Tap vs Bottle

There are a couple beers that I have tried that bottling does not do justice. Newcasatle is probably the best example. Out of the bottle it is nothing special, but on tap I really enjoy it. When I visited London last August I found the Young's Kew Gold, now called London Gold, was much better out of the bottle. Where I think Newcastle Brown Ale just doesnt bottle well, I think the difference for the Kew was more of a temperature issue. Cask ale during the summer is cellar temperature, which could be slightly warm. From the bottle it is cooler temperature. I know it sounds odd, but for me Budweiser is better from the bottle than on tap. Something about that beer and the circumstances in which you enjoy it.

But, then again I prefer all beers to be cask vs tap. I cant think of one beer that isnt made better on cask.

What I am getting at is that there are several reasons that a beer is better one way or another either from the tap or bottle. It may go as far as the situation you enjoyed that frosty beverage. Was it with a certain group of friends? Was it on a trip? Something ties you into that experience in some way.

Firestone Brewery Solace Summer Ale

Firestone normally produces hoppy ales. They are dark and rich in color. This unfiltered ale was much lighter than the other Firestone beers I have tried. It has a hint of a farm house ale. It has a mild saison taste to it. It is also unfiltered.

This is Firestone's first seasonal ale to be produced ever. For $6.99 this was a very good six pack. I would recommend it for a BBQ or with seafood.

Englasnd vs USA

World Cup is upon us. Saturday Mike and I went down to Blind Lady to watch my first match ever. Doors opened at 11, but anticipating a crowd we went early. We barely got a seat and I waited approximately 20 minutes for a beer. This was the only time we waited and we did go back plenty of times.



Green Flash was being showcased Saturday. Unfortunately they were still cleaning the lines for the beer engine so the English Bitter on cask would have to wait. So instead I tried it on tap. It was a good Bitter. Not sure how English it tasted. Green Flash usually punches you in the taste buds with hope. They definitely toned it down to mimic the English subtle hop flavors in their Matt's Bitters beer. I'm a big fan of British beers. I don't like them as much as our So Cal varieties, but they're good. They're extremely drinkable. Unfortunately the originals (Fuller's London Pride) is also extremely expensive coming in at $11.99 a six pack and $3.49 for 16.9 oz bottle. Even though this is slightly hoppier than the original, for the money, which I a guessing will be $7.99 a six pack it is a great value. I have yet to see this in stores either in a 6 pack or 22 oz bottle. The beer board at BLAH did say that it was new. It may take a couple weeks to get out there.

Green Flash Black Freak. In my head this was a black lager and Green Flash Le Freak mixed together. Turns out it is Green Flash's sour beer. It was an extremely mild sour. If you haven't tried a lot of sours this would be a good first sour.

I also tried New Belgium's Eric's Sour. This was more of what I expected from a sour. It actually tasted like sour patch kids but only when it first hits your taste buds. It was lacking something on the back end.

Mike came back from the bar with the Bitter on cask for me. I love it when friends know exactly what you need. Having visited London a couple times and fallen in love with cask ales I opt for them whenever possible. Even if I'm not craving that style of beer I will usually get it. This Bitter was perfection cask. The hand pump gave it that creaminess. I could honestly drink this all day. Green Flash needs to find a way to distribute this in the UK. It will give their local beers a run for their money.

Rogue Juniper Pale Ale

Rogue just won Best Single Malt Domestic Whiskey. They boast that the spirit contains GYO (Grow Your Own) ingredients. In fact Rogue grew all the ingredients for both their Chatoe whiskey and beer. Appreciating everything barrel aged I contacted the brewer as no one is carrying it yet. Since they were going to ship it down I asked them to throw in a 6 pack of Juniper Pale Ale. It sounded interesting, but was one of Rogue's beers that I hadn't seen in San Diego.

This is a great beer. Not an every day drinker, but tasty. I used to drink gin a lot and the Juniper in this ale really comes through. Sometimes with beers like this either the front or back of the tasting notes will be off balanced, but this was really well balanced.

I would definitely buy this again.

Goose Island - Matilda

This was another beer up for wedding contention. Its a Belgian Style Ale. Unfortunately overall it fell short. My biggest gripe with this beer was a lemon after taste. Had a bit of a zing on the back of my tongue. Anissa had a four pack of Strongbow that she had brought over and jokingly made the comment that the beer would be better mixed together with the Strongbow.

