Category Archives: CA

Joe Sixpack’s brews of the year

Posted on December 28, 2007 by | Comments Off on Joe Sixpack’s brews of the year

Joe Sixpack from the Philadelphia Daily News sums up his 6 favorite beers of the year.

1. Nøgne Ø Dark Horizon (Norway): An imperial stout with 16 percent alcohol (at $25 a bottle), this baby set the pace for a new wave of Scandinavian beers.

2. Goose Island Matilda (Illinois): A surprisingly authentic Orval Trappist ale knockoff.

3. Stoudt’s Smooth Hoperator (Downingtown): Maybe the best new Pennsylvania beer since Yards reformulated its Philadelphia Pale Ale: a hybrid, hoppy double bock.

4. Avery/Russian River Collaboration Not Litigation (Colorado/California): Two small brewers with the same brand name (Salvation) mixed their suds and produced a singularly outstanding Belgian-style strong ale.

5. Dogfish Head Red & White (Milton, Del.): Huge, fruity layers of flavor in a Belgian-style white beer that’s been doused with pinot noir juice and aged in wine barrels.

6. Schneider & Brooklyner Hopfen-Weisse (Germany/New York): Another collaboration, this one matching yeasty Bavarian wheat goodness with assertive American hops. *

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Posted in Avery, CO, DE, Dodfish Head, Goose Island, Russian River Brewing Company, Schneider & Brooklyner, Stoudt, Yards

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Would you pay $30 a beer

Posted on November 21, 2007 by | Comments Off on Would you pay $30 a beer

The San Jose Mercury News is running a story on beers that are going up market. John Alderete is opening Mayfield Brewing Co. in Palo Alto.

One is a pale beer that began its life as a traditional India Pale Ale but has been fermenting, first in a French oak barrel that formerly held zinfandel, now in an American oak cabernet barrel. When he puts it into corked, Champagne-style bottles just before Christmas, he expects it to be over the top: 10 percent alcohol by volume (a strength approaching that of table wine, which averages 12 percent), with notes of wine and oak and vanilla. Alderete wants it to be a beer to savor slowly, perhaps after dinner with chocolates or a cigar.

The other two beers in barrels are equally unusual: a 13 percent imperial stout that will be aged six months in a port wine barrel and a German amber aging in a French oak cabernet barrel. The amber is about 5 percent alcohol, the same as your basic Budweiser, but in a different world of flavor and intensity. Bud, for example, is aged less than 30 days in stainless steel on a layer of beechwood chips. Bud, like most beers, is meant to be consumed fresh. Alderete’s beers and others like them are the opposite. Aging blends the flavors and the beers mature just like good wine.

Those beer sound like they would be interesting to taste. On of my favorite more expensive beers is Brooklyn Breweries Local 1.

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Posted in Brooklyn, Mayfield, NY

Winter Beer

Posted on November 14, 2007 by | 1 comment

If you like strong winter beers then The Washington post has some suggestions for you. The Author had a chance to sample the following large selection of beers,  Anchor Brewing’s Co Our Special Ale, Sierra Nevada’s Celebration Ale, Clipper City Brewing Co’s Winter Storm, Old Dominion Brewing Co’s Dominion Winter Brew, Wild Goose Brewery’s Snow Goose, Fordham’s Scotch Ale, Brooklyn’s Winter Ale, Michelob’s Celebrate Chocolate and Michelob Celebrate’s Cherry and finally Mad Elf Ale from Troegs Brewing Co. I wonder how long it took the author to sample all those beers.

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Posted in Anchor, Beer, Brooklyn, Clipper City, Fordham, Michelob, Old Dominion, Sierra Nevada, Troegs, Wild Goose

Expensive Beer

Posted on November 12, 2007 by | Comments Off on Expensive Beer

The Philadelphia Daily News’ article this week is on expensive beer.

The most expensive sixpack in America

Samuel Adams Utopias (Massachusetts), $140 for 24 oz. ($5.83 per ounce).
Lost Abbey Cable Car (California), $30 for 750 ml ($1.18 per ounce).
Russian River Supplication (California), $14 for 375 ml ($1.10 per ounce).
Avery Mephistopheles (Colorado), $12 for 12 oz. ($1 per ounce).
Church Brew Works Quadzilla (Pittsburgh), $20 for 22 oz. (91 cents per ounce).
Allagash Interlude (Maine), $19 for 750 ml (75 cents per ounce).

6 great high-end bargains

Sly Fox Rt. 113 IPA (Royersford), $5 for 22 oz. (23 cents per ounce.
Southampton Imperial Porter (Long Island), $5 for 22 oz. (23 cents per ounce).
Rogue Chocolate Stout (Oregon), $5.50 for 22 oz. (25 cents per ounce).
Ommegang Abbey Ale (New York), $8 for 750 ml (31 cents per ounce).
Weyerbacher Heresy (Easton), $7 for 22 oz. (32 cents per ounce).
Stone Vertical Epic (California), $8 for 22 oz. (36 cents per ounce).

