BEER (and apparently, WINE)

[SDragon]

I have a few beer reviews I've been posting to Google+. When I get the chance, I'll be sure to copy/paste them over here.

[Weave]

Whoa, whoa, whoa....

Is that the King of Lizards I spy over there?

[LordVreeg]

bout time

[SDragon]

As promised.

First beer review in a long time: Rogue Chocolate Stout

Unfortunately, my beer glass is still at my old apartment, so I drank this straight from the pint (and 6 ounces) bottle. This kept it from opening much, but it was still quite enjoyable. The hops were present, but far from overwhelming. They added a nice bitter touch to the chocolate flavor. It reminded me more of some obscure dark chocolate than, say, Hershey's. This was definitely a plus for me, since I love dark chocolate, but it was also a plus for the girlfriend, who prefers Hershey's but hates beer. "I... don't hate this!", she praised. I think that works better than any rating I could give this stout.

Christmas Beer

That's right, another review. Unfortunately, it's been a few hours, so my memory of the experience isn't as fresh as I'd like, but here goes. The Christmas Beer of the Year is...

Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout

A good dark beer is well suited for wintertime meals, and a stout certainly delivers. Two words stayed in my mind as I drank this one: dark and smooth. Smooth came with the aroma of the open bottle; distinct, and easy to take in. The dark came with pouring; this beer is an opaque black. There was a grainy robustness that gave the strength of flavor of such a dark drink, but there was a bittersweet dryness that helped it slide down easily. The flavor didn't seem to me flashy or complex, but still clearly quality made.

I do like this beer. It's very drinkable, and a fine starting point for stouts. If you're looking for a good dark beer to keep you warm on winter nights, look no further

Beer Review Time

Tonight's beer is Peak Organic Brewing Company Weiss Principal Ale, "an imperial german-style hefe-weisse".

The head on this comes dense, with quite a bit of lacing. Perhaps it's because it's been awhile since I last poured a beer, but this one surprised me with the sheer size of the head. It looked almost like whipped cream.

The color is the cloudy amber-gold one comes to expect from a hefeweisse. It looks quite inviting.

The aroma is subtle. It took me a moment to notice it, but once I did, there was a definite fruitiness to it. The label says bananas, which I agree with, but I'm not sure I would have gotten that without a little help.

The banana-citrus combo with undertones of pine, however, I did pick up on the flavor. This is, admittedly, my first beer with such a noticable pine to it, so I couldn't put a name to that right away, but again, the label did help on this. Very, very tasty, with just enough to cut on the sweetness. I don't know how well this would've turned out without the hoppiness.

Overall, I'm quite impressed. It seems a bit like an IPA, so hefeweisse fans should probably take note at that, but so should IPA fans. If you can find this, go for a bottle.

Sidenote: I'm drinking a pint (techically 1 pint 6 ounces) tonight, and this is at a sturdy 8.6% ABV. There's absolutely no excuse for this to be any less strong than it is.

This lacing just will not quit! If it's not clear by the picture, the lacing is all that's left.

The beer, by the way, was a pint of Murphy's Drought Style Stout. Very interesting. When the pour first started, it looked like chocolate milk, but when it was finished, pitch black like a stout should be, with a head that was cream any way you look at it. The taste was also milk chocolate, but with a distinct coffee. Very sweet, very good. I'm definitely having a pint on Saturday.

+Duck GirlCreations didn't like it, though. Gonna hafta get that girl a good pale ale sometime...

Not so much a review, as a few comments:

Samuel Adams Winter Porter

There seems to be a lot of attention on what, precisely, the difference between porters and stouts is, especially when faced with creatives takes on both blurring that line. The difference is, to me, simple to understand.

A Stout is a dark beer that resembles a sort of "Milkshake" of a beer; it is, at once, thick and sweet and smooth.

A Porter is a more savory, though not as thick, drink, that should make you want a nice steak; preferably, a Porterhouse cut, and ideally served at a real English porthouse.

