Weighing In. Weighing Anchor.

I’ve been on something of a tear with the new beers the past couple of weeks. I’ve racked up quite a slush pile of beer notes and comments. Here’s one for a beer I sampled back on May 6th: Liberty Ale, which is put out by the Anchor Brewing Company in California.

This beer is listed in Michael Jackson’s Great Beer Guide: 500 Classic Brews and I’m pleased to be able to add it to my list of “bagged” beers. You’ve all got a beer list, right? My list is basically anything from Jackson’s book and while I’ll never add all the beers in this book to my list of beers tried (since some of those listed are evidently unavailable now) I’m having a fun time tracking down those that I can find.

I’ve struggled with acquiring this beer for a year or more. Seems I never have the book when I see an Anchor Brewing product in the store and I could never remember which Anchor products are listed in the Great Beer Guide (Liberty, Old Foghorn and “Our Special Holiday Ale” are the beers listed in the book). I got lucky during a recent scouting trip and found six packs of Liberty at the local Trader Joes and the Old Foghorn at AJ’s Fine Food. Needless to say, I bought examples of both – life’s short friends.

I like beers with history and beers dedicated to history and while Liberty Ale only dates back to 1975, it came about in commemoration of Paul Revere’s famous ride in 1775. That’s pretty cool. I wonder what sort of drinking fellow Paul was.

The Tasting

Heavy smell of hops in the bottle, yielding a medium head from an under aggressive pour with light beading. Appears amber to dark orange in color with light lacing on the glass. A very dry beer with a simple beer taste (my novice taste buds fail me here). This beer just tastes like you’d think a beer would taste! I’ll be a customer again.

Don’t take my word for it

Anchor Brewing’s Liberty Ale page is here:
http://www.anchorbrewing.com/beers/libertyale.htm

Here’s the listing on Rate Beer:
http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/anchor-liberty-ale/47/

The Disgruntled Chemist rates it 8 out of 10 here:
http://thedisgruntled.blogspot.com/2008/03/beer-blogging-anchor-brewing-liberty.html

Finally, the group at Beer Advocate
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/28/665/

(I'm off for Grand Canyon tomorrow and will be gone a couple days - don't know what beer stories I'll pick up while I'm gone, but I'm hoping for the best.)

A Tale of Two Stouts

Since I’m going to be away from the computer in a couple of days and not able to post anything, I thought I might double up a bit here and try a pair of oatmeal stouts, one from Nimbus Brewing in Tucson, Arizona and the other from Breckenridge Brewing in Colorado.

First up was the Nimbus Oatmeal Stout. I’ve tried the Nimbus Nut Brown Ale and put it about mid-pack for quality. I still struggle with the whole chimpanzee motif on their labels, but as I mentioned in an earlier post, I’ve decided the monkey thing won’t prevent me from trying their other beers. Their Oatmeal Stout has a rich smell in the bottle, smelling of nuts and toffee or maybe caramel. In the glass more of a vegetable scent is evident. Pours very dark as you would expect with a nice tan head. Taste is oaky with a strong hint of burnt grain, which surprisingly isn’t unpleasant. Decidedly better than the Brown Ale.

The second oatmeal stout of the day Breckenridge Brewing’s Oatmeal Stout. This one had an insignificant smell in the bottle and some vegetable smell in the glass. Frankly, the taste seems as insignificant as the smell to me. It’s possible I didn’t cleanse my palate sufficiently between pours, however I believe I did and would have to say that of the two oatmeal stouts, I prefer the Nimbus offering to the Breckenridge oatmeal stout.

Will I try the Nimbus Oatmeal Stout again? Sure. Will I try the Breckenridge Oatmeal Stout again? Probably.

I can't find any hard and fast ratings for the Nimbus Oatmeal Stout. Here’s a link to the Nimbus Site:

http://nimbusbeer.qwestoffice.net/oatmeal-stout.html

So, in fairness, here's the Breckenridge site:

http://www.breckbrew.com/beer/oatmealstout.html

Okay, I've tried a few other beers over the past couple of days and my notebook is filling up even as I neglect to make new postings. Sad part is, I won't be able to make postings for a few days after tomorrow, so maybe tomorrow I'll post an omnibus beer tasting post to catch things up a bit. Hold on to your hat!

