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So, Sneaky Pete - I know it as a pool stick.  One of my old past times that I still love to do but just do not find myself doing as much of late.  Sneaky Petes are actually a pool cue designed to look like a house cue.  The shooter using a Sneaky Pete is usually "sharking" the other into playing for bigger money.  They hustle other players and hide the joint of the stick with their hand so the unsuspecting player does not know the player is playing with a personal cue.  It is a great concept that I always dug back in the day of shooting.  I am sitting here with the bottle unopened - hoping the brewers concept of this brew had nothing to do with hustling or being sneaky.  But I'm sure in SOME WAY it did.  Time to crack open the bottle and see what this beer holds.

Sneaky Pete hails from Laughing Dog Brewery.  It states on the bottle that it was brewed for Kysela Pere et Fils, Ltd. Importer and Resaler.  Just cracking the cap on the bottle of this beer I realized a HUGE Hop aroma; from an arms length away.  That immediately gave me an impression of this beer that defines the bottle of Imperial IPA.  What is a bit shocking to me about this beer is that it is actually not bad.  There is a malty sweetness that balances the HIGH level of hops on this beer.  The Alcohol content of this beer states 10% by volume, I assume this beer could have been aged a bit longer.  It tastes a little young with hop craziness.  This beer carries itself well with a medium body.  That helps support the heavy levels of hops that come from the aroma and taste of this beer.

Well played on the company's part - if you go to this site (part of the Kysela Pere et Fils) - you get a really good idea of the hops and grain bill in this brew.  I love brewers that are not afraid to post this info.  It helps me understand that Simcoe seems to be the prevailing hop in this beer.  I get huge citrus - as the site says huge grapefruit (not sure about the "white" grapefruit).  It is citrusy and robust.  The nice thing is that the grain bill is heavy enough to support it.  The ABV of 10% really helps support this sweetness as well and IN GENERAL this was a really nice beer.  As I finish this beer, I'm thinking the reason this beer was named the same as the hustler's pool cue is that it would only take 2 or 3 of these to be able to hustle just about anyone out of any money you wanted.  Thanks for the read.  I hope you enjoy!

Good night till tomorrow night.

 
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What you see before you is a wonderful collaboration; it is a combination of three wonderful local Pittsburgh brewers coming together to create a wonderful product.  To be honest, my vote is still out on this "collaboration" thing going on these days.  I get what is going on here and agree with the idea; this was made for the inaugural PCBW.  Eight wonderful local breweries came together, split out into teams and made 3 beers (I got the chance to ENJOY two last night).  In general though, this collaboration effort that is going on in the market seems a little overwhelming to me.  I guess in a way it is nice to see breweries working together and sharing secrets.  And in another way, it is always nice to have a variety of options to choose from and really add ideas to the marketplace.  But isn't the market already loaded with a TON of IPA's and Wheat Beers and Imperial this and Double that's?  I don't know.  Its sort of like the "TAP OUT" events (I believe they are called where bars replace ALL taps from one brewery for a night).  I'm not sure how I feel about that either.  Fortunately / Unfortunately, I have not made it out to the mass market to partake in one of these events but yet I'm not sure I feel like I'm missing anything.  That said, if you are in Pittsburgh this week and find your way out to a local establishment - you may be missing out on some nice gems for this event.

I forced the family out to dinner last night to The Pine selfishly so I could partake in yet another PCBW event.  I think my wife was aware of this maybe and allowed  it to happen!  She must love me.  Last nights event had the brewer from Full Pint at the bar.  I sampled 2-3 of their beers and really enjoyed the White Lighting Sample.  That is not the beer I'm reviewing tonight.  I also had the PCBW Collaboration beer Cheeky Yinzer.  This was a full beer and very tasty, but again - NOT THE BEER I am reviewing tonight.  I'm hoping to get out tomorrow night possibly to drink the Yinzer again to be able to review before it is all gone.  Tonight, I review the Sour Mash Red Ale. 

