Pete's Wicked Ale - A to Z Blog Challenge

Boy, I've fallen behind here agian... Two days in a row! Sorry about that. I guess it's still today, so I'm not "late" per se... Though by that logic, when it's tomorrow, it will also be "Today"...

As you can see, I don't have any beer, cause I'm over thinking everything... I'm broke at the moment. I was hoping to have something to sample here, because I haven't had a Pete's Wicked Ale in many years, and I was really looking forward to trying them...

An even bigger downer, I haven't had a beer that starts with P in as long as I can remember. (Though they do ALL END with PEE! HAR!)

I DID however find this rough cut commercial for them that never aired... Enjoy!

Opa - Opa (And Octoberfest by Sam Adams) A to Z Blog Challenge

Yikes! I missed a day again... Could have sworn I had this post written already, but here it is "O" day, and N is still up. SO here goes a double-header. (That means lots of extra foam at the top... "head" you know.)

Opa - Opa is a Steakhouse / Brewery up in Southampton MA. Gotta be one of the best combinations right there, steak and beer. If only they were a pig farm / laundromat, I'd move in.

Like the Berkshire Brewing stuff I've blogged about, this stuff comes in GRRROWLERS. I don't think I mentioned this before, but you get probably four to six glasses of beer out of a growler, and when it's done, the deposit on THESE growlers is TWO BUCKS. I can't tell you how awesome it was to bring a few of these back and have enough to get another growler.

They've got a whole bunch of different brews, but the Raspberry wheat is interesting to me, cause the package store I go to up the street actually had that brew created. I went in one day, and the owner looked at my friend and I and said "You guys have been here before right?" Heh, does the pope sh*t in the woods?? He gave us a growler of it for free to sample. It definitely was NOT my cup of tea, but on it's own merits, it was a good beer... Very flowery, like a strong jasmine tea. I'm not big on wheat beers either, but hell a free grrrrrowler of beer can taste like liver and farts for all I care, I'll drink it.

Not to mention the fact that I felt like a freakin champ for walking into a liquor store and getting free beer. I DO feel silly when I say the name though... Not fair to make people say things as silly as "opa-opa". I bet it's easy to order when you're drunk though. Especially if you have a New England accent.

Second "o" beer is Sam Adams Octoberfest. I loved this beer last year. I didn't get to have too much of it cause it's a seasonal, and wasn't around much longer after I'd found it. I checked over at beeradvocate.com where beer snobs like to condescend on another that isn't really weird or amazing, but it's not on there, and for the life of me I don't remember what it was I liked about it, but I do remember marveling at it for about a month. Unfortunately, that's the best I can do for you. I don't remember what it tastes like or why I liked it... but it was great. Trust me.

New Castle Brown Ale - A to Z Blog Challenge

I like a beer with a little more flavor than most folks, so brown ales caught my attention quickly, when I started exploring the not-bud beers. I found it interesting that it really sort of tasted brown, if that makes any sense.

This beer is like a normal ale, but it's got flavors like a brown bread, and some caramel, some nuttiness too. It's not overly carbonated, slightly watery, and not too... anything. I think the best part about this beer is it's not too much in any way... not too bitter, not too sweet, not too carbonated, etc... It's very well balanced. I think it's just a decent drinking beer if you're looking for a different, richer taste. 

Their website is pretty awesome too. 

This stuff is imported from England and manufactured by Heineken International. It comes in at 4.7% alcohol, so you get to enjoy the flavors a little longer, because that point where it doesn't matter what it tastes like takes longer to occur.

I had a teacher for one of my Microsoft certification classes who loved this beer. He was one of those guys who would quickly go over what was in the book, as if you had questions, and if you didn't he'd just say "OK, practice your labs" and we'd goof off on the computers. If you got him talking about beer, he'd go on all night long and it was usually about New Castle Brown ale. I owe him my thanks, cause had he never told me about it, I probably wouldn't have had it for a lot longer. 

Molson XXX - A to Z Blog Challenge

The Molson brewery is one of the most popular in Canada, a country known for hockey and beer. I personally don't care too much for Canadian beer, but it's mostly not terrible. Molson XXX however is disgusting. (Remember, it's my opinion, feel free to disagree). 

The whole point of XXX is that it's higher than usual in alcohol, and it seems like that was the only goal they had in mind when brewing. Taste was never a consideration. The conversation probably went something like "Let's make something with a lot of alcohol, and we'll put "XXX" on the label and people will buy it regardless of the taste." 

As a kid I watched Tom and Jerry drink from bottles that had XXX on them countless times, and they were always hammered right away, remember? The thing about Molson XXX is it's not ALL THAT high in Alcohol, only 7.3%. I can understand, even if I don't necessarily agree with, sacrificing a little taste for extra alcohol if you're goal is to get drunk. You see people doing shots all the time that don't really taste good, but it's just a shot, it's over in a second... Molson XXX is 12oz and tastes bad, so for the alcohol content, I'd rather drink one and a half of something else. 

The taste is somewhat metallic and bitter. Some say it tastes a little fishy. Lots of bready / corny flavors. Do not let this warm up at all, it'll start tasting like rubbing alcohol. This stuff pours nicely, looks like a normal pale ale with a thick foamy head, but you can smell the alcohol right away. 

