On many occasions we’ve regaled you, Gentle Reader, with tales of hoppy valor on the part of Tampa’s Cigar City Brewing Company- their flagship IPA (Jai Alai), Brown Ale (Maduro), and Imperial Stout (Marshal Zhukov) need no introduction, and have spawned numerous highly-rated derivations. In our last shipment from the snowbird Sixpacks, we received a collection of beers unrelated to these familiar standbys. With gusto, Herr Hordeum and I tucked into bombers of Big Sound, a Scotch Ale from our favorite Florida brewery.
NOTES: Slouch’s Beer Cave and Hordeum Ranch via Skype, rocking the Cigar City snifters.
STYLE: Scotch Ale
ABV: 8.5%
APPEARANCE:
Hordeum: An aggressive pour. No issues with this foaming up like the Seabass.
“I am swept up with royal wedding fever.” -Will Ferrell
BEERFORD MCBREWIN’
Editor’s Note: This is all the Commander’s fault.
Blah blah blah intro blah blah. Something about beer being too common to be in the Queen’s presence. Something about minding your “P’s and Q’s”. Something funny about Canada. Something about the prince’s mildly idiotic looking mug. Something about the queen’s undies. Something about butlers needing to drink English bitters in order to maintain that butler face. Something about needing to have a few pints before dinner in order to stomach British food. Something mildly self-deprecating about my slightly-British heritage. Something something bangers ‘n’ mash something something dirty joke something.* Read the rest of this entry »
Hunahpu is a Great Hero of Mayan history, along with his twin brother Xbalanque. The Twins, as the oldest Mayan myth preserved in its entirety, are fabled warriors and leaders, protectors and paragons of the Mayan people. The Twins have a rather unusual beginning. It’s a not-quite-so-immaculate conception. Basically the Twins’ father and uncle were defeated and sacrificed by the Lords of the Underworld. But their dad was such a badass that he impregnated his boo from the grave. Thus, the Twins, like most heroes of legend, entered the world through unusual and quasi-magical means. Read the rest of this entry »
What’s the first name that pops off your tongue? If you didn’t say “Hoegaarden”, you probably don’t know what a Witbier is. Or you’re just embarrassed because you don’t know how to pronounce the beer’s train-wreck of a name.* Hoegaarden is the grande dame of Witbiers and easily the most popular in the world. So what characterizes this lovely, Belgian style of beer?
*It’s pronounced “Who Garden”. Like if Pete Townshend and Chris Cornell started a band together.
Witbier (aka: Witte, White Beer, La Bière Blanche) is a Belgian wheat-beer with enough suspended yeast and wheat to give the brew a hazy, glowing white appearance. The ancient style is descended from the pre-hop era beers called gruits which used a variety of different spices and herbs to mask the sour/funky flavor of the brew. The area of Belgium where Witbiers were invented (and where Hoegaarden comes from) had access to exotic Dutch herbs and spices thanks to the Netherlands’ extensive trade network. Belgian brewers used these ingredients, most notably coriander and curaçao orange peel, in their wheat beer, and the resultant zesty, refreshing brew became the style we call Witbier. Read the rest of this entry »
This beer drama is spreading across the country like wildfire, and it gets more and more confusing wherever you go.
In Alabama, nobody can quite seem to figure out in which way Anheuser and associates are trying to screw the pooch, but at least there’s a general awareness that the pooch’s well-being is probably in question. I suppose, given the actual situation, a closer metaphor is that AB and Co. are trying to prevent laws from being passed that would abolish the pooch-screwing already going on. Yes, I think that’s the one I’ll go with. Read the rest of this entry »
My current home-state is behind essentially every other state in the union (except good ol’ Mississippi) when it comes to beer laws. Part of it is due to the conservative, religious fundamentalism that dominates Alabama (there are an astonishing amount of self-righteous teetotalers here), but it’s mostly a function of a broken political system. Alabama has the longest Constitution on Earth…longer than every other state, longer then the U.S. Constitution, and longer than the Constitutions of any country in the world. Why? Because the Alabama state Constitution has over 827 amendments (no, that’s not a typo). How is that possible? You see, back in 1901, when the Alabama Constitution was being written, the elite, white, racist power-brokers that were in charge of the Convention decided that the purpose of the Constitution was to “establish white supremacy in this State” (that’s a direct quote from the President of the Convention). But how could they possibly hope to control the recently emancipated slaves who now had the opportunity to vote (kind of) and who could theoretically challenge the ruling elite? Simple…the Constitution was written to keep all power in the hands of the state legislature in Montgomery. Cities and counties in the state have little to no authority and cannot legislate on local matters including levying taxes. Every decision funnels back to the state legislature and even the most seemingly trivial proposed law gets thrown on a ballot as a proposed amendment to the Constitution. One ridiculous consequence of this is that the people directly affected by a law may vote in favor of the amendment only to see it rejected in a statewide vote by voters whom the law has no bearing on. Read the rest of this entry »
I am something of an enigma among the Aleheads. Unlike the rest of this motley crew, I am from outside the circle of college friends and acquaintances, and none of them truly “know” me in real life. Likewise, I don’t know them, at least yet, and despite having written posts here for a while now, I still haven’t even figured out where throughout the United States they are all scattered.
