beernesday

oh alibi room! why do you have so many more beers than i can drink in a night? i began with a cask last night central city's red racer dry-hopped with simcoe and it was fantastic could have been a little more carbonated but otherwise a stellar ipa! next up i decided to double my hops pleasure with the lost coast limited release double trouble ipa and holy hops batman, was it ever a citrusy bitter little number delicious! why i didn't just have small pours of the above two, i don't know but there were still too many beers i wanted to try on the menu that i had to go with a frat bat! from left to right: conrad's marris otter cascade hopped session ale tofino hop cretin ipa tariq's wrath of khan ipa red truck cherry lemonade cask loved the first three, did not at all care for the cherry lemonade at 3.8% i can see drinking the session ale on a summer patio for hours! and the other two?  gosh darnit, i love me an ipa colour me happy...

best breweries in america! the top 50 named by the brewers association very happy to see so many of my faves on the list!! Top 50 Craft Brewing Companies (Based on 2010 beer sales volume) 1. Boston Beer Co. Boston MA 2 Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. Chico CA 3 New Belgium Brewing Co. Fort Collins CO 4 Spoetzl Brewery* Shiner TX 5 Deschutes Brewery Bend OR 6 Independent Brewers United (IBU)* Burlington VT 7 Matt Brewing Co. Utica NY 8 Bell's Brewery, Inc. Galesburg MI 9 Harpoon Brewery Boston MA 10 Boulevard Brewing Co. Kansas City MO 11 Dogfish Head Craft Brewery Milton DE 12 Alaskan Brewing and Bottling Co. Juneau AK 13 Long Trail Brewing Co. Bridgewater Corners VT 14 Stone Brewing Co. Escondido CA 15 Abita Brewing Co. Abita Springs LA 16 Brooklyn Brewery Brooklyn NY 17 Lagunitas Brewing Co. Petaluma CA 18 Full Sail Brewing Co. Hood River OR 19 Shipyard Brewing Co. Portland ME 20 Summit Brewing Co. St. Paul MN 21 New Glarus Brewing Co. N...

march 2, 2011 beernesday st. augustine's i have been having fun making up samplers for some of my friends they say "what should i have?" and i get to play dictator! it works for me, and so far they say i haven't yet steered them wrong so it appears to be making everyone happy! for stacy i put together: howe sound rockfish red ale lost coast raspberry brown ale driftwood farmhand ale lighthouse rip tide pale ale she said it was so good jackie decided to have it too and i put a second sampler together for stacy: howe sound high tide hemp and honey ale howe sound rockfish red ale (she insisted on having this again!) upright brewing seven lost coast great white and she liked all of those as well woot - i rock! my sampler was: tree brewing double hop head ipa st a's says: 8% loaded with five different hop varieties, this bold imperial ipa is not for the faint of heart i say: i really like it deschutes mirror pond pale ale st a's says:...

from beernesdays all the way back in january when i was on the wagon quotes and bons mots from those who were imbibing: amanda: on the rogue mogul madness:  i taste the hops and only the hops, maybe in another year [i will appreciate it] on the lost coast raspberry brown ale:  of course i love it - very berry raspberry, not so chocolate on lagunitas brown shugga:  uggh on storm highland cream ale:  love, love, love, so creamy, so nutty, not so dark but yum and caramel finish on hopworks 7 grain stout:  strong, hello america! yum, espresso taste that is so good!  can taste the 7 grains, not sure what they are, but good!  like having a shot of espresso with a shot of alcohol on moylans' irish stout:  low hops, defs malty, roasty & rich 4 sure, not chocolately or coffee flav like most.  delish bridget: on the crannog backhand of god:  makes the day bearable gwen: on russell's black death porter:  mediocre, wouldn't...

at beernesday last week i decided to begin my evening with a pint of the howe sound gathering storm it seemed appropriate since i'd had the keg at the alibi, the cask at the railway... why not the keg at st. augustine's? and i would have had the cask again at winterfest, but it was acting up by the time i got around to it darned dry hops getting in the spout! i do like this brew and suggest that if you get a chance to try it before its all gone that you do so! after that, i was at a loss of what to try next then i saw that there were 8 ipas on the menu there are 4 glasses in a taster by this point i was still able to do good math and figured out that if i had two samplers i could fit all the ipas into a head to head ipa off! to be fair, i went with the first four on the menu then the second four on the menu saving a sip or two from the winner of round 1 to go against the winner of round 2 however, that's where the science stopped and the subjectivity fully to...

okay, so i'm just gonna admit it right from the top of the post i got pretty darned drunk at beernesday this past week not that i don't usually get somewhat drunk, but this was a bit beyond the norm people were doing beer shots from the divet of my clavicle... it was one of those kinda nights so, my tasting notes are even worse than usual but let me give you what little i can! began and ended with a pint of the rogue dry hopped st. rogue red:  5.2% named the world's best pale ale at the world beer awards.  reddish copper in colour, a roasty malty flavor, with a hoppy-spruce finish. i love this beer! it makes me happy - must be all them hops i can see why its the world's best ale its a maltier darker ipa... divine, simply divine my sampler was supposed to be an ode to hops in various styles but it ended up being rather disappointing... paddock wood 606 pale ale:  5.4%  featuring a blend of cascade, amarillo and willamette hops on top of a solid malt ...

