CS Booze Club.

[Jester]

I do have a bottle of the Samuel Smith in my fridge. Sadly, I don't think I've seen Aecht around here. Also I'm sampling chocolate beers to decide which ones to give to a friend, who loves chocolate, and chocolate beers, for Christmas. The Shockolate is a for sure one. I'd wager the Samuel Smith will also work. I've given her the Shake Chocolate Porter in the past.

Re Aecht, just because you haven't seen it doesn't mean you won't see it, especially now that you're aware of their existence.

Re chocolate beers, also be on the look out for Chokolat from Southern Tier (New York) and Double Chocolate Stout from Young's (England).

If they do it up anywhere near as well (And I certainly trust J's taste) as their organic Pale Ale, it'll be superb.

It's actually superior to the Pale. Seriously. It's on the level of, or perhaps even better than, their Nut Brown Ale. And their NBA is about as good as that style gets.

[Victory Sabre]

I also have a Young's in my fridge. I've also tried the Chocolat and here's my review of it

Tonight I went to a local liquor store looking for the Beer Camp. It wasn't in yet, so, I went with a back up plan - Southern Tier Mokah Stout.

At 10%, oh boy!

As expected, looks like motor oil when poured. I'm surprised at how much head there was when I poured it. As for the nose, I do smell the hint of chocolate, and like it.

As for the taste. Not an overpowering taste, but as it's going down, you get a very stouty, chocolately, coffeey taste. I like it, and will give it a 6.5. I don't know if it's worth the $10 I spent on it, but it's good.

[sms001]

Southern Tier Mokah Stout...At 10%, oh boy!

lol. I've got a four-pack of Goose Island's Bourbon County Brand Stout waiting for me down at my local's. Last time I looked, it was packing a 14.4 ABV. That's a one, two TOPS, sitting for me unless I'm out and about.

[Jester]

Vic, your review was for the Mokah (stout brewed with chocolate and coffee), not the Choklat (stout brewed with chocolate). They are two distinct and different beers. Two others you're gonna wanna check out from Southern Tier that are just as good are the Creme Brûlée Stout (as good as the name implies) and the Warlock (stout brewed with pumpkins) which is their utterly ridiculous (by which I mean awesome) pumpkin stout. All four are part of ST's Blackwater Series, and all four are astoundingly good.

Sms, I've had the Bourbon County Stout from Goose Island before, and enjoyed it, but apparently didn't realize it was so high in alcohol, until this past Saturday night. I met up with my friend Tica for our FNDC. That stands for Friday Night Drinking Club, but for reasons on both our ends, we were meeting this week on Saturday night. We had a couple, and she said she wanted to see a movie after one more. We decided I'd go too, and we each ordered one more. Mine was the BCS. And only after I had the bottle in hand and was drinking the beer out of the glass the bartender had poured it into did I see the ABV, which on my bottle was 13.8%. (Different from yours, yes, but smaller breweries often have different ABVs for different batches of the same beer, especially higher end and higher alcohol beers.) And I had 30 minutes to drink it, max, if we were gonna make the movie.

I did it, but I won't lie....I did miss about ten minutes of the movie. Wheeee!

[Jester]

I started writing this last Tuesday, and it stretched over a few days, and then I got side tracked with other things. You know, like life. Anyway, here's several reviews over several days of me trying to get up off my ass and cook.

It's Beer Tuesday! Okay, technically it's Taco Tuesday, but whatever. Anyway, after meeting up with the usual suspects at the usual locale for cheap but surprisingly tasty tacos and 2-for-1 beers, I headed home to do some prep for some cooking I'll be doing. Naturally, being the procrastinator I am, I stopped at Radio Shack to see want good deals they'd have this weekend (answer: nothing impressive that I need or want), I sat down to watch NCIS. After which, I'll empty the dishwasher and start chopping various things up, for the actual cooking tomorrow night. (I'm rather slow at prep, so this actually makes sense in my world.)

