GRM beer tasting

I can't get over how bad that Smoke Jumper E36 M3 was. I sent Left Hand an email. These berkeleying clowns on Ba are creaming their shorts over it. I don't get it. My buddy Nasty Nate had the same experience. It is henceforth referred to as "Tire Fire." Rubber taste; like Fade To Black Volume III aged in a berkeleying tire. We're getting together this weekend and drinking some good E36 M3 though.

Nate's blog:

http://spilledbeer.blogspot.com/?m=1

In reply to poopshovel:

I just read his blog about Front Street, and while I've not been there, I have to say their Scotch Ale was among the better ones I've had. Granted, it was as fresh as can be, too.

HOWEVER, as good as anything Front Street might be, Duck Rabbit makes some truly kick ass beers. Their Baltic Porter remains one of my all-time favorites. If I could somehow find it on draught, I'd be a really happy pig.

It is a macro brew (or near macro anyways), but I just had Lienies Summer Shandy again. I get it probably 2 times a year, apparently I forget that I don't like it. It just can't decide if it wants to be beer or lemonade, so it tries to be both and fails miserably. Bleayach.

After a particularly abusive week at work I think I'm going to do a little sampling this weekend as a reward to myself. I think I'll start with this tonight:

Yeah, all of them.

chknhwk wrote: After a particularly abusive week at work I think I'm going to do a little sampling this weekend as a reward to myself. I think I'll start with this tonight: Yeah, all of them.

We'll be expecting a progress report! Doing mini-bierfest at Nate's this weekend. Our buddy Joel is pretty good about bringing some wild ass E36 M3. He's at least already committed to a 2010 Stone IRS, and I think Nate's committed to cracking open a Brunch Weasel. I'm bringing a four of KBS for each of them, and not charging "Ebay prices," so I think I'm good to go. I'll be sure and take notes.

This was our last outing:

http://spilledbeer.blogspot.com/2012/02/saturday-night-beer-geeksagain.html

I made a round of vodka tonics as a "palette cleanser" at around 2AM, and apparently, it was too much for these little guys to handle. Sucks because there were more good beers to try. I'll take it easier this time.

Forgive me if I already posted this combo, had it the other night at our favorite Italian place.

Take one pint of Coop DNR (10%) add one shot of Woodford Reserve bourbon to the beer.

Enjoy an incredibly tasty, incredibly strong beverage. They limit you to two per customer, per visit.

Hey, Salanis.

Have you tried any of the crazy-assed crap they do in Germany to the beer, like half beer half Pepsi or half beer half lemonade or any of that crap?

I've always wondered if that was just some sort of joke they tried to pull on tourists.

Radler! It was invented as a turn-of-the-century-ish energy drink for cyclists. Because who needs "electrolytes" when you can make it out of beer?

Not kidding. The German word for bike is Fahrrad, usually shortened to Rad, and someone who rides one is a Radler. A good drink Radler can be pretty tasty, especially on a hot summer day.

Salanis wrote: Had two excellent beers tonight. First was Delirium Tremens. This is just a really really good, iconic beer. The real winner was North Coast Grand Cru. .......

I was just getting ready to put up a post -- I LOVES me some Delerium Tremens!!!! Got a couple large bottles in the fridge for weekend duty. One might be sacrificed tomorrow after the first metric century ride of the year.

The other go-to's here have been Gulden Draak, Blackened Voodoo Dixie Lager, fat tire, and Leininkugels Summer Shanty.

Now off to see where I can find this Grand Cru thing locally.........

In reply to poopshovel:

I'm going to do my best to get through all of them but I WAS up all night at work and I've been up all day watching my son while the wife works and they ARE 22oz bombers so...we'll see.

Brett_Murphy wrote: Hey, Salanis. Have you tried any of the crazy-assed crap they do in Germany to the beer, like half beer half Pepsi or half beer half lemonade or any of that crap? I've always wondered if that was just some sort of joke they tried to pull on tourists.

I had "Radler" and "Banananweizen" both during my first trip to Germany recently. Not a fan of either! Weird to me that the beer is generally very good there, yet it's not uncommon for people to have these horrible twists on beer mixers. Different strokes, I suppose.

