Thanksgiving Beer review - All Weekend Edition!

This is going to be an epic, check back for updates.

Added the picture above,stopped by Carlson Craft Brewery today (Sat 11/29)and met brewmaster Andrew Carlson and his wife. Had a brief sampling of beer (His great Gammal Ol). As is my want I bought a t-shirt and a pint glass (you can't have too many pint glasses). Anyway for a bag for my items they gave me an empty 25kg Gambrinus Specialty Malt sack. I gotta figure out what to do with it so it is properly utilized in the beer cave! The Carlson's are very nice and I recommend a trip to see them.

1) Carlson Craft Brewery - Yule Ale - From Branford, CT nice mellow seasonal offering this would be great with a big piece of Chocolate Cake.

2)Avery Brewing - Old Jubilation Ale - Great coffee finish 8% ABV. Avery is a great brewery.

Southern Tier Krampus coming next after Thanksgiving Dinner. They suggest that this should be enjoyed in a Brandy Snifter. I actually have one of those. Will see how it works!

3) Southern Tier Brewing - Krampus Imperial Helles Lager. Very hoppy, 9.0% ABV. Very good & aromatic.

4) Samuel Adams - Chocolate Bock - 5.5% ABV. An adult Chocolate Milk!

5) Southern Tier Brewing Company - Cuvee Series 1 - I am sure we will get a lesson from Adam as to what a Cuvee style is.
This is very mellow but with an 11% ABV very potent! This is Oak Aged and I very well may have had this in a brandy snifter. Series 2 and 3 to come out later 08 beginning 09.

Went on a beer buying binge today so will be back with some more reviews later on (i.e. probably tomorrow)

6) Chimay Blue. I keep a detailed list of the beers I have tried & reviewed and was surprised that this had not been included. 9.0% abv very malty extremely rich. I need to try the other varieties as well.

7) Great Divide Brewing Company - Fresh Hop Pale Ale - 6.1% ABV According to their label, this is supposed to taste grassy & citrusy, you know what they are right. This is a great beer! Well done!

Happy Thanksgiving

Instapundit links to this great WSJ article.

Brooklyn = Beer Part 2

A Photo essay!

Brooklyn = Beer Part 1

Last weekend I went to Brooklyn, to check out the Brooklyn Brewery. This documents the parts I remember. I got off the "L" Train at Bedford at N. 7th St. The first bar I went to was Spike Hill. Good Place, unpretentious, had an Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout - North Coast Brewing. Really enjoyed, this thought it was an import when I first saw the name. I wish I had gotten a picture of this place.

Mugs Ale House I am reasonably sure I am not banned from there. Had a Lagunitas Hop Stoopid, very good! Fun to order, I want a Hop, Stupid! I had a Southampton Alt Bier, which was great as well. Finally, I had their Cask conditioned Chelsea Gotham Stout

Some random Brooklyn Pictures are above.

CHANGE!!!!

Gates is kept on as SecDef. This was not the change we were promised! Where is Kucinich as the Secretary of Peace? CHANGE NOW!!

Weekend Beer Review

1) Rogue - Shakespeare Stout - 'tis the season for stouts I guess. I like the Rogue stuff and this in no exception. It says it has a chocolate taste but I thought it was more coffee like. Anyway I liked it and recommend it.

2)Victory Brewing - Old Horizontal - 'tis the season for barleywines I guess. 11% abv and disturbingly subtle. I can see being horizontal with this!

3) Green Flash Brewing Co. Trippel - Very good Belgian offering. 8.5% ABV.

4) Finally getting to the beers I brought back from Syracuse. Middle Ages Brewing Wailing Wench I had this as cask conditioned ale at the Blue Tusk. Still am not sure what cask conditioning is supposed to do but I really like this one!

5) Another Middle Ages Offering, Dragon Slayer Imperial Stout, I feel like I am back in the 80's when Dungeons & Dragons was hot with the MA names. That said a very good stout 9.5% ABV. Another coffee style beer!

6) Finishing up on the Middle Ages Brewing brews - Druid Fluid. Their barleywine, Very good!

Obama Voter = Moron

This is a must read from Powerline.

Armory Square

Had the pleasure of going to Armory Square in Syracuse the Friday before the Syracuse/Uconn Football game. My favorites in order are as follows:

1) Empire Brewing Company - Had a great IPA, good stout and a barleywine. I went back for a second time to finish the night off with the barleywine. I think that was the one the put me over the edge.