First up, another item from Vic's delivery to me: Lazy Monk Brewing's Oktoberfest Marzen Lager (5.5% ABV). (Since "Oktoberfest" and "Marzen" are basically synonymous as styles, this names seems a bit redundant.) The color is a lovely caramel amber brown. The nose is very subtle, but smooth and a bit sweet. The taste isn't bad, but there's a bit of wateriness to an otherwise tasty Marzen. Overall, pretty decent, but I'd hoped for so much more. I can't give it more than 5.5, but I am often hypercritical of any German style, since I love German beers so much.

Okay, back to NCIS with this beer....more late. And prep. Yes, definitely prep.

...over two hours later...

And THIS is why I am the Patron Saint of Procrastination. It's over two hours since I finished watching NCIS, and all I've done is screw around on facebook and other websites. Current status:
DVR: still paused between NCIS and NCIS New Orleans.
Dishwasher: still not unloaded.
Garlic: still unminced.
Celery and onions: still unchopped.
Thyme and sage: still unchopped and un-destemmed.
Un-destemmed: still not a word.
Next beer: still unopened.
So clearly I need to address the most pressing issue: time for a new beer!

Not just a new beer, but a new beer country: a place from which I've never before had beer. In this case, the country of Laos. The beer is Beerlao Dark Lager from Lao Brewey (6.5% ABV). The color is dark caramel brown, while still having a high degree of clarity. Also a rather thick white head. Smell is a bit skunky, but a muted skunky, with a hint of pleasant sweetness in the background. The beer itself is rather tasty. Smooth, pleasant, slightly sweet, a decent unassuming honest beer. Not great, but not terrible, and definitely better than cheap yellow swill like BuMiCo crap. Would be a nice beer with food of almost any variety. Score: an unassuming yet surprising 6.0. Will go especially well with NCIS New Orleans.

...Okay, half way through NCIS New Orleans, time for a new beer! (Hey, some things should not be procrastinated!)

Another new beer country: Norway! Home of fjords, salmon, and many winter sports that Americans simply don't get.

The beer: Nøgne Ø (9.0% ABV). Yes, that is the name of it. No, I don't read Norwegian, or understand what, if anything, that translates at beyond a name, or even am really sure how to pronounce it (I'm guessing "NOG-nay Aw," but that's purely a guess), but I felt the beer deserved to have its name accurately represented here. It is an Imperial Rye Porter brewed in collaboration with Terrapin Brewing out of Georgia (the U.S. State, not the country). Apparently the name of the Norwegian brewery at which it was brewed and with which Terrapin collaborated on it is also Nøgne Ø, or so the bottle would lead me to believe. But I'm probably getting much of this wrong. In any case, on to the beer itself!

First thing I notice is that this beer pours like motor oil. For me, that's like beer foreplay. It's black as all get out, with a dark tan, relatively thick head. The nose is malty, with a hint of coffee and perhaps mocha, but overall far more restrained than the visual evidence would lead me to expect.

Whoa.

Seriously, whoa.

Smooth and creamy, rich and malty, restrained, refined, and ridiculously tasty. This is a great freakin beer! Cross the nearest fjord to get one, because this is awesome. If you drink dark beer, you'll love this. If you don't drink beer, start now so you can appreciate the brilliance and wonder of this beer. I would brave the snows of a Norwegian summer for this beer. Score it a solid 8.5. And I may well be underscoring it.

(Yes, I said summer. I hate the cold. You think I'm going to Norway in the winter? Are you nuts???)

Back to the conclusion of this week's episode of NCIS NOLA.

...And it's Wednesday night. Which is significant since everything above was written on Tuesday night. After the last thing I wrote, I finished NCIS NOLA, and watched an episode of Stalker, as I need to catch up on that show. I then fell asleep, woke up, futzed around, showered, dressed, got on my scooter to go to work, got two blocks away, turned around, came back, parked the scooter, and took my truck to work. Not because it was cold, which by Key West standards it kinda was, being in the sixties, but because it was so damn windy, I did not feel safe driving my scooter across the island. And that's pretty damn windy.

