Clarendon St. Brewery Tasting

In an effort to put my large stores of beer to good use, I had a few friends over Friday evening for a beer tasting. We had about ten people, which is good for my cozy apartment that only has like six chairs. Here was the line-up:

Clarendon Beer:
German Wheat (Weizen)
Brown Ale
Cherry Stout
Oatmeal Stout
India Pale Ale

Middle Ages Beer:
Ye Old Kilt Tilter Scotch Ale
Druid Fluid Barleywine
Dragonslayer Imperial Stout

I still fortunately or unfortunately I have like 8 cases of beer and about two weeks left in Syracuse. Anyone planning a last minute trip through the area is guaranteed a good time.

The night, like several others before, devolved into mini-bike riding around the apartment. My roommate Lindsey kicked everyone's ass, as per usual. But then again, she's going to be a pro mountain biker. Here she is doing a track stand in what you could call our dining room.


Here's Jason and Chrissy hanging out on a couple of the other 12 inchers.


Nate falling off the Barbie bike (not trying to spoon it).


Anyways, while trying to dwindle down my stock I still had a few new beers while out in Syracuse.

Arbor Brewing Jackhammer Old Ale: A random old ale from Ann Arbor. Not bad, a bit hoppy.

Lucifer: An overpriced and underwhelming golden Belgian. Still tasty, like most Belgians, but there was a hint of stinky cheese.

Smuttynose Winter Ale: A mellow dark Belgian, no richer than Lucifer, but much cheaper and that counts for something.

Review #450

I hit beer review #450 today. Only a semi-quasi-milestone, I know, but it ends with a zero and is only 50 from 500. So what special beer did I pick? Molson Canadian! Why? Because it was free!

The free drink was part of an ED2010 happy hour. ED2010 is a networking group on campus for magazine majors. It's not all free booze and burgers, in fact, it usually isn't those things. Rather they bring in speakers like Gloria Steinem and host workshops. On a side note, I'm usually the only guy to show up to these events which is still an interesting contrast from my sausage-fest engineering days.

The social dynamics of the social events are always amusing/awkward. Tonight I was at a table with other seniors and editors from campus mags. At th other two tables are the underclass(wo)men. There's always an attempt to bridge the gap, but it usually doesn't work well. Christine or I, for example will approach some freshmen/sophomores, smile, say hello and introduce ourselves, and largely be met by blank stares. Hooray networking!

Molson: Tastes like Miller Lite, I think corn was used from the flavor.

Blue Moon: This was also free. Not too bad, but it's a bad example for the style and a little too sweet.

Finger Lakes Apricot Wheat: Light in body and tastes like apricot flavoring.

Brewer's Reserve Bourbon Barrel Stout: Not much stout flavor, but an interesting blend of whiskey and beer flavors.

Brewer's Reserve Bourbon Cherry Stout: Like the above beer, but with cherries. I liked this one better as the cherries added a nice tart level to the flavor.

Mud Puppy Porter: Had a really nice long roasted and bitter chocolate aftertaste. Thanks Central Waters.

Warm weather finally

Three good things came to Syracuse this weekend: a box of free beer, 70+F and sunny weather and a car of recent-grad friends. The weather was nice, but the Steve, Gaetano, and Jean made the weekend. I know the three from working at Jerk Magazine. Gaetano and Jean were editors and Steve was never really on staff, but was a good friend of the mag.

Aside from a couple leisurely bike rides with Christine, the weekend mostly comprised of eating followed by drinking and frivolity with our guests. Friday night we were back at Al's Whisky and Wine where I split of bottle of La Fin du Monde (The End of the World) with Steve. We ended the night over at the Blue Tusk with a little Irish whiskey and a hug from Gaetano (he's not really a touchy-feely guy).

Me, Steve, and Jean (R to L) trying to look classy at Al's:


Saturday night was much more collegiate at Chuck's, the quintessential student-dive bar near campus. There's hardly a single surface that doesn't have some crap written on it. Usually it's just sorority-sister and rugby team scribbling, but my heart was warmed when I saw someone had written "DWIGHT SCHRUTE" above my booth. We went back to Christine's, where everyone was staying and eventually Steve was leading us all in either sing-alongs of Disney Cartoons (Duck Tales, Rescue Rangers, etc...) or the Arrested Development chick dances.




In other news, I received a box full of beer from Central Waters Brewing for a profile I'm writing on them. I've only reviewed one, the IPA, but I'll have to get to the rest soon. Seriously though, it was like Christmas.


