On being a hophead

Lately I have been making a concerted effort to not just drink pale ales and IPA's. I definitely dig on many beer styles and I have a desire to expand my pallet, but if I'm not paying attention I will fall back on old habits. Like today. I was off from work and kinda bored. I got in the car with the intention of driving to Target to buy a new toothbrush. Somehow I ended up at a beer store in Westfield that has a pretty good selection. I meandered around for a couple minutes checking out what they had to offer. I picked up one bottle, picked up another, looked around some more. Before I realized it I had nearly $50 worth of brew at the checkout counter, all of which were IPA's, but one. I'm not complaining because I got some good stuff (Celebration Ale, Sierra Southern Hemi, Ballast Point IPA). Sometimes, though, I have to force myself to buy other styles, even if I know I will like it. Like, I have no idea when the last time it was that I bought a stout at the beer store. I just love those hops. The way they taste, the way they smell, even the way they look (fresh). So I'm asking my readers (the six friends i have that pay attention to this thing) to suggest non-pale ales for me to try over the next month. I have an IPA in primary fermentation right now that will be ready in about a month, so I'll be back on them lupulins by then. Help me mix it up in the mean time.

What I'm drinking: Various IPA's
What I'm listening to: Celph Titled

Ein Prosit der Gemutlichkeit

The other day I headed down the shore to hang with my brother from another mother. I decided that it was time to celebrate. Celebrate what, you may ask? Well, my heritage for one thing. As you probably (don't) know I am just over 25% German and Oktoberfest is in full swing. So I headed over to Oak Tree and picked up as many Oktoberfest singles as I could find, which weren't many. Disappointing. Also, no Brooklyn Oktoberfest. What gives. I checked out this other beer store in Westfield, which had some good stuff, but really no singles. New Jersey needs to wake up and embrace beer culture. Or maybe I need to move to the west coast. Any ways, I eventually ended up with eight different Oktoberfest selections and gunned it down the parkway to Asbury. James showed me the location he is scouting for his coffee shop and roastery. Shit looks good. Congrats to him for living the dream. After that we got some burritos and then headed back to his place for some tasty beers. Basically we did a blind tasting of our selections and then saved some for Meems to taste after she got home from back to school night. Again, I am going to have to link the spreadsheet as I still don't know what the f I am doing. I need to take an html class. Here you go. We evaluated based on aroma, flavor, prozit, and overall score. We were all a bit surprised by the outcome. Personally, I thought Brooklyn would score higher. Flying dog was the big winner with Left Hand not far behind. Otter Creek was the least drinkable of all. Anyway, enjoy. Prost!

What I'm drinking: Lagunitas, Little Sumpin Wild (bangin)
What I'm listening to: New Gaslight Anthem
What I'm watching: Started watching Ken Burn's Tenth Inning tonight. That thing is well f'in done. I honestly started to tear up several times watching the Yankees rising from the ashes of the strike during my formidable years. I haven't seen the original series, but if any of my friends or my girlfriend read this blog, that is what I want for Christmas/my birthday/Rosh Hashanah.

Beers chilling out

All the beers lined up, covered, and numbered

Also, I got some new buddies

The Fridge

From time to time my fridge will get a bit backed up. I have this fear of running out of beer. This coupled with the fact that I have a bad memory has me buying beer often when I already have a bunch at home that I have been meaning to drink. I also have this habit of buying something that is not my normal thing, drinking a few and then deciding that I don't like it or that I am bored with it. Then the extra bottles hang around in the fridge taking up space until I can pass them off on some unsuspecting victim. Right now my fridge is pretty much full up of beer. Below is a list of what's in there and why.

Good stuff that will be gone within the week:
6 Sierra Nevada Pale Ales - My go to beer. Can't say enough good stuff about it. That's what I'm drinking right now.
3 Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPAs - Good but a bit tannic.
5 Magner Original Irish Ciders - They belong to the girlfriend. Pretty good, but I am not much of a cider fan
3 Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marrons - Good, but high in alcohol, so they might last longer then a week
3 Otter Creek Oktoberfest - Meh, they might make a jump to the next category.
1 Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary Black Barleywine - I can not wait to drink this one. Perhaps tomorrow night after my closing shift at work.
1 Coney Island Sword Swallower Steel Hop Lager - A gift from the girlfriend. Can't wait to drink this one. A nice hoppy lager along the lines of Brooklyn Lager

