CS Booze Club.

[Jester]

So I was in the store the other day, looking for something else completely, and I saw Terrapin Beer's Pumpkinfest. As a fan of pumpkin beers, I had to try it, so I bought myself the four pack.

The color is exquisite: dark red-orange, hazy, looking delicious. The nose is inviting, suggesting that you try this, and try it right now! Nutmeg, brown sugar, pumpkin, other things I can't describe, all vying for attention.

But...what about the taste? One thing a lot of people don't realize is that most pumpkin beers don't use actual pumpkin in their beer, but pumpkin pie spices. Which is good for me, as I am not a fan of pumpkin or pumpkin pie. Don't like 'em. Never have. But the spices used in pumpkin pie? Oh, yeah. I like those! And I've tried a lot of pumpkin beers, and I generally like them, for the reasons I just mentioned. Bit...what about Terrapin's? I mean, Terrapin is one of my favorite brewers, as they are creative without being too smart for their own good. They are tasty, remembering that the beer is more important than their egos. So, how does their Pumpkinfest taste? I don't know, but I'm about to find out. (Please, Athens, don't let me down....)

And....the folks in Athens did not, in fact, let me down. This is quite tasty. Delicious, even. Is it great? Well, no. Is it very, very good? Oh, hell yes. This is a very good pumpkin ale that will not leave you regrets. It is just not in the category of something unworldly, like Shipyard's Pumpkinhead, or Harpoon's UFO Pumpkin. But definitely better than average. I give it a solid 7. A worthy pumpkin ale that you should get if you can. I shall enjoy the four bottle immensely.

[Jester]

Well, shit. I have tons of beer reviews to upload, both from my old Dumb Phone and my current phone. And I will get to them. I will. Seriously.

But for right now, I want to talk about Budweiser.

Yes. Budweiser.

No, not the usual "King of Beers," which while I drink on tap occasionally watching Sunday football, I freely admit is utter piss water, as should anyone with anything resembling a beer palate.

But the other day I was in the store to buy a particular seasonal beer that had just come out, and I spotted a twelve pack of Budweiser's "Brewmasters' Project Twelve." In essence, Anheuser Busch sponsored a competition among brewmasters from their 12 breweries to come up with new beers. According to the box, the best three were selected and offered up in this 12 pack sampler (four of each of the three selected) to be sampled by America, who would choose a winner. Apparently the winner would be either a new Budweiser product, or perhaps the new Budweiser--the package is not very clear on this, but I suspect the former over the latter.

The three beers in the sampler pack were a golden pilsner, a bourbon cask lager, and a deep amber lager. Over the last four nights I have sampled all three.

My verdict: *yawn*

While they aren't terrible, or even bad, they aren't exactly great. Each one is interesting, and worth drinking, but hardly memorable. I could describe each one, but they are all so generic and actually somewhat similar that I don't really see the point. I did not have high hopes for the pilsner, as I don't generally like them, but this one wasn't bad. The bourbon cask was the one I was banking my money on, but like the others, it was generically boring. And the amber lager? Well, it's as boring as the other two.

Look, these are all decent beers, and I would drink any one of them if someone handed it to me. And they are all better than the usual BuMiCo crap out there, certainly. But do I recommend spending $14 for this sampler? Well, maybe. Worth a taste, I suppose. But if you're expecting to have beer re-invented for you, or have the world lit on fire, you're going to be very disappointed. These are all decent, vaguely tasty beers, but in the end, they are as memorable as a nice shade of beige.

As I said: *yawn*

[Andara Bledin]

I suspect that, as they're a BuMiCo offering, they're going to be aimed at the lowest common denominator, generally, and thus the verdict of *yawn* is utterly unsurprising.

^-.-^

[Jester]

Andara, that is not always true. There are products by BuMiCo that aren't horrible, and some that are even decent. Sure, most of those were existing breweries or brands bought by one of the giants, but in-house, they have had some decent forays into craft beer, especially by Miller's Plank Road and Michelob's lines, among others.

