Stone Greg Visits Boston! - The Video!

Here's an article about, and a video put together from Greg's visit to Boston!  Keep an eye out for your's truly!!  I'm a movie star!!

Brewbound - Stone's Brewing's Greg Koch Reads, Writes and Crowd Surfs!

Stone Greg Visits Boston!

If you're not on social media following your beer heroes and favorite breweries...  do it!  How else ya gonna know when the founder of Stone Brewing Co is coming to the next town over from you!?  Yep, Greg Koch, founder and CEO came to Belmont to the coolest little craft beer store ever, then had a speaking gig in Boston, then to Lord Hobo in Cambridge..  pretty freakin' sweet huh?

10.23.2011

So before heading out to watch the Walking Dead tonight, I grilled up some meat and cracked open a brew.  Beer, fire and zombies... sounds fantastic, right?  Well it is!  I'm starting to break into the stash of Harpoon 100 Barrel Series that I have.  Just like the Stone Vertical Epics, I caught onto the series after the start, so I can't get what's already been released.  But I'm starting, and although terribly sad I've missed out on some forever, gotta enjoy what I can take advantage of!  Starting with #32....

session 32 - Pott's Landbier.  Categorically described as a Vienna Lager, it apparently translates as country beer and has a nice spicy strong malt backbone with some earthy notes.  At 4.8% ABV and 30 IBUs, this would be a great beer to enjoy while working out in the fields all day, giving just enough oomph and refreshment, but not getting Mr. Farmer-person hammered and running the tractor into the creek. This beer turns out to be a collaboration with Pott's Braueri from Oelde, Germany and mimics their own 'Pott's Landbier.' A nice dark amber hue with a great thick head, this beer has a bit of grassy hops on the nose with some sweet toasted malts and a bit of an apple/honey sweetness.  Taste-wise, very smooth, but carbonated enough to provide refreshment.  The major flavor profile is sweet, nutty, roasted malts giving some caramel and bready tastes with some hidden cherry and plum.  A bit of spice carries from the malt to the hop finish, hints of nutmeg, a little cinnamon with woody, earthy tastes.. a very nice addition.  On the finish is a slight kick of some grassy hops..keeping with the earthy theme.  A really nice sessionable beer, not so sure if it's worthy of a unique spot on the 100 Barrel Series..but it is a collab brew and a slightly different style than Harpoon is accustomed to...greatly refreshing overall though!

Random Beer Saturday

I swear, every time I set foot in a packie, I walk out with 7 more beers after only taking 2 or 3 out of my stash!  It's a never-ending cycle dammit!  I've really gotta step up my drinking game.  Wanna help?!

Long Trail - Triple Bag (2010 vintage)  Have been sitting on this guy for quite a while..  anywhere between 8.2 and 9.4% ABV depending on year.  This is just a suped-up version of their Double Bag strong ale with a ton more malt added in.  Syrupy-sweet aroma with hints of bubblegum and alcohol, some raisins and heavy caramel.  Great malty nose... and a complete reversal of roles when it comes to the taste.  A nice punch of hops from the get go that delves back into the complex malt carrying over from the nose.  More caramel and toffee with heavy dark fruit and molasses with hints of the booze poking through often.  The malty sweetness linger long after the beer is gone.  This is one dangerous beer, the high ABV is fairly well hidden behind the malts and it goes down way too easy.  Hell, I've probably downed this one far too quickly myself!

Happy Wednesday!

YAY Wednesday!  Happy Hump Day and Happy Finally-Doing-Work Day!  See...at my job, I have two roles.  1-I'm a lab manager... 2-I'm also a researcher   (infectious disease research lab)  For the past few months, while getting research projects in line, I've been occupied with learning the managerial side of things.  FINALLY I was able to start up some bench work and moving towards my research project! YAY!  And what better way to celebrate than a celebration beer itself?!

10.10.11-10.16.11 Recap

Fell behind with a few of the beers I pulled from my stash last week, therefore you get a lump update!  Had a fairly busy week and wasn't feelin too hot for most of it, so I didn't get as many as in as I had hoped either...sad week!

Stoudts

Just got back from a weekend trip to NYC...saw all the construction at Ground Zero.  Unbelievable.  Seeing that shouldn't be the only time you feel patriotic besides on July 4th..but coming back home and remembering I had a brew with an American flag on it stirred up a little American pride in me.

West Coast Tiny Bottles

So I found two beers in the stash from California and both are in little stubby bottles! Match made in heaven?  ...good enough to drink tonight at least!

Nectar Ales - Humboldt Brown.  Nectar strives to be a sustainable brewery, recycling into various products what other brewers would consider waste, using all natural/organic ingredients where available.  This brew right here is made with all natural hemp..  what?  Hemp beer?  YEP  5.7% ABV and 32 IBUs.  A nice rich brown pour with a faint head..the usual brown notes..some malts, faint molasses, some chocolate and spices and a touch of hops.  A super light body for a brown, crisp actually.  Toasted nutty malts dominant with some chocolate and coffee flavors and a decent hop profile.. a bit floral, a little citrus.  Not sure where the hemp plays in.. there is some herb/spicey notes with a little sour taste on the finish.  Confusing about the hops, but a great take on a Brown Ale!

