So this was my birthday weekend.  It was a bit of a hectic week for sure.  But as always one for the records.  My girls were sweet and happy and showered me with love.  I could ask for better girls when it comes to that.  They are special.  For me, I took sometime to reflect on this challenge.  So far, it is going pretty much as I expected.  I had hoped to keep up on the notes better then I have been the last few weeks.  But it is summer so what else can you really expect for something fun and extra like this.  Also, I have had time to reflect about another incident about humanity recently.  This issue with the "bus monitor lady".  I don't know where my readers stand.  But I did post a bit on facebook today on my personal account.  Responses were interesting.  I mean no disrespect here I'm just really confused by the actions of others to donate "so much money" for this situation.  Its interesting because when I started this venture a comment was made about me "wasting my money" on something like me drinking and enjoying beer.  The beauty of this country is we all have our own opinions.  I just really think this bus monitor issue was taken to a whole new level and very very interesting.  So be it, on to the beers:

New Holland Brewery - Hopivore -  Grade 4
This caramel brown liquid comes equipped with a light murky thin head on top.  The beer smells of flowery hops with hints of citrusy grapefruit.  The taste is definitely a spiced hoppiness on the back of your tongue with a medium body.  The site speaks about using 100% of Michigan hops that.  And an even more special note is that this beer was wet hopped.  I’m not sure any other beers I had this year was wet hopped.  Basically, this brings the hops straight in off the truck into the brew.  It brings a very unique flavor of the hop that is more fresh and bitter.  There is no drying of the hops before the use.

Sierra Nevada – Bigfoot 2011 – Grade 4.25
When I pour this I first notice the huge thick red color in the glass.  The color could be likened to a Red Mahogany or Sedona Red stain.  The head disappeared quickly.  When I swirled the beer in the glass it held to the side trying not to fall to the bottom.  The liquid is thick and syrupy in every sip.  With huge alcohol smell and taste in every sip it really came across as a nice bourbon or scotch conditioned in a cask.  This beer had huge amounts of hops.  The texture is thick in the mouth.  Every sip tasted like pounds of liquid raisins.  The high alcohol taste seemed to balance out many of these other flavors nicely.  This beer is very highly malted and nicely balanced.  It did taste like it could take a bit more time to mature.

Clearly this is not the right picture - Scratch this - Its my birthday and I planned on drinking this - I DID drink this as I got it as a birthday gift from a close friend.  Thank you for that.  Though they harrassed me half the nigh if I had already drank this (clearly they do not review the Empties section of my site ;) haha).  In drinking this now, I found I liked it a 'bit more' then when I drank it a few weeks back.  Now, what else did I drink Friday night?  It was my birthday - so I will use the Saranac - Blueberry Blonde Ale - I honestly can't "safely" review this beer tonight since I actually was fairly "happy" while drinking these.  I did try this again this past weekend and I remember it being nice and refreshing.  I don't remember if it was to Blue Berry Sweet or not.  I have a few left down stairs and may try to come back to this one.  In general I remember liking it and I'll call it a Grade 3 since it was a drinkable beer and I enjoyed it.  But it was a FRUITY beer so?  I am starting to get sick of these though I gotta say.

Church Brew Works – Pious Monk –
This is a nice brown beer in the glass.  There is a wonderful nice clinging head to the side of the glass.  In general, this beer is a nice medium bodied beer with nice lager notes in the nose.  The beer flows nicely over the tongue leaving a nice tingle of hop trace on every sip.  It finishes with a bit of light peppery spice.   Almost has a silky smooth texture in every sip.

Saranac Brewery - Kolsch – Grade 3
Nice medium bodied sweet malty body – very beer like qualities.  Nice carbonation tingled the tongue nicely.  Honestly, not much to talk about with this one.  Just running low on descriptors

Stone Brewery – IPA Ruination – Grade 4.25
Head of the beer is thick and cream and stream.  The first sip of this beer is definitely screams of all hops.  That is by design of course.  I got a huge citrus and maybe even rose pedal in the mouth.  The malts are big and strong to hold this beer nicely.  The alcohol on this beer is showing a 7.7% alcohol to help support the hops. The bottle even has printed right on the side: “A liquid poem to the glory of the hop”.  A very nice beer to be drank indeed.  Not being a huge hop head I still can find a way to enjoy this beer.

New Holland Brewery - Dragon's Milk Ale Aged in Oak Barrels - Grade 3.5
This is a STRONG beer.  This is a BIG beer.  This is a Ale Aged in OAK Barrels.  This is part of New Hollands High Gravity Series.  I have had this beer in the past and remember liking it a bit more then I do tonight.  It could partly be that I am not up for a "BIG BEER" tonight.  Or it could be that this beer is just a bit more BITTER then I would like.  It pours very dark brack in the glass.  It pours with a dark brown head on top that lingers around gently as you drink.  This mouth feel is a strong alcohol background that makes you want to reach for a water.  It is hardy not refreshing.  There are notes of black cherry nose wafting from the glass.  Also, a bit of wood and dark malty chocolates.  I do normally enjoy this but tonight it is a bit strong.  It definitely leaves a bit of a bitter bite in the back of our mouth.  I would like it to be a bit more smooth.  Maybe it is a younger beer that could be aged a bit in the cellar.  I would recommend you try this beer as a unique beer but be warned - it is STRONG alcohol flavor.  And enjoy!

As always - drink responsibily (maybe not like I did on my b-day night) and have fun.  Every beer has a story and these beers are no different.  Thanks for reading.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.