And while I had feared it might be blah, the way they made it out like they had had a competition amongs their brewmasters, I had some hope that they might actually turn out something decent. I mean, let's face it, this whole thing had to be aimed at the craft beer drinker. Your average Bud Light, Miller Lite, or Coors Light drinker is not going to drop $14 on a twelve pack of beer. They're just not. And I really had high hopes for the bourbon cask-aged beer, especially with my recent experience with a rum cask-aged beer.

A-B really dropped the ball here. I'm not overly surprised, but I am disappointed.

[Jester]

Oh my. I have tons of beer reviews in my phones (both the old and new one) that I still have to update to here, not to mention a review of a six-beer variety pack that I typed up.

And yet...I feel like I am the only one who even writes or reads this thread anymore. Ah, well. At least I am getting some enjoyment out of it.

In any case, those other reviews will get here soon enough. Today, though, a new beer. (And there was much rejoicing. "Yaaaayy...")

From Shipyard Brewing in Maine (a brewery whose products I have reviewed before), we have Longfellow Winter Ale. I do hope I like it, as it I picked it up in a rather hefty 22 oz. bottle. And in case you were wondering, they did name this beer in honor of American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; they claim on the label that their brewery is on the site of his birth. If this is true, an appropriate name for this beer, one must admit.

The first thing that stands out for the Longfellow is its color. Most winters are brownish in nature, but this one is bordering on pitch black. It is a dark, dark winter. Visibility through it: zero. Yeah....dark.

Oh, the smell is delightful. Various wintery spices vying for attention, all rich and warm and inviting. And yet balanced and restrained, with a hint of something, perhaps mocha, lingering in the background.

And the taste matches the nose rather well. Very well-balanced, mature, almost elegant beer. The spices are less prevalent on the tongue than they were on the nose, but they are still there to tantalize and draw you further in. The mocha is .here in the background, but very subdued. All in all, a very fine beer. An easy 7.5.

[Andara Bledin]

I read this thread every time it gets updated.

I don't even drink, but I enjoy reading the write ups. They make me wish I could enjoy some of the subjects.

^-.-^

[Mikkel]

I read the thread with interest too. The only beer I have actually gone and tried is the Xingu. Most of the American beers described aren't available in Europe.

[Jester]

Mikkel, what did you think of the Xingu?

As for your comment about most not being available in Europe, many (and I do mean many) of the beers I comment on are European. I know I have tried and commented on many beers from Germany, England, Ireland, and Belgium, for example. And at least one Estonian beer, too!

[Mikkel]

I really like the Xingu and have bought it several times afterwards.
I know you write about European beers too, the reviews have just not been so glowing that I went out of my way to find them.

[Jester]

I'm not a fan of all of them, no. But some of my reviews of European beers have been beyond glowing, they've been radioactive.

Without searching through this whole thread and finding them, let me list a few Euro beers here off the top of my head that I find to be ridiculously awesome.

From Germany, anything by Weihenstephaner, especially their Korbinian, which is a dopplebock, and happens to be the only beer I've ever scored a 10 out of 10. My notes that I took when tasting it read, "Proof that Germans perfected beer."

Also from Germany, the best hefeweizen I've ever had, Hacker-Pschorr.

From England, Wexford Irish Cream Ale. My friend Little Red's favorite beer, and one I scored a 9.

From Belgium, a place that doesn't produce a lot of beers I normally like, there's St. Martin's Triple, which I have described as "licking heaven."

From Scotland, I've been over the moon about Harviestoun Brewery's Old Engine Oil.

Italy and France produce crap for beer, but I've sang the praises for Spain's Estrella Damm.

Just a few worthy Euro beers off the top of my head....

[Mikkel]

I promise I'll look for those. Thank you for the digest of 63 pages .
Hey, look, the shop where I found the Xingu also have Weihenstephaner Korbinian and Vitus plus a lot of American beers. Next time I pass Ravnsborggade I'll have to get a bottle or two.

