Long nights in hotels ( Aka post nap time beer)

While I really just want a sammich, sometimes you me up with a beer instead. When my options are pretty much Guinness on draft which would lead to no room for sammiches or a local brew, I guess the local brew will win. This leads us to the amber colored brew you may see posted here. According to the website, victorybeer.com, I'm drinking a heavyweight 6.7with lots of flavor. I would give it a solid 3/5 since the hops are a bit bitter. I would prefer. Bit more citrus to balance the bitter, maybe American hops just aren't my thing. I wish I realized they had yingling. Anyways, hooray, beer. Cheers! 

So far from home, and in need of snacks!

Whats the best way to end a great day of skiing? Or as everyone else said " a really terrible day with awful conditions, too much ice, and a whole bunch of shitty snowboarders sitting on all the good slopes"? The answer of course, is to stop by a local micro-brewpub for some yummy food and delicious beer.
This is made even more awesome, of course, when you find out that the local brew pub, Riff Raff Brewing Company, that is conveniently located on the way home from the ski mountain, has happy hour starting at 4 with half priced appetizers and cheap pints. So much good!
The first time i went i go the Spruce Juice, a beer made using spruce instead of hops, that is sadly no longer on tap. If you ever make it there, i hope they have this awesome microbrew. I also tried their red, their awesome chili beer, and a few others. Check it out http://riffraffbrewing.com/ and go visit!

Toddies Anyone?

Exciting news! I learned how to make a hot toddy! The internet makes this drink look really complicated, but an easy way to do it (and the right way, of course) would be to squirt a bit of lemon juice into a mug. Add a teaspoon or so of honey, pour in some boiling water, and top with some super yummy whiskey or bourbon. I suggest Bulleit. This awesome, local to Colorado spirit is pretty much my favorite bourbon ,which is saying a lot from a person who is fairly indifferent to bourbon and whiskey. A friend of mine, and fellow blogger, has been known to crack open the cheap stuff when i visit, knowing that the good stuff would just be wasted.
Bulleit, however, gets 5 stars from me. Best when consumed around camp fires, in hot toddies, or surrounded by leather bound books.
At about 12 dollars for the 375 ml bottle, its not the cheapest stuff, but if you want quantity, you probably aren't drinking bourbon anyways. Try it, if you get the chance!

Making your own cider

The internet is a wealth of amazing knowledge! Especially when it comes to making alcohol at home.

A while back I stumbled on an awesome page describing exactly what i'd need: http://www.howtomakehardcider.com/making.html

This step by step tutorial was just what i needed to get me started.I picked up a gallon of Whole Foods Organic apple juice, borrowed a stopper from a friend and was ready to go. Well, ready to go after buying an airlock, some sanitizer and some amazing happy live English Cider Yeast from White Labs.

The first batch ended up being super tasty! Even though i brewed it with the ever classy balloon method, since i didn't have the right sized stopper for my first try. It didn't make it to bottling since i drank it all too fast out of the jug.

I'm a little spaced on nyquill right now, but the moral of the story is organic apple juice makes yummy cider. Other apple juice makes ok cider. More on this topic later.

I'm really tempted to throw some concentrates in with some water and yeast to see what happens..... Purple Jesus anyone?

Winter Brews

Winter Beer Season! So many awesome winter brews to check out. Unfortunately, Woodchuck pumpkin hasn't come to town, yet. The other night a friend picked up some beers i hadn't had a chance to try yet. The Ska Euphoria is highly rated pale ale with some funky can art. The beer is a little bit on the bitter side, but still pretty yummy. I'd give it a 3.5/5, although i'm sure most other beer snobs would rate it higher.

The Mole Stout wasn't quite my favorite either. I like how thick it is, and its slight, pleasant spicy flavor. Overall, i just thought they were trying too hard with it. Like many of the Ska specialty beers, it just seemed a little experimental and raw. Not quite a finished product. 2.5/5.

Cheers!

