Random Grumblings

Carbonated the homebrew last night. It is mighty tasty but needs a bit more carbonation, comes off tasting a tad flat. I am storing it at a high pressure right now and am going to shake it a bit more tonight to try to get more CO2 in solution.

I have a sports rant that I need to get off my chest (sports and beer do go together). Ended up watching some the Boston v. Atlanta NBA game last night and remembered why I hate watching basketball and usually refuse to watch it until March Madness, and even then I usually only watch the opening rounds. Out of every sport, the officiating in basketball (and the NBA in particular) is horrendous. Sure in football holding is never called and WR get too many pass interference calls but usually the refs do a pretty good job. Same can be said for hockey, baseball, soccer and pretty much every other sport except basketball. The idea of what constitutes a foul is pretty open to debate and half the time you can't even pick the call out. Star players get a lot more calls to go there way than the league minimum guys. The game gets so choppy when the crew decides to make a call every time down the court, ugh. Several times last night star player "a" would make a drive towards the basket and would pull up for a nice fade away jumper. More than once the defender didn't even challenge the shoot and was still called for a foul. ?? I dunno, I guess I wish they would let the players run a preseason game where they called the fouls themselves pick up ball style. Hell, back in college, unless you where thrown to the ground, held NFL style or bleeding there wasn't a foul.

A good beer from A-B? Can it be?

Went to the grocery store with the wife this past weekend and took a quick stroll down the beer aisle just to see what seasonals where to be had. Picked up a 6er of Red Hook Winter Hook. A very nice winter lager, not too spicy, hops are just right. The 6er that really caught my eye was Michelob Winters Bourbon Cask Ale. I thought, hmmm, a Winter Seasonal craft brew from the makers of Michelob Ultra? Let's give it a try and if it terrible I'll have something to feed my key lime tree. Got home and popped one open and poured. Poured a nice deep brown/copper color. Took a sniff, huh do I actually smell a hint of bourbon, a nice vanilla note? No it can't be, this stuff is brewed by Anheuser-Busch right? Took a sip, wow this stuff is actually good. Took another sip, huh this stuff is really great. In fact this is the best "Bourbon" beer I've ever had. Now, in all truth I don't know how much actual Bourbon was used in the making of this beer but there has to be some because the taste is there but in the background. It lets the maltyness and the vanilla (that it is also aged with) do most of the work and then fills in the gaps. The perfect place for bourbon to be in a beer. In all the other Bourbon aged beers I have had (and oaked beers to a lesser extent) it feels like I am drinking fizzy bourbon, it is used to cover up the taste of an inferior beer. I will have to hand it to the folks at Michelob, in my opinion they knocked this one out of the park for a macro brew. A good introduction to a craft beer style for the masses. Maybe some random Bud drinker will pick up a 6 pack of this and be impressed enough to give some other interesting styles a shoot. If even one Bud drinker is converted over to the world of beer with taste because of this brew then that is a great thing. I'll give this one 3.5 out of 5.

Happy Drinking!

Corny Keg is full and ready to go....

Got the corny keg cleaned and sanitized last night, also ran some sanitizer through the beer line to clean out the Miller Lite that it had been hooked up to. The pony of Miller Lite is still pretty full, I plan on taking it up to a Poker tourney a guy in the neighborhood is hosting after the first of the year. The keg of Sweetwater IPA is on its last legs, I can't believe it is still pouring. Got the English Pale Ale into the keg and put it in the fridge for it to cool down to allow me to start force carbonating it, using the pressurize and shake method my buddy suggested. Figure I will try that either tonight or tomorrow, looking forward to giving this brew a try.

I took a quick picture of the current kegerator set-up:

You can see the Miller Lite Pony, Sweetwater IPA Torpedo and the Corney Keg in the back. Underneath the stand I built I store what is left of my 2 previous homebrews, only a few of the lagers left and about 16 or so of the IPAs. Looking at this makes me realize I could go to a 3 keg system if I really wanted to but I doubt it will ever be this full again. Most likely I will keep 1 keg of homebrew and one torpedo keg on draft most of the time. It is good to know if I ever had a huge bash that I can fit a 1/2 barrel keg + a 1/6 barrel keg and a corny in there if need be. Anyways, I hope to have a review of the English Pale Ale in a day or two. Until then, Happy Drinking!

Kegging Commences...

Hit the beer equipment store this weekend. Picked up a nice used Corny keg and a new beer kit. Got the keg all cleaned out last night and plan on getting the beer into it tonight. I'll let it chill for a bit and plan on getting it carbonated either Tuesday or Wednesday night. It will be nice to have to celebrate the New Year. The new beer kit is some mega hopped brew, can't remember the name but I think it topped the IBU chart somewhere around 50 or 60, yummy. Figure I will brew this up sometime in late January.

Quick Update and some quick reviews

Moved the homebrew over to the secondary fermenter yesterday. A few more days in there and then I have to figure out how if I want to bottle or keg it before I head out of town for the holidays.

Some quick beer reviews of brews I have tried in the past few weeks:

Serra Nevada Celebration: Yuck, strange hop note. Almost undrinkable 1/2 pint of 5
Anchor Christmas: Nice and spicy but not over the top, a nice seasonal. 3 out of 5
Sweetwater Festive: Another nice dark seasonal, more hoppy than the Anchor. 3.5 of 5
Goose Neck IPA: Not all that Hoppy for an IPA, seemed closer to a hoppy lager. 2.5 of 5
Goose Neck Honnker: Ugh, too sweet and very bland, glad I only tried a sample. 1 of 5
Great Lakes Christmas: Very nice, best Christmas brew I've had to date. A nice sweet malt start, very mild spiciness and a hint of hops to end. Very drinkable. 4 of 5

The Perfect Thanksgiving Weekend....

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I can't say that mine could have gone any better than it did. Had a great Thanksgiving dinner with friends and family on Friday. Drank a few Sam Adams Light while frying the turkey (Now 4 years with no major disasters or injuries!), also sampled a Yuengling Light for the first time. Not a bad brew, a good full tasting light beer, I can see this becoming a tennis party staple.

Got up Friday morning, drove my TR6 around a bit with mi padre. We went to check out a 1964 Land Rover Series IIa that I was interested in, turned out to be a rust bucket so no dice. Played golf that afternoon, weather was perfect. Played poorly on the front nine, broke out a cigar on the back and played much better. Won a few bucks and had a nice pint of Guinness in the clubhouse after the round, always a pleasure.

Got up Saturday, figured I had a few hours to kill before the UGA v. Georgia Tech football game, why not try brewing some beer. Brewed my first big batch o' beer, it went well with no issues. Beer is now sitting quietly in my basement while the yeast does its magic. That gives me about 2-3 weeks to find a used pepsi keg to put the finished product in.

