Southern Tier - 422

Well he we are, Friday before Memorial Day. First and foremost let me give a big thanks to all those who have served our nation, it takes a special type of person to put their life on the line for someone they have never met. We cannot even begin to repay their families for their sacrifice, but here is my humble thanks.

This week’s beer grabbed my attention because it mixes two of my favorite styles, Pale Ale and Wheat Beer. So we have a Pale Wheat Ale from Southern Tier…422. Label says make everyday Earth Day. Now, I’m not one of those tree huggers or anything but I also would like to think we can keep the place we call home a little cleaner so our kids and grandkids can enjoy themselves, moderation is the key.

Ok, the beer, it pours a golden orange with just a slight hue, not crystal clear or super hazy, kind of in the middle. It has a nice head that settles to nice thin cap. The scent is bursting with hops with a little wheat hiding in the background, basically what you would think you get mixing the two styles. The taste however is almost the opposite of the scent, wheat dominating and the hops being subtle. It works very nicely though I must say. Much like a good springtime/summertime wheat beer it doesn’t come across as being heavy and would lend itself to multiplicity. Hey, if I can have a good beer like this and it somehow help the ‘earthies’, I can live with that.

So fire up the grill, clean the pool and relax on this 3 day weekend, and don’t forget those who have given us the freedom to do so. Cheers beer friend and military veteran, this beer is on me.

FourBoysBrewPub!

Coastal Wheat - Sam Adams

So a few quick reasons why I picked this beer for this week’s review: one, I thought I was reviewing a wheat beer last week but turns out it was just a fruit ale, so I had to make that up and really review a wheat beer this week. Two, it is officially ‘Craft Beer Week’ and I consider this brewer the real catalyst behind the craft beer movement we are in today. I know you have Fritz Maytag from Anchor Brewing and Ken Grossman from Sierra Nevada but I think Jim Koch from Boston Beer Co aka Samuel Adams really got craft beer on the map. So I give you this week’s review in the form of:

Coastal Wheat by Samuel Adams

It pours a light cloudy orange like one might expect from a wheat beer. The nose grabs a bit of a sour scent which I hope is the yeast coming through and not a sign of a bad/spoiled beer. Upon first taste I think the sourness smell is correct as I pick up a very distinct citrus tingly taste on the tongue, very similar to that of Allagash White, another very good wheat beer. Not a lot of hops to this beer and it is definitely a summer time beer. I also imagine it may do very well with a slice of orange or lemon squeezed in there but I like to judge beers on their own before I go adding extra ingredients, orange slice, lime wedge, salt, etc… All in all a beer we have come to expect from Samuel Adams, a good quality, fresh tasting beer.

I found another pretty cool blog this week. I’m not one for cigars although I would love to start; this site does a nice job pairing fine cigars with fine drinks. Doesn’t everyone that smokes a cigar while sipping a scotch/wine/beer just look so dang relaxed, like they haven’t a care in the world? Must be nice ha, oh well, cheers my friend ‘cause it’s Friday all over again and we have plenty of time for some of that relaxing.

FourBoysBrewPub!

Wild Raspberry Ale - Great Divide Brewing Co

OK so I have been officially thrown some love from other bloggers, ok just one but still, I guess that means I have to step up my game to make sure it doesn’t get stale. So if any of you out there are Dawg fans return the favor and check out Bernie’s Dawg Blawg, thanks Bernie. Also, I hate to admit it to any of the beer snobs out there but I actually drink Miller Lite on a regular basis so this post made me laugh, a lot, especially the picture. Well, maybe tonight’s review will fare better with the beer snobs of the world that may find their way to my small, remote corner of the WouldWideWeb. This will be the first beer I have had from this brewery but everything I have heard about them is good so hopefully this beer is also. I’ve said it before that I will try any beer at least once no matter what the crazy brewer decides to throw in the kettle. I also like a good wheat beer in the heat of summer, yes I know it isn’t summer yet but you don’t live in what feels like the hottest place on the face of the earth either, middle Georgia. Just ask anybody who has lived here from May to September and they’ll swear it is he_ _, ok maybe they mean something other than heat. Let’s get to the beer shall we.

Wild Raspberry Ale – Great Divide Brewing Co. (Denver CO). Once again another craft brewery from Colorado.

