dark copper

New Blog Savor 2012 Part Two (Beer Event)

Sury Brewery Smoked Lager

This beer is black in color with no head. It has a nice smoky chocolate smell. It has a nice smoky chocolate taste with a burn smoky aftertaste. It is not bad and pretty drinkable. I would say to try this beer.  Cheers!

Flying Dog Chocolate IPA

Shocking this beer is not dark in color which is refreshing to see any brewery do with the trend of black IPAs out there. It is yellow with a slight cloudy look to it in the glass.  It is very well balance for IPA. It is sweet then a slam of carbonation and a slight coco aftertaste. I really enjoy this beer. Very well done!  Cheers!

Flying Dog Wildeman Farmhouse IPA

This beer has the Belgian Farmhouse Saison look to it but this dog bites pretty hard in and out of the glass. It has a nice cloudy yellow look in the glass. You can smell the earthy farm smell from the beer. It is very drinkable which this style is suppose to be and keeping to the tradition. The aftertaste is ok but I could live for the beginning of this great beer. Go get some! Cheers!

Devil’s Backbone Brewery

Any brewery has the word Devil or Slayer better live up to the name. That old bastard will do some crazy on you.  This brewery does not disappoint. This BPA is light cloudy yellow with a sweet carbonation piney taste. The aftertaste is very interesting.  It comes with almost a chili punch to the beer. I love this brewery. Cheers!

Flying Fish Chestnut Brown Ale

It has a nice brown color to the beer. It has a marriage of nutty and ginger kicking around in the beer. The taste is something out of Belgian. It is very sweet and a ginger hunting in it this beer. It is a very well done beer. Cheers!

New Blog Savor Part One (Beer Event)

Swamp Head Black IPA

It is black in color in the glass. Chocolate smell is going on in the beer. Not over hopped and a ton of porter chocolate roasted taste going on. This beer is very drinkable.  I am disappointed with it. It is nothing like other black ipas. Cheers!

Surly Brewery Coffee Blender Ale

The beer in the glass is a light brown with a white head.  It has a nutty and that coffee smell going on. It is very smooth and taste. It has a nice slam of coffee aftertaste.  This is a very good beer. I love it!  Cheers!

Maui and Jolly Pumpkin Sobrehumano Palena’ole

This beer I am really excited to try. It is a cloudy yellow in the glass. It is really hard to see in the room. It doesn’t have a smell to it. It has a nice sweet sour cherry taste. The aftertaste is a longing dry sweet kick to the beer.  I really love sours and everything this brewery had done in the past.  This is an excite beer for the style. Cheers!

Green Flash West Coast IPA

Just like most IPAs, it had s nice copper tune to the beer. It has a nice circus smell to it but very light. It is very smooth and drinkable for a west coast IPA.  I have been wanting to try this beer and it did not disappoint me. Good IPA. Cheers!

Epic Brewing (Utah)

I was disappointed it was not the brewery down under but whatever I can not be mad.  This is free beer.  This beer is cloudy yellow in color.  It has s heavy peach smell for this fruity beer. It is very sweet peachy and sour in taste with a very peachy aftertaste. It is very drinkable for what it is for the style. It is not my beer in my pint glasses but I could see this sell in the market. Well done. Cheers!

New Blog Starr Hill Amber Ale

While in DC for Savor, I had this beer at the Big Board in DC.  I saw this beer at the bottom of their list and it jumped out at me.  I did not know the brewery nor the beer.  Starr Hill Brewery was founded in 1999 by Mark Thompson in the state of Virginia.  I love their tag line they use for their brewery, which is “The Gift of Great Beer.”  They brew several different beer styles and they all sounds really good.  They are award-winning brewery.  There are several beers that are retired and they even sounds good.  I found this quarto on their website and then I will get into the beer.

Here is a quarto that I love from Mark Thompson on their website (www.starrhill.com):

“It is no secret that our mission is The Gift of Great Beer.  Every culture in the world has a fermented, cereal grain beverage that people use to sit around and talk.  I’m a steward of the product that enhances this things we call life.” ~ Mark Thompson

This beer is amber in color. Smells like sweet sweating socks in the beer. The taste of the beer is carbonation malty going on in it. It is a little water but this beer is very drinkable.  Starr Hill Amber is a great beer drinking experience throughout the drinking experience.

Here is a description from their website (www.starrhill.com):

Irish Red Ale

Starr Hill Amber Ale is an award-winning Irish Red Ale. Brewed in the tradition of the great English ales, its rich honey color hints at its smooth, caramel flavoring. With a medium body and slightly sweet finish, this is an extremely drinkable brew that is characterized by rich malt taste and low bitterness.