The weekend was capped off by the wonderful results of "Clean, Old Fashioned Hate", GT 48 - UGA 45. Best game I have seen in a while, just glad it ended in a Yellow Jacket win. Spent the rest of Saturday drinking off my kegs (Sweetwater IPA, been trying to kill that keg for a few weekends but it refuses to die...) and watching football. Sunday was spent doing nothing and basking in the glow of a wonderful few days.

I'll keep everyone up to date on the fermenting progress and my search for a keg, until then...

Happy Drinking!!

New Yorker Interviews Dogfish Head Founder

A nice (but long) interview with the founder of Dogfish Head Brewing. A good read if you just happen to be a wee bit of a beer geek.

Link Here

My first IPA, a look back....

Hello, my name is Jim and I am a hop head. Here is my tale of how I got hooked on the wonderful flower that does amazing things to beer....

Thing is, I remember the place but I can't for the life of me remember the exact brew (as opposed to the first beer I had in high school, a Bud Ice Light..yum, but I digress that is another story). I had been exposed to big beers for the first time in '04 when the state of GA changed laws to allow high gravity beers to be sold. This exposed me to a few Belgians that where very nice but I still had yet to really expand my range of beers that I would buy. Back then one would find my beer fridge stocked with Miller Lite, Rolling Rock, the occasional Sam Adams or Bass and maybe some other random but nothing crazy. Keep in mind, this being right after the laws changed not many big California beers where to be found in the Peach State. Anyways, I went on buying my usual brews with a big Belgian brew thrown in for adventure. This all changed on fateful night in Columbus, OH.

Fast forward from that legendary night at the Brick store in the summer of '04 (the full telling includes me forcing my friend Jeremy to watch Dr. Strangelove for the first time and a very ill fated purchase of a bottle of Scotch) to the Spring of '06. I was stuck in Columbus, OH for work and myself and a fellow engineer decided to blow off some steam (being stuck in Columbus for 2 extra days because Delta keeps canceling your flight home will do this to you). We walked to a nice little Brewpub place around the corner from the hotel and ordered up a round. I accidentally order an IPA, I believe I was trying to order something close to Bass and figured India Pale Ale/Pale Ale was the same thing. Damn glad I made that mistake. I was floored with the first sip. My taste buds being assaulted on all sides, my brain swimming, overloaded from the input coming from my mouth. The floral note, the extreme bitterness, wow! First reaction after I regained control of my bodily functions was, damn that was bitter but for some reason I really like it! That first sip started me down the path to becoming hooked on the hop. I just can't get enough, maybe that is why you will find me looking at IBUs on beer more than worrying about ABVs. That first sip lead me to buy any beer that had IPA listed on the bottle, opened my eyes to lots of other smaller brewers who really know how to push the limits. That sip lead to my homebrewing, the installation of my kegerator and my writing on this blog.

This all goes to show what might happen if you decide to give different beer types a shoot. The worst that can happen is you won't like it, so you choke it down and order something different. There are hundreds of different takes on about as many different styles of beer. Next time you saddle up to a bar, order something you've never had before. Even better, order something you have never heard of before, who knows where it may lead.

Happy drinking!

Thursday Night Drinking Club plus some Beer Reviews

Hit up my local Taco Mac last night. Thursday nights are pint glass night, you buy the beer of the month and get a nice pint glass to take home. November beer of the month was Terrapin India Style Brown Ale (review below), came with a pretty cool Terrapin glass. Also got to work on my Passport card a bit (a beer drinking list a Taco Mac, once you have had x number of unique beers you get free stuff ect.) and try a few new brew out, here are the reviews!

Terrapin India Style Brown Ale:
Ok, my love/hate relationship with Terrapin is well documented on this site. I find some of their beers absolutely amazing while others are just plain boring. So I really wasn't expecting much going into trying this beer. Pours a very dark brown with a small head. Good aroma, picked up a hint of hoppyness (a good thing, most of the Terrapin beers that I have really liked are the uber hopped ones). A very smooth mouth feel. The right amount of malt at the start, a hint of burnt toast and a nice slightly hoppy finish. Wow, I really liked this one. I guess my best comparisons would be if you took a Newcastle Brown Ale and mixed it with a Dogfish 60 min. A very nice brew, extremely drinkable and a definite change of pace. I can see picking up a sixer for a party. I'll give it 3 pints out of 5.

Weyerbacher Double Simcoe IPA:
First Weyerbacher brew I have tried. I have heard good things and this nice Double IPA meet my expectations. A very rich deep orange/copper beer with pretty good head retention. The hops hit you as soon as you stick your nose in the glass. Very smooth but kind of bland to start and then the hops hit hard. A bit overwhelming at first but by my second and third sip I was looking forward to the onslaught. Didn't really stand out from some of the other big doubles I have had, it did cover the 9% abv very well. A good IPA sure, but would I go out of my way to order it again? Maybe, but there are other doubles ahead of it that I prefer. 2.7 pints out of 5.

Terrapin Big Hoppy Monster:
Ok, just above I gushed a bit over my love for Terrapins India Style Brown Ale, unfortunately I also spoke of the love/hate I have come to find I have for Terrapin as a whole. Welp here is where the hate part comes in, although hate is a bit strong I was really more extremely disappointed in this brew. As a card carrying hop head (ok, no card but maybe I should make some....) I was expecting great things from a brew called "Big Hoppy Monster". In the past most brews that have used a form of the word "hops" in the title have please me quite well. Two of the best examples would be Victory's Hop Devil and Hop Wallop beers, both awesome brews with tons o' hops in them. Now, I knew something may be amiss when I got the beer and it was a very deep dark red/ruby color. I was expecting something closer to the deep orange/copper hue of most "hoppy" beers. It looked much more like an Octoberfest brew, a beer that repeat readers will know I am not that fond of. So, I put the beer to my lips and take a sip. Malt bomb up front, kind of rough really. So I tasted the malt, waiting for the hops to hit.....still waiting.....still waiting....Where the hell did the hops go? Maybe a hint at the end but the maltyness is so overwhelming that you don't notice any bitterness or floral notes from the hops that are supposedly in this beer. Again, a Terrapin beer that is not what it advertises its self as. I'll keep trying Terrapin beers because I know I'll find some great ones (Rye PA, Rye Squared, Gamma Ray, Golden Ale, Hop Shortage), but I also know I'll find some duds like this one (and the RoggenRauch, Oak Rye). I'll give it 1.8 pints out of 5.

Budweiser American Ale:
Yep, I tried it. It was my last beer of the night, I was driving and didn't want another 8%abv brew. My buddy that I was watching the football with said he had tried it and it wasn't bad, so I figured what the heck. Well, I knew something was amiss when our waitress (Tori, a very cool chick) asked if I was sure I really wanted to order it, never had a waitress chastise my choice of beer before. Looked pretty good in the glass and that was about it. Dear lord this brew is a mess. Yeah, it's an Ale with plenty of malt up front but what kind of grain bill are the brewers in St. Louis using? Very odd after taste that hung around, no hops at all could be smelled/tasted. The malt flavor was all over the range from kind of sweet to sour and almost rotten tasting. I would have rather had a standard Bud heavy than this swill. Ugh, not a good beer to end the night on. I struggled to finish it, chasing each gulp with a pull on the water glass and a mouth full of french fries. 0 pints out of 5, In my opinion this beer is almost undrinkable.

