The Session No. 89 Announcement

In the words of Captain Barbosa in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, I've fulfilled my vow. At least, I've partially fulfilled it. I've come back to help get the ball rolling on the next edition of the Session. If you haven't yet had a chance to take in any of the posts from the most recent series of Session posts there is still plenty of time to read-up on the literature that was created just last week. Boak and Bailey hosted the June edition with the topic being beer mixing. You can see the round-up post right here.

When I posted on a more consistent basis I tried to incorporate history in as many posts as I could. I love history. There's just something about it. It's fun. It's interesting. It even gives me goosebumps. So, I only saw it to be fitting that I choose the topic of Beer in History.

Even better is the fact that the summer time is the main period of the calendar year that I absolutely delve into history. We just passed the 70th anniversary of the Invasion of Normandy (Many of you know it as D-Day or Operation Overlord). The latter portions of June mark the beginning of the Gettysburg campaign which culminates on July 3. The following date is obviously the Fourth of July here in the states.

At many points in history you can look back and find alcohol intertwined. A lot of times that form of alcohol is beer. Beer is something that connects us with the past, our forefathers as well as some of our ancestors. I want this topic to be a really open-ended one. So, it should be fairly easy to come up with something and participate.

If you were among any readers I had when I posted most of the time you have a very good idea of where I might be going with my post when the time comes. The same doesn't apply to you. Do you want to write about an important beer event with great historical significance? Famous figures that were brewers? Have you visited an establishment that has some awesome historic value? Maybe a historically-themed brewpub? I wouldn't be surprised to even see a few posts on Prohibition. It doesn't really matter when it comes to history!

So, we have just under a month. Friday July 4 is the date I will look forward to reading all of your posts on the topic of Beer in History. Just leave your post here in the comment section or you can hit me up on Twitter @billkostkas. I'm also aiming to have the round-up post finished by that following Monday. See you on the Fourth!

That Beer Looks Milky

Want to know something odd about me? Here it goes. I hate milk. I can honestly say I haven't had a single sip of milk in over a decade. Prior to that, instances of me consuming the beverage are also rare. My mother always told me that I sometimes spit it up as an infant. I probably had more sips of my dad's beer as a kid than I have had of milk in the last ten years.

That leads to the question I usually get after I tell someone that fact of information. Want to know something even odder? I haven't ever broken a bone. I knocked on wood as I typed that.

"Well, where do you get your source of calcium?"

I don't know. Possibly cheese? Something I didn't know was that chocolate milk was a popular post-workout drink. According to this article/blog post I found, beer might be an even better option for after a workout.

That's an awesome idea for a beer lover, but I'm not so sure I'm about to ingest a beer after I do an hour of cardio. Let me know how you feel if any of you decide to try it, though. I've always used beer (sometimes more than one) on Friday and Saturday evenings to reward myself for a week's worth of workouts. I guess that's kind of the same thing. I just can't wrap my head around beer as soon as I'm done at the gym.

 

Beer Review: Atwater Vanilla Java Porter

Serving Type: Draft/Growler

ABV: Six percent

Appearance: Atwater Vanilla Java Porter is a tad lighter when it comes to porters, which are almost exclusively black. By lighter I'm still talking in a darker connotation. This brew was pretty much a dark brown. If I took some dark chocolate and melted it down the finished product should be something close to this color.The head of the beer wasn't too active. There was a very thin layer, but it did feature some of the biggest bubbles I've seen in a beer.

Smell: The aroma kind of reminded me of an upscale coffee shop. I noticed a few hints of coffee roast with some vanilla sneaking in behind it. Overall, the smell is in the dark and roasty category. The vanilla plays the role of a nice kicker.

Taste: Expect a rush of coffee up front and an above'average finish with the vanilla. I also got an unexpected touch of cocoa mixed in there with the vanilla sensation. In terms of mouth feel I was kind of disappointed in that regard. I expected this from the sight of the brew's head, but it does indeed not feel as thick as I'd want it to be. As us geeks like to say "we like a porter/stout that we can chew."

