I’ve been trying to catch up on these blogs.  With tonight’s four blogs I will have 4 more plus tomorrow night’s beer to blog.  Things have been calming down here around the house with summer quickly approaching.  I suspect the kids not having a “specific” bedtime next week and no real schedule will make things a bit easier for the wife and I to get a little of our own things done from time to time.  Of course, that also means the girls will probably be up a little later each night so there will be less alone / quiet time either so we’ll see how that goes.  Here at 365 we are working on our vacation schedule for July.  If nothing changes anytime this week – we are planning to head to Florida and enjoy a little sand and sun (ok a lot of sun) for a week with my wife’s aunt, uncle, and cousins that live down there.  I look forward to having a drinking buddy (Uncle Wayne) for a week to experience my beer tasting adventures together.  I can’t wait for the time off.
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5/29 – Cerveza Tona – Lager Especial – Most known for their coffee beans, Nicaragua also exports sugar, bananas, cotton and of course tobacco.  Oh, there are some exports that go, shall we say, under the radar.  And of course, there are some legal things like cerveza – Spanish for beer.  This is a Nicaraguan Beer that I’m drinking tonight.  This beer has characteristics of being light and crisp, bubbly and refreshing (to my surprise as well).  I do not think it would qualify as a “craft beer” in any sense that I can tell but on a hot day in the cotton or tobacco fields I would definitely be racing down the street to find me the first spot that sold an ice cold refreshing one of these.  It definitely had some corn sweetness to it but in general it really was not a bad beer.  Interesting factoid, I did a quick search to find “famous Nicaraguan’s” and the CLOSEST I could come to knowing was Mick Jagger’s wife – which had it not said that is who she was – I wouldn’t have even known that.  I wonder if I should get a bit more worldly educated out there or is Nicaragua just not that happening these days.

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5/30 – Yuengling Brewery – Bock Beer – I really need to stop putting these beers in the freezer first to cool down quickly.  I don’t plan my evening out nicely and usually end up not thinking about which beer to drink till about 8:30 at night.  Need to work on my basement beer fridge for better storage ability.  Anyway, I drank this beer a little later in the night.  The smell was nice and malty.  Very much like a nice bock beer should be.  I’m a fan of a good bock beer but this beer was a bit light on everything.  The body was light, the head retention was not the best, in general as a Bock beer I was not a fan of this one.  It was not “undrinkable” but just fell short of a good bock beer in my opinion.


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5/31 – Twisted Pine Brewery - Billy’s Chillies – Well the brewery’s name has Twisted in it so that tells you something.  The first “chili pepper beer” I tried that I remember was at the Wynkoop in Denver Colorado.  I haven’t really ever seen these chili beers anywhere other than Colorado though.  I’m sure they are out there.  And I am sure that they are for someone.  I remember the Wynkoop’s being a bit less powerful then this beer.   I drank this beer over at the “Final Approach Lounge” (aka my Father In Laws garage) while playing some darts with the neighbors.  The noise is HUGE pickled hot pepper from the glass.  It really came across with a huge spiced pickled jar of liquid.  It was bright yellow and bubbly in the glass with a nice white bubbly head on top.  The site talks about the beer being a wheat base; though I found it hard to notice anything resembling beer in the glass other then the yellow color with the white frosted head and carbonation brewing throughout.  It took all I could to finish this beer.  It was hugely over run with hot spicy habenero and Serrano peppery spice. 


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6/1 – Lavery Brewing Company – La Bealtaine White Fire Wheat Ale – As copied from the site, "this beer is named after the Festival of White Fire which celebrates the defeat of winter’s adversities and the anticipation of summer’s bounty".  This beer is brewed with Pilsner and Wheat malts – it was cloudy in the glass with a caramelized sugar light brown’sh yellow.  Most wheat beers I come across usually show case the wheat and yeast of the beer.  This one with the “Fire Wheat Ale” show cases a “fiery” hoppy bit to the beer.  For my own tastes it sort of came across a bit flatter then I would have liked or expected.  And for sure to me it could have been balanced with a little less hoppy bite that I assume is possibly coming from the Zythos hops.  This hop is a proprietary hop bland of Northwest’s most unique hop varieties (as mentioned on www.rebelbrewer.com).  These hops were created to lend a hand and match perfectly to an American style IPA.  These are usually the IPAs that I tend to shy away from.  I could probably drink one or two of these but I would not be able to drink many of these as it is a bit too citrusy and powerful for me.  For me, the grapefruit and citrus flavors coming from this beer were too much.


 
So, I started working out again – decided to go with the Heart Rate Monitor wise.  The good news is that I feel like my work outs are more “in my zone” then I ever have before.  The bad news is I feel like it may take me a bit longer to lose the weight.  Didn’t put the weight on overnight guess I can’t take it off over night.  I’m using a workout routine from a magazine that seems to assume I’m a runner.  I’m looking for new workout routines using heart rates.  If anyone has any for me to use I’d be happy to review them and see if they’ll work for me.

