Lost in the Beer Aisle

Rising Tide Spinnaker

Lost — Wed, 22 May 2013 20:24:51 +0000

Today’s beer review is Rising Tide Spinnaker. I picked this bottle up while in Portland a couple of weekends ago. I love almost all the beers that Rising Tide have done, especially Zephyr.

The Spinnaker is a very drinkable 4.5% ABV hefeweizen. It pours a light, but cloudy dirty blonde color…virtually no head. It’s quite effervescent *hic*. It’s been ages since my last hefeweizen review and I’m sad I haven’t come back to the style sooner; it’s perfect for these muggy early summer days we have been having in New England.

As for flavors, the Spinnaker brings a ton of action: citrus, spice, bready notes and a hint of banana just to name a few. It’s one of the more complex hefes I can recall having.

And it’s damn tasty! Thanks again Rising Tide.

-Lost

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Mystic Mary of the Gael

Lost — Tue, 21 May 2013 22:45:41 +0000

If you’re keeping up with me, you know that I’ve had horrific performance problems with the website. I believe that I have the great majority of those issues worked out (thank God). Now I’m on to my other new issue: website hits. In the last 3 months, my visitor count has dramatically decreased. I mean…like 66% drop-off. What. The. Fudge?

Around the time the drop-off happened, I actually started doing something different with my posts (adding meta info). I previously did not do so, and I thought it would help my horrific click-through rate for Google searches. Is it possible that by adding meta descriptions I have actually caused a negative turn in Google hits???

If the downward trend continues for the summer, I’ll have no choice but to seek professional help. After I’m done with said therapist, I’ll go in search of paid SEO help too. If any of my readers are SEO masters and would like to help, please let me know!

*cue massive amounts of SPAM mail from companies that provide SEO analysis*

But I can just sit here wondering if more than four people will read this post, so I’m on to tonight’s beverage of choice: Mystic Mary of the Gael. This beer is a spring saison registering at 6.7% ABV. Thank God it’s not higher; I haven’t had dinner yet!

Note that the bottle is marked “batch number 001″ in black handwritten marker. Very cool. I always wonder if I should be keeping these bottles. In 100 years, the crap you just throw away now will be the most valuable collectables. Alas, I have no room for a collection of #001 bottles anyway.

I digress. Back in beerville, the Mary of the Gael is quite tasty. Recall that I’m not a huge fan of peppery saisons – this beer has none of that peppery crap. Instead, it brings a heavy Belgiany spice mixed with coriander. Also present are strong citrus notes. If you fear “the bitter”, this might be the brew for you; very little hop action.

In closing, I’d like to warn you about the ridiculous head on Mary. Watch out or she’ll overflow on ya!

-Lost

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Magic Hat HiCu

Lost — Mon, 20 May 2013 00:25:58 +0000

This past week I received my quarterly dose of free beer from Magic Hat. The beers received were:

Elder Betty – In it’s new can!
Blind Faith
And a new beer I’ve never tried: Magic Hat HiCu.

I enjoyed the blind faith this afternoon and the Elder Betty on Saturday a
(while in the shower).

So tonight I’m downing this HiCu. The first thing to note is the aroma – the hibiscus that is in the beer is abundant here and makes the beer smell like a flower. The hibiscus is predominant in the flavor, mixed with cucumber. Although unique, cucumber is frankly a little weird in my beer.

4.2% ABV puts this brew into the “session” category, however given the flavor profile you won’t find me putting down this in any volume. Herbed beers just aren’t my thing.

-Lost

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Widmer Brothers Hopside Down IPA

Silvio — Sat, 18 May 2013 21:51:04 +0000

Wifey’s visiting family this weekend, so I’m in full guy-weekend mode. That means not shaving, lounging around in my pjs, doing yard work, catching up on DVR, and checking out the new Star Trek flick with friends tonight. I know, quite the raging good time.

I’ve got some time before heading out for the movie, so I’m pre-gaming with Widmer Brothers’ Hopside Down IPA. It’s the second release in their 2013 Rotator IPA series, and is available from April to September of this year. It pours out a crystal-clear golden color, with just a touch of light foam, and the aroma has lots of floral notes.