Overall Rating: 

There's a good use of flavors in this beer. Usually you get a dark brew that has either a combination of coffee/cocoa or coffee/vanilla. This one provides you with all three. The two small misses for me was the lack of head activity and the weak mouth feel. Still, I'd be happy with another growler of this. Reminded me, albeit slightly, of Breckenridge Vanilla Porter.

Beer Review: Shiner Bohemian Black Lager

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: 4.9 percent

Appearance: Bohemian Black Lager appears as if it's straight black, but if you take a closer look it's closer to more of a very dark brown. The head of the brew is about as thick as half of one of your fingers. The color is a little past beige, but looks most like a light brown. It has above-average retention and will leave a foamy thin layer as you progress through the drink. There is carbonation present, but it provides an interesting visual. The body of the beer is dark to the point that any of the carbonation bubbles are visible within a half-inch of the head.

Smell: The best way to describe the aroma of this brew is very dark and very roasty. A slight hint of dark coffee is also present.

Taste: Once again the dominant flavors are ones that are dark and roasted. The coffee especially translates to the tongue well. There is also a slightly bitter hop character on the finish. An interesting note on this beer is the fact that it looks thick and heavy like a stout or a dark porter, but on the tongue it tastes and feels much lighter.

Overall Rating: 

Spoetzl Brewery and I got off to a bad start when I first had Shiner Bock, but I've had a few pleasant experiences since with Wild Hare Pale Ale and this Bohemian Black Lager. Surprisingly this tasted and seemed lighter, which was a surprise (albeit a positive one). This would have went well with a nice steak or another similar meat.

Monday Rant: Sober January

#soberjanuary is all too real. Worst day we've had since we've been open.
— Brews on Carson (@BrewsOnCarson) January 16, 2013

That tweet above is pretty much the inspiration for this post. I've only ever heard of another human being participating in "Sober January" when my girlfriend took me to a holiday party at the home of her mother's friend just before New Years. For this couple, it was apparently customary to abstain from consuming alcoholic beverages throughout the first month of each year.

Now I'm only assuming this, but something tells me this has something to do with the throngs of New Years resolutionists that clog up our local health clubs. I guess that it's quite possible to want to work out and cut out alcohol altogether.

What I'm here to say is that I'm living proof that you can still drink occasionally and still lose up to 30 pounds! I was one of those resolutionists that joined a gym (I know I beat this like a dead horse) last year. I've stuck to it and renewed for another year. I know everyone's body reacts to things differently, but I feel that a few big keys for me was cutting out products loaded with sugar and not eating a lot after I've had a few drinks.

I also understand that some people out there would do something like this to remind themselves that they're still in control. That's perfectly fine. I do the same for Lent since I'm Catholic and a terrible one at that.

Beer Review: 21st Amendment Hell or High Watermelon

Serving Type: Can

ABV: 4.9 percent

Appearance: Hell or High Watermelon pours a nice-looking straw yellow. The body has a slight haze to it, but nowhere near the cloudiness you'd expect in a wheat beer. The head had a decent thickness for the first few minutes, but disappeared about a third of the way through the drink. There was also a bit of carbonation in terms of bubbles dancing towards the top, but I really had to peer in close to notice the ones that were there.

Smell: I did pick up a few hints of yeast and citrus, which I decided was most likely lemon. We finally found the right highway exit towards wheat beer city. Unfortunately I couldn't get any scent of watermelon. Then again, I've never smelled watermelon in a beer before.

Taste: The beer is initially sweet, but with a few zesty citrus notes. The yeast and wheat content of the beer are somewhat weak in this department. The sweetness in this is most likely from the watermelon. Altogether, everything did seem somewhat weaker than I'd prefer it to be. A plus is the fact that this did have an above-average mouth feel in terms of carbonation bubbles inside the mouth.