Bryce

Ok, so I didn't get a chance to tear into all those awesome looking beers saturday night - the wife and I were actually able to finally get out for - believe it or not - Valentines Day. Our friend offered to watch our son Johnathan for a few hours so we went out for dinner.
Not to keep this totally un-alcohol related I would like to report that Fonseca 10 year port goes VERY well with TORTA CALDA AL CIOCCOLATO - it's a dark chocolate brownie with dark chocolate gooey insides.
Anyway, to the beer! After dinner we headed to the only bar within 20 miles to have half a decent selection of beer, the Halligan Tavern. There I had a Steel Rail Pale Ale.
Nothing special and definitely nothing to write home about. It's a very pale ale, pale in color and fairly pale in taste as well. Low carbonation - almost flat tasting. Very low ibu and bitterness, very low gravity. Almost like drinking slightly alcoholic water, although beeradvocate says it's about 5.3% alcohol. I have my reservations about that.

Today I managed to get into my 'stash' and I started with this bad boy at lunch:

That's a 20 oz glass, btw. I was almost able to get everything in it but I still had about 2oz waiting in the bottle as it was a 22oz bomber.
That's dark!

I had this with one of my favorites, pepperoni/bacon pizza. Delicious!
So like the bottle says it's a black ipa and they weren't kidding! This is a fantastic beer and I highly recommend it. For those of you in the know Harpoon has a series of beer called the 100 Barrel and these are pretty much their no-holds-barred beers where they go all out and just try to make them as fantastic as possible. They usually succeed. This one had hints of charcoal on the nose and a straight up bitterness flavor. It leaves behind a very bitter aftertaste - not quite acrid but close. It has no carbonation and doesn't have the effervescent feel of other IPA's on the market - a product of what they use to make it darker? I don't know if you can read the bottom of the bottle but it says ABV 7%, IBU 87 and OG (original gravity) 18. This means it's a fairly high in alcohol content beer, very bitter yet not a heavy beer. All in all a fantastic selection.
For dinner I tore into the Samuel Adams Cinder Bock - or should I say it tore into me? I'm still drinking it - this beer is a finisher! You don't want to start the night out with this bad boy as it's 9.6% abv and VERY sweet - not what I was expecting from a bock at all. Most of the bocks I've had have been slightly heavier and headier than this. This is quite sweet, almost caramelly. It's not something I usually gravitate to as it's very sweet but it's very good and leaves no aftertaste.

Ok, so I hope this tasting works for everybody - it's my first one and I'm quite light headed just from these two. I definitely recommend both; although I'd have to admit I prefer the black ipa over the cinder bock.

From the same seasonal 12 pack as the absolutely wretched +/-, I had the Demo IPA.

Demo is a black IPA. It was pretty good. The hops were distinct but didn't interfere with the other tastes in the beer, and the darker malts carried a bit of an overtone. I'll drink this again next year.

TYPE: Black IPA YEAST: California Ale HOPS: Apollo, Goldings MALTS: Pale, Carafa, Caramel, Cara Vienna, Chocolate ABV: 6.0 GRAVITY: 14.00 Plato BITTERNESS: 45 SRM: 55.0 AVAILABILITY: January 15 to March 31

Brett_Murphy wrote: Have you tried any of the crazy-assed crap they do in Germany to the beer, like half beer half Pepsi or half beer half lemonade or any of that crap? I've always wondered if that was just some sort of joke they tried to pull on tourists.

Haha! Not yet. I first saw BAC (Beer And Cola) touring the Krombacher brewery. I couldn't believe that. Apparently it's for teens. I didn't try it. One of my classmates did and confirmed that I made the correct decision.

I haven't had radler yet, but I'll probably try that out later as the weather gets warmer. Beer and citrus flavors make more sense to me than beer and cola flavors.

I haven't had the "Cherry porter" either. I can't believe the Germans make "beers" like this, and then brag about how much better their beer is than everyone else's because they have purity laws.

I have had Berlinerweisse (a tart/sour, hazy, white, wheat beer), which I do like. I won't buy the stuff with the syrup pre-added. I need to get it strait and then add just enough syrup to start to color it.

Wait, a cherry porter done right might very well taste like a black forest cake.

I can find no fault with that idea.

Wow. Big Sunday for me. Wife, baby & I went down to Nate and Meg's for beers and beef. Our friends Joel & Maggie came over too. Joel called the night before and asked "What kind of beers are you drinking these days?" When I told him "I almost exclusively drink impy stouts," I guess he heard "I won't drink anything but impy stouts."

