Monday, January 30, 2006
Nine Beer Weekend
Greetings once again fellow beer nuts. It is wayyyy too early on a Monday morning but what the hell.
Allow me to begin with a plug. Check out this band and be happy:
Sweetness
Now... ONTO THE BEERING!
Friday night I made some taco's. I know nothing about cooking Mexican food from scratch but I quite like the Old El Paso taco mix. Buy the "salt shaker" style container and keep it in your cabinet. You can increase or decrease the amount of the mix based on your personal preference, which is great (it says put in a 1/4 cup of mix for every pound of ground beef but I up this slightly). So what better to pair with Mexican food than Mexican beer!
37) Carta Blanca - This comes in a very bare-bones bottle. An average lager but it was refreshing with the tacos. Slightly better than a Corona.
38) Dos Equis XX Amber - This is a Vienna style lager. Most Oktoberfests are of this style. Really not that good. Just boring and one dimensional with no complexity at all.
Saturday was a big day of beer for me.
It began at around 9am that morning. I had a leftover taco for breakfast. Truly a nutritious choice.
39) Molson Golden - This was actually ok once you got past the nasty Heineken-esque odor. Smooth drinking, which is probably what they intended.
40) Abita Christmas Ale - Received as part of a monthly beer shipment, which I will write about another day. Aromas were non-existent. The write up describes all these complex holiday spices that were supposed to be on the nose but there is really nothing there. A quick check of the RateBeer reviews shows that I am not crazy or losing my sense of smell. I have 2 more of these left so I'll try again but I gotta say I've been very underwhelmed by Abita thus far. Their Turbodog brown ale is decent at best and I'm told that is their best output. Proof that just because its a microbrew doesn't always mean its going to be great.
41) Saranac Black and Tan - I've linked plenty of times to the brewery so if you need it its way down on the page someplace. This was the last bottle from that mix-pack I bought a while back. This was a stout but not a memorable version. Smooth drinking and with a caramel taste.
Had dinner later that evening at an Italian restaurant in the neighborhood which keeps changing its name every 6 months or so. I think its still the same owners though. The food wasn't anything to rave about. Why is there hardly any good food in Forest Hills? For such an upscale neighborhood the people who live here have such horrible taste or they are just complacent.
Anyways, the beer choices consisted of Peroni and the typical macros (Bud/Coors/Miller). The waiter wasn't even sure of everything they had. ATTENTION RESTAURANT OWNERS! DO A BETTER JOB WITH YOUR BEERS! At least get a bottle of something brewed locally. I ordered the Peroni which I have already had before so it doesn't count. Peroni was only on the menu because it was an Italian restaurant. I understand in most Italian and French restaurants the focus will be on the wine but still... At least pretend to care or don't carry any beer at all. This will be the topic for an article another day.
Finally for a Saturday nightcap:
42) Orval - An amazing Trappist beer. Pours a deep, cloudy orange. Aromas are grassy with a hint of cloves. Complex and full bodied with all kinds of dark fruit flavors.
Sunday was another day of heavy drinking:
43) Hofbräu München Original - Surprisingly I have never had anything other than their Oktoberfest. I quite enjoyed this. It was very refreshing with a nice grainy malt taste. Pleasant, clean aromas as well.
44) Flying Dog Snake Dog IPA - One dimensional yet very enjoyable IPA. Fruity hop flavors and that's all, but I liked it nonetheless.
And with dinner...
45) Molson XXX - See above for link to Molson. Nasty malt liquor. Actually, as disgusting as malt liquor can be, this was probably one of the least offensive. And no I didn't put the bottle in a brown bag.
I am currently way ahead of the game here. 45 beers down with 320 to go. I am now about 2 weeks ahead of schedule. Maybe I should slow it down for the sake of suspense?
Nah...
Allow me to begin with a plug. Check out this band and be happy:
Sweetness
Now... ONTO THE BEERING!
Friday night I made some taco's. I know nothing about cooking Mexican food from scratch but I quite like the Old El Paso taco mix. Buy the "salt shaker" style container and keep it in your cabinet. You can increase or decrease the amount of the mix based on your personal preference, which is great (it says put in a 1/4 cup of mix for every pound of ground beef but I up this slightly). So what better to pair with Mexican food than Mexican beer!
37) Carta Blanca - This comes in a very bare-bones bottle. An average lager but it was refreshing with the tacos. Slightly better than a Corona.
38) Dos Equis XX Amber - This is a Vienna style lager. Most Oktoberfests are of this style. Really not that good. Just boring and one dimensional with no complexity at all.
Saturday was a big day of beer for me.
It began at around 9am that morning. I had a leftover taco for breakfast. Truly a nutritious choice.
39) Molson Golden - This was actually ok once you got past the nasty Heineken-esque odor. Smooth drinking, which is probably what they intended.
40) Abita Christmas Ale - Received as part of a monthly beer shipment, which I will write about another day. Aromas were non-existent. The write up describes all these complex holiday spices that were supposed to be on the nose but there is really nothing there. A quick check of the RateBeer reviews shows that I am not crazy or losing my sense of smell. I have 2 more of these left so I'll try again but I gotta say I've been very underwhelmed by Abita thus far. Their Turbodog brown ale is decent at best and I'm told that is their best output. Proof that just because its a microbrew doesn't always mean its going to be great.
41) Saranac Black and Tan - I've linked plenty of times to the brewery so if you need it its way down on the page someplace. This was the last bottle from that mix-pack I bought a while back. This was a stout but not a memorable version. Smooth drinking and with a caramel taste.
Had dinner later that evening at an Italian restaurant in the neighborhood which keeps changing its name every 6 months or so. I think its still the same owners though. The food wasn't anything to rave about. Why is there hardly any good food in Forest Hills? For such an upscale neighborhood the people who live here have such horrible taste or they are just complacent.
Anyways, the beer choices consisted of Peroni and the typical macros (Bud/Coors/Miller). The waiter wasn't even sure of everything they had. ATTENTION RESTAURANT OWNERS! DO A BETTER JOB WITH YOUR BEERS! At least get a bottle of something brewed locally. I ordered the Peroni which I have already had before so it doesn't count. Peroni was only on the menu because it was an Italian restaurant. I understand in most Italian and French restaurants the focus will be on the wine but still... At least pretend to care or don't carry any beer at all. This will be the topic for an article another day.
Finally for a Saturday nightcap:
42) Orval - An amazing Trappist beer. Pours a deep, cloudy orange. Aromas are grassy with a hint of cloves. Complex and full bodied with all kinds of dark fruit flavors.
Sunday was another day of heavy drinking:
43) Hofbräu München Original - Surprisingly I have never had anything other than their Oktoberfest. I quite enjoyed this. It was very refreshing with a nice grainy malt taste. Pleasant, clean aromas as well.
44) Flying Dog Snake Dog IPA - One dimensional yet very enjoyable IPA. Fruity hop flavors and that's all, but I liked it nonetheless.
And with dinner...
45) Molson XXX - See above for link to Molson. Nasty malt liquor. Actually, as disgusting as malt liquor can be, this was probably one of the least offensive. And no I didn't put the bottle in a brown bag.
I am currently way ahead of the game here. 45 beers down with 320 to go. I am now about 2 weeks ahead of schedule. Maybe I should slow it down for the sake of suspense?
Nah...
# posted by Nick @ 8:11 AM 