Those are the reviews for the day. Found two brews I liked, one that was disappointing but drinkable and one that I wouldn't recommend to anyone. I'm sure I'll have a few more after the weekend.

Happy Drinking!

Beer Review: Terrapin Side Project #3 Gamma Ray Wheatwine, Breckenridge 471 Small Batch IPA

Picked up a few new treats at the local last week. Kind of stumbled upon the Terrapin Gamma Ray, I had been meaning to look for it but never got over to Tower, I was pleasantly surprised that Beverage World had it so I bought the last two bottles! Spotted the Breck 471 IPA while picking up a 4 pack of Dogfish 90 min, figured it never hurts to try a new IPA. On to the reviews...

Terrapin Side Project #3, Gamma Ray Wheatwine:
My first wheatwine. I have become a hug fan of Barleywines in the past year, my fav being the mega hopped Rouge Old Crustacean. From what I knew of Wheatwines going in, they are rare and tend to be lighter than a barleywine, closer to a Heffe beer (yep). The Gamma Ray poured a dark orange, had a very cool "glow" to it. Very opaque, could not see through it. Head built quickly but flattened almost as quick, not much carbonation sticking around in this beer. Picked up very fruity and sweet notes in the smell, honey, a hint of hops.... Very smooth in the mouth. Honey again but you can also taste the hint of yeasteyness (not a word, I know, more of a feeling). Almost like an uberheffe on steroids. Alcohol (11%abv) hits in the end and lets you know it is there. A very nice beer, more of a fall brew than your standard wheat beer, wish I had found this earlier and been able to stock up more. A big improvement over the last Side Project that I tried, the ill-fated Roggenrauchbier. If you like Heffe and like Barleywines then give this unique style a try next time you get a chance. I'll give it 3.5 pints out of 5.

Breckenridge 471 Small Batch IPA:
Listed as a double hopped IPA on the bottle, this one sucked me in the minute I saw it on the shelf. One, I love every beer I have ever tried from Breckenridge Brewery, these guys make some outstanding beers and may rank in my top 3 favorite breweries (Stone, Bear Republic, Victory, Allagash, Rouge, Breckenridge, Dogfish, Ommegang....Ok so I like a lot of breweries and Breck is on par with the best). Two, if you have read this blog with any regularity you know I can't turn down an IPA. So how is Brecks interpretation of a big IPA? Fantastic! Has everything going for it, tons of hops that hit you in waves. I think they use 3 or 4 different types of hops and you can tell. In most big IPAs the hops hit you all at once (not a bad thing) but in this one they all come out with slightly different favors and notes. At 70 IBUs it isn't anywhere near some of the other huge 100+ IBU IPAs but for some reason it seems like that 70 should be higher. Smooth and a tad sweet in the start to help get you ready for the hop onslaught that is about to hit your taste buds. The complexity of the hops does a great job hiding the fact that this is a 9.2% abv beer. I couldn't believe it when I checked the bottle and saw it hid that much alcohol. Wow. Color was a great deep copper-orange whit a wonderful bright white head. Very sticky head that hung out on the glass and laced quite nicely. This IPA immediately jumps near the top of the list on must buy IPAs for me. I figure a fridge full of this, Dogfish 90 min and Victory Hop Wallop would make me a very happy hop head. 4.5 pints out of 5.

That is it for now. Tons of new brews are showing up here in the Atl and I am having a hard time keeping up. Some exciting new brews and good news to come in the next few days!

Happy Drinking!

Back from Vegas beer report...

Got back in from Vegas Monday night. Had a great long weekend, got to surprise my wife's grandmother for her 80th birthday. I did decently well playing craps and blackjack. I even won a round of Bingo much to the dismay of the regulars in the room. Not much doing on the beer front in Vegas. I didn't make it back to the Burger Bar for beer by the boot. The only random beer I got to try while out in Vegas was at the Hofbrau House. This place is supposed to simulate at German beer hall and beer garden. They had a nice Octoberfest on tap that was nothing like the dark OCtoberfests you get here in the states. It was a much lighter beer, more like a Helles than a Marzen style. Very smooth but it packed a wollop. They didn't have the exact abv published, only stated it was over 6%. I would put it in the 6.5 to 7% range. Of course I ordered the 1 liter mug and labored through the first, ordered a 2nd and only got 2/3 of the way through. Just too much beer and food. It was funny to see my wife's cousin (life time Budweiser drinker) go after the Octoberfest. I don't think he realized it was about double the abv of his standard brew! Anyways, that is it for now.

Gone for the weekend, again...

but this time it's inVEGAS Baby!

Michigan Beer Reviews.....

Headed up Michigan way this past weekend to visit a good college friend of mine. We spent the weekend watching football, drinking beer and pigging out on some good home cooked food. Even got a few hours to brew up some Coffee Porter on Sunday. Tried a few new beers and an old favorite while there. Had some sort of local brew IPA Friday night at dinner, wasn't bad but didn't blow my head off or really have a truly unique taste. My buddies Heffe homebrew that he had on tap was quite nice. A good balanced taste, perfect amount of yeast floating around, a nice malty note up front but not too sweet, good carbonation and a nice mouth feel. A well done brew, hope my first foray into large batch homebrewing/kegging turns out as good.

In anticipation of eating lots of BBQ and watching football on Saturday we picked up some random beers at the local package store. I about fell over when I noticed they had Dogfish Head 120 on sale. Had to pick up a bottle, pretty well priced too at $10.67 per bottle (I paid $10 even at the brewery). Also picked up a sixer of Dogfish Punkin. A nice fall brew, I liked it better than any Oktoberfest I've had this year. I find most Oktoberfest beer to be way too malty for my taste, I usually get excited to buy a 12 pack then get 2 beers in and realize how much I really don't like the style. The Dogfish Punkin had just the right amount of malt sweetness, brown sugar note, a tad of cinnamon spice to it to make it an extremely smooth and drinkable ale. Hides the 7% abv very nicely as well. Better than any other Pumpkin Ale that I have tried, most are way too over the top.

Ended the Saturday evening festivities chowing down on some wonderfully smoked pulled pork, baked beans, corn bread and a wicked Guinness Chocolate cake that someone brought. Wow, good meal, good beer and good friends. Cant' beat that, well except that my buddies fiance decided to cook southern style biscuits and gravy (big fluffy buttermilk biscuits and white sausage gravy) for breakfast the next morning, double wow. The perfect hangover cure! And to think, she grew up in Michigan....