Back blogging white wine

Call me crazy; it might but true, but I actually bought this bottle of wine for the container it comes in. I needed a second gallon jug to re-rack my homemade cider into... but that's another story.
After a long conversation on the phone with a friend who knows something more about wine than i do, i selected the Carlo Rossi Rhine based on the idea that "hopefully its not as sweet as the zin". As it turns out, its pretty darn sweet and lightly fizzy. A hangover in a gallon sized jug.
I guess i'm not up for a proper review of this stuff. I bought i knowing that it was probably going to be meh, and honestly the 16 dollar price tag was about the same as ordering the jug off amazon, and at least i could get drunk and have a container. If you are ever in the market for something sweet, cheap, and housed in glass, go for it. Otherwise, have some self respect. Buy something in a box next time :).
Also- as a side note, i could have just bought more cider in a gallon jug for 9 dollars at the local Natural Grocers. Sad day. I shall console myself with a large glass of leftover Carlo Rossi.

Santa Fe Brewing Once Again

What to do when you need to bring beer to a BBQ? Pick something that looks tasty- and if you are me, grab something you haven't tried from a brewery that seems to do you right. The only problem, which I didn't realize until the aroma hit me, was that i purchased a Saison (Saison 88 to be exact) which is a type of beer I don't generally enjoy. For those of you that love a fruity, wheaty beer, you'll love Saisons. Unless of course you don't like higher alcohol beers. Then stay away.
For me, Saisons tend to be too fruity and too wheaty. When i popped the top of this Santa Fe Brewing Company beer I got a whiff of the fruity pale ale smell. A smell that made me reconsider my buying decision. However, after a few sips, I found that I wasn't completely wrong in choosing Saison 88. It still bears the hallmarks of a Saison, but it is much more drinkable, less cloying, and well balanced. Most saisons seem to slap you in the face with their fruitiness, while this one is pleasant. I may not buy it again, but i give it props. 3.5/5. Also, the can is damn pretty.

Would you blue moon if you had to?

Last night after a great hike up north of town, my party decided to stop down to the school house for some semi deserved (it was only a 4 mile hike) beer. For those of you who don't know (this group includes me) the Schoolhouse (AKA Olde Schoolhouse Cafe?) is a an awesome locals stopping point across from the epic Purgatory ski resort. In season its a post skiing it spot.
Anyways, on tap yesterday they had three options:
Ska Pinstripe
Mexican Logger
Blue Moon

Out of these three options, which would you pick? There are a lot of factors that could go into your choice making, price... i'm pretty sure the Blue Moon was a full dollar cheaper than the other two, but... is it worth it? You can support local brewers, have a solid beer, or you can have a blue moon. They might even put fruit in it if you ask nicely :).

As far as my ratings go

Ska Pinstrip- solid 4/5

Mexican Logger- 4/5, seasonally- this is not a winter beer. Also, i think at least one of those points is just bc its served everywhere over there (demoted 3/5- its beer, but its not bad)

Blue Moon- 1/5.

I do not particularly like this beer. I think its one of the beers i would frequently order at 21 when i wasn't sure what the difference between the on draft options was. If its your thing- a wheat, lightly citrusy, wide distribution, ok, i can dig that, but no. I will not be ordering this beer unless the only other option is bud lite.

Anyways- Go outside. Do something fun. Drink a beer. In whichever order you chose.

Some months I am a terrible blogger

I know its been a while since i last posed, you'll have to forgive me, its just pretty awesome here, and I've been able to keep drinking some of my favorites over and over.
If you'd like to know what they are I can make a little list :).

Carver's Brewing Company
Lightner Creek Lager: Smooth easy to drink american style lager. Good to ease off the hops sometimes. 3.5/5.
Old Oak Amber Ale: Maltier than I expected it to be, but with a hop-y kick. 4.5/5. Depending on the day. Sometimes its a bit too malty for me.
Nut brown: Nutty. Brown. Sometimes I have more beers than one at once. This is more of a fall beer for me 4/5.
Jack Rabbit Pale Ale: Proof that i've destroyed all of my taste buds and now like hoppy beer. Yum! 4.5/5.
Raspberry Wheat: A girly beer  that even I can enjoy... even if it comes with a lemon. Light, almost like a pop. I'd recommend it for any girl that says she doesn't like beer. Cider fans might not appreciate it, though.

I go there the most, probably, really good, great food, the only downside is that they aren't open late. Which isn't bad for my workday adventures. Ok, more later... hopefully...

