Beer Review: Houten Kop

Here's a delicious Belgian amber I got from Santa (thank god he has good taste).

Houten Kop
Belgian Pale Ale
Brouwerij Strubbe

B+ / 4.2
appearance: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | mouthfeel: 5 | drinkability: 5

Poured into my Hennepin stem glass it's a mostly clear amber with a fluffy white head. The aroma reminds me of a chardonnay (but better) at first with a slightly acidic and sweet biscuit aroma - nice in a different sort of way. The flavor is a subtle and well-balanced mix of caramel, apple sugar candy, bubblegum, white grapes, herbal/perfume-like hops and yeast. Really, this is what Belgian beer is all about. It's a little funky, but finely balanced with an array of aromas and flavors. A must-try for Belgian pale ale fans.

Beer Review: Carlsberg Beer - How Beer Gets Skunked

This beer is another example of why green bottles are a bad idea. The mixture of a low flavor profile with skunked hops (green glass allows light to pass through, which breaks down chemicals from the hops to create another chemical that's essentially the same as that released from skunk glands) create a fairly unpleasant experience as the malt can't hide the skunk.

overall: 2.15/5
appearance: 2.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | mouthfeel: 2 | drinkability: 2.5

This beer is trying to taunt me, telling me I don't need any malt flavor in my beer. Regardless, I'll do my best to keep an objective opinion while reviewing.

The beer starts off with a medium, traditional Euro-skunk a la green bottle. The aroma clears up after about 5 minutes to a very mellow extra pale grains and grassy hops with only a touch of skunk. The flavor follows with an almost tasteless sweet flavor that reminds me of a blander version of Heineken, and mild mix of skunk and noble hops.

Men's Health Living

I want to take a quick break from beer to talk about some of the other work I do. Currently my gig at Men's Health is just about over, but with production calendar running at least two months ahead, I'm just starting to see my best work come out.

Here's a link to my first real feature. BAM! A lovely ~1000 word piece in the new Men's Health Living on starting over in life. Rich Roll, the subject of the piece, was on track to become one of the most powerful lawyers in L.A., but he gave up the power and (most of) the money so he could start loving life again.

Currently it's on the front of MensHealthLiving.com, so check it out before my brief spotlight fades.

Beer Review: Saranac Imperial Stout

Well this one was a disappointment. I always appreciated Saranac's cheap, yet decent-tasting beer. At 9% abv this one might just need some mellow-out time like Brooklyn's Black Chocolate Stout, which I recommend cellaring for 18 month before consumption.

overall: 3.15
appearance: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 2.5 | mouthfeel: 2.5 | drinkability: 3

Right after the pour the aroma starts with rich espresso followed by fruity, floral hops. The first aftertaste, however, is a bit chalky. What's up with that? The aroma is interesting to say the least, with biscuit (and almost cracker-like) malts with smooth chocolate. The flavor, however, is harsh like there's too much black grains, without much substantial flavor. The bitterness is unmatched by any tasty malts, leaving it unbalanced.

In summary, aroma=good, taste=not good.

Beer Review: Flat Earth Belgian Pale Ale

Belgian Pale Ale
Flat Earth Brewing Co.

Thanks to Ben for sharing this with me. It was in a lineup of great beers and not only stood out, but would have been the highlight of the night if a certain friend hadn't decided he suddenly needed his right leg shaved in the middle of a party. I'll see if I can post a picture of that.

overall: 3.95
appearance: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | mouthfeel: 4 | drinkability: 4.5

A tasty Minnesotan-made Belgian pale ale here that could just as easily have come from Belgian. The flavor is clean with a medium body thats quite toasty (the malt) with a touch of caramel. The yeast kicks in a woodsy funk and the hops round this beer out with a slight balancing bitterness. This might be heresy, but this beer reminds me of Westvleteren Blonde.

Beer Review: Hoptical Illusion

Hoptical Illusion
American IPA
Blue Point Brewing Co.

overall: 3.75
appearance: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | mouthfeel: 4 | drinkability: 4.5

Ah, this is a drinking IPA. Reminds me of a milder Masala Mama (of Town Hall Brewery in Minneapolis) and of Harpoon IPA out of Boston. There's a nice, light lacing all the way down my pint glass and a ring of foam around the top of the beer. The aroma is of grapefruit peel and seed and the flavor expands with a deeper bite into the fruit that is matched by a pleasant and crisp bitterness.