Overall Rating:  

Overall, this beer was just different for me. I've had good experiences with 21st Amendment Brewery before and I appreciate the notion of going out on a limb with a watermelon beer (I haven't come across many of these). It was just too weak in terms of scent and flavor for me. Aside from that, this is definitely one of my favorite can/bottle labels!

Monday Rant: Feels Like Progress

It wasn't that long ago in Pennsylvania that I couldn't have solved my predicament on Sunday prior to heading downtown for the Pittsburgh Steelers and San Diego Chargers game. There were times that some local beer distributors weren't open at all nor could you get beer at a place that wasn't a six pack shop or a distributor.

I know this state isn't yet at where we all wish it was in terms of liquor laws, but it certainly feels like progress. It was my responsibility to grab a small pack of beer to enable our tailgate to have a beer or two each before heading into the stadium.

My predicament was that I was planning on being on my way downtown by around 9:30 a.m. This would be before most distributors and six pack shops are open in the morning. At least, the ones to my knowledge wouldn't have been open for business by that time. Thankfully, we now sell an assortment of beers in select Giant Eagles throughout state.

I'm not sure Pennsylvania will ever me on par with many other states in the union in the distant future, but this is certainly a few steps forward from what it used to be.

Such Important Issues

I was leaning towards doing a small write-up concerning sandwiches paired with certain beers, but over the past two weeks I've kept seeing the Charlie Papazian "Do You Care Who Makes Your Beer?" polls/articles/tweets. I figured that the subject would hold much more importance over beer consumed with few sandwiches. In case you're really interested in what I was going to initially write about, you can head on over to CraftBeer.com to see my inspiration for what I originally wanted to write.

My only mission is finding good beer.

I've also constantly seen a lot of bickering over the purchase of Goose Island through various social media entities. While, I don't know all of the details to involve myself in such an argument, I will share the Papazian article (with a link to his semi-annual poll) I came across to spread word of this.

It all does come off as a pretty important issue. We've seen some local breweries be purchased by the big American major companies i.e. Latrobe Brewing (I know a Canadian company bought it in the 1980's, but you get my point). So, we have a gist in this area of the issue of who actually brews our beer.

I do care who makes my beer - to an extent. I am partial to some breweries and that includes some local ones due to the fact that I'm proud to be from this area and I want them to do well. On the other hand, beers like Leinenkugel Sunset Wheat and Hoegaarden were some of my favorite beers during my transition of typical beers you come across on college campuses. Those were gateway beers, so to speak, before I found more craft-like offerings and I still hold them in high affinity.

I do realize that they are owned by some of the American majors in some form, but those beers are still part of my story as a fan of beer and if you know me I'm not one that believes we should erase/forget history.

Again, I'm not an expert on beer economics, but I sometimes lose sight on what this craft beer fight is for. Isn't it just a pursuit of great beer? At least that's what I thought it was. I agree, that most of the beers the big companies make are produced for just the sake of mass production and not quality, but I sometimes enjoy trying their seasonal offerings just to check things out.

Sometimes I get a good laugh because I know that the company exists strictly for putting a product out there (regardless of it's quality) and bringing in money. Sadly, there are just bland beers out there like Bud Light and Coors Light, etc. Even worse is the fact that they somehow sell like hotcakes. Then again it's still possible to find a beer you enjoy and have it made/owned by one of these dominant companies. If you ask me, this will be one of those battles that will never end. Many views out there could be different than my take, but this is just how I see it.

I originally intended this post to just be a few paragraphs, but it ended up pouring out onto the page like this. Much apologies. Thanks if you actually spent time reading until this point.

Monday Rant: Beer Metallica

There was a good piece in Craft Pittsburgh Magazine in its latest issue about how having to expand into canning, bottling and new buildings are all great problems to have for a few local breweries. Two of the brewing companies mentioned in this feature were North Country Brewing in Slippery Rock (which provided me with my very first taste of microbrews while in college) and Rivertowne in Export. Both places are in the beginnings of starting to can some of their beer.