Frankly, I saw this on the list and was a little nervous but excited about this.  The fact that it was a collaboration beer made by The Church Brew Works, Penn Brewery and Hoffbrauhaus was definitely a huge excitement.  The "sour" had me a bit nervous that it could come across a bit too powerful.  Well, this beer was poured in a nice snifter style glass and arrived to my table with a nice frosted mist on the glass.  From first glance, I wasn't sure if the frost made the beer look cloudy or if the beer itself was cloudy.  I decided by the end of the beer that it was definitely a light cloudy mild brown.  The smell had a light crisp fruity smell to it.  I got a small hint of vinegar smell wafted from the glass (very faint).  The mouth feel was light body and a little watery.  It had a sweet light malt light sour flavor to it.  It was a very enjoyable beer.  In general, I would hope that if they try this again they work on getting a little more sour out of the beer but it was a nice "mellow" sour taste for the masses to enjoy.  It was a really great starter sour mash type beer for anyone to enjoy a bit of different flavored beer.  This one ranks HIGH in my mind because of various factors; the PCBW Collaboration; the Sour Mash; the fact that it was mellow but there; the unfiltered look (almost homebrew look to it); and I'm sure I could find a few others if I needed to.

To recap, thank you PCBW for a great week of beer (even though I missed most of them).  Once again, The Pine did not disappoint my wife and I with the food we ordered.  And it was nice to see the owner coming around and checking on everyone to make sure we were all doing good.  And in general, if you can get out to get this Sour Mash Red Ale I would suggest you do it; while supplies last!

 
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What can I say, I actually do not have any major topics to discuss tonight.  I am working challenge for the blog.  Drawing a real blank here on this one.  I do not want to create a situation where you can google the answer and the quickest person to google wins!  I want to be a little more creative and fun with this.  I'm actually really leaning towards the photographic side of my interest.  So, my thought is for anyone that wants to participate to send me a picture/photo that deals with beer.  Something in your day/week/history!  I great angle, a great hand drawing, any visual image defining beer in your mind.  So, that is what I'm thinking of now, to the victor will go a prize.  This is what I'm thinking for now.  I think I shall kick it off starting tonight.

As for the beer of the night, I picked the Orange Blossom Pilsner brewed by Thomas Creek Brewery in Greenville, SC.  It was a bit of a surprise to see this is a "Florida's Honey" Beer be brewed in South Carolina.  But I know this is not the only beer out there to do such a thing.  When I open this beer I was hopeful to get big hints of orange and sweet honey but I was a little amiss.  The beer is not terrible, and I could probably drink a few but it is a perfect example of a beer not to be judged by the cover.  The beer is nice and crisp.  It is very light and clear in the glass.  Pilsners are a pale lager.  And this is a nice crisp lager for that matter.  The flavor is not to robust and not a huge amount of malty sweetness in the sip.  It has a very medium to light body mouth feel.  At 5.5% alcohol this would be an easy drinking beer; unfortunately, I was expecting a bit more sweetness and fruity goodness in the glass.  I guess with Orange and Honey all over the package I had a much higher expectation of the beer.  More sweetness; more orange fruitiness.  In general, this is not a bad beer but it is not at all what I had hoped for and that was a slight let down.  I will live on and I'm sure I'll get a nice night of sleep tonight in spite of it.

Thanks for reading and please plan on entering the contest - it is going to be a great event.  I am excited for my first give away.

 
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I'm not trying to short this beer but I've been blogging for about 1.5 hours now.  This beer is from Starr Hill Brewing in Charlottesville, VA - again, another addition from my friend Aaron.  Thanks again.  I'm still on my Sam Adam's/Bob Cannon high from last night and getting tired tonight.  Also, just remembered I have to get up early in the morning so - trying to.  Poured this beer into newly acquired Sam Adam's glass.  This beer definitely had some unique bready/malty/biscuit notes coming in the aroma.  Its pours a nice dirty brown in the glass.  In general, it is a nice average amber.  Nothing to robust or crazy going on with this beer.  The carbonation level is nice and makes it a bit silky smooth texture in the glass.  I get some nice spicy notes from the yeast I believe.  And maybe a nice hint of hops to even out the sweetness.  In general, this is a decent amber in general.  Thanks.  A nice touch is that the Master Brewers Signature is on the bottom of the label on the bottle - Mark Thompson.  Adds a nice bit of class in my opinion.

