Friday, December 31, 2010

Let the games begin…

Well, it’s New Years Eve and every year we throw a party for the Goof Troop and normally a few oddballs that are tag alongs, but every year its been a good party and everyone enjoys themselves. So last year we tried “Feats of Strength” from Festivus, we had the milk jug test, the hand in ice water, the standing on one foot the longest and then we also had unlabeled food that people had to eat a spoonful of if they drew that car. It was nothing too serious, it was spicy Vienna sausages, lamb baby food, etc. Just things that you wouldn’t normally eat but might make you gag a little. Well that turned out to be a hit, so this year we will be following up the “Feats of Strength” with “Eating Around The World”. (I basically hit the international food aisle at Wegmans to buy things that I’m sure none of us have tried.)

So this year we will have a few rounds of “Eating Around The World” I have 8 items, possibly 9 if Dinker provides something that he had mentioned. I split them into two groups of four and labeled the bottom of each with a number 1-4. I figure the game will go like this, a Goof Trooper will roll until he/she gets a 1 or a 2, that will decide which group they will be tasting, then they will roll again until they get a number 1 – 4, and this will determine what their “prize” will be.

On to the “prizes”:

Group 1:

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In this group we Pulpo or Octopus in Olive Oil, Sardines in spicy oil, Potted Meat (**made with Beef and Chicken, mmmmmmm my mouth is watering, two of my favorites in one item, if only they threw in some bacon.), and finally some Vegemite from the land down under.

Group 2:

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In this group, we have Roasted Eel from Japan, some Spotted Dick from England, (I’m pretty sure Cpt. Insano already has Spotted Dick, but that’s another story), Marmite from the land down the under, and finally Shrimp Flavored Chips (probably the most mild of all the prizes) which surprisingly is a product of the USA.

So this should be fun, there will be plenty of pictures from “Eating Around The World” as well as the rest of the night. So depending how well I feel tomorrow I’ll be posting.

Good Night and Happy New Year!!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

The Drunken Bicycle Story

Today has been a good day. It’s the last day of work before the holiday and this is the Winemaking/Lab department’s “Christmas Party”, so everyone brings in a dish to pass and it is an all day feeding frenzy while we work. People from all of the other departments come up to the lab and grab food, everyone is in a good mood and smiling. There is good natured joking and holiday spirit fills the air, it really reminds me of all of the holiday parties that you used to see on those cheesy sitcoms. You know the ones, they are warm hearted and Steve Urkel comes on the screen does something idiotic and wishes you a Merry Christmas, it’s about that level, it’s not a real cool one like the John McClain Nakatomi Plaza Die Hard Christmas party, but anyway I digress.


So everyone is having a good time and in the merriment a guy I work with says, “Hey, tell the bicycle story!”. A few years ago I was joking around and being my normal wise ass self and I let slip my bicycle story, probably not the best story to tell at work, but hey it’s really not that bad. So here we go:

***Small disclaimer- This story isn’t as funny as it could be if you can’t see all of the hand motions and inflection in my voice, not that I’m a comedian or anything but you know what I mean.

It was my senior year of college, I was living in my own apartment in downtown Canandaigua. Well, there is a great little pub, well it used to be a great little pub I haven’t been there in many years, in Canandaigua called The Pickering Pub. Now the Pickering had a great deal on Wednesday nights, it was $1 drafts all night long. So you could go and get drunk on ten bucks, it was awesome. Now I lived all the way at the south end of Main St. and The Pickering Pub was about halfway up Main St., and there were a good many cops in between me and the pub so I didn’t want to drive. I was too lazy to walk so I had to come up with something else, and then it hit me. My neighbor had a bike, I could borrow that and ride up and back and everything is right with the world.

So I pound on my neighbor’s wall and get his blessing to borrow his bike. I’m golden now, I’m off and riding up to the pub. So I sit at the pub and have a few rounds with my friends and next thing I know it’s last call. So I’m a little tipsy, but I know I’m not driving, so I’m smiling. I go out unlatch the 10 speed cruiser and I’m off and rolling. I’m riding on the sidewalk, being careful to stay out of the road, but I’m happy and smiling so I start weaving a little bit, then a little more, then finally I’m doing big S’s on the sidewalk. It’s 2 AM, so there is no one out walking the sidewalk is mine, so what the hell, right?

I continue riding and I’m thinking about all of the fun conversations I’ve had and I hear sirens back up the street behind me. I’m thinking probably some dope is getting a DWI and I keep riding. Now the siren is getting louder and louder and I see the flashing lights, but hey I’m on a bike, they’re not stopping me. Then I feel a spotlight on my back, and I hear over a bull horn:

HEY, you on the bike, pull over!

What, you have to be kidding me, so I keep riding.

Hey You on the bike pull over!

I look behind me and sure enough they are talking to me, so I push the brakes and stand there on the bike until the cop comes up to me. Then I look him right in the eye and say in my best drunkenese “Can I help you Occifer?”, Yep, that’s right I called him Occifer.

Now he’s pissed, and he starts to ask for my license AND registration before he catches himself and just asks for my license. Of course, I’m not helping matters by laughing at him and offering him my library card as my registration.

So now I get the riot act, How many drinks have you had? Where are you coming from? Where are you going? What would happen if you rode out into traffic? Blah, blah, blah. Finally I’ve had enough and I ask him are you going to charge me for riding my bicycle with NO motor? I hear his partner snickering from the side of the patrol car, now he gets even more pissed and tells me that he’s not charging me but I have to get off the bike and walk it the rest of the way home. I politely give him my best “Thank you Occifer, you have a nice night Occifer” and he shoves my license and library card back into my hands and heads back to the car, the whole time I can still hear his partner laughing at how pissed he is.

So he gets back into the patrol car and sits there and waits for me, I get off the bike and start walking beside it. I get about half a block away and I hear him start up his car and then in an instant I see him drive by me giving me the stink eye the whole way. I wait for him to get out of sight, then I’m back on my bike, making big loopy sidewalk S’s the whole way home.

