(040, 041 & 042)

The next three I was able to tally towards the ever elusive 200 were three very good brews. I had a Coney Island Albino Python, a Chimay Cinq Cents and a Founders Carmudgeon.

The Albino Python was an American Style Wheat Ale served in a 22oz bomber. One of the drawbacks to the Flying saucer is that they don't serve the wheat beers and hefeweizens in wheat beer glasses, they only give you ale glasses that cannot hold the entire bottle. With wheat beers, there is a delicious thickness that settles to the bottom of the bottom and when poured completely you get a very hazy straw colored glass. But when you can't pour the whole bottle in at once, you get a clean version that tastes more like Mountain Dew. This was a very good beer that suffered only because of improper drinking glass availability. I suggest that if you order this one or any 22oz bomber, that you either request a wheat glass or give the bottle a good couple swirls to loosen up the wheat cloudiness.

The Chimay Cinq Cents is the Chimay white label. So good. The first time I had this beer, my new neighbor across the street gave me a gift set of all three Chimay (blue label, red label and white label) that also came with a Chimay goblet, awesome! Chimay is a Trappist beer, which is to say it is brewed by monks, mostly in Belgium. Chimay being one of the more popular trappist beers. The white label Chimay has an amazing balance. You can smell the citrus and the alcohol but neither is overwhelming. A very excellent beer.

The Founders Curmudgeon is an Old Ale that drinks more like a Barley Wine. Is had a lot of hop and oak to it. Don't get me wrong, this was an excellent brew, just more of an in your face beer than the others, which is why I am glad I finished with this one. A wonderful strong carmel colored beer with a lot to smell and taste.

Coney Island Albino Python (BTL)

Container: Bottled
Style: Herbed/Spiced Beer
Brewer: Shmaltz Brewing Co.
City: San Francisco, CA
Country: United States
Description: Apperance is a hazy straw yellow with aromas of spices, wheat, clove and hints of bananna. Fruit essence, wheat and some spicy lemon zest are well balanced. 6.00 ABV.

Chimay Cinq Cents

Container: Draught
Style: Trappist Ale
Brewer: Chimay
City: Chimay
Country: Belgium
Description: This fantastic Trappist ale is the draft version of the Chimay White label. It is a golden hue, not as hazy as the bottled version, with a slightly fruity, bubble gum aroma. It has a high acidity and dry, bitter hop finish although not as dry as in the bottle. Served in 25 cl glasses (8.5 oz.).

Founders Curmudgeon (BTL)

Container: Bottled
Style: Old Ale
Brewer: Founders Brewing Co.
City: Grand Rapids, MI
Country: United States
Description: This traditional old ale pours a deep amber to dark brown with a vibrant tan head. Aromas of sweet malts, dark furits, raison and alcohol. A complex but balanced dark fruit bananza with sweet undertones, spice, vanilla notes and warming. 9.30 ABV.

A Little Behind (037, 038 & 039)

I tallied these three beers in mid October, but never got around to logging them in here... I have a little catching up to do.

It's been a while, so I'll do my best to give meaningful review on the brews I tried.

I had a Cream Stout by Sam Adams, an Octoberfest by Harpoon and the Stone Pale Ale. The Cream Stout was awesome. I am falling more and more in love with darker beers and this one is fantastic. A very dark, smooth, sweet & malty stout that I highly recommend. The second brew was the Harpoon Octoberfest. The Sam Adams Octoberfest is my favorite but the Harpoon really comes a close second. Had a sweet, medium-body with a smell of caramel. So tasty. The third brew I had was a Stone Pale Ale. I had such a good experience with Stone the previous visit and at the Beer Fest that I wanted to get one again sooner rather than later. Not as hopped up as the Ruination or the IPA but still a better pale ale than so many others. What a great set of beers.

Sam Adams Cream Stout

Container: Bottled
Style: Porter/Stout
Brewer: Boston Brewery
City: Boston, Mass.
Country: United States
Description: Smooth and creamy with an ebony color and an immensely rich and intense flavor. Cream stouts are the richest of all stouts and are made with additional malt; fermented carefully to leave sweetness and a creaminess in the beer. 4.69% abv

Harpoon Oktoberfest
Container: Bottled

Style: American Amber/Red Ale

Brewer: Harpoon Brewery

City: Boston, Mass.

