mmm: drinks

Showing posts with label drinks. Show all posts

Ale Sampling No. 2 [3/20/2011]

Brewery	Name	Location	Short Description	Rating
Blue Moon Brewing Company	Honeymoon Summer Ale	Golden, CO	sweet, sour	92
Dundee Brewing Co.	Pale Ale	Rochester, NY	malty, crisp	92
Pyramid Brewing Co.	Curve Ball Blonde Ale	Seattle, WA	disappointing	89
Rogue Ales	Somer Orange Honey Ale	Newport, OR	solid American wheat, dry, citrus	92
Rogue Ales	American Amber Ale	Newport, OR	a little metallic, sour/citrus is subtle	90
Dundee Brewing Co.	India Pale Ale	Rochester, NY	ok	89
Dundee Brewing Co.	Kolsch-Style Ale	Rochester, NY	light	92

Montana Brewers Association Brewfest [9/23/2010]

With 21 participating breweries, and 73 different selections, we had a terrific time at the 2010 Montana Brewers Festival. It was an outstanding way to end our time in Montana and end our pretty much un-planned but totally awesome Montana brewery tour.

Needless to say, we were unable to try everything (not even half of the options). Our ratings below are based on a 1-10 scale. Personally, I may have become more forgiving towards the later part of the evening, so, the marks are probably a bit biased.

Brewery	Brew	Type	Rating
Bayern	St. Wilbur	Hefeweizen	7
Bayern	Dump Truck Summer Boch	Smooth Boch	9
Bayern	Bayern Octoberfest	Dark Marzen	8
Bayern	Bayern Pilsner	Pilsner	6
Beaver Creek	Cherry Wheat	Wheat	5
Beaver Creek	Beaver Creek Pale Ale	Pale Ale	5
Blackfoot River	Blackfoot Maibock	Maibock	6
Blacksmith	Imperial Red Ale	Imperial IPA	5
Blacksmith	Cutthroat IPA	IPA	6
Bozeman	Bozone Select	Amber Ale	6
Bozeman	Plum Street Porter	Porter	6
Carter's	Saison de Carter	Belgian-French Saison	6
Flathead Lake	Rising Sun Espresso Porter	Coffee Porter	5
Glacier	Golden Grizzly Ale	Kolsch Golden Ale	7
Glacier	Glacier Select Oktoberfest	Marzen	7
Great Northern	Highlander Premium Beer	Scottish Red Ale	7
Great Northern	Wild Huckleberry Wheat Lager	Filtered Wheat w/Fruit	6
Harvest Moon	Pigs Ass Porter	Porter	6
Harvest Moon	Beltian White	Belgian style vitbier	7
Harvest Moon	Nut Brown	Brown	6
Kettlehouse	Eddy Out	Pale Ale	5
Kettlehouse	Cold Smoke Scotch Ale	Scotch Ale	5
Lewis and Clark	Miner's Gold	Hefeweisen	6
Lewis and Clark	Portage Porter	Porter	8
Lone Peak	Hippy Highway Oatmeal Stout	Oatmeal Stout	7
Lone Peak	Hellroaring ESB	English Style Extra Special Bitter	5
Montana	Whitetail Wheat	American Hefeweisen	7.5
Neptune's	Wheat	American Wheat	6
Quarry	Open Pit Porter	Porter	8
Tamarack	Rye Sally Rye PA	Rye Pale Ale	5
Tamarack	Wakeboard Wheat	Belgium Style Wit	7

We did not sample any of the Bitter Root beers because we had already had them all with a flight at their brewery. Unfortunately, we missed out on trying anything from Angry Hank's, Madison River, and Red Lodge Ales.

The musical headliner was a group called Keegan Smih & The Fam and they were a lot of fun. : )

If you are traveling to Montana and like micro-brews, you should definitely check out: www.montanabrewers.org

Lager Sampling No. 1 [7/17/2010]

Brewery	Name	Location	Short Description	Rating
Samuel Adams	Black Lager	Boston, MA	ok, decent	91
Gorden Biersch Brewing Company	Märzen	San Jose, CA	too bitter	88
Dundee Brewing Co	Pale Bock Lager	Rochester, NY	malty, sweet	92
Samuel Adams	Imperial Double Bock	Boston, MA	molasses, 9.5%	94
Spoetzl Brewery	Shiner Bohemian Black Lager	Shiner, TX	toasty, almost charred	90
Flying Dog Brewery	Collaborator Doppelbock	Denver, CO	8.3%, full bodied, super yummy	96
Spoetzl Brewery	Shiner Bock	Shiner, TX	clean, toasty	92
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co	30th Anniversary Imperial Helles Bock	Chico, CA	malty, toasty	94

Homebrewing: Rye [6/27/2010]

It's proved really difficult for me to find ryes in the store. If you've found a rye you like please let me know. For this batch we used the Brewers Connection recipe for O'Ryely's Rye. I can't wait to see how this turns out and how it ages.

