Wednesday, September 13, 2006
100 To Go!!
Today's title is a giveaway, as I've gotten through 265 beers for this year and now have only 100 to go. It's been a while since the last update, and I haven't had as many new beers as I wanted over the last week, thus diminishing my lead a bit.
I went to numerous Mets games but didn't even have 1 beer, because I refuse to pay that price for crap.
On the brighter side of things, my local Stop & Shop is now carrying a small selection of decent beer. I was surprised to find yesterday that they had bottles of Duvel, Hennepin, Ommegang Abbey, Chimay, Schneider Weiss, Samuel Smith... and maybe a few others I dont remember. It's a good sign indeed, and my guess is they're taking a page out of the Whole Foods/Trader Joe book.
So do you want some beer notes? I thought so...
261) Youngs Old Nick - This is a barley wine from England. Of all the barley wines I've had I would say this ranks somewhere in the middle. The pour is a dark red brown with a thin head atop. On the aroma we get malt along with hints of raisins and toffee. The flavor is sweet with a tinge of alcohol in there. Finishes with a slightly bitter bite.
262) Struise Witte - A Belgian witbier, and apparently one of the top rated in the world. But I wasn't really feeling it. Maybe I need to re-rate this one? But it just didn't have the backbone of a Hoegaarden, Allagash White, or the Millstream. Aroma had faint hints of peaches and grapefruits. The body was thin as a wisp and it went down like water. I have 2 other bottles of this and I'm hoping this review will prove to be way off after having the next one.
263) Magic Hat Hocus Pocus - Picked up a 6 pack of Magic Hat on the way to watch the first Giants game at my friend's apartment. It was missing one so I swiped this from another sixer to make a full. This is an American wheat beer. No bitterness at all really. Slight citrusy taste. Good for summer but I would have preferred an Oktoberfest to go with my football.
264) Magic Hat Circus Boy - Labelled as a hefeweizen but it doesn't taste like one. Now reading the notes on Rate Beer, it is brewed with a lot of lemongrass, thus deviating from the classic hefeweizen recipe. Like the above I just drank it from the bottle. Mostly a lemon and grainy flavor.
265) Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA - Had this one last night. One of the so-called "Extreme Beers." Weighs in at a whopping 21% alc. by vol. As per the brewer's notes: "Brewed to a colossal 45°P, boiled for a full 2 hours while being continually hopped with high alpha American hops, dry-hopped every day in the fermenter for a month, and aged for a month on whole leaf hops". 120 IBUs. The pour is that gold/caramel color you see below. The aroma is sweet with the sugar and alcohol pretty much attacking your nose. Not much evidence of hops. Flavor profile is again also sugar and alcohol. The 21% is well hidden... but the malt seems to be completely smothering the hops. Its unbalanced and I'm guessing it gets such a high score because of the alcohol content. Like when U2 puts out an album they get an automatic 4 stars just because its U2. The mouthfeel on this one is definitely full bodied. As heavy as they come. I'd rather have a better imperial IPA at 10ish % than this anytime. Overrated.
That's where we stand now... 100 left to go, 109 days left in the year.
Tonight Sly Fox makes their NYC debut at the Collins Bar. They plan on bringing in a ton of their beers, though I think I'll just stay for 1 or 2 and head home. Thursday Big Daddy Cal and I are hitting up Copperfields and I'll add another couple there. Stay tuned.
I went to numerous Mets games but didn't even have 1 beer, because I refuse to pay that price for crap.
On the brighter side of things, my local Stop & Shop is now carrying a small selection of decent beer. I was surprised to find yesterday that they had bottles of Duvel, Hennepin, Ommegang Abbey, Chimay, Schneider Weiss, Samuel Smith... and maybe a few others I dont remember. It's a good sign indeed, and my guess is they're taking a page out of the Whole Foods/Trader Joe book.
So do you want some beer notes? I thought so...
261) Youngs Old Nick - This is a barley wine from England. Of all the barley wines I've had I would say this ranks somewhere in the middle. The pour is a dark red brown with a thin head atop. On the aroma we get malt along with hints of raisins and toffee. The flavor is sweet with a tinge of alcohol in there. Finishes with a slightly bitter bite.
262) Struise Witte - A Belgian witbier, and apparently one of the top rated in the world. But I wasn't really feeling it. Maybe I need to re-rate this one? But it just didn't have the backbone of a Hoegaarden, Allagash White, or the Millstream. Aroma had faint hints of peaches and grapefruits. The body was thin as a wisp and it went down like water. I have 2 other bottles of this and I'm hoping this review will prove to be way off after having the next one.
263) Magic Hat Hocus Pocus - Picked up a 6 pack of Magic Hat on the way to watch the first Giants game at my friend's apartment. It was missing one so I swiped this from another sixer to make a full. This is an American wheat beer. No bitterness at all really. Slight citrusy taste. Good for summer but I would have preferred an Oktoberfest to go with my football.
264) Magic Hat Circus Boy - Labelled as a hefeweizen but it doesn't taste like one. Now reading the notes on Rate Beer, it is brewed with a lot of lemongrass, thus deviating from the classic hefeweizen recipe. Like the above I just drank it from the bottle. Mostly a lemon and grainy flavor.
265) Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA - Had this one last night. One of the so-called "Extreme Beers." Weighs in at a whopping 21% alc. by vol. As per the brewer's notes: "Brewed to a colossal 45°P, boiled for a full 2 hours while being continually hopped with high alpha American hops, dry-hopped every day in the fermenter for a month, and aged for a month on whole leaf hops". 120 IBUs. The pour is that gold/caramel color you see below. The aroma is sweet with the sugar and alcohol pretty much attacking your nose. Not much evidence of hops. Flavor profile is again also sugar and alcohol. The 21% is well hidden... but the malt seems to be completely smothering the hops. Its unbalanced and I'm guessing it gets such a high score because of the alcohol content. Like when U2 puts out an album they get an automatic 4 stars just because its U2. The mouthfeel on this one is definitely full bodied. As heavy as they come. I'd rather have a better imperial IPA at 10ish % than this anytime. Overrated.
That's where we stand now... 100 left to go, 109 days left in the year.
Tonight Sly Fox makes their NYC debut at the Collins Bar. They plan on bringing in a ton of their beers, though I think I'll just stay for 1 or 2 and head home. Thursday Big Daddy Cal and I are hitting up Copperfields and I'll add another couple there. Stay tuned.
# posted by Nick @ 12:03 PM 
Comments:
<< Home
What year was the 120min? I've heard (and experienced) that the older ones have a real problem with the hop flavor "breaking down" and all you're left with is the malt
# posted by 
: 1:31 PM
: 1:31 PM
Greg,
I can't remember seeing what year it was labeled as on the bottle, if it even was. I know I bought the bottle earlier this year, but that doesn't really mean anything.
Many of the top reviews of this beer mention the hop flavors so perhaps I had an older bottle.
The cap was flourescent green if that tells you anything.
Post a Comment
I can't remember seeing what year it was labeled as on the bottle, if it even was. I know I bought the bottle earlier this year, but that doesn't really mean anything.
Many of the top reviews of this beer mention the hop flavors so perhaps I had an older bottle.
The cap was flourescent green if that tells you anything.
<< Home