In short, I got exactly nothing done last night. So if figured I'd cook tonight. Figured it would be a quiet shift, and I'd be home by around six to be the kitchen god I can be. Small problem: the aforementioned weather. It made what should have been a slow and sleepy Wednesday shift (and I don't even normally work Wednesdays!) into a cranking shift, so by the time I was done, at almost seven, I was pretty exhausted, and hungry. So naturally I went to the bar for a steak dinner, washed down by a few tasty beverages, including a hot rum cider made by one of the bartenders there. My planned dessert was going to be Funky Buddha's Sweet Potato Casserole beer, which sounded like it would be either brilliant or horrible. Sadly, the keg kicked as the bartender was pouring it for me, so I only got a small taste. Sadder still, that taste told me that I missed out on a glass of brilliance.

So I finally got home around 9:30, still tired, and figured I'd watch an episode of Stalker and then get to cooking. Here it's past 11:30, and I have lifted nary a tool in the kitchen nor switched on my tv. Hey, I told you....Patron Saint of Procrastination here! So I'll cook in the morning, if I wake up early enough, or after my short shift at work, which I will be out of by 4ish. But tonight, I shall have more beer, for which I have also been procrastinating, and go watch that episode of Stalker.

Abita Brewing's Pecan Harvest Ale (5.2% ABV): dark nut brown color, appropriate for a nut beer. Nice off white head. Nose not at all what I expected. Not nutty, not sweet, just.....stale beer smell, kind of. So, visually good, but smells bad. As always, taste shall decide. Taste is more in line with looks. Smooth, slightly sweet, a bit nutty, a bit caramelly. I've had better nut beers, but I've had far, far worse. Amusingly, while I am a not a huge nut guy, I do like my nut beers. In this case, for about a 6.5 score. Would be great with dinner or after dinner. In my case, shall go well with Maggie Q. Stalker time!

...Mid-Stalker break to grab a new beer. Abita's Octoberfest Marzen-Style Lager (5.4% ABV). And yes, yet another brewer is being redundant in their labeling. Grr. Anyways....the color is a nice caramel amber. Nose is nice and beery, with hints of Oktoberfest sweetness. Nice Oktoberfest, a bit more carbonated than most, but overall, nothing more than decent. Of course, a decent Oktoberfest is a damn good thing. 6.0. Back to Stalker!

Finished that episode of Stalker, came out to the kitchen for a new beer.....and spent the last hour on my iPad screwing around, and not even drinking. Seriously, this is getting out of hand.

From Harpoon in Massachusetts, it's UFO Pumpkin (5.9%). Color is light orange, with a white head, which quickly dissipates. Nose is pumpkiny, but also a bit citrusy. Odd. On the tongue, the citrus is more a hint of orange, but it does not take away from the light and smooth pumpkin taste. Lighter than most pumpkin beers, but not in a bad way. Good, but the last couple years I've been spoiled by the best pumpkin beers in the world. So I give this a 6.0, but it's definitely worth getting.

And now....more Stalker!

........

Here it is, day after Thanksgiving, and I am just now finally getting around to cooking. Trash is out. Dishwasher is emptied. Cranberry sauce is already cooked and somewhat jelled, and is chilling and jelling more in the fridge. All the prep for the stuffing is done, and I am going to take a short break before finishing it up, as I'll be taking it and the cranberry sauce to the bar with me today, and I won't be going the till 2:00, to watch a 3:30 game. So....new beer!

And this is one I've been curious about for a while, since I started seeing the commercials for it. It's the Guinness Blonde American Lager (5.0% ABV), which is apparently brewed in America and is part of a new "Discovery Series" Guinness is doing. I love regular Guinness Stout, as well as their Foreign Extra Stout, and the Guinness 250 from a few years ago was awesome, but their Black Lager was a huge disappointment, to me and most beer drinkers I know, as it was just boring. But I'm hoping that with the Blonde they've gotten back on track of making awesome beer.

