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!