I won't make excuses for my complete lack of posts in November (illness, work, marathon cheer leader, gobble gobble, and here we are in December), but I want to reassure you that in no way did I neglect my duty to research new beer! My apologies for the limited details, but hey, at least this may help you decide whether or not to buy and try! Here goes...
Samuel Adams Tasman Red...pretty good red IPA (why suddenly we have to have different colored IPAs, I have no idea). Fairly hoppy. This is yet another offering from one of Boston Beer Company's many "reserve" lines, or whatever. They come out with so many, it's hard to keep track. Gotta do something to make people think they are still part of the "craft" beer community.
Bell's Porter...nice porter...pretty smooth. Chocolate notes.
Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout...this one gets rave reviews and I was anxious to try it. Now usually I don't "share" a beer, but in this case my pinter in crime and I did just that because I knew this 10% ABV offering would, uh, disagree with me. Not having taken any notes (geek), the thing I do remember from this one was that it had a sort of chalky, dryness to it. I think I'm going to have to try it again before I decide where it falls on my list. Maybe I'll try to drink a whole one myself...on a weekend when naptime might be an option. Like when I'm 70 and don't have to get up every five minutes to find Legos, missing socks, the dog, my sanity...
| Note the date at the top of the label...clearly this picture was stolen from the internet.. |
New Belgium Snow Day...ok, I admit it. I'm a sucker for a beer bottle with a snow scene. Totally bought this one because I liked the label...turned out to be pretty good though! I'd say this is sort of a black IPA. Very dark in color, some roastiness, and the hops definitely pop.
| See what I mean about the label?! |
Southern Tier 2X IPA. Now, the "2X" should have been a clue that this was a double IPA, but not being one for math or its associated symbols, I missed that one! This was a suggestion from random beer lady in the Whole Foods beer aisle. All the cool people hang there, by the way. This was one of the few IPAs there I had not tried, so I figured what the heck! A little sweeter than I like my IPAs, but definitely good!
| Nice picture...too bad I stole this one too. |
Story you don't care about...when we made the decision to move to Richmond (actually, I don't think we ever MADE the decision, we just did it) we came down the day after Thanksgiving in 2009 to look for a place to live. That night we looked at our first house...Capital Ale House...unfortunately we don't live there, but each year since that first trip we have gone back on "Black Friday" to have a beer. So for the third time, we ditched leftover turkey in favor of a great beer selection, mediocre food, and lousy service (now that I wrote that...I'm wondering why we go? The beer selection at my house is pretty good, the food I cook is fairly edible, and I am pretty sure I can deliver it in an untimely and unpleasant manner...). Now to the reason for this story...while we were there I tried Bell's Two Hearted Ale that had been run through a "randall" (www.dogfish.com/company/tangents/randall-the-enamel-animal.htm). Not at all impressive. I actually think there may have been a problem with the keg of beer itself. It was flat and tasteless. This is normally one of my favorite IPAs, so I know this wasn't the norm.
| Downtown has more character, but I can walk home from this one... |
Ok, and just so you appreciate the above list a little more...I had to go rummage through our recycles to remember which new beers I had tried! The things I do to improve the lives of beer lovers everywhere...
NOW, here we are in December, and while I expect to be no less busy, I will do my best to continue to bring one new beer each week into my life, and yours. I really was going to blame the re-design for the missing posts, but alas, I cannot lie. It was just poor planning.
So this week's official FNP was another Sam Adams "small batch" series beer. A double IPA called Third Voyage brewed with Cascade and Simcoe hops. This beer SMELLS awesome! The hops hit you right away in both aroma and taste, but there is a nice, strong malty backbone so that the hops dominate, but don't overwhelm (unless you hate hops...in that case this beer isn't for you). I'm really not good at describing beer colors-one of these days I'm gonna bust out a box o' Crayola and describe some beer as "timberwolf brown", but until then I'm going with copper. A nice, clear copper color for sure. The beer was a little thinner than I would have liked, but I guess I can't expect to have to chew them all. My pinter in crime declared the beer "not distinctive", and while I might agree, I still think it was a pretty good beer. Definitely drinkable, and reasonably priced ($5.99 for the 22 oz. I think), which makes it even better! Worth a try if you are a fan of IPAs.
So, this was the 14th of the 52 new beers I intend on trying and sharing with you. I hope that this inspires you to try something new, and step outside the comfort zone of your weekly pint(s).
You can send hate mail, destructive criticism, or beer suggestions to fridaynightpints@gmail.com, or you can comment on a post (if you can figure out how to do that, I commend you-I'm pretty sure I can't do it).
Thanks again to Carina Maki Morand for the new and improved version of Friday Night Pints!
Cheers!
Becky
Becky,
ReplyDeleteThe new layout of the site looks great!
I am jealous...I can't find the Sam Adams Limited Batches ANYWHERE around here. I've called all over trying to find The Vixen - their chocolate chili bock.