Black Beer Affair

Last night a buddy and I went to the 3rd Annual Black Beer Affair at Gordon's Wine & Liquors in Waltham.   It was my second in a row and Nick's first.  Upon walking in, checking your name off, scoping out the tables and food...you're given a check list of beers.  This is always the best and worst part of the night for me.  See, I LOVE Black Beers (dark beers of all shapes & sizes) so this is a double edged sword.  I've been aggressively hunting dark beer for quite some time.   So surprising me with a beer I haven't had before is difficult, especially at an event trying to please the general public. 

Below is the run down of the beers at the event...of them I had only NOT tried five (5).  While this is a small number, there was one on there that makes up for it - The Bruery's Black Tuesday.  This is an annually released Bourbon Barrel Aged stout that is only released at The Bruery, so getting it here in Boston is...difficult to say the least.  The BBA only had one bottle to share with about 50 people, so I only had a few swigs in my glass, but man were they fantastic.  I will continue my pursuit of getting a bottle of this to have & hold.

More exciting to me was sharing my knowledge of these beers with Nick, he is a fellow beer geek, home brewer, and all around beer lover.  So, going from table to table with him and enjoying so many great beers was fantastic.  As he said as we dropped him off, "can't wait to do it again next year".   Well said.   Big shout-out to my loving wife for being our personal chauffeur - thanks Bex!

Table 1:
Ballast Point Victory at Sea Coffee Vanilla Imperial Porter: A
Mayflower Barrel Aged Imperial Stout: A
Goose Island Bourbon County Stout '09: A+
The People's Pint Imperial Stout '08: B
Victory Dark Intrigue (barrel aged): A-
Cellar Special - The Bruery Black Tuesday '11: A+

Table 2: 
Samuel Adams 13th Hour: C
Alesmith Speedway Stout: A
Founders Imperial Stout: A
Oskar Blues Ten FIDY: A
Clown Shoes Blaecorn Unidragon: A-
Blue Hills Three Peak Holiday Stout: B
Cellar Special - Brooklyn Black Ops '11: A+

Table 3:
Uinta Labyrinth Black Ale: A-
Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous: B+
Mystic Barrel Aged Descendant (Gordon's Exclusive): B
Weyerbacher Tiny: A-
Founders CBS (Canadian Breakfast Stout): A+
Cellar Special - Firestone Walker Parabola '10: A+

Table 4:
Dupont Monk's Stout: B-
Mikkeller Beer Geek Brunch Weasel: A
Mikkeller Beer Geek Hop Breakfast: B+
Haandbryggeriet Aquavit Barrel Aged Porter: B
De Molen Hel & Verdominis: A
Cellar Special - Great Lakes Barrel Aged Blackout Stout '10: A+

Special Draft: Firestone Walker XV: A (first time having on draft vs. bottle)

Above, the beers that are italicized are the beers that I hadn't had before.  Technically six as I hadn't had Firestone Walker XV on draft, but have had in the bottle. 

If you have the opportunity to go to events like this, for a reasonable price ($25), please do so.  It is a great way to try MANY awesome beers for one low price.  The staff from Gordon's was knowledgeable and not afraid to share their opinions of these brews; this is a nice change as they do not work for the breweries and can be honest as they pour.  To top it off, this event was catered by Soul Fire BBQ in Allston - yum.

Dark Horse Tres Blueberry Stout

I've been trying a lot of beers from Dark Horse Brewing out of Michigan.  I used to see their minimalist labels at Marty's in West Newton a lot, but kept on passing them by.  Well, with the wonderful ability to do a mix six-pack (both Marty's & Craft Beer Cellar allow this) I have since tried a handful of Dark Horse's beers...and they're pretty solid! 

Most recently I purchased a bottle of the Tres Blueberry Stout and the Too Cream Stout.  For this review I am focusing on the Blueberry Stout.  Now, let's get this out of the way quickly - I am not a big fan of fruit styled beers.  However, adding a fruit to a solid base beer is completely different.  This is a stout, that happens to have some blueberry...not a blueberry beer that happens to have some stout.  Ok, let's continue.  