Lagunita's Hairy Eyeball: Sort of like an English barleywine in that it had a rich, fruity malt flavor that dominates. Drinks mellow without much hint of the 9% abv.

Schwelmer Bernstein: I have a soft spot for German beers, even if they're just smooth amber lagers like this Vienna lager.

Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale: Basically a decent mix of an IPA and a brown ale.

Copperhook Spring Ale: Meh, it was ok. Nothing really to try here, move along.

La Fin du Monde: I love Belgian brews, and this was pretty good, though I don't think it lives up to its Top 100 beers in the world status on BeerAdvocate.

Lac du Bay IPA: Two French-named beers in one week, what are the odds? Either way, a stand up example of an English IPA. Nice earthy hops.

Blue Point Blueberry Ale: Well, if you like blueberries and you like beer, it's for you.

No Class Today

When you only have one class on Tuesdays, sooner or later you're bound to have a day off. I took advantage of this time to drink beer and write (about beer). I'm started on roughly five of the eight articles for Draft that are due at the end of the month, and should have beer samples for one of them in the mail. Horay free beer!

I also took a little time to have a trainer rider on my mountain bike while catching up on season 3 of Scrubs. Afterward I felt guilty about the dirty state of my bike. The dirt was thanks to a messy road ride a couple weeks ago, the poor thing hasn't seen trails yet. Of course, it was too cold outside, so I cleaned it the only other way I know how - I took a shower with it.

Here it is crammed into my tiny bathroom before the cleaning:


Here it is all clean, sitting in front of my ugly chairs:


Now it's mid-April and someone might wonder why I'd do an indoor bike, when it's Spring out. This picture from Monday morning should explain that:


The six inches of wet snow was a nice surprise after having to work the overnight shift at the Newhouse lab help desk. Here's one last picture to show how Christine left about the snow and being at work until 7AM:


Anyways here's a couple beers I've had:

Victory Storm King Stout: Very hoppy for an imperial stout. A nice, but not amazing mix of hops and chocolate flavors.

Konig Pilsener: Another nice pils. Has a good balance of hops and malt, like a German version of a pale ale.

I liek beer...

Another relaxing weekend complete with sleeping until noon, Wii and new beer. I have to say its a nice change of pace from constantly being busy from freelancing and getting a job/internship. Esquire.com work shouldn't pick up for a while, and Jerk Magazine is basically done for the semester, but I do have to get going on my eight pages for Draft. I foresee lots of emails going out Monday afternoon.

Along with new beer, I tried another single-malt Scotch down at Al's Whiskey and Wine. It was Laphroaig 10 year from the islay region. Islay is known for a peat, smokey flavor. I agreed with the smokey flavor, but it tasted a bit like rubber. Fun huh?

Here's the new beer:

S'muttonator: An awesome American take on the German doppelbock style.

Armoury Ale: Middle Ages' IPA on cask at Clark's Ale House, Cask ale is different but tasty in a delicate way.

Terrapin Rye Squared: A strong rye beer with a balanced, but bold mix of malt and hops.

Titan IPA (pictured in my new Sam Adams glass from Christine): Tasty with good citrus hops and bitterness, but doesn't live up to the hype.

Long Trail IPA (Unfiltered): The most orange-like beer I've had that didn't actually use orange.


Harbin Lager: A pale lager from China, I'd put it at the top of the class for international lagers (Grolsch, Heineken, etc).

Out of Bounds Stout: A decent stout from Colorado.

Black Dog Ale: A highly drinkable amber ale with hops.

Life, Death, and Beer

This Thursday started with the sad, sad news of Kurt Vonnegut's passing. Lord knows it was coming, the man was 84 and not one to watch his health, but still. In less depressing news, my article on the Perry Bible Fellowship is up on Esquire.com.

I've also had a couple interesting beers:

Samuel Smith Nut Brown: This is supposed to be THE brown ale, I found it underwhelming.
Wizard's Winter Ale: A pretty mellow tasting strong ale, but it'll warm you up all right.

On a side note, I've been listening to the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds all today. This album is freakin' nuts, find it and give it like five listens.

"Still and all, why bother? Here's my answer. Many people need desperately to receive this message: I feel and think much as you do, care about many of the things you care about, although most people do not care about them. You are not alone." -KV

Esquire.com Be Happenin'

Yesterday my second Esquire.com article went up. It's a Q&A with artist Brandon Bird. I've featured his King of the Cage painting here. It's an Abe Lincoln adaptation of a Wolverine cage-match scene in the first X-Men movie.