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Posted in Allagash Brewing Company, Avery, Beer, CA, Church Brew Works, CO, Lost Abbey, MA, ME, NY, OR, PA, Rogue, Russian River Brewing Company, Sam Adams, Sly Fox, Southampton Ales, Stone, weyerbacher

Mixing beers

Posted on November 3, 2007 by | Comments Off on Mixing beers

The Chicago Tribune is running a piece about mixing beers. The first part of the story kind of grossed me out.

Since his experiments began, his spending on beer has doubled and, he admits, only half of his combinations are drinkable. “I’m learning that you don’t mix an ale with a lager,” Klem said. “I’ve learned that most flavored beers don’t mix well with others. I’ve learned that you only mix a few ounces of each.”

but they then go on to talk about Avery Brewing an Russian River Brewing combining two beers.

Two small breweries, Avery Brewing Co. in Colorado and Russian River Brewing of California, this year combined and bottled their Belgian-style ales that coincidentally were both named Salvation. The resulting beer, named Collaboration Not Litigation Ale, was recommended on beer Web sites, and the brewers had to make three times as much as they had expected because of demand.

I think I trust the brewers to do the mixing rather and me experimenting on what tastes good.

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Posted in Avery, Beer, Russian River Brewing Company

Smithsonian National Zoo + Beer = Brew at the Zoo

Posted on August 26, 2007 by | Comments Off on Smithsonian National Zoo + Beer = Brew at the Zoo

The Smithsonian runs a fund raising event every year called the Brew at the Zoo. I got a last minute ticket for this years event. They had beer from over 20 microbreweries, and served hors d’oeuvres from area restaurants. The price of the ticket included a Beer Glass, Food, and all the beer samples you can drink.

As you can see there was a large turn out from the local brewers

Capitol City Brewing Company, The District Chophouse and Brewery, Wild Goose Brewery, Clipper City Brewing Company, Great American Restuarants, Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery, Hook & Ladder Brewing Company, Shenandoah Brewing Company, Gordon Biersch Brewery and Restaurant, Fordham Brewery, Widmer Brothers Brewing, Old Dominion Brewery, Pilsner Urquell, Peroni Nastro Azzurro, Cristal, Cusqueña, Aguila, Boston Beer Company, Sierra Nevada Brewing, Harpoon Brewery, Brewery Ommegang, Magic Hat Brewing Company, Paleewong Trading Company, Anchor Brewing Company, Dogfish Head Brewery, EX. Matt Brewing Company, Abita Brewing Company, Allagash Brewing Company, Victory Brewing Company, Rogue Ales, North Coast Brewing Company, Belekus Imports, Premium Distributors, Captial Eagle, Inc., and Global Brewers Guild.

I didn’t have as many beers as some of the people I was there with but my personal beer list was

Clipper City’s Loose Cannon

Ommegang’s Hennepin

Brasserie Lefèbvre SA’s Blanche De Bruxelles

Brouwerij Riva SA’s Lucifer

North Coast’s Red Seal

Cusquena

Dog Fish Head’s 60 minute

Clipper City’s Oxford Raspberry

Sweet Water’s American Pale Ale Thanks Nick for the end of night fill my glass beyond the sample line.

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Posted in Beer, Clipper City, DC, Dodfish Head, North Coast, Ommegang, SweetWater Sterling

Allagash and Russian River beer tasting and the Brickskeller

Posted on January 26, 2007 by | Comments Off on Allagash and Russian River beer tasting and the Brickskeller

Last night I had the pleasure of attending a Lovefest Brickskeller beer tasting.

Rob Tod from Allagash Brewing and Vinnie Cilurzo were on hand to talk about the wonderful selection of beers they brought from with them for the tasting.

Brickskeller1 Rod on the left and Vinnie on the right
Brickskeller2 The Happy beer tasters
Brickskeller3 Vinnie
Both the Allagash and Russian River Breweries brought a wide selection of Belgian style beers. In total there were 11 samplings, 5 from each pub and a special JW Lee Vintage Harvest Ale from 1999 in a real cask.

Allagash Brewing Company brought

Tripel (9%)

Dubbel (7%)

Interlude (9 1/2%)

White (5%)

Curieux (11%)
Russian River Brewing Company brought

Damnation (7 -7 1/2% depending on if it is in a bottle)

Salvation (9%)

Diefication (7%)

Perdition (6.1%)

Temptation (7.25%)

Overall my favorites were the Allagash triple, a nice fruity beer, the taste comes from the yeast rather than adding any fruit. The Allagash Interlude which had a smooth tart taste. Finally the Russion River Temptation which has a lovely wine taste.

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Posted in Allagash Brewing Company, Beer, Brickskeller, CA, DC, ME, Russian River Brewing Company