I poured the 12oz bottle one into my Portsmouth Brewery goblet nice and slow.  Immediately there was a nice 1/4 inch caramel colored head on the pitch black stout.  On the nose, this one was unmistakably blueberry.  But, once I took a sip most of that smell was just that.  The taste was of chocolate, roasted malt, and a dash of blueberry.  I enjoyed this one way more than I thought I would.  If you don't love stouts, but like fruit beers I think you'll like this one as the stout is a bit muted and not as bitter as you'd think.  Or if you like stouts a lot and loathe fruit beers, you may like it as well - the fruit addition is subtle enough that it wont ruin your stout profile.  Definitely worth the price of admission!

Kev Rating: B+
Style: American Stout
ABV: 7.50%

IBUs: ?
Availability:  Fall/Winter Release each year
Had: part of mix 6pack @ Craft Beer Cellar
Region: Marshall, MI

Beer is meant to be shared...

What I really enjoy about being a beer geek is sharing my experiences with my friends.  One of the main reasons I started this blog was because I was updating pictures to Facebook and rating them on there for a long time.  Many of my friends suggested I do a blog...and we're up to speed. 

One of the best things that can happen for a beer geek like myself (other than finding and purchasing a whale (extremely hard to find beer) and drinking it) is to receive a gift of beer!  Recently I've been very lucky to have some wonderful beer gifts.  I am going to give a shoutout for those gifts now.  In no particular order, I have received the following beers as gifts:

Etan & Megan sent me this one from their travels in Colorado!

April & Morgan sent me these two beauties that I can't get in Mass!

This was a gift pack from Jen who at the time was living in KY!

 

Combo pack that Bex brought back from California - big thanks to Bex, April, Morgan, Etan, & Megan!

This Belgian treat was an unexpected Holiday gift from an awesome co-worker, thanks Conor!

Special Honorable mention to Jimmy, George, Nick, and Jim who have shared way too many beers with me to mention & capture here...thanks guys! 

A huge THANK YOU to all of you, you support my pursuit of the perfect beer.  I hope to repay the favor to you all and I definitely take requests!! 

Samuel Adams Infinium

A lot of us beer geeks choose to drink beer to celebrate New Year's Eve each year...my choice this year was something a bit out of my normal beer radar - a Champagne style beer.  I'm not a big fan of Champagne, so this is a European style that never really interested me much.  However, a known American Brewery decided to throw their hat in the Champagne Beer arena so I figured I'd give it a shot.  

Now, most of you that know me, know that I am not a huge fan of the beer lineup for Samuel Adams.  However, I am a big fan of what they've done for Craft Beer in the US and in New England specifically.  Most bars, no matter how crappy their beer selection is, will have at least one Sam Adams beer on tap.  That my friends is called progress.  

So, I picked up a bottle of Samuel Adams Infinium at the last minute (January 30th) so that I could enjoy this on New Year's eve.  The procrastination cost me about $6.00 as my 1st beer stop (Gordon's in Watertown) sold out of Infinium ($19.99).  I instead had to go to Martignetti's in Allston (which I love too) and paid $25.99...yeah, that's the highest I've seen it too.  Oh well. 

I started out the evening with a Founders Breakfast Stout (one of my favorite beers on this big ole' planet) to ensure that no matter what, 2011 would be going out on a good note.  After some food (thanks Bex) and a few more beers, I popped the cork on the Infinium.  It poured nicely into my Brugse Zot glass (thanks Lacey), had a nice straw color to it, and was pretty carbonated (shocking, I know).  First sip was not great...but after getting a few sips in, either my palate adapted or the beer opened up a bit.  It had good citrus hops up front, lots of bubbles, and then a caramel/sweet malt presence.  

Definitely more champagne than beer, but worth the experience; probably not the price tag.  This one is good to have once, shared with friends, and then probably not again.  I can say that I was not expecting much and was surprised that it had more flavor than assumed.  Last year I had a fantastic extremely rare stout (Goose Island Bourbon County Brand RARE Stout - aged in Pappy Van Winkle Barrels) and will probably go back to a similar plan to end 2012 - cheers to you all in this new year!

Kev Rating: C+
Style: Champagne Beer
ABV: 10.30%

IBUs: 10
Availability:  First brewed in 2010, was at almost every beer store I went to this Holiday season.
Had: 750ml bottle purchased at Martignetti's in Allston
Region: Boston, MA

Lagunitas Sucks Holiday Ale

I first saw the packaging on this beer and thought, that's funny - "Holiday Sucks" ha ha, yeah sometimes.   At the time I just passed it by and purchased something else.  Then I kept seeing it, so I picked it up.  