There are bigger and burlier IPA's out there, but this one is doing just fine for me right now. Worth a try if you see it priced decently. I've until recently avoided it due to a steep ($10/sixer) price tag.

Beer Review: Ithaca Double IPA

Double IPA
Ithaca Beer Company

appearance: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | mouthfeel: 3.5 | drinkability: 4.5

Mmmmm, hoppy. Yeah, there are bigger double IPA's out there, but this one manages big alcohol (10%) with drinkability. There is a slight, dry vodka feel to the beer's finish, but it's otherwise smooth sailing as far as DIPA's go.

A big whiff smells like oily pine needles needs and grapefruit. The flavor starts with a tropical fruit juice taste and leaves with a white grape, clove, and orange peel taste. Sound a little odd? Well it tastes good anyways. Overall it's not a top-tier IPA, like Stone Ruination, but it's still plenty tasty and worth a try. [4/5]

Beer Review: Red Tail Lager

Red Tail Lager
American Amber/Red Lager
Mendocino Brewing Co.

I picked up single bottle from Finger Lakes Beverage Center.

I'd call this a standard American lager, and I mean that in the good way. This is a great, clean, wash down hot dogs beer. It has it's own merits and I certainly enjoy it by itself, I'm just saying...

Anyways, I didn't get much head at all (the carbonation is a little low) and there's a bit of a haze. The aroma is of mellow biscuit and caramel malt which the flavor expands on with a touch of grassy hops at the end. All in all, a tasty beer you can serve to anyone. [3.25/5]

Good Clean Fun

Last night was the weekly cyclocross race in town. Cyclocross, for those unfamiliar, is sort of a mutant love child of road and mountain biking. A simplified description would be that you put knobby tires on a road bike, then race around a mixture of pavement, grass, dirt, sand, and mud. All in all, a very good time.

The local race here is also in the evening, meaning you need a head lamp, and there's beer. Who wouldn't like that. The picture here is in between the fist and second races of the night (yes, there's only one gear). Most people, myself included, do both. You can check out the series here: Fifth Street Cross.

While I was fortunate enough to have a few good beers that night. The best by far was Sierra Nevada's 2007 edition of their Harvest Ale. A harvest ale, is a pale ale on steroids. Brewer's get hops shipped directly from the vines for a harvest ale, so that there's only a few hours is between picking and brewing. This creates an intense hops flavor that's hard to match with normal dried hops. I also happened to have Sierra Nevada's 2007 Celebration Ale, normally an top-tier IPA. I found this year's to have too much bite and not enough flavor. Alas. The harvest ale on the other hand had a wonderfully complex hops flavor of citrus fruits, rinds, and pine. Now lots of beers can have that, but the harvest ale, also had a near perfect mouthfeel that made it wonderfully balanced and oh-so drinkable.

Every Season is Beer Season

I'm thinking it will get colder eventually. Maybe we'll get snow by March, who knows. In the meantime, I'll be enjoying the bike trails and whatever beer finds me. Lately I've been making my way through a mixed case of Troeg's, Shenandoah, Penn Brewery, and Flying Fish. Here's a few of my favorites so far:

Troegs Brewing Co. - Dream Weaver Wheat - A nice, creamy take on the German hefe with a slightly lighter body. Very much like a beer creamsickle. [3.85/5]

Troegs Brewing Co. - Pale Ale - Lots of orange, grapefruit, and apple hops flavors without much bitterness. Tasty, but almost too smooth. [3.95/5]

Flying Fish - ESB Ale - A great session beer with a smooth caramel malt body and finishing note of herbal and grassy hops. Yum. [3.75/5]

Philly Beer + Parsonage Beer

Big weekend for beer. Saturday saw a trip through outer Philly with McKenzie Brewpub, Victory Brewing (dinner at right), The Beer Yard, and General Lafayette. Sunday has a late, as usual, batch of pumpkin beer brewing.

The highligh was McKenzie's Vautour Saison. Complex, spicy, hoppy, barnyard funk - everything you want in a great saison.

Here's the recipe for the pumpkin ale. It vaguely follows my recipe from last year of using a brown ale. I'll probably add spice as needed at bottling.