Beers that have been hanging around for a while:
4 Flying Dog Raging Bitches - A Beglian style IPA. Not my thing. Beer store dude convinced me to get it
2 Long Trail Blackberry Wheats - Part of a variety pack. Again, not my thing.
1 Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout - This is from a few years back. It is good, but a bit boozy. I should really drink this
6 Founders Breakfast Stout Clones - Homebrews gone wrong
1 Anchor Steam Liberty Ale Clone - A homebrew success that I was saving for guests. It might have spent too much time in the fridge though.
1 Homebrew UFO - It is in a Grolsh bottle, so no labeling. I'm gonna drink this tomorrow. I hope it is a Boston Lager clone, but I suspect it is an under carbonated porter

That's it. If I put in the effort, I can probably drink the fridge down in under two weeks, except for the Raging Bitch and the Long Trail. No way am I drinking that. But feel free to partake if you are into it.

Glory to God in the highest

I've been wanting to do this post for a while. My original idea was to get an atheist, myself (an agnostic), and a believer together and drink Trappist beers (beers brewed by monks) while watching Ben Hur. This was too difficult to set up, mostly because I don't know any believers who are into beer. So in the end I got together with my jerk off friends and Amelia and we drank beer from six of the seven Trappist breweries. The only one we didn't have was Westvleteren for obvious reasons. Previously I had only drank three Trappist brews, so this was a much needed educational experience for myself. Every beer we drank was good, but it was almost overkill. The beers started to run together a bit. There were definite distinctions from beer to beer, but with so many really flavorful beers your palate can get desensitized. I will say that, for me, Chimay stood out among the crowd; shined in fact. Also, me and meems got real wasted on these high alcohol brews. Below is the results of our tasting. We commented on aroma, flavor, gave an overall rating and commented on how the beers effected our spirituality. Word.

I made an google docs spreadsheet to drop into this post, but i can't figure out how to do that, so here is the link. I know this is pretty bunk, so if anybody can throw me the code for embedding a spreadsheet into blogspot, I'd appreciate it.

Beercation: Part Two

Northern California (well for one day anyway)-

Monday:
I wake up fairly early, refreshed from sleeping for eight plus hours. Mike, Ida, and I head to Cafe Brazil (I believe) for breakfast. Supposedly this place has a wicked long wait on the weekends but we get in there pretty quickly. The wait staff are smokin hot Brazilian chicks. I order a fritada. It is crazy good. good coffee too. We head back to their place and hang around for a bit. We eventually pack up some wedding ish and Mike and Ida head down to the court house to turn in their papers to the magistrate and get all official. After dumping out at M and I's I am back in the Corolla sport and on my way to Santa Rosa. What is in Santa Rosa you might ask. One of the most legendary, at least on the east coast, beer makers in Cali: The Russian River Brewing Company. Their double IPA, Pliny the Elder is much sought after trade bait in the northeast. It takes me about three hours of driving and scanning of the radio waves to reach my destination. I check into a travel lodge and chill for a sec before heading over to the local Whole Foods. This locale is a step up from the SC version, but still pretty beat in my (not so) humble opinion. From WF I head to the brewery's world class brew pub. I walk in mid way through happy hour and grab a seat at the end of the bar right underneath a fairly modest flat screen. I order a blind pig IPA. This is one of three IPA's they have on tap. It is a beer I have been looking forward too for several months and it doesn't disappoint. It is hoppy as hell with tons of citrus, pith, lemon, and tang. Medium body with a nice citrussy, dry, bitter finish. f'in great. Right as I take my first sip, I look up at the flat screen and realize that Monday Night Football, Jets/Giants preseason is about to start. MNF at 5pm, how surreal. The blind pig clocks in at over 6% and I know I have some big beers coming up, so i decide to rock a Gaffers, English style bitter next, seeing as it is only a 5 percenter. It is good but pales in comparison to the Blind Pig. Tasty, bitter, with some maltiness in there. Approximates England. While drinking this and watching football I realize that a Belgian has been chilling in front of me for some time. It is about 3/4 full. Fallen soldier!!! No beer can be left behind. I man up and take it down. It is a Damnation, their year round Belgian strong ale. I have had this in a bottle before and it doesn't disappoint from the tap, despite having sat around for at least a half hour. My plan from this point is to drink as many of the Belgians as I can before I get too drunk. I dip into a Sanctificaton. It is a Belgian sour brewed with brettanomyces yeast, which basically approximates the wild yeasts that are used to ferment lambics in the Pajottenland region of Belgium. This beer is funky as hell. Big sour, yeasty flavors. Some pineapple and some lemon. Very nice fizz. A winner to say the least. At some point I ordered a pizza and it arrives while I am babying the sanctification. The Giants are kicking ass. I am already pretty drunk from several high ABV beers. I hit up a Supplication next. It is a Belgian sour brown ale aged in pinot nior barrels. So good. There is malt and sweetness in the aroma. It is sweet and sour, with spice, alcohol, and some subdued yeast flavors. Lots of fruit flavors, like cherries with a nice dry finish and sweet lacing. After this beer I am done. I stumble towards my hotel room, popping into two pizzerias looking for slices. No luck, what gives California. I settle on a subway veggie sub. I fall asleep early but content with my experience at Russian River.