This is definitely more of a stanky-tasting hoppy brew than any other kind of IPA. The first sip is very crisp and dry, full of pine notes and a lot of bitterness. I didn’t get much in the way of malts, but the piney notes transition into an indistinct citrus through the middle. Hopside Down finishes with a long bitter note, but without the heavy mouthfeel of many stanky IPAs.

Overall, this is a pretty good brew, and ideal for the hot summer months. The 6.7% ABV and crispness means it won’t be too heavy for a barbecue, and it’s got just enough hops punch to remind you Hopside is an IPA and not a pale ale.

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Marshall Wharf Cant Dog

Lost — Sat, 18 May 2013 02:22:01 +0000

This past weekend while in Portland, ME I picked up a four-pack of Marshall Wharf Cant Dog. Although I hadn’t tried it before, I had heard absolutely great things about it, so I gambled by buying more than one bottle.

This 9.7% ABV Imperial IPA comes in an awesome tall-boy can. Yay for more craft beer in cans!

At first sip I’m actually not sure I liked it. The hop character is intense and it took some time for my pallet to adjust. By the time I was half way through the can, I was really starting to enjoy it. The flavors are all citrus: grapefruit, pineapple and other tropical notes. There is a sweetish tangerine finish too. Still, this is absolutely not intended for the novice craft beer drinker. This one will melt your face off with hops. On the other hand, if you’re an experienced hop-head, this is your dream come true.

Sadly, this brew is available in Maine only (for the moment). It’s also only available in limited quantities; at the time of writing this the brewers only make 200 gallons a week.

-Lost

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Jack’s Abby Barrel-Aged Framinghammer with Vanilla Beans

Lost — Wed, 15 May 2013 22:32:34 +0000

A couple of weekends ago I did something I almost never do: I stood in line to buy rare beer. Generally speaking, I have an philosophical issue with limited quantity beers; I won’t go down that rat hole right now. This particular event celebrated the release of two barrel-aged beers brewed by Jack’s Abby in collaboration with Julio’s Liquors.

Both beers used Jack’s Abby Barrel-Aged Framinghammer Baltic Porter as a base. Julio’s contributed the bourbon barrels. The two beers were:

Jack’s Abby Barrel-Aged Framinghammer with Vanilla Beans
Jack’s Abby Barrel-Aged Framinghammer with Barismo Coffee

And they are FAN-FOOKING-TASTIC!

Tonight I’m finishing off my bottle of the Vanilla Bean variant, my favorite of the two. Although super dark and more suited for the winter months, I find myself sucking this stuff down like water. There is a wonderful mix of flavor going on: bourbon, oak, and booze up front followed by sweet melted sugar and the strongest vanilla taste I can recall having in a beer.

Another absolute home run from Jack’s Abby.

Jack’s has been climbing my list of favorite breweries and frankly, this beer just vaulted them into my top-5 for the country and probably #1 for Massachusetts. As I close in on 1000 beers reviewed on LIBA, that says a lot!

The brewery sold out of these beers in a single afternoon. The other half of the supply, which was given to Julio’s, sold out in the afternoon I attended the event. In this instance, the reason for the “limitedness” didn’t offend me as the guys over at Jack’s Abby had no clue that the beer was going to be this popular.

The brewery has plans to produce the beer in quantity in the future.

-Lost

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The day the Bruins made me cry

Lost — Tue, 14 May 2013 23:30:34 +0000

Photo Courtesy Bleacherreport.com

Down 4-1 in the 3rd period of game 7 of the first round of the playoffs, all of Bruin’s nation was sure the season was over. I myself was pouting; when Toronto made it was 3-1 I said out loud “dagger”. When Toronto made it 4-1, I said “death sentence”. With roughly 11 minutes remaining in the 3rd period, the end of disappointing season was seemingly unavoidable for the Bs.