 
I am not worthy!  As I sit here starting my blog to catch me up on last night and tonight I'm still dumb founded by last nights Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week Event I had the honor of attending.  I can't thank Greg, Brian and Jeff over at Copper Kettle enough for giving me this opportunity to learn more about the beer industry and experience such wonderful events.  Its almost not fair!  It really is a great opportunity.  Last night's event was a night to not forget for me.  I really had no expectations (or to be completely honest low expectations) on what was going to be happening.  I really couldn't have imagined such a wonderfully execute and professionally laid back event as it was at Copper Kettle and Hough's Bar.  They with the help of Samuel Adam's Brewery put on a Grade A Top Notch event.  Thank you for offering out the invite.
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I had the unique pleasure of sipping a few beers with a truly great professional and incredibly down to earth fun guy.  He really seems to love what he does and seems truly blessed to be in the position he is today.  And why not?  Its a great job as he said, getting to make beer, drink beer, talk beer, and hang out with fun great people all over there world.  Its been a great ride.  In his words, he started Sam Adams on a 3 day temp position for some computer work; he finished the work in just a few hours and turned in his time card stating he wouldn't need to come back.  They stopped him, handed him a six pack; told him to drink this tonight and come back tomorrow - they would find him more work.  He's been going back to work every since.  He talked the magic of water and minerals.  He discussed the magic of hops and the difference between them.  He explained the rub process and what specifically they are looking in from batch to batch from each farm they get their products.  He talked about family life, he talked about hockey, and he talked beer.  I even got a high five from him at the end of the Bruins / Caps Game where Bruins beat the Caps in OT.  He was there to discuss 6 of Sam Adams multiple beers, but after that win decided he was in a good enough mood he did 3 more for everyone to enjoy.  The beers are fantastic, the people in the event were in great spirits and from my view it seemed like everyone had a great time.  My hats off to Sam Adams, Bob Cannon and everyone involved in putting that night together it was an experience that I will not quickly forget.  It was/is an inspiration to me.  And gave me an all new appreciation for their beers and the company!

As I sit here in a funk/fight with my own life and mortality.  I'm "exactly" what I wanted to be when I grew up.  But am I really grown up yet?  And should I stop with where I'm at?  Because, as they always say - be careful what you ask for you just may get it.  I'm now where I wanted to be and not very happy with the decision.  I am thankful for the job and the pay.  And I'm thankful I work with a great group of people.  But, I hear people say if you go to work day and are not happy and excited to be there.  Find something else!  Find what makes you happy.  This life and career in beer seems to be what makes me happiest.  I'm still working for that perfect fit that I'll find.  And with Bob Cannon's inspiration I hope I work closer to that process.

So, as for the beers, I had about 4 different beers last night - and quite frankly it is hard for me to decide which beer to choose.  I'm going with the beer that was in my glass at the time of the picture was taken above.  That beer was Sam Adams New World Tripel.  It was incredible.  The fact that it was pouring from the tap made it all the better.  A perfect pour of golden goodness; slightly cloudy through the glass.  A malty master piece of sweetness in the glass with nice hints of Saaz hops through out.  I definitely cheated don the Hops (and checked the website for that note).  But you do get a nice gentle hop note throughout.  It was complex and medium bodied with spicey fruity notes through out.  It was a great beer to drink on a great night.  I will be going back for more of these beers in the near future.

And to correct a comment I made a few days/weeks back; Sam Adams does make GREAT BEER.  I think my comment had been before that there was nothing crazy, special and amazing about their beers.  But in general they are all just very good and solid beers.  I retract said statement of the past and will start talking more and more about their specialty beers that you can't get in their variety cases.  I've only really sampled those beers.  The variety beers not the specialties.   I will definitely be on the look out for the specialties they bring more often.  Thanks again for a great night Sam Adams and Bob Cannon.