As such, it’s a little hard for me to know if I’m unique among our group in my drinking habits. In short: I go out pretty regularly on my own, on beer-centric expeditions, and I don’t know if this is an unusual thing or not. The reason is mostly that I simply don’t have many friends who share my passion for craft beer. And so I find myself heading places and going on beer trips on my own.
For anyone who does do this, however, allow me to share a sampling of the philosophy and lessons I’ve learned along the way concerning one-man beer expeditions. There are new friendships to be made and free beer to be had, if you simply follow these easy steps.
A few weeks ago, I was in Tuscon, AZ for a wedding. While AZ may be (in general) a wasteland of of craftbeer, Deschuetes does distribute there. But apparently no one buys it, as a trip to a Whole Foods revealed great supply (and little demand) for one of the most coveted beers in the world, the Abyss Imperial Stout. Upon encountering such a find, an alert went out on the Aleheads listserve (you know you want an invitation to join…) and a suitcase was filled to send out to the other Aleheads.
One such Alehead was my brother, Slouch, which mean we are obligated to do a tasting note.
It should come as no surprise to you that Aleheads often tend not to spend entire evenings imbibing numerous pints of the same beer. Given the opportunity, most of us will end up sampling half a dozen offerings in order to compare, contrast, and generally (arrogantly) pass judgment on whatever beers happen to be available. With a variety of palatable offerings, this often brings with it a challenge: in what order should you consume your beverages? Do brown ales come before pilsners, or after? Do you drink a double IPA before a Russian Imperial Stout, or vice versa? And where does that kickass barleywine or quad go? Or what if you’ve got a whole pile of complete hop bombs to play with? What do you drink in between to reset (soothe?) your scorched palate?
My first experience with a Dieu du Ciel offering came from a bottle of Corne du Diable, the Montréal-based brewpub’s standard IPA. At the time, I wrote “If you’re expecting a generously hopped beer with hints of spice and grapefruit, as you would in most IPAs, you’ll be sorely disappointed. Malt rules the day with this IPA, overpowering the hops that I love so well in IPAs. I look forward to tasting their other selections, but its lack of balance just didn’t impress this alehead.”
Whenever my first impression of a brewery is disappointing, my tendency is to 1) generalize that impression to all subsequent beers I sample from that brewery, and 2) proceed with unhealthy cynicism, rather than healthy skepticism. I’m sure I’m not alone in that behavior. In fact, I’m willing to wager that it’s the norm. First impressions are so ridiculously important, because frankly, they’re usually pretty accurate. Read the rest of this entry »
The Reddit /Beer Community noted several beverages with a 420 theme that are great for quaffing on April 20. Without ado, here are some more 4/20 beers; because after all, you shouldn’t just be high today- you should also be drunk.
Lost Coast Indica
Cannabis Indica is a tall and hardy cousin of the more commonly referenced Cannabis Sativa that originated in that bread-basket of all that is good, the Hindu Kush mountain ranges of Afganistan and Pakistan. Its more notable “body buzz” effect make it useful for the treatment of pain, insomnia, and motivation in general. I had the chance to sample this Humboldt County IPA on a recent vacation in Florida, and came away very impressed- a very well-hopped and refreshing offering. As a plus, the artwork is pretty sweet:
I suppose in some ways I’m the most logical choice to write our 4/20 post. First, since alcohol is my only vice (other than freebasing shredded Bibles), I don’t have to worry about my current or future employers reading this post and ordering me to take a hasty drug test. And second, of all of the Aleheads’ parents (and many of them read our blog), mine are by far the least likely to care about a weed-related article. Gramps McHops is still proudly hanging on to his Woodstock ticket stub…let’s just leave it at that.
Weed and beer go hand in hand…particularly from the ages of 16 through 27. In fact, hops and marijuana come from the same family of plants (hackberries come from this family too, but I have no goddamn idea what they are). Both weed and beer are crucial in making bad pizza taste good and for allowing Adam Sandler movies to somehow be tolerable. Also, they both let socially awkward teens have a fighting chance at acceptance.
