1.27 - Siberian Sunday

No fancy reason here.. just a cold-ass Sunday and a big ol' beer to warm me up!

Thirsty Dog - Siberian Night Russian Imperial Stout - 9.7% ABV and 58 IBUs.  Those crazy Siberians were used to this freezing cold stuff.. this is like summer for them.  So of course a beer with that name-sake and of the RIS style should be able to warm the shit out of the most frozen of souls.  An oil-black pour with a pale mocha head... chocolate, booze and roasty malts dominate the nose.  Milk and black chocolate, burnt coffee, and a burnt smoke aroma hit first, followed by malty sweetness and a sharp booze note that reminds me of my first whiff of grain alcohol.  This shit won't fuck around..  This is big, bold but so smooth and easy to drink.  An ashy-smoke taste is the first thing you get followed by the big chocolate notes.  Milk, black, bitter.. it's all here. Super-rich coffee and touches of dark ripe fruit followed by just the smallest hint of a citrus/tropical hoppiness..  this finishes bold, earthy, boozy..  For sure a kick-in-the-pants RIS.  A very solid interpretation of the style.

- - 8 Hops!

1.25 - Yeast Time + Beers

Friday night.. gotta get a yeast starter going for this weekend's homebrew.  That means I gotta have a beer or two!

1.24 - Can Beer Day and Comrades!

So apparently today is National Can Beer Day! 78 years ago today, beer was first introduced in a can!  Sadly, for many many of those years, it was watered down swill.  Now, the craft brewers are moving into cans for cost, portability and a longer life.  And really.. like any of us are gonna care!  If it's great beer, we'll drink it from a can, a bottle, a growler, a tap, a cask.. just gimme good beer!  So to celebrate I enjoyed a little gem called Heady Topper.. heard of it?  Yeah, fucking amazing!

But you can't just stop after one beer..right?

1.23.13 - A Trip To The Baltic

It's been a little while..  I know.  Work is crazy busy and I spent last weekend at a beer fest for Backlash.  Had to take a few days off of the hooch before getting back into the reviews...

It's got a touch cold around these parts the last few days, so I went a little richer for this one.

1.15.2012 - Cheap off-season Pumpkin

Seriously.. screw the seasonal shit already.  Yea, it's great to have a nice crisp, bright, citrusy-esque beer in the summer.. and a warming, spiced beer in the winter.  But when the 'big' craft brewers have their seasonals coming out almost a full 2-3 months before the appropriate weather of said season, the seasonal gimmick has jumped the shark.  Wanna discuss more?  Follow me on Twitter.  Don't know it..  shoot me a message or comment.

That being said - I will never say no to a good beer, any time of year.  So when I found bombers of pumpkin beer that were originally $7 and they're marked at $3.. definitely cannot say no!

Long Trail Brewmaster's Series - Imperial Pumpkin - 8.0% ABV and 20 IBUs.   A very heady, somewhat viscous pour. Deep amber/copper in color, spice and warmth come off the nose immediately.  Sweet, thick caramel, canned pumpkin and muted spice.  It's fairly creamy for a pumpkin ale with thicker, sweet malts and convoluted spices.  Getting touches of ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg - but not one of these comes out clean.. they just don't work well here.  The booze is a bit too strong, the malt backbone is thick, bready and sticky, but isn't big enough to support the slightly out-of-place alcohol bite.  On the plus side.. the pumpkin may come off as canned, but holds up well in the chaos that is the rest of the taste.  Sort of like a Winter Warmer had a Pumpkin baby.. not bad, not great, but not terrible.  Wouldn't rush out for this, but wouldn't say no to it on draft.

- - 5 Hops!

1.9.13 - The Holy Grail

To almost every beer geek in-the-know, it's the Holy Grail.  To some, it's overrated..  but even they cannot deny it's appeal.  If you haven't guessed yet.. or somehow missed the GIANT image beneath these words, yes I'm talking about Westvleteren.. specifically Westvleteren 12.

Brewed by the Trappist Abbey of Saint Sixtus of Wesvleteren in Belgium, it's widely regarded as the best beer in the world.  It's only (technically) sold on-premise, and only enough is brewed to fund the monastery.  "We brew beer to be able to afford being monks"  The only way to get it is to call and call and call.. supposedly it takes several tries. Finally you may get an answer and your told when to arrive and how much you can buy.  It's long been more precious than gold on the beer black market.  It's even been noted that there have been counterfeit Westy 12 on the black market; people filling empty bottles with a similar Quad and selling for Westy price.  So when it was announced last year that the monastery needed repairs and to fund it they were releasing a large batch to the US for sale.. well us beer geeks flipped our collective shits.  To purchase 6 of the fabled brews, authentic, legally, without having to travel overseas.. well slap me silly and call me Sally!

1.5.13 - Year Old Beer

If you cellar beer, at some point you've gotta take the beer out and drink it, right?  If not, what's the point!  My mother does this with wine - she'll buy great wines and just sit on them for years, even whites, which usually do not age well.  Well, for me, I gotta cave at some point.  This isn't that big of a deal.. only a year.

Brooklyn Brewery - Black Chocolate Stout  vintage '10-'11  Heading out for the evening, and what a better way to get in the zone than a 10% Russian Imperial Stout?!  Yes.. this is 10% ABV  and yes, most places will sell it for $8-$9/4pk   That, my friends, is called a fucking deal!  A pitch black pour with a nice, medium tan head.  It certainly lives up to it's name in the nose - rich black chocolate comes through with touches of molasses and black coffee.  I think I've done this brew before, but it seems to gain viscosity with age.  This is coming out like slightly watered-down chocolate syrup..   The booze is unbelievable.  Incredibly warming and smooth, it never feels undrinkable.  Again, chocolate is the word of the day with a nice blend of milk and super dark chocolate.. nice roasty notes and a touch of carbonation so it doesn't feel like you're drinking pure motor oil.  I now have a '10-'11, '11-'12 and '12-'13 in my possession.  Debating doing a vertical tasting this year or next..  either way, super excited to see how these age up.

- - 8 Hops!

New Year = More Wine!

That's it.. all my resolutions involve alcohol.  I've just decided that.

Step 1 - became an official beer rep
Next steps  -  Review more beer
                  - Review more wines!
                  - Trade/travel more to increase my beer culture knowledge!

Let's check off another wine then, shall we?!

(Marqués de Carríon)  Antaño - 2010 Tempranillo

Thick ruby pour with a rich, strong nose.  I'm getting tons of ripe dark fruits, especially raspberries and plums with a tough of fig..  there's hints of pepper and tobacco smoke.  It's smooth and velvety without having an overpowering body.  It's smooth and full, but light enough where it could pair well with a nice smokey burger or even chicken.  Luscious sweet fruit balances out decent tannin levels.  Pepper and oak dance on the back end of the taste..  it's a sweet, yet dry finish.  A very nice value!

(7 grapes!)

1.1.13 - It Begins

2013 is here.  The Mayans were clearly wrong.. as noted with the previous Enjoy By post.. but the next year  has clearly arrived and we're all here.  2013 is gonna be big, folks.  Welcome to the year where yours truly becomes the first official Backlash Beer rep!  Stay tuned for all the info you could ever want!

So to kick off the year right, let's check out Backlash's first offering from the Apocalypse Series - Conquest