On a separate note, I'm blogging 4 beers today and the fourth one is from Memorial Day.  I would be remiss if I mention this.  I honestly probably do not thank enough of our soldiers as often as I should.  There are many times I wonder what it would have been like to be a soldier.  I was literally a pen stroke signature away from joining the Air Force back when I was 18 while contemplating college and my future.   How would my life be different?  What would I have seen/done?  Where would I have journeyed to?  Would I still be here?  Would I be a stronger/prouder man/American?  Anyway, all these thoughts run through my head from time to time and ultimately I just want to thank all the man, women and families that are in or have served for our country and the freedoms we have.  I want to thank you for the opportunities that I have and will have in the future.
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5/25 – Benediktiner – Weiss Beer – I enjoyed this while having dinner at the Market District in Robinson Township at the Settler’s Ridge Plaza.  Though their beer selection remains nice (only thing they need is a slightly larger/better single beer picks) their prepared foods in my opinion has gone downhill.  My wife and I really enjoyed coming here and enjoying the foods they had to offer.  They always tasted fresh and made to order but now a days the food has been much less then “fresh and made to order.”  Fortunately, this isn’t a food blog it is a beer blog and as such I ordered a nice German Weiss Beer.  This beer was a lovely beer.  It had a huge banana and strawberry ester coming from the glass.  It was nice and refreshing mouth feel.  The malty sweetness goodness in the glass was layered with banana and strawberry silky taste.  It was really a medium light bodied beer.  It was a little bitty to me to drink more than one or two but this could have been a serving temperature thing over anything.  I did pour this beer gently in the beginning and added the yeast in at the end and this made the esters even stronger in the glass.  As I drank this, I pictured myself drinking this on a nice German hill side with a great blue sky and pillowy clouds floating through the sky.  I could almost hear the accordingly playing umpa songs as I took each sip.  I’m not sure this website is the original site as this is a collaboration beer brewed by Bitburger & the Ettal Monastery Brewery.  I would love to take a tour of the monasteries of Germany and really LEARN their art of brewing beer.

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5/26 - CORRECTION - I'm going to leave this here as a MISTAKE - but I was going to REVIEW Sierra Nevada's Summer Fest - though on starting to write this review I remembered I already did this.  So, I racked my brain... I called some friends!  Luckily on 5/26 I was at a picnic (where a picture of a burger was taken and I'm fairly confident that this bottle in the background is a Victory Brewery Headwaters IPA (even if it isn't - in talking to said friend I know I drank one that day).  I honestly can not remember enough about the color/clarity/hell whether I even loved it/liked it.  I know it didn't SUCK though.  HAHA... I feel bad but only for myself as this is a challenge to myself for myself.  Either way, I think I'm still successful in that I drank a new beer that day.  The blogging and review is extra to sort of follow my journey.  So, if I get around to drinking this beer again - I will come back and add a REVISION but for now suffice to say, the burger that day was FANTASTIC... and the beers (all of them, even the Miller Lite) were going down nice on a hot summer day.

5/26 – Sierra Nevada Brewery – Summer Fest – This beer was enjoyed while catching some World League Football.  As I do not know much about soccer as we in the states call it I wasn’t sure exactly the teams and/or league that was on.  My two buddies were impressed though and every so often there was some nice action and great shots that even I could appreciate.  One of my newer friends had brought some Sierra Nevada Summer Fest.  Ah, the summer beers are in full affect.  I had been out and running all day so I was exhausted and not truly feeling the whole powering down the beers.  This beer doesn’t disappoint.  With that nice saaz bitey nice it is surprising low on the IBU scale at 28.  But the tangy bite of the hops does persist in this beer.  It does pour a nice glowing light red in the glass.  It has that crisp fresh bite of a nice lager and smooth body all the way through.  This is an easy drinking beer at 5.0% volume and perfect for a nice summer day.  Well done Sierra Nevada!

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5/27 – Victory Brewery – Hop Devil Ale – I didn’t actually partake in any Hop Devil’s while in Philly a few weeks back as I’ve had them in the past.  I couldn’t resist bringing one back and having it for my blog.  This beer pours leaving a nice head on top.  The color is a nice light yellow red or pinkish tint to the beer.  Sort of similar in color to the Summer Fest I believe if I actually were able to have them side by side.  It is a bit hoppy for my own personal level.  It is nicely balanced with the malty sweetness in the glass.  The beer is called Hop Devil so I’m expecting it to be as hoppy as it is which is nice.  The carbonation gives it a great bubbly mouth feel and the head hangs on the side gently.  It almost has slightly red pepper spiciness to the mouth feel.  All told this is a nicely brewed beer that I could sit and drink with a few friends.