Country: United States

Description: The character and complexity of Harpoon Octoberfest comes from the malt and hops. When looking at a freshly poured Harpoon Octoberfest, you will notice the garnet-red color with a firm, creamy head. The beer’s color is from a blend of Munich, chocolate, and pale malt. The thick head results in part from wheat malt added to the grist. The hop aroma of this beer is not overpowering but it is present. Tettnang hops add a subtle spice nose that blends with the malt character. This beer is full-bodied, smooth, and malty. Willamettehops are used to provide a gentle bitterness and to balance any residual sweetness present from the malt. The finish is soft and malty with a mild bitterness. 5.5% abv

Stone Pale Ale

Container: Bottled
Style: Pale Ale
Brewer: Stone Brewing Co.
City: San Marcos,CA
Country: United States
Description: Stone Pale pours an ambered orange with a frothy white head. The aroma is a mixed bag of fruity hops and malt. A well balanced flavor of citrus and sweet bready malts just as in the aroma. A very nice session brew at 5.4 ABV.

Durham World Beer Fest 2008

Doesn't seem that long ago that I was posting comments on the Raleigh World Beer Fest, but I guess 6 months goes quick. The Durham World Beer Fest we went to on Saturday was as good, if not better. You can see a program from the event here if you'd like to take a look.



I went with 4 friends and really had a great time. Same as last time, it was a great atmosphere, except this time we were in the outfield of a beautiful minor-league ballpark of the Durham Bulls. There were 4 tents per beer garden and three beer gardens. Overall there were about 130 breweries present; some serving only one of their beers on tap or bottle, others came with as many as seven of their brews. No way to count, but my guess is that there was somewhere between 300-400 varieties of beer to be sampled. I hit about 70.



Now don't think I drank 70 full beers... that's just silly. On average it was only about 1-4 oz per brew. I finished the afternoon feeling well and glad for the pretzel necklace Marc's kids had made for us.



While walking from tent to tent sampling different beers, I kept track and tried to rate all the beers I tasted. I kept it simple, by marking a 1-5 next to it's name on my program.


Anheuser-Busch
St. Louis, MO
Jack's Pumpkin Spice 4.5
Czechvar 4


Arcobräu Brauhaus
Moos, Germany
Urfass Lager 4


Aspall Cyders
Suffolk, United Kingdom
Gaffel Kölsch 4.5


Avery Brewing Co.
Boulder, CO
White Rascal 4.5
Reverend 5
Hog Heaven 5

Azalea Coast Brewing Co.
Wilmington, NC
Rackam's Black Lure Porter 3.5

Beck's Brewery
Lincolnshire, England
Combined Harvest 4

Big Boss Brewing Co.
Raleigh, NC
Harvest Time Pumpkin Ale 4
Black Diamond Express 4.5

Blue Moon Brewing
Golden, CO
Pale Moon 4.5
Pumpkin 4

Boddington's
Manchester, England
Pub Ale 3.5

Brewery Ommegang
Cooperstown, NY
Hennepin Farmhouse Saison

Carolina Beer Co
Mooresville, NC
Cottonwood 4.5

Carolina Brewery
Chapel Hill, NC
Flagship IPA 4

Clipper City Brewing Company
Baltimore, MD
Winter Storm 5
Heavy Seas Loose Cannon 4.5

