. The difficulty comes when you’re pressed for a quick choice and your brain freezes and you can’t recall what beers you really liked. For me, for the moment, I’ll just remember one word: “Deschutes.”

Two From The Rockies

I grew up not too far from the town of Breckenridge and while this beer isn’t brewed in the town, I still feel a bit of a connection to the territory. Summer time is the best time in the Rockies; the canyons and valleys are so narrow in some areas that in the winter, the sun barely casts its light on the valley floor before it sets. That makes for a long, brutal winter some years. But in the summer, the temperature hovers in the 70s maybe the 80s and during certain parts of the season, it always clouds up in the afternoon and often as not, it rains. But I digress.

Here’s the dope on Avalanche Amber:

Pours a truly amber color with a thin head and minor beading that’s gone after a few minutes. Smell runs citrus to caramel and the taste is a little bitter. Finishes with hints of coffee then it’s gone. This one didn’t knock my socks off frankly, but I won’t shun it at parties like last weeks prom date. (Where the heck did that come from?)

Here’s the skinny on Avalanche Vanilla Porter:

Pours dark coffee color with a weak head and no lacing of note. Smells vaguely of a vanilla milkshake and tastes of caramel building to a pleasant but vague vanilla finish that’s dry like a wine at the end. Not as delectably delicious as I’d hoped but not a complete letdown and just a cut above the Avalanche Amber.

I enjoyed these beers enough that I’ll seek out other Breckenridge products – and have – in the future. Perhaps if I ever get back to Colorado, I’ll try their product where it’s bound to be even fresher, having traveled a shorter distance. (For a review of their Oatmeal Stout, see the post from May 28, 2008.)

No links today. Do your own darned research!

American Craft Beer Week Day Two: Jail Bait

Day two of American Craft Beer Week and I’ve selected a nifty little porter out of Santa Fe, New Mexico as the subject of today’s review. I won’t lie and say I picked this one because I’m a huge fan of porters – there’s still too much of the old binge drinker in me to really get excited about the porters since they are far too heavy for the guzzlin’, but as I get older and hopefully a bit smarter, I’ve begun to warm to the porters. No, I picked this one solely because the name is really, really cool. (Yeah, I’m a sucker for a slick name and usually it bites me in the arse, but not this time.) I give you State Pen Porter.

I’ve not spent a single day in jail, though there have been times in my life when I looked like I’d stepped out of a mugshot. However, if they served this in the New Mexico State lock-up, I might be enticed to serve a stint.

This gangster of a beer smells of malt or bread in the bottle and has a fruity malt smell in the glass. Very dark, coffee colored with a medium head that’s cocoa colored and appealing to the eye.

Tastes of wine or liquor with a dry finish. This is a good beer, but understandably heavy since it is a porter. This beer isn’t one to be trifled with. It’s not a so-called session beer at 6.4% abv. If I can find this one again, I’ll buy it. If I have to break into the big house to liberate another bottle or two, then so be it.

Don’t take my word for it.

Beer Advocate has 21 reviews here: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1683/36341

The Santa Fe Brewing website is here:
http://www.santafebrewing.com/


That's it for today. If I make bail, I'll pop the top off another craft beer tomorrow!