Locked and re-loaded

I racked up another nice tab at Julio's over the weekend and grabbed another batch of beers to taste.  I had a couple on Sunday and had another taste tonight.  A couple of weiss beers and a standard English amber ale.

Hobgoblin (Rating = 3.5)
Sure, the name and the bottle picture are cute.  The beer is solid, if not spectacular.  Tastes like a real English Ale - dark color and heavy taste.  Apparently, it contains some "fuggle" hops - who knows what those are.  But, it works as a beer.  Nice after work beer.

St. Bernardus Wit (Rating = 4.0)
A nice, classic wheat beer.  Apparently, closely related to Hoegaarden in Belgium.  Nice orange, fruity wheat beer.  Another good summer one.  And it somehow feels right to see a monk on the label - like he is really suffering for the sake of the beer.

Ayinger Ur-Weisse (Rating = 4.0)
I really liked this German brew - a little darker than the normal weiss beer with enough kick to make it enjoyable and not too fruity.  Nice job Germans.  First the world cup, then this beer.  I guess my people will give you a temporary pass on that whole World War thing.  At least while I down this beer.  

Beers down: 30
Beers to go: 971

Here is the updated spreadsheet.

Independence Drinking

It's been a solid week or so for the list.  Knocked off a few different brewskies at varying events over the past few days.  To recap:

Hell or High Watermelon Wheat (Rating = 2.5)
I like me some watermelon beers.  Boston Beer Works serves a lovely version with a slice of watermelon in the pint glass.  Nothing screams manly beer like a slice of fruit in your glass.  Dearest folks at 21st Amendment - your watermelon beer, whilst it has a nice name (and a nifty can), it is not a great beer.  Someone forgot to put in the watermelon flavor into your watermelon beer.  This is not the reason they repealed prohibition.  Call the good peeps at Boston Beer Works and try their recipe please.

Stonecutter (Rating = 4.0)

I think this might be the first New Zealand beer I've ever had.  This is the last in the initial batch that I received as a gift from my British friend Harvey.  We got to enjoy this by the pool with another close friend today. 

 This persnickety beer was a surprising delight.   A little bit of caramel with some chocolate, but still very drinkable.  Apparently, some American brewers utilizing malts from Australia, Germany and the UK with New Zealand hops can make a steady Scottish Ale.  Who knew?  Even the packaging was well done.   This is a good one. 

Estrella Damm Inedit (Rating = 4.0)
So, the fanciest of fancy pants chefs took 1 year to develop this beer.  Farran Adria, the chef at Spain's El Bulli were apparently challenged by someone to make a great beer.  The restaurant has been closed for a bit after being named one of the best restaurants in the world for a few years running.  They did a nice job, this is a pretty nice beer, in a cool champagne style bottle.  This was also a gift - but not sure it is worth the amount it probably sells for.  

Golden Draak (Rating = 4.0)
A pleasant surprise at my Uncle's annual July 4th party - he had a new beer from the list.  I got a chance to try the Draak, a pretty strong sucker.  It was tasty and refreshing - hard to describe, rich, but yummy.  Not sure I could have a full drinking session on this one (if I did, I'd be a relatively cheap date).  The Belgians do know how to make a good beer though.  It is hard for me not to think of the (relatively unknown) classic movie Enemy Mine with Dennis Quaid and Louis Gossett, Jr.  This movie might have been featured on HBO back in the day and I probably saw it a few dozen times.  It was a science fiction flick where Quaid is some sort of astronaut fighter pilot vs. LGJ, who is an alien - a Drac.  I thought it was Draak - but I it was actually a Drac.  If you haven't seen it, you should.  It is touching movie about overcoming your differences.    

For the record, he did also have London Pride at the party - I stand by my earlier post, a great drinking beer (which is likely the goal of many beers - people should drink it, right?).

Saison IV (Rating = 4.0)
After (ok, maybe as) the Belgian futbol team was beating the US in the World Cup, I decided to crack open this one.  A really nice refreshing, light and crisp Belgian selection, I enjoyed this while the US was unable to come back and beat them to advance.  US lose, but we all win for this delicious selection.  Worth a try.

Beers down: 27
Beers to go: 974

Here is the updated spreadsheet.

Elfin Drinking

No real excitement tonight, but another beer from the list with dinner.  Houblon Chouffe, a Belgian beer with a funny little elf on the cute bottle (see below).  

Houblon Chouffe (Rating = 3.0)
Nothing too special about this one to be honest.  Just a lighter beer, but with some hoppiness and a bit of a bitter aftertaste.  Next.

Beers down: 22
Beers to go: 979

Here is the updated spreadsheet.

Crazy Saturday Night

Had a chance to knock off a few more tonight.  Special thanks to one of Beth's friends (Stacey), who joined us this afternoon (into night)  - allowing me to tick a few more off the list.  Good mix of beers here.