 
My original concept of this site was to do a beer a day.  I really wanted to be able to blog about it every day as well.  That is most definitely the trickiest part of this whole adventure.  I just can't seem to take 30 minutes a day to write up a blog.  I don't think this is a problem for the site as I'm getting my point across that I'm learning more and more about beer.  This new part time job I picked up is there to help me learn more about brewing while teaching newbies how to brew as well.  Quite frankly I love the concept and am having a great time.  Just one more avenue opening up in my quest for the ever perfect job.  This weekend started with great weather on Friday night enough to hang out side with some good friends; Saturday then brought some crappy weather which created a perfect day to work at the brewery; and on to Sunday a truly inspirational day.  To be discussed in my next blog.  So for now, on to the catch up brews.
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4/21/2012 - Church Brew Works - Pious Monk Dunkel - Again, this picture is not the best.  It was taken at Rockefellar's Bar in Kennedy Township on an iPhone after a long day at the brewery.  This beer was in honor of me getting to meet one of the brewers from Church Brew works in person.  During this Great Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week there are tons of activities going on around the city with tastings and meetups all over the town.  It is really turning out to be an incredible week.  I'm terrible with names and I couldn't find it on line but I thought it was Steve.  Great guy and I remember he talked about brewing at several breweries - starting at Kona and working in Coors for sometime and now currently at the Church.  It was great to have him share his knowledge and hang out for a bit.  So, on my way home I picked up dinner and while I waited I sat and drank the Pious Monk Dunkel.  This beer was a nice darker brown in color in the glass.  Poured with a nice clean white head on top of the glass.  It was crisp and clear as a good lager is.  As I've stated before, Lagers seem to have some sort of quality that doesn't really work for me as much as many also in general.  And this beer is no exception.  It seemed nice clean and crisp but left me thinking it was a little light and watery.  As I'm no expert this maybe exactly what they are going for with this beer and to that if they are they achieved.  But to me as a dunkel I thin little more malty goodness and medium bodies beer.  This is just my opinion though - if you do see this beer or any other of the Church Brew Works beers please check them out.  And even better - get over to the brewery and enjoy an incredible meal paired with one of their fine beers.  It is a nice experience to be had by anyone for sure.

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4/20/2012 - Dogfish Head - 120 Minute IPA - I have been excited to get my hands on this so naturally when I found the bottle at a spot in York I picked up two; one to try now and one to age for a nice long time (How long?  Not sure).  I had expectations to put this one on a pedestal and make a large fuss about it and a grand blog about it.  And would have done that had I been keeping up with blogs on a day to day basis - but alas, I'm just trying to keep u with the pace.  So, to that end, I bring you the "holy grail" of IPA's as it is affectionately called at the brew house.  This is a brew that is boiled for 2 hours and continuously hopped for those 2 hours.  Now, it is typical for a beer to be brewed for about 60-75 minutes and hopped nicely at the 60 minute the 15 minute and 2-3 minute boil roughly.  Generally, these three stages are for Bittering, Flavor, and Aroma in that order.  But in 60, 90 And the ever elusive 120, they are continuously hopped from start to end getting all the acidic oily nectar from the beautiful hops that are used.  This beer pours a nice light to medium brown in the glass, the head retention is low as is common in many higher hopped IPA type beers.  The thing that grabs you by the face and smacks you twice about this one is the high percentage of alcohol in every pour.  I believe this ranks in around an impressive 18% abv.  It is large and in charge!  It is almost a whiskey alcohol type of a flavor to it.  It warms your innards with every sip.  One surprising thing to me about this beer was that the hop content was some what "low" or maybe a misleading as this was an extremely SWEET beer.  I was thinking the heavy amount of malts used to balance the hops and create such large amounts of ABV would be the root cause of this.  As this beer is made to age, I think it was very young to be drinking now.  But I did enjoy this together with a friend as this beer really should be.  I hope to be able to enjoy the second bottle I own in a few years with that same friend so we can look back and discuss the experienced journeys this bottle has traveled.  In general, this was a very strong beer.  Not for the weak of mind or palate.  But if you muster up the kahunas to partake in such a beer; do as I did and share the wealth with a friend or two of your choice.  This is not a beer that should be traveled alone!