Buy A Veteran A Beer

We sure do have a lot of award ceremony programs on television these days, don’t you think? We’ve got the Academy Awards, the Grammy Awards, the Country Music Association Awards, the Emmy Awards; the list seems to be endless.

What I’ve never seen on network TV is a military award ceremony. We’d do well to spare a thought to the folks who really keep this country safe and protected, the people who produce something meaningful every day through the sweat of the brow and literally through the blood they shed. More importantly for today, we’d do well to remember the men and women who gave their lives in often unseen, anonymous sacrifice, often far from home so that we could continue to enjoy the benefits of living in this wonderful country of ours.

Placed against the effort and sacrifice of our fighting men and women, sniffing and tasting beer seems a silly pursuit really. Placed against the effort and sacrifice of our fighting men and women, much of what we do here in the country seems silly, but they serve and protect our country to preserve all pursuits, noble and silly.
You may never see a military award ceremony on television. Perhaps you’ll never know the honor and the privilege of serving as part of an honor guard at a military funeral, but each of us can let our veterans know that we care and that their effort is appreciated in ways great and small. If you are able this week, I hope that you’ll buy a beer for a veteran or active duty service member. God Bless Them.

90 Minute IPA, Meatloaf and Mamacita's

I don’t drink much hard liquor for a reason: I’m not fond of it. Frankly, this beer is something like hard liquor to me and working my way slowly though a pint glass of the stuff reminds me of a little place in Juarez, Mexico.

You wouldn’t know it to look at me today, but I served four years as a Cavalry Scout in the United States army. Most of my duty was spent in peaceable pursuits on the Texas/Mexico border. One evening, another 3rd Cavalry trooper and I made a reconnaissance of Juarez, Mexico and landed smack dab in the middle of a dark little place called Mamacita’s (to be honest, my companion had already reconnoitered the joint and I suppose I was simply along on the second mission to provide cover fire). At any rate, the trick at this place is to order a rum and Coke. When you ordered a rum and Coke at Mamacita’s in those days, they brought you a bottle of room temperature coca-cola and one of those tall plastic Tupperware glasses filled to the rim with rum and ice. Now, obviously this drink doesn’t start out as a rum and Coke; you have to drink down a good deal of the rum in order to begin adding the Coke. Well shucks, by then you’re so far along it hardly matters.

So, drinking a pint glass of Dogfish Head 90 Minute Imperial IPA strikes me a bit like trying to drink down that Tupperware tumbler of rum so I could have some of that precious Coca-Cola!

The Tasting

Strong smell of grass in the bottle. Smells mildly fruity and very hoppy in the glass. Pours a nice color with a medium head. Bitter, acidic taste, most liquor-like. Definitely a sipping beer. Taste and mouth feel improve as the beer warms in the bottom of the glass.

The Dogfish Head web page for 90 Minute is here:
http://www.dogfish.com/brewings/Year_Round_Beers/90_Minute_IPA/11/index.htm
Funny, they list some swanky food pairings for this beer, like escargot, frites, focaccia and Silton cheese. I wonder if the frozen meatloaf dinner I had with mine falls into the category of suitable food pairing. I also see that again, I used the “wrong” type of glass to drink this one. Shucks.

The fraternity at Beer Advocate rated this one a strong “A.” (Almost 1,500 people have rated this one folks!)
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/64/2093

I think as a representative of a certain style of beer, this beer warrants high marks, however if that particular style of beer isn’t one of your favorites (in this case an Imperial IPA) then it won’t matter how well the beer “represents,” indeed that may work against the beer in some cases). I probably won’t get this one again, except perhaps if I see it available on draft and know I’m not the one driving home!

