We’re… we’re still here dammit… just buckin’ fusy with lots of other things but I promise, beer volk, that Captain Beer is still out there sampling many a fine brew—he’s just been focusing on “mental” updates or… something. Stand by for Samuel Smith’s Nut Brown Ale and Firestone’s Double Barrel Ale reviews.

Those daring, beautiful people have done it again: Jim Koch and his Samuel Adams crew have made me scream like a little girl. Here’s an article (ahem) lifted from their newsletter. Why gild the lily, I asked myself. Read on. Oh, the beer of it all!

Pushing Beer’s Boundaries

In 1984 Jim Koch first brewed Samuel Adams Boston Lager® thus helping set the stage for American beer drinkers’ broadening interest in high-quality, full flavored brews. Now in 2009 we give you the Samuel Adams Imperial Series. Three distinct brews available in their own 4-packs, the Samuel Adams Imperial Series takes some of your favorite traditional beer styles and kicks them up a notch. Each is brewed with twice the amount of malt found in Samuel Adams Boston Lager. With more robust flavors these brews are intended to be savored and appreciated like you would a fine wine. This new series of beers will be offered year-round and includes Samuel Adams® Imperial White, Samuel Adams® Imperial Stout and Samuel Adams® Double Bock. Read on for a more detailed description of each…
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A  fine young beer, friends! And a Trader Joe’s-available (in fact, it may be an exclusive… someone research that and get back to me*) beer at that, so we’re talking $5.99 a six pack. Most affordable! But let’s not muddle around over who paid what for who when and why and where and let’s focus on this very decent brew. Mission Street’s Pale Ale defines its category: it has a nice golden-amber color beneath a white, medium-thickness head. The body is light and full of active carbonation. The aroma of hops defines its scent—pine and mildly grapefruit hops, to be precise—and its flavor is a lovely interplay of hops bracing a mildly sweet bready malt. It finishes hop-dry and refreshing. Read the rest »

Friends, ever wonder if that delicious Budweiser you’ve just cracked open is really American? Then go away. Now. One, it’s not delicious. Two… you know little of the beer world. (ImBev mean anything to ya? Maybe a little thing called The Cotton Gin!? Aberdeen!!?? But I digress. And make no sense.)

But there are some good beers out there that are questionably American. Not that their provenance matters. At all, really. But hell, if you’re on a beer site, you’re likely interested in this kinda bizness. So, check out the article. It’s interesting dammit. (Like the venerable, German-sounding Yuengling? Awww yeah—American since 1829. Widmer Brothers… sounds pretty American… but are they a part of a shady, European brewing conglomerate bent on uh… well… profit? FIND OUT BELOW!)

IS YOUR BEER 100% AMERICAN!? (NOT THAT IT MATTERS, MUCH!)

Readers:

The prodigal son hath returned: General German is alive and well, making a post.

Check this out–Sam Adams Brewer Jim Koch has a thing or two to say about his new brews! Think he has enjoyed a few along the way…

Sam Adams Imperial Beers Promo

Friends, let me be frank. I don’t much care for Becks. It is a prosaic beer in the German style. OK, a prosaic German beer (it is imported… it can have that much from me). As most of you know, good ol’ Captain Beer isn’t one for light beers. If you want to cut calories, put down the pastrami sandwich. If you want to drink beer, drink beer! I’ll get off my soapbox now.

OK… so… Beck’s Premier Light:

Meh. Not so hot. Very light malt flavor, the littlest bit of floral-bitter hops in the finish. I mean, the beer has 64 calories—where is the flavor going to hide? It’s refreshing, it’s extremely “drinkable”* meaning… refreshing. That’s about it. But… when you add.. Read the rest »

Folks, The Captain has been sticking to familiar waters lately. Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada and such—beers we have long ago discussed here. I did have a Pliny the Elder on tap on both Thursday and Saturday at the hep and well-tapped (go with it) Verdugo Bar, which I’m sure will become a new haunt.

So look… maybe it’s kind of an excuse for not sending out beernews to our millions of readers, but here are some ABV stats that I thought were interesting. Maybe you will too. So Amstel Light is… really light. Check it.

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Why, just last Spring I brewed a Blackberry Wheat beer. So either great minds think alike or Jim Koch owes me a sweet piece of this action. No… no… I’m sure it was innocence that created this wonderful (sounding… but I have no doubt) brew.

Take it away, Sam Adams On Tap Newsletter…

2008 Beer Lover’s Choice Winner – Available Now!

With 24 hour news coverage can anyone forget that 2008 was an election year?! We’re glad that over several months last summer & fall, tens of thousands of you got out the vote and participated in the 4th Annual Samuel Adams Beer Lover’s Choice program helping us choose the next Samuel Adams style. The victorious brew was Samuel Adams^® Blackberry Witbier, a traditional witbier with orange peel and coriander, complemented by the subtle sweetness of Marion blackberries. Grown on a family farm in the shadow of Mt. Hood, Oregon, our Marion blackberries add a distinct blackberry aroma that blends with the wheat malt for a smooth finish that is both subtly sweet and crisp.

Samuel Adams Blackberry Witbier is available all year round in its own 6-pack, in the Samuel Adams^® Brewmaster’s Variety 6-pack and it will be joining the Samuel Adams^® Summer Styles pack this summer.

This is one of the best stouts I have tried in months. It hangs right up there with some of Rogue and New Belgium and other such top-tier brewery’s offerings. It’s… delicious. Go… go get some. Don’t bother reading this post, just go—hey get back here! OK. That’s better. Have a seat… relax… Read the rest »

New year, new beers! We’re back and much the same as ever, beervolk! New Year’s Eve was an extravaganza of wonderful beers and I shall try to get to many of them in time. But I begin 2009 with a review of a good old brew from Yuengling. As I was on the east coast, finally my longing thirst for said brewery was slaked. Today we discuss their Lord Chesterfield Ale. Or rather I dogmatically drone; you read receptively. Read the rest »