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4/19/2012 - Williamsburg Ale Works - Washington Porter - Right off the bat I am going to apologize for the photo.  This one might as well not even show a picture being this bad.  This is by far the worst picture so far.  But luckily for me not the worst beer.  Thank you to the site for showing the make-up of this beer:
Composition:2-row, Caramel, Chocolate, and Biscuit malts with a touch of Roasted Barley. American Fuggle hops.
I enjoyed this a bit more then I expected I would as a porter.  This poured a dark brown to black in color.  I believe I enjoyed this a little cooler then it should have been as the flavors were a bit off in the beginning.  I think as the beer warmed up the chocolate, coffee, and biscuity bread like recipe shined through.  It was nice and rich in those flavors and maybe a little bit lighter then expected.  In general, a nice porter for those darker beer fans out there.  For me, these beers definitely have their time and place and that isn't usually often for me.  But in general I enjoyed this one.  Thanks again Aaron for your contributions to my challenge.  They having been helping me nicely this past few days.  This actually went really well with a peice of that chocolate cake in the background.  If I could just get my wife to stop making such goodies like this I may have a chance to lose a pound or two.  She seems to like to blame the beer but I'm not so sure!

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4/18/19 - Tsingtao - Lager Beer - So, my wife and I took our oldest on a little dinner date to P.F. Chang's for something a little different for her to experience.  In the background, I have the Hockey Game on - Sad to say the Penguins couldn't get through to the next round.  This night was great.  Jordan loved her chicken and noodles and my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed our meal - Pepper Steak and Kong Pow Shrimp if I remember right.  Well, a perfect pairing for the spicey meal was this crisp clean lager.  The first sip of this beer was nice and refreshing.  It is a light body low alcohol kind of beer.  It is refreshing and crisp with a hint of nutty sweetness.  I thought I got some hints of corn but the site does not talk of corn in the recipe at all.  This drink very much complimented the spicy dinner nicely just as the website said that it would.  Please try this when you are out and about.  An interesting fact on this beer is that the site states that it is the number #1 consumer export of China!  And I can see why, it was really good.

 
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Sitting in my 2nd or is it my 3rd office now?  I'm not sure, either way, just trying to finish up and catch up on a few brews.  I've drank some GREAT beers in the past 3.5 months!  I'm a lucky guy to have an incredible wife that understands my obsession with beer.  I'm a lucky guy that has a wife that allows me to pursue my passion while brewing part time on the weekend and learning all I can learn.  Thank you baby for all you let me do.  I know that I work my ass off doing my "full time job" but we decided as a family that this part time Copper Kettle thing was a great idea for now.  I'm loving it so far and pulling in a few extra dollars while I'm doing it.  I just hope I can keep it going.  I'm learning more and more about beer and brewing in 2012 and I'm excited about all of it.

This beer tonight I know I've seen before.  I'm not even sure if I haven't drank it before.  It is Xingu Black Beer.  This is an incredible "specialty beer" - with origins of recipe from 1500's in the Amazon territory.  It is an incredibly explosive beer of dark malts.  Dry Roasty goodness comes in every sip.  It is a medium to heavy bodied beer with light accentuation on the hops.  There is definitely some hop characteristics kicking up that give it a nice floral bite to it.  They really attempt to lighten that dry roast as best it can but honestly that is my best description of this beer.  It pours dark deep red black with a nice head covering.  The head gives way to the beer.  There is definitely a fruity dark black cherry smell in the glass that makes it a more enjoyable beer as well.  In general this was a great beer.  Not sure if this came from my family in Miami or my wife?  Either way, it was enjoyed immensely!  Thank you for your contributions!

