GutenTag: Beer Chain

I got tagged by The Dogs of Beer (cool beer blog check it out) and I wanted to participate.  I got an email with a bunch of questions and I have to come up with some of my own.   Feel free to answer my questions with a comments reply.  Enjoy the randomness!

 

Your first beer:  Sadly, it was probably a Coors Light.  It’s big at family events.

Your first good beer:  Samuel Adams Summer Ale.  Sam Adams was my intro to craft beer.

Your favorite BBQ joint?  Fette Sau in Brooklyn NY.  Crazy wait in line, but awesome food.

Which childhood star most influenced you?  George Carlin.  I attribute some of my cynicism and attention to language to him.

Would you rather listen to Exile on Main St. or Sgt. Pepper’s?  Neither.  If it’s old school music we’re talking about I’ll go with some Hector Lavoe.  Do yourself a favor and google him.

Which is better: kimjongillookingatthings.com or kimjongunlookingatthings.com? Meh.

To the extent divulging it would not reveal top-secret, upcoming reviews…what beers are in your fridge right now? I’ve got some homebrew milk stout, DFH 120 that I am saving for a while, Portamarillo that I am saving, Tweason Ale, Goose Island Sofie, and some other stuff.

Dogs of Beer Questions:

You win a contest.  A truck will drive to your house once a week and drop off a case of beer.  In a perfect world, what would the beer be?  In a perfect world I would pick a different beer every week.  For the first week, I would start off with some La Trappe Quad, then week 2 would be Portamarillo, Orval and then whatever else my little beer drinking heart desires.

The one place you wish they would allow you to drink beer is? Work and they would pay for it and not ask me to do any work….just drink beer.

What’s the one VHS tape you own(ed) (or cassette tape) that you wish you had on DVD (or CD) now? The VHS of my Kung-Fu tournament when I was like 10.  I didn’t win or anything, but it would just be cool to see it whenever I want.

Do you prefer to be the one who cooks, or the one who cleans up?  Neither, but I help with both.

David Lee Roth or Sammy Hagar? David Lee Roth cuz he’s a crazy old lady.  Sammy Hagar’s airport restaurant wasn’t very good so he lost points.

Go to the movies or catch it on DVD? On DVD…I can’t drink beer at the movies.

What’s the one thing you really like that you’d really love to post about in your blog, but you don’t because it doesn’t really fit the overall theme?  Random thoughts about random things.

My Questions:

Stout or Porter? I’ll go stout

If you could work at any brewery for the day and create your own beer…..where would it be and what would you make? I’d go to Westvleteren.  I’ve never been to Belgium or had one of the famous beers, but I’d like to make a Trappist Stout.  How cool would that be?

What’s the coolest beer name you have ever seen? Loser Pale Ale (just did a post so it’s on my mind)

What’s the worst beer you have ever had? St. Ides.  Don’t ask why I ever tried that.

If you could give any living celebrity a beer…who would it be and what would you give them?  I’d give LeBron James a Flying Dog Raging Bitch.  I’m a ticked-off Knicks fan and you have to admit that’s funny!

What’s the weirdest place you ever had a beer?  I went to the Michael Jackson Cirque du Soleil show a few weeks ago and was able to enjoy an amazing show with a beer.

 

Thanks for making it this far.  Cheers!

 

Loser

This was probably one of the cooler looking beers I’ve picked up in a while.  Loser Pale Ale comes to us from Elysian Brewing Co in Washington.  The simple statement on the bottle caught my eye and I had to take it home.  I love seeing “Corporate Beer Still Sucks” on a beer because it is true.  Especially since corporate beer companies just come up with stupid gimmicks like the new “punch top” beer can for a smoother pour (whatever that means) that annoy me.   Back to the beer.

The beer poured an orange color with a lot of frothy white head.  The head slowly melted away and had good retention.  The ABV was 7% so just enough to get a good buzz going.  Nice beer to park yourself in front of the TV with and watch some History Channel.

The was nose had good floral hoppiness.  There was also some sweet notes to the aroma as well; a very light fruity sweetness.  I could also a little bit of malt in the nose which gave the aroma a nice balance.

The taste was very similar to the nose.  An enjoyable amount of hoppiness with a bitter bite to it, but with good sweetness to balance it out.  A  full-bodied beer that had a  sturdy mouthfeel to it.  I was a little afraid that it might be syrupy and kind of filling because of the sweetness, but I was proven wrong.  I couldn’t pick up the 7%ABV which made this an easy drink.