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5/28 – Lancaster Brewing Company – Hop Hog – So, I’ve found myself in hop alley lately apparently.  It is bound to happen that I drink a few hop beers as they are one of the largest most popular craft beers in the industry.  I’m not totally sure I get it?  I mean a few years back I did go through a huge hop phase – I just think if you limit yourself to hoppy beers you are missing out on a whole wide world of wonderful malted goodness that has so much more to offer.  But that is just my opinion, enough about that though - this beer is a good one.  Just because they aren’t my favorite that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy them.  The smell on this beer was low in my opinion.  The head retention was a bit low on this beer as well though my glass may not have been 100% clean and this can affect the head of a beer.  It has a nice flowery hop kick to it but also is balanced extremely nicely with the malts to give a great medium bodied experience in the glass.  At 7.9% abv this beer supports its Wart Hog image from the front of the label nicely.  The website says that it uses “Fuggles, Cascades, Fuggles and more Cascades.”  It sort of surprises me I didn’t get much nose out of my glass but I believe my allergies were kicking in a bit that night and I was a bit stuffy.  Either way, this was a great beer.  I have always enjoyed the Lancaster Beers I’ve tried.

As usual, thanks for stopping by and reading.  Sorry about the 4 beer catch up tonight - I'm trying to get caught up to real time here... at this point only 7 more to go... wish me luck!


 
So, I’m writing this Saturday June 2; so far the day is shaping up to be a decent day.  I had a nice Friday night with my daughter at “take your parent to karate” night.  Also, got a nice work out in and am definitely feeling the effects today.  We did a little running around as a family this morning and have a get together tonight at a friend’s house.  I’m actually “diving into” the world of Beer Cocktails.  I’ve been doing some reading about them lately and figure I might as well try them before I knock them.  Tonight’s cocktail will be using my beer of the day of Avalanche Amber.  We’ll see if it is a success or not.

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5/22 – Flying Fish Brewery – Farm house Summer Ale – This is a Saison style beer that I’ve talked about in the past.  I was a bit confused because this did not match the beer I had of the Tommy Knocker Saison I’ve had the night before.  This beer was a clear yellow, crisp lager.  The nose had a yeasty bready smell to it.  The head was nice and white.  It had a nice bubbly carbonation.  I got a bit of pepper in the initial sip.  It had somewhat of a creamy texture to it.  I noticed a bit of malty sweetness in it but not to hoppy.  It was a nice medium bodied beer.  I definitely enjoyed this beer a bit more then the Tommy Knocker from the night before.


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5/23 – Victory Brewery - Prima Pils – Crisp clean clear light yellow pilsner.  Smooth white head.  It had a nice flowery spice kick in the back (earthly in taste) from the hops.  Balance of hops to malt was very enjoyable.  After watching the video on the site I learned Prima in German means “excitedly good” or great.  I think they hit this one out of the park – it is refreshing and highly drinkable.  I want to thank you Victory for this wonderful addition to the craft beer world.  Also, trying to do some light reading in the background as you can see as well.  I've really enjoyed the subscription of BeerAdvocate that my wife got me for Christmas this last year.


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5/24 – Leinenkugel Brewery – Big Eddy - Wee Heavy Scotch Ale – Huge malt complexity in the taste and smell.  The beer was a dark brown to black pour in the glass.  The smell was woody (oak) grain smell coming from it.  There was also a granny smith apple smell to it.  The head was almost none existent after the initial pour.  It had a thin body to it not quite as heavy as the “Wee Heavy” would suggest.  I definitely got the taste of barrel and alcohol from the glass.  I noticed a huge hint of dark cherry and even maybe a light hint of cinnamon actually.  The bottle suggests a huge level of complexity and this beer doesn’t disappoint.  I even got some vinegar/sour taste going on.  I can’t be sure if that sour taste was coming from the yeast or what.  The body was a bit lighter then I would prefer for suggest a complex flavored beer.


 
You ever have one of those days?  It wasn’t exactly terrible, but there really isn’t a whole lot to show for it.  I started the morning by taking the Odyssey up to Wexford Honda for a recall.  I don’t know why (maybe it was my own attitude) but that place gives me the creeps.  I’m sure all the guys that work behind the counter are nice honest guys and all.  But this is the second trip up there and I just get those not so good feelings.  Like today, I paid nothing but I feel like I still somehow got ripped off.  I don’t know, either way, I had to find a place to work so I went up to the Wendy’s.  Not known for its “breakfast menu” though they have one – I sat there for about 1.5 hours.  The breakfast sandwich was not good.  And the store was depressing.  Not to mention I had to make an emergency stop to the Orthodontist today because of some issues with my braces this made my past day and a half of eating not all that happy.  And to top it off, it is 12:30 and I just hung up on a work call that I got last minute to fix something that I wasn’t able to do anything about.  On one note, I’m happy/glad my boss has the confidence in me to call me at 10:00 on a Wednesday night.  On the other, it sucks that I don’t have the knowledge/tools/ability (be it my fault or the fault of others) to be able to fix this and I hate not being able to fix things.  Enough about my day though, on to the beers.
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5/19 – Troegs Brewery - Sunshine Pils – The beer pours golden and clear in the glass.  I had this beer a bit later on a Saturday night.  The smell came through very strong hoppy malty pilsner kick.  The head on the beer was nice silky and smooth.  All told an enjoyable beer to drink in the summer time.  Nice medium body in the mouth feel.  I really did enjoy this beer.  Add on note - After writing the review of the Tommy Knocker below – I immediately felt like I was writing a similar review.  Upon some investigation I did find that this beer is categorized in the Saison style of beers.