So why am I writing a weed-related post on April 20th? For whatever reason, 4:20 has become the accepted time for lighting up a spliff and April 20th has become one of the biggest bong-ripping days of the year. To be honest, I’ve always been a little hazy about the origin of the term 420 (naturally hazy, of course…not THC-triggered hazy). Wikipedia notes something about Waldos and Louis Pasteur, but that story seems a little convoluted. The truth is, it’s probably just some random inside joke that no one remembers creating that has simply spread to all corners of the pot-smoking world. I’ve been around stoners since well before I first sipped a craft beer and I know as well as anyone that little rituals, phrases, and seemingly meaningless symbols can be imbued with near-mystical power when weed is involved. Read the rest of this entry »
Anheuser Busch buys Goose Island. The nation’s ale factories post another year of record double-digit growth. With craft beer booming and no end in sight, Brother Barley noted its inexorable creep into the advertising medium. As art imitates life imitates drunk, our favorite beers are making their way into the national Zeitgeist.
So take a trip with me to a magical world of blurry beers clipped from unauthorized movie and TV stills, won’t you? See if your favorite brew makes a cameo appearance. Read the rest of this entry »
Earlier this month, Wifey and I made our first trip to NYC since Magnus’s passing. It was a bittersweet weekend as you might imagine. While it was wonderful to visit with friends, eat and drink our way through New York, and check out the Book of Mormon (holy hell it was awesome), it was also impossible not to miss my friend as we strolled past bars and restaurants that I had frequented with him. Almost all of my memories in the city revolved around Magnus in some way. He was my host and guide during countless trips to NYC over the years and as silly as it is to equate one person with a city inhabited by 8 million, in my mind the Big Apple and Magnus Skullsplitter were one and the same. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s a lovely Sunday so I’ll refrain from my usual verbosity and simply regale you with a couple of anecdotes that lead me to believe we have reached a tipping point when it comes to craft beer.
In my mind, the “tipping point” as it relates to the world of high-end beer is when said brews go from being considered “novelties” or solely the domain of beer snobs and are instead considered perfectly reasonable, accessible beverages for the masses. Perhaps we’ve been at that point for awhile now, but two striking things happened over the weekend that made this notion impossible to refute (for me at least). Read the rest of this entry »
I don’t care, I really don’t. You can mock me, you can ridicule me, you can call me a hypocrite and a fraud. It really doesn’t matter. I drink good beer, really good beer in fact, so I don’t need to defend myself when I’m chugging away on something less than savory. I know better and know that I’m trolling the bottom of the barrel when I’m picking up a sixer of tallboys from an “evil” conglomerate of a brewing operation such as SAB Miller. So what? Sometimes I just want some shitty beer. Read the rest of this entry »
A few weeks ago, while my companion the Herr was lamenting the hardships of living in a state with poor distributional diversity as is his wont, I was in Juneau, Alaska. Drinking lots of beer. It was awesome.
For the uninitiated, Juneau is home to the Alaskan Brewing Company, famed in more propitiously-located parts of the Lower 48 for its smoked porter. Additionally, Alaskan is known for being on the forefront of brewing innovations that reduce their environmental impact (and such hippie nonsense was the theme of the business that had brought me to that distant shore). Naturally, a visit to this fine establishment was in order. Read the rest of this entry »
Who knew that beer labels were such a hot topic of conversation? Last week’s Labelmania post drove our traffic through the roof. Some great comments were flowing throughout the blogosphere with a fair amount of disagreement about our selections as well as many great suggestions on breweries we missed.
So how do we follow up a post about the best packaging in the beer world? How ’bout an in-depth look at the worst labels out there?
As with our earlier post, this isn’t about individual beer labels or any one major graphic/font/design issue. This is about overall presentation and how certain breweries simply don’t showcase their wares in the most flattering manner. While many breweries on my “Best” list were actually pretty terrible (hello, Redhook!), the opposite is true in this post. Some of my favorite breweries in the world will be found below. Bad packaging has utterly no effect on the quality of a product and I’m sure most brewers would argue that they spend far too much time worrying about what’s inside the bottle to bother caring about what’s on the outside. Read the rest of this entry »
On many occasions we’ve regaled you, Gentle Reader, with tales of hoppy valor on the part of Tampa’s Cigar City Brewing Company- their flagship IPA (Jai Alai), Brown Ale (Maduro), and Imperial Stout (Marshal Zhukov) need no introduction, and have spawned numerous highly-rated derivations. In our last shipment from the snowbird Sixpacks, we received a collection of beers unrelated to these familiar standbys. With gusto, Herr Hordeum and I tucked into bombers of Big Sound, a Scotch Ale from our favorite Florida brewery.
Posted by Slouch Sixpack 
A few weeks ago, while my companion the Herr was lamenting the hardships of living in a state with poor distributional diversity as is his wont, I was in Juneau, Alaska. Drinking lots of beer. It was awesome.
