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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 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 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 Uncommon Brews Siamese Twin Ale

In this blog, we are going to talk about another brew from a small brewery called Uncommon Brews. The name of the beer is called Uncommon Brews Siamese Twin Ale. If you read my earlier blog on their Bacon Brown Ale, you know a little something on this brewery.

This beer pours into the glass as a light brown with a slightly yellow to white head.  After a while the head will be next to nothing.  You will smell the sweetest of a Belgian Dubbel. The taste of the beer is very complex. You will taste a very sweetness at the beginning then turns into a constant taste through out the pallet of lemon. You will taste sweetness of the malts in the aftertaste with the kick of the lemongrass that they brew in the beer.

Here is a description from the can:

There’s a longtreadition in Belgian brewing of using exotic spices to enhance a beer’s flavor.  Although many have been used, coriander is undoubtely the king.  In tribute to this heritage we present to you our Siamese Twin Ale.

It is traditional Belgian-style Double seasonal with coriander and entirely uncommon Thai spices.  At first surprising, the floral notes of lemongrass and sharper bite of kaffir lime blend with the deep malt of this double to produce a dangerously drinkable beer.

Served alongside a fiery curry or enjoyed on its own, the Twin brings a taste of the tropics to every occasion.  And who doesn’t need a taste of the tropics every now and then?

Here is their website and twitter address:

Website: http://www.uncommonbrews.com

Twitter: @uncommonbrews (Not sure if it is theirs and if it is active)

In closing, this is a really good beer until the lemongrass kicks in the beer. I love their Bacon Brown Ale. I respect this brewery to think outside the box and have the coverage to put this beer out in the market. I love when craft breweries do something different then the same thing that other breweries did in the past. Believe me, we have enough those beers in the market. I would love to hear your thoughts on this brewery and beer. Drink it! Enjoy it! Metal it! \m/

Cheers!

Bill DJ Weiser

Email: djweiser13@comcast

Twitter: @djweiser

New Blog Uinta Dubhe Imperial Black IPA

In this blog, we are going to talk about another small brewery called Uinta Brewery from Salt Lake City, Utah.  We talked about Hyve in my earlier blog.  I voiced how it was very disappointed and I did not like it.  This time around we are going to talk about one of my favorite beer from them.  The beer we are going to sip and visit is called the Uinta Dubhe Imperial Black IPA.  This beer style is a marriage of two awesome styles of beer.  Porter or stout meets IPAs.  You can’t go wrong with that.  This is the latest trending beer style out there right now.

This beer in the glass is black until you put it up to the light then it becomes a dark brown.  The smell of the beer is of sweet circus. The taste of the beer is slight chocolate and kick of carbonation to circus kick. The aftertaste is very dry but in a good way.  The dryness from this beer is from the hops and the IBU is over 130.  Just picture yourself eating chocolate cover orange and you will understand this style a little bit better.  It is not fully like that but it gives you a better idea.

Here is a descripation from their website (www.uintabrewing.com):

Toasted, chocolaty dark malts align with an astronomical amount of hops.

They put this also on their website (www.uintabrewing.com):

Named Utah’s Centennial Star in 1996, Dubhe (pronounced Doo-bee) illuminates the front of the big dipper from 124 light years away. Dubhe, also known as Alpha Ursae Majoris, is a red giant that appears orange in color and has a mass 4x that of the sun.

Here is a few places to get information on this brewery:

Website: www.uintabrewing.com

Twitter:  @uintabrewing

Setting up the tap again, I really love this beer.  I love all three beer styles that go into this one beer style.  It is a wet dream for people that enjoy all factors that this style and this beer brings to your coffee table or bar.  This is one of my favorite one in the Black IPA market along with Widmer Pitch Black IPA. Pitch Black and Dubhe are the same style but totally different.  I want you to go out and hunt this beer down and try it.  Please let me know what you think and send a message to the brewery.  Breweries love to hear from us beer drinkers.  Enjoy it!  Drink it! Metal it! \m/

Cheers!