So that’s the bicycle story. Since I shared it once I figured what the hell I would share it with you. Everybody loves a good drunk story, right?

Friday, December 17, 2010

A Beery Merry Christmas!

I normally brew up a dark beer or two for the colder months. Normally they are higher alcohol and they just seem to go better on a cold night in front of the fire. About a year ago I gave a couple of bottles of Porter to a co worker for her husband and her brother to try. I was honing in my Porter recipe and I wanted opinions from people that drank dark beer. It turned out that they both loved it and I was a very happy camper.

Well, this year she asked me if I had any Porter again and she would pay me for some. She said that her husband and brother have everything they needed for Christmas and there was nothing that they really wanted, so she wanted to get them something they would enjoy. Lucky for her I did have my Porter and it was just finishing up and ready to be bottled, so I told her that I would help and I didn’t want any money. I was just happy that someone thought that much of my beer that they would give it as a gift.

Being the holiday season I was in a giving mood, so I figured I would dress up the bottles with a simple label. A simple label for a quality beer, so I  came up with these.

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Her husband plays banjo in an old timey folk band, so I just did a quick label of a banjo and named it “Ol’ Naps Sittin’ & Pickin’ Porter”, then her brother is into wood working so the mallet and chisel just fit and “Ol’ Naps Wood Worker’s Porter” made the label.

Now I know that they aren’t fantastic but I thought it was a nice touch to a simple gift. What do you think?

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Sierra Nevada: 30th Anniversary Grand Cru

I had to stop into Wegman’s on my lunch yesterday to pick up apple juice and spaghetti sauce. So as I was wandering the aisles I came across a special find. Sierra Nevada’s 30th Anniversary Grand Cru. Normally I’m not a huge fan of Sierra Nevada, I know I know tons of people love it, but it just isn’t to my taste most of the time. However this bottle caught my eye, as it was a big beer at 9.2% alcohol, and it was a melding of three of their beers: oak aged Big Foot, Celebration Ale, and “fresh” Pale Ale. So I figured what the hell and threw the bottle in the basket. So here we go:

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It poured a nice deep amber color that reminded me of amber jewelry and it had a full thick head. The head lasted through the whole beer lacing down the sides of the glass.

The initial aroma was all hops and that makes sense because on the label they said it was “generously dry hopped”. The the hops continued into the first sip. The first taste was very IPA’ish (Yes, that’s my new word). There was a lot of bitterness and hoppiness that was mixed with a softer wood notes. I did pick up the slight oak character but I didn’t taste any of the other flavors typically associated with beer aged in bourbon barrels. The beer was slightly “hot” from the alcohol in it, but all of the other flavors were in enough of a balance that the alcohol didn’t overpower the taste.

Overall, it was a very good beer and a great entry for Sierra Nevada. Like I said before, I’m not a SN fan, but this was one damn good beer. It is definitely a sipping beer because of all of the heavier flavors and the alcohol, more than one of these and you might be down for the count, but its definitely worth picking up a bottle if you have a chance.

Keep ‘em tippin’!!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Naked Dove Brewing Company

A new microbrewery opened up near me in Canandaigua, its actually funny because the building its in was vacant for a few years and every time I drove by I would say to L Bird “You know that would be a perfect place for a brewery.” Well it appears that I was not alone in that thought. So last  Saturday, L Bird, Dinker and his Old Lady went to the Naked Dove to check it out.
We went in and did a tasting and took the tour. I had the camera with me but I was too wrapped up in the beer and the tour that I forgot to take any pictures. I know I’m a dork, right? But anyway, I just hit some of the highlights of the tour. There are 3 guys who own it, Dave, Don, and Ken and the name Naked Dove is an anagram of their three names. They currently have a 15 barrel brewhouse and a mixture of 15 and 30 barrel fermenters. They are putting their beers into half kegs with plans to sell to the bars. They have big plans to expand up to 60 barrel fermenters and had a 16 stem filler sitting in the back waiting to be put together so they can start to bottle their beer. The tour is definitely worth taking, there was much much more, but I didn’t want to bother you with all of the details that I find absolutely intriguing but you might not find them so interesting.
So back to the tasting, it was $3 for a flight of 3 beers but you got a souvenir glass and a $2 discount on any merchandise. I knew I was going to get a pint glass and a growler so it really was $1 for the flight. I was very impressed with their tasting glasses, they were huge.
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I know it looks tiny in my giant hand (inside joke), but it really is a big tasting glass. The flight was an Amber Ale, an IPA, and a Porter. All three beers were good beers. The Amber Ale was sweet at the first sip, Dinker noted the honey flavor first and as soon as he said  it, it was all I could taste. It was a all around good beer, the honey/sweetness was a nice compliment to the malt. The IPA was not a traditional IPA that I’m used to. It was packed with hop aroma, but the normal hop bitterness doesn’t smack you in the face like most IPAs I have had. The bitterness was there and got stronger the more you tasted it, but it wasn’t right up front. I thought this was a different but a good take on an IPA. Then the Porter was last, and Porter is my favorite style so I was very pleasantly surprised by theirs. It was very good, full of malty notes and coffee flavors.
Overall the beers are very good, they are nothing that is big, bold and new, but they are definitely high quality samples that will do well in the market. The experience was great, getting to do the tasting with the brewmaster and getting a tour made Naked Dove Brewing Company an instant favorite of mine. I’m sure I’ll be stopping by many, many more times.
Here’s another picture to show how big the tasting glasses are and some of my new swag.
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So if you are in the Canandaigua area, you should definitely stop by and check them out. If you not going to stop by, you should at least check out their facebook page here. But until then support your local brewers and drink local! Enjoy!!!

Friday, November 19, 2010

Lagunitas: Lucky 13 Beer Review

I was walking through the beer section at Wegmans and as I was looking over the bottles one just jumped out at me. Lagunitas Lucky 13 “A Mondo Large Red Ale”. The number 13 is my lucky number, I know most people tend to associate the number 13 with bad luck, nevermind Friday The 13th. With that being said I was born on Friday the 13th, and I have made my own luck, so 13 is my lucky number. But anyway I am starting to ramble so on with the review.