And so it began...actually, it began with a KBS after breakfast, which, in just a couple months, has mellowed out quite a bit. This and the Weasel were the best beers of the day. A shame we had to toss a couple, but with SO much good stuff available, we didn't want to burn out on crap. Enjoy:

http://spilledbeer.blogspot.com/2012/04/sunday-stouts.html?m=1

Brett_Murphy wrote: Wait, a cherry porter done right might very well taste like a black forest cake. I can find no fault with that idea.

Yeah, maybe if it were made by a real craft brewer and not a German macro. A dark porter with chocolate malt fermented with cherry pulp could be good. This isn't that.

This beer is made by starting with a low quality light beer, blending in a portion of "color beer" (a concentrated beer extract that meets the requirements for the German purity law and adds color but very little of the good roasty flavors), and then mixing in sweet cherry syrup after fermentation.

This cherry beer is quite good. It's hard to describe.

Quelque Chose, by Unibroe

Origin Chambly, Quebec

Brewed since January 1996

ABV 8,0%

Fermentation High

Style Hybride (blend of a Belgian kriek ale with a brown ale brewed in Chambly)

Color Deep ruby red

SRM N/A

Clarity Low

Head None

Bubbles Thin

Effervescence Light

Nose Intense redolence of ripe cherries accented by cinnamon, cloves, honey and vanilla

Flavor Perfectly balanced sweetness and tartness featuring ripe cherry and spice notes

IBU 20.5

Body Medium

Aftertaste Short

Suggested serving temperature On the rocks or 50 to 70°C / 122 to 158°F

Suggested glass Chalice on the rocks or in a mug if heated

I've been slacking in my sampling duties! Weekend went quick. The last one I sampled (which was actually two or three days ago) was the Rogue Brutal IPA. Wow! This is probably my favorite IPA now. This thing was fantastic with a very floral and slightly bitter aroma.

It was a great IPA, not too heavy on the tongue but not light either. Great flavor, I was kind of blown away. I was surprised at how low the IBU was at 59, it seemed a little more bitter than that but maybe not. ABV sits at a solid 5.8%, per Beer Advocate.
Hands down my new favorite IPA.

Only one left now is the Chocolate Stout! Gonna hit that one tonight after work.

I hope this hasn't been covered already but I picked up a Leinenkugel's Big Eddy Wee Heavy Scotch Ale (yeah, quite the name). It was quite tasty, but since I'm not used to talking about flavors and what not, I'll leave it at that. The one thing that I will mention was the 9.5% ABV, wow, that snuck up on me. The miata's convertible top will have to wait another night .

https://leinie.com/Beers.aspx#weeheavyscotchale

Haven't been able to find the Wee Heavy, but if you find the Big Eddy Imperial Stout, BUY IT. It may just be the all around best beer (taking price into consideration) I've ever had.

chknhwk wrote: I've been slacking in my sampling duties! Weekend went quick. The last one I sampled (which was actually two or three days ago) was the Rogue Brutal IPA. Wow! This is probably my favorite IPA now. This thing was fantastic with a very floral and slightly bitter aroma. It was a great IPA, not too heavy on the tongue but not light either. Great flavor, I was kind of blown away. I was surprised at how low the IBU was at 59, it seemed a little more bitter than that but maybe not. ABV sits at a solid 5.8%, per Beer Advocate. Hands down my new favorite IPA. Only one left now is the Chocolate Stout! Gonna hit that one tonight after work.

I'll have to give that one a shot. I'm starting to crave IPA's again. I guess it's the warmer weather. Drank my last Hop Crisis this weekend, fearing it would go skunky if I waited any longer. It held up really well. Still the best IPA I've ever had. Finally starting to build up a selection in the "cellar" as well. I can't wait to try aged Ten Fiddy/KBS....well...I mean, I suppose I will have to wait. You know what I mean.

chknhwk wrote: I've been slacking in my sampling duties! Weekend went quick. The last one I sampled (which was actually two or three days ago) was the Rogue Brutal IPA. Wow! This is probably my favorite IPA now. This thing was fantastic with a very floral and slightly bitter aroma. It was a great IPA, not too heavy on the tongue but not light either. Great flavor, I was kind of blown away. I was surprised at how low the IBU was at 59, it seemed a little more bitter than that but maybe not. ABV sits at a solid 5.8%, per Beer Advocate. Hands down my new favorite IPA. Only one left now is the Chocolate Stout! Gonna hit that one tonight after work.

I tried this a year ago at their brewpub in Portland - so excited that they're bottling it! The search begins.

I'm definitely going to have to try the Big Eddy, and Cinder Bock.