Hall of Beers

And… yet another deep doff of the cap. What… a… beer. I finally spotted a Sam Adams Holiday Pack the other day and leapt onto it, shattering every bottle and injuring a small Navajo boy. I wept at the lost beer for several hours and then, assured the young lad was resting soundly, went out for another Holiday Pack. And this baby packs a punch. Of great beer. We’re talking 2 Boston Lagers, 2 Winter Ales (oh man), 2 Cranberry Lambics (aw yeah), 2 Old Fezziwig Ales (ooh spelling… I really should check that…), 2 Holiday Porters (hell yeah) and 2 of these babies. Or, in latin effin beerum bliss, man. Um. Read the rest »

Hello fellow Beer-ers.

During an inebriated trip to Cost Plus World Market upon a winter’s eve (last Monday, yes I walked), I stumbled through the aisles seeking to add to the dwindling beer supplies in my fridge. Before me I saw the usual seasonal samplers, the ‘Winter Pack’ which looked promising, and then a newer, more specific ‘Holiday Pack!’ Intrigued, I looked at the contents. They all seemed to be from a tiny Brewery in the UK called ‘Shelton Brothers’, I didn’t know it, and they seemed to have goofy holiday-related titles, most of them reasonably imaginative- then one caught my eye.

Read the rest »

Friends, we here in the Hall have started an informal rapport with the good people of the Karl Strauss Brewery (you likely know their Star Gazer IPA, Woody Gold or Red Trolley Ale among others) and I just got an email from them about a holiday beer that sounds like madness. You decide. I mean… I’m gonna try one. Here’s the 4-1-1: 

A HOLIDAY BEER WITH A MALT BALL CENTER…
(READ ON, BEER VOLK!) Read the rest »

Friends, once again the illustrious team brew team of yours truly and Sergeant Stout teamed up 3 weeks back and brewed up a storm. Or rather two batches of beer. Then last weekend we bottled them… and something wonderful happened… both of our beers… while flat, tepid and not even done with their development (2 weeks minimum of course but I think these babies will be shining come February or so) both beers tasted amazing. I’ll get more into it when we give the bottle-conditioned beers a taste (which I may do prematurely this weekend…), but here’s a primer:

The Sarge brewed what I guess I’ll call a Holiday Ale if I must classify it. The beer is spicy, rich and bursting with a crisp tartness supplied by copius additions of fresh and dried cranberries. A lovely amber hue.

My beer is a Scotch Ale and, if I may be so bold, manages to both cleave faithfully to its style while boasting notes of honey, spice and a secret hobo twist I’ll never reveal. Oh… OK… the secret ingredient is… is… RIGHT BEHIND YOU! AAUUGH!!!!! GLAUAWAUGH!!!!!

*Except that “you” means “me.”

All I can think of at the moment is that scene in Dances With Wolves where Kevin Costner is yelling “Tatonka!” and making little horns with his fingers. Always good for a larf. Watch that movie and see how many times he flops onto his back in a comical manner… I believe the count is 4 which may not seem high but when you focus on it, it… is.

OK… on to the beer! BJ’s, a limited California chain, has some great food and some damn good beer, not to mention excellent prices on their 5 and 7 glass five ounce beer sampler flights. A great way to have a lot of great beer. I could (and likely will eventually) write at some length on each of their 6 standard beers and rotating seasonals, but I’m going to focus on their Tatonka Stout this time. Thus the heading of this review. Yeh… Read the rest »

No, I don’t mean that stoopid Coors commercial with that frosty train gimmick. I mean today’s front page article on MSN.com touting the benefits of beer:

“The Boons of Beer” http://health.msn.com/nutrition/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100220712&GT1=31036

and this link to another, even better (older) article:

“Beer With Benefits” http://health.msn.com/nutrition/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100197361

The latter has a great guide to some top-notch brews, with most of which I heartily agree. Gotta try me some of that He’Brew Origin Pomegranate Ale, if I can find it.

Happy Thanksgiving to all, and happy drankin’–hey, it’s good for you! (I figure… if two beers confer so many health benefits, it stands to reason that ten times that number would mean ten times the benefits! Hell, it may even create some sort of synergistic effect! Maybe such a synergistic effect that I would be unable to get out of bed the next morning or even reach for a glass of water due to so much healthy synergy!!!)

I’ll start as I usually do when discussing a beer brewed by a macro-brewery—I had my reservations, I prefer to support smaller breweries, I didn’t expect much, etc etc. Well… this is a good beer.

Read the rest »

Last weekend, friends, Brigadier Bock and Admiral Ale gathered around the Sarge and the Captain’s brew pots and we four whipped up two beautiful batches of brew! A spiced holiday ale for Sergeant Stout, a Scotch Ale for me. And, of course, we went apeshnit with the recipes, Sgt. Stout adding fresh cranberries, cinnamon sticks and all sorts of spices. I added honey, LOTS of hops and some secret spices of my own.

So stand by, friends! I shall report in when we rack to the secondary fermenter next weekend and then at the bottling and then… the drink!

*this is true assuming you are me, Sergeant Stout, Brigadier Bock or Admiral Ale. The rest of you can go home now.

Yes, the calendar says late autumn but, except for 3, maybe 4 days last week, the thermometer says 80 degrees out. And the barometer says… says… oh my god, you ATE the barometer!? Jesus, man! What were you thinking!?Well, we’ll deal with that mess later. For now… yes… Pacifico–a summer beer’s near-vernal reprise. Read the rest »

That’s right, in an article about the growing beer culture in the Los Angeles, Eagle Rock Brewery got a shout-out. Why, you could read the article yourself! (And their link is over there down to the right… where the links are… there ya go.)

THE ARTICLE!