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The initial appearance was like a light caramel/toffee with very slight hints of red. There was little to no head, but the head that was there stuck through to the end and provided some beautiful lacing down the glass.

The aroma was very citrusy, like walking through an orange grove. I’m guessing that they probably hopped heavy with cascades. The first sip is very hoppy, which I was not expecting in a red ale. It has a nice creamy mouthfeel with a thicker body. The alcohol kicks in and I found a slight hot note from the 8.5% alcohol. The citrus stays through the palate and actually turns to a little more lemon/lime flavor.

Overall, this is  a good beer. It has nice fruit notes that give it a sweet character but not so much that it makes it overpowering and cloying. I would definitely buy this beer again.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Good Times: Age catches us all

Well, last night was an interesting and great night. The Goof Troop came over for a combo birthday/going away party. But this morning as I reflected on last night, my mind wandered to all of the things we have all done in our youth and the lessons we have learned along the way.

But first, a quick recap of last night. We celebrate the Twins birthday, I’ll just say they turned somewhere in their mid 30’s. I don’t want to give it away but you could try counting the candles, but I doubt you could count that blazing inferno.

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Then our friends Stickbug and Alley/Kielbasa Charlie (we haven’t settled in on a good nick name for Charlie yet, but we’re close) are moving to Camillus, so we won’t see them as much.

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So once everyone was full of snacks, (L Bird loves to entertain) we went on with the usual games. 3 man, Up and Down the River, Asshole, etc.

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A few drinks later the Captain is trying to lick my head. Yeah, he’s kind of an odd fellow.

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A few more drinks and that led to the “nose off”

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Then finally it was last call for the Goof Troop around 1 AM.

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I’m really not passed out, I was told my “big fat head was blocking stickbug”, so I laid down on the table and of course the picture was taken so I look like I’m passed out drunk.

So that was the quick version of last night. There were numerous stories told and laughs had. Then this morning came and what a morning it was, L Bird was sleeping in the couch because she a little too much wine and she needed to be close to the bathroom. I was fine, so I got up and got A Bird going with some breakfast and playing around the house.

Once she was set I jumped into the shower and that’s really when it hit me. I’m getting old, I didn’t drink that much last night but I had a headache and my bones were creaking. I remember drinking all night and just jumping right up the next morning to go play golf and starting to drink again on the first hole. Last night the The Goof Troop left at 1 AM, I remember being younger and seeing the Goof Troop out the door as the sun was coming up and blinding me. I remember going out all night in G Town and drinking to 2 AM, then hitting a house party until 4-5 AM, last night the good majority of us were already yawning at 10:30 PM.

Yep, time and age catches up with us all, but its nice to fight it as long as we are breathing.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Custom Brewcrafters: Double Dark Cream Porter

So last weekend my buddy Dinker and his old lady stopped by for a bit and he had in hand a 6 pack of Custom Brewcrafters Double Dark Cream Porter. I am a big fan of dark beer and especially porters. So we had a couple and he left the remnants of the 6 pack for me. I stashed a bottle away and I am just getting to the review now.

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Well it lived up to its name as double dark, it poured very dark almost pitch black with no clarity. There was very little head and it lost its retention almost as soon as it was poured. The head that was there was dark tan to a light brown made up of loose/larger bubbles.

The aroma was almost non existent, there were faint traces of coffee and roasted notes, but none of it was overpowering. The flavor followed suit as all of the flavors were very subdued. There were notes of mocha, chocolate and traces of coffee with none of the bitterness. The body was very thin and the carbonation was light and true to style.

Overall, this beer was a very good beer. It was easy to drink and tasted great. It was nothing to write home about and could be easily lost in this style category with the numerous other porter labels. It wasn’t a standout by any means, but I could easily see this as a old standby that I would stock in my fridge when I just wanted a dark easy drinking beer.

It is definitely  worth a shot, I bet you’ll find it a nice easy going beer.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Ol' Naps has the itch...

Yep, I have that itch. Now just take it easy, I'm not talking about some weird rash or a bad case of the crotch crickets, I'm talking about being an entrepreneur. Being a brewery owner. Now I know you are probably thinking, again. Yes, damn it, again.

It really is something I really dream about, but this time the fired got stoked because I read an article on cnn that was all about college students starting their businesses even before they are out of college. So I figured, hell if they can do it I'm sure I could with the proper preparations. Then I start scheming on start up cash, business partners, equipment, label approvals, blah, blah, blah and I quickly come back to my senses and realize I am a ways away from starting up. So then I get a little discouraged and start thinking of all of the things in my way, but then I try to make a game plan to accomplish some of the building blocks to get me closer.

I think one of my biggest stumbling blocks is I really have no idea of how to ram up production from a small 5 gallon batch of beer to say a 1000 gallon batch (and that's on the light side). I mean how do they boil the wort? Does anyone in the microbrew environment stick to all extract brewing or does everyone go all grain? Once the beer is ready are they force carbonating? If so, how do you get your hands on a large CO2 tank/company? Then a million other questions rattle through my head.

So I think to get a better idea of what brewers are doing I want to take a weekend or two and go do a couple of tours. I'm not sure, but I'm hoping that the brewing world is similar to the winemaking world where there is a lot of knowledge swapping between small brewers because we really are a big community all after the same thing. Producing quality beer!

I want to plan a trip to two or three breweries and just see what I can glean from their tours and then ask as many questions as I can I fit in. So my three breweries of choice are Ithaca Beer, Wagner, and Custom Brewcrafters. I have been to both Ithaca and Wagner, but I haven't been to Custom Brewcrafters. Ithaca has a pretty good tour, so that's my first choice because I think that they would probably be the most willing to answer my questions, plus I think the majority of their beers are all extract. Then I don't really care which one is next.

So I guess that's my plan. I'll take a day or two and maybe this weekend or next weekend and go see what I can find out. Who else is in? Anyone want to come on a road trip of beer with me???

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Well, it was interesting, kind of.......