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5/20 – Boulder Beer - Sweaty Betty – This beer almost had a glowing fluorescent yellow tint in the glass.  It was very cloudy in the glass added to the glow of the glass.  I really probably drank this a bit colder then it was originally intended to be drank but in general a nice beer.  Large amounts of banana and fruity ester smell flowing from the beer.  Definitely got the bready yeasty smell coming from the glass.  The malts and hops are there to support the main character of yeast in this glass.  It definitely had a nice amount of carbonation in each mouth full.  The funny story behind this beer is the kid behind the counter at Market District mentioned “wow, someone finally bought Sweaty Betty.”  I just asked him if it didn’t seem to be a big seller and why?  He said that he personally hadn’t sold any and that he wasn’t sure exactly why – if it had to do with the name or not.  Either way, it was sort of humorous to me.

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5/21 – Tommy Knocker Brewery– Saison –Back to these mischievous “impish, gnome-like men are the Cornish equivalent of Irish leprechauns and English brownies” otherwise known as Tommy knockers.  The Saison beer is often called“farm style ales” brewed in the cool months coming out of winter and preparing for the warm summer months working the fields.  This beer originates from the French-speaking part of Belgium <some notes I found at BJCP>.  You can find it more of year round now but traditionally brewed for the summer.  My initial impressions were that I viewed it as a cloudy yellow liquid.  This particular version gave me heavy degrees of me heart burn with every sip (some beers have done this and I haven’t figured out rhyme or reason to why).  It is refreshing and a bit tart for sure.  It definitely has some earthy grassy tastes in it.  I could see this being nice and refreshing after a long day in the fields but would have to overcome the huge amount of heart burn that it gave me in this glass.  As you can see in the picture, I’m beginning to day dream these days about my vacation in July.  I’m taking 2.5 weeks off and traveling south.  The Keys are a nice place to relax and unwind and I can’t wait to get that tropical breeze and a nice brew in my hand.  I hate to wish away June… but all these summer beers has me dreaming about my vacation get away in July!


 
May 29, 2012 is an ugly rainy Tuesday night!  The kids are “sort of” downstairs playing, the wife is making MORE cupcakes; she just finished making 20 dozen cupcakes for a local winery called Winery at Wilcox and some Wine-ee Women event (hope they are enjoying them).  I’m sitting back and reaping the benefit of some left over ingredients (ie wine) that was not completely used in the recipe.  Seems like as good enough of a time as any to get caught up on my writing – lord knows I need to get caught up.  This is officially the 150th day of the year.  What an exciting year it has been and we are not even half way through yet.  Can’t wait to sit back and read through this year’s events in the future and recall all the beers I’ve drank.
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5/16 – Victory Brewing Company – Lizard Bock – If you haven’t read much about me you may not know that I lived out in West Chester from ’96 – ’01.  In that time, I did get a chance to check out this brewery once or twice years ago.  On pulling into this place recently I immediately noticed the expansion – no doubt from how incredible this brewery is doing!  This brewery is a staple in my diet.  I attempt to drink their beers when I see them and enjoy most everything I got.  On entering the brewery I was immediately impressed by the décor.  It was a brewers dream – very open and approachable.  The bar in the back is very impressive with a few large copper kettle pot tops feast your eyes on.  The beer selection was huge.  Of course, I drank the sampler and was impressed by many of the beers.  Happily the rauchbier that I drank was the best of the week (of a few that I tried from various locations), well brewed Victory.  But I chose the Lizard Bock as my beer of choice.  Amazingly enough, I do not have a picture of the beer itself… instead I took a picture of the menu for Lizard Bock.  Since the menu talks about the beer in great detail – and I did not take great notes – I’ll simply state that I really remembered enjoying this beer nicely.  I remembering it being a bit sweet and malty, with just enough hop kick to balance this beer and make it REMARKABLY drinkable.  I only enjoyed one of these as I was rushed out of the bar for reasons not to mention here.  I also was happy to have one of my long time readers find me and introduce her to me.  Unfortunately we were not able to catch a beer together but there will always be another time.  I had a very enjoyable dinner with co-works out this night and can’t wait to make it back to the brewery to enjoy a bit more time here.

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5/17 – Amstel – Light Lager – Amstel Light has been around for a very long time.  The website plays a nice little move about the fact that the beer has been started 104 years before my birthday.  So that makes it and me old!  On that note, I don’t have a lot to talk about this beer.  I would “assume” most of my readers on this blog have tried this beer.  It is light and crisp and somewhat refreshing.  It is a steady “safety” beer if you get to a place that doesn’t have good beer.  I got to enjoy this at a friend’s Italian club just on the outskirts of Philly.  The people were pretty cool and it was a decent night out.  Personally, a bit smokey for my tastes but a fact I quickly looked past.  Unfortunately, I did not win any money from the Cash Bash and I was dead tired from a LONG week at education.  FORTUNATELY, I finally got to meet a friend’s family and got to enjoy the hospitality.  I do not make it to these types of clubs to much anymore but it definitely had a nice feel to it.  Everyone knows everyone, they are all able to crack jokes and have a great time.  All in all a good night!  The beer… well, I honestly think it was probably a bit bad from sitting around but in general this is a nice enjoyable beer.