5# Marris Otter
3# Munich
1# Rye
1# 60L
.5# Wheat
.25# Special B

Mash at 150 for 2 hours
Add cooked meat of two small pie pumpkins to lauer tun

1 oz. Golding(4.5% AA) @ 60 min
.5 tsp Irish Moss @ 15
2 tsp yeast nutrient @ 15
Wyeast American Ale II
OG: 1.054
FG: 1.012

Spice at Bottling:
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger

Best Pilsner Yet

I'll announce it now: Since this spring, I've been on a quest in search of awesome pilsners. Tonight I had the best yet: Buzzard Bay Pilsner from Mass.

Mmm, hoppy, but with a touch of malt too. I have to hand it to this beer. It manages to pick up on the subtle, earthy and odd tastes of a true Czech Pils, while still amping up the hops a touch. Yes, I do like this beer. I should also mention this beer has a great appearance, a touch darker than normal, but with great head retention and lacing usually reserved for a wheat beers. Find this beer if you love a good pils. [4.15/5]

Find and drink it if you can. It's damn fine. More on this beer and the brewery.

Super Saison

This one's going to be good. I think. Probably, as long as it doesn't explode like the Grand Cru I made a year ago.

Super Saison
5# German Pilsner malt
3# Belgian Pale
2# Belgian Munich
1# Wheat
1# Light Candi Sugar

1 oz. Styrian Golding (4.2% AA) @ 60 min
.25 oz. Crystal (5.1% AA) @ 30 min
1 oz. Saaz (3.4% AA) @ 10 min
1 oz. Saaz @ 0 Min

.5 Tsp Irish moss @ 10 min
1 Tbs crushed coriander @ 10 min
2 Tsp yeast nutrient @ 10 min

OG: 1.076
FG: 1.007
IBU: Maybe I'll figure it out later
ABV: 8.6%

This might be ready around Thansgiving, or Christmas.

(That's not my exploded beer. Mine looked similar, but there was less foam on the fermenting bucket and more on the ceiling.)

Brooklyn: Beer and Gladiators

I was in Brooklyn the weekend NBC held try-outs to be a contestant on the new American Gladiators. I can't say I tried out, but I was there to enjoy the show.



No idea who he was. He said his middle name was "Bison." The girl is a professional fitness model. Yeah.



You're not American unless unless you wear it on your shorts. Check out the lion roaring in the background.

Krogdog (sp) comes to Allentown

Matt Krogstad (seen at right as Gene Frenkel) swung through Allentown on his East Coast adventure and good times were had by all. I mention his visit here because if we and Krog are hanging out, there's going to be good beer close by. And damn, was there ever.

Here's the greatest hits of his visit:

Great Divide's Hades Ale - An awesome, yet American-made Belgian pale ale. American brewers usually seem to go too heavy on the added sugar and lose the subtlties, but this beer rocks.

Sierra Nevada Anniversary Ale - Find this limited release IPA while you can. It's got a great hop complexity (grapefruit, apricot, orange) but without a killer bitterness. Easy to drink and tasty.

Allentown Brew Works' Pigtail Ale - A slightly bolder take on the English ESB (extra special bitter) style. The malt profile hits some great caramel and toffee flavors and is topped off by a bit of citrus hops.

Summer Brewing

I've been busy, but not too busy to brew. Here's what's in the works:

S07-1: Apricot Wheat Redux
Brewed 7/14/07

4# Weyermann German Wheat
3.5# Briess Pale 6-Row
.5# Caravienne
.8 oz Crystal Hops (5.1 AA) @ 60 Min
4 oz. Apricot flavor at bottling

Mash @ 150 F
Wyeast Activator 1010 American Wheat
OG: 1.045
FG: 1.007
ABV: 4.7%
IBU: 16

Currently: Bottled and should be ready in a week. Flavor is an interesting mix of sour german wheat, banana, light caramel malt, and apricot


S07-2: Simple Saison
Brewed 8/6/07
9# German Pilsner Malt
1# Caravienne
1# Wheat
1 oz. EKG (5% AA) @ 60 Min
.5 oz. Hallertau (3.2% AA) @ 15 Min
.5 oz. Hallertau (3.2% AA) @ 5 Min
1 Tablespoon of cracked corriander @ 15 Min

Mash @ 150 F
Wyeast Activator 3724 Belgian Saison
SG: 1.056
IBU: 25

Currently: Just transfered to secondary fermentor at 1.016 (high). Tastes like a Belgian pale ale with a light black pepper and spicy hop kick.


Best beer I've had recently: Ayinger Celebator - An awesome dessert beer and only 6.7% abv for a doppelbock. Enjoy this with cake or ice cream, really, it's all good.