It has high clarity, which I expect from a blonde, but what I did not expect was the darkness of the color, which is a medium amber, rather than a golden or light amber. The nose is smooth and subtle, a bit beery, a bit honeyish. But what about the taste? That is where their Black Lager fell down. Well, most blondes are boring, but this one is not. It is rather flavorful for a blonde. It is smooth but not sweet, flavorful but not really hoppy. Frankly, it's a good blonde. It's a bit boring, yes, but blonde beers are generally not the biggest flavor packers, so this is a pleasant surprise.

So, is it better than their Black Lager? Yes. Is it brilliant? Well, no. But it is quite good, and tasty, and I'll happily give it a 6.0, and would drink it again, in many situations.

Today: yes, I finally finished the sourdough stuffing, and took it, and my tropical cranberry sauce, and some chicken gravy I heated up (since I didn't cook a bird, I wasn't really able to make homemade gravy, so, as I do most years, I just bought some decent jarred stuff from the store and heated it up), and went off to my local World of Beer to drink, eat, feed the bar staff (because they take such good care of me), and watch the Arizona State vs. Arizona football game.

Had a blast, even though we lost. And that loss resulted in one of my most profanity-laced Facebook rants ever, which someone with no sense of humor or appreciation of the passion sports can inspire apparently reported to Facebook. But as it contained no nudity, and simply told a certain southern Arizona city where they could stick it (in far more colorful language), no action was taken by Facebook against me.

Also met a lovely fellow Sun Devil fan, who shall be watching the Arizona vs. Oregon PAC-12 Championship Game with me Friday night, as we both cheer loudly for the Ducks to crush those idiots from Tucson. She fun, and gorgeous, and hilarious, and naturally, married to an annoyingly good guy, who I couldn't hate even if I wanted to. But at least I have another drinking buddy and fellow Sun Devil to hang with!

And now.....back to our regularly scheduled alcohol reviews!

[Jester]

And now, a non-beer review....

A while back, maybe 1-3 years ago, a couple guys from Wisconsin came into my bar, and in addition to the beers they ordered, they inquired about what blackberry brandy we offered. As we basically only use the stuff in rum runners, we only had one, DeKuyper. Which they seemed unhappy about, though they still each had a few shots of the stuff.

As they drank, they explained to me that up in Cheeseheadlandia, for many people, blackberry brandy is a big thing, and they have some really good stuff up there. I explained to them that this is the tropics, and we really get very little call for the stuff, and that they were the first to every order it to sip on. We had some laughs, they had some drinks, they paid their tab and tipped well, and I figured that was that.

A few weeks or months later, a package arrived at The Bar addressed to me from Wisconsin. It was a pint bottle of Leroux Jezynowka Polish blackberry brandy. Okay, yes, it's made in Ohio, but apparently either by those of Polish descent or in the style of Polish blackberry brandy, or most likely, both. As a person of partial Polish descent AND someone who loves trying new stuff, especially booze, I was tickled pink. And put it on my wet bar at home....and haven't ever touched the stuff since.

Until Monday night. My good friend Little Red was over, and in addition to other things we were drinking, I suggested trying the blackberry brandy, and Red was all for it. So I got out a couple of nice drinking glasses and poured us each some.

Now, some of you may have had blackberry brandy in your time, and may remember it is a sticky, sickly sweet liqueur that is best used in mixed shots and drinks. Leroux Jezynowka is exactly not a thing like that. It was sweet, yes, and fruity, of, course, but it was without question a delicious, wonderful, sipping liquor, something to be enjoyed before or after a meal, or perhaps even during. Or just because. Good damn stuff. I give it a score of 8.0. Not bad for blackberry brandy, huh?

[Jester]

And now, a story of two hard apple drinks, one good, one bad. I'd heard of both of them prior to tasting either one. One has had a ridiculous amount of TV advertising going in recent months, the other, not so much. The first one is Redd's Apple Ale, the second is Johnny Appleseed.

I tried Redd's up in Orlando when visiting my niece this summer. She drinks a lot of ciders, and said Redd's was good. I tried some of hers one night at a bar, and she was right. Quite tasty. Good drink. Solid taste. Smooth, appropriately sweet, nice apple bits, and worth drinking. I'm having one as I type this, actually. I give it a solid score of 6.5.