2) Blue Tusk - Had a couple of beers here. Very busy place. Had an Ommegang Rouge which was something fruity. I don't see this on their website so hopefully i am remembering tis correctly. I also had a Cask Conditioned Wailing Wench from Middle Ages Brewing. Not sure what the point of that was as I thought it was just warm and flat.


3) Clarks Ale House - Had something very hoppy there. Really liked it and I wish I had written down what it was. Very laid back crowd. Cool bartenders.

4) Syracuse Suds Factory - Had a nice stout there.

Glad I cabbed it back and forth as there is no way I could have driven back!

By the way

Discovered this station on the drive home from Syracuse. I really liked it.

Weekend Beer Review

OK several days late.

Went to Syracuse this (past) weekend and the beer review could not be done real time as I did not have my computer with me. That said this beer review is going to take a bit of a different format. The hotel chain that I normally stay at does not have a bar so I decided to use that ever useful tool beeradvocate.com. I found the wonderful Galeville Grocery that had a great selection of microbrews. Highly recommended. I bought a bunch of Middle Ages Brewing Co.'s offerings from that store which I hope to review shortly. By the way, Carlson Craft Brewery should be releasing its Yule Ale shortly.

Status Drunk!

Actually this was the most sober I was during the weekend.

In Flanders Fields

Here

In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army
In Flanders Fields the poppies grow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

This is especially for my good friend Don Walters who was at the war to follow the great war and was part of D-Day, Mr. Martin who was at the Battle of the Bulge, Mr. V. who I believe was in the Pacific theater during WW2 and my Father & Uncle who served during Korea. Their service allows me to live the life I do today.

Whole Lotta Love

Feeling a bit indulgent......

Interesting Thought

Some more rational responses exist here and here.

Really Speical Beer Review!

To Adam! St. Bernardus Chritmas Ale 10.0% ABV Very good, very potent! To you my friend cheers and happy birthday!

Weekend Beer Review

Didn't do much drinking yesterday as I was the designated driver for the Mule Show. I do have an arsenal in the refrigerator though so tomorrow could be interesting. As an aside, the beer review goes on a road show next week as I am heading to Syracuse for the Uconn/Syracuse football game. I will be visiting Armory Square where I intend on going to the Blue Tusk, Clark's Ale House & Empire Brewing Company. I will surely stop at Galeville Grocery to have some reinforcements at the hotel room. That said I do have some items to report on this week so away we go!

1) Anchor Brewing Christmas Ale. Very nice & Spicy. Gator gave me this one which I cracked as soon as I turned off the ignition yesterday.

2) Rogue Yellow Snow IPA
- Rogue always comes through. Very hoppy. I don't undersatnd their labels though.

3) Brooklyn Brewery - Winter Ale - At first I didn't like this. I think it was because I did not let this properly chill. I let this last beer from the six pack chill overnight and that was the issue. I really did like it. Very nice, nutty robust flavor.

Gov't Mule

Went to last night's Gov'tMule at the Chevrolet Theater in Wallingford, CT. It was only me and the Gator going last night last year's participants, Adam is in exile in upstate New York most likely involved in treasonous activity and Matt was predictably unpredictable. I had spoken to Alfred earlier in the week. Alfred stated, in his particularly abrasive style, that he would not pay to see a band that that "pot head white boy" liked. As I am the designated driver for these shows I was a bit discouraged as I figured the entertainment quotient of drunken friends would be significantly impaired. Gator though filled the void admirably. More on that later.

Opening for the Mule was this Brit three piece band called Back Door Slam. They all looked to be about 15 and Gator thought (from looking at there MySpace page) that they were some sort of jug band. They were however an impressive power trio whose influences were clearly Cream, Stevie Ray Vaughn & Robin Trower. I would encourage people to check them out. One thing though was that I could not understand the lead man as he was talking between songs. Gator as only he could put it said "The f**king Brits can't even speak their own language!"

I probably should have mentioned our seat location. If you were up top facing the stage we were in the right wing (I do not belong in the left wing) technical in the front row as the real front row consisted of a single seat. I had the base drum pounding at me all night long but I did get used to it.