I do think it is time for bed.  Have to wake up 'early' tomorrow and get the house ready for another showing.  Also have to work.  It is late and I did not expect to stay up quite this late.  But it is worth it to catch up on my blog for all my loyal followers!  Thanks for reading!!  Please stop back to enjoy again soon!

 
Yep, there is a lot I need to catch up on.  One thing - I need to update the picture at the top of this website.  I'm SICK of seeing those ten draft lines up there.  Maybe I'll ask Greg if I can post a picture of the 6 kettles at Copper Kettle.  I'm really enjoying my time at CK Brewing.  It is really great!  Sure it is a busy job with a lot of work but so far it is fun!  And so far I seem to be fitting right in.  I need to catch up on parenting skills.  There is some crazy things going on with the home life; I really think this "buying/selling" is getting to all of us!  It is REALLY getting us all down.  We still trudge forward and try to find away to wake up the next day and do it all over again.  Of course, my "9-5 job" needs some catching up; quite frankly for the advancement of my company, for the things we are doing in our field, it is sad that I have to do some of the "admin" things I have to do.  I know with the honesty in all of my heart that there is software packages out there to handle it but the bureaucracy and red tape of a company so big will never be able to real it all in.  In part, that is why I continue this blog and have starting working CK Brewing.  I really truly hopefully believe there is something better and more appropriate for me out there.  And I'm just trying to find it.  All that above... and oh yea - I need to catch up on my Blog Once Again!  Seems like a common occurrence around here.  I'm not sure if it is better to write a "blog a day" or do catch ups like I've been doing lately.  But for now - I'll continue what I'm doing and I'll do what I do until I find a better way of doing it.
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4/13/2012 - Sierra Nevada - Summerfest - Its always nice to drink a beer a second time and to recap from a few nights back.  Of the beers I'm drinking tonight this is the only one I have had more then one of to review nicely.  The first beer or two I drank of this I was not happy with; frankly I didn't like.  But I'm sitting here at 11:11pm on Tuesday night and rethinking that.  It pours a CLEAR light yellow in the glass.  Almost the color of a bright clear sun on a young summer day.  There is a crisp freshness to the taste.  Friday night I wasn't sure I liked this taste; it took some convincing that yea, it is actually quite nice.  There is some bitterness to this beer that crisps the taste up nice.  The smell isn't all that pleasing to my nose; it sort of reminds me of a good drunk hangover morning.  But in general not terrible.  The flavor has a nice balance of hops and barley sweetness.  I think the "pilsner" like quality is what set me off a little.  But frankly as I drink a few more of these over days I like them more.  Definitely worth the drink if you see it in your adventures.

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4/14/2012 - Innus & Gunn - Rum Cask - The head in this glass as you see in the pictures did not stick around long.  I actually didn't expect it to nor was I sure I wanted it - when I ask/look for "rum cask" anything - I'm not looking for big carbonation or head - and this beer avoided the carbonation as best it could but the head did sort of make its notice on the side of the glass.  It was a medium to thicker body in on the tongue.  A very nice silky fresh taste in my mouth.  The beer screamed RUM warmth through out it.  There was some nice caramel sweetness throughout.  Hop characteristics were low but present enough to balance and not make the beer to sweet.  I mentioned while drinking it hints of cherry and chalk through out.  It was a more dry flavor drink then most beers.  The smell of this beer gave hints of the cherry spoke of above and a wee bit of woody nose.  I definitely did enjoy this Rum Cask a bit more then I liked the last Innus & Gunn.  They make a very interesting product for sure.  Definitely worth a try if you are in for a different kind of a beer or beverage.