This beer has won several awards and are the awards:

2001 Bronze Medal at Great American Beer Festival

2002 Bronze Medal at World Beer Cup

2005 Silver Medal at Great American Beer Festival

Here is their website and twitter address:

Website:  www.starrhill.com

Twitter:  @starrhill

Sad to look at an empty glass,  I really enjoyed this beer and it went awesome with my burger at the Big Board.  I love the drinkablity of this beer.  I really do not get into Amber Ales nor Irish Amber Ales but this is my first favorite Irish Amber Ale and Amber Ale.  Since I live in Chicago, I will be looking online to buy some to be shipped to my house.  Thank you Starr Hill Brewery for making a great Amber Ale that I really enjoyed.  Go get some! Drink it! Enjoy it! Metal it! \m/

Cheers!

Bill DJ Weiser

Email: djweiser13@comcast.net

Twitter: @djweiser

New Blog Savor in DC 2012 Day Two (Story)

We are heading for lunch at Big Board. This place has wallstreet board for beer. The more beer is sold the cheaper the beer is throughout the day. This place has really bad services but food sounds good. The food was really good. The burgers and fries were off the chart. I was really hoping Slayer would have ate all the fries.

See Starr Hill Amber Ale for the beer blog.

We went to a brewpub that I wanted to try after lunch. The brewpub was called Old Dominion. I will have have a serparete blog for this brewpub.

See Old Dominion for about the brewpub and their beers.

For dinner, we went to Rosa Mexicano. It was an upscale restaurant in the city. I believe Kevin and Lolia picked this place. had the red snapper. Wow it was awesome just of a ton of favor. It was a nice time. After dinner, we were off to Savor. Of course, you know that story and dance.

New Blog Brooklyn Brewery Sorachi Ace

While in DC for Savor, this beer is one of my favorite beers from Brooklyn Brewery, which is Sorachi Ace Ale.  I know for a fact that Kevin that was next to me when I order this beer is really looking forward to reading this blog.  I will not bore you with the history of this brewery since I already did it in my earlier blog called Brooklyn Brown Ale.  Let us get into the beer that I had in DC in a soulful restaurant.

This is really bright yellow in color.  There is really no smell to this beer maybe a slight circus to it. The taste of the beer is very sweet carbonation in it. This beer is very hard to describe it. It has a nice aftertaste to the beer and it keeps coming after you are done drinking the beer in a good way.  This beer is very drinkable for being in a 750ml bottle. However, I had this beer on draught this time around, it is worth the money in the bottle and draught.

Here is a description from their website (www.brooklynbrewery.com):

Most Brooklyn beers are made with a blend of hop varietals. As a chef does with spices, we look to get the best qualities of each hop and create a harmony of flavors and aromas. However, a few years ago, our brewmaster ran into a hop unique enough to deserve its own moment in the sun. A large Japanese brewery first developed the hop variety “Sorachi Ace” in 1988. A cross between the British “Brewer’s Gold” and the Czech “Saaz” varieties, it exhibited a quality that was unexpected – it smelled really lemony.

The unique flavor of Sorachi Ace was bypassed by the big brewers, but we thought it was pretty cool. So we made a special beer with it, and added the beer to our Brewmaster’s Reserve special draft beer program last year. Most Brewmaster’s Reserve beers are only available for a short time, and then they’re gone. But we liked this one so much, we decided to bring it back and give it the star treatment. Brooklyn Sorachi Ace is a classic saison, a cracklingly dry, hoppy unfiltered golden farmhouse ale, but made entirely with now-rare Sorachi Ace hops grown by a single farm in Washington. We ferment it with our special Belgian ale strain, and then add more Sorachi Ace hops post-fermentation. After the dry-hopping, the beer emerges with a bright spicy lemongrass / lemon zest aroma backed by a wonderfully clean malt flavor.

It tastes like sunshine in a glass, and that suits us just fine, especially with seafood dishes and fresh cheeses. It’s just the thing on nice summer days and beyond.

Here is their website and twitter addresses:

Website:  www.brooklynbrewery.com

Twitter:  @brooklynbrewery

Out of beer, the hop makes this beer what it is in the glass.  Brooklyn Brewery has a solid beer lineup and Sorachi Ace pushes them close to the top of all the craft breweries around the country.  This is a very well made beer and drinkable.  I am never really a fan of Belgian and Belgian style beers but I have really grown to love this style.  Sorachi Ace is one of my favorite beer from this style.  Get it before it is gone!  Drink it! Enjoy it! Metal it! \m/

Cheers!

