Fantasy Football and Stone Brewing

So I finished my second and final fantasy football draft this week...maybe not FINAL, but last live money league. Pretty confidant in both of my teams so we will see how the season turns out. I will say I am extremely excited for this season, I am a huge Washington Redskin's fan and cannot wait to see what RG3 does this year. Anywho, nothing goes better with fantasy football and the NFL than good ol' BEER!

Last week I picked up a special beer; so special I saved it for a special night. I picked up Stone Brewing Company's 16th Anniversary IPA. I have never had the pleasure of tasting any previous aniversary brews from Stone (they have celebrated with Stouts, Ales, Porters and IPA's), but I am confidant that they would have been amazing, I mean look at who we are dealing with here! This IPA is actually a Double IPA and boy is it tasty. When researching the beer the first place I went was to the Stone Brewing website where they describe the process behind the anniversary beer. They chose to brew with what they call a lemon persuasion. All I know is that this beer was great! It clocks in at 85 IBU's which is obviously a lot and an ABV of 10%, which will kick your butt! (Here is what Stone has to say about it)

I poured the beer into a standard tulip glass to capture the head and aroma after the pouring. It is a very clean looking beer sits in the glass with a bright reddish orange look with a pearl white head to top it off. At first smell you get the lemon, but it is not the only fruit smell to it. The aroma will give you a slight idea as to just how complex this beer is. After taking a few deep sniffs I can pick up lemon (obviously), but also peaches. It is amazing what our sense of smell does for us, just smelling this beer I wanted to be sitting around a table sipping away chatting with friends taking in every scent the beer can give off.

I dove into my sip with unabashed enthusiasm, because really, I was tired of looking at it longingly and wanted to finally taste the beer inside! The beer was wonderful! Stone has done a wonderful job of making a big hoppy beer have a mellow malty side to it. For such a strong brew it had a very clean mouth feel to it and welcomed you into more sips, I found the fruity nature very refreshing and really kept the extreme bitterness to a slight roar which is not easy to do with this many IBU's. At first taste you get a bit of the hops, but the fruit really shines through and then finishes with a nice malty flavor. Even the after taste is great leaving a bit of spice flavor in the back of your mouth...very inviting! This really is a great drink for humid summer night sitting around the table with a bunch of buddies. Ultimately this is probably one of the more complex beers I have ever, which makes me think I should try it again just make sure that what I say above is correct, lets call it research!

I do recommend rushing out to pick up a bottle or two (or more) of your own and cracking one open right away, storing one away for a year or maybe even two. I plan to pick a couple more up myself and start a Stone Anniversary collection, opening a new one each year.

Cheers

TThis is Rhys wanting to cheers with daddy and have a picture of his drink of choice taken as well

Crafty Snob

Fine, I'll admit it...I...am...a...sigh...a snob! Now wait I am not a snob just in everyday life, no I feel that I am a very easy person to get along with. It's just with beer and maybe some music, but for today's purpose we will only talk about the beer snob thing. On another note now that I have admitted my fault (yes the only one just don't ask my wife) can we please not remind me of it just call me a beer geek!

Have you ever liked a band or artist or anything really, before anyone else you know has heard of said item? Have you then spent countless minutes, hours, days or months researching everything about that item and immersing yourself in that information so much so that everything you do can then be traced back to that interest? If not, then really there is no hope for you! If yes, then you know how I feel about craft beer. As I mentioned in my post "My Journey", I have spent my free time of the last year or so immersed in all that is the awesome world of craft beer. I have spent time researching breweries, the beer they brew, how they brew it and what ingredients they use. I have read books, other blogs and sought out like minded people and home brewers. What I have learned is that I will never know all that there is to know and I think others in the industry feel the same way. Craft beer is ever evolving and changing and brewers will always push the limits of what they know is beer.

The issue that I seem to have is that while I love to talk, drink, read about and research craft beer; when I hear someone talking about craft beer and not being knowledgeable it really frustrates me. Frustrates me to the point of annoyance that someone is willing to accept a beer that does not taste good, so long as it gets you drunk...ugh, why would you want to get drunk while not enjoying your drink!?

So what if I am a beer snob, I do not see that as a bad thing. I obviously just enjoy the passion, heart and effort that goes into each one of the beers I drink. Am I a snob because I do not want to see this amazing industry watered down any further than what macro beer has done to it?

Does being a snob make me a hypocrite because I would rather see craft beer stay small than expand and lose it's origins, while at the same time I myself hope to turn my own passion into a career some how, be it with this blog or at a brewery thus expanding the reach of flavorful beverages.