Deschutes Brewery
Bend, OR
Black Butte Porter 4.5
Mirror pond Pale Ale 4

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
Milton, DE
Theobrama 5

Duvel Moortgat Brouwerij
Puurs, Belgium
Maredsous 8 4.5
Belgian Golden Ale 4.5

Flying Dog Brewery
Denver, CO
Double Dog 5
onzo Imperial Porter 4.5

Founder's Brewery
Grand Rapids, MI
Breakfast Stout 4.5

French Broad Brewing
Asheville, NC
Wee Heavy-er 4
13 Rebels ESB 4

Great Divide Brewing
Denver, CO
Titan IPA 4

Green Mountain Beverage
Middlebury, VT
Strongbow Cider 2.5

Kaiser Brewery
Diviaopolis, Brazil
Palma Louca 3.5

Kuhnhenn Brewing
Warren, MI
Fourth Dimentia Olde Ale 5

Left Hand Brewing Co
Longmont, CO
Milk Stout 4.5
Imperial Stout 4.5

Magic Hat Brewing Co
South Burlington, VT
Circus Boy 5
Jinx 4.5

Matt Brewing Co
Utica, NY
Pomegranate Wheat 4.5

McAusian Brewery
Montreal, Canada
St Ambrose Oatmeal Stout 5

Miller Brewing Co
Milwaukee, WI
Sparks 4.5
Sparks Plus 5

New Belgium Brewing Co
Fort Collins, CO
Fat Tire Amber Ale 4

Pabst Brewing Co
San Antonio, TX
Pabst Blue Ribbon 4

Pennsylvania Brewing Co
Pittsburgh, PA
Pilsner 3.5
Gold 5
Oktoberfest 4

Pyramid Breweries
Seattle, WA
Hefeweizen 5
Thunderhead IPA 4
Broken Rake Amber 4

Reunion
Chico, CA
Organic Red Rye Ale 5

Rogue Ales
Newport, OR
Double Dead Guy Ale 4
I2PA 4

Shmaltz Brewing Co
San Francisco, CA
Coney Island Lager 4.5
Origin Pomegranate Ale 4.5
Genesis 4.5

Smuttynose Brewing Co
Portsmouth, NH
Old Brown Dog 4.5

Southampton Ales and Lagers
Southampton, NY
Double White 4
Altbier 4.5

St Feuillien Brasserie
Le Roeuix, Belgium
Abbey Tripel Ale 5
Urthel Bock 5

St Peters Brewery
Suffolk, England
Organic English Ale 3.5

Stella Artois Brewery
Leuven, Belgium
Lager 3.5

Terrapin Beer Co
Athens, GA
India Style Brown Ale 4

Uinta Brewing Co
Salt Lake City, UT
Anniversary Barley Wine 4.5

Wedge Brewing Co
Asheville, NC
Porter 4
Wit Beer 4

Wolf Beer Co
Wilmington, NC
White Wolf 3.5

Wychwood Brewry
Witney, England
Scarecrow Organic Ale 2.5


whew

Good vs Evil... so to speak (034, 035 & 036)

A few weeks back, I tallied three more brews towards my targeted 200 at the Flying Saucer:

Two of which I'd had before, Weihenstephaner Original and the Hefeweizen, both are such clean beers. Not sure if it's because of the fact that Weihenstephaner brews all their beers by the German (or Bavarian) Purity Law of 1516 (or Reinheitsgebot in German) restricting the ingredients of the production of beer to water, barley & hops. Curious that a Hefeweizen beer (with the main ingredient of wheat) is still considered to be brewed by that law... hmmm. Technicality I guess. Anyway, both the Original and the Hefe were again amazing. Plus, as a bonus, I just love the art of properly pouring a pint into a tall wheat beer glass. There is no finer looking glass of beer than a cloudy Hefe in a tall-one.

The third beer of the night is named appropriately. Arrogant Bastard Ale by Stone Brewery. The first thing that is printed on the back of the bottle is "This is an aggressive beer. You probably won't like it. It is quite doubtful that you have the taste or sophistication to appreciate an ale of this quality and depth. We suggest that you stick to safer and more familiar territory - maybe something with a multi-million dollar ad campaign aimed at convincing you it's made in a little brewery, or one that implies that their tasteless fizzy yellow beer will give you more sex appeal. Perhaps you think muli-million dollar ad campaigns make a beer taste better. Perhaps you're mouthing your words as you read this."

Arraogant they may be, but it is a fine beer.

Weihenstephaner Original

Container: Bottled
Style: Pale Lager
Brewer: Weihenstephan Brewery (Brauerei Weihenstephan)
City: Freising
Country: Germany

Description:
This mellow brew is the only lager currently available from Weihenstephaner, the oldest brewery in the world and a specialist in wheat ales. It has a nice light malt aroma and is very smooth. 5.1% abv







Weihenstephaner Hefeweizen

Container: Bottled
Style: Wheat (Weizen)
Brewer: Weihenstephan Brewery (Brauerei Weihenstephan)
City: Freising
Country: Germany

Description:
Hazy gold in color with a spicy clove aroma. It has a medium body with an off-dry malt finish and a hint of spice that lingers. 5.4% abv








Stone Arrogant Bastard Ale

Container: Bottled
Style: Strong Ale
Brewer: Stone Brewing Co.
City: San Marcos, CA
Country: United States

Description:
This dark ale is well hopped with a nice floral aroma and an intensely bitter palate. It is very full-bodied with complex malt and hop flavors. The finish lingers with noticeable bitterness. 7.2% abv

A fun quote on wise investments

Thanks for this, Chris:

If you had purchased $1,000.00 of AIG stock one year ago you would have $44.34 left.

With Wachovia, you would have had $54.74 left of the original $1,000.00.

With Lehman, you would have had $0.00 left.