Last thing I got a chance to do before having to hop a plane back to the ATL was help out brew up some more beer. The heffe pretty much got killed at the party Saturday. It was nice to kind of walk through all the steps of brewing a big batch before I give it a go myself. I can't wait to give it a try, just need to do a little inventory and make sure I have a few of the little things to make everything go smoothly!

Too sick to drink?

Question: Can you be too sick to drink?

Answer: Ohh yeah.

Spent the weekend at my first completely sober Georgia Tech football game since....well I'm actually not sure if I have ever attended a GT game and not had at least 2 or 3 beers. I think I made it through about half of a Magic Hat Hocus Pocus before I tapped out. Picked up a wicked head cold flu thing on Thursday and had no energy what so ever. Picked a heck of a game not to drink either. Sitting through the torture that was GT's 10-7 win over Gardner-Webb was unbearable. At least we won.

Hopefully I will be on the mend and my sense of taste will have returned by this coming weekend. I will be spending it in the scenic hamlet of Ann Arbor, MI. Visiting a good college buddy of mine. The plan at the moment is to brew beer, drink beer, eat pulled pork and watch football. A taxing schedule I know. Hopefully I can review some of his homebrew and maybe get my hands on some unknown Northern beers...

Happy Drinking!

Stone has Arrived!!

So I stop in my local beer store on the way home yesterday (Been fridge was empty! But I needed some walking around beer for the weekend, can't drag those kegs with me), I figured I would see if they has a sixer of the Kona Fire Rock Pale Ale that I had the night before. I have to pass the high grav/rare beer section on my way to the coolers so I figured I would stop to see what they had. Some nice additions that I did not buy, Dogfish Pumpkin, a few new belgians, Ommegang Chocolate something or other and then I saw it. They have gotten Stone Brewing in! Sweet! Stone just entered the GA market this week and have some great beers I have talked about before. This leaves Bear Republic as the one brew that I love that I can't get here in GA. Anyway, grabbed a bomber each of the Arrogant Bastard Ale and Ruination IPA. Looking forward to enjoying them this weekend!

Quick Beer Reviews: Radeberger Pilsner and Kona Fire Rock

Grabbed dinner and some beer at the monthly pub crawl that I set up for the MINI club that I am a member of. We meet at Six Feet Under, a nice little joint that serves good seafood and has a pretty decent beer menu. Tried the Radeberger Pilsner first. Was not impressed. It tasted like a pilsner, nothing amazing about it. Not near as good as Pilsner Urquell but better than some of the American Marco Brews trying to pass themselves off as Pilsners. Would I order it again? Nah, a rather forgettable brew.

For my 2nd choice I decided to try another brew that I have been meaning to give a try. Kona (Yes they brew beer in Hawaii) has just recently shown up here in Georgia (did I mention that Yeungling is coming is December!) and I had not yet sampled any other their brews. There was a wheat brew and the Fire Rock Pale Ale on the menu, seeing as we where sitting outside and it was getting a bit nippy I went with the Pale Ale. A very good brew. Nice and flavorful, a good hop kick but not to the scale of an IPA. Nice and dark color. I'll have to grab a sixer or a sample pack and give Kona a more in depth review in the near future. Give it a try if you can find it at your local or the closest liquor store.

Heinzelmännchen Brewery in Sylva, NC

Took in the Western Carolina v. Liberty football game this weekend in scenic Cullowhee, NC. By far the prettiest vistas of any football stadium that I have ever been to. Great views up and down the valley that WCU is located in from the stadium. Stopped in the Heinzelmännchen Brewery before the game to top off two growlers that I had purchased their back in the spring. Went with their new Dunkel Wies and the Kilted Gnome Scottish Style Ale (had this last spring). The Dunkel was excellent, sweet and smooth with a hint of hops. Very refreshing for a dark beer and perfect for cooling the mouth during the hot hours of the tailgate. The Kilted Gnome is a high grav (7.5%) and they have changed the recipe a bit from the spring. It is now a bit sweeter up front and has a nice hoppy and warming finish. If you are ever stranded in Western North Carolina and need a microbrewery fix make sure to stop in to Heinzelmännchen. Dieter and his wife Sheryl run the place and are very helpful. Samples of each beer style plus their root beer and birch beer offerings are available as are pretzels and a big selection of mustard. This is a must stop for me if I am anywhere near Sylva. Check out their website for directions and more info!

B Double E Double R U N

Ok, I really don't need any more beer seeing as I have two pretty full kegs in the basement but I plan on hitting the Beer Store this weekend to pick up a few new brews. Plan on picking up a least a case more of the Victory Hop Wallop (love this stuff). Also, going hunting for Terripan Big Hoppy Monster and their latest side project release. Plus I'm always on the lookout for North Coast Old Stock and any Stone Brewing Beer when they get here (Late this month). Happy hunting fellow Beer Snobs.

The Beer Snobs Official Beer Bocce Rules

So you like Bocce and have always wondered, how can incorporate drinking into this game? Look no further!

The Atlanta Beer Snobs Rules to Beer Bocce
(as passed on to me through the Chi Phi Fraternity at Georgia Tech)

Equipment Needed:
Bocce Set (Any set will do but for all terrain bocce a cheap set is best)
Dixie Cup
Duct Tape (Always handy to have for when a player throws a ball that lands on a man-hole and cracks in two)
Beer (each player must have a beer in hand during play)

Players:
2-8

Teams:
2 but can be split up other ways.

Field of Play:
Pretty much anywhere with grass or dirt. If a players ball hits a building, concrete, man-hole, sidewalk, street, chair, person, car ect. then that person must pay homage to the bocce gods by taking a generous chug of what ever they are drinking. If a ball is damaged during the game. Player damaging said ball must finish the game with the damaged ball. Player must also play any future games with the same ball (see duct tape above).

Rules:

1. Split players into teams
2. Decide which team will throw the Pepe (jack, pallino, the little target ball) to start.
3. Member from opposite team must "cup" the Pepe. This involves placing a Dixie cup over the top of the Pepe, preferably done in a semi-hilarious manner. In other words, make us laugh.
4. Team who threw the Pepe has the option to have first or last toss.
5. Once order is decided teams alternate throwing the large balls towards the Pepe.
6. If anyone knocks the Dixie cup completely off the Pepe, play is suspended until all players of the opposite team have finished their beer and returned with a full beer.
7. Once all throws have been completed tally the score.
8. A team scores points by having the closest balls to the Pepe. Example: If Team A has the closest ball and Team B has the next closest then Team A scores one point. If A has 2 balls closer than B they score 2 points ect. Only one Team will score points peer Pepe toss. Games are played to 10, 15, 21 points. It doesn't really matter, decide on a ending point when you start.
9. Starting the next round: Player with the ball nearest the Pepe throws the Pepe for the next round, player with the ball farthest from the Pepe has to place the Dixie Cup. If these are the same player than the player from the team that did not point and having the next farthest ball away will cup.