Drinking every beer at the brewery

Yeah, so last week I headed down to Lancaster with Christine for a Built to Spill concert (they rocked). Naturally, we had dinner at the Lancaster Brewing Company. I made my normal drink order at a new-to-me brewpub, the sampler platter. Typically, this consists five, six, maybe seven samples. But Lancaster apparently takes their sampling seriously, giving me ten 5-oz. samples, one of each beer on tap. A little math puts that at four beers with dinner and a heck of a concert to follow.

As for the brewpub itself, it was a cool atmosphere. Well, as cool as, a historic tobacco warehouse (I think that's what I heard) can be. The food was good but not great and the food had too few affordable options. My burger was tasty, but Christine's Chicken caesar salad was over $10 and the lettuce came in one huge chunk. If you're in Lancaster it's worth a visit, but definitely not road-trip worthy considering the bevy of breweries in eastern PA.

Here my favorites:

Amish Four Grain Pale Ale - A malt-focused pale ale that tastes like a biscuit cookie with fruity hops.

Hefeweizen - I'm a sucker for a classic, tasty and smooth German wheat beer.

Milk Stout - Not really milky or anything, but a nice, rich stout with dominating black malts.

Photo by American Tom

NYC Beer Hunting

It wasn't really a safari or anything, but I had an eye out for new and rare beers. I hit gold at the Blind Tiger in West Village. I had previously tried maybe six out of their 30 tap offerings. For reference, this is a nice change form when I'd go to Kelly Cole's in Syracuse and have trouble finding something new (and good) on their 70 taps.

I had the Captain Lawrence Liquid Gold, and damn, the name didn't lie. It was a near perfect American adaptation (more hops) of a Belgian pale ale. Yummy. Other noteable beer of late were '06 vintages of the 18% abv World Wide Stout and 11% Immort Ale from Dogfish Head. The WWS was just big and boozy for the most part, but the Immort Ale, a barleywine, knocked my socks of with it's big oak, vanilla, and licorice flavors than blended over the sweet caramel malts.

Beer in Syracuse

Up in Syr for the girlfriend's brother's HS graduation. In addition to hanging out with Christine's fam, this meant free dinners (thanks Carol!), and the ability to buy beer in units smaller than a case. Yeah, because in PA, unless you're buying beer to-go from a bar at ridiculous prices, you can only buy beer from a beer store in 24 or 30 packs. Further proof to my theory that beer laws are never written by people that actually drink beer.

On our first night in town we hit the newly re-opened Empire Brewing Co. We were informed at the door they couldn't sell us beer since they didn't have a liquor license, but we were welcome to free samples. Have I ever mentioned I like free beer? We also hit up the Party Source on Erie for some single bottles. The grumpy old man that runs the place was there as usually. I like to call him "Grumpy McGee" in my head. Seriously, the guy is surrounded by great beer but acts like the bluebird of unhappiness crapped on his face.

Now up to 575 reviews:
Fuller's London Pride: A lovely, complex English pale ale. Might be a little weird for some, there's almost a meaty aroma, but I liked it.

Empire Amber Ale - Not actually very amber. It fairly light and the grains taste biscuit-like, but that's not a bad thing.

Empire Black Magic Stout - A nice big stout, though not as big as Middle Ages' Black Heart Stout.

Yes, that's right, Matt Allyn is in Allentown. You're so funny.

The hiatus is over now that I'm basically settled in Allentown, PA. Last Wednesday I started my internship at Men's Health after three days of driving and moving from MN to Syr to PA. Yeah, it was that fun. Here's a crappy sunset shot from somewhere in western NY.



There really isn't much to say about PA so far other than I'm loving Rodale (Men's Health's parent company). I get great editorial work for an intern and the perks are great. For instance, yesterday I had an extended lunch break to play full-court basketball with editors. Can't beat that.

I'll also mention I had a great time at my grad party. The beer list had about 10 options with something for everyone. We had yard game fun and then built a fire. And who doesn't like fire? Below is Ben and Jacob. As far as I can tell, Jacob's doing a Bob Dylan impression.



As for beer, I'll just say there's been a lot of good stuff. I had several beers from BeerAdvocate's Top 100 and while they were good I didn't think any deserved such high stature. The main culprit of overrating was the the Trappist-monk brew Rochefort 10. It was smooth and tasty, but I couldn't get much flavor out of it. Meh.