Haven't had any new beer lately, but I did re-review Middle Ages Brewing's Duke of Winship for a class assignment.

Duke of Winship: This is my favorite dessert-type beer. I liken it to cake. There's sweet fruit flavors on top like icing, followed by coffee and chocolate flavors for the cake. Mmmmm.

An Easter Basket Full of Beer

Saturday night I confirmed a longstanding theory of mine that almost all beer tastes better when it's free. Sure, free-ness can't elevate the worst of brews, but for something as mediocre as a macro-lager like Labatt Blue Light (I swear I drank it for posterity's sake) it can make beer-flavored water an enjoyable experience.

New Brews:

Labatt Blue Light: Inoffensive, sweet, and a good intoxicator if you don't mind constant urination.

Stone Pale Ale: Pretty bitter, but no crisp hops flavor like the other Stone brews, still a winner though.

Harpoon Brown Session Ale: Another decent nutty brown ale.

McEwan's Scotch Ale: 8% abv and smelled like sneaker sole. Avoid.

Wolaver's Organic IPA: If you happen to care about organic beer and like hops, this isn't a bad way to go - otherwise its just slightly above average.

Brooklyn Pilsner: Light malts of a traditional pils, but with big American citrus hops flavor.

Good Friday

That's right, so far it's been a good Friday for me. I woke up around 10, went for a nice long run through the local quarries and state park with Ben and Meghan, found out I'll get decent money for my articles at Esquire.com (and that my interview with the Perry Bible Fellowship cartoon creator Nick Gurewitch will run soon), and soon I'll be bottling my nut brown ale. There's more beer and Wii on-tap for later. I can see why it's called Good Friday.

Here's a few new brews:

Wachusett Nut Brown Ale: A classic brown ale. Hopefully mine will taste this good.

Lagunitas IPA: It's hoppy enough, but I'm just not into the hops profile, too grassy.

Xingu Black Beer: It's not a German schwarzbier (black beer), its just a Euro dark lager from Brazil. Pass.

LongShot Dortmunder: From the Sam Adams homebrew contest. A good step up form American "premium lagers."

Also, here's my weekly beer article in The Daily Orange. Ever wanted a beer that tastes like cough syrup? Read on to find out!

New month, new beer

March was a big month for me, I set record for new beers tried. I will quickly point out, I was still nowhere close my record alcohol consumption, and that's a-ok with me. But I had 36 new beers in 31 days. That put me at about 410 beers reviewed.
I also went out for my first real road ride of the year. Naturally, I figured the best way to get into the swing of things was for a painful 1:45 ride to Lafayette and back. The ride started with a dull pain in the teardrop quad muscle next to the knee, and moved out to the rest of my legs. what can I say, I had a good ride. I averaged about 16.5 mph on the hilly ride and hit a top speed of 40 mph. Hills are fun.

Here's a couple new beers I've had that were both pretty awesome:

Michigan Brewing Co. Peninsula Porter: A great example of the style with a dry bitter (in a good way) coffee and cocoa flavor.

Sled Dog Trippel Bock: It's really a doppelbock, just a relatively rich one. Sweet brown sugar and fruit flavor with some balancing bitterness.

Weekend Review

There's been a lot of new beer lately, along with a few people acting life dinosaurs. That Archie doing a Stegosaurus impression. I've been on a bit of pilsner and Euro pale lager kick lately and I think that's about over as I can't find anymore decent ones in Syracuse. And because Euro pale lagers are kind of a boring style anyways.

Here's a rundown of what's new, good, and bad:

Kalnapilis Original: A supposed award-winning Lithuanian lager. Nice, but ho-hum.

High Seas Holy Sheet: It's a cute name, but this is the worst attempt at a Belgian I've tried (next to my failed Belgian homebrew).

Michigan Brewing Bavarian Dark: A little cocoa flavor, but too mellow overall.

Yuengling Traditional Lager: This adjunct-fuel amber lager is ok at best. I call it over-rated.

Smuttynose Hanami Ale: A pretty cool cherry beer and I don't usually like fruit beer. A little sweet and a little tart. A little like beer and a little like fruit juice.

My favorite beer that I've had recently was actually my home brewed IPA. It clocks in at 7.5% abv and 75 IBUs from the 7 oz. of hops used in the boil and dry-hopping. I'll also mention my new hefeweizen is chugging away next to me around 68F. If I stick my nose next to the airlock I can smell the banana and clove coming from the yeast. This is why I love homebrewing and today's crappy weather makes me want to brew some more. I think a chile beer might come next.