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5/18 – Victory Brewing Company – Summer Love – I did not get to enjoy this one at the bar Wednesday night.  I was happy to save this one for a 6pack from Wegmens as I’m heading out of Corporate from a long week of education.  I had a long road in front of me and wanted to ensure I had some nice beer to drink when I got home and finally relaxed.  This was not the only beer I picked up that day of course.  The drive home on the PA Turn Pike was a little rough actually; long and boring and as tired as I was I stopped twice once to grab some lunch and the second to grab a cat nap in one of the rest areas.  I made it home safely and cracked open a Summer Love.  I was excited for this with Summer right around the corner.  I figured I would grab a case of this and be settled in for whatever summer has to offer.  It pours a nice bright yellow clear liquid in the glass.  The head is light and white on top.  First sip of this beer is robust;  it has a crisp pilsner taste with some hints of spicy hops that scream through the glass.  To me, this ‘spicy after taste’ makes this not such a home run in my eyes.  I get that it is refreshing on a hot summer day; but this beer gives me severe heart burn from the hops.  There are a few beers out there that accomplish this with me.  Mostly, it seems to be some Belgian Brews that do this most often to me but this one is strong as well.  I get some earthy grass notes in the back of my mouth.  Its very carbonated.  I think it is a “GOOD” quality beer that many people will love but it is not the beer for me.  This is not the beer for me to enjoy in mass quantities.  Can't like ALL their beers ;).

Thanks for stopping by for a read.  I hope you enjoy.

 
Sunday May 13th was my trip back to the Philly area.  I had high hopes of getting around to see some of the old stomping grounds and friends.  Sadly, some of the old places, ie Boathouse, Restaurant and Bar, Maddy’s were not there any longer & replaced with new.  I wasn’t out there for pleasure unfortunately so I had to really focus on my day job.  I took every opportunity I could to find time here and there to fit my beers of the day in.  I'm not going to go into this but  I’ve never had education like I did this past week.  I felt more like I was in Elementary school again where the teachers had all power and knowledge and experience and I was green.  Not because the content was so NEW and earth shattering; no - simply because of the delivery of the messages.  That said, I did learn a lot from last week and am actually cautiously optimistic about the future… there are good changes that could be beneficial to all coming.  I just hope its not what it has been in the past - promises and pipe dreams.
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5/13 – Yuengling - Lager – I’ve been on many brewery tours around the country but some how this one has escaped me.  The oldest brewery in America; I have never visited.  I feel bad about this and really want to fix this terrible flaw.  When I lived out there it was "too close" and now I’ve not made time to make it out that way.  This is a beer I “grew up” on.  I would venture to say I drank more of this beer collectively than I’ve drank of any other.  The only exception may be Miller Lite as I have not drank much Yuengling in the 2000’s.  I loved this beer in the 90’s.  It was great, refreshing, smooth and had down right drinkability.  It is a light brown color with a clean smooth head.  Personally, it was one of my favorites.  It was so good in fact that in the 90’s you could go into any bar in Easter PA and ask for “A lager” and you would get this one!  They just knew you meant the best!

Then the masses caught on, word got out on the street… people would travel to OC Maryland and take cases!  Bars had to have this!  People pushed… the brewery knew they had to answer.  They ramped up production and increased lines.  They even had to travel far and wide to find new facilities which they did so in South Florida.  This beer made it big… it shipped far and wide, you couldn’t ask for it by name any more (this probably had more to do with how many varieties and popularity of craft beer exploded).  But, I think this beer lost something.  It started tasting a bit cheap to me.  It tasted metallic and started giving me head-aches.  I don’t know if they started adding corn adjuncts to the recipe (or it was always there – to me something had happened).  Anyway, I lost interest and even in the last 2-3 years when I try it I am not impressed.  I’m not sure if because of being in Philly again, no kids so a lack of responsibility or what – but this draft drank extremely nice.  I may start to give it another try and see if maybe they are working out the recipe and straightening things out.  This beer will score nicely for me tonight as the beer in Philly Tasted SO GOOD.

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5/14 – Iron Hill – Maibock – I believe I’ve posted this before but the German Beer Institute website defines this beer as:

Maibock (literally: May Bock) is the Bavarians' strong, golden lager favored during the brief transation between the severe winters along the northern edge of the Alps, when people hunker down indoors, and the hot summers, when people flock to the beer gardens.

This is one of my favorite styles of beer.  I really wish this beer was able to be found more regularly through the year.  When I find this style I enjoy!  I went to Iron Hill with some work friends and ordered a sampler; this was the beer I chose to order a 12 oz of in the restaurant.  Iron Hill has tuned in nicely to this beer and style and I really liked their recipe.  It poured a malty light caramel in the glass with a light head on top.  The beer was medium to heavy body with just enough hops to balance the sweetness nicely.  This beer paired real nice with my Burger I ordered that night.  It got me so excited I actually picked up a bottle of 2009 Old Ale they had in the cellar – I look forward to drinking this later in the year.  Thanks for the great beer!