La Trappe Dubbel (Rating = 4.0)
Thanks to the Dutch monks brewing this beer, we can now enjoy this around the world.  Tastes a lot like a Belgium beer, but with Dutch influences.  Nice beer, sweet finish.  Very nice.

Zywiec Porter (Rating = 2.5)
So, I've been to Poland a couple of different times.  I have been lucky enough to be in both Warsaw and Krakow.  In both places, I sampled a few beers.  Zywiec was one of them - nothing special, but ok.  Poland needs something to hang their hat on, right?  This porter was simply not good.  Had the right measurements and set up, but just not good.  It was ok going down, but the finish was bad.  No other word for it - too bitter, just a bad beer.   Sorry folks, no need to hop a flight to Poland for this one.

Boont Amber Ale (Rating = 3.5)
An American brew, hailing from California, this is a nice little beer.  Strong brown color, nice fruity taste - nice beer.  Not something that knocks your socks off, but something not to shabby nonetheless.

Beers down: 21
Beers to go: 980

Here is the updated spreadsheet.

Ze Germans Make Good Beer

This is not exactly a news flash, but the Germans do make some nice beers.  I was in the Frankfurt area for work this week and did get the chance to have a couple of different beers.  The trip was mostly meetings and workshops at a remote location north west of Frankfurt airport, but it was still a chance to get a few beers checked off the list.

Veltins (Rating = 3.5)
OK, so the first one was not my favorite, but it still was ok.  This was the first one I had in the hotel bar.  It was a simple pilsner, but did have some spices to it.  Was a little too hoppy for a lighter beer for me.  

Maisel's Weisse (Rating = 4.5)
This one was on tap in the hotel bar and served in an awesomely funky glass (note the big hefty glass with the wavy angle to it).  I did enjoy watching the US soccer team take on Germany in this World Cup match while drinking a few of these.  The game was kind of a dud, but this beer was really, really nice.  It was a weiss beer, but had some body to it.  It wasn't just fruity.  There were some nice spices and was quite delicious.  

After the game, we had dinner and then ended up back in this bar, where I did enjoy another few of these.  Very good stuff.  I might have stolen one of these very glasses.  Happy to report that the glass did survive the flight home (thank you Lufthansa).  Good beer, good memory.

Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse (Rating = 4.0)
I finished my trip off with a couple of these in the Lufthansa lounge.  Yet another good summer weiss beer, this was is simple, but yummy.  Smooth, tasty, good stuff.  Maybe some hints of banana?

Beers down: 18
Beers to go: 983

Here is the updated spreadsheet.

Garden of Who's?

Hoegaarden (Rating = 4.0)
I had this (again) a few weeks ago and forgot to post about it.  Pronounced Who-gard-en, this, to me, is a perfect hot summer beer.  I have a few memories of this one from some good old days.  The first time I had it was while I was in The Netherlands, hanging out with some colleagues and watching the some World Cup soccer 8 years ago.  The weather was warm, the fans were crazy and this beer went down like water.  Big fan.  And still a fan of the Dutch team (go Orange).  Yes, I am aware that it is Belgium and not Dutch, but the Dutch aren't the ones known for their beer-making.  I've seen it in a bunch more places over the years, including a food/wine festival we went to Chicago a few years ago.  Again, a perfect summer beer - it was hot that weekend in Chicago.  While the food was mostly small plates, the beers were full size (complete with Hoegaarden pint glasses).  So, we now have a nice set of four pint glasses to drink this in.

Good stuff.

Beers down: 15
Beers to go: 986

Ommegang - Abbey Ale, Sierra Kellerweis, and

Three beers to update on tonight (for the record, watching Old School for like the 137th time - Frank the Tank is describing his nice little Saturday at this very moment).

Ommegang Abbey Ale (Rating = 4)
I've actually had this one before.  The brewery is based in Cooperstown and is owned by Duvel.  We went there a few years back with a friend of mine - a nice little weekend with the brewery visit, a visit to the Baseball HOF and a great dinner.  The beers here were really great.  Since then, we've seen Ommegang starting to appear all over.  They had a beer and food pairing a while back at the local liquor store out here (shout out to Julio's in Westborough) and now they actually have six packs in the store, in addition to the large format bottles that are cool.

This is a solid entry from Ommegang - tasty, with some heft to it (8.5% alcohol).  It's dark, but not a porter - pretty good stuff.

Fuller's ESB (Rating = 4.0)
Another brew that stirs up some of my old London days for school and work.  This just screams "traditional london beer".  It's got some hops, a little bitter, but has some fruity flavor as well.  Very easy drinking beer.  Apparently it was originally brewed as a winter beer, but is now a regular beer for all seasons.  Classic British beer - worth checking out.

Sierra Nevada Kellerweis Hefeweizen (Rating = 3.5)
I had this one last week, but forgot to post about it.  I like Sierra Nevada's standard entry.  This one was a bit of a summer version - it had the interesting smell and subtle taste of banana.  Not bad, but again, won't be knocking down doors to get it again.

Beers down: 14
Beers to go: 987

Here is the updated spreadsheet.