And then a glimmer of hope – a Bruins goal by Nathan Horton, leaving the Bruins down 4-2. I said, again out loud and to no one in particular, “that’s one”. Time left: 10:42. Time ticked away. With two minutes left, the Bruins pulled their goalie, giving their offense another body. Desperation time.

With 1:22 left on the clock, Milan Lucic brought the Bs one goal closer. “Let’s do this”, my voice raising.

Only 31 seconds later, the Bruins made history. With the goalie still pulled, Patrice Bergeron scored the tying goal and the Bs became the only team in history to come back from a 3 goal deficit in the 3rd period of a game 7 playoff. “THEY DID IT! I CAN’T BELIEVE THEY DID IT” I screamed as I leaped from the couch, threw myself on the living room floor and pounded at the rug with both fists.

The Bruins went on to win the game in overtime on another Bergeron goal. I cried. I’m tearing up now just writing about it. From “season over” to “impossible win” in a matter of minutes. Emotional. Rollercoaster.

This isn’t a typical Lost in the Beer Aisle post, but last night was no typical night. The Boston Bruins pulled off a feat that no other team in history has managed…

Adam Vinatieri’s game winning Superbowl 36 field goal, pushing the Patriots past the Rams…

Dave Robert’s steal of second base in game 4 of the 2004 ALCS series, the beginning of a one-of-a-kind miracle Redsox comeback…

Where were you when the Bruin’s did the impossible?

-Lost

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Stillwater Existent

Lost — Mon, 13 May 2013 22:12:58 +0000

Tonight is Bruins Game 7 versus the Toronto Maple Leafs. I don’t have high hopes for the game, as the Bruins have suuuuucked the last two games. I figured I would bang out a quick review out before the game started and I got too distracted.

Last week I talked about sharing some beer with friends Adam and Elina. In the same sitting I also tried a bottle of Stillwater Existent. The 7.4% ABV brew, which is a saison style beer, is a complete enigma to me. It pours a dark brown color, which is completely atypical for the style. Further confusing the situation, I could detect none of the flavors I would expect with a beer of this color – no dark malts, no roasted flavor, nothing.

Neither Adam nor I thought it was all that great. Not bad, just “meh”. Bonus points for being a unique one though!

-Lost

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Bull Jagger Portland Lager

Lost — Sun, 12 May 2013 23:20:26 +0000

This weekend was spent in Portland, Me. I had a ton of great beer, however almost all of it was “off the record” as I was “off duty” if you will. One beer I did write down some notes for was the Bull Jagger Portland Lager.

The beer is a Munich Helles Lager and is only 4.5% ABV. I had my mother-in-law try it and she said “lemony and puckery!” She is right. Up front there was a ton of sweet corn/grain flavor, followed by a tart lemon finish. Ultimately I didn’t like it a whole lot.

Apparently the brewery recently went out of business. The bottle I had was one of the few remaining. Long story short, most pointless review ever!

-Lost

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Narragansett Private Stock Imperial Bohemian Pilsner

Lost — Thu, 09 May 2013 23:18:36 +0000

Tonight was golf league night, but unfortunately it was pouring rain with thunder and lightening. The round was called off after the second hole. I had a whacky round going already: +4 on the first hole, and birdied the second hole. Although I was VERY excited to play this week, the silver lining was that I got to drink a bunch of beer in the clubhouse AND we got a rain-check for the round.

Back at the homestead, I’m drinking a bottle of Narragansett Private Stock Imperial Bohemian Pilsner. Unless you’re a new reader (or you pay absolutely no attention to the words I write), you know I’m a HUUUUUUUUUUUUGE fan of ‘Gansett’s products. That said, I really was not a huge fan of the Imperial IPA which was first in this limited series.

The 8.6% imperial pilsner isn’t knocking my socks off either. Granted, it’s not a bad beer by any means. It’s heavily hopped, but also has a strong malty backbone. You initially get a blast of floral/citrus hops, followed by a brown-sugar maltiness. The beer finishes with a harsh bitterness. Mouthfeel is thick and syrupy.

I maintain that ‘Gansett’s best stuff is their lager, their spring bock, and their summer ale.

-Lost

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