Verdict:  Fill It!  This was my first beer from Elysian and it made me want to buy something else.  It may not be the greatest pale ale ever, but it was good.  It definitely gets points for the label.  It’s probably a good default pale ale if you don’t recognize anything on a beer menu or if you don’t like what you see.  Although, around here Elysian isn’t that easy to find.  It’s a solid beer from what seems to be a cool brewery.  I’ll leave you with a cheesy one-liner:  If you pick this Loser, you won’t be disappointed!

Beer Spot: Beer Authority NYC

The buzz around the Beer Authority was big and so was the frustration at the delayed opening.  I read their FB page a while back and saw comments from people who were annoyed at the delays in opening dates.  The Beer Authority is finally open and any place that boasts more than 50 beers on tap and 100 bottles, deserves a visit.  I was in NYC on Friday, so me and my wife decided to stop in for some lunch.

The location is great, right by Port Authority, so it makes it easy to get to.  A lot of the beer places in NYC (at least I have noticed) involve a train ride, which I don’t typically enjoy.  Of course, from time to time you get a funny “I was on the train yesterday and ……” story, but sometimes I’m not in the mood to ride the subway.  So, to have a beer bar right by Port Authority makes the ride in and ride out relatively painless.

The place is nice.  It has that new bar smell and it has a cool & trendy, but it isn’t a stuffy NY place.  There are TVs lining the dining and bar area, so I was watching Sportscenter and some MLB games during lunch.  Food, beer, and sports not much else you can ask for.

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t overly impressed with the “on tap” menu.  There some good beers on there, but nothing that jumped out at me that I had to try.  There was also no bottle list which was a little annoying.  I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt because it just opened and from the sounds of it, they had other things to worry about.  However, when I ask the waitress “do you have a bottle menu” and she says “we don’t have one, but you can go to the bar and look at the beers” it’s a little off-putting.  At the very least, she should have given me a couple of names or something.  To her credit, she was very nice.

Another note, I don’t know how realistic it is, but beer bars should have waiters/waitresses that are familiar with the beer menu.  It is troubling when I go to a beer bar and have to point to the beer name on the menu.  I have this paranoid feeling that I’m ordering a beer I never had and the waitress/waiter has no idea what I’m talking about and brings me something completely different.  I would know, of course, if I ordered a stout and got a saison instead, but what if I got the old bait and switch on my beer?  I have nightmares about that sometimes.  Not really, but just trying to drive home the point.

So, I took the walk to check out the bottles and was pleasantly surprised.  There were some of the usual suspects like Orval, Dead Guy Ale, but also some cool looking beers like Pretty Beer.  I couldn’t see everything in there, because there was a stupid glare and some guy sitting directly in front of the fridge , so I had to look around him.  It is a selection that deserves a bottle menu.

The food was good and the service was pretty quick.  I had the brisket sandwich which was pretty tasty and I would order it again.  My wife had the shrimp salad, which looked good (for a salad) and she enjoyed it, so if you like salads then you would probably enjoy it.

I plan on visiting the Beer Authority again.  There are a few shortcomings, but no place is perfect and nothing that would deter me from going back.  Good food, a good beer selection, and great location.  If you are in NYC I say check it out.

Norwegian Wood

This was another impulse buy beer.  I was on a beer run and I had already grabbed what I wanted.  I noticed this beer on the shelf and it grabbed my attention.  Anyone reading this knows by now I don’t usually pass up a beer that makes me wonder, so I added it to my checkout.  I’ve never had a Norwegian beer or anything from HaandBryggeriet, so I wanted to find out what they had brewing.

This beer had a brown color and poured a very respectable amount of tan-colored head.  The head actually retained for quite a while, which was surprising.  On a side note, I haven’t had a lot of beers lately that had head which lasted for a while.  Not a big deal or a particularly insightful observation, but an observation nonetheless that I wanted to share with you.  Norwegian Wood had a 6.5% ABV, so having one of these wouldn’t be a big deal because this bottle is smaller than the regular 750ml bottle. So, you could enjoy one watching The Usual Suspects like I did.  Best movie ever by the way.

The aroma was really smokey.  Oddly enough, this beer actually smelled like beef jerky.  It was really strange, it had a really beefy aroma to it.  It is supposed to have berries and juniper twigs, but i couldn’t pick up any sweetness.  It was all malts and smoke.  I actually enjoyed the smokeyness because it was different and not something I come across a lot.