After reading up on this one I soon realized it was "Lagunitas Sucks" Holiday Ale and not a Grinch-like holiday statement.  Lagunitas explains, "There is nothing cool about screwing up this badly and we know it. Maybe we can sue our own sorry selves. There is no joy in our hearts this holiday and the best we can hope for is a quick and merciful end. F*@& us." This response was in regard to recent expansion plans that made them unable to brew the popular, yet difficult to make Brown Shugga'.  So instead of not putting out a Holiday Ale, they threw together this gem of an IPA.

This one is a big ole hop fest.  Upon first sip, I was smacked with some pine & citrus hops.  It calms a bit as you're drinking it, probably due to a small amount of lighter styled malts.  Then it ends with a bitter, clean, but still hoppy finale.  

Sucks started flying off of shelves and it's actually pretty tough to find right now, although I think another shipment hit stores in MA recently as I started to see it pop up again.  If you haven't had the chance to try this one and you like hoppy IPAs, you really should try to nab some before they're all gone.  Because of the popularity of this one, I'm hoping that it gets added to the Lagunitas lineup, but they do have a few worthy IPAs already (IPA, Maximus) if you miss out on this one.

Kev Rating: B+
Style: Imperial IPA
ABV: 7.85%

IBUs: 62
Availability:  Hit or miss at most decent Craft beer sections.  Will get harder to find as we get away from the Holidays.
Had: 6 pack (few times) purchased at Gordon's in Watertown, Martignetti's in Allston, and Gordon's in Waltham.
Region: Petaluma, CA

Kev's Ratings!

Hello fellow beer worshipers, just a quick update - I created a new page (at the suggestion of my better half) that has "Kev's Ratings".  It's a Quick Reference Guide to beers I've had over the years and my rating of said beer.  As I update the main page with new beers, I'll add them to the KQRG with a link so that you can read more about each one. 

This list is a work in progress but took quite some time to compile on here...yes, I keep a beer
spreadsheet...and yes, that makes me a Beer GEEK.  Careful though, I do not take kindly to Beer Snob.

Also, just a reminder for those of you that are new to this blog stuff, if you're like me and forget to click on an actual blog you're interested in - you're not alone!  The easiest thing to do is put your email address into the little box to the right and you'll receive an email when I update the blog!  This works best for me as I check it on my fancy Drooooid smart phone :)

Cheers!!

Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012!

Today is the beginning of a new year!  In my every day life, I try not to dwell too much on the past as you never know what's coming next...good or bad, it will be new.  This philosophy also transfers seamlessly to my passion for beer.  I look forward to having beers I've seen but haven't tried, and more importantly discovering beers that haven't even been bottled yet, but will be in 2012!

In honor of 2011, I am going to list some of my favorite beers of this past year.  While these beers may have been bottled prior to 2011, I had them for the first time in 2011 (hopefully not the last).  These made the most impression over all of last year:

In alphabetical order by Brewery:
Avery Mephistopheles' Stout
Ballast Point Sculpin IPA
Firestone Walker Parabola - a barrel aged Imperial Stout
Firestone Walker 14 - a blended barrel aged masterpiece of 6 different beers
Firestone Walker 15 - a blended barrel aged masterpiece of 8 different beers
Founders Canadian Breakfast Stout 
Founders Devil Dancer - Triple IPA
Founders Double Trouble - Double IPA
Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Vanilla Stout
Goose Island Rare Bourbon County Brand Stout
Hoppin' Frog D.O.R.I.S. the Destroyer - Double Oatmeal Russian Imperial Stout
Lagunitas Maxiums - Double IPA
Maine Beer Co Lunch - IPA
Maine Beer Co Zoe - Amber
Nectar Ales Black Xantus - a barrel aged Imperial Stout
Pretty Things EIP - East India Porter
Russian River Pliny the Elder - Double IPA
Stone 15th Anniversary Escondidian Imperial Black IPA
Troegs Perpetual IPA

I hope that 2011 brought you many things, but least of all a good beer.  Cheers and may your 2012 always have a full glass!