There are the rules. Go pick up a bocce set at Wally World or Target and give it a try at your next tailgate.

Both Taps up and Running

Picked up a Pony Keg of Miller Lite and a Torpedo Keg of Sweetwater IPA today. Getting set for College Football season which kicks off its first full Saturday slate of games tomorrow. Figure the kegs should get me and any football watching friends through the next month or two. Miller Lite will be for the masses while I will reserve the Sweetwater for myself and a select few. I did have to slightly modify the door of the kegerator to fit both kegs (cut out one of the shelves). But everything fits and is gased up! Happy Opening Weekend!

The Atlanta Beer Snob's Guide to Tailgating UPDATED!

Ok, college football season is right around the corner and me being a responsible football fanatic could not let the season start without a slight preview as to how I do things when I tailgate and pre-game.

First:

What time to arrive for the tailgate?

Easy, as early as possible. Doesn't matter if it is a noon start or an 8pm start. Get there at 8am. My wife always complained about this until I pointed out that I only get to do this maybe 5 times a year and that she secretly enjoyed it anyways. I know 12 hours of tailgating may seem like forever but if you have planned correctly then it will go by in a hurry.

Where to tailgate?

As they say in real estate is all come down to location, location, location. If you can go and scope out your chosen spot a week before the game. Know where you are going to park, how bad is traffic going to be getting there, where are the nearest bathrooms, where are the nearest power outlets, and are there going to be plenty of other like minded fans in the area? All of these are very important in picking out a spot. For my Georgia Tech tailgates we have used pretty much the same spot for the last 5 years. Nice open green space, easy place to park, good access to bathrooms and power outlets and a good (but not overcrowded) number of other Tech folks that tailgate in the same area (many happen to have been tailgating there just as long as us). For away games pre-tailgating scouting and some inside information is a must. If you know someone who has been to games a (fill in the blank) stadium before, ask them the best places for an away fan to tailgate. Used local knowledge to our advantage for tailgating prior to the GT vs. Auburn game in 2005. Knew where we could park and found out that you could stake out your tailgate spot Friday afternoon before the game.

Food?

Yes. We split is up with our group. Menu can vary but usually involves grilling, meat, chili, more grilling, more meat ect. Breakfast can be bagels or you can cook if you really want to get into the spirit. Always bring post-game snacks as well.

Beer and other Refreshments?

Depends on your taste. We have recently moved towards higher class beer for our tailgates since we are not looking to pound a case before the game. So pick something that meets your tastes but that isn't too heavy. As for in game drinking, Bourbon or Tennessee Whiskey are the best bets.

Passing the Time Pre-Game?

Ok, there is a lot you can do to pass the 8 or so hours you may have before the game. A Semi-Athletic game helps pass the time and keeps you a bit active to ward off and alcohol induced sleepiness. Tossing the football around is ok but you can't hold a beer while doing it. Instead I prefer Beer Bocce. What is Beer Bocce you may ask? Well my definition of Beer Bocce (I'll post some instructions later) is a game that was introduced to me through my fraternity in college. Needless to say the rules are pretty loose and it involves plenty of drinking. Imagine bocce but with consequences. Other games that are acceptable: Sack Toss (I refuse to call it Cornhole), Beer Pong (Tricky on windy days), Ladder Ball , and any other game that can be played holding a beer.

Most important thing to remember about game day, pace yourself. You want to make it to the game and remember most of it!

Victory Hop Wallop Review

Picked up a six pack of this on my monthly beer run yesterday. Only Victory beer I really have any experience with is their HopDevil IPA. A very good beer, well balanced and very drinkable for an IPA. Figured that I would give this one a try. My first thoughts when reading over the bottle where why would Victory make a year-round IPA and then a seasonal one, they can't be that different can they? I was a bit wrong and that point. Where DHF 90 minute is a bit more of an evolution from the 60 min the Hop Wallop is more a complete reinvention from the HopDevil. Whoa, you can smell the hops as soon as you open the bottle. Pours actually a tad lighter in color than the HopDevil, mostly dark golden color with a hint of copper. Nice full head that sticks around for a bit and hangs to the side of the glass while drinking. Did I mention it reaks of hops? Floral notes, a hint of pine just hits you when you stick a nose in to get a sniff. Taste is amazing as well. Again the hops are extremely dominate, barley a notice of malt and the alcohol (8.5%) is only noticeable at the very end. Nice bitter and aggressive to start and finishes with a more mellow bite. If you are a hop head then the mouth feel is excellent, you can feel this beer hanging around in every nook and cranny in your mouth. I plan on stocking up on this stuff while available this winter so that I can make it through next spring and summer with an adequate supply. An excellent brew. 4.5 pints out of 5. This definitely pushes me to try the rest of Victory's beers.

Magic Hat in Atlanta! Stone on its Way!

Wow, I put up a review about #9 and state that I can't buy it in Georgia. Well, what to my surprise to I spy at my local beer store yesterday (while picking up some Rogue Old Crustacean and Allagash Triple Reserve) but Magic Hat Beer! Sweet! They had 3 or 4 types. #9, Hocus Pocus, Circus Boy and maybe one other, a sample pack was also hiding in the beer cooler. Didn't pick any up this trip but I am going to grab some as soon as I get back from the beach. #9 may become my high-end tailgating beer for this season!

Also found out that Stone Brewing is going to start selling beer in GA, first shipments expected middle of September! Now all I need is Bear Republic to get here and I will be a very happy drinker.

Homebrew IPA Review

My homebrewed IPA has had a bit more time to rest the last few weeks. I decided last night to pop another open and give it a true review.

Pours a dark brownish copper color, very clear. Good carbonation with pour. Fizzy head to start that sticks around for a bit. Slightly floral aroma with a hint of honey. Taste has changed the most from my first try a few weeks ago. Seems to have mellowed out a bit. Hops bitterness is still up front but more manageable, honey sweetness has dulled a bit but that is a god thing. Much more complex finish now, sweet and smooth. It really doesn't taste like an IPA, more like a Pale Ale with a bit more hops than usual. Maybe like a Bass with a hint of honey and a few more hops. If all the beers I end up brewing turn out this good then I will be a happy guy. I'll give the homebrew 3.5 pints out of 5.

New Beers in the Cellar, a new Season on the Horizon...

Added a whole bunch of new Beers to the cellar fridge this weekend. Most brought back from my trip to New York. I really wish I could find Stone and Bear Republic beers here in GA. Closest for Bear is SC and Stone would be Knoxville area. Dang it. Maybe someday GA will update its beer buying law to something closer to its Wine law, allowing folks to order beer from out of state and bypass the distributors. For now it just means I have to keep an eye out for both whenever I am on the road.

My sister-in-law gave Kel and I a nice small wine fridge. It now resides out on top of the beer fridge in the garage. That puts our fridge count at 5 (Beer Fridge, Kegerator, Cellar Fridge, Wine Fridge, Food Fridge) and 4 of the 5 are dedicated to storing alcohol. Hmmm, maybe we have a slight problem, nah.