And then there's Johnny Appleseed. Everything Redd's is, this isn't. Coming back from the BacHELLor Party I attended earlier this summer, we stopped in a convenience store to gas up and get some provisions. Seeing the JA for a cheap price, the Village Idiot grabbed a couple of cans, among other things. As we started down through the Keys, the Idiot popped one of the JA's, took a sip.....and stopped. He suggested others in the car try it. Riding in the back seat with him, I had see his unmistakeable look of disgust, and was wary, buy tried it anyway. "Wretched" would be a polite description of it, though I'm sure many people who've drank it have, in fact, retched. More accurate descriptives would include words like revolting, disgusting, nauseating, horrid, foul, puke-inducing, akin to raw sewage, a sin against apples, and even a crime against humanity. I refused even the idea of a second sip. The Driver was brave, and took a sip. He, too, refused any more. The Bachelor, riding shotgun, aware of the reactions of the three of us, and claiming he could smell it clearly from his seat in front of the Idiot, refused to even taste it. Despite numerous pleas that were basically downright begging, none of us would take the....whatever it was off of the Idiot's hands. So he forced himself to finish the first can, and moved on to something else. I imagine the second can is still at his house, waiting for one of his friends who is desperate enough to drink it, or who has no discernible taste buds left in their mouth. My score: 0.5. It's just barely above gin, Heineken, and Red Bull to me, and I despise all three of those items.

Do NOT drink Johnny Appleseed. Ever. For any reason.

(My apologies if I've posted on these two before, as I well may have. But seriously, don't drink Johnny Appleseed. Save yourself.)

[Victory Sabre]

I've had blackberry brandy in the past, and it was putrid stuff. The one you reviewed sounds good, and might have to look it up sometime. And, yes, Johnny Appleseed is terrible, though I just thought it was because I'm not a big fan of apple ales. At least I know it's not the only reason.

Oh, in an hour or so, I will do a review. So stay tuned. Got to get done with work first.

[Victory Sabre]

And home after a long, busy day at work. Perfect time for a beer.

Final Beer Camp review. There And Back made with New Glarus Brewing. 5.6% ABV & 40 IBU

It's an Englisg style bitter

Nice amber hue to it, and fairly thick head. The nose is has a floral aroma to it.

Taste : I hate to say it, but there isn't much. I do get a slight bitter aftertaste, but not much else. It's a fairly easy drinking beer, but not something I would go out of my way for. I was hoping for a lot more from this beer.

4 out of 10. I would love to rate it higher, but can't. This is not a good way to end the Beer Camp beers. There were some very good ones in it, sadly, there were a lot of mediocre ones also. If I'm paying $25 for a 12 pack, I would hope that the beer is pretty good. I don't know if I would buy another Beer Camp 12 pack again. I just don't see that it's worth it.

[wolfie]

I imagine the second can is still at his house, waiting for one of his friends who is desperate enough to drink it, or who has no discernible taste buds left in their mouth. My score: 0.5. It's just barely above gin, Heineken, and Red Bull to me, and I despise all three of those items.

Do NOT drink Johnny Appleseed. Ever. For any reason.

Jester, does Johnny Appleseed meet the standard for the definitive crap booze, namely "A skid road bum would rather buy Wild Irish Rose than drink this stuff free"?

[Jester]

From last night...

And now, something I was curious about, so I picked it up. Redd's Strawberry Ale. Like the Apple version, it is 5% ABV. Also like the Apple, it is tasty, not overly sweet, and refreshing. Strawberry ales and ciders can get overly sweet or artificial tasting, but Redd's seems to know what they're doing in this area and makes good stuff. Yes, the Strawberry is a bit sweeter than the apple, but that is the case with the respective fruits. All in all, Redd's is worth drinking if you like well-made fruity beverages. 6.5.