I am also left with the thought, what happens when craft beer is no longer "craft beer". When it hits the mainstream like it almost has. Is Samuel Adams still on the same level as Dogfish Head? What about when Dogfish continues on its path and takes over the world of beer, will we as craft beer drinkers start to push away from these breweries just because they have been able to take their product and bring it to the masses? Will we call these companies sell outs? I hope not, there is enough beer to go around to everyone and there will always be people still in the dark or at least with a can of Bud in their hand.

Happy reading and cheers!

Welcome Home

Whew! This is my first week back from vacation and boy have I been busy! Not necessarily with beer related items or activities, but with life in general. Last week Mallory and I spent a few days in New York City with our boys and her parents...Yes, the in-laws (really not bad as most would think!) We drove to New Jersey on Wednesday morning, getting there in time to attend the Yankee/Ranger game that night. In preparation for the game my father-in-law and I went out in search of some good craft brews (a great thing about my father in law... he like himself a craft beer...or two) We arrived at a local liquor store in East Rutherford, NJ with hopes that they will have a decent selection with brews that I cannot usually get in Northern Virginia. You can understand how horrified I was when all I saw was horrible Budweiser and Bud Lite. Yet like a shinning light from God there was one shelf full of Samuel Adams Octoberfest!

You may be surprised when I tell you this, but it was my first time ever having this Samuel Adams beer. I have never really been into fall seasonal beers mainly because I have never liked anything with pumpkin in it, but this is not a pumpkin beer and I am a bit more open minded now. So with no pretense in mind I cracked a few bottles in the parking lot waiting to go into the game and I must say I was very pleased. The beer was very smooth, with a great blend of the malty flavor you would expect from a beer better suited for the fall season than the summer. However, the malt flavor was actually a great choice since it was a rainy evening and the game was rain delayed.

Once inside the stadium I figured that I would not find anything worth drinking, but again I was pleasantly surprised when I found Goose Island IPA on tap at each stand. Again this was a beer I had not had before and found myself enjoying it immensely. It did not pucker your mouth like some IPA's, which is not a bad thing some times, but this beer was sweet like IPA's yet not overly so. Very drinkable which will leave you the ability to drink more than a couple before being down and out for the night, which is always a plus.  I would not hesitate to get this IPA again and will be looking for it at my local Wegmans.

Thursday's plan was to venture into the city and do some exploring, this is where the kids got really excited, they thought when we said World Trade Center we meant World TRAIN Center, crazy boys! This was not a beer excursion so no major opportunities to search the city of its wonderful hidden gems of beer goodness, but I was able to get a good idea that I want to go back just Mallory and I and really spend time exploring the concrete jungle that is New York City. We did stop for lunch/drinks in Battery Park where we found a Beer Garden featuring Victory Brewing Company, here I had their lager and Festbier, both of which were as good as you would expect from Victory Brewing. I was a bit surprised that a Philadelphia brewery would be in Manhattan and not a New York brewer, but that's a story for a different time. For dinner we stopped at an alehouse in the Upper West Side called Amsterdam Alehouse. This was a great place with great beer, with my dinner I had a Dale's Pale Ale drawn from a cask. For those not in the know a cask is just like a keg however the carbonation is lighter than what is usually found in beer (yes I know this is not an in depth description, but that's not what I am here for tonight).

All in all this was a good trip, it was the kids first time to the Big Apple and they had a good time. It was a quick trip that seemed longer just because of all of the walking around the city. I highly suggest spending a weekend to tour the city of your choice be it for the beer or just for the city experience I am sure you will have a good time. Best of all I was able to spend some great quality time with Mallory and the kids away from work!

Cheers!

International IPA Day

Hoppy IPA Day everyone...get it, hoppy!? I make myself laugh sometimes (admittedly more often than other people really). If you have not already heard , which if you are reading this I doubt thats the case; today is the second official IPA Day(IPA Day history). IPA day was created by online personalities Ashley Routson of Bison Brewing in California (Bison Brewing) and Ryan Ross of Karl Strauss Brewing Company (Karl Strauss Brewing Company). They wanted something that would unite the whole craft beer world, from California to Maine to Europe and beyond. I think it worked. I saw some statistics today and there were 6.4 thousand tweets with hashtag #IPADay and 4.7 thousand blogs/posts. It is amazing to me that the craft beer world is still so small and that people have not caught on yet!