But, if you had purchased $1,000.00 worth of beer one year ago…drank all of the beer, then turned in the cans for the aluminum recycling REFUND, you would have $214.00 cash.

Non-Tally News

I received my first issue of All About Beer Magazine a couple weeks back. It also came with a DVD called The American Brew which was a great documentary about the history of beer in America stretching from colonial days, through prohibition, the rise of micro-brews and up to today.

Less than 2 weeks until the Durham World Beer Festival. I am feeling more prepared and more educated to truly enjoy this year's Beer Fest. Not that I didn't enjoy the last one, I just think I will have a better idea of what to look for and discern a bit better for what I want to sample.

I went to Total Wine on Friday to get a bottle Merlot for Amy. I ended up getting two: a 2005 Martin Ray Merlot and a 2003 Edgewood Estate Merlot. No, I'm not turning this into a Wine Tally... just thought I'd let you know, I highly recommend the Edgewood Merlot though. I'll let you know about the Martin Ray when we cork it.

Anyway, while at the Total wine, I wanted to look for an IPA I hadn't tried and an employee recommended the Stone Ruination IPA that went on the shelf just an hour before, so I deceided to bring it home and give it a go.

A little history on IPA's: an IPA is an Indian Pale Ale. They are called Indian because they were the style of beers that were shipped across the Indian Ocean from the UK down around the southern tip of Africa and up through the Indian Ocean to British occupants in India in the 18th Century. By the time beer arrived, it would be bad or flat. In an effort to preserve the beers during a not only long trip, but a trip with extreme temperature fluctuation, the British brewers tried brewing their ales with hops. Hops is not only a fantastic flavor, but it acted as a natural preservative.

I tell you this because when you drink an IPA, you get a big nose full and mouth full of hops. That's why when you hear me (or more experienced and much smarter beer reviewers) say that a beer is 'hoppy' that means my tastebuds are getting kicked by enough hops in one bottle to survive a six-month voyage.

Anyway, with all that nonsense being said, Stone Ruination IPA is one killer India Pale Ale.

So, uh... yeah. It's a pretty good beer.

The Good, the Bad and the Hoppy (031, 032 & 033)

A couple weeks ago my brother, Dave, and I went to the Saucer for a couple brews before going to a concert (King's X at Volume 11 Tavern... GREAT SHOW by the way) in downtown Raleigh.

I had a couple good beers, but one was so awful, I couldn't finish it. The first beer I ordered was an Avery Karma. If you remember a few posts ago, one of the better beers I had was the Avery Maharaja, so I figured I couldn't go wrong, right? Wrong. There was so much fruit and flowery stuff going on in that beer, it should have it's 'beer' status revoked and slapped with a 'wine cooler' label. I got through half then told the bartender to dump it. Waste. Check out the description below... there are words in there that should not be in the description of a beer: 'mandarin orange', 'belgian biscuit', 'marshmallow', 'light bananna', 'light peach', 'floral flavor', 'coriander spices'... I've had bananna in beer before, and it was good. I've had Belgian beers that have had orange and it was good... BUT, all of these in one beer does not end well.

The second was more my speed: Rogue American Amber Ale. I've sampled Rogue beers before, but it was my first at the Saucer. Classic beer dinker's beer. Then Dave and I split an Otter Head Ale, which wasn't a bad English Ale at all, great taste and nice finish.

Rogue American Amber (BTL)

Container: Bottled
Style: Amber Ale
Brewer: Rogue Ales
City: Newport, OR
Country: United States

Description: This amber ale is slightly fruity with a nice hop character in the nose. It is a dark copper color with a nice rocky head. It finishes hoppy and slightly dry - go figure!




Avery Karma (BTL)

Container: Bottled
Style: Belgian Style Ale
Brewer: Avery Brewing Co.
City: Boulder,CO.
Country: United States

Description: Deep copper orange color with a very vivid appearance. Light mandarin orange aromas, with some belgian biscut notes, marshmallows and light bananas. Sweet on the lips, with some light peach and floral flavors. Some light coriander spices, with a smooth palate. Overall a good beer, very tasty, and light; perfect for a sunny spring day.






Otter Head Ale (BTL)

Container: Bottled
Style: English Ale
Brewer: Otter Brewery
City: Honiton, Devon
Country: United Kingdom

Description: Otter Head is a low-foaming English Strong Ale which pours a dark ruddy copperish brown color with a light creamy, off-white head. This brewer knew what he was up to - this beer is extremely well balanced. Overall taste is wonderful in this medium bodied, low to moderately carbonated, smooth drinking beer.