Finding the right beer.

I was at a bar with some friends a few weeks back. One of my companions, Whitney, asked me why I like beer. It tastes bad, she said. It smells bad, she said. It's too filling, she said.

Of course, I (with some help of a couple other beer-swilling comerades) was able to counter all of those reasons. Beers come in an almost infinite number of flavors, tastes and aromas, we said. And if she thought it was too filling, there are plenty of beers that taste great but don't leave you feeling stuffed.

Whitney scoffed, as I knew she would. And I and my beer-loving buddies said eventually she'd find the right beer for her and dropped the subject as she consumed a hard liquor-based concoction with an unnatural color and that seemed to contain a lot of very dessert-like ingredients.

I was once like Whitney. I remember the first time I really tried beer in earnest. I was at a bar in Urbana, Illinois. I was visiting my now-ex-girlfriend Olga at college (I was still in high school in Chicago) and she and I met up with some of her friends and a couple of my cousins at a bar called Murphy's. At that time, my underaged alcohol consumption was limited to mostly vodka-based beverages - often vodka with cranberry juice - and some silly concoctions only underage drinkers trying to put together the most potent drinks for the least money could enjoy.

But my cousin David - a rabid consumer of good beer - decided I needed to drink beer. And Olga, born and raised in Poland and in possession of a very fine beer palette, agreed. So David, being over 21, went to the bar and got me (as well as himself and Olga) a beer. It was a Leinenkugel Red. He placed it in front of me and I looked at it. I smelled it. I took a small sip. I didn't care for it one bit. I managed to get it finished, but I didn't enjoy it at all.

At that point, if you told me I'd be posting to a blog about beer, I would have called you nuts. But Olga was determined that I'd like beer somehow. And so she kept introducing me to different beers - dark beers, light beers, ales, lagers, lambics, porters, stouts, IPAs, and everything in between.

And lo and behold, after trying a host of different beers, I found some that I began to like. And as I started to like more beers, I started trying more beers and finding more I liked.

To this day, I still don't like Leinenkugel Red. But I came back to beer because despite a bad first experience, I kept my mind open to the idea the beer could be a wonderful thing. And like Olga and David told me, I now tell people who say they don't like beer they simply haven't found the right beer yet.

If there's a moral here, it's that finding the right beer can be a daunting task, especially with all the crappy beer out there. But with a little help, I think even the most rabid beer opponent can find a beer they enjoy.

Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale

I thought I’d introduce myself since this is my first post, but then I realized your probably don’t care, so let’s get right to the beer!

This is a review of Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale from the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Chico, California.

Though it is only available seasonally, and marketed “especially for the holidays,” this beer is used by the Beer Judge Certification Program as an example of an American IPA and not a spiced or specialty beer. At 6.8% alcohol by volume this beer will give you a nice warm feeling of cheer on a cold winter’s night.

Sierra Nevada lists the ingredients as two-row pale and english caramel malts with chinook hops for bittering, cascade and centennial to finish and dry hop. They just say they use a “top-fermenting ale yeast,” but it’s probably the Chico yeast. If you look at some of the more popular clone recipes, you'll see that's really all there is to it.

The beer pours a clear copper color with a thick, creamy off-white head. The aroma is hoppy with hints of flowers, spice, citrus, and pine with a faint malt sweetness. The beer feels smooth on the tongue with the right carbonation for an American IPA and a crisp finish that leaves you wanting another. It has a good hop bitterness with a nice malt backbone, with hints of unsweetened chocolate and cherry, like biting into a Godiva cherry cordial.

Overall I really like this beer. The wife an I stock up on it every year between Thanksgiving and New Years.

Flying Dog Double Dog Double Pale Ale

Part of the Flying Dog Canis Major series, Double Dog Double Pale Ale pours a yellow redish honey color with a puffy white head. The head thins down relatively quickly and a nice sharp hop aroma really comes out.


12 Seconds of Double Dog pour goodness. on 12seconds.tv

As I imbibe the thin head sticks quite nicely to the glass. Not overly carbonated the beer has an excellent mouth feel and thick quality to it. The 11.5% ABV is masked nicely by the 85 IBU of the hops along with the malt. I cannot taste the alcohol but definitely feel a pleasurable mild warming in the belly. This is a nicely bitter beer and at the end of the taste the interaction of the strong hops presence melds very well with a malty sweetness making the Double Dog Double Pale Ale a very well balanced beer.



If you haven't tasted the Double Dog I highly recommend giving it a try. Look for the Ralph Steadman artwork of an acid trippy dog in tighty whiteys lunging at two glasses of beer.



For a good Black and Tan, I suggest the Double Dog with the Gonzo Imperial Porter (another of my favorites - review coming soon).



Cheers!

Blue Frog - Liberation Ale

I had the pleasure of spending a day in Fairfield, CA this past weekend with the wife.  She had an appointment at the salon, so I did what any good husband would do.  I went to BevMo, bought some beer, then headed to the nearest Brewery for a pint to pass the time.  Lucky for me, both BevMo AND a brewery were within a couple miles of the salon.

Fairfield's only microbrewery is Blue Frog Grog & Grill. They are a recent operation, probably less then 10 years old. The ambiance of the place is really quite nice. I sat down at the bar, which had glass windows behind it looking into all of the brewing equipment. Recently, they have started to distribute a couple of their beers throughout the Bay Area. Being as that is, I wanted to try something unique that I couldn't get at my local beer store. Written on a chalkboard behind the bar was "Levitation Ale, 6%". That's all the convincing I needed, so I ordered one up.

Right off the bat I was impressed. I have no idea what type of beer it was and didn't ask because I was more intrigued with the Cal/OSU game on the LCD tv's. However, it had a very deep amber color, almost reminding me of an old dirty penny from the 40's or 50's. Holding it up to the light coming through the brewing equipment, you can pretty much see anything through the beer, it was that clear. I took my first sip and it was just WAY too cold to taste anything. After letting it warm up a bit, it turned out to be a very good beer. Nice balance between malt and hops without having the heat of a high ABV value, with a nice medium bodied finish. I really wish they sold this in stores.

As of right now, you can only get the Blonde Ale, Red Ale, IPA, and Double IPA. However they also sell a hefeweizen they sell at the brewery. I picked one up and realized why they probably don't sell it in stores. The label is screen printed upside down and urges you to store it as such. There is a description of the beer stating that doing so will re-activate the yeast upon opening to give the beer a more complex flavor.

Overall it is a very promising brewery. They brought in Nick Campbell, a new brewer, in 2004 and it appears that he is making some quality stuff. I expect them to start distributing in more places soon, so keep an eye out fellas.

Cheers to more beers!