I quickly pulled out a glass and mixed the two together. It was way better. The comment was made that Matilda is a premium 4 pack. I think it costs around $9. When the brewer is tasting this beer and decides yep, thats it. How can he not noitice the zing. Or, did he notice and this is what he wanted to put out? Unfortunately I'm going with the third option...Some brewers will put out sub par beer because the invest has already been made.

I didnt buy his beer, and probably wouldn't in the future.

Going Rogue

So in an attempt to help Mike choose the most appropriate keg for his wedding reception I have been sacrificing my liver tasting very good beers that are up for contention. Seeing that the wedding will be in Big Sur, Northern CA, we have bee trying a lot of Nor Cal beers. Even though Rogue isn't from CA they have an Ale House in San Francisco so their beers are easy to find.

Rogue Brutal IPA - Great beer. Super hoppy without the punch. This is a beer that you could introduce your IPA virgin lady to and she would like it. The biggest consideration is...Can I drink a full keg of this beer? The answer in regards to Brutal is Hell Yes. I would want the meal designed around this beer, I want to bathe in it, and I want to do it all with a chalice of Rogue in my hand.

Rogue Mocha Porter - This was a good porter. We had it after the Stone collaboration so it tasted a little weak, but it had a good coffee flavor. Could I drink a keg of this...No. Super filling. I think a lot of people at the wedding would have one then switch to something else leaving a large amount of beer to waste.

Rogue Morrimoto - If you haven't tried this go out now and buy it now. Take my comments about bathing in the Brutal and apply it to this one. Light, crisp, a beer that everyone can enjoy. A full size keg of this beer would go fast. This beer appeals to the masses. It doesn't hurt that Morrimoto is the Asian Chef from the Food Network TV show Iron Chef. It seems like he helps design a couple beers a year. He then does a multi course meal at his restaurant in Philly and pairs it with different Rogue beers.

Rogue Dead Guy - This is a good beer. I think it would appeal less to the general public, which could be good. There is "X" number of people at a wedding at 7.5 gallons of beer. The more people who like the beer, the less I can drink for free.

Stone/21st Amendment/Firestone Walker Collaboration - El Camino (Un Real) Black Ale

I was up at Stone a while back picking up a keg for our kickball game and the guy checking me out said I had to try this. Actually, he told me to buy one bottle to taste now and one to age for a year. I let it sit for 2 months and finally broke it out Friday night. This is good. Mellow flavors, small to medium sized head. Had a really good flavor. I'm on the fence about Black Ales, but this is the best I have tasted so far. This would have been really good with a spicy stew of some sort. Something hearty that could hold up to the flavor and thickness.

I really like the fact that, at least the black ales I have tried, aren't too thick. Guiness is a meal in a glass. Normally I look for a beer that I can have and still eat a meal. One of these brewers should put this out on a regular basis. This is the problem with collaborations. This beer will never come out the same ever again.

If you see it pick it up. They used to carry it at Bevmo for $3.49/12 oz bottle, but I'm pretty sure they now carry the new collaboration Saison du Buff.

Shipyard Event at Hamilton's

So the whole gang went out to Hamilton's a week ago for the Shipyard Brewing Event. This by far was one of the best events I have been to at Hamilton's except the beer week disc golf one.

Shipyard sent in 100 live lobsters and Hamilton's did it up right. Low country boil, steamed claw, and grilled tails.

To compliment the free food Shipyard had brought about 11 or 12 beers with them. Seeing as I had only tried one of there beers in the past I took it upon myself to try as many of them as I could.

Shipyard Smashed Pumpkin (tap) - I have had plenty of pumpkin beers but this is by far the best. It rated extremely high on rate beer and for good reason. This didn't have a huge annoying pumpkin flavor, it was subtle, but hit the tip of your tongue just right. At 9.25% alcohol, and the fact that it was $3.50 for a 10 oz glass this was one of the top beers for me that night. This is a beer everyone can enjoy.

Shipyard Old Thumper (cask/tap) - I'm a big fan of Old Thumper. I had it once at Princess Pub and thought it was a great English beer. I was surprised to hear that it came from Maine. On cask this beer only got better. So good in fact they ran out. I did manage to have a couple before they did though. It was hard going back to it on tap when the cask ran out.

Shipyard Prelude, Winter Ale (tap) - This was a really good Winter Ale. It scored extremely high on rate beer. Actually I think it was either their #1 or #2 beer for this brewery. It was good, but it tasted like a lot of other winter beers. If we weren't in San Diego, and it wasn't Memorial Day weekend this would have probably tasted better. You need the correct situation for some beers. Ill give this beer another try around the Holidays and see how it fares.