The homebrew/homemade wine contest was last night and it was interesting at some points and lame at others. To tell the truth this was the most interesting thing of the night:

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My Pumpkin Ale popped a chubby while it anxiously waited to be poured. Yep, that was about the highlight of the night. OK, OK maybe I'm exaggerating a little, but not much. Let me paint you a picture, L Bird and I showed up a little early because L Bird was going to the judging the wine so she had to fill out her judging form. So we walk in and were told the contest was upstairs in the gallery's loft and that my entries were to be set up on the table closest to the window. So L Bird and I venture upstairs and the loft is completely empty except for the band setting up. OK, we're early I figured so no one is here yet. So I wandered over to my table and saw that there were only 3 homebrew entries, 2 of which were mine. Not a very promising sight, so then I wandered over to the homemade wine side and they only had 3 entries as well. I knew I had time, so I wandered back downstairs and talked to the woman running the event and she said she was hoping for a lot of last minute entries because 50  applications had gone out.

Well, that was wishful thinking because the 7 PM came and it was still just me and another guy pouring samples of our homebrew. On another note, that was an interesting part of the night. I got to sit behind the table and pour samples of my beer for people and talk to them about my beer. So that was actually pretty cool. It was also very funny to watch people taste the hot chili beer and watch them try to hide their screwface and be polite. Now I realize that beer is not for everyone but some people did actually appear to like it.

So in between pouring samples I started to chat with the other homebrewer, who's beer was quite delicious as well. He had a Scottish Wee Heavy that he added 2 pounds of raisins to made it slightly cordial tasting, but an all around good beer. As I was talking to him, I realized I knew his face from somewhere. Then I had it, I had seen him on Facebook for Rheinblick German Restaurant. He is their new chef. So we had a great conversation on beer and schnitzel.

One other highlight of the night was the band, Twice Before Noon. They were a pretty good band and they all were pretty nice guys. Another highlight was Billy asking "Is Twice Before Noon better than afternoon delight?" On a set break they all came over and tried the beers. The bassist was a hot sauce/spicy food nut so he really enjoyed the hot chili beer.

So then came the Judge's choice at 8:30 and my not so pumpkiny pumpkin ale won. I guess you can call it a win, I mean I brewed 2 out of the 3 beers so I had a 66% chance of winning. But whatever, so the judging came and went and people were starting to leave and it was just the band, Chef, L Bird, my friends Billy and Kim, and about five older skanky cougars on the other side of the loft. So we packed up and bounced.

Overall the experience was OK, if the event had a better turnout I think it would have helped tremendously, but even with its poor turnout there were a few bright spots, the band and talking with tasters about beer. I don't count the winning, because I don't really feel like I won. But what the hell, it was a night out, right?

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Well, my pumpkin isn't so pumpkin-y!

This weekend is that homebrew contest I posted about earlier, so I decided it would probably be a good idea to pop a top and actually taste my Pumpkin Ale before I entered it.

It has only been a little over a week since I bottled it, so when I heard that familiar fizz when I opened it I was very pleased. SO I grabbed a glass and poured it over.

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It looked beautiful. It was a nice golden orange color and it poured a nice thick off white head that gave way to some remarkable lacing down the glass as I drank it.

Just one problem there was no pumpkin aroma and no pumpkin flavor. Now I followed a recipe that called for fresh pumpkin, a whopping 8 pounds of it and the description was "liquid pumpkin pie".

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I mean seriously look at all that pumpkin I seriously roasted 3 whole pie pumpkins and when all was said and done I added 8 pounds of pureed pumpkin into the beer. Then on top of that I also added cinnamon and a bunch of other spices, so c'mon man I should have some sort of pumpkin/pumpkin pie flavor. But nope, nothing.

So I am quite disappointed on the Pumpkin Ale front but quite pleased as to how the beer turned out. It is a little bitter, but overall a really great tasting beer.

Now the other problem is I already sent in my homebrew entry form and the second beer is clearly entered as a Pumpkin Ale. So now I am in a bit of a pickle, I can either take my non-pumpkin pumpkin ale in and get laughed at or I can just donate the entry fee and leave that beer at home. Oh hell, I really don't care, I'll probably still take it get laughed at, because even though I may get laughed at I know it will get drank.

So I guess just wish me luck........

Thursday, September 30, 2010

So...... I had to fire my capper tonight

I finally got around to bottling up my Pumpkin Ale tonight. Whenever I bottle beer I always have an extra set of little hands that end up touching each bottle and cap.

So tonight it was easier to give A Bird a job than have her touching and grabbing at the hot bottles or spilling them trying to "help". So tonight I "hired" her on as my capper.

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I would fill the bottles and hand them to her and she would place a cap on each one. This worked out great until she quickly mastered putting the caps on and was capping faster than I was filling. So once she had all of her bottles capped, she decided that I was in need of some advice and supervision.

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She would stand next to me and tell me when to fill the bottle, how fast to fill the bottle and how full to fill it so she could cap it. Man, she is already her mother's daughter. Just kidding L Bird, but seriously sometimes she is identical to you.

Anyway, this is the way it went for a few rounds of bottles, then something happened. At first I didn't notice it, but then it hit me about 3 bottles in. A Bird had gotten quiet and wasn't giving me any advice, so I peek over at her and I notice that before she put the cap on each bottle she was sticking her tiny little finger in the bottle and then sucking the beer off her finger. That's right, SHE WAS DRINKING ON THE JOB!! Can you believe the nerve of this kid? I give her a job and then she goes and takes advantage of my generosity by drinking up all my goods. The nerve!

But seriously I caught her and explained to her that beer is a big person drink like soda and that she can't drink it until she's 21. I know I am probably disillusioned about the 21 thing but hey i can hope. I asked her how many times she had done that and after some grilling she fessed up to 3 times, so she got 3 tiny tiny tiny tastes. So we had another long talk and I thanked her for her help but told her that if she did that again she would no longer be able to help me bottle my "beerd". The consequence of not helping me was too devastating to her so she swore off the sauce and went back to work.