The taste was just as smokey as the aroma.  I could definitely taste the woodiness of the beer and the smoked malts.  I could also pick up the chocolate malts right before the finish starts to kick in.  It actually tasted like beef jerky which was messing with my senses.  I enjoyed the smokeyness at first, but then it started to become overwhelming.  After a while, the smokeyness took over the beer and washed right over any subtlety of flavors.

Verdict: Spill It!  This beer became really hard to drink after a few sips.  I’m not a fan of smokey beers and this beer didn’t do anything to convince me otherwise.  The smokeyness became really heavy and washed out any other subtleties in the beer.  I’m a carnivore and I love eating a good steak, but I don’t want a beer that tastes like beef jerky.  Not to say this beer is supposed to taste like beef jerky, but it does and I didn’t like it.  If you like rauchbiers or smokey beers, than you may like this, but I will not be buying this again.

 

Olde School 2011

As promised, this is my comparison post.  A lot of the tasting and aromatic notes are the same, so I won’t act as if this is a whole new beer.    Interesting observation, there was a surprising amount of carbonation but it was really slow-moving which was strange.  I don’t know what that means, but it just looked cool.  In case you are wondering, I am also distracted by shiny objects; I’m a guy what do you expect?

I got the booze straight away in both the aroma and the taste.  The cherry notes are subdued and the sweetness in the 2010 was almost non-existent.  I got some malty notes this time around.  There was also an interesting tasting experience throughout each sip.  At the start I got the malty taste, it got dry in the middle, and an easy finish.  It did’t taste as boozy as I thought, but still boozier than I would like.  The booze felt like it was compacted in the beer; something just wasn’t right.  Like guys who wear skinny jeans, a bit unbearable.

Verdict: Spill It!  Don’t misunderstand the verdict, I like the beer, just not right now.  If you have a 2011 Olde School, I recommend aging it.  I prefer the aged 2010 over the 2011.  The time softens the alcohol and allows the beer to grow-up a bit.  I could appreciate the nuances of the beer and actual taste the beer instead of just the alcohol.  I’m glad I had the two beers to compare because it made me appreciate how different the same beer can be after just a year.  I have to get another 2011 and open it next year.  Who’s with me?

Gran Met

This was my first beer from Voodoo Brewing.  I picked it up just because I liked the art work, so another impulse buy.  The art work was some old school graffiti.  It made me feel like bumping some Run DMC and throw on some shell-toes.  I had been in the mood for a Belgian beer, but I didn’t want to go with the usual suspects, so why not dabble in some Voodoo when I am feeling adventurous?

The beer poured a hazy orange color.  It was on the lighter side of amber more than I orange I suppose.  I didn’t get a whole lot of head on the pour, but the carbonation was very lively.  The head dissipated very quickly and left only a light dusting on the top of the beer.  Gran Met weighs in at 9.5% ABV so I took my time with it.

The aroma was interesting.  I got the floral hops which I always enjoy, along with some sweetness.  The sweetness in the beer was interesting because it wasn’t your normal fruity or sugary sweetness.  Apparently, they used beet sugar (which is new to me) in this brew, so that must have been the sweetness I picked up.  At 9.5% ABV, it didn’t smell boozy at all.

The taste was very smooth.  First thing that surprised me was how well the alcohol was hidden.  I couldn’t pick it up too much, which could lead to very deep sleep.  The mysterious sweetness was also evident in the taste, not really sure how to describe it. The sweetness was just different.  There was also some yeastyness (that sounds like a gross word) to it, as well as some enjoyable spice notes to it. The body was surprisingly light.  I expected it to be on the thick, syrupy side because of the sweetness, but it went down very easily.

Verdict: Fill It! This beer was strange, but in a good way.  Half way through I was debating whether I liked it or not.  While doing this post, I was still debating as to what the final verdict would be!  I had to give this a Fill It because of its moxy.  Do beers actually have moxy?  Who knows, but its my blog and I had the odd urge to use the word moxy.  The sweetness was interesting in a good way, but was almost off-putting.  It’s not the best tripel I’ve ever had, but interesting enough that it is worth a try and I will most likely pick up another one.  The magic from Voodoo Brewing worked on me.  I say go out grab a Gran Met and have a weird debate by yourself about beer too!