I must admit that I have been excited and anxious about writing this particular blog post for the past week or so. The IPA beer has become the staple of just about every American Craft Brewery, and no two brews are alike while some breweries like Sierra Nevada and Oskar Blues have two different strong Pale Ales, so I knew I had to find a brew that was new (at least to me) and write a poignant and informative review. I have succeeded in finding a newer IPA I even went with a Double IPA and hopefully I will succeed in the latter.

Tonight was my last evening of manual labor with my dad for a little while, how long, I do not know. It is also the last night that I have to stay home alone and dress myself in the morning! The dressing myself is the scary part..trust me, I can however tie my own tie...YAY ME!

The beer that I am drinking tonight is from the Long Trail Brewmaster Series: Double IPA. It clocks in at 8.6% ABV with an 86 IBU rating. What this means to you is that this is a strong, bitter beer, at least in theory. Long Trail has brewed this IPA with the decidedly American Chinook and Cascade Hops. The Cascade hops give the beer a distinctive floral and "citrusy" taste while the Chinook hops give smokey and herbal flavors. This special bottle gives the drinker instructions on how to pour as well as what kind of glass to pour into. This being the big beer it is you will want to pour slowly so that the head does not get so big that you cannot drink right away. You will also want to serve this beer chilled at around 45-50 degrees, which in my opinion is to keep the alcohol flavor somewhat suppressed.

Upon tasting this DIPA your mouth is hit with the hops and all the floral and citrus flavors, but what Long Trail has done really well is bring out the malt flavor. If you let the brew sit on your tongue (its hard not to swallow good beer right away as I am sure you know this already) you can really feel the low carbonation of the beer and the alcohol softly hits the back of your nose. This beer gets better as you continue to sip and I will say my second glass was a lot better than my first, which is very impressive.

I am considering the purchase of another 1.6 pint bottle for ageing purposes, just to see how the character will change. Overall I enjoyed this beer, maybe not one I would get for an everyday drinking session, but one I would get for special occasions or special dinners, but make sure you are having a strong meat like beef brisket or grilled Lamb...at least that's what Long Trail says! Don't take my word for it, take theirs!

Happy reading and Cheers!

Virginia Craft Beer Month

August has been named the official Craft Beer Month by the awesome state of Virginia. I am proud to call Virginia my home state! Having been born and raised within 20 miles of where I now live. Some may say that is sheltered, nay I say, it is loyalty!

Tonight is night number two of home alone for me so instead of just coming home after work I decided to help my dad with his first major project post retirement...Redoing the deck at mom and dads house! So obviously I needed a beer when I got home. By the way congrats dad!

I had a big decision tonight well I mean not really THAT big but big enough; do I go with one of my go to beers or do I try something I've never had before. In true craft beer enthusiast style I went with something I have only ever read about. I decided on a brewery by the name of Devils Backbone Brewing Company more specifically I chose their brew Belgian Congo Pale Ale (Devils Backbone Brewing Beers). I actually just read about this company today in an article about the Virginia Brewers Guild and the Brew Ridge Trail (Read the article here). 

Not knowing much or anything really about this Pale Ale I decided to do some research first. Devils Backbone was founded in 2008 in the heart of Virginia; Lexington Virginia to be exact. For a "newer" brewery they have certainly made quite the impression, by winning a few awards at the GABF (if you consider a lot a few!). Steven, the founder is actually from Virginia as well and even from the same area as I am which makes me like this brewery even more. 

My first impression of Congo was typical IPA with a piney, floral smell right out of the bottle, I was curious about the Belgian aspect of this brew, but after pouring into the everyday pint glass this must be the clearest Pale Ale I have ever seen, you can read the writing on the bottle through the glass! I take my first sniff and realize my initial thought is wrong...dead wrong! Yes you get that pine/hoppy smell, but take a deeper breath and there is lemon and orange in there! This is the first place I sense the Belgian twist. Of note upon pour is a beautifully white head that develops and lingers around for a bit.

This is not a "big" beer, yes it does have 50 IBU's which is a lot by every day standards, however among IPA's these days this is typical and not over powering at all. The beer has a great feel on the tongue, big sips are easy to take and can multiple very easily! While sitting on your tongue you can really taste the Belgian style of this Pale Ale, just like a true Belgian it finishes with a hint of citrus and fruit. What I really love about this beer is that there is absolutely no bite at the end. Most IPA will pucker your mouth and you really have to be a true craft beer person to want more, but not this awesome beer from the great state of Virginia! This beer may have just become my favorite beer and that is saying something when I rarely get the same beer twice! 

I will definitely pick up another 6 pack next time I throw some steaks on the grill and I suggest you do the same! 

Happy reading and Cheers! 

(spread the word!)