Double-up Wednesdays

My collection is growing WAY outta hand..I gotta step up my drinking!  On deck tonight, 2 brews from 2 breweries, a two-fer!

Summer Stragglers

So I found 2 more beers in my box o' goodies that are summer seasonals!!!  WOOHOOO

Boulder Beer - Sweaty Betty..  a nice wheat ale at 5.2% ABV.  Man..the head on this disappeared FAST..wow!  This babe pours a beautiful hazy sunshine..this even LOOKS like summer in a glass!  A distinctive toasty malty sweetness to the nose with some peach/apricot aromas..slightly hefeweizen-esque as well..  delicious.  Despite the head disappearing than the Rays playoff season, (yep..  cultural reference!  Google 2011 Tampa Bay Rays if you're reading this in the future Mr. McFly) Ms Betty here is fairly crisp and carbonated..  definite summer wheat taste.  Light toasted malts and bread with some citrus/lemon peel, coriander..touches of clove.  The faintest sour/bitter taste on the finish..finally some hops poking through!  An easy drinking summer (I finished it before I finished typing!  Oops!) with a little different flavor profile..not the best, but fairly unique..nice.

Cape Ann Brewery - Fisherman's Ale.  A Kolsch-style ale at 5.0% and 24 IBUs.  A fairly muted nose to this beer..like a normal Kolsch, but smelled from across the room.  Light grassy/piney hops are noticable along with a freshly-baked bread maltiness and some sweet fruits.  The taste is very refreshing, but follow the nose.. a bit muted, a little muddled together.  Lemon peel, bananas, apricots are all present, but almost seem to be fighting the light, sweet malts and the hops are struggling to make themselves present.  Had nice flavor and very refreshing for the summers on the sea, but might need a little refining to make it great.   B+

Big Beer Friday!

So it was Sept 23..just a normal Friday night..  went to go chill and watch some movies..but decided to drink some big ballsy beers for the hell of it.  Why not, right?!  Definitely made the movie way more enjoyable..but hey.. who wouldn't love ThanksKilling?!  A movie about a possessed turkey demon (puppet) who kills every 505 years (except it totally wasn't that long) on Thanksgiving..  and it was made with under $4,000 by college students..  kick ass!

Sierra Nevada - 2011 Bigfoot Barleywine Style Ale.  I can't turn down a beer called Bigfoot!  Have had a few barleywine style brews.. haven't been much of a fan, but SN makes some good stuff, so let's see what they got.  At 9.6% ABV and 90 IBUs..this is certainly a bigfoot of a beer!  Crazy dark amber/copper pour with a big head for such a big beer.  A big, hoppy profile with strong malts and a new grain-y aroma I haven't encountered before...  barley mayhaps?!  The strength of the beer isn't too hidden, the alcohol sneaks in and isn't shy about it's presence.  Rather carbonated for such a beer beer with a bit of caramel/sweet wheaty malts  from the get go that jumps into that high ABV hop profile...you can tell there's a crap ton of hops..very piney/grapefruit..but the strong malt profile saves this from tasting like liquid hops.  Strong, dry sipper, but with plenty of flavor and awesome balance between huge hop and malt attacks.  For sure changed my perception of barleywines..gonna pick this baby up again!

Victory - Golden Monkey.  Love this brew!  a 9.5% ABV Belgian-style Tripel.  A lovely hazy golden yellow with a super foamy head..  the aroma of a typical Belgian Triple at first..  fruity, banana, clove, bit of spice and some yeast, but a nice candied sugar sweetness and hints of alcohol set this apart.  More of a citrus/sweet bite to the nose...taste follows right along.  The alcohol plays a prominent role..not hidden behind much.  Plenty of bready malts and smooth, full fruit flavors with more of that spice and candied sugar and a little citrus hop bite in the finish.  Banana, yeasts, peppery spice are dominant with some green apple/pear hints and a nice sweetness make this WAY too easy to drink!

Lagunitas - Undercover Investigation Shut-Down Ale...  DAMN.  Great story behind this beer...apparently there was an undercover investigation of the brewery by the local police and they had evidence of smoking/selling weed at the brewery during some fest they were putting on..so the ABC shut them down for what ended up being 20 days on St. Pattys 2005.  Quite convoluted investigation apparently..but Lagunitas decided to say F you and brew a crazy beer to commemorate the occasion!  And by crazy I mean 9.8% ABV and 70.5 IBUs.. a double/Imperial IPA style beer.  Dark coppery red with a surprising head for an Imperial..  very sweet for such a big beer..light caramel notes, sweet malts and even a slightly sweet grapefruit-esque hop smell with a ton of alcohol mixed in..  Big body of toasted malts with some caramel/toffee that tries to balance out the crazy hop profile..but fails.  The hops in this are in no way bitter, surprisingly smooth and creamy..sweet actually...  Tough to place fully..but trust me here..this is a crazy good awesome beer!  Thank God for that 'investigation'!