I saw this article as a headline - front page - on the Philly Inquirer. After reading it, it makes me realize how bass-ackwards PA is on this stuff. It is unbelievable how weird they are about this. I am not even one of those people that think every grocery store and convenience store need to have beer , wine and liquor but the ablity to buy just a 6 pack, at a reasonable price seems common sense. One problem, that I learned from the article, is that bars are required by law to use only 1 distributor. They cannot shop around.

Here’s to hoping what the power of beer can do. I would sure like to go grab a “sixer” of something and not have to pay $13 for a 6 pack of Victory Golden Monkey at a bar.

Thanks for the photo Brian

What CAN’T Beer do?!!

• Build a beer-battery.
• Geeks Test Beer as a CPU Coolant. Surprising Results: Computers Love Beer

Beer is awesomeness.

Over the weekend I had the chance to sample some of the local breweries fall offerings.

Slyfox Oktoberfest

From Slyfox, an entry in the Oktoberfest category of brews. Their aptly named Oktoberfest poured copper/gold with about a 1/2″ head on it. It drank with a smoothness that is nice and the spice taste at the end was minimal, a design that I like in Oktoberfest styles. Nothing remarkable, but a good example of the style. I think it is well-rounded.

It was an enjoyable brew and when finished, I could have had a few more.

Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale

On the same evening I opened my first Pumpkin Ale of the evening. Pumpkin’s are one of my favorites and it is the beginning of the fall/winter brewing to me. I am sure I will be corrected on that, but I think of them like going back to school and leaves changing color; it is autumn when they begin to arrive at the pub. This year’s offering from Weyerbacher has quite the description from their site:

This 8.0% ABV pumpkin ale is heartier, spicier, and more “caramelly” and “pumpkiny” than its faint brethren!
Perfect finisher on a cool autumn night, or match it up with a slice of pumpkin pie and fresh whipped cream.
If you don’t agree this is the mother of all pumpkin ales, then you just don’t like mothers!

I love my mother, so I guess I have to agree. Ok , just kidding - about the brew, not Mom. It is big, with a giant spice character. Bigger than any pumpkin ale I have had before. The spices - especially the cloves and nutmeg - are all over and big. I liked it but wished for some more pumpkin sweetness to match up. It was a bit imbalanced in my opinion as a result. The big ALC % gave a great warming feeling as you worked through it. That was very enjoyable.

Yesterday was the 5th annual Fool Circle tasting. Again, Brian has out done himself. This year we tasted 16 brews, quite the challenge. Brian had decided he was going to taste but that he would not compete for the prize. We as a group decided that if Brian got a perfect score, he could win. Guess what he did! Freaking 16 for 16! But we all raised our game this year. Robert had a very solid second with 12 out of 16 and I came in third with 10 out of 16. Karen and Todd both got 8 out of 16 and Richard brought up the rear with 3. ALL of the scores (except Richard’s) would have won any other year.

Afterwards we hung out and played some cornhole. Man, that game is addictive! We had official VIP passes this year — check them out at the end of the photos.

Check out the photos

Thanks again Brian — I had a blast!

Over the weekend I picked up a variety pack from Rock Art Brewery in Vermont. I could see what brews I was getting which included a barley wine, so I was pretty excited. Too bad looks can be deceiving.

The brews and my thoughts:

• RIDGE RUNNER Mild Barleywine - From their website:
  

  Strong, Dark and Smooth, hold on to your hat cause you’ll lose your feet on this one!”

  Really? I thought this was a pathetic barely wine. YES - it was mild - so mild that I did not think it was a barleywine. I mean Catherine drank it for Pete’s sake!

• WHITETAIL ALE Golden Ale - I am never sure what “Golden Ale” means. Is it an APA? An IPA? an Ale trying to be a mega-mass-brewer lager? Either way - Didn’t like it
• MIDNIGHT MADNESS SMOKED PORTER - ok - it was ok - about sums it up

And last and certainly not least

• AMERICAN RED ALE - the only one I liked. I liked it a lot. I reminded me of my beloved Humble Patience(R.I.P.) from Magic Hat. A rich red color and malt taste combined with a nice mouth feel.