Porter Sampling No. 7 [5/26/2010]

Brewery	Name	Location	Short Description	Rating
Samuel Adams	Holiday Porter	Boston, MA	ok, decent	89
Lagunitas Brewing Co	Cappucinno Stout	Petaluma, CA	ok, but not exciting	90
Moylan's Brewing Co	Dragoons Dry Irish Stout	Novato, CA	thin, dry, a bit hoppy	88
Brew Dog	Rip Tide twisted merciless stout	England	hoppy	88
Green Flash Brewing Co	Double Stout	San Diego, CA	unmemorable	88
Anderson Valley Brewing Co	Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout	Boonville, CA	decent	89
Bell's Brewery	Kalamazoo Stout	Comstock, MI	bitter	87
Boulder Beer Company	Obovoid Oak-Aged Oatmeal Stout	Boulder, CO	I didn't like the aged in oak flavor	87
Jedrzejow Brewery	Strzelec Porter	Jedrzejow, Poland	thick, molasses like	94
Samuel Adams	Cream Stout	Boston, MA	toasty	93
Deschutes Brewery	Obsidian Stout	Bend, OR	nice body, toasty	92
Odell Brewing Co	Cutthroat Porter	Fort Collins, CO	malty, dry, clean	94
Prescott Brewing Co	Achocolypse Porter	Prescott, AZ	rich, very chocolatey	92

2nd Annual PBS Craft Brewing Festival [5/01/2010]

Unfortunately, Oran was sick for the 2nd PBS craft brew fest. So, we didn't get to stay very long or try everything. This time they had more food options and the venue was pretty nice. I was somewhat disappointed because most of the local AZ breweries brought only their usual stuff. I had already tried almost of all of the beers. I was hoping to see their seasonals and special small batch brews. Oh well. A shout out to Prescott Brewing Company for bringing a seasonal their Achocolypse Porter - it was thick, rich and delicious. Now I am wanting to visit Prescott again.

Ale Sampling No. 1 [4/26/2010]

Brewery	Name	Location	Short Description	Rating
Fischer Biere d' Alsace	Fischer Tradition Amber	Schiltigheim, France	fruity	94
Anderson Valley Brewing Co	Boont Amber Ale	Boonville, CA	good	92
Samuel Adams	Cranberry Lambic	Boston, MA	doesn't taste like a lambic	89
Four Peaks	Kiltlifter	Tempe, AZ	like spice cake	94
St Peters	Organic English Ale	Bungay, England	light, refreshing (seriously)	94
Spoetzl Brewery	Shiner Bock	Shiner, TX	dry, good taste	90
Oak Creek Brewing Co	Nut Brown Ale	Sedona, AZ	malty, creamy, sweet, nutty	95
Big Sky Brewing Co	Moose Drool Brown Ale	Missoula, Montana	toasty, nutty	94
Full Sail Brewing Co	Keelhauler Scottish Ale	Hood River, OR	hoppy	89
Batemans Brewery	Combined Harvest	Wainfleet, England	toasty, delicious	96
Dundee Brewing Co	Honey Brown	Rochester, NY	sweet	92

Wheat Sampling No. 2 [4/26/2010]