Probably the best thing said about it over at BeerAdvocate was "If flavor isn't your think, but drunk is, here's your poison."

Lost Sailor IPA - A to Z Blog Challenge

SO. Here I am again. I JUST finished up a few other posts, such as the J post here...  So why did I skip K? Cause I've had enough Killian's that I could post about it with my eyes closed, both hands tied behind my back, using the force. I wrote the Killian's post a week ago.

OK, so I've told you before, IPA is currently my favorite brew, so again, a biased post... Keep in mind, I just did the J post, while working on this one AND doing my H post for my usual blog... so at this point, anything that I write that's even coherent, is a bonus.

So the Lost Sailor IPA... I can't say enough good things about this stuff... When you crack this growler, the first thing you notice is that it pours and looks like a normal pale ale... But you smell Christmas trees! The bitterness of the hops used for an IPA (like Harpoon for those of you who are familiar" always reminds me of Christmas trees... I don't know why, perhaps it tastes like Christmas trees... and yes, I've tasted Christmas tress... It was sort of a tradition for my cousin and I. More him than me, but when he was over, and sampled a sprig if my tree, I felt like it would be rude if I didn't join him. Anyway, that's what the bitterness of an IPA reminds me of. Call me crazy if you like.

SO, the Lost Sailor IPA, like I was saying is awesome if you like IPA. It's about 5.5%. According to that website that I linked, you can get it in single bottles, but I only have access to the growlers. ...boy, poor me. Why "lost sailor"? I don't know. Perhaps cause it's a MA brew, and there was a lot of sailors here? Could be!

To learn more, don't look to me, cause right now, my field research has me drunk and I still need to cook dinner for myself and the kids. It's looking like hot dogs for tonight.

Killians - A to Z Blog Challenge

Killian's Irish Red is actually not very Irish, and hasn't been since it left Ireland in 1956. It was sold at that time to a French brewery, and then later sold again to Coors which is based in Colorado. 

Regardless of where it's brewed though, it is based on an Irish recipe, so we'll give it a pass. 

I like Killian's, and it's one of my baseline beers. It's good enough that I enjoy it, but not usually the first thing that I'd reach for. It's light, fairly clear, kinda watery, but still has a decent amount of flavor. The interesting thing to a beer geek like me, it's a lager like Bud, but it's got a taste similar to an ale. 

Another interesting thing about Killian's, it goes very well with pepperoni. Dunno why. Just does. It also makes me crave peanut butter sandwiches. 

Killian's rings in at 4.9%. 

Sorry I don't have much to say about Killian's. If this were a Video Log, it'd be even sorter, cause I'd probably just give it a thumbs up, and make a face that says "Sure!" I write a lot more at my other blog, to which there's a link to the right. ...just sayin.

Jiahu, Chateau by Dogfish Head - A to Z Blog Challenge

Interesting beer... Once again, like the flemish, it's an ale with huge fruity over tones. I picked this, mostly just because it starts with J, but also because it's a Dogfish Head brew, which I have a great respect for.

Drinking this is an investment. You have to be committed, cause it's a standard beer bottle cap, but the bottle is 1 pint, 9.6 oz. Can't cap it back up once you've opened it, especially if you're like me and crush the cap and drop it into an empty bottle to keep your kids from swallowing it. It's open, you're going to kill it.

It's about the size of a standard wine bottle, and I'm about 1 and a half glasses into it right now. Initial impressions: When I opened it, I could smell that it was heavy on the fruity end of things. It was definitely like a beer / wine. It poured not unlike a regular pale ale, except that there was much less head. (resisting the urge to make a joke). For all intents and purposes, it looks like a pale ale, if only just a little more opaque.

At first taste, I can tell it's an ale... though, it's a little sweet / sour, but it has a wine after taste... In fact, if you sit a moment after swallowing, your belly feels like you just had wine... you know, that sort of burny feeling. It burps like a white wine in my opinion.

So my problem with this brew is that I know it's a beer, but it drinks like a wine... You want to sort of sip this, but I drink beer fast. I haven't eaten anything today either. Now's where I look up the Alcohol content, and hot damn, this stuff is 10%. Each glass is like 2 beers. I'm just getting to the bottom of my second glass, which means, I've had the equivalent of 4 bud lights in the last 10 minutes. My spelling is very likely to take a dive in the next few paragraphs.

...actually IF there are a "few paragraphs" more, you'll know this stuff is doing it's job, because I talk when I'm under the influence. In fact, you may even notice a Boston accent come out, which I don't have when sober. (that's a joke... I don't have one, but it comes out when I'm drinking).

ANYWAY. This is basically and Ale that was brewed with honey, hawthorn (whatever that is) fruits and fermented with grape concentrate.

I just poured the end of the bottle, which makes 2 and a half beer glasses per bottle, by the way.

I just realized that on the side of this bottle, it says 9000 year old... Which I imagine means that it's a replica of something they drank 9000 years ago, or at least we think they did. I wonder if DfH has a 9000 year line of brews, or if this is the brew that one of my commenters was talking about a day or two ago.. I'd look up the comment, but I just had about a 6 pack in a very short amount of time.

I like this stuff... it tastes pretty good, although I admit it wasn't what I was expecting, so I had the "sourface" during the end of my first glass... and it packs a hell of a punch. not bad for twelve bucks.

for more official stuff about this brew, go here.