Tuesday:
I get up pretty early and dick around for a bit before heading over to the diner across from my hotel. I order a breakfast that consists of two eggs, toast, and a shit ton of fruit. After scarfing this, I put fisherman's wharf into the GPS in the Corolla and I'm off. After a little over an hour I pull into the wharf in San Fransisco. I play some vintage video games for a while and then buy some gifts for my peeps back home. While walking along the water front I call over to Anchor Brewery and weasel my way onto the tour scheduled for 1pm. I hit up a Whole Foods for lunch. This one has the best produce section I have seen thus far. Still not as nice as back east, but pretty good. I devour my lunch and then walk over to the brewery. The tasting room is beautiful. A nice, big, oak looking bar. Lots of vintage memorabilia. Real classy. The tour guide is young and definitely not a beer guy, but he gives a good tour. He is well rehearsed and pretty funny. The brewery is really really nice. The brew kettle and tun are bright brass and freaking gigantic. We really only get to see the tops of them as most of the mass of the kettles are on the floor below us. Very impressive, as are the open fermentation tanks that they use to ferment the steam beer. Pretty much the whole place is really awesome and classy, from the bottling line, to the hop room, to the cool white jump suits that all the production employees wear. At the end of the tour we sample all six current beers in rotation. From my favorite to my least favorite they are Humming ale, Liberty ale, Anchor Porter, Anchor Steam, Anchor small, and Summer beer. This is definitely the best brewery tour I have ever been on. Could this be because it was free and we got to drink for free too? From Anchor I headed out to City Beer. City Beer is a sweet beer store with a nice vibe and a good selection. They have six beers on tap. You can also drink there if you pay a $1 corking fee. I pony up to the taps and order a German style beer from a brewery called Auburn Alehouse. It is bitter, malty and amber. Good but not a stand out. I peace out of CB and head across the bay to Oakland to meet up with my boy Wally. We went to high school together and he has been living out here for some time now. We cruise on over to Beer Revolution. Beer Rev is a beer bar with a bunch of taps and mad bottles too. They have the same $1 corking fee thing going on. At this point I realize two things: I am leaving tomorrow, and I have not had a Pliny yet. WTF. I grab one and go to town. Frickin brilliant. So much hops, so much citrus, so much lemony tangy goodness, but not super heavy or overbearing like so many other double IPA's. I revel in its awesomeness. After I finish the Pliny we hit up the vegan soul food place that is next door. We get some BBQ grill things, french fries, and fried okra and head back to Beer Rev. I grab an Alesmith extra pale ale to go with my meal. The food is really tasty. The beer, no so much. I have heard a lot about Alesmith back east. Their speedway stout has quite a reputation. Perhaps I should have gone with that, but I am in a pale ale mood after that Pliny. The beer has a lot of bitterness up front with not much finish. This could be due to the pairing with barbecued tofu and the like. A stout or porter might have complemented the sweet and salt of the food better. You win some and you lose just as many. The next stop on our itinerary is The Trappist. It is a beer bar that supposedly is owned by a former member of the band Gang Green . It is a real nice classy setup, with lots of wood and bricks. Lots of taps featuring mostly Belgians as the name would imply. I decide to grab a pint of Anchor Humming. It is good but I am kinda blitzed at this point. We drink our pints and then head back to Wally's. We stop at another Whole Foods and I grab a beer for the road. Back at Wally's I start to nod off while drinking my beer and watching the SF Giants game. A good end to a great trip.

Wednesday:
Wake up mad early and head to the airport. Flying home all day, back to reality and work. F this. Looking forward to my next beercation, whenever that might be.

Beercation: Part One

Last week my buddy Michael A got married in picturesque Felton, California. Back when I heard he had popped the question to his lovely girlfriend Ida, I knew I had to be there. Those dudes were pretty busy with wedding stuff and going on their honeymoon so I decided to do some beer sightseeing while I was out there. I had a damn good time. I only wish that I could have been out there for longer. Here's how it all went down.