So I guess I really didn't fire her, I just wrote her up and gave her a verbal warning. But the important thing is she learned her lesson and she is just too cute to fire.

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Wednesday, September 22, 2010

All these people and me with no teeth...

Well, the title of this post sums it all up I think. It was A Bird's 3rd birthday party and L Bird's Grandpa had come to the party but forgot his teeth at home on the table. More than likely they were sitting next to an ash tray with 20 butts in it and a tobacca, yeah that's right I said tabacca, stained coffee mug, that's a whole other story.

Anyway how that applies to me is that I found out about a homebrew/homemade wine contest and it is only 3 weeks away which is not enough time for me to put together a formidable entry. So I have this contest and no beer to enter. Well, strike that I have two beers to enter, but they are not typically what I would like to enter into a contest. They are what's left of the hot chili beer and the pumpkin ale that I am bottling this weekend. But what the hell if you don't have a full set of dentures to put in, I figure some is better than none so I'm going to rock a partial. I  guess that sort of makes sense in some weird dental analogy kind of way, right?

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So I'll give it a go and see what I get. This competition doesn't seem super professional and they are also letting the public tastes the beers as well, so if nothing else I should get a real honest review of the beers from the general public.

So if you are free the weekend of Oct. 16th and you are up this way, stop in and try at least a pumpkin ale, and if you have you full set of dentures in, put on some extra polydent and give the chili beer a go.

Wish me luck and hope to see anyone I know there!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Ithaca Beer Review: Excelsior Eleven

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I was in Wegmans the other day and I realized it had been some time since I did a beer review, so I moseyed on back to the beer section to take a look. After searching for a while I had got down to two choices, the Ithaca Beer Eleven or a nice 750 ml of Delirium Tremens from Belgium. I went back and forth for a bit, but went back to my old rule. If you can't decide, drink local beer. With that Ithaca was the winner!

Here we go:

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Appearance: It was pretty dark, almost black. It poured pretty flat, I had to start really pouring it roughly to get the small amount of head you see above. The head was light brown and dissipated almost immediately.

Aroma: The initial aroma is coffee. The more I smelled it the more it smelled like coffee grounds/espresso. This makes sense because Ithaca ages the beer on locally roasted Sumatran Coffee beans.

Taste: Its taste follows up the aroma nicely. It has a lot of strong coffee notes, as well as some bitterness with a slight hint of dark chocolate. It is not too light, but not really heavy either. However, I was very disappointed in the carbonation level. This beer was very flat, it reminded me of a breakfast beer, you know when you used to stay up too late drinking and you still would have a half a pint glass of beer, so you would stick it in the fridge, and then drink the flat beer in the morning.

Overall: It was an ok beer, it definitely did not live up to the high standards of what the Excelsior series had delivered to me in the past. This is the 3rd beer I have tried from that line and the other two were excellent, this one fell way short of that mark. I would probably not buy this label again, but I also wouldn't turn it down if someone else paid for it.

Keep 'em tippin'!

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Pumpkin Ale - Still Bubbling

I finally got my supplies for this Pumpkin Ale and got it brewing. I have never brewed a pumpkin ale before and this one used a lot of real pumpkin. I ended up buying three pie pumpkins, cooking them, then pureeing them and then finally adding 9 lbs of this pumpkin puree to the brewpot.

It has been happily fermenting for 6 days and it was time to transfer it to the secondary fermenter. All of that pumpkin that was added produced a pretty thick layer of solids on the bottom of the fermenter and for clarity it was a good idea to transfer it.

Before I go into the actual transfer of the beer I wanted to sing the praises of this little whosamawhatsit.

SANY0613

No, its not anything used in S & M bondage or horse training, its the "Brew Hauler". For anyone who has tried to lift and carry a full 5 - 6 gallons of beer in a glass carboy, you know how heavy and uncooperative it can be. Plus if you're old man river like me with back trouble, it can be down right dangerous, I could lose my grip, fall and break my hip. Then where would I be, I don't have one of those "Help, I've fallen and can't get up" thingys, so I would have to lay on the floor and survive off of floor beer until someone found me.

But anyway I digress, so this Brew Hauler slides over the carboy and clips to provide an easy way to carry the beer.

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You can see the two handles, that make life so much easier.

Now with my strapping all in place, I could finally transfer the beer and get it back to happily fermenting in the corner.

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Even after the initial transfer, you can still see a pretty huge layer of sediment on the bottom, so I may be transferring again, but we'll see.

So bring on the Pumpkiny Goodness!!

Friday, September 3, 2010

Preparing for changing seasons.

So I know summer is drawing to an end and with that comes fall. Apple picking, sweat shirts, falling leaves, football, Halloween, Thanksgiving and pumpkins. Based on that I figured I would brew a beer for the season, and what goes better than a Pumpkin Ale. Liquid pumpkin pie in a bottle, the perfect compliment to any fall gathering, right?

It was originally a toss up between Pumpkin Ale for the holidays or a Coconut Porter to warm me up through the cold fall/winter nights. I wanted to do the Coconut Porter but there are some issues to be worked out with the porter. Apparently the oils in coconut, mess with the carbonation and you get a beer with no head, unacceptable, everyone loves a little head, lol. So until I get the kinks worked out Pumpkin Ale is the winner, I will still eventually brew the  porter.

So I ordered all of my supplies and am patiently waiting for the their arrival, so I can start brewing. Then I have to find a farm stand with pumpkins out this early for the final touches. Then with all of my supplies together, the magic can happen and hopefully a glorious beer will be born. But until then I'll have to settle for whatever Pumpkin Ale I can find at Wegmans.

Well, off to find that 6 pack! 

Monday, August 30, 2010

Something Wicked This Way Comes...

Well, I finally decided I was strong enough to take on the Hot Chili Beer. So here is the long awaited review.

SANY0602

Appearance: Nice straw color, with a snowy white pillow of foam. It is brilliantly clear until you get to the bottom of the bottle. This beer seems to produce much more sediment. If you look close, you can see the fine white layer in the bottom of the bottle.