Buying for bottles: Good Juju and Sam Adams for the win!

lefthandbrewing.com

I have been a bad little beer consumer, and haven't been keeping great track of the individual beers I have been drinking. Shame, shame upon my head. I'll try to do better next time. I've been busy/lazy/drunk? Do any of those excuses fly?
Anyways, you are in for a treat. Its summer, and what beers go best for summer? Something lighter, less malty and refreshing of course! On my way to a boxing match viewing extravaganza, i stopped off for a 6 pack and picked the first thing that grabbed my attention. Good Juju has a very distinct label and packaging, and its by left hand brewing company, which is a pretty stable bet for me. So i bought it for about a reasonable 9 dollars for the 6 pack. Its no honey brown for price, but hey, i wanted fancy freaking beer.
At first taste, you get a mouth full of ginger with this stuff. Did i mention that? Its a ginger infused beer. Surprising at first taste to say the least. Not in a bad way, but in a wow, that is a powerful flavor sort of way. It reminded me of how all sushi tastes when i go eat it.... like
pickled ginger.
I don't want to give you the wrong idea. I drank all of them. And enjoyed them. Its more of a try it and see how you feel about it.

borrowed from: http://onceuponastein.com/taste-tested-samuel-adams-spring-thaw-variety-pack/

I also picked up a mixed pack of sam adams a while back. Holy shit there were a lot of varieties in this box. While they all blended together (i'm not sure if that's sacrilegious for someone from near boston to say) but they weren't too distinct. The ipa, white lantern,  and alpine spring were hoppier than the rest, although i'm not sure i could tell them apart while drinking. The maple pecan porter was wayyyyy overly malty, at least in my option. I'll keep my candy in my icecream and out of my beer next time i think. The lager and the irish red where just basic beers.  A solid mix, and all of them were drinkable, but nothing too distinct. I feel like i've let down my boston roots. Oh well :). There are plenty more colorado beers to try!

Cheers!

Brew Kit and U Brew Farmington

I finally did it. I bought my own brewing equipment!
Its the start of something big... I can tell :).
I went down to U Bru in Farmington, New Mexico, who conveniently bought the inventory to the old Durango, Co store that went out of business last year. They were knowledgeable, interesting, and super helpful for my beer journey. However, they don't carry all grain kits and were a little surprised that a spurned easy peasy starter kits. U Bru can be found here :
http://ubruathome.com/
I picked up the basic bucket kit and they threw in a thermometer for me to get started.... once i buy a pot, a kit and some spare time....
Wish me luck! I'll update with progress when i get off my butt...

Working my way through the Beer tour of the Southwest

While i still mourn the lack of availability of some of my favorites, like Yuengling and Three Floyds, trying new beer around here has been a very good time. At least for my taste buds.

artzberger.com

This past weekend, I stopped a local shop to pick up some beer for a graduation party. When picking out beer in a store, i'll be honest. I'm a pretty lazy shopper. The number of beers is usually overwhelming, and i'm never quite sure where to go. The simplistic red cans of this beer from the Santa Fe Brewing Company caught my eye. Double plus good on the Irish Red, usually a potable beer even at its mildest. As soon as I had the cans off the shelf my roommate praised my choice. Although, i'm not sure how good her recommendation was, considering her lack of preferences. 

Anyways, I was happy. Even without pouring them, straight from the cans they were robust, malty and good. Not overly hearty, but still fairly rich. Mmmmm.... I only managed three, and at a low ABV of 4.5, it was a nice relaxing evening. I would definitely recommend these. They are a suitably good pick at about 8.50 for the 6 pack. 

Next up: some back blogging and my quest to collect brewing bottles :).

Sometimes you pick up and move to Colorado

What have you done in the last 30 days? I packed up the majority of my belongings and moved. To Colorado. 

What does that mean for the blog? Different regional awesome microbrews. Many more, and much more often. On my way out here I stopped in the middle of nowhere Kansas, I believe, to make a quick exchange with a friend driving back from the Grand Canyon. I gave him back his book on JAVA programming, and he  passed me a very, very warm american pilsner from the Grand Canyon Brewing company and a souvenir magnet from his trip. At least he knows me and knew that beer is my souvenir of choice. I packed it with me and drank it one evening while i was staying at the Amazing hostel in Durango, Co. It wasn't anything too special, but not bad for a light pilsner. 

Later on in the week when I had gotten a bit more settled, i picked up a 6 pack of the locally brewed Steam Engine Steam Ale, an amber lager. While nothing truly exceptional i thought it had a decent amount of flavor for an amber lager. I also like that it comes in cans, however, they are somewhat pressurized and I didn't manage to open even one out of the 6 without getting beer everywhere....