We also just reorganized our basement storage area, put in a whole bunch of new shelving and cabinets. So my brewing equipment now has a true place to live instead of underneath my garage workbench. My collectible liquor bottles and our other hooch now lives in a lockable cabinet, hopefully putting the kibosh on anymore bottle thefts.

Exciting times abound. Football season is upcoming and that also marks the arrival of cooler weather. This combined with a trip to Ann Arbor sometime in the next few months (Visit to a college buddy and avid home brewer) should lead to my first big batch of homebrew, and then the eventual kegging of said beer. Football tailgates also mark the return of "Fall", "Fall" being the codeword for the best football drink of all, the Bourbon and Coke. So in the next few weeks expect some new beer reviews plus the Atlanta Beer Snobs College Football Tailgating Guide. Should be fun.....

Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA Review

I really like this beer. Had for the first time on tap in Virginia. Thanks to Beer Advocate and some of their online beer store guides I found a good beer store near where I am staying this week. Since NY state does not have an abv limit I wanted to find a store that might have some of my high abv favs that I can't get in GA. I was hoping for Dogfish Head 120 Min IPA but found some other favorites, Bear Republic being one of these. Got 2 bottle of Racer 5, a bottle of Bear Republic Hop Rob Ale and then a few bottles of Stone Brewing beer. Here is the Racer 5 review:

Pours a deep orangish copper color. Hazy in clarity. Nice white head forms right away. Very good head retention for the first few minutes, it then settles down to a nice lacing on top of the beer. A good floral smell, hops are right up front. Maybe a little fruity note, apricot, maybe hint of orange? Mouth feel, slightly sweet start but the hops kick in almost right away. Oily feel going through the mouth. Good bitter hops note but not too much, alcohol (7%) is well hidden but does help balance out the hops, you do feel the hops on your teeth between sips. All in all I had forgotten how much I love this beer. May need to stack it up against the 90 min when I get home in a battle royal for my top IPA. If you are a hop and IPA fanatic then go get one of some Racer 5, a supreme example of a West Coast IPA. I have got to figure out a way to get this stuff in GA. 4/2 pints out of 5.

Magic Hat #9 Review

Ok, picked up a sixer of this brew which is not available in GA. I have had it before at the Capital Ale House in VA. It markets itself as not quite a Pale Ale. I would say they are pretty close with that description. Pours a light copper color. Pretty good head that settles out quickly. You can pick up a bit of fruitiness in the smell. Almost hefe like but a tad sweeter? (After having a few I noticed the bottle said it was brewed with essence of apricot) Good mouth feel. A sweet note, but not a maltyone. Very odd but pleasant. A short hop note up front but no bitterness to be had (darn!) Lingers in the mouth a while, a slight oily feel once done. There is something about this beer I can't really put my finger on. It isn't a pale ale but shouldn't really be called a fruit beer either. Maybe an SPA, Sweet Pale Ale? It is a refreshing drinking beer and a tad mysterious as it says on the bottle. If I could get it in GA it would be a semi-regular feature for when I was in a mood for a darker ale but not on a hop bender. If you like Pale Ales but are not a Hop Head (or if you are and want to try something interesting) and you find this on tap, give it a shoot. I'll give it 3 pint out of 5.

IPA is done plus a few Beer Reviews

Gave one of my homebrew IPAs a shoot last night. It is ok, decent hop taste but with a strange hop bitterness, could be the fact that it was a hop extract and not fresh hops used in the brewing. I can taste the honey that I added, actually gives the beer a pretty nice balance with the bitterness that I am not sure would be there otherwise. Pretty smooth, very fizzy carbonation. I am going to let the rest age for a few more weeks and see if anything changes.

Tried three new brews while out on my Carolina swing this week:

First was an XPA (extra pale ale) but I don't remember who brewed it. Was not impressed, very dull taste, just not much there.

Second was the Highland Kashmir IPA, yes I saw this on the menu and remembered my Gaelic Ale experience so I had to order it. Wow, an impressive IPA. This may replace the Dogfish 60 minute as my favorite regular IPA. Very floral smell, great feel in the mouth. Big hops kick. Darker in color than most IPA (almost Bass colored). Going to have to get a 6er of this stuff to give a more in depth review.

Last was Foothills Brewing IPA. Eh, it was pretty good. Probably suffered from having come right after the very impressive Highland offering. Not very hoppy, color was much lighter than the Kashmir. A good beer but nothing stood out about it.

Beer Review: Rogue Old Crustacean and Allagash Tripel Reserve

Ok, spent the weekend in the N.GA mountains with my folks. Had a great time fishing, playing a little golf and just relaxing. Decided to stop by Tower to pick up a few new beers for the weekend. The gems that I picked up will most definitely make return appearances to the beer fridge and to the cellaring fridge.

First up, Rogue Old Crustacean Aged XS line (Barleywine).

This came in a nice 750ml ceramic bottle with gate close top. I don't remember the year, I'll have to check the bottle. Poured very thick. Very dark brown with a nice creamy head. Great aroma, hops all over the place. A bit of a sweet note on the nose as well. The taste of this beer was perfect. Nice smooth start, a little sweet, kind of fruity but then the hops kick in. Wow, great hop note. Balances the malt sweetness perfectly and complements the alcohol zing and warmth nicely. Not a beer for those who don't like hops. A neat take on the barleywine. This one will be heading for the cellar very soon! I also have the feeling that it will make an appearance in my hall of fame.

Allagash Tripel Reserve

I usually trend towards darker more aggressive beers but decided to give this one a shot. Sure glad I did! Pours a hazy orange, nice white lacey head. Smells fruity with some yeast tones, more like a bakery smell. Taste is very nice. Smooth, ohh so smooth. Not too sweet, very flavorful. Alcohol is well masked, this definitely does not taste like a beer with 9% ABV. Carbonation is perfect, just the right amount to add to the experience. My wife even tried this one and liked it (she hates beer, only one she has ever liked was some Hefewiezen we got on draft at Brick Store). This beer did undergo an interesting transformation when I let it warm up. When very cold it is a much fruitier beer, once warmed the fruit sweetness was dulled a bit and you could pick a bit of the warmth brought on by the alcohol. Either way this too is a great beer and a good introduction into the land of the Belgian Tripel.

IPA in Bottles and a Beer and Concert Review

Got my IPA bottled up this past weekend. Now I have to wait for a few weeks to let it carbonate. Looking forward to trying it out. I may go ahead and get the Bock Beer kit that I bought going so that it may be ready for football season. Also picked up a bunch of brewing equipment from a good friend from my car club (Thanks Laura!). So I now have all the right stuff to tackle a big batch. May be a few weeks, I'll keep everyone posted right here.