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4/15/2012 - Widmer Brothers Brewing - Drifter Pale Ale - The first thing I noticed on this beer was that the color was more Amber then Pale.  I actually really wasn't a fan of this one.  This Pale Ale was a all hop and little else to help it.  It was sort of flat taste to the beer - a lot of watered down drink with no good malty sweetness to support all the HIGH HOP flavors in it.  I guessed a strong level of cascade hops in this beer.  I was wrong - I read the bitterness of this beer came from Alchemy hops or a mix of warrior, simcoe, and summit.  So completely off on that I guess.  I'll get this eventually.  Either way, wasn't my cup of tea.  I was surprised to see two or three sites that talked about how many people enjoyed this beer.  It was a little flat in taste and pure hops for my liking, but hey, that is what makes this such a good time!  We all have our own likes and dislikes.  Me personally - this was a dislike.  I'm actually starting to loose track of where some of these beers came from.  I'm sorry - Not sure if this was from Aaron, or my wife's Uncle and father, or my wife.  Either way, thank you for the contribution!  It was a nice beer to try - just not for my likings... on to the next.

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4/16/2012 - Ale Werks - Redmarker Ale - Red Right Returning!  And who can forget "Red Skies at night, Sailors Delight... Red skies in the morning, Sailors take warning..."  Boy does this label bring back memories of my childhood on the Chesapeake.  No, I wasn't an "avid/professional" fisher man.  But lets just say that my father and I put a lot of time on the water.  Mostly, we stayed on the Susquehanna of York County; but there was a time that my uncle of the time had a campground down in Maryland on the Chesapeake!  Man, they were good times; I even remember coming in Second Place in a Blue Fish Tourny down there one summer.  Probably the longest time I spent on a boat in my life - 22 hours straight - took a awhile to shake those sea legs.  Like I said, I spent a lot of time on the water - but not days on end.  Often times dreamed and considered it as a profession in the Maryland waters - as I sit here currently watching Deadliest Catch on tv.  Of course, I doubt I could ever do what those guys do; that stuff is intense.  Anyway, I chose a different career path and here I sit - drinking beer and blogging about it.  Not a bad choice.

So, when I got this Redmarker Ale from my buddy Aaron - I was excited.  It poured a really pretty red amber in the glass with a nice red'sh tint in the glass.  I sat and enjoyed this beer last night.  I wish I had a few more to drink with it.  It definitely had a drink-ability to the beer.  Had a nice wood distinct smell to the beer.  Had a really nice almost English ale spicy-ness to it.  The hops were present but nice.  If there was any complaint I had from this beer it was the "can like taste" or metallic taste to the bottled beer.  In general, I thought this beer was very drinkable and could go for a few more.  the only thing I didn't really care for with it was the metallic taste it seemed to bring with it.

 
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So, I'm a father of two daughter's and there is no way anyone could have ever told me I'd be concerned with hair; EVER!  But my almost 4 year old has not had scissors touch her hair ever (well sort of - but that is another story).  Tomorrow we have her scheduled for her first official hair cut of her life; and let me tell you I am not ready for this.  With my oldest, I 'needed' her hair cut immediately.  I was a man and her hair was in EVERYTHING!  Well, we got it cut and it got "thick' and darkened immediately.  OK, maybe not but that is my memory.  So, now my youngest has beautiful long dirty blondish hair (sort of Hawaiian surfer like) and hasn't been touched, so sue me - I don't want the scissors to touch her hair.  And when (IF) they do tomorrow it will be to "clean up lose ends" and NOTHING more.  I swear to you IF I allow it I will only allow about an inch at most cut.  Daddy's baby girl is growing up and I am not happy at all... anyway, I guess the day has to come some day.  So in honor of my surfer blonde haired baby girl, I am drinking a Koko Brown!  So to my Ko`u AlohaAloha Kaua!  Pomaika`i!  My little Keiki!  Tomorrow is your day!