Aroma: The first thing you smell is the peppers. This beer just smells hot and angry. It smells like fresh cut jalapenos and a bit of bell pepper.

Taste: From the first sip, you can taste the peppers and feel the heat. Again there are some very slight hints of green bell pepper. It is very smooth, and the oak gives the beer a fuller, softer mouthfeel. There is more heat through the middle and end of the palate.

*** I had a few people that said they could see this beer going with lime and/or Mexican food. Well, I was fresh out of Mexican, but I did have a lime rolling around. So I sliced it up and here are those additional tasting notes.

SANY0603

On a side note, the lime appeared to anger the beer. I squeezed the lime and then dropped in the wedge, so the beer foamed excessively as soon as the wedge went it, and the foam proceeded to try and drowned out the lime and sink it, but the lime's feisty nature kept it afloat.

Lime Tasting Notes: The lime definitely makes this beer much more mellow. It softens the pepper, it is still there fighting its way through, but a lot of the fight was taken out of him. It becomes much more drinkable, but the beer loses too much of its character.

Overall: This beer is much better than the first hot pepper beer that was just liquid fire. It is much easier to drink and has better structure. The lime is a good call to make this more palatable for me, but is not worth sacrificing the original character of the beer. However, even with that being said, this beer is not for me. I just don't care for it. Oh well, it just means more beer to hand out to the people who enjoy it and deserve it.

On to the next batch...

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Buffalo Bill's Brewery - Orange Blossom Cream Ale Review

So I have been saying for awhile that I need to do a beer review of my hot chili beer, but every time I open the fridge it just looks to damn angry to taste.

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Just look at it, it kicked down the Ginger Ale and forced the milk up against the wall. Its just mean, so I decided to rifle through the fridge and came up with this.

SANY0600

Buffalo Bill's Brewery: Orange Blossom Cream Ale.

Now normally, I'm not a big fan of beers that incorporate fruit into them. I will occasionally squeeze a lime in a Corona or a Dos Equis, but most of the time I even drink those beer without lime. But I figured what the hell, by looking at the label, it didn't look nearly as angry as my hot chili beer and it was all I had.

Appearance: Brilliantly clear, golden in color. Produced a nice foamy white head that took its time to dissipate.

Aroma: It definitely lives up to its name, it is immediately flowery and citrusy, then overpowering with oranges.

Taste: At first taste, it only slightly tastes like an ale before it is overpowered by the cloying sweetness of oranges. It has a thicker, creamy mouth feel that is true to style of a cream ale. The more I drank the more it became sickeningly sweet.

Overall: I really didn't care for this beer, it was just way too sweet and way to "orangey" for me. But I don't care for fruity beer, but hey if you would like a creamscicle dipped in beer, this could be a good choice for you.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Procrastinator?? What? Who me?

Well, back in March I had ordered and received ten hop rhizomes to plant. I ordered 5 cascades and 5 sterlings, I was going to plant them in the back yard in April once the weather broke and by the end of this month I would be picking hops, yeah well that just didn't work out.

The hop rhizomes arrived about mid-March while I was in the midst of building the chicken coop. I was so focused on getting that coop built and the run set that it was all I could see in front of me, so the packages of hops went into the refrigerator. Then like most things in my fridge, if it isn't yogurt for A Bird, cheese sticks for L Bird, or an icy cold delicious beer for me, it gets pushed to the back of the fridge and forgotten until it begins growing something that could possibly take over and eat the fridge itself.

So that's what happened, until L Bird got it in her head to clean out the fridge. In her cleaning the packages of hops got moved to the front and in the side door compartment, right next to the Coke, so I had to see them. I pulled them out and they all looked in pretty decent shape for spending 4 1/2 months in the cold unknown of the back of the fridge.

With that I grabbed my post hole digger and went out to the back yard and planted them. I gently tucked each one into its nice, moist, (Ha ha, I said moist), bed and covered them up. I watered them, said a little prayer that they would grow and went on my way.

Two weeks later, this is what I have:

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You see those spiky leaves in the center of that dirt, yep those are the survivors. So far I have 3 out of 10 plants growing, this year is pretty much shot for them growing big enough to produces some hop cones, but they will have a good root base for next year. I'll keep monitoring the other 7 plants to see if they come up, but I won't know for sure until next spring.

I figure 3 out of 10 isn't bad for waiting this long.

Friday, July 23, 2010

A Salute To The Goof Troop

I talk about the Goof Troop a lot, but really not a lot of people have any idea of what the hell I'm talking about, so I figured a good post would be a quick introduction of the Goof Troop.

Naps

5.15.2010 019

Status: Founding Member

Most Memorable Stories: Passing out next to a fire hydrant in the middle of G-town, waking up in the dead of night marching nude on the bed while chanting "I have to pee!", getting drunk and slapping asses that walk by and just being generally handsy (I'm sorry, damn that booze).

L Boogie

july2010 024

Status: Active Member

Memorable Stories: The Sideshow Bathroom Fish story (not for the faint of heart), yelling "Vodka, I love vodka!" through the entire bar, and showing her boobs to a few trusted people in The Sideshow bathroom.

Dinker

5.15.2010 002

Status: Active Member

Memorable Stories: Puking in the middle of Wyatt's on their grand opening weekend, but hey at least he hit the trash can, slipping on puke and almost ending up on his back in the middle of it in The Holiday's men's room, and finally making a promise to God that he will never drink Tequila again, and so far he hasn't.

Satan a.k.a "Lucy" (short for Lucifer)

Ava's b-day and random May '10 085

Status: Founding Member

Memorable Stories: Once drank a gallon of Seagram's EXTRA Dry Gin with me, she drank gin & tonic, I drank gin & juice. Once threw her lit cigar at me while arguing, and hell just being with the Captain for so long is crazy enough.

Captain Insano

Ava's b-day and random May '10 084

Status: Founding Member

Memorable Stories: Drinking 3 shots of Creme De Menthe in the "Scrabble Game", being related to the Heinous Braintrust, bush/dumpster jumping, staring mouth wide open at the "stirring the mashed potatoes" guy outside Lookers in Syracuse.