Finally, I picked up a bottle of wine this week. Unfortunately i haven't found any good cheap wine stores yet, but I haven't been doing much looking either. Anyways, This RACHA wine, imported from argentina was pretty good. This malbec while not super complex or fancy pant, wasn't too bad for about 10 dollars where i purchased it. I'd rate it 3.5/5 for flavor, and 3/5 for value. I've got to get bargain hunting.

Well cheers! And if you make it to the area, lets grab a local beer!

Spring Break and and Ode to Yuengling

This past spring break was one of the most hectic I can remember. I'm not even in school anymore, so this shouldn't be happening. There is always an excuse to have a good time and mine came in the form of a job interview in Georgia. In order to get to this job interview I decided it would be a great idea to hop in my car and scoot down from Massachusetts to Georgia for a long weekend. A very long weekend. Georgia, apparently, is rather far from Massachusetts.

Ideal Beer Drinking Location

To make a long story about a long drive a lot shorter, I'll just give you the high points. Yuengling beer is quite awesome.

After some of the chaos had died down i picked up a 12 pack of their most delicious lager to drink at the spring break cabin in Bryson City, NC where i ended up. Beer was followed by another 12 pack of their black and tan, and another 12 pack of lager. No i was not drinking alone, sharing is more fun. My weekend just turned into a few days in a hammock with some cold (some of the time) beer shared with some awesome people.

For those of you who have never heard of this brand. You should. Or you just might live outside of their limited but growing distribution area. Check out their website :D Mmmmm Beer!

They are really old company with some really good products! If you want a cheap beer that you can actually consider tasty, this beer is for you. I rank it about Old Style and PBR. Its my "i want to buy in bulk without sacrificing taste" beer. To put it in prospective, my beer chugging friends wont even consider this for any game that involves rapidly consuming a 30 rack. It is reserved for drinking slowly, preferably around a campfire, after a long and awesome day. Its a 5/5 or value and a 4/5 for flavor (this is an incredibly drinkable beer, 4/5 is great!).

Cheers!

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!

White Wine or Red Wine?

Overall, when it comes to wine, i really prefer white wine. I know red wine has more health benefits, but for me the only upside is that its harder for me to drink, so i tend to take it slow and enjoy it more. White wine on the other hand, i can pretty much guzzle. 

While I was in Amherst this past weekend, I went to the weekly wine tasting at Amherst Wines and Spirits, a locally run wine shop. Every saturday they do a wine tasting of a different region or type, or both. This past weekend it was Spanish White Wines. While I hadn't heard of most of he varieties  i only ended up liking the first one i tried. I was a lighter, but not light dry white. I'll see if i can't think of what it was called. Amherst wines has a great selection of affordable bottles.

I picked up a 9 dollar italian white wine, since it looked so good. Its Ribolla Gialla, thats the type of grape, bye Ca' Stella. I liked it, and in only a few sittings I had knocked back the whole bottle. I would rate this a 5/5 for yumminess. I reallllly enjoyed it. It was light and refreshing, but not especially dry. 4.5/5 for value, since 9 is still pretty cheap for a bottle i really enjoyed.

When the white was kicked i found this 2003 Marques de Riscal Risevera Rioja. Honestly, i'm not so sure how good this wine is anymore, as in, it may have gone bad. The newer reviews of this spanish wine seem to say its ok, but i'm not so sure. Its mostly tempranillo grape mixed with graciano y manzuelo, and I'm not so sure what my track record is with those. I'm actually going to refrain from rating this one, just in case its a little past its prime. 

*note the cork crumbled when i tried to open it, which may be a sign that oxygen could reach the wine, causing chemical changes.

Cheers anyways!

Mini adventure, and No, i didn't burn the house down

What to do when you are certifiably going insane during your job hunt? Take off and drink some beer with friends. I've found that usually takes the stress off for a little while. Last weekend I headed down to CT for some skiing (only so so, plus i forgot to sharpen my skiis). I also was nice enough to bring my own beer for once, although it didn't last too long. I packed a 6 pack of Narragansett beer, one of my favorite "crap" beers. For very little money, i think about 5 or 6 bucks at my local Trader Joe's, I picked up a six pack of tall boys to bring over. I chose this beer because, one its cheep, and my CT friend really like cheep beer, and two, I like it, too. While it really has almost no flavor, its still better than bud or busch in my eyes. Its also great on fishing trips, if thats your thing. 

