Beers of Dubious Vintage...

Over at my uncles the other day and nabbed a Sam Adam's Noble Pilsner from the fridge. While the nifty little age indicator on the bottle said best before August 2012.... begging the question when will a beer no longer be good to drink?

Beer is a perishable product, meaning, it will at some point go bad. However, nothing can really grow in beer that will kill you. So, using my patented rachel logic, I drank the beer. It was pretty good. Light, a touch hoppy, but still mild, i think i liked it.
Anyways, here's the lesson for today. I may have said this before, but most commercial beers (non craft or micro) are pasteurized. Sam Adam's isn't an exception for most of their beers. This particular one was kept refrigerated  which is said to help keep the beer from hitting that skunked state for a little longer. Skunked, by the way, is what happens to beers that have passed their prime. Normally, beers are said to last 3-6 months, but that can be stretched. Honestly, not much is going to happen to the beer, just maybe a steady decline into not tasting as good for quite a while. With proper storage, some beers can improve, however.
Check out the Beer Advocate: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/101/store
Anyways, the moral of the story is, if you find a beer in the back of your fridge and you have no idea when its from, take it out, pour it in a glass, sniff it and see how feel about it. It might not be half bad yet!
Cheers!

Drinking Beer at Uno's Usually isn't a good Idea

Friday night, for the first time in a long time, I went out with some friends from Undergrad. While it was great to see them, unfortunately, since we were all coming from different directions, we chose to meet at an easily findable location; sadly, an Uno's Bar and Grill.
It took a while for our third friend to make it so we decided to pass the time with some beer from their small, but not terrible selection of local beers. For like 6.5 bucks you got a decent sized beer. For going out, i guess its somewhat reasonable. I chose Quinn's Amber Ale from Wachusett Brewing company. Normally, I really like a red, and I can say confidently, that this isn't a bad one. Its more like a keystone of a red. A bit too light to be taken seriously. More of a meh, it was something to drink and i needed room for "food" as its called at Uno's, so i didn't get the much tastier sounding stout.
Also, just as a side note. Don't eat at Unos'. Please. This is a plea straight from my stomach and taste buds. Drinking there, sure whatever, but food... please no. Not only where our "too hot to touch pizza's" cold, congealed  and somewhat gross, our grilled cheese appetizer almost too hard to chew, but one of my friends got a little food poisoning from his meat pizza. Go somewhere where they actually cook food. :). My recommendation to you.
Cheers!

My Beer Valentine

The one gift i got for valentines day this year (Cheers to 6 months single!). It was a fancy looking 22 oz bottle of Left Hand Brewing Co.s Imperial Stout called Wake up Dead.
Since this was a gift, i decided to be all classy and pour it into a pint glass. Unfortunately  i completely ignored the recommended temp, and served mine refrigerated  I'm not sure how much of a difference this would make... i'll get to that in a second.
I was a little surprised by the pour, since i'm used to the milk stout that has a moderate, but super creamy head on top. This barely had a head, but what was there didn't dissipate on first pour. The second time i was lazier and there was much more of a noticeable head. At first taste the maltiness is really overwhelming. I'm not used to such a sweet beer overall. It is possible that when it warms up a bit, i'll get a better taste of the different notes in the beer.
The other big thing about this beer is its 10.2% alcohol. Oh wow, its going to be an interesting night.
I didn't buy this, and therefore don't know the cost. So i'll just go with, be adventurous, try it yourself!

not my pic

Thanks Pajo!