Bill DJ Weiser

Email: djweiser13@comcast.net

Twitter: @djweiser

New Blog Upland Dragonfly India Pale Ale

While in DC for Savor, this beer I had at Church Key Bar and Grill in DC.  Lolita had this beer first and I wished I order this beer as my first one.  It does not matter because I had the chance to have this great beer.  The beer I am talking about is Upland Dragonfly Ale.  Upland Brewery was founded in 1997 by Marc Sattinger, Russ Levitt and Dean LaPlante in Bloomington, Indiana.

This beer is a copper in color with a little head on it. It is piney to earthy in smell. It is a smooth sweet circus carbonation in taste. This beer is very drinkable brew.

Here is a description from their website (www.uplandbeer.com):

India Pale Ale originated when the British Empire was at its height. British soldiers and civil servants were stationed all over the globe (including India), and regular ales could not survive the long journey by sea to reach them. The British solved this terrible dilemma by adding excessive amounts of hops to their beer–using the preservative properties of hops to increase the life of their beers.

Our Dragonfly India Pale Ale is true to this tradition, featuring seven hop additions to create a powerful hop profile. A solid malt base, however, tempers the bitter American hops, giving Dragonfly a balance not often found in this style. The end product is a well-balanced, malty beer with the crisp taste of hops and an exceptionally floral nose.

Here is their website and twitter address:

Website: www.uplandbeer.com

Twitter: @uplandbrewco

Empty beer glass, this is a very good beer.  I love drinking this beer.  It is very well made and balance for being an IPA.  This beer is very drinkable and sessional.  I just wished the Church Key Bar where I was at in DC had more beers from this brewery.  I will be hunting down more of their beers.  I will also be making a road trips to Indiana to visit the brewery, since, I live in the Chicago area.  If you live in the states where they sell their beers, I am jealous and you should try their beers.  Please let me know what you think about the beers.  Drink it! Enjoy it! Metal it! \m/

Cheers!

Bill DJ Weiser

Email: djweiser13@comcast.net

Twitter: @djweiser

New Blog Troeg’s Nugget Nectar Ale

While in DC for Savor, I was really excited to see this beer on draft at the third bar, which was Church Key. The beer is called Troeg’s Nugget Nectar ale. I had a few brews from Troeg. I am kind of familiar with this brewery but let us get into the history of it. Troeg was founded in 1996 by John and Chris Trogner in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.  They brew a wide range of beers but they central their brewing on seasonals and highend beers.  Let us get into the beer.

This beer is a copper color in the glasses. Nice earthy smell to the beer.  Nice sweet carbonation taste and a really bad aftertaste. I really do not not like this aftertaste. The beer is a well balance beer but once again the aftertaste kind of kills the romance of the beer experience. It is drinkable asides the aftertaste.

Here is a description from their website (www.troegs.com):

TASTING NOTES

Squeeze those hops for all they’re worth and prepare to pucker up: Nugget Nectar Ale, will take hopheads to nirvana with a heady collection of Nugget, Warrior and Tomahawk hops. Starting with the same base ingredients of our flagship HopBack Amber Ale, Nugget Nectar intensifies the malt and hop flavors to create an explosive hop experience.

FOOD COMPLIMENTS

Cheese (Sharp, Blue, and Cheddar); Meat (Beef and Poultry)

Serving Suggestions: Temp: 45-50° F

Glassware:  Pint Glass

Here is their website and twitter addresses:

Website: www.troegs.com

Twitter: @troegs and @troegsbeer

At the bottom of the glass, I really hate to say it but I was really disappointed with the beer. The body of the beer is awesome but the aftertaste kills everything about this beer.  I get it most people like to have this aftertaste for their beer. I would recommend you trying this beer before taking my word.  I am just an idiot with many thoughts on the world. If you have had this beer, please let me know your thoughts on this beer. I really want to hear it. Drink it! Enjoy it! Metal it! \m/

Cheers!

Bill DJ Weiser

Email: djweiser13@comcast.net

Twitter: @djweiser

New Blog Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA

While in DC for Savor, there was a place we went to after lunch down the street. I had this beer from Dogfish Head Brewery called 60 Minute IPA Ale. If you read my earlier blog on Dogfish Head Pilsner, you a little bit about this brewery. Let us get into this brew.

This beer is clear yellow color in the glasses. There is no smell to the beer.  A little circus and carbonation taste to this beer.  For being an India Pale Ale, it is very drinkable and sessional.

Here is a description from their website (www.dogfish.com):

60 Minute IPA is continuously hopped — more than 60 hop additions over a 60-minute boil. (Getting a vibe of where the name came from?)