Twin

30 th b-day Party! 068

Status: Founding Member

Memorable Stories: The Sideshow Bathroom Fish story, giving us the use of so many great nicknames for guys, i.e. Officer Small Penis, Taco Stupid, Motorboat, etc. Packing up her apartment to move and labeling a box "Anthony's Box - o - Porn", then ordering the Cpt. and I a pizza and beer while we thumbed through numerous copies, and finally scolding Butters and I into putting our stolen street sign back.

Butters

july2010 015

Status: Founding Member

Memorable Stories: Drinking the bottom half of a coffee mug filled with salt potato butter, then leaving the bar sick. (But hey it got him his nickname). Having so much porn that it requires its own box, then once that box is found trying to lie and say that all of the "Pink & Plump" mags were stuck in the middle of a 3 -pack, yelling "ARRRRRRRRRR" like he was a pirate and then jumping on Twin in an amorous advance without knowing his mother was standing behind him laughing hysterically.

Stickbug

30 th b-day Party! 010

Status: Junior Member (but she's getting there)

Memorable Stories: Pissing me off in Beer Pong the first night I met her, pulling Captain Insano down by his flowing mane of pony tail at the roller skating party, having an in depth discussion about how "Sex is just sex" at the bar, and letting me get away with being handsy. (The handsy thing really applies to all the ladies of this group, lol)

Now there are a ton of great stories other than the ones that I have posted here, but these are just the first ones that popped into my head. I love you guys!!

Friday, July 9, 2010

All bottled up !!

So finally I bit the bullet and bottled up my hot pepper beer. I had been putting it off for longer than I wanted to, just because it has been so damn hot as of late. Plus working with hot water for sanitizing when its already over 90 outside is just not pleasant. But luckily for me a nice set of thunderstorms swept through this afternoon and cooled everything off, so I took advantage of the slightly cooler weather and got cracking.

I pulled out the carboy and placed it on counter to transfer it to the bottling bucket, and this is what the bad boy looked like:

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Just look how thick that sediment layer is, and I still have peppers floating awesome. So I transferred the beer to the bottling bucket and started bottling it. Once I had it in the bottles, it was time to add the final touch.

SANY0498  Yep, the finishing touch is a big ol' kiss from Don Enrique. I took one of those lovely red ladies and dropped it into each bottle before capping it. So now the beer can age and soak up more heat from Don Enrique's little friends.

Now with my clutch of beautiful brown 22.5 fluid ounce bottles filled and capped, I can relax for a week or tow before its ready to taste. So lets wait together, who knows I may have my beer tasting party yet.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Still Bubbling……

Well, I just checked on my chili beer fermenter and it is still happily bubbling away, even after a week of hot and heavy fermentation. So I will just let it keep chugging.

As I sat there staring at the bubbles running through the airlock, I started thinking about carbonation, and the question hit me. Which is better natural carbonation or artificial/force carbonation? Now depending on who you are, how you like to brew, what kind of beer you like, and numerous other questions you could be on either side. In the beer world this question can draw the same kind of crazy passion as the age old question of “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?”

Here are my opinions on the subject, and that’s all they are just opinions. I lean much more towards natural carbonation, maybe because it is all I have ever been able to do as a homebrewer. I never have been set up with a CO2 tank and corny kegs, so I have always just primed with a little corn sugar and let the yeast finish the carbonation in the bottle. However, I don’t feel that, that is the only reason. I like natural carbonation, because it appeals to my artistic and creative side. To natural carbonate the beer, you have to add a little sugar to the beer and let the remaining yeast ferment the sugar in the bottle and build the CO2 necessary for the perfect head. So by naturally carbonating a beer, you are basically leaving the beer unfiltered, this leaves the yeast in the bottle and turns the each bottle into it’s own “living” creature. As the beer bottle conditions, the yeast finish their processes and then settle to the bottom. Now the yeast are free to contribute to their own unique flavors to the beer as it ages. The longer the beer is allowed to condition on its own yeast, the more the flavor can change and contribute to beer’s structure. So a beer that you taste weeks after bottling can have a different flavor than the same beer that is opened a few months later. The ever changing flavors of the evolving beer fascinates me and really sways me to the natural carbonation side.

Now don’t get me wrong, force carbonating has its place. When you force carbonate, it is much easier to get a precise CO2 level that will correspond to the amount of  head that the beer will have. So you have more control over the amount of CO2. You also tend to get more microbial stability in the beer if you have the ability to filter the beer. Because you don’t have to rely the yeast to produce those beautiful little bubbles, you can filter the beer and remove all of the yeast and any other type of haze producing particles, which leaves you with a brighter, more clear, and sometimes cleaner tasting beer. You don’t have to worry about the yeast flocculating out and creating that mushy sediment layer on the bottom of each bottle. Most people don’t like to see that sediment and they especially don’t want to drink it.

***On a side note, some people really don’t mind the sediment and think that it all adds to the flavor. I had the opportunity to work and live in the Riverland of Australia for a month and a half. While I was over there I made sure to try as many Australian beers as I could. It was in these beer tastings with many of my Australian co-workers, that I was introduced to Cooper’s. Now Cooper’s is a pretty decent mass produced beer company that not only produces beer but also homebrew kits. But Cooper’s also bottle conditions its mass produced beer, so there is always a nice little yeast cake on the bottom of each bottle. So before I opened my first bottle my Australian counterpart told me to invert the bottle and swirl the cake back into the beer, “It’s better that way, this is the way real Australians drink this beer, and if you don’t do this before every Cooper’s,  we’ll probably call you a ‘stupid American’”. Now he told  me all of this with a good laugh. So I drank the first Cooper’s like a real Australian, but like many things when I’m drinking I forgot to swirl the next bottle and got my fair share of ball busting “Stupid American” comments as they laughed at me. But in my mistake I got to taste the same beer two ways and I must admit, I liked it much better with all of that sediment mixed back into the beer.