The best beer of late is the local hefeweizen from Bethlehem Brew Works. If you're curious, here's the link for everything else I've reviewed lately.

It's Wednesday

It's Wednesday and that means I start my internship at Men's Health in a week. On one hand I'm really excited for the job. On the other hand, work is going to be a lot harder than staying up to watch CSI, followed by Star Trek Voyager, followed by more CSI (best 3 hours of late night TV?).

I've also started a new batch of articles for Draft Magazine, though only about four small ones this time. That's A-ok with me as I'm about to start 40-50 years of work and don't want to get swamped right away.

In random news Ben, the new opinions Ed. for Jerk Magazine, got an email from CollegeHumor.com asking if they could use my "I despise musical theater" article I wrote last semester. I don't think it quite matched up to my "I love death metal" article, but whatever, they can use it. If I ever see it posted I'll put up a link.

Moretti Birra La Rossa - Maybe the best Italian beer that's somewhat readily available. It's just a dark German doppelbock with nice caramel and fruit tones.

Sprecher Black Bavarian - Not your average German Schwarzbier, the flavors were deliciously rich with cocoa and light roasted coffee. One of the best dessert beers I've had in a while.

Full Sail Ltd 02 - A small batch amber lager. Mostly a nice caramel malt flavor that made is a good companion for summer grilling.

Herkimer Gose - Minneapolis's German brewpub, Herkimer, made this very rare style of wheat ale. It's tart like lemon juice, but also a little sweet and spicy. Yum.

Dad's Little Helper - One of two craft-brewed malt liquors. Worth trying for the novelty, but just tastes like a strong pale Euro lager. Nothing special in the flavor dept.

Granite City Northern Light - Light, but not bland. There's a mellow, lightly-toasty barley flavor.

Capital Brewery Special Pilsner - A good version of a true Euro pilsner, but it's a touch on the sweet side. Still a great, lighter beer.

The Weekend of the Summer

I think that says it all for the weekend at Ben's cabin. And Christine is right, the beard needs to go. Here's a couple more gems anyways:


Dwight anchoring for Team Luigi again Team Bojangles in the Tri-Tippy Cup Team Tournament.


Late-night Scategories. That's Mike in the background puking in his shoe.


No idea, just Dan doing what he does best.

MN Beer Fun

Since my return to MN, I've been making my way around all the best beer spots. This includes new-to-me watering holes like the Muddy Pig and Green Mill brewpub in St. Paul and Dennis Bros. Liquors in Cottage Grove.

The real beer excitement of week has been Surly's new offering, Bitter Brewer. It's a lighter, English style called a "bitter," but with an American craft beer twist (more hops). It blew my mind with the layering of flavors, from juicy hops to subtle malt and vanilla.

And yeah, that bike is sweet, I wish I know who's it was. It uses a Surly (bike maker, not brewer) frame and note the front disc brake.

Sprecher Mai Bock - A highly potable mix of light grains, with fruit and hops spice.

Green Mill Big Island Porter - Very smooth, but that flavor is a touch unwhelming.

Green Mill Honey Brown Ale - Not too sweet like the JW Dundee's Honey Brown, nothing special but a good pairing for a meal at Green Mill.

Green Mill Grand Marais - A nicely balanced pale ale of citris hops and biscuit-like malt.

Green Mill Kabeelo Lodge Lager - This pale all-malt lager was the star of the sampler. Big malts with complimentary hops.

Monk's Flemish Sour Red Ale - Not as complex as most sour ales, but pleasant and good starting sour ale for anyone interested in wild ales.

Avery New World Porter - Hops + Chocolate = Yum

Bob's '47 Munich Style Lager - A good example of amber lager brewed with German traditions.

Miller High Life - What? I was at a bowling alley, come on. Not bad for the style, fairly clean for a macro lager without many off-flavors. Still not recommended unless you like cheap-tasting beer.

7 Bridges Brown Ale - Lake Superior Brewing can do better. It was all right, but more like an amber ale than a brown.

BEEEEER and some stuff

New beer seems to be around every corner these days. I've already crushed April's record for new beers tried in a month with 65 and counting this May. I should point out that my birthday at Fitger's (pictured) was a big help for the count as with a sampler platter and a few 10 oz. drafts I tried everything they offered. Yum.