Friday:
I roll into Santa Cruz in my rented Corolla Sport. Check into the seedy, yet overpriced, Ocean Gate Inn. Walk around SC for a bit and withdraw drinking funds from a cash machine. Immediately get a burrito from Taqueria Vallarta. I check out the local Whole Foods on Soquel. Bunk. Time to drink. First stop is the Asti, sometimes affectionately referred to as the Nasti. Also bunk. Me, the bartender, and several degenerate but endearing regulars. I get a Fat Tire Amber. It was delicious, but I had to be at a better spot. I hit up a beer bar called the Poet and the Patriot. It was owned by a Jersey transplant, but sadly he passed away several years ago. I have a Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing Company pale ale. It is good but kind of standard. I switch it up to English Ales Breweries Pale Ale. Delish. A mix of English Malt and Hops with California sensibilities. They are located in Marina, Ca. Still, not quite the north west beer experience I have been in search of. I have several of these and call it a night as it is now 10pm and I have been awake since 1am local time.

Saturday:
Check out some sights and then breakfast at the Santa Cruz diner(bangin). Back to the hotel room to iron my shirt while watching the movie Dave(stupid, yet entertaining). Off to the wedding. We get driven out to a ranch in Felton in a rented (party)van. Wedding is killer. Good friends, good food, good vibe, good tunes. I reunite with some sweet dudes that I met when Mike was in college. At the reception we drink High Life. High Life is a good beer and frickin great for a macro. We head to the after party in the van and someone sparks up a J. Sweet. We drink some beer at the after party, but I am already blitzed so I can't retain information. It is a really hoppy amber from a local brewery and it is damn good. Next we hit the SC diner. I have an omelet. I get 2/3 into it and realize I am too drunk. I hoof it back to the hotel and ass out.

Sunday:
Wake up early and immediately vom. Next I take some advil and go find where I left the car. Still there. I check out some sights: the wharf, surfing museum. Next, burrito. This one has sprouts in it, which is cool, but they use refried beans which I am not a fan of when it comes to burritos. Still pretty good though, but kinda sloppy. After lunch I head over to the Santa Cruz Mountain Brewery. It is located in a weird warehouse/garage plaza that also has a bunch of wineries. Or at least places where wineries sell their shit. The bar area, or tasting room, has a nice set up. Real chill vibe, sweet oldies playing on the sound system, food and cheese can be ordered, and the barkeep is nice to look at. I order a Peoples Porter which is infused with coffee. A good choice when you are still mildly hungover. Nice malty aroma. It is quite delicious. Malty, roasty, smoky, with chocolate and coffee, but a little thin in the body. I realize two things. I should have ordered a flight, but then again, I am all by myself and that might seem kinda off. Two, their beer is all organic. I haven't had too many OG beers that I have enjoyed, but the porter is definitely good. As I drink the porter I see that they have a seasonal Olallieberry ale. WTF is an Olallieberry. I look it up on Wikipedia. A cross between a Loganberry and a Youngberry, which are crosses of raspberries, blackberries, and dewberries. An Olallieberry is crossed with a Chehalem blackberry to create the elusive Marionberry. Weird. I order one somewhat self consciously. Is this a chick beer. It is good. Mildly sweet and fruity with light carbonation. Great for a summer day. Also, it is beautiful out. I head out from SCMB to Santa Cruz Aleworks, but they are closed. Bummer. I head over to Mike and Ida's and chill there drinking Fat Tire and eating BBQ, SC style. Veggies and fake sausages. Life is good. We head into town later to the Red Room where Ida works. I order a Lagunitas IPA and me and Mark talk to some lesbians who at first don't believe we are from NJ but on closer inspection they deem us slightly Guido. Nice. We head back early and drink some high life before bed.

Stick around for Part 2: Northern California.

California

I'm heading out to the golden state in a little over a week for my friend Mike the Beaver's wedding. I'm looking forward to the wedding and hanging out with him. He lives in Santa Cruz and the wedding is in near by Felton. While I'm out there I plan on hitting up a few breweries. One day I will devote just to Santa Cruz breweries, seeing as there are several breweries and brew pubs within the city limits and also right near by. One day I plan on hitting up Russian River Brewery, makers of Pliny the Elder, and probably Anchor Steam while I am up that way. Sierra Nevada seems kinda far away, but who knows. What other breweries should I hit up? Leave suggestions in the comments if you are so inclined. Thanks.

The picture is of Cali stuff I have in the beer closet. Also, I am drinking an Avery 17th Anniversary Black Lager right now. It is quite delicious.