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5/15 – Philadelphia Brewery - Kensinger Lager – Being in Philly area (Wayne, PA is where my hotel was) last week, I drank a good amount of beer in the lobby of the hotel.  The bartender Bill at the Embassy Suites was a great guy!  We hung out and talked beer. He told me they work on keeping a nice selection of local brews on tap at all times.  This beer was a nice little surprise I found one night when they switched out the kegs.  Unfortunately, I didn’t take many notes on this beer so I’ll “cheat” a bit and use some of the descriptions The brewery themselves use online; in their words: “This crisp, light bodied, golden beer is the very definition of refreshment.  The combination of premium German pilsner malts and American Noble hops aim to please your taste buds and satisfy your thirst.”  It did all that and more.  I came back for a few more of these as the week went on.  I may even try to find a case of this out this way as it was enjoyable and refreshing through and through.  Thanks Bill for putting this one on tap.

Thanks again for stopping by and

 
It has been a long time; as I’ve said in the past I’ve never wanted it to go this long between posts.   I had started with daily and felt good about that.  Recently I have been “holding 3-4 days” and playing catch up.  Though this is nice for me – I’ve heard a few people state that the blogs are a bit long.  I can understand that.  And now in the past week have really fell behind in blogging.  I’ll blame that on my day job and catching up with some great people that I haven’t seen in years.  Whether true or not, the biggest problem that came from this is that I have “lost”, not taken good notes and pictures of all beers over the last week or two.  Some beers are ones I’ve drank for ages so really shouldn’t cause a major problem in the blog realm and some are new and truly am not giving them the “RESPECT” they deserve.  For that I apologize; but alas – as I’ve stated in the past.  This really is currently a CHALLENGE to myself and free info to my followers.  So, if you don’t like the content I bring to you… take it up with the Corporate Offices of 365 and we’ll see what we can do to improve quality.  Till then, summer is fast approaching – with that brings GREAT BEER but not always the “free time” to sit and relax and write about them.  For that, I will try my hardest to keep all my faithful readers as current as possible with my beer journeys.  Now, on to the beers:

5/10 – Miller - High Life Lite – This is one of the casualty beers that I seem to not have taken a picture of – and that stinks.  I really thought that would be the “easiest” part of this blog with owning an iPhone and all.  But apparently, this does from time to time seem to get lost.  This beer was drank at my father-in-law’s across the street from me.  He just informed me tonight (5/20/2012) that there will not be any more “cheap” beer in his house.  This I’ve got to see!  Ha… anyway, there isn’t much to say about this beer – so I will not waste your time.  For a budget beer it does have a light creamy taste to it but falls short of even a good ol’Miller Lite in my opinion.  This is not an “avoid at all cost” style beer – but isn’t far from it.  I would rather the High Life or a straight Miller Lite for my money.  But when it is free from the Father in Law… I accept it and drink it happily.

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5/11 – Samuel Smith - Organic Best Ale – I have a photo of this beer but for some reason can not locate any notes on this one.  As to not pretend – I found these notes on the site:

A delicately flavored golden ale in which subtle fruity esters from the Samuel Smith yeast strain interact with a background of maltiness and fresh hops. Brewed with water, organic malted barley, organic hops and yeast; fermented in ‘stone Yorkshire squares’.

I do remember enjoying this beer.  I had drank this beer Friday night before leaving for a week long work trip.  I have a picture for you on this one but not much else to speak of.  It is worth having one if you ever cross paths with it.  But I don’t remember it being truly remarkable; nothing seriously exciting.


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5/12 – Sierra Nevada - Ruthless Rye IPA – This beer had a red amber color to it.  The head was nice and white on top.  The rye adds an incredible complexity to any beer you drink.  It is almost peppery spice in every sip.  The hops add a nice fruity citrus kick comes from the hops used in this beer.  At 6.6% alcohol this was a nice beer.  It was wonderfully smooth medium bodied beer that I could enjoy over and over again.  I would really like to get my hands on a 6 pack of this before the dog days of summer come in and really get a bit to warm for me for this beer.  It wasn’t quite as “refreshing” as some other beers out there but in general was a wonderfully smooth beer.


As always, thanks for stopping by and reading my blog.  I'll be catching up on the next three soon - Yuengling Lager, Iron Hill Maibock and Philadelphia Brewing Kensinger Lager.  Stay tuned.
 
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I'll be honest, I'm a fan of Deadliest Catch.  I'll admit - Captain Phil was my favorite captain on the show.  I'm not playing favorites or jumping on the band wagon.  He always seemed to remind me of my father.  I don't know if the beard did it but I think my father resembled Captain Phil.  I also think they both had sort of a similar rugged tough guy attitude.  There is a side of me that wished I came from a rugged/family business world like this show follows.  Of course, not being from that I can't ever really imagine myself really doing this crabbing gig for a living.  Sure, I remember spending a lot of time on the river and Chesapeake Bay - but none of that held water to this career.  If I had a #2 captain - Captain Sig would probably be that guy.  He is a bit of a short fuse but really seems to have the best operating ship on the Bearing Sea.  I had planned on drinking this while catching up on the show and still may do that later tonight.  For now, on to review the beer.