Shipyard XXXX IPA (tap) - This was a good well balance 9% IPA. The hops didn't destroy your tongue. I would love to try a cask of this. Had a good aroma to it.

Shipyard Export Ale (tap) - This was very similar to the Thumper except it wasn't as balanced. It had a bite at the end of it. Still good, just not as good as the Thumper.

The Neighborhood

Julie and I spent all day at Sea World today. To celebrate conquering the whole park we went downtown and hit what is quickly becoming our favorite after work hang out, The Neighborhood.

We were both craving a burger. We both went for the Neighborhood burger. The caramelized onions and the blue cheese were great on t he fresh ciabatta roll. Julie went for sweet potato fries and I went for the garlic shoe strings. The garlic wasn't cooked in any way. I didn't think this would be as good as it actually was. Really good.

The beer list was unimpressive. It wasn't until the end of the meal I was pressured into ordering the Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence Stout. Honestly one of the better chocolate stouts I have tried. I'm normally not a huge fan, but this had good flavor. It wasn't to overpowering. They served it in a Stone Vertical Epic Glass. I loved the shape of the glass, just not a fan of serving one beer in another brewers glassware.

Indigo Grill

So the gang all hit up Indigo Grill on Friday. We've all eaten Cocktails and wine are a little over priced, we paid $24 for the Toasted Head Chardonnay. It was light and crisp. A good seafood wine.

I came to Indigo with red meat intentions. Nate and I both went with the Mojo Bone In Ribeye. When you have an extremely great steak the whole thing fat,gristle, and all has the consistency of warm butter. I at the entire steak. It was perfectly cooked. When I said medium that's how it arrived. Absolutely perfect.

It was served with an enchilada and roasted spaghetti squash with a bourbon glaze. Both were really good.

Anissa got the scallop special. They served the scallops on a 700 degree salt rock. Great presentation, but apparently the longer it stays on the rock the saltier it gets.

All in all a great meal.

New Belguim Ranger, IPA

This was about as good as the other New Belgium beers I have tried, un-memorable. When I get an IPA I want that hoppy bite. This was more of an amber ale. Very subtle flavor. I need to warn you Im not a fan of Fat Tire. Its nothing special either.

I was excited to see that they did release their Belgian Trippel in 12 oz six packs. Julie loves Tripels but doesn't always need a 22 oz.

BrewDog

Arguable one of the better iInternational Beer companies BrewDog released Sink the Bismarck this week. At 41% its stronger than vodka and took the title of World's Strongest Beer. Ran across this video describing the relationship between BrewDog and Schorschbrau. Take note that the Germans only held the title for a day.

Check the video out at http://vimeo.com/9491802.

Blind Lady - Craft Can Beer Night

So all week was Blind Lady's first anniversary. Every night they did something special. Saw that Friday would be craft canned beer night with koozie give away. Mike and I decided to hit it up. I went for the tried and true Maui Brewing CoCoNut Porter. This is a great beer. Can't have several of them but the flavor is great. Mike went for the Ten Fiddy by Oskar Blues. He really liked it. Alcohol content is pretty high on that one coming in at 9.4%. Ratebeer gave it a 100 out of 100 rating.

We then switched to draught beer. Mike went for a Sierra Nevada harvest and I went for the New English ESB. Both were good. If you like hops give the Harvest a try. They grow the hops themselves and dump them straight in the brew kettle. If you like English ESB's stick to the Fuller's.

Surfside Sushi - Koshihikari Echigo

Went to Surfside tonight. This place used to offer 50% off sushi rolls Monday night. I was surprised when we showed up and it is now 70% off. Tried a new beer, a rice beer. It's called Koshihikari Echigo. Light and crisp. Very good with Sushi. If you can find it give it a try.

BrewDog/Stone Collaboration - bashah

Went to the The Neighborhood downtown last night before meeting up for dinner. had the opportunity to try the latest collaboration between Stone Brewing (San Marcos/Vista) and BrewDog (Fraserburgh, Scotland). It's a Black Belgian IPA. Not too hoppy. Really smooth. This is one of those beers that non-hop fans can really enjoy. Think it went for $6.50 for a 12 oz bottle. One of the better beers I have tried lately. Its hard to find, and for some reason the Neighborhood actually sells it for less than BrewDog does on their website so its a deal.