Went to a pretty great concert last night with a college buddy of mine. Stopped by his place for dinner before hand (His girlfriend cooked fried chicken, very excellent) and he had a stash of Highland Gaelic Ale. Been a while since I had tried this beer. I immediately reminded myself not to pass over a few of Highlands offerings next time I frequent the local beer store. A nice thick head, slightly brown in color. Beer color is a great dark brown, almost a deep ruby. Very malty flavor, sweet up front. A touch of hops to balance it out and keep it from being overly sweet. Very smooth and extremely drinkable. A great beer that I am glad I rediscovered.

The Concert: Old 97's
Where: Variety Playhouse

This was the first show I had ever seen at the Variety Playhouse. The venue reviews I read before hand showed people either loved or hated the place. I fall in the former, this is a great place to see a show! Parking is cheap ($5) beer is a good price and the size is just right. Plenty of room to stand in the front and tons of seating on the sides, back and in the balcony. Went to the show only expecting two bands, Sleepercar and the Old 97's. Got a very pleasant surprise when there was a second opening band, The Spring Standards. Wow, best opening band I've ever seen. A trio consisting of Two guys on guitar or bass and a girl on percussion. The guys also played either a hi-hat or bass drum while strumming (and sometimes a harmonica) and the girl also happened to play keyboards, some sort of wind recorder thingy and sang lead on several songs. Try to name me one other female lead vocalist that plays percussion! Vocal harmonies where amazing, energy was great and the songs where perfect. They played a strange combination of bluesy, folky, little dash of gospel, countrified new rock with hints of some emo working its way in there. Just wow. Picked up their brand new EP, No One Will Know after the show. Check these guys out at their myspace, www.myspace.com/thespringstandards

Sleepercar played a great set. Very high energy. Hit all the songs off of their new CD, West Texas. They even threw in a cover of a Flying Burrito Brothers cover near the end of the set. They are a neat combination of Snow Patrol with a little Wilco thrown in and a big influence from the Old 97's. Check them out on their myspace, http://www.myspace.com/sleepercarwesttexas

Headliner the Old 97's did not disappoint. Huge energy throughout a big set. Band sounded great, songs where awesome and the crowd really seemed to get into it. I am pretty sure they played for almost 2 solid hours. You can check them out here: http://www.old97s.com/

This show has vaulted into my top 3 concerts of all time (For review, Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds Live in Savannah, GA on 2/13/96 is #1 and Radiohead Live in Atlanta this year is #2). Two amazing opening acts that put on incredible sets that should have been hard to follow but Old 97's stepped up their game and delivered. Keep and eye on all these bands, The Spring Standards, Sleepercar and the Old 97's. I am sure you will hear of them again.

Wordle...

A pretty neat application that I stumbled across. Takes all the word from a page or anything and makes some graphical "art" out of them. Check out the art for this site below....

title="Wordle: Beer Blog"> src="http://wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/75405/Beer_Blog"
style="padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd"
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New Mini Fridge

Picked up a new Mini Fridge at Sears today (yeah gift cards). It is plenty big to hold the beers that I want to store long term. This will let me set this fridge temp to 50-55 degrees and only use the kegerator fridge when I have beer on tap. When I get it unpacked and set up I will post some pictures.

My Basement Bar

Here are a few pictures of my basement bar set up. You will find me down here most Saturdays and Sundays in the fall watching football and enjoying a brew. The brick finish on 3 of the walls is painted, took about 3 years to really finish everything up and get it to where I feel like I am actually done. When we moved in there was a wall that split the room into a pool room and a storage area. Wall ran where the metal poles are in the pictures.





I have 5 neon signs that I have acquired either from ebay or gifts. Also have a ton of metal signs, a few non-neon light up signs and lots of other pictures up on the walls.

The Taps and Bar:









I had been hunting for some sort of bar to use and came across this piece at the big antiques mart here in Atlanta. As you can see the top folds out for a nice work area and there is plenty of space underneath for glassware and liquor storage. I am working on trying to find a key to fit the locks so that it can be locked up if needed. Only thing I can figure is it used to be some type of desk. Folks we got it from where not really sure what it was used for only that it looks to be custom made and maybe 100 years old or so. Whatever it was made for doesn't matter to me because it works perfect for my bar, exact right size and height for the taps and fits in well with the rest of the basement. Picked up the granite top cheap from a place near where I work, it was a scrape piece they where able to cut to size and polish up for me.

Dart Board:



TV, Stereo and Record Player:



Georgia Tech Corner with a piece of goalpost from the 1999 GT 51 v UGa 48 game.



The Kegerator:



I can fit a 1/2 barrel easily in there and I think I can squeeze a 1/6 in next to it. Most of the time I'll be running either several homebrew kegs, a few 1/6 barrels or a 1/4 and a 1/6 barrel. The blower at the top cycles cool air from the fridge through the pipe that the beer lines run through. Only problem with my set up is that my line run is 5-6 feet. Mean I have to use a bit higher pressure and had to install the blower to keep the lines cool. It has worked great now that I worked a few bugs out.

This is also where I store/cellar my beer. I really want to find an old mini fridge that I can put in the basement to store the cellared beer a bit warmer (50-55 degrees) than I keep the keg fridge, I'll keep my eyes out for a yard sale.

Bottling?

My IPA should be finished in the next week. I plan on checking it tonight to see if it has finished fermenting. Next step is to clean out all my bottles and then fill them up to condition!

On the new Beers tried front, I gave Great Divides Barleywine a try. Not bad, I probably would have enjoyed it more if it wasn't July 4th, I hadn't drank my weight in cheap beer by the pool all day, I wasn't smoking a cigar, and I wasn't losing at poker. Either way, I seem to remember liking it enough that next trip to Tower I plan on picking up another bottle and giving it a proper review!

Amercian Devil IPA is fermenting and a Dogfish Head Immort Ale Review

Got my American Devil IPA brewed up and put in the fermenter on Thursday. I was sitting around after work and a little bored so I figured I would get cooking. Added about 3/4 cup of some honey to add a little sweetness to the flavor and kick the alcohol content up a tad. The malt and hop extract smelled pretty awful. I hope the beer tastes better than that smell! It should take about 2-3 weeks for it to ferment. After that I will bottle it up in a few 12oz bottles and at least one growler, then it should be another 2 weeks for conditioning. So I should have the beer review for this in a little over a month, looking forward to it. I am planning on brewing up the English Pale Ale towards the end of the month. A friend in my car club has a bunch of brewing equipment that she hasn't used in years that she is going to give to me! The only condition is that I give her some of the beer I brew, I would call that a good swap.