It's not that hard. This is definitely a Porter.

This particular porter, by the way, had what +Duck GirlCreations identified as a "woodsy bitterness", and I ended up deciding as being more herbal.

If you still can't tell a stout from a porter, try having a blind taste test between this, and Murphy's Irish Stout. Keeping these comments in mind, you'll be surprised at what you'll find.

[Mason]

Honkers Ale-Goose Island Beer Company, Chicago IL

   Golden almost sunset color. From the tap. This beer is damn drinkable but unremarkable. Just the right amount of bitter and hops, but the taste, flavor, everything left my mouth as soon as I swallowed leaving me wanting to keep drinking..

Brooklyn Winter Ale, Brooklyn NY
 
My kind of beer. Rich, 6.0% delicious almost apple taste with a creaminess I did not expect. I sucked down two or three over a game of darts. Goood Beer, have from the tap if you can.

[Kindling]

A Stout is a dark beer that resembles a sort of "Milkshake" of a beer; it is, at once, thick and sweet and smooth.

A Porter is a more savory, though not as thick, drink, that should make you want a nice steak; preferably, a Porterhouse cut, and ideally served at a real English porthouse.

It was my understanding that stout and porter are essentially the same thing nowadays, with porter simply being a more archaic term for it, and usually used for beers from the Greater London area.

The name porter came from the London dock labourers, or porters, who typically drank that style of beer. Later, stronger porters became more common and were sold as "extra stout porter" which was eventually shortened to just stout.

[Lmns Crn]

For Christmas, my almost-brother-in-law and his wife made us a spiced wine, according to a traditional recipe of some sort.

I'm saving it for the weekend at the very least, but I'm pretty excited about it.

Very cool...you must let us know...

It was not very good; very oversweetened.

So we mixed it with some spices and pineapple juice and citrus fruit slices and moonshine, and had a delightful holiday punch. Delicious!

[LordVreeg]

For Christmas, my almost-brother-in-law and his wife made us a spiced wine, according to a traditional recipe of some sort.

I'm saving it for the weekend at the very least, but I'm pretty excited about it.

Very cool...you must let us know...

It was not very good; very oversweetened.

So we mixed it with some spices and pineapple juice and citrus fruit slices and moonshine, and had a delightful holiday punch. Delicious!

Way to make it work, Crayon...

[Lmns Crn]

When life gives you suboptimal spiced wine, make suboptimal-spiced-wine-, uh, -ade!

[Tangential]

Funny, LC, that's my motto, word for word.

[LordVreeg]

Gorgeous, fantastic wines, and a good read.
Sagrantino, from Umbria, has been a favorite for the last few years, and also a bit of a primer on how to make regional wines in your setting feel right.

[LordVreeg]

2006 Silverado reserve, thick, straightforward nose, but with lots of pectin and currant.   Ends with a bit of pencil and tobacco.   Yummy, went well with scallion pancakes.

[LordVreeg]

90+ Barolo., 2009 for 2013 secret labeling

Tastes like Damiano, which it might be.  Heavy opening with acid and almost pickled rasberry taste, moving to a smokey grap tase on the back end.

[Griznuq]

I'm actually a bit of a home brewer of beers and mead... I have a bucket of mead going right now. It's my 3rd batch, and I'm starting to think that I just don't like mead... I'll do one more, and if it's gross, I'm done.

Beers... I'm a big craft beer fan. My baseline beer is Sam Adams Boston Lager. If I say "I want a beer" that's what I'm talking about. That or Harpoon.

I discovered my new favorite yesterday though... "Wormtown - Be Hoppy IPA". It just dethroned "Jack's Abby's Hoponious Union".

I like a dry bitter, piney tasting brew.

[LordVreeg]

Jim Koch is actually a client, the dude who owned still sort of owns Sam Adams.   He's quite cool.   Tell us about the mead, what sort?