After making the guys some cake in CT and catching some stuff on fire in their kitchen (nothing irreplaceable or irreparably damaged) i made my way to western MA for some more cold weather shenanigans. Which ended up just been some events. More outdoorsing next time, i think. I am wayyyy too lazy. Jeremy had some Founder's Dirty Bastard Scottish Ale in his fridge, which i was really excited to try. It was a pretty decent hearty scottish ale that packed a pretty decent punch at i think 7 or 8% ABV. I brought up some Stockyard Oatmeal stout, also from my Trader Joe's shopping trip. This was a fairly well rounded cheep oatmeal stout. For about 8 or 9 bucks for this six pack, i'd pick it up again if i was in an oatmeal stout mood. Nothing overly impressive, though. 

The most exciting, yet disappointing part of the weekend, i'd have to say, was the half dozen donuts i got. Its my own fault, the cream filled always look so good, but its the classic cake donuts that are glazed that are the best. If you are over at the Donut Man in Hadly, try the chocolate donuts, I think that one was my favorite. Bavarian creme can suck it.

When stuck inside, why not enjoy a little red wine?

While I might not have stocked up as much booze to weather the Northeast's "Blizzard of 2013", I did have a new bottle of red wine on the ready. Just one. Last week with a little forethought i weathered (no pun intended) the traffic at the local Whole foods for some hipster goods. While there i picked up a nice 8 dollar bottle of Malbec from Argentina made by Callia Alta.

 Generally I like a Malbec. They aren't usually too sweet, and even on the cheap side, they may provide a nice bite. Sometimes. This impressed me by being more than one dimensional for 8 bucks. In snobby talk: the nose fell a little flat so I wasn't expecting much. But midway into the sip you get nice spicy bite of malbec. Good buy. I'll give it a 4.5/5 for flavor (nothing fancy, but i really liked it) and a 4/5 for value. If you are a wholefoods try it out for yourself. Its especially good when the world outside looks something like this:

Cheers!

When in Vermont, do as the Vermonters do

What to do when in one of the most beautiful places in the US? Drink awesome local beer, that's what. The weekend started with some chilled Long Trail Hibernater, an unfiltered malty Scottish Ale. The 12 pack lasted the three of us until about 3 am for a mini University reunion. The best part was drinking one of these outside on a cold Vermont evening. This inexpensive beer is a fairly impressive %6.00 without tasting very alcoholic. I'd give it a 4/5 for yumminess and the same for value. Go for it, its pretty darn good for an unpretentious, drinkable Vermont Ale. 

 While out at a local restaurant pub, I also picked up a Zero Gravity Narconaut Black IPA. While overall tasty enough, i'd only give this beer a 3/5 for yumminess. It fell a little flat and one dimensional, although it was malty and had a good amount of bitterness. The aftertaste underwhelmed. I can't rate for cost, since i picked it up for 6 bucks at the pub, which is about normal for the area and local beers (hurray, no LA 9 dollar beers!).

To round out the evening Joe pulled a happy surprise out of his beer fridge, some cold Ale8s, something not normally found out of the Kentucky area. If you can, try one, but remember, its got a ton of caffeine in it.
Enjoy!

Classy Beer and I can't focus my camera in low light

 Last week I took a little adventure out to western MA to see a friend, make some popovers, do a little indoor rock climbing, and drink beer in some place other than my parents basement.
As the classy people we are my friend and i from the blog http://beerwhiskyfood.blogspot.com/, picked up some fancy beer in a really well stocked beer shop. I think we spent a good half hour wandering around the store looking at everything. I was honestly overwhelmed and couldn't decide what to drink so i settled on my old favorite from CO, Old Chub from the Osckar Blues brewing company. I've already done my review on this beer back over the summer.
My friend picked up Chimay, better known to me as "that beer brewed by those old monks, right?" A statement which is somehow pretty close to accurate. This fruity and wayyyyy overpriced beer is best left to the snobs and the officionados at about 24 bucks a 4 pack. No thanks. This doesn't even rate on my scale. While i'll admit that this is a really good beer, i honestly am not at this point in my life a light fruity wheat beer drinker. I'll stick to my maltier, darker beers. Cheers to those that do like it, though, and are willing to spend the big bucks to keep this great beer in production. Well, off to other things, hopefully i find some gems in Vermont this weekend!