The Mule was very good although they seemed to be a bit different. Gator agrees and since he has seen them more than me he could probably articulate the difference better. Anyway I don't know the titles to the bands songs but I did note the covers below which were very good (and eclectic):

All Along the Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix
St. Stephen (Tease) - Grateful Dead
Sugaree (full song)- Grateful Dead
How Many More Times - Led Zeppelin
Stay with me - Rod Stewart
Rockin' in the Free World - Neil Young (Warren was joined by the lead guitarist of Back Door Slam for this one.

Mule played for about three hours and it was a very good show. During the intermission as Gator was out "recreating" one of the roadies walked over to where I was sitting and gave me the set list for the first set. I gave it to Gator for a keepsake.

As for Mister Gator he was in rare form last night. He started off slow, couple of Long Hammer IPA's. He did disappear several time when I suspect some dabbling in substances of a recreational nature were occurring. Towards the end of the show Gator wanted to get his groove on. I thought he was going to jump on the stage! There were three security guards he was pushing the envelope with. They finally relented and let him dance in the aisle. That wasn't good for me as Gator stepped on my foot in his haste to his dancing stage. No harm though I still have all five toes. After the show there was the obligatory experimenting with Nitrous Oxide and we left Wallingford with Gator (passenger side window down) howling at the moon on the ride home. I did get some good Gator philosophy on the ride home on the meaning of Christmas which was pretty much a meld of Santa Claus & Grinch philosophies!

Anyway it was a fun night, hopefully the reader has enjoyed this and I look forward to Mule 2009!

The Messiah is an Idiot

Via VodkaPundit.. Apparently Barry O. is going to require compulsory community service. Since most Americans I know can't wait to start the simplest of civic obligations (Jury Duty) this should be fun. And "W' was supposedly stupid. By the way can we pay people to do our community service? I know nit wits in Black Rock who have contributed nothing to society, maybe there should be a correlation to community service and what you actually produce.

Update: I am the designated driver for tonight's Gov't Mule show. Does that count as community service?

Michael Crichton RIP

Via Drudge. He was one of my favorite authors. Obviously best known for Jurassic Park his book were always intelligent and well written. He pissed off a lot people with his book "State of Fear" in which he sought to debunk global warming. The best part of the book was by the way he skewered the rich and famous and Hollywood types who would take private jets to meetings to discuss environmental crises!

Don't know it it's over yet

Have been watching Pajamas Media TV for most of the night but will defer to Powerline's judgement here. So congratulations to President-Elect Obama and I hope that his tenure for four years shows the same number of terrorist attacks on America since 9/11/01 under President Bush, namely zero. Update just heard a bunch of fireworks outside so I think I have received the wireless aural confirmation that I was looking for!

Weekend Beer Review

This will be a little light on specifics as I went to the Great World Beer Festival Brewtopia 6 yesterday at Pier 92 in NYC. I had bought a ticket for the 12-4 session. I got there around noon and when I saw the line I figured I would get in around 3pm! I was wrong the line really moved and soon I was in and the drinking started! I do have to say the people running this really did a great job. Brewtopia is the brain child of the Reichenbach bothers who own Hop Devil Grill & David Copperfields. As I entered the hall I was given a glass that I guess based on the markings was only to be filled to 2 oz. but most of the brewers blew that hindrance off. I had offerings from Brooklyn Brewery, Flying Dog, Schmaltz, Stone Brewing, Belfast Bay Brewing and so many others. I probably stayed 1.5 hours as I was starting to feel the effects of doing the 2 oz. beer shooters. I actually found a real useful website the Gotham Imbiber from reading some of the literature there. This was the first beer fest that I have been to and hopefully it is not the last. Just too make sure I didn't loose the buzz on the way back I stopped at St. Andrews for a Chimay and a single malt. I did have some beers left over from Half Time last week and bought a few new one's so here goes:

1) Victory Hop Wallop - 8.5% ABV very Hoppy as the title would have you believe. Very good.

2) Gritty McDuff's Christmas Ale Very good and robust! From Portland, Maine. By the way I heard Carlson Craft Brewery is coming out with a Christmas Ale as well. Can't wait to try it!

3) Rogue - Red Fox Amber Ale they don't even have this listed on their site. Very tasty and aromatic.

4) Steamworks Conductor Imperial IPA. Drank this last night after coming back from Brewtopia. Don't remember it!

5) SlyFox - IPA. It is Sunday and I remember this one. Very good.

6) Victory - Baltic Thunder. A nice Porter. 8.5% ABV. There is a great line from "The Quiet Man" relative to Porter. Enjoyed this as well.