[Jester]

I've had the Vitus. Very awesome.

And anytime I can help with beer guidance, just let me know.

Or rum guidance.

Or, on a lesser note, wine or other spirit guidance.

Except gin. I loathe gin. Although, oddly, I could still probably guide people in their gin selections, though not as easily as in other areas, especially rum and beer.

[Jester]

A rare wine review.

(Not that the wine is rare. Just that me reviewing wine is not all that common. Though the wine itself may be rare in your area. Though here I never have too much trouble finding it. But anyway....)

Marques de Caceres Gran Reserva. This is a lovely Spanish red wine. I may have spoken in this thread (or at least on this site) about their entry level wine, the Marques de Caceres Crianza Rioja. Which is lovely. And delicious. And much, much cheaper than the Gran Reserva.

My ex-fiance introduced me to Marques de Caceres, in the process converting me from a predominantly white wine drinker to a predominantly red wine drinker. And also making me a lover of Spanish reds, which are amazing, and due to their being rather unknown in this country, they are also relatively cheap.

The MdC Gran Reserva is a medium bodied red, with a nice balance of richness and acidity. It seems simple, but is deceptively complex, and simply grows on you; dry enough to cause a pucker, but rich enough to make you smile and ask for more. As I said, deceptively complex.

I won't lie....I did not intend to buy this wine tonight. Frankly, I did not intend to buy any wine tonight, as currently I have about a dozen bottles of wine at home. But as I was in the grocery store to buy other items, I was struck with a bit of nostalgia, and, if I am completely honest, a bit of melancholy thinking about my ex-fiance and whatever became of her. (I still don't know.) So I checked the wine aisle for some Marques, and while even then I only intended to buy the Crianza, I couldn't help but notice the Reserva and the Gran Reserva. And in a very melancholy moment, I bought the Gran Reserva, which I am currently drinking as I think wistfully of The Brit and our times together, and what might have been, but wasn't.

If you get a chance, try this wine, be it the Crianza, the Reserva, or the Gran Reserva. (At my local store tonight, they were, respectively, $12, $18, and $30, though Key West prices tend to run on the high side.) It is delicious and worth the money. And while it may not have the same nostalgic attachments for you as it does for me, it is still an excellent and worthy wine.

To you, M. Wherever you are. Te amo con todo mi corazon, mi amor.

[Jester]

An unusually cold day (for Key West), and I've had some lighter beers earlier, so figured it would be a good time to break out a new dark beer. From Avery Brewing, I have a bottle of New World Porter (6.7% ABV), and yes, I'm quite sure the play on words is intentional. The color is dark chocolate brown bordering on black, with almost no head. The nose is rich and balanced, with hints of cocoa, brown sugar, and malt. The taste is that of a classic porter: rich, dark, and sweet, but balanced, without being over the top in any of these. A nice, refined beer for a refined palate. In addition to the tastes that the nose alludes to, there is also a bit of a coffee undertone, most notable on the aftertaste. This is a lovely beer, as I would expect from the fine folks at Avery. Score: An easy 8.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to return to watching a movie where people are shooting at each other in a bygone time, as I enjoy this modern take on a classic.

[Victory Sabre]

Ok, here's a negative review here. I don't even remember the name of it, only that it's "made" in Mexico. It was totally awful beer.

Chili beer.

I was seriously excited about it because I love spicy foods. I get it and take it out to the cabin on the fishing opener for myself. I gave the others Corona Light. I open up the beer and take a sip. The flavor is hard to describe beyond totally disgusting. I really had to work very hard to finish it off. It took about 4 hours for me to finish it, and had switched to chasing it with another beer - Schells Maifest.

I finally choke it down, and announce I'm throwing away the rest of the 6 pack. My friends were worried that it would be alcohol abuse. Well, it was alcohol abuse to create this awful drink in the first place. Spicy and beer doesn't go together at all. Not as bad as clamato beer, but a close second.

Do not drink it!