Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales - A to Z Blog Challenge

One of my favorite brews is the I.P.A., or India Pale Ale. This is a particularly bitter ale, a taste that comes from the hops.

Dogfish Head brews Ales, and perhaps one of my top five favorites is the 90 Minute IPA. I like to think of the 90 Minute IPA as the example of an excellent IPA. This beer vs bud light is like smoked salmon vs fish sticks.

There's no doubt that this is a heavy beer with lots of flavors going on. If this beer were a guy, he'd be one of those confident, outspoken, slightly louder than necessary, opinionated by charismatic fellows. You'd hear him two rooms away and prepare to be irritated, but his words would strike a chord and as you'd listen, you'd begin to respect him. You would feel more important when in his presence, and soon, you'd find yourself looking for him every time you came back to that room.

The malt is apparent in the smell and taste, the hops are heavy and slightly citrusy, but it all balances out and is very not bitter in the finish.

The alcohol content is high, coming in at 9%! this means it's like drinking two bud lights as far as the buzz is concerned. However, this is not the kind of beer you chug. You savor this beer, enjoying every ounce. You can drink this beer slowly, and still get your buzz on.

Their website, Dogfish.com does not require that you be 21 to enter, as the other sites that I've linked so far in the challenge have. I find it really silly that a 19 year old would be allowed to enter pornographic sites, but not one about a beer, but they didn't consult me, so...

Definitely a non convential brewer, they even have a music group. See here.

For a tour of their brewery, watch here:

Corona - A to Z Blog Challenge

You'll have to forgive me for this post, as it comes pretty darned close to main-stream beer. I wanted to do Ciderjack, but was hesitant since it's not exactly a beer. Turns out it's not made anymore anyway, so I had to turn my sights elsewhere. The next obvious choice was Coors, which... bleh.

Corona is a popular beer among the "Fizzy Yellow Beer" drinkers, (a phrase used by Stone Brewers in promotion of their "Arrogant Bastard" brew... Wish I'd thought about that beer when doing "a"... Ah well.) I don't particularly like Corona, and I'm sure I could have found a different craft brew to talk about, but I chose Corona, because I think there's enough stuff to say about it.

Corona is a popular alternative to beers like bud light, though I don't find it much different. The major difference is that it's common for the drinker to add a slice of lime. While I'll admit, adding the lime does make this beer taste better, I would submit that just drinking a better tasting beer would be the way to go instead.

Watching Jeopardy last week, there was a lass who said she and a friend or two had gotten scurvy in college. She said once they were diagnosed, they added limes to their Coronas and it went away. So, I guess that's one benefit of drinking Corona...

I do have to give credit where credit is due though. Through clever marketing the brewers have convinced people that drinking Corona = paradise. When I think of Corona, I think of beaches and limes and bathing suits, and Hawaiian shirts. Because of these associations, I can't hate Corona, even though I think it tastes rain water with a twist of lime.

Here's a prime example:

Beer Advocate has the same sort of reviews, one person saying it tastes like "carbonated water and dirty coins.". Marketing aside though, if you love beer, I suggest you don't bother with Corona. 

The best thing about this beer is the lime wedge. This, I think, is a sad testament. 

Berkshire Brewing Company (BBC) - A to Z Blog Challenge

Berkshire Brewing Company started in 1994, coincidentally the same year I finished my sophmore year in High School. There's no common thread between those two facts, I just thought I'd throw that in there, cause aside from it being my sophomore year, there was nothing memorable about it for me. At least, if there was, I can't recall it.

Being a New Englander, and more specifically a Bostonian, I have an over-inflated sense of pride regarding things in, around, and from this area. It seems a common trait we New Englanders have. I love that we see the best and worst of all four seasons. Case in point: As I write this post, a little early on in this challenge, admittedly, but knowing myself, I'll finish it only just in the nick of time anyway, it's March 21st, the first day of spring, and it's snowing like crazy. There's so much white stuff on my deck right now, it looks like Charlie Sheen's coffee table. 

I also love that we have the ocean, lakes, forests and mountains. Imagine my non-sensical swell of pride to find a beer by the "Berkshire Brewing Company"!

This beer was introduced to me in probably one of the coolest ways by my buddy. He brought over in a Growler. In the picture below, you'll see one of my brews in recycled bottles... The 6 large ones in the middle are growlers. You can see, these are actually BBC growlers I used. 

I can just imagine the conversation that lead to the genesis of the growler... Two guys bottling beers, one says "Christ what a pain in the ass!" and the other says "Let's make a bigger bottle! That'll be MANLY!" and the first guy says "Yeah! And to make it more MANLY, we'll call it a GRRRRRRROWLER!" I'm sure it was shortened for convenience. 

Anwyay, back to the beer. 

This is a craft brew, and as such, it has a sludge that settles on the bottom called Lees. Some people prefer to toss the last few ounces to avoid drinking the lees, others drink it. It's perfectly harmless, as it's mainly dead yeast cells. If you don't like the lees, you'd best store the bottle upright. 

Being that it comes in such a large vessel, it's best to drink the whole thing that night, to avoid having flat beer tomorrow. 