Overall - very disappointing. BUT there is light at the end of the tunnel… a bitching stout(s) from a small brewery are coming up.

Catherine and I were taken out to dinner on Saturday to one of our favorite places, the Drafting Room. We were taken out by good friends Nicole and Stephen. Catherine had watched their 3 kids other kids (#1, #2 & #4) while #3 was rushed to the hospital. It was scary and I am glad Catherine could help out. They took us out for dinner to say thanks. It was not necessary but …. The Drafting Room…. YUMMY.

The drafting room has quite the brew selection and I enjoyed 3 beers.

• Rogue John’s Locker Series - JLS #23 - Black Bitter: I decided this was my first brew of the night, no questions. It is a rich mahogany brown and arrived at the table with little to no head. It had a rich smoky malt flavor and was a slow drinker but a very nice treat. A nice match for the unseasonable cold weather as of late.
• Gouden Carolus Grand Cru Emperor: A sweet fig-like and general “fruity” smell with alcohol smell. It had a raisin and alcohol taste.
• Blue Point Sour Cherry Stout:: With our desert I order up this stout. Though a fine stout, the cherry flavor was less than I wanted. I was hoping for a stronger fruit presence since I was matching this with a slice of chocolate cake.
  

  Cool note about the brewery: Using direct fire brick brew kettles, Long Island’s only microbrewery is located in the 1970’s Penguin Ice Factory

It as a nice night out and the company was the best part.

I was visiting my favorite watering hole when my favorite waitress approached with a bottle in her hand and said “I have been waiting for you to come in, Buy THIS”. So with faith and trust in her, I did. And I am glad

The brew is presented in a corked 750ml bottle with gold labels and engraved glass. They definitely spent some money on the packaging, now did they place the goods inside.

The cork popped and I took a waft of it, a subtle sweet smell with overtones of saffron - delicious! I poured myself a glass of the golden elixer and a large white head formed holding for sometime. I of course drank in the foam, just because I can and enjoyed the sweet triple-esque flavor.

The ale was golden in color with a slight hazy appearance. The taste was excellent. It is a robust beer (9.0% alc) but very very drinkable. It would be recommended for those that love the Monkey. It also reminded me of Sly Fox’s Saison Vos in parts of the mouth feel and aftertaste.

I am glad I “gave in” and picked this one up. It was worth every penny and Brooklyn has started to impress me more, as in the past I saw them as a “brew to recipe” type of place.

Brooklyn has a wacked out Flash site but you can link right to the brew page. Check out the info and stats at Brooklyn’s Website for the Brooklyn Local 1

My brother’s website foolcircle.net got a big time face lift today. I am pretty happy with how it turned out and will be moving it forward to be “even cooler” as time goes on.

I was lucky enough to be gifted a bottle of the ‘05 MacRae from my brother about 2 weeks ago and got around to drinking it the other evening. This has been aged for approximately 18 months at this point and the time has done it good.

The brew poured its famous brown with a small head that did not retain for any extended time. The rich malt smell invited me in with a slightly different aroma than MacRae’s of the past. I think this is mostly the peated malts at work.

The flavor was a sweet malt taste, as expected and enjoyed with a lingering aftertaste. I let Catherine take a taste to try and place this mysteries flavor. The best description between the two of us was smoke and band-aids. Yes - Band-Aids. I know, not an appealing description and the aftertaste was odd, not necessarily bad but odd.

I think this has aged well and it is still at the top of my list of Fool Circle brews. I always look forward to the annual vintage, as others do as well. If Brian ever gets to brew commercially ( I am financially backing the whole thing if I can just find that damn powerball ticket), this would be on my “you have gotta brew this!” list.

Nothing says Irish like some potatoes!

and some Guinness