Brewery	Name	Location	Short Description	Rating
Moab Brewery	Rocket Bike Wit Ale	Moab, UT	orange, coriander	92
Papago Brewing Co	Orange Blossom Mandarin Wheat Ale	Scottsdale, AZ	like an orange creamsicle	89
Pyramid Breweries	Haywire Hefeweizen	Seattle, WA	nice orange flavor	94
Avery Brewing Co	White Rascal Belgian-Style Wheat Ale	Boulder, CO	hoppy, bitter	86
Ballast Point Brewing Co	Wahoo Wheat	San Diego, CA	interesting	92
Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company	Sunset Wheat	Chippewa Falls, WI	I like the lemon a lot	94
Paulaner Brewery	Hefe-Weizen	Munich, Germany	too much banana	88
Left Hand Brewing Co.	Haystack Wheat	Longmont, CO	too much banana	89
Gordon Biersch Brewing Company	Hefeweizen	San Jose, CA	banana, bitter, but ok	89
Widmer Brothers Brewing Co	Hefeweizen	Portland, OR	bitter, mild yeast flavor	89
New Belgium Brewing Company	Sunshine Wheat	Fort Collins, CO	too much banana	88
Franziskaner	Weissbier	Munich, Germany	ok, not my favorite	89
New Belgium Brewing Company	Mothership Wit	Fort Collins, CO	too much banana	88

Homebrewing: Hayfever Hefeweizen [2/14/2010]

We made an American style wheat. We added a jar of local honey purchased at the farmer's market from Kenny the Fishhugger. We also added lemon peel at the end of the brew, and lemon extract into the secondary and at racking. A few pictures from the brewing are in the slide show below.

Homebrewing: Chocolate Orange Porter [1/31/2010]

We used the Brewers Connection recipe for The Butlers Porter. We added about a cup of cocoa powder to the wort. We also added homemade orange extract into the carboy.

Here is a photo of the grains steeping:

Here is a photo of the chocolately wort at the end of the boil:

Wheat Sampling No. 1 [1/26/2010]

Lately, I've branched out from my Porters/Stouts and have been exploring Hefeweizens/Wheats. Here is the first set:

Brewery	Name	Location	Short Description	Rating
Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company	Honey Weiss	Chippewa Falls, WI	sweet, enjoyable	92
Sea Dog Brewing Co	Wild Blueberry Wheat Ale	Bangor, ME	blueberry is a bit overpowering	90
Moab Brewery	Elephant Hill Hefeweizen	Moab, UT	nice citrus taste and smell	92
Flying Dog	In Heat Wheat	Frederick, MD	ok, not my favorite	88
Samuel Adams	Cherry Wheat	Boston, MA	yummy	92
Eddie McStiff's	Blueberry Wheat	Moab, UT	decent	89
Eddie McStiff's	Raspberry Wheat	Moab, UT	light	90
Breckenridge	Agave Wheat	Denver, CO	average	89
Samuel Adams	Coastal Wheat	Boston, MA	I love the lemon and coriander	94
Brewery Ommegang	Witte	Cooperstown, NY	great citrus/coriander flavor	94

Homebrewing: English Brown Ale [1/16/2010]

While brewing our brown ale we "shocked" our first packet of yeast. The wort was cooled down too much and the yeast couldn't adjust quickly enough. Luckily, we were able to re-pitch with a new packet, and the second batch worked fine. Pictures from the brewing are in the slide show below.

Porter Sampling No. 6 [1/14/2010]

Brewery	Name	Location	Short Description	Rating
St. Peter's Brewery Co	Cream Stout	Bungay, England	smooth and yummy	94
St. Peter's Brewery Co	Old-Style Porter	Bungay, England	interesting	92
Goose Island Beer Co	Bourbon County Brand Stout	Chicago, IL	strongly bourbon tasting	88
Left Hand Brewing Co	Black Jack Porter	Longmont, CO	average	89
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery	World Wide Porter	Milton, DE	bitter, hoppy	88
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery	Chicory Stout	Milton, DE	not complex enough	89
Great Divide Brewing Co	Saint Bridget's Porter	Denver, CO	very nice	94
Zywiec Breweries	Porter	Zywiec, Poland	thick, rich, delicious	96
Papago Brewing Co	Elsie's Irish Coffee Milk Stout	Scottsdale, AZ	just like irish cream liqueur	89
Samuel Adams	Imperial Stout	Boston, MA	enjoyable	94

Anejo Sampling Part 1 [8/08/2009]

Name	Aroma	Taste	Finish	Rating
Cazadores	fruity, sweet	smokey, fruity	oily	94
Patron	salty, peaty	herbal, veggie, fruity	peppery, spicy, sweet	88
El Mayor	sweet	spicy, peppery	tangy, a bit rough	85
Don Julio	fruity	rich, caramel	smooth, buttery	96
Tres Mujeres	sweet	herbal, veggie	light, fresh	94
Sol de Mexico	spicy	peppery	smooth, light	92
El Amo Special Edition Premium	fruity	wine-like	a bit sharp	94

Images from Tequila.net, a great resource for Anejo reviews.

