Captain Beer and Admiral Ale (me) are currently enjoying some fine beverages over lunch at Century City's new restaurant: Smith House Tavern. Not only does it feature 120 beers on tap, but they also have these fancy beer taps at the table, where an imbiber only has to provide their credit card in order to experience the ultimate in lazy-dining drunkery. Unfortunately, this "Beery Susan" only features Stella and Bud Light.

Oh no... the dream lives on. Captain Beer is back on deck, peoples! And the Brew Crew will soon assemble, riding into glory (and maybe a bar or two) and bringing you along for the journey! Or maybe we'll sample some beers and review them for your pleasure. Or... both?

We're still here, people... if you are. This Captain still drinks beer and thinks beer all the time. If you're out there, beer readers... if you want us back here... oh, it shall be so.

Ohmigod... oh baby.... So we brewed a stout over at (hey!) Sgt. Stout's house 2 weekend's back and I bottled the sumbitch on Sunday. It's going to be a life-affirming beer, I'm telling you. Kahlua infused coffee beans, darkass malts---this brew smells amazing, and is the color of motor oil. I'm sure there's no way I'll be able to resist cracking one early this weekend, and I'll give a full report when it has been conditioned for 3 weeks or a month or so. Awwwww yeah.

So... Michelob. You think Ultra, yes? And Light. Fair enough. While my natural inclination is to scoff out of hand this thinly veiled offshoot of Zie Anheuser Busch family, well... a lot of Michelob beers are pretty good. Take its stalwart Amber Bock and its new forays into the world of Pale Ale. And then take me in the refrigerated beer aisle seeing a mixed wheat beer 12 pack on sale for $9.99 and we have ourselves a review of Michelob's Dunkel Weiss.*

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You know what? Screw it---this diagram made me proud as hell. Proud because, given the right circumstances, I would do serious damage to a 12 pack of Schlitz, but on any given day, this is about right: http://www.sloshspot.com/blog/12-22-2008/How-to-Know-If-You-Are-a-Beer-Snob-92

Just a quick note of appreciation for Sgt. Stout, who brought over 5 gallons of birthday beer for Mrs. Beer's birthday. A nice batch of golden ale bubbles away in our uh... what do I call that... mud room? Back hall/room/thing. We may add spices, we may go simple. But 5 gallons of beer is good news any way you cut it.

Friends, it's a happy time when a Sam Adams mix pack comes out. As you all know, darker, winter beers are this Captain's favorite, but summer/spring beers are wondrous too. The most recent mixed 12er I picked up has 2 of each of the following: Boston Lager, Sam Light, Blackberry Wit (finally!), Hefewiezen, Summer Ale and Pale Ale.

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Fellow Beer-ers and Beer-ettes, It seems we have been focusing recently on a 'back to basics' for beers, and thus I shant disappoint. From New Belgium, a company which in spite of relative youth delivers fine and innovative beers consistently, comes Mighty Arrow Pale Ale. It's a medium-bodied, medium-hopped pale ale, and it's just an even-keeled representation of the BJCP guideline. That's not to say it's mediocre by any means.

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So, just a quick post...I sent my kickin' IPA to Sam Adams for the Longshot competition, and the shipment was received by Bob Cannon, one of the Brewmasters. Dude! Sweet!