60 Minute is brewed with a slew of great Northwest hops. A powerful but balanced East Coast IPA with a lot of citrusy hop character, it’s the session beer for hardcore enthusiasts!

Every Beer Has A Story…

In our Quick Sip Clip video below, Sam Calagione talks about the 60 Minute IPA. For some perspective, he compares this beer to its predecessor, 90 Minute IPA, and its big brother, 120 Minute IPA.

Sam stepped out of the brewery for the taping of this Quick Sip Clip and comes to us from the place where it all started: Dogfish Head, Maine.

Cheers!

Here is a few sources on the web to get information on Dogfish Head Brewery:

Website: www.dogfish.com

Twitter: @dogfishbeer

Closing, I hate to be very honest. I really did not like this beer at first drink, however, thinking about it, I really loved the drinkablity of this beer and the fact it is not overly hopped like most IPAs on the market. I would not say this is my favorite IPA but it is not the worse. Whenever, I think of Dogfish as far as IPAs, I always believe their IPAs will be hopped up but it is not the case. I respect all craft breweries but Sam is pushing the limits of beer drinkers. Go check this beer out. Drink it! Enjoy it! Metal it! \m/

Cheers!

Bill DJ Weiser

Email: djweiser13@comcast.net

Twitter: @djweiser

New Blog Savor 2012 in DC Day One (Story)

Old Ebbitt Grill

It is an old school DC bar and grill. It is after work place and a traditional place. It has a nice beer selection and food. Nice place for lunch with my friends, who are Kevin, Slayer, Aphrodite, and Lolita.

See Heavy Sea Loose Cannon Ale for the beer blog.

J&G Steakhouse

For drinks in the sun talking about life. It is a little too hot here but just right. Asides that is a beautiful day.

See Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA for the beer blog.

We are going to Church’s Key for beers before dinner. I heard this place has a nice beer menu while sitting of the lobby of the hotel. Two old friends meet for the first time. Talking about moments that are long gone, it was a really good moment. The bar is packed with guests talking about their plans for the weekend in this fancy upscale hotel that looks like something out of the 1940s with a modern flare. This bar is packed with a nice lay back feeling to it.

See Troggers Nugget, Upland Dragonfly ale for the beer blog.

Marvin

We are to have dinner. It is very soulful in the food. This was some off the charts food. I was full but I could not stop eating it. Very good dinner.

See Brooklyn Brewery Sorachi Ace Ale for the beer blog.

There were many other places and many more beer. It was a great start to this trip. We will have Savor tomorrow and I will be visiting at least one brewpub in the city.

Cheers

Bill DJ Weiser

Email: djweiser13@comcast.net

Twitter: @ djweiser

New Blog Heavy Sea Loose Cannon Ale

While in DC for Savor, I went for lunch at this restaurant. I order Heavy Seas Brewery Loose Cannon Ale. I had this beer when I was in Coopertown, NY a few years ago. Heavy Seas Brewery was known as Clipper City Brewery which became in 1994.  The founder of Clipper City Brewery and Heavy Seas Brewery is Hugh Sisson.  This brewery has a nice pirate theme going on which is very nice and creative for a brewery.  This brewery is brewing in Baltimore, Maryland.  They have several different fleets of beers.  Loose Cannon Ale is part of the Pyrate Fleet.  Let us get into the beer.

This beer is a clear copper color. It does not really have a smell to the beer. This nice American IPA has a nice sweet carbonation circus taste. The aftertaste is very bitter but not bad for IPA.  This beer very drinkable and sessional.  You can drink this any season and pretty much all day.

Here is a description from their website (www.hsbeer.com):

Burnished gold with a rich citrus hop aroma, it is wonderfully drinkable with a big hop flavor. We’ve knicknamed it Hop3 (hop cubed) ale to reflect the enormous amount of hops in this beer: over 3 pounds per barrel! It is hopped 3 ways: in the kettle, in the hop back, and dry hopped. Pairs well with strong cheeses and steak. 2nd Place CAMRA award winner at the 2010 Great British Beer Festival

Here is a few areas on the web where you can get to know this brewery:

Website: www.hsbeer.com

Twitter: @heavyseabeer

Closing out the lunch tab, I really loved this IPA. I could drink it any season of the year. It is very drinkable and not too overly hopped up like most IPAs in the market nor the states.  I wish it was available close to my home of Chicag0. Just like most beers it will kill the thrill you will get when it is not available to you everyday. However, if you live where you can get it everyday, I would recommend you trying this beer. Drink it! Enjoy it! Metal it! \m/

Cheers!

Bill DJ Weiser

Email: djweiser13@comcast.net

Twitter: @djweiser