Now that I'm back in Minneapolis for the time being, I'll have another run of new beers as I try to review and enjoy as much as I can in good health. Friday I met up with friends at Town Hall and helped finish a couple pitchers of Black H20 and the legendary Masala Mama (ranked #9 overal at BeerAdvocate.com). Last night was more low-key with African-inspired music and a beer at the Blue Nile.

It's also been nice to get back on my favorite local mtn bike trails. I hit up Theo Wirth yesterday and broke my lap time record on the big loop by 2:30. That puts me at about 17:30 and means I suck a lot less now at biking. Today I did a hard 3-mile around Cedar Island Lake and finish in 20:00, averaging 6:40. That's an ok pace, but only 17 seconds faster per mile than I ran at the Mountain Goat 10 miler. I guess I know what to work on.


O'Fallon Unfiltered Wheat - A Blue Moon alternative, but really no better.

Bell's Java Stout - Like coffee and beer? Here's something special for you.

Black H2O Oatmeal Stout - Still my favorite oatmeal stout. Oh-so smooth and delicious with light roasted and chocolate flavors.

Masala Mama India Pale Ale - A great IPA, maybe not the 9th best beer in the world, but one of the best IPA's for sure. Very rich grapefruit and citrus flavors with a lopng-lingering bitterness for hop heads.

Bell's Expedition Stout - At nearly 12% abv, this one was a nice dessert beer, but would benefit from some aging. The dark flavors were too rough and underdeveloped.

Avery India Pale Ale - Big juicy hops flavors without overwhelming bitterness. A good first-IPA for curious folks.

Jolly Pumpkin Bam Bière - A great wild/sour ale from Michigan. A little spendy, but worth trying for the complex tart, pale barley and hops flavors.

Dry-Hopped St. Rogue Red - A great combination of pine and citrus hops with caramel malt.

I'm in Duluth, eh.

Really, Canada's just up the road. Some folks here even have the accent. But anyways, that's my sister next to Lake Superior. Yesterday we also went into Duluth and I got to hit up the bike trails at Hartley Park. It was my first good single track ride of the year and while I still suck at going down hills, my overall balance is greatly improved. I only feel off my bike a few times, it was great.

We also stopped by the local good beer store afterwards, Warehouse Liquor. The place is run by a couple of the nicest liquor store guys I've met (most act like they suck at life). I got a mixed 6'er and a couple bottles of new Norwegian microbrew import, Nogne O. It's the sort of brew that give beer geeks wood and while it doesn't show up much at BeerAdvocate (lack of reviews), RateBeer.com loves the stuff. I'll get to it soon enough. Here's a couple good ones from last night.

Scrimshaw Pilsner - Light, clean and hoppy, like a pale ale for hot days.

Sand Creek Wild Ride IPA - A fantastic IPA from Wisconsin. Big citrus hops flavor without overwhelming bitterness to make for a great drinking IPA.

Grad Week Thoughts

I'm up in Two Harbors, MN now for some R&R before I head home and have more R&R. There isn't much to say about the town other than it's f-ing cold (it snowed this morning) and I haven't had a good beer yet. The beer situation should change on Tuesday. I'm going to Fitger's Brewhouse down the road in Duluth for a birthday dinner and lots of good beer.

One of the highlights from grad week was my bike ride to Ithaca. It finished at 65 miles from my doorstep in Syracuse to the Ithaca Commons. Christine and Rachel (in town from Michigan Tech) met me there and graciously drove me back. For most of the ride I was uncertain if I should continue biking. There were forecasts of thunder and lightning with an ugly look weather radar. The morning of the ride, I still hadn't decided if I should ride, so I looked out side and asked the Cycling Gods for a sign. I was met with a break in the clouds and warm sun. Finally some deities that don't disappoint. I also picked up a bottle of Ithaca Beer Co's IPAbbey ale, of which only 2000 bottles were made. It's a shame I'll never have that beer again, but its gems like it that keep me searching for the next tasty tipple.

Some friends, in addition to parents, came into town for the weekend. We had about as much fun as possible in between ceremonies and family dinner. The above picture is from the Jerk Magazine seniors party we held for our family and friends at the next-to-campus art gallery. Fun was had by all. In the middle of the picture is Steve. He's back in Long Island now, but we jokingly/seriously will open a brewpub some day. Our friendship is best described by this video from Scrubs.

Gradumatation

I'm in Kalamazoo on my way back from Syracuse after the weekend's graduation. All I can really say is everything went pretty well. My family and Christine's got a long great, my parents had their first dinner together with me and my sister in about eight years, and someone tossed around a blow-up doll at the end of the commencement. Not much more you can ask for than that.