Tonight - I drink the Koko Brown.  I left this in the freezer maybe a little longer then it needed to be.  It is definitely a bit colder then I think it should be.  I was slightly disappointed to see no head in the glass.  Either way, I moved past this to the smell - it was a very mellow sort of toasty malted smell coming from the glass.  Nothing crazy.  Very nice actually.  I take the first sip and ouch, its a bit bitey!  I think to myself, what is that bad flavor in it.  I like the brown malted flavor that is in the glass.  I like the smoothness of the drink for sure.  But there is something that does not agree.  The body is very nice and medium.  But what is that flavor.  Then I check the bottle... brewed with toasted coconut!  OUCH!  Yikes... my worst of worst!  Me NO LIKE coconut!  BUT in this beer I think I can tolerate it.  Sadly, I don't like coconut, and I don't like the fact that it doesn't have much head!  In general, this beer is pretty good- but that said, if it was warmer I don't think I'd care for it because of the coconut flavor.  Drinking it cold/ice cold works for me.  I wish I was sitting on one of the many islands enjoying this beer.  I only hope one day soon I can make it to the islands to enjoy this at the brewery itself.

Tonight I leave you with this - Eia Au, Eia 'OeMahal!

*note - the Hawaiian Words came from this site:  AlohaFriends.

*Correction: Thank you to my readers for the correction - this is Kona Brewing Company - not Koko Brewing.  My mistake.  I must have wrote this later in night - I have tried to correct all spots of this error in the blog.  Thank you Andie for the correction.

 
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Two nights in a row I'm caught up.  Feeling a little better about this blog - lets hope I can keep up the motivation.  That said, what is happening to the Pens - so far blowing a 3 nothing lead with 7 seconds left in the first.  Here it is about 5 minutes left in the game and the Flyers found a way to tie it up 3 - 3.  I have it on in the background, but I'm not a huge sports fan.  I like it but honestly after about 20 minutes of it I get bored and start looking else where.  Of course I can sit and watch hours of extreme sports which some people can argue is the same tricks over and over again.  Tonight I spent the evening catching up on my "All About Beer" mag subscription from March.  I found the Heritage brewery read very captivating.  Really educated me on some breweries and sales tactics that though I had heard a knew a little about - never quite realized were used to such extreme and with such success... namely "Premium Beer".  What a sales pitch!  The FIRST GUY that came up with this thought was GENIUS and should be a billionaire right now.  Enough ranting on to my beer...

Tonight's beer is a Colombian Beer; no not the city, the country of Colombia.  Geography was not my best subject so I admit I looked this up on google to see exactly where Colombia is located to find that it is the "LINK" that connects South America to the Mexican border.  I gotta say, in searching for the website for this beer Cerveza Aguila I am instantly reminded how sad and prudish our country really is; why do we hide the human form like we do?  I really need to move south to the warm breezes and sand beaches where people respect the human form.  Where we don't cover it in shame (or in the North's case - because of the cold).  I think I could drink any beer regardless of flavor if drinking brought me around more friends like I see in the beer images of the search for Aguila.  HAHA!  Enoguh about that, this beer is not very good.  First thing is first, I can not get past the smell.  I can only describe the smell as vomit.  It is horrible.  It was/is hard to get past that.  If you can power past the smell the taste is not that bad.  It definitely has some refreshing carbonation qualities to it.  But the taste is very musty skunked lager (and who knows maybe this has been skunked).  It has a metallic/can taste to it though it was poured from the body.  The only redeeming qualities I can find is that it has a relatively medium body, the carbonation level is a nice bubbly consistency and it is a nice refreshing bright yellow pour in the glass.  The yellow in the glass is as bright as the yellow label on the bottle.  I think the ONLY way I could possibly be convinced to drink more of these is if I were at a beach somewhere in Columbia and I had a few beer beauties serving them to me as if I was royalty.  And at 4% alcohol, you are not drinking this beer for the buzz factor for sure.  Other than that - I may find my self avoiding this one going forward.

I am glad this challenge has brought me to tasting imports like these (as I would probably have NEVER bought this one on my own).  Even though I'm not exactly happy with this beer I'm really appreciative at the opportunity to sample it.  I want to thank my wife's Uncle Wayne from Miami and my father in law for their shopping spree in Miami to find this "gem" of a beer.