Bill DJ Weiser

Email: djweiser13@comcast.net

Twitter: @djweiser

New Blog Perennial Artisan Ales Saison de Lis

In this blog, we are going to talk about a brewery, who is called Perennial Artisan Ales, that was founded in 2011.  This brewery joins an awesome current lineup of craft breweries in and out of St Louis, MO. This blog will feature one, which is called Saison de Lis, and there will be two more blogs, which are called Hommel Bier and Hommel Bier,to follow.

Just like a normal farmhouse saison ale, it is cloudy and golden to yellow in color. The smell is slightly circus to very earthly.  This Saison just like others is very drinkable and refreshing, which is why this beer style is brew by farmers on their farms in Belgium for their workers.

Here is a few sources to get to know about this brewery:

Website: www.perennialbeer.com

Twitter: @PerennialBeer

On ending, this beer is in big bottles and I am really not a fan of beers in these big bottles.  Unless, it is a really big beer and this saison is only 5% in ABV.  This beer is pretty good but not for the packaging size and price.  They did a very good job doing the American version of this beer.  I would say try it and put your thoughts on this beer.  It would be neat to check out their Brewpub some time in the future.  I will have to hunt down their other beers.  They are brewing some interesting beers.  Overall, this beer has a market just like every beer but I am not the market.  Enjoy it! Drink it! Metal it! \m/

Cheers!

Bill DJ Weiser

Email: djweiser13@comcast.net

Twitter: @djweiser

New Blog Perennial Artisan Ales Black Walnut Dunkel

In this blog, we are going to talk about the second of three beers from Perennial Artisan Ales.  The beer we are going to talk about from this brewery is called Black Walnut Dunkel, which is their spring seasonal.  If you read my blog on Sunday, which is Perennial Artisan Ales Saison de Lis, you will know about the history.

While the beer is sitting in the glass, it comes across as a light brown in color with constant head.  The carbonation during the pouring process is pretty normal for a German Dunkel.  The smell is like roasted chestnuts over a fireplace during the Christmas holiday season. This beer has a taste of a black walnut ice cream. Going deep in detail with that statement. It comes across as a slight sweet chocolate taste with mild walnut sweet aftertaste.  You will taste the walnut throughout the drinking experience but it is there but not really there. I am not a brew master but for reason I am getting some vanilla taste.  I really do not know where that vanilla is coming from in this beer.  It is a very drinkable in the spring to fall season and that is why it is a seasonal.

Here is a description from the bottle:

Black Walnut Dunkel is our first foray into German-style beer.  Originally brewed for an underground beer dinner with our friends at entre, BWD is a rich, malty Dunkelweiss with 250 pounds of Missouri black walnuts.  Game birds, such as quail, pair nicely with the unique, earthy character of the walnuts.

Here is a few sources to get to know about this brewery:

Website: www.perennialbeer.com

Twitter: @PerennialBeer

Closing out the tap, I know what I said in my other blog about their other beer, however, this beer being so different then what is out in the market.  I will pick up a bottle of this beer to pair it with a dessert, salad, or what it says on the bottle wild game.    I am a huge fan of German Weiss more than another wheat out there.  I am a huge fan of this beer.  It is a very good beer and I believe you should search this beer out.  It will be available in all big craft beer stores.  Let me know what you think of this great beer.  Enjoy it! Drink it! Metal it! \m/

Cheers!

Bill DJ Weiser

Email: djweiser13@comcast.net

Twitter: @djweiser

New Blog Perennial Artisan Ales Hommel Bier

In this blog, we are going to talk about the final beer from the Perennial Artisan Ales that I got my hands on in the Chicago market.  They have a few more beers that I believe will not be available just yet in this market.  The beer that will be feature is their Hommel Bier.  This brewery goal is take American and Belgian styles and do something different within reason.  Hommel Bier is a Belgian Style Ale.

