BEER (and apparently, WINE)

[LordVreeg]

I tasted about 80 bottles on Friday.
Really.  Winery trip, 10 vineyards.

Bedell 2007 Reserve merlot.  One of the few red grapesthat does well on LI.  Jammy, heavy, with a pie crust mid taste and a strange, but not bad tannic aftertaste.  

[SDragon]

Ginger ale goes better with Buttershots than it does with vodka. I suspected as such, but y'know, scientific integrity  and all...

[LordVreeg]

I appreciate the research...

[SDragon]

Well, last night demanded large quantities of alcohol and very loud Nirvana. You already know part of it, but there was even more (unrelated) news yesterday.

[SDragon]

Tonight: Rolling Rock Extra Pale, from the bottle.

The green bottle certainly got in the way of noticing the color, but it isn't in the way of noticing that this is, indeed, a pale drink. That probably should have been a flag of some sort, but nooo...

It didn't strike me until that first sip: they say that this is "extra pale", but they don't mention that they mean it in the same way as when they say Godzilla is "extra large". The flavor is so subtle that it borders nonexistent.

Now, a note here; Since I'm still fairly new at tasting and reviewing beers, my strategy right now is to drink one, form my best opinion, open the second, and drink it while I read reviews from sites such as www.beeradvocate.com so I can compare. In this particular case, when I was already comparing the drink to seltzer water, it was exceptionally helpful. just about every review I saw commented on the weak taste-- and I was even surprised to see that I wasn't the only one to make the seltzer analogy-- but I also noticed some other words being mentioned. Words like "corn", and "soap". Words I hadn't considered right away. Words that, now that I read and think about them, are quite accurate. Needless to say, this isn't my favorite beer.

Overall, I'd give this a rating of... C. That is, as in, College beer.

[LordVreeg]

It's an older, economical beer.  Very light, good for drinking all day while out in the yard.

Flavorless in that, "people who want to drink beer and have a modest budget so they'll drink this as long as they don't taste something objectionable" way.
 

[limetom]

Dead Guy Ale -- Usually a great beer, but if it's on tap, the stuff near the end of the keg can be god-awful.  It's too pricey to get the end of the keg stuff, but I'm always ending up with it.

[LordVreeg]

I used to play 'Kick the Keg' at the Sunset bar and grill in Allston. This was one of those places with 100+ beers on tap, as well as quite a few rare ones in bottles.
The name of the game was to ask what was near the end of the keg, and try to finish the keg....if you did, they brought out a pile of swag.
Here is where we used to play this.  That's back when I used to play a lot more volleyball.

Lungarotti 2001 "Rubesco" Rosso di Torgiano
Black, dark, with plu and late spice notes, simple, though it has matured to add the spice and to remove some of the acid.

[SDragon]

Never been there, but I've certainly heard of the place. It's advertised on just about any radio station that broadcasts Pats games.

[LordVreeg]

Amadio 2005 shiraz, ignore the screwtop, this spicy tart is ready to be popped and consumed...

[LordVreeg]

D'arenburg, the footboplt Shiraz 06,
the trademark inkiness is therfe, as is the depth.  A little sweet to start with, but there is a lot of jam and earth in the back.  A little short for so much power.  AT under 20 bucks, a great choice.

[SDragon]

Had a bottle of Coors tonight. Expecting it to be as light as the drinks I've been getting lately, I didn't put any consideration into reviewing it, but it turned out to be more flavorful than I expected. I'll give a better review sometime later; perhaps tomorrow night.

As a sidenote, most of the beer I've been drinking lately is mainstream American stuff. Not names I would expect to be good at "expanding my horizons." This is because, well, I haven't been buying the beer lately. That said, I've come to realize that, aside from the obvious benefits of letting someone else buy the beer, doing so exposes one to a variety of different options. Some bad, some not so much. All in all, I think this is worth being able to only review beers that everyone and their mother has heard of.

[SDragon]

Okay, time to review Coors, which I'm drinking out of my Cheers glass. This glass is definitely a much appreciated gift.

The head is fairly thick, but probably because of my pouring, small.

The color is a light reddish shade, though, as I said earlier, not as light as what I've been drinking. Even if I didn't already know, the appearance would tell me that this has more flavor.

The aroma is sweet and... Grassy? It seems to lie somewhere between a freshly mowed lawn, and New England autumn foliage. I imagine this would've been better sometime earlier in the year?

I can taste something along the lines of corn, and a bit of a cereal taste? I'm tempted to say Oats N' More, but I'm not really sure why. Definitely a grain of some sort.


All in all, I can definitely tell that this is the same company that makes the Blue Moon stuff. There's differences, sure, but if you like one, you might like the other.

[SDragon]

Belgian White, by Long Trail.

First, a note on the label. This bottle has a cute, folk art watercolor of a bear leaning against a tree, enjoying a glass of this stuff. I only point this out because, for those of you who might not be familiar with the state, this looks exactly like you should expect a Vermont beer to look like. The only thing missing here is a hiker wearing L. L. Bean. Oh wait, what's that silhouette under the logo? Ah, there we go...

The color was pale and cloudy... but hey, it's a Belgian White, right?

My nose is too clogged today to pick up any aroma at all, but for flavor, there was definitely a fruity sweet tang to it. I thought it was apple, but that could have been the cider vinegar I put in my spinach. Reading the description reveals that is is apparently some sort of citrus. This is interesting, and in a good way.

Anyway, I really enjoyed this beer. I don't know if it's available outside of New England, but if you can find a pack, try it out.

[limetom]

Okay, time to review Coors, which I'm drinking out of my Cheers glass. This glass is definitely a much appreciated gift.

The head is fairly thick, but probably because of my pouring, small.

The color is a light reddish shade, though, as I said earlier, not as light as what I've been drinking. Even if I didn't already know, the appearance would tell me that this has more flavor.

The aroma is sweet and... Grassy? It seems to lie somewhere between a freshly mowed lawn, and New England autumn foliage. I imagine this would've been better sometime earlier in the year?

I can taste something along the lines of corn, and a bit of a cereal taste? I'm tempted to say Oats N' More, but I'm not really sure why. Definitely a grain of some sort.


All in all, I can definitely tell that this is the same company that makes the Blue Moon stuff. There's differences, sure, but if you like one, you might like the other.

It baffles me how Canadians can make such an awful beer as Blue Moon.

Coors, I will say, however, is probably the best bottom of the barrel American beer.