Well that was a rather long side note I know, but anyway the next time you pop a top or pry off a crimp on cap, and here that familiar “psssssssssssssst”, take a minute to think about whether the beer was bottle conditioned or force carbonated and decide which you think is better. Enjoy!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Where’s there is smoke, there’s fire!!

So my hot chili beer has been happily fermenting for 4 days and I decided it was time to transfer it to the secondary fermenter. I decided to transfer it because I was following my first recipe, but also because I wanted to add a second dose of hot peppers and oak.

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That was my second addition, two jalapenos, one habanero, and two ounces of american oak chips. So I washed the peppers and steamed the oak. Then I rough cut the peppers and added everything to the fermenter.

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This picture is, uh, well, uh, I’m trying to think of something clever to say about looking directly down into the carboy. Right down the pipe, no right down the chute, no then all I think of is poop chute and I don’t want that image associated with this beer. Well, maybe staring into the mouth of madness, well anyway you get the idea.

So with the peppers and oak added all that was left was the add the fermenting beer.

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Aaaaaaah, now isn’t that the prettiest thing you have ever seen. I think it is. So now it goes back into a cool, dark place, a.k.a the closet, to finish fermenting.

So the waiting continues, but its getting exciting, right??

Monday, June 21, 2010

Here we go again……Fire and Brimstone

OK, so the other day I received the package I had been waiting for. It was a glorious box of beer supplies for my next brew. Now I opened the box and there was the usual assortment of ingredients, dry malt, malt syrup, a pound of crushed grains, a couple of different kinds of hops, and a packet of dehydrated yeast. Pretty standard stuff, nothing to get super excited about. Just the basics for a nice pale ale. Well, I have been in the experimental mood lately, and a plain pale ale just wasn’t going to cut it so I pulled out my “special ingredients” :
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1. Chili Peppers – Jalapenos and Habaneros (Fire)
2. Oak Chips
3. Liquid Smoke (Brimstone)
That’s right, another hot pepper beer. Now, just a little quick history, my first hot pepper beer, was pretty hot. I could drink one and my lips burned for days. You know that feeling after eating a bunch of atomic chicken wings, where your lips burn and tingle and nothing but sweet, sweet time can pull you out of the fetal position and settle the swelling of your lips. Yeah, it was pretty awesome!! My buddy Dinker and a select few people actually enjoyed the beer for more than a novelty.
So this is take 2 on that beer, but I am adding a few other ingredients to try and balance the heat from the peppers. So I am adding some oak chips to add a softer mouthfeel and a little bitterness. Then I added some liquid smoke, what I am going for is a smoky, grilled peppers kind of aroma/flavor. We’ll see what I get, all of the beer recipes I have found on using Liquid Smoke were a bit ambiguous as to when to add it to the beer and how much to add. Smoke flavor can be a bit overpowering if too much is used, some recipes called for 2 tablespoons, where others said that 1 1/2 teaspoons was just enough. Then some recipes said to add it at the end of the boil and others said to add it directly to the fermenter. Oh, what the hell, I had no idea what to do so I split the difference and hedged my bets. I added a 1/2 teaspoon to the boil and then 1 1/2 teaspoons directly to the fermenter. So here’s hoping for the best.
All of this was done to find the perfect backyard barbeque beer. I want a beer that is a perfect compliment to a summer barbeque. A beer that perfectly compliments a nice juicy burger straight from the grill. I want this beer to have a little heat, but some roasted/smoky notes so when you taste it, it quenches your thirst but leaves you picturing that giant burger topped with a melted slice of jalapeno pepperjack cheese.
So with some wishful thinking I put the lid on the fermenter, inserted the airlock and tucked this beer away for the night. I gave it a quick check this morning to find it happily bubbling away, so we shall see what I get. Just a short couple of weeks and we’ll give it a taste. Hell, maybe I’ll throw a BBQ and you can taste it and tell me how close I came to the perfect BBQ beer.
Until then, support your local brewers and drink local.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Ithaca Beer – 12 Anniversary Ale: Monastery-style Quadruple Ale – Beer Review

So it has been said that great minds think a like, and that was true for Saturday night. My buddy Dinker was stopping by so I ran out to buy a decent beer for a possible dual review, well he had the same idea and brought over a beautiful bottle of 12 Anniversary Ale from Ithaca Beer. Well his Quadruple ale trumped by beer by Goose Island, so we reviewed the Quad.

SANY0407 12 Anniversary Ale is another beer in Ithaca’s Excelsior line. I reviewed the White Gold in an earlier review, so I had high hopes for this beer as well. So I poured the bottle and away we go:

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PROST!!

Aroma: Naps – A lot of yeasty aromas, not much hop aroma     Dinker – Not as he would have expected, more yeasty  aromas

Visual:  Naps – very heady, very turbid but could be because of the pour. Dark brown in color.

Dinker – Chestnut brown, a bit cloudy but expected because of the bottle fermentation.

Taste: Naps – definitiely got some dark chocolate notes, it was very apparent in the middle of the palate, then finished with the same bitterness from dark chocolate. Has slight CO2 bite, but still very smooth. Definitely has some alcohol content which is expected because it is a Quadruple, I could feel the back of neck getting warm as I was finishing my glass.

Dinker – Very smooth moutfeel, and very drinkable. The alcohol is not as strong as expected for a Quad. Wouldn’t label it as a traditional Quad, there is something different about it that makes it unique from other Quads.

Overall: Naps -  This was my first Quad. I have had Dubbels and Trippels that have been very good, but this was very very good. So far I have really liked everything in Ithaca’s Excelsior line.

Dinker – This beer is definitely worth the $8 I paid for it. It is different than other Quads, but I just can’t put my finger on it. It is very drinkable and I could have easily drank the whole bottle, where other Quads tend to be very heavy and after  1 pint you’re finished. I definitely like both this and the White Gold in the Excelsior line.

So if you have an extra $8 and you see this bottle it is definitely worth trying. Also in my personal opinion after  trying two beers from Ithaca’s Excelsior line up, I would buy and try any beer that is in that line. So until then grab a pint, tip the bottom up and enjoy.

SANY0411

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