After the last ‘Wild something or other’ beer you would think I would stay away from “WILD” in the name and fruit in the beer but I had to try it. The color is in no way like that other ‘wild’ beer; this one has more of a normal beer color, brown with a red tint, very close to an Irish Red Ale. Not much in the way of a head though and that made me realize, this is not a wheat beer, I just assumed it was because that is what usually get infused with fruit. Interesting. The smell is a mixture of sourness, sweetness, raspberries and alcohol, having tremors thinking it might be like the last ‘wild’ beer I reviewed. Well relax, it isn’t nearly that bad, in fact it is pretty tasty, I think the tartness helps balance the sweetness then you get just a slight hint of hops to finish you off. Not really a traditional beer flavor to be found but you still know your drinking beer and not some sort of wine you uncle fermented in his orange Coleman cooler. After checking out their website they have plenty of brews I can check out, next time I’m in a good beer store I will have to grab a few others.

So make it a good weekend kids, I sure am. I might even find some more GDBC brews and have a grill out. Which I must say is different from a BBQ, a BBQ must contain PORK, be it a shoulder, ribs, etc.., simply throwing something on the grill doesn’t constitute a BBQ, that is just grilling, more on that at a later date or even a new blog, hmmm. Cheers!

FourBoysBrewPub!

Rye Pale Ale - Terrapin Beer Co

Ok, so with Cinco de Mayo behind us, I wanted to try and find a good beer for this week’s ‘real’ review. So while surfing the web on my BlackBerry as I got my oil changed in the car, I see this at one of my many blogs I follow. Interestingly enough, I don’t drink much from this brewer and I’m not exactly sure why, when I have had it on draft it has been good and it hails from the ‘Classic City’ (Athens, GA for those of you not in the know) so it is considered a local brew for me. Maybe it is something about the turtle that throws me off who knows, but this week I will dedicate at least some time for this beer and brewery.

Rye Pale Ale – Terrapin Beer Co. Athens, GA

Looks good in that Georgia glass don’t it? I just had to use that since the beer was brewed right there in Athens, GA, home to the DAWGS. Pours a nice translucent gold with a nice thick dense head, I was even able to float the bottle cap on it for a few seconds. Don’t ask me what made me try it, I just looked at how dense the head was and the Sam Adams commercial popped in my head so I did it, pretty cool, hope I didn’t taint the beer though. It definitely has some hop scents going on, almost as much as an IPA, nice and fresh smelling. The taste gives a ever so slightly sweetness at the front end then follows nicely with the hops but not nearly as much as the scent might lead you to think it would have. It has a nice medium mouthfeel that makes it an easy drink. Why I don’t drink this beer or others from this brewery is beyond me, maybe I should start.

Well, its Friday night, not raining so that means fire up the grill (I do it even if it is raining). I’m going to try something new tonight, I’m grilling pizza. Grilling is kind of like beer to me, I’ll try anything once. I’m going to start with a store bought pizza first, then if that goes well I will try to make one from scratch, wish me luck beer friend. Cheers!

FourBoysBrewPub!

Cinco de Mayo

Cinco de Mayo amigo! No, I’m not starting to offer a Spanish version of my blog, I slept so much in high school Spanish class that the teacher changed my name to Pepe Sueño (which means Pepe sleepy one) so in no way do I know enough Spanish to even begin to write in Spanish. Cinco de Mayo is the holiday that most people think of as the Mexican version of Fourth of July, their independence day, not true, that is actually September 15th. May 5th is the day 4000 Mexico soldiers won a battle with the French army in 1862. American’s just use the date to get their drink on, just like we do for St. Patty’s day.


So, to do my part, I wanted to seek out a Mexican beer that I hadn’t tried before. Now that meant I had my work cut out for me unless I wanted to take a trip to Mexico. I think I have had every Mexican beer offered in the US at least a dozen times, and to be honest, they all taste the same except for Negro Modelo which is what I had actually picked out till I was talked in to this. As much as I wanted to try it cause I had never had it, I wanted to pass on it because of the cheesy Ed Hardy label, but here we are.

Ed Hardy Premium Beer – Brewed and bottled by Cerveceria Mexicana, S. de R. L. de C. V., Tecate

So, I hope you can tell by the photo that it appears like any other ‘Premium’ beer or Mexican style beer. Very light, yellow pale, clear but it does actually produce a nice big head even if it isn’t a tight thick head, and it even managed to stick around tell the end. The scent was of some corn and straw, not to pleasant when talking about beer but very similar to American Lagers. This beer seemed more watered down though and not much flavor, very close to what Miller Lite is like when poured in a glass. That coming from someone who can handle Miller Lite if it is in the bottle or even the can but I just really don’t care for it at all once it is poured in the glass, which goes against my number one rule of beer – BEER IS TO BE POURED. Oh well, Miller Lite isn’t really beer is it? So maybe this beer would have been a lot better if I had consumed it straight out of this gawdy looking bottle.

Well I guess I did my part to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, I tried a new Mexican beer, ate crunchy tacos and lettuce. So, maybe Friday will have better things in store for us beer geeks, till then, cheers my friend.

FourBoysBrewPub!