Two tried from Trader Joe's

Since moving back home to look for jobs (don't judge me, i'm pretty sure this is par for the course as of late) I've been going to tj's with my dad once a week to pick up essentials. Well wine and junk food. Last week I picked up a bottle of 3.99 La Finca Tempranillo for which i had high hopes. 

Some of the blogs i've seen have said great things... others, not so much. 

Tempranillo refers to the type of spanish grape that the wine is made out of. Normally it produces a fruity red wine. I would say this was fairly flavorful for a cheap, however, after having a glass, i broke out in the first wine related reaction i've had. Tiny red spots crawled across my stomach arms and neck. Let me rephrase. Tiny, itchy red spots. Boooooooo. That was the last i'll be having of this wine. 0/5 for yumminess since i'm apparently allergic, and 1/5 for value. If only it were good. And I wasn't allergic to it.

The next try from tj's was a little more successful. I picked up a bottle of Epicuro Salice Salentino (refering to the region in Italy) Riserva 2009. Its a blended red wine, with a hearty flavor. Not particularly overwhelming, but for 6 bucks, i'm ok with it. I'm more excited that i didn't break out like last time. I'd give it a 3/5 for yumminess and a 3/5 for value. Its a decent bottle and i wouldn't hesitate to bring it with me to a dinner. 

 Cheers!

Don't Judge me, but i'm an East Coast Girl

Fresh out of hopes to crush, I'm back from my west coast adventures. Although there was a whole lot of awesome going on (Zion! Vegas! Beaches! Friends!) beer wasn't really one of those things (among other disappointing happenings). 

Unfortunately, Utah has some interesting beer laws. 3.5 percent is all they can do. I got a taste of Polygamy Porter made by Wasatch beers that somehow manages a 4 percent (Isn't that against the law?). I 'll admit, it wasn't my beer, i was the driver on this adventure, so i only got one sip. But I have to say, from that one sip, I was not impressed. It didn't have much flavor on the front end, and admittedly smooth and tasty middle, but with a slightly metalic aftertaste. At least it has a sense of humor about its origins. 

I couldn't find a single microbrew in Vegas! To be honest, I wasn't looking that hard, there were too many shiny lights distracting me. What I did find though, was lots of Mike's hard lemonade, beer in tall boys (i played hipster all weekend) and margaritas in very tall plastic cups to make it look like there is more in the container. Next time, I swear, I'll make a better effort.  

In LA my first stop was my beloved Trader Joe's. Keith and I picked up some Paulaner octoberfest wheat beer. MMMMmmMMmMm. And it comes in a liter can! I wish they had these near where I live. So sad. I checked today. Its nothing super fancy, but its just darned good. And since its from TJs its plenty cheap enough for me.

. 

A few nights later it was on to some local brews. At the Lazy Ox near Little Tokyo in downtown LA, I got a Telegraph Winter Ale. This 5% APV beer from Santa Barbara. It was brown in color. Very pretty really. That's about all i've got. I thought it was Meh. And for 8 bucks, it wasn't worth it. I switched to the happy hour on sale for 3 bucks Mama's Little Yella Pils from Colorado. Next time i'm there, i think i will have to head over to this brewery. I've had a few of their's before. And while this wasn't my favorite all time beer, it was a yummy well rounded pilsner  with a nice hoppy bite in the aftertaste, at a steal for 3 bucks. 

 

More happy times later, kiddies! Cheers!

East Coast Brews

After about 13 hours in the car by myself I made it from Indianapolis to a friend's place in Connecticut. What is there to do in CT on a Friday night? I'm not exactly sure. I've heard there is a casino and stuff, but what I did was relax and drink some really good local beer (that was hiding in the back of my friend's fridge behind the coconut rum and Mike's Hard Lemonade). It was Olde Burnside Brewing company's flagship brew, commonly sold in growlers: the Ten Penny Ale. Since my friend is not a big fan of IPAs he leans more to the brown ales and milder beers. The beer was malty, but not overly so. A fairly mild, balanced and easily consumed beer. It was about 10 dollars for a growler, which contains about 4 or 5 glasses depending on how you pour, so overall, not too bad of a deal. I'd give it a 3.5/5 for value, and a 4/5 for flavor. It was good for what it was, which is an unpretentious drinkable ale. Yum. Its also fairly strong at 5.5 percent so it warmed us up nicely to hit the coconut rum and sprite just in time for some Kung-fu.
Now off to Vegas! I should have some good stories for you from there to start the year off right!

Cheers!