Draft Magazine Craft Brewing Festival 2009 [6/20/2009]

My first ever brewfest was totally awesome. The only disappointment was that I didn't get to try as many different beers as I would have liked. Apparently 4 hours isn't enough sampling time for someone who is a very slow drinker and lightweight like me. They practically had to kick us out and I wished I had kept better track of the time.

Everything tasted pretty good, although once inebriated I think it's harder to be a good judge. I took a few sporadic notes, not really rating anything thoroughly.

Stone - Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout - very syrupy, better than their smoked porter or imperial
Dupont - Farmhouse Ale - interesting
Sun Up - Hefeweizen - grapefruity
Sun Up - Red Ale - citrus tones
Dogfish - Sah'tea - curious
Dogfish - Palo Santo Marron - nice and dark
San Tan - Strawberry Wit - not at all subtle strawberry flavor
Papago - Coconut Joe - coffee overpowered any coconut in there

One of the highlights was a quick chat with the brewer for Sun Up Brewing/Sonora Brewhouse one of my favorite local eats. We were able to complement him on the recent excellent small batch Triple Blonde, and his consistently good Midnight Porter.

Thanks so much to Draft Magazine for creating the best PBS benefit I've heard of, and thanks to PBS for providing well researched science and political coverage like Nova, the News Hour, and Frontline.

Porter Sampling No. 5 [6/01/2009]

Brewery	Name	Location	Short Description	Rating
Prescott Brewing Co	Raven Maniac Stout	Prescott, AZ	Yummy	94
Prescott Brewing Co	Petrified Porter	Prescott, AZ	Flavorful, Rich	94
Lost Coast Brewery	Eight-Ball Stout	Eureka, CA	Hoppy, Flavorful	89
Left Coast Brewery	Black Magic Stout	Eureka, CA	Hoppy, Decent	86
Samuel Smith	Oatmeal Stout	England	Rich, Tasty	94
Avery Brewing Co.	The Czar Imperial Stout	Boulder, CO	Strong Alcohol 11.73%, Hoppy, Heavy	89
Rogue Ales	Imperial Stout	Newport, OR	Strong Alcohol 11%, Hoppy, Too Bitter	85
Brouwerij Sterkens	Hoogstraten Poorter	Meer, Belgium	Wine-Like, more dark ale than porter, Smooth	90
Port Brewing Co.	Old Viscosity Ale	San Marcos, CA	Thick, Molasses flavor, strange tasting Hops	90
Stone Brewing Company	Stone Imperial Russian Stout	Escondido, CA	10.8%, Thick, Rich	91

Porter Sampling No. 4 [4/09/2009]

Brewery	Name	Location	Short Description	Rating
Moab Brewery	Black Raven Oatmeal Stout	Moab, UT	Nice Microbrew	92
Sonoran Brewing Co	Oatmeal Stout	Phoenix, AZ	Yummy	92
North Coast Brewing Co.	Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout	Fort Bragg, CA	Hoppy, Rich	86
Breckenridge Brewery	Dark Oatmeal Stout	Denver, CO	Decent	86
Aldaris	Aldaris Porteris	Rīga, Latvia	Very Nice	94
Coopers Brewery	Best Extra Stout	Australia	Toasted/Roasted but Not Burned, Malty, Yummy	94
Coopers Brewery	Dark Ale	Australia	Mild, Decent, Not a Porter Though	89
Brouwerij Huyghe	Delirium Nocturnum	Melle/Ghent, Belgium	Bitter, Strange, Not a Porter (Belgian Strong Dark Ale)	85
Rogue Ales	Mocha Porter	Newport, OR	Thick, Rich	94
New Belgium Brewing	1554 Enlightened Black Ale	Fort Collins, CO	Delicious	94

foobar [3/05/2009]

Nashville, TN

1905 postcard [8/27/2008]

Attention Fancy Restaurants and Swanky Lounges [4/29/2008]

Apparently you still have not heard about Tanqueray Rangpur Gin. It's better than Tanqueray 10. It's also less expensive. That means you can still charge the premium drink amount and make more profit. Your gin drinkers won't be disappointed, they'll order a second. I understand wanting to stick with the staple Tanqueray: it's excellent and I generally expect you to have it. But, it doesn't hurt to throw in a little variety now and then and expose your customers to a new and delicious change of pace.