There's been, as always, a lot of new beer. But there are so many reviews and I'm "on vacation" that I'll have to just put down the link for all of them. I will say the best recent beer I've had was the Southampton Grand Cru. Simply amazing. Here's the rest.

Catching up on the beer

Oh there's been some good beer lately, in between attempting to minimize my huge stock of homebrew and craft beers and celebrating graduation. The other night, for instance, I took my small store of barleywines and had a tasting with a couple friends. Always in moderation, of course, because nobody likes a hangover. Barleywines, by the way, are just a style of beer that close to wine in alcohol content with a strong barley-centered flavor (usually fruity).

Spaten Premium Bock - A good, standard German maibock, it has a light body with a rich apple juice and spicy hops flavor.

Magic Hat Imperial IPA - Not very imperial, but a nice, bigger IPA. Hops concentrate of bitter grapefuit flavors.

Millenium (Oak-Barrel Aged) - Pineapple hops with only a hint of the whiskey barrel, not terribly rich in flavor, but very drinkable.

Komsky Charlie's Y2K Catastrophe Ale (Bourbon-Barrel Aged) - Still not that much whiskey flavor, but what there is adds a layer on top of the non-barrel aged.

Komsky Charlie's Y2K Catastrophe Ale - An odd, but good barleywine with a strong vanilla and oak flavor with a grassy English hop kick at the end.

Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine - This is the standard in American barleywines. Big hops and big malt flavors combine almost to the point of making this tough to drink.

Siberian Night Imperial Stout - #67 on the BeerAdvocate Top 100. Very drinkable with complex chocolate flavors. This would be hard not to love.

Budweiser - Now for something completely different. Not as bad as some beer geeks make it out to be. It's very clean flavors with grainy malt and rice flavors and a slight tang. It's not horrible, and if it were the last beer on the world, I'd probably drink it.

Feel the Burn

The Mountain Goat Run, a 10-mile road race around Syracuse's big hills was this Sunday. As you can clearly see in the picture, I was in a world of hurt.



Christine was nice enough to take this right after Mile 8 going through Thornden Park near campus. Though I look like I'm in worst shape of the group, I was the first across the finish line. I finished in 1:09:35, which was about 10 minutes faster than expected considering my lack of running over the last 2 years. That was good enough for 109th place out of 1376 and 8th in my age group.

Of course, now it hurts to stand up, sit down, walk, go upstair, downstairs, and most other basic movements. To the victor go the spoils, eh?

Finals Week

All my work is now downhill until Men's Health starts up in June. I'm just finishing my final assignment for Leisure Studies, a senior-level class that's more work than the class title hints at. The assignment is based about Mt. Everest and applies all the concepts that go into leisure, recreation and in this case, mountaineering. It's a little eerie to read about Everest because it has such a powerful draw. Yeah, you and/or your friends might freeze or fall to your death, but you might also reach the top of the world. It's the sort of thing I'd love to do in theory, but not really.

I found this Everest guide site where for $65,000 you can have have a guided summit attempt while receiving the (relatively speaking) royal treatment. But who climbs Everest because they can get served tea while at base camp? Sure, the death ratio is down to only one in twenty dying during a summit attempt, but they call Everest above 26,000 feet the "dead zone" for a reason.

Anyways, finals stuff is almost over and I still have a lot of beer in my apartment. You should stop by and have some. Help a guy out.

New to me:

Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA: The first beer in a horizontal tasting of the Dogfish XX Min IPAs. A nice mix of sweet and tangy hops, worth a try for IPA fans.

Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA: They call it an "imperial IPA." I say it was an imperial amber ale with some decent hops. Just too sweet and not enough bitter for me to call it an IPA, still tasty tho.

Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA: Damn, this beer weighs in at roughly 20% abv. That makes it one of the strongest beers in the world. The overal taste wasn't amazing, but the malt and hops made for a beer liqueur taste that pretty good.

Michelob Light: I was really thirsty after the Daily Orange-Jerk kickball game (we won) and this sure came close to water.

Church Brew IPA: This one's big on the perfume-like hops, they got a little overwhelming.

Stone Smoked Porter: A pretty good porter, and an amazing accompaniment to my spicy sandwich at the Tusk.

Long Trail Blackberry Wheat: An insult to craft beer, blackberries, and wheat. Avoid.

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.