I've had several brews, and they were all exemplary. My favorite of these is the Lost Sailor IPA. This is a very nice IPA similar to Harpoon, though a little more flowery. It's definltey got some wine overtones to it, but the hop flavor comes out in the finish. Perhaps a little more sour than bitter. 

This beer comes in at 5.5%. Definitely a good beer.

Amstel Light - A to Z Blog Challenge

Amstel Light is a light beer from Amsterdam, hence the motto "One Dam Good Beer! If you can get their website to work, good for you, cause I can't. let me know if there's anything good there. I'd hoped to find a little blurb of info there that I could post here, but I'll just have to wing it.

Now, I could have gone the easy way out here and used "Anheuser Busch" for A, but I can't spell Anheuser. Still though, I feel I owe it to them to at least recall an episode of "Married With Children". Naturally, I can't find a video of it, but I did find this transcript.

Here's the part I'm talking about:

AL- [unwrapping his gum] I'll pick my own name, huh? My new name will be um... [looks at the gum wrapper] ... Bazooka Joe.

JEFFERSON - Damn! Wish I'd thought of that before I decided on [picks up a beer can] Anheuser-Busch. Yep, the Buschmeister's going to Seattle. Join up with some friends who have a lobster boat and I'm gonna be The Mighty Fisherman. How 'bout you, Al?

AL - Going to LA. Gonna be The Big White Hooter Hunter. [they pick up their beer glasses] God, life is gonna be great for us!

They clink glasses and begin to sip but stop when they hear the announcer.

P.A. - Bus to Seattle now leaving, gate eleven.

Al and Jefferson pause for moment, then put down their glasses and stand up.

AL - Back to the wives?

JEFFERSON - Yep, back to wives.

AL - But if is she has another baby in the eighteen years, I swear I'm going!

JEFFERSON - Me too!

The dancing girl returns.

AL - I'm going home... Can I have my dollar back?

As far as beer goes, I find Amstel Light to be at best "not bad". As far as light beer goes, it's very good. I like this beer on  hot summer days when a stiff buzz is just as important as staying hydrated. It's a good "drinking beer" as opposed to a chugging beer like Bud, or a sipping beer like Harpoon.

It's very low in calories, and carbs and a light beer should be. It is an import, so it's a little more expensive too. For folks like me who prefer a full bodied non-light beer, it's like someone who is used to whole milk drinking 2%. It's not bad, but not quite perfect either.

I was trying to find a video of my favorite commercial of theirs, but naturally I couldn't find THAT video clip either. The commercial featured two guys, who were supposedly brewers. They looked abashed and apologetic. "We're sorry," they said. "we didn't know light beer was supposed to suck."

Here's one that's just as amusing though, and features a good song too!

I don't have any raunchy tales of drunken foolishness after a night of Amstel light, so I can't entertain you with any recounting, unfortunately. The reason for this is that the alcohol content is on the lower side, coming in at 3.5%, in contrast to Bud Light's 4.2 I use Bud Light as a basis for comparison because I'm sure most of us DO have raunchy tales of drunken foolishness after a night of Bud Light. For those of you who don't, I don't know what else to compare it to for you, except to say that in the US, the alcoholic proof is twice the percentage... So 3.5% is 7 proof... 80 proof and it's flammable. For more on this, go here.

If you're looking for a beer that tastes like a beer, but you're watching your weight, or can't be trusted with a higher octane beer, give this a shot.

Preparing for the A to Z

I have joined the A to Z challenge, as is displayed proudly on the right -->

My A to Z is going to be about beers and brewers, and I thought I'd give you some idea of what to expect as we plunge forward with this. I love beer. I love a full bodied, heavy, bitter beer. I like to still be able to taste it after I've swallowed it. I like it to burn my pallet a little when I burp. And yes, like a male beer drinker, I like to burp. :) 

This isn't to say I won't drink a bud light, I definitely will if that's all that's available, or if my goal is to drink as much as possible in a small amount of time. As I get older, I find that being less and less appealing though. 

For this challenge, I'm going to stick to the lesser known beers, and as far away from the mainstream as possible. Anyone who is still reading this post is either interested in beers enough to be able to write his or her own review of Bud Light or Coors, or Michelob, and maybe Heineken, OR he or she doesn't care what they read, so it might as well be about something I like. 

Naturally, anything I post is going to be my own personal opinion, or simple fact, such as nutrition information. Feel free to agree, or disagree, and please don't take any of my opinions personally if you happen to love or brew something that I find unpleasant. 

I'm looking forward to this challenge, and I'm hoping I can keep things as entertaining as possible in doing it. Thanks for reading!

The A to Z Challenge

In an effort to help me keep writing, I have decided to join the A to Z Challenge! Starting in April, I will be posting an A to Z about beer, and what better place to do it than here??

To check out more about the A to Z challenge, click here, or on the badge to the right.

Back in the Saddle Again

It's been a while since I've posted anything, and I believe the last post here was a post where I said "It's been a while since I posted anything.".

I've been conserving money, and paying a lot for oil to heat the house, etc, so my brewing hobby took a back seat.

As the black eye peas said, tonight's going to be a good night. Harpoon for the drinking, and a couple others for the tasting. :D

More to come!