Another beer I've been curious about, and picked up on my last mainland trip along with the Redd's Ales (and many others) is Budweiser's Black Crown golden amber lager (6.0% ABV). Which is already pissing me off because, when I opened the can, it squirted both my bed sheets and my iPad. Beers are supposed to cause squirting, not actually squirt themselves. Appearance is high clarity, with a golden fed amber hue. Nose is smooth and pleasant. Taste is very nice. Smooth, slightly sweet, though in a good way, tasty, flavorful. Not what a beer snob like me expects from an Anheuser product--and that's a compliment. Tasty, to be sure. Good, though not great. A respectable 6.0. Would go well with most food, or just by itself. Well done, A-B.

Jester, does Johnny Appleseed meet the standard for the definitive crap booze, namely "A skid road bum would rather buy Wild Irish Rose than drink this stuff free"?

Hard for me to say, for two reasons. The first is that I am not at all familiar with Wild Irish Rose. The second is that it's been my experience that most skid row bums are not all that selective in what they drink, so long as there's alcohol in it.

Johnny Appleseed is definitely crap booze, though. I mean, I'd rather drink Mich Ultra or Coors Light than drink it, so that's pretty bad.

[wolfie]

Hard for me to say, for two reasons. The first is that I am not at all familiar with Wild Irish Rose. The second is that it's been my experience that most skid row bums are not all that selective in what they drink, so long as there's alcohol in it.

Wild Irish Rose is one of the bottom-of-the-barrel wines whose only redeeming virtue is its alcohol-per-dollar ratio (i.e. several steps below Boone's Farm in quality). If a bum would turn down free brand X booze in favour of buying Wild Irish Rose, then brand X has to be BAD.

[Victory Sabre]

A review tonight, and I am concerned about it, to be honest.

Batch 19 pre-prohabition Lager from Coors. Yeah, the Coors part concerns me.

Amber in color. A bit of a head to it. The nose is skunk. I hope it isn't the taste.

Taste: Yep, skunk. There isn't much beyond the skunk. It isn't in the Bud Light Clamato, but it's still bad. Do not get ths beer. 2.5 out of 10.

[Jester]

From the other night...

Dinkel Acker Oktoberfestbier Marzen (Germany, 5.7% ABV): very high clarity, despite its dark reddish amber color. Smooth, slightly sweet nose. Smooth and tasty beer. Very drinkable, nice flavor. Won't set the world on fire, but it is tasty. 6.0.

[Jester]

I'm up at 4:00 am. Not still up, but up. Got home from watching football, fell asleep (or passed out, if you prefer) while watching the Sunday night game. Woke up at about 1:30 am, been up since. Perfect time to drink beer! Either it will help me sleep, or I'll be up till I have to go to work, and I'll be sober. Tired, but sober. It happens. Anyway, on to the beer!

Reutberger Export Hell Beer (Germany, 5.1% ABV): I can't read most of the label, as I don't read understand German, but from what I can gather, this is made under the Reinheitsgebot, or the German Beer Purity Law of 1516 (which German beers no longer have to follow, as it was repealed years ago, but many still do). I think the label indicates that this is a dunkel lager as well, but I could be wrong.

And apparently I am wrong. According to a couple different beer rating websites (yes, there are more than one!), this is a dortmunder style beer. Well, the two sites agree on that, at least. However, ratebeer.com calls it a dortmunder/helles, while beeradvocate.com refers to it as a dortmunder/export style beer. The brewery's American website (that of their importer's, actually) doesn't help clear things up, as it doesn't mention dortmunder at all, but does suggest this is an export style beer. It does, however, say that this beer is from a recipe whipped up by cloister nuns in the 1400's. Sweet!

Color is a somewhat hazy orangish tan. Nose is beery, in a good way. Welcoming, even, and perhaps a tad sweet. And tasty! There is a hint of the brown sugar flavor I associate with dunkels, but this is definitely a lager, and definitely German. Just damn tasty, and would go with most any food, but especially with German-style food, such as sausage, meat dishes, schnitzels, etc. Would go phenomenonally well with my Famous German Stew. Damn shame that takes me two days to make. (No, really.) But this beer is just a very nice classic German brew. I give it a solid 7.0.