i had been to uva on seymour street a couple of times shortly after bit opened with my foodie wine drinking friends, but must admit i hadn't been there recently until friday night we were on granville street after an early show at venue, just as the canucks game let out we wanted another drink before calling it a night but weren't looking to get swept up in the post-hockey mayhem uva seemed a solid choice i recalled the tapas were tasty, and reasonably priced for such a fancy place i loved their sunday evening tapas and champagne deals in particular... anyway, we had yummy tapas (the risotto balls are especially good for the soul) and i was impressed by their beer list! the beer list is about half belgians then lots of the usual classier imports and there, right at the bottom, are two lost coast choices! i recalled having the indica ipa at st. augustine's from a keg, and liking it so figured i'd probably like it in a bottle too and i did!! lovely citru...

at st. augustine's on beernesday, i tried the following beers: sampler: central city brewing red racer pumpkin ale:  5%  a lightly spiced pale ale layered with roasted pumpkin lost coast brewery raspberry brown ale:  6.5%  lost coast's award winning downtown brown ale, with its rich chocolate malt flavour, is enhanced with an infusion of real raspberries upright brewing six:  6.7%  a dark rye beer with layered flavors including chocolate, caramel, pepper, wood, cherry and tropical fruit.  it starts semi-dry and smooth and finishes fully dry and tart with a bite from the hops storm brewing scottish highland cream ale:  5%  this creamy, nutty, malty, dark ale is true to its scottish origins and is caramelized as the kettle is being filled i wanted to try the crannog ales 10th anniversary fresh-hopped ipa, but they were out of it... bottles: cannery brewing wildfire ipa:  6%  intensely dark and smooth.  this balck ipa ...

so much deliciousness at the alibi room! i must admit that i did not take actual notes i was there on a date and just didn't think it would be appropriate to be too much of a beer geek (don't want to be scaring off the cute girls!) but, we did get samplers to share and discuss and contrast oh yeah, and enjoy thoroughly! thursday's hoppy cask was the hoppelganger ipa oh so hoppy! oh so delicious! paired very nicely with the mezze plate of hummus, feta and olives we shared two "frat bats" of the czech pilsner (tastes just like a pilsner should taste!), an ipa (oh hoppy goodness!), the craig red (so malty), rogue's dry-hopped red (perfection in a glass), howe sound's bumbleberry (subtle enough berry), rogue's hazelnut brown nectar (nice subtle nuttiness), lost coast's limited edition chocolate stout (holy crap its like dessert in a glass!) and the 7 grain stout (like a shot of espresso) and didn't feel there was a bad pick in the lot...

tasting notes back from my july 14th visit to st. augustine's... odds aren't good that all of these will still be on the menu... quote of the evening is that we "came for the basil, stayed for the huckleberry" in my sampler were: fernie brewing's what the huck huckleberry wheat storm brewing's basil ipa old yale brewing co pale ale swans brew pub arctic ale the huckleberry wheat was cloudy, but not overly yeasty. there were but a touch of huckleberries blended with the wheat - smooth, creamy, crisp finish. most delightful the basil ipa was phenomenal not a session beer, but omg it would pair with so many foods! amazing basil nose, in an ipa freaking delightful i want this all year long i am not happy that it is a limited edition dammit! the old yale pale ale is very much a pale ale would be a great session beer crisp finish i like it!  i can see why it got voted canada's best pale ale. the arctic ale is a "mild-tasting, cold...

the drinking forces came together at st. augustine's last evening with a primary and a secondary goal, both of which were achieved. first on the agenda was to sample red truck's limited purple haze blueberry blonde ale.  this was extremely easy to accomplish, but we managed to do it with great aplomb, style and delight. st. augustine's describes it as:  "6.0%  Deep purple in colour with a pinkish head, light blueberry aroma and tartness plus a dry finish." they didn't lie.  it was all that, and all four of us enjoyed it.  at least initially.  bridget only got half way down her sampler glass before she tapped out.  alison and i got all the way through our samples but felt that perhaps that was quite enough blueberry goodness for us.  not truly surprising as not a one of us actually likes wheat beers/blondes.  amanda, wonderful counterpoint to our wheat hating ways, loved it of course.  it was right up her alley.  but she t...

had many a beer with the regular suspects at st. augustine's the other night. still love how many taps they have, and all the delightful craft beers to choose from but... and you knew there had to be a but!  the service there is not up to snuff.  yes, we were a larger group, and there were several other large groups there, but i still feel that if you have the capacity to seat all of us, you should have the staff available to serve all of us in a timely fashion.  jackie's food came before her beer for crying out loud! there was a run on sampler glasses later in the night and this adversely affected how quickly the beers were coming.  but even before the glass shortage there was slow service on the beer front.  shame, really. will i go back?  of course i will!  i love the choice, the sampler option and the food. i just want faster service, that's all! i went with two samplers to try all the beers i hadn't yet tasted, and then switched to pints...