Beer Report

A friend who is a home brewer and exceedingly knowledgeable about beer was talking to me once about the variety of beers he'd picked out for a session of van gogh beer still life"beer with Billy." This is an annual rite at a writer's workshop in Martha's Vineyard, where the students and faculty have beer and pizza and do a complete read through of one of Shakespeare's plays. He always chooses a variety of beers, and types of beer, and tries to include local microbrews; one of the beers he picked up was Westminster Massachusetts's Wachusett Brewing Company's Blueberry Ale. He referred to the Blueberry Ale in passing as a "girl" beer, and noted that it was an unfair appellation that a lot of "fruity" beers received. Read more

A few weeks ago I wrote about Full Sail Brewery's Session lager. I quite liked it, and was a little curious about the name, but since Full Sail didn't seem to have a particular rationale for naming their lager Session, I associated it with "session," in the context of traditional "session" music, when musicians at a pub take turns, over several hours, to perform. Read more

Pyramid is fast becoming one of my favorite breweries. I liked their Rollick Amber Lager, and I'm down right enthusiastic about their summer seasonal Curve Ball, and now, about their newly re-named Audacious Apricot. Pyramid seems to be a wheat beer brewery; I mention them to beer-drinking fiends friends, and they immediately say nice things about their Hefeweizen. Their Apricot Ale is another wheat ale, also unfiltered, made with 39% 2 Row Pale Barley, 60% Malted Wheat, and 1% Caramel malts. The hops used are Nugget, Liberty, and Mt. Hood. The ABV is 5.25%. Read more

German beer purity law.Everyone knows the Germans take their beer very seriously. All good beer names are German, from Pilsener to Doppelbock, and, of course, Dunkel Lager. The German’s don’t stop at awesome beer names, they put their beer where their mouth is, or… wait. They put their beer laws on paper. That’s right, they have a medieval piece of law called “The Beer Purity Law” except they didn’t speak English then so they called it the Reinheitsgebot. The law was enforced based on the list of three ingredients: water, hops and barley. Today any beer swiller worth his bar tab knows they spaced on a key ingredient: yeast. It wasn’t until the discovery of bacteria or microscopes or something that yeast was discovered to be a key ingredient in the fermentation of alcohol. So the Germans temporarily rlaxed their purity laws, and added the fourth ingredient. Read more

Some years ago, living in Montana, I walked into a local watering hole and asked for a beer. Probably an It's actually got a drooling moose pictured on the label, too. Just in case you don't read well, maybe?Alaskan Amber, or other such brew—even then I wasn't a big fan of the seemingly-ubiquitous Bud Lite or any of its clones. Read more

I've written about trying some domestic, good old American macro beer here. In writing that piece,—and trying to find a can of Michelob, or even a bottle, I started noticing something; American macro beers, the beers of the baseball stadium and cookout, the average guy beers, are all essentially merging into lines of brands owned by international conglomerates. Read more

Given that it's summer, and times are hard, and in part because of the surprising hostility expressed towards American macro beers by a fair number of beer lovers, I've temporarily abandoned my exploration and research into micro brews, brewpubs and craft beers, to actually try a few American style pale lager macro brews. I thought it would be pretty simple; I'd walk to the local grocery store, and get a couple of 22 ounce bottles or 16 ounce cans. In fact, it quickly became apparent that it wasn't going to be that easy. First of all, I wanted to avoid Budwiser for the simple reason that I've had a fair amount of Bud on tap at Dodger games, and that familiarity, I thought, might give "the king of beers" an unfair advantage. I decided to try beers that were familiar brands, macro beers that were widely available all over the United States. Read more

I grew up on a dirt road in rural New Hampshire, just across the border from Vermont where the drinking age was higher and the beer was more expensive. On hot summer nights a lot of underage drinkers would stop to ditch their unfinished beer and their empties on the side of the road before crossing the state line into Vermont. My dad had us pick up the empties, and bring home the full bottles and cans to kill the slugs in the garden. The beer was mostly inexpensive domestic stuff in aluminum cans: Budweiser and Schlitz, Pabst Blue Ribbon, and sometimes maybe Molson's Golden or St. Pauli Girl bottles. When I got to be old enough to drink, I tried a sip here and there, but mostly, thought beer was pretty wretched, and decided to stick to wine. Read more

full sail session beer bottle

I've already reviewed the previous Full Sail Limited, 01 here. This one is Full Sail Limited 02 is another lager that's been brought back temporarily. It was initially brewed as a seasonal spring ale last year. This is definitely a lager; it's a pale golden amber in color. Slight note of hops in the finish, but mostly I noticed that slightly sweet taste. It's very drinkable, and went remarkably well with a burger. It's made with 2-Row pale malt, wheat malt, caramel malt, Vienna malt, and Stryian Goldings Hops. Alcohol by volume is 6.4%. I've been enjoying this one for over a month, and, as it's a Spring seasonal, I suspect it may be replaced soon. I'd suggest grabbing a six pack while you can. Read more

Dead Guy Ale, Rogue Brewery.: Dead Guy Ale labelOne of the best beers I have enjoyed in some time is Rogue's Dead Guy Ale. It is a traditional German Maibock style ale brewed in Newport, Oregon. The ale is a mellow brown beer with strong honey flavors and an easy finish. The label of the Dead Guy Ale is pretty cool too. Featuring a skeleton sitting on top of a barrel, the logo has been linked to the legendary jam band The Grateful Dead, although only coincidentally. The Rogue website recommends it with pork and smoky flavors, but I enjoy it with just about anything, but burgers and steaks and ribs are all good with a 22 ounce Dead Guy next to you. It's a great winter beer, but its light enough to squeak by on a hot summer day. Other brown ales can be a little rough tasting or too hoppy, but Dead Guy is the smoothest of all of them. This is not one of those crappy new start up microbreweries. Read more