This beer is an Indian Red Ale on Rogue's website.  This beer pours a nice amber color in the glass.  The head is pretty heavy on a vigorous pour but settles down nicely to a thin white head on top of the beer.  It seems to sit nicely on top of the beer to allow the nice hoppy aroma to flow from the glass.  The smell is filled with a huge amount of grapefruit.  When I take a drink, the initial reaction is a bit thinner bodied liquid with heavy bite.  The hops in this brew kick up a heavy 80 IBU.  This high hop kick gives it just the "saltiness" that a big storm on the Bearing Sea packs on to the crabbing boats of Deadliest Catch.  I definitely could enjoy this beer while out fishing/crabbing on a nice cool day on the water.  It has a bit of warming characteristics with the red maltiness in the glass and at approximately 7% alcohol this is the perfect drink for the sea.

I bought this not expecting much.  Honestly, I bought it because I like the show - and Sig and the Hansen's are pretty cool.  Also, I know a bit about Rogue and generally like what they produce.  I am fairly happy with this beer even at the hop level it is coming in at.  A nice change up from my Pilsner beers I've been drinking recently.

Thanks for the read - Hope you are enjoying!

 
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Ever wonder why a Hamburger is called a Hamburger and it doesn't have any ham in it?  Could it be some crazy McDonald's sales pitch?  Or did Burger King have a pet pig?  Well I decided to check it out for you - it gets its name as so many other things out there get its name from the place of its origin.  That is right - Hamburgers were born in Hamburg, Germany.  The history is quiet interesting if you want to see a bit more of it check out what I found at TLC Cooking Site.  Or do some searching on your own because I'm here to talk about what goes great with hamburgers and that is beer!

More specifically yesterday's beer was B.B. Burgerbrau.  This beer is brewed in the Czech Republic.  I am not going to pretend I speak different languages but the closest site I could find for this beer may be HERE.  I can't seem to find anything resembling this bottle but I do see a lot of beer stuff, so we'll go with that for now.  This beer poured a nice solid yellow in the glass.  It had a thin light coat of head covering the top of the glass.  The smell of a pilsner style beer or German Lager is never pleasing to me.  I can not get the exact smell straight in my nose but it is not pleasing.  The taste on the other hand is a whole other story.  I have found Pilsner's I like and some I don't.  I'm putting this one in the LIKE category.  It was mostly pleasing medium bodied beer with a nice medium malty sweetness.  There was little trace of hops through the glass.  The nice thing about this beer was that it had a somewhat creamy taste to it.  This may have been a refreshing choice to drink with a jalapeno turkey burger had it not been for the nice heavy carbonation in the glass.  Instead of the creamy goodness calming down and helping with the bite - the carbonation picked up each kick of spice and slammed it around in my mouth.  It really did help accentuate the hotness of this turkey burger that I tried.  But in general this was a nice pairing.  One I would love to enjoy again and again.  In general, nice pilsner beer.

 
So here is this past weeks line ups...
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5/7/2012 - So my 4 day weekend is over and its back to work tomorrow.  Not looking forward to that so I might as well get my last few minutes of rest now.  Sitting back and watching a little television and drinking my beer of the day.  Today was my wife's decision to do her version of "Cinco de Mayo" since we didn't since we didn't celebrate on Saturday for a few reasons.  So, she made some guacamole and chicken tacitos, and a mini-margarita that was not to shabby.  I didn't have any more Mexican beers but I did happen to find a Presidente down in the basement.  This beer pours a nice bold yellow with a medium level of carbonation.  The head is light on top and just enough to coat the top of the beer.  I have not grown any fonder of the pilsner smell of beers.  They just have a smell that I can't put my finger on yet.  If I could actually label the smell as something with a positive connotation it probably would appeal to me more.  I chilled this down extra cold tonight as I don't remember being a HUGE fan of this beer.  Drinking this ice cold I could have a few of these.  It is actually a nice crisp pilsner.  It has a nice malty sweetness in every sip with a low hop profile.  Its crisp and fresh from the bottle.  And actually quite refreshing.  I think I was plesantly surprised the last time I drank this beer as well.  I am going to sit back and enjoy the last of this beer before my real job starts up again tomorrow.

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5/6/2012 - Bell's Brewery - Oberon - This is by far one of my favorite wheat beer's out there.  It is also by far one of my favorite summer beers out there.  When I say, this beer is SUMMER in a bottle I'm not kidding.  It is fruity and sweet and refreshing and citrusy and down right balanced and good.  It holds all the characteristics of a wheat beer with the smooth wheat sweetness.  It throws in some banana and citrus sweetness with the ale yeast that is being used to brew this sun shine in a bottle.  It is a crisp orange color in the bottle though I drank this one out of the bottle. 