Fuller's ESB

I suppose the title says it all. The reputation precedes the product, so to speak. This beer is in Michael Jackson’s “beer book” and is thus this one’s on my life’s list of beers to experience and this time I’m glad for the trip.

I don’t know how folks in England feel about this beer, but in my mind’s eye I see Brits pulling proudly on pints of Fuller’s ESB, perhaps defiantly as German bombs rain down during the Blitz. (My minds eye seems to have gotten stuck somewhere in mid, to late-1940. Want to read a great book about the Battle of Britain? “The Hardest Day.”)

Pours handsome amber orange with a light colored medium head. Smells hoppy and of malt both in the bottle and in the glass and also slightly of caramel in the glass. Will cop you a pretty notable buzz even at just under 6% abv. You probably won’t be ready to scramble in your Spitfire to fight Messerschmitts after you knock back a few of these, okay?

Here’s the link to Fuller’s website:
http://www.fullers.co.uk/rte.asp?id=160I especially like the section “Run Your Own Pub.” Yep, they have a list of pub properties in England that you can sign on to lease and run! Oh, my mind’s eye is working again! I rather fancy this locale myself……The Butchers Arms!

American Craft Beer Week Day 5: Green Flash Nut Brown Ale

Uggggggh. Imagine the pain and sickness of a hangover without the lingering pleasant memory of a night of overindulgence.

I’d planned to make a post on all 7 days of American Craft Beer Week, each day sampling a different American Craft Beer – well, sure I did.

On Friday (Day 5) I enjoyed a light lunch with a glass of Green Flash Brewing Nut Brown Ale. All well and good until about a half hour later.

For dessert I came down with the stomach flu and pretty much slept through Day 6 and Day 7 of American Craft Beer Week and the better part of Day 1 of the unnamed week that typically follows American Craft Beer Week. (I think I’ll suggest that the week after American Craft Beer Week be called American Hangover Recovery Week for those who might have enjoyed ACBW too much, or American Groggy Emergence From the Stomach Flu Week, for poor saps like me who didn’t get to enjoy the entire Craft Beer experience for its full 7 days of glory.)

At any rate, I was eating lunch but paying attention and taking notes when I sampled the Green Flash Nut Brown Ale. A bit of a disclaimer here: unlike the other beers I sampled on Day 1 through 4, I have actually had a six-pack or so of the Green Flash Nut Brown.

Here are the highlights from my notebook:

Smells of hops in the bottle and grass and hops in the glass. Dark tea color. Head thin. Tastes of bread. Flavor gone quickly. Not too heavy.

This isn’t a bad beer. Obviously I’ve purchased this beer before and would probably do so again. I will not seek this particular beer out in the near future because thoughts of it currently evoke strange flu like symptoms that are all in my head.

To your health, and mine!

American Craft Beer Week Day Four: New Belgium Brewing Springboard

Quick and to the point today friends.

Tried New Belgium Brewing’s Springboard. It’s something of a summer ale with strong suggestions of citrus – almost an orange juice sort of taste, really. Smells of yeast in the bottle and citrus in the glass. Pours a very light, wheat color in a pint glass – New Belgium recommends a snifter type glass that I don’t own (sorry).

This beer tastes really good – when it's labeled Blue Moon. I don’t know that I’ll track this one down again. It’s too light and the citrus taste is too noticeable for my tastes. Perhaps if I acquire the “correct” type of glass, I’ll pour another one to give Springboard another shot. I will say that I’ve liked everything else from New Belgium that I’ve tried in the past – my personal favorite of the others right now is 2 Below.

Here’s a link to the New Belgium Brewing website:
http://www.newbelgium.com/flash/

Since I don’t have time to expound at length today, here’s the Wikipedia definition of “craft beer” (glad to see New Belgium is on the list, otherwise I just wasted an afternoon).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craft_beer#Craft_beer

(Disclaimer: Yes, in case someone is actually out there reading these posts, and assuming they're actually paying attention, the review for this beer should have been posted yesterday. Rest assured, this beer was sampled on day four of American Craft Beer Week, even if your host was too busy to actually post the results the same day.)