On to the Review!
Dogfish Head Immort Ale:
The dogfish site says this is a beer that is brewed with peat smoked barley, juniper berries, honey and maple syrup and then aged in oak barrels. Sounded like just the type of beer I would either love or hate (So far my opinion of barrel aged beers has not been all that great). This being a Dogfish brew though lead me to be excited. On first pour the beer has a nice slightly brown head, beer is dark golden brown. Has a very nice vanilla note with a hint a maple in the smell. Taste is excellent, very smooth. Maple flavor comes out and you get a hint of smokiness which is a very nice balance to the sweetness of the maple. When I first poured this it was probably too cold because towards the end of my tasting, when the beer warmed, several new flavors came out. The oak spiciness really asserted itself as well as a very slight hop note at the end. I liked it cold but I loved this beer when it hit its prime serving temp. I plan on cellaring a few of these (it is only available once a year) and buying a few more for immediate enjoyment. This is going to be a great beer for the fall. Guess I plan on buying out any that are left at my local beer merchant! If you can take strong ales and are looking for a beginner barrel aged beer, then keep an eye out for this one. I'll give it 4 1/2 pints out of 5.

Homebrewing...

Planning on doing some homebrewing this weekend. I bought an IPA kit for my Mr. Beer. Pretty easy to brew so I figure that I will at least get that one in the fermenter. If I have the time I am going to try to brew up my big English Pale ale kit. If I get them done I'll update everyone as to how it went on Monday!

Beer Review: Abita IPA, JW Dundees Sample Pack, Great Divide Hercules Double IPA, Terrapin RoggenRauchBier

Ok, some quick beer reviews:

Abita IPA:
Not a bad IPA, good color. Smooth up front with a little hint of sweetness. Hop flavor comes on rather strong at the end. All in all a very good IPA, stands up to some of my favorites (Sweetwater IPA, Dogfish 90 minute).

JW Dundees Sample Pack:
This came with 2 of each of the following: Honey Brown, American Lager, Pale Ale, Pale Bock, IPA, and a Hefewiezen. Here are the ones I have tried.
American Lager: Not all that impressed. Pretty bland, some sweet malt but not much else there.
IPA: A good IPA, nice hop finish, not too overwhelming. Probably a good intro IPA.
Pale Bock: This one surprised my. Never heard of a Pale Bock before so I was a bit wary. Very smooth with some nice roasted malt flavors to start and some great hop flavors to finish. Almost like a very dark IPA. A neat beer and the most drinkable of the sampler pack so far.

Great Divide Hercules Double IPA:
A big IPA. I would put this on par with my standard big IPA, Dogfish Head 90 Minute. Not as sweet as the Dogfish, hides it's alcohol content better (9.1% abv). Smell is not quite as floral as the 90, color a bit redder and darker, hops are nicely balanced in the end. Finish bitterness not near as in your face as the 90. A great "big" IPA. I'll buy it again.

Terrapin RoggenRauchBier (Side Project #2):
The only RauchBier (Literally Smoke Beer in German) I can compare this too is Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Marzen. The Marzen was very up front with the smoke smell and flavor. My bartendress described it as "Smells like Bacon", and it did. Very smokey, some hints of hickory and maple and right in your face about it. The Terrapin is a bit different. On first smell the smokeyness is hard to pick out. If you didn't know what a Rauchbier was I think it would be very hard to put a description to the smell. Pours very dark brown, maybe a hint darker than Newcastle. Good smooth flavor, more like a brown ale as well with very little to no smoke flavor in the beer. Good clean finish. A nice beer but for a Rauchbier I was expecting much more smoke flavor so this is a bit of a let down for me.

Cheap Beer

I know this blog is titled Beer Snob and I guess I am a bit of a beer snob but there is a time and place to drink cheap beer. Though I do trend towards good beer I do buy my fare share of low end beer. I have a soft spot for the stuff since it was all I drank until I saw the light of better beer (and got a job and was thus able to afford good beer). So, I give you my times to drink cheap beer:

If you are in college then there really is no other beer than what we referred to as "Finest, cheapest". In a bar? Gimmie what ever the cheapest stuff coming out of the tap is that night. Usually this ends up being Coors/Bud/Miller Lite although we had some interesting selections around GT when I was in college. Best bet was Limerick Junctions Wednesday Night Special. Back in my day it was a beer new to the US, the special was $4.50 pitchers of Amstel Light! You could get food, drink for a few hours and leave with a tab of around $15 a person. All in all a great deal. For house parties the beers of choice ranged from Lighthouse, to Bud products and on to Natural Light. None taste all that good but for alcohol consumption they do their jobs. We did have fans of two odd beers back in school. Landmark and Schafer. Ugh, both the bottom of the barrel beer wise, but hey you could get a case of Landmark for $8!

When do I drink cheap beer now that I am out of school and have money to afford good beer? I'll keep a few in the fridge for when I am doing yardwork. My fav for quenching a thirst after mowing the lawn or playing tennis is Rolling Rock Light. Pretty good taste, very smooth and works best when served very cold on a hot day. For parties I'll stock usually stock up on Miller Light Bottles, a good standard (If I'm going high class for the party then Amstel Light is the choice). For the pool I upscale things a bit. No bottles so I have gotten in the habit of drinking Heineken Light. No cheap but not really high end either.

There are very few beers that I have avoided. You won't find me turning down a beer just because it is cheap. Iron City, PBR (a guilty pleasure actually, best enjoyed out of a 16 or 22oz can), Lighthouse ect. are all acceptable beers. In fact, the only beer that I can remember flat out refusing to finish was a Milwaukee's Best Light that a fraternity buddy of mine gave me. It was all he had in his fridge and it was terrible. I think I took two sips and decided to stay sober that night, yuck.

Those are my thoughts on cheap beer. Drink up if it is what you like but go out on a limb every now and then and try something new. But make sure you keep a few stashed in the fridge for the right time.

Favorite Cheap Beers:
Yuengling
Miller Light
Rolling Rock Light
Pabst Blue Ribbon

New Blog!

Hey everyone! Starting up a new blog about one of my favorite hobbies, drinking beer! Why a start a beer blog? Well I have always been a bit of a beer snob. I was the guy in the fraternity in college always trying new and different beers (back then it was radical to buy anything other than Natural Light, Bud Light or Miller Lite). Over the years this has transformed into a true appreciation of the many different types of beer that are out there. This really hit home when the State of Georgia changed the law capping the amount of alcohol in beer from 6% to 14% in 2004. A good friend of mine and I celebrated the occasion at Brick Store Pub in Decatur. The experience of trying some really amazing Belgian and other beers for the first time was incredible. Opened my eyes to what other neat styles of beer there are out there waiting for me to try them.

So, my idea behind this blog is to keep my readers up to date on what crazy beers are out there. I'll keep track of what is in my beer fridge, what I am cellaring for later consumption and what I have on tap in my basement bar (I'll post some pictures later this week, the jest of it is that I built out my basement to look and feel like some of the hole in the wall bars in Savannah, GA. Wood flooring, walls look like distressed red brick, neon signs, pool table, big TV, and a bar with two taps). I am also slowly getting into home brewing so I will keep everyone up to date on what styles I'm making and how they turned out. All in all I am looking forward to sharing my beer experiences with everyone!