Unfortunately, I do not have a picture of this beer as I wasn't going to pick this one as my beer of the day.  I was going to save this one for its own blog with a glorious picture.  But my wife had just finished the Pittsburgh Marathon with her team.  She completed her longest run to date at her fastest time.  Her distance was 5.5 miles in 61 minutes and change.  I am extremely proud of her accomplishment.  I actually did make it down to the city and probably ended up walking over 4-5 miles in the day back and forth.  We did go out to celebrate for dinner but unfortunately the beer selection was a bit low for what I was interested in drinking.  And by the time I got home, I was really to tired to sit and drink a new beer.  So, luckily I had drank this beer earlier that day at our friends house who also ran that day - she ran the half marathon and in a PR time as well!  Congratulations to all Pittsburgh marathoners out there.  You guys ricked that city yesterday and inspired me to go out and get a new pair of shoes.  Yes, I have to get back on the training schedule.  Thank you for that.

As a tribute I added the picture of my wife crossing her leg of the marathon on Sunday.  This makes me warm and happy like a fine summer day or a Oberon in a glass!  Congrats baby!

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5/5/2012 - Grupo Modelo - Pacifico - Clara - From this site I found on line -
Cinco de Mayo—or “Fifth of May”—is a Mexican holiday that commemorates the victory of the Mexican army over an invading French army at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. It is not, as many people mistakenly believe, Mexico’s Independence Day. Although the Mexican army was eventually defeated, the Batalla de Puebla became a symbol of Mexican unity and patriotism. With this victory, Mexico demonstrated to the world that it was willing to defend itself against foreign intervention.
I actually am one of those that thought it was Mexico's Independence day.  I also mistakenly wished a Spanish friend of mine once Happy Cinco De Mayo in all seriousness.  I have never said my global historic education on wars and geography have been the best.  And I guess this proves it.  So, on that note I decided to pick up a Mexican beer in celebration.  I asked the guy at Market District for his recommendation and this was the beer he suggested.  Very nice light pour in the glass.  This beer really was a nice crisp pilsner beer.  It had a little bit of an off taste for my tastes but if served nice and cold I could definitely enjoy a few of these on the Mexican Riviera or anywhere in Riviera Maya or anywhere else for that matter.  I think this would be a great beer to share with some friends for a nice warm sunny day.  May have to revisit this one again.

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5/4/12 - Hardywood Reserve Series - Mocha Belgique - Belgian Chocolate Porter brewed with locally roasted coffee.  As you can see I actually shared this with a few of my friends; always a good time to do this.  This beer had a lot going on.  This beer was very robust with flavors.  Huge hits of chocolate and coffee go through this beer.  It talks about on the bottle a coffee tasting session with local coffee brewers to determine the one that they would collaborate with their beer.  This was a very nice touch.  To me, this beer was like drinking iced espresso.  It was very robust and smacking you in the face with flavor.  I'm sure this beer partners well with someone's palate out there.  Or there may even be a great dessert out there waiting to be paired with this reserve series.  But this beer was not for me now.  It is a 7.2% alcohol volume and a "reserve series" so maybe this beer was intended to be aged for a bit.  It seems like it could definitely benefit from some mellowing in the bottle over a few months possibly.

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5/3/12 - Dogfish Head - Noble Rot - Before I get to this beer, I tried a Brooklyn Monster Barelywine from Brooklyn.  I was torn on whether I could use it or not as they used an infuser to infuse the beer with Cabernet soaked oak chips.  Since it was a barley wine, I found the chips hard to decipher through all the other richness going on in that beer.  I'll definitely be looking to try the Brooklyn again sometime.  Not to mention try Bocktown's Infused Beers again another time.
Now onto the Noble Rot; their site describes this as a saison-esque brew.  I've been intrigued by this beer for sometime.  I've seen it out and was hoping to get a glass of it.  The beer came to me in a snifter as a bright yellow beer.  I actually had it sit in front of me while I finished my meal.  I wanted to enjoy this beer solo.  The bubbles were flowing through the beer almost like champagne.  It had a nice silky white head on top of the glass that hung around for the whole beer.  The smell gave a definite sour kick right of the top.  Maybe a little green apple smell to it.  At first, I didn't think I noticed the carbonation - but what I came to learn through the drink was that the carbonation was so robust that it caused the liquid to explodes into air.  Almost a dry champagne like consistency.  I got notes of green apple and pairs in every sip.  It was a sweet flavor but dry texture if that was possible.  Over all, a very unique beer that I enjoyed immensely.

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5/2/12 - Starr Hill Brewery - Northern Lights IPA - This beer poured a yellow orange in the glass.  As I held the glass in the air my wife asked if I was "Wishing on a star" and I probably was.  Its been to long since our family has been to Disney.  And we have to get back.  This beer had a large kick of citrus and hopy spice to it.  The malty sweetness was a little on the light side to really balance out the hoppy bigness in this glass.  I got a lot of citrus notes such as grapefruit and lemon kicks to it.  The body was a decent medium body for drinking but definitely was not my favorite as beers go.  This one to me is to hoppy and rich for my blood.  In general, I would recommend this beer to the hop heads of the world that haven't tried it.  But for my tastes, I'll back away from this next time I see it.  This was another beer brought to me by my friend Aaron.  Thanks again for the contributions.

As always, thanks for following me and look for the winner to the Photo Contest.  I've almost got it all compiled and ready to show.