This beer pours into glass with huge carbonation just like your normal Belgian Strong Golden Ale.  The head is very constant with a slightly cloudy golden color to the beer. It has species and slight circus smell. The taste is sweet and carbonation with a bit of a bitter aftertaste.   It is kind of dry for the aftertaste. This beer is drinkable at anytime of the year.  It has a nice spicy kicking in this beer just like your normal Belgian style.  Just reading the description, I believe the spices are coming from the Belgian Yeast.

Here is description from the bottle:

In the hop capital of Belgium, Hommel is the word for Humulus, the plant genus where hops reside. Our Hommel Bier defies tradition by combining North American malts, Pacific Northwest hops, and a Belgian yeast strain.  The result is a beer that combines earthy and spicy tones from the yeast with a slight orange note contributed by the hops.  We think it’s buzzworthy.

Here is a few places on the web to get some information about this brewery:

Website: www.perenialbeer.com

Twitter: @perenialbeer

Closing out the tap, this beer like their Saison.  I honestly do not think it is a good value in a 750ml bottle.  However, this beer has a lower ABV, which is 5.9%, then other Belgium or styel, it puts it at a value and drinkable then them.  What I mean by that, you can drink all day and do not have to worry about getting tank.  Duvel, for example, you will have to worry about the ABV because it is 8.5%.  Since this is a small brewery, there will be a limited supply in the market (I am assuming.  I could be totally wrong on this theory.  I am just using my experience at searching for beers from smaller breweries.  I hope I am wrong on this theory.).  I believe craft beer drinkers will hunt this beer down even more then other beers that are easier to find.  Go find this beer and let me know what you think. Enjoy it!  Drink it! Metal it! \m/

Cheers!

Bill DJ Weiser

Email: djweiser13@comcast.net

Twitter: @djweiser

New Blog Widmer Brothers Raspberry Russian Imperial Stout ’12

In this blog, we are going to talk about a very limited release around the country. I have been wanting to try this beer and I could not find a bottle.  I finally found a bottle but I had to get some help from a few people.  Widmer Brothers is the second oldest brewery from Portland, Oregon.  Bridgeport beat them by a few weeks to have the title of the Oldest Craft Brewery.  Well both breweries are really good at what they do.  Well back to Widmer, the whole idea of the brewery is give you something different from the classic beers from around the world.  I believe the brothers of Widmer has done a very good job.  There pale ale is different from what is out there now.  It has a heavy grapefruit smell and taste.  Let us talk about this beer now.

This beer is black as black can get with a dirty head that is constant. This beer smells like chocolate cover raspberry smell with hints of roasted malt smells. This beer taste like dark chocolate cover raspberry with a roasted and carbonation.  For this beer being a big beer style, it is a very drinkable beer.  You will only have one beer and make it with some kind of dessert.  I did my bottle with vanilla ice cream.

Here is a description from the bottle:

An extremely rich and complex beer.  The addition of raspberries during the fermentation process results in an almost purplish opaque color with a beautiful brown head.  Warm chocolate and roasty notes complement the hop bitterness.

Here is more information on this beer from their website (www.widmerbrothers.com):

ABV 9.3% IBU 70

Malts: Pale, Roast Barley, Caramel 60L, Midnight Wheat, Chocolate Malt

Hops: Alchemy, Willamette, Cascade

Here is a few sources to get more information on this great brewery:

Website: www.widmerbrothers.com

Twitter: @widmer_brothers

In closing, this is not one of my favorites from this brewery but it is still a great beer.  This beer is perfect for a beer dinner.  They pick the right fruit to put into this stout and make it perfect for a spring seasonal.  Rasberries are not over powering but enough for you to enjoy the sweetness of them and the chocolate in it.  If you see a bottle, I would pick it up.  This beer in the Chicagoland area I would say big craft stores where you can find this beer.  Enjoy it! Drink it! Metal it!

Cheers!

Bill DJ Weiser

Email: djweiser13@comcast.net

Twitter: @djweiser