In my mind, the fact remains that this is a great thing for these companies on our local scene. There's more beer to be purchased out on the market and we now can enjoy some of these brews in the comfort of our own homes instead of physically going to the pubs of these companies like we had to previously.

I have a grandmother that can't get over how picky I am sometimes at the dinner table. We're a Slovak family and that shows in our holiday gatherings as the meals are very ethnic. Let's just say I only eat half of what's actually served for dinner on Christmas Eve.

The same can be said for other aspects of my life. When it comes to beer I'm picky about how it's served. I don't really prefer beer from a can as I can easily distinguish some type of metallic taste that seems to settle in the beer.

Some craft breweries are going to can their beer whether I like it or not. So, this is just going to be something I have to get over. Still, I'm excited to have a chance to purchase some beer that I couldn't do previously.

Beer Review: Uinta Oak Jack Imperial Pumpkin (2012)

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: 10.3 percent

Appearance: Oak Jacked Imperial (there's that word again) Pumpkin pours a deep and dark ruby red and has a strong sense of thickness to it. the head is thick, frothy and is an off-white color. The best way to describe it is as a cream color. It will leave a ton of ample lacing on the inside of your glass.

Smell: I noticed some ginger and cinnamon in the aroma of this brew as well as some notes of pumpkin and graham cracker, but I'm sure you can guess what was really noticeable. Yes, the oak and booze. For however long this beer was aged in barrels, it really took on the characteristics of said barrel. Those two flavors are very pungent.

Taste: All of the flavors mesh sort of well together. The ginger, cinnamon, pumpkin and graham cracker hints give off an essence of pumpkin pie. The oak and booziness of this beer was just a little too overpowering for me. As the beer warmed those two flavors made it a bit of a struggle. That doesn't take away from the pleasant experience this one provided up until that point, though.

Overall Rating: 

I've never been the world's biggest fan of oak aged beers even though that's the next big thing in the craft beer movement. Sometimes the essence of oak, bourbon and alcohol that gets  soaked up by these beers becomes a bit too powerful for my taste buds. It's calmer as the beer is first opened and the slight presence of that flavor is actually enjoyable for me, but as it warms that flavor takes over the beer.

Beer Review: Dogfish Head Punkin Ale (2012)

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: Seven percent

Appearance: Dogfish Head Punkin Ale pours what looks like to be a peachy color. I picked up both reddish and brownish highlights throughout the body. The beer's head is an off-white and can almost be described as an ivory. It's well-carbonated as evident by the mass amount of bubbles rushing towards the crown of the beer. You will find plenty of lacing that completely encircles the glass as you consume this.

Smell: The fist thing I noticed in this beer's aroma is its tangy hop character. I also got a decent amount of sweet brown sugar, which seemed to be the dominant characteristic throughout. There was also some spicy nutmeg along with some vanilla. I can't forget the tiny bit of pumpkin that was in there as well.

Taste: I got whacked with a ton of sweet brown sugar and pumpkin at first. This tasted amazing. Enjoy those two flavors because the spiciness of the nutmeg takes over immediately and lingers with the hop notes for a long, and I mean a long after taste. If I had it my way, I'd prefer the spices and hops to be a little less dominant.

Overall Rating: 

I only have one complaint with this beer and that's the strength of the hops and spice. Together they're just a tad too strong. I actually think they're a bit more dominant than last year. I feel that the brown sugar and pumpkin are the two best flavors in this beer (it was sweeter last year). Still, we can't blame Dogfish for being experimental as they are known to be. This still remains as one of the top pumpkin ales on my list to buy each season.

Monday Rant: Loose Speech

A few weeks ago I received a text from my girlfriend (whom is quite beer illiterate and admits this) that asked "what does the word imperial mean when referring to a beer?"

I've never claimed to be any form of a beer expert, but I actually had to consult my Oxford Companion to Beer for the answer to this due to seeing the word "Imperial" thrown onto just about every other beer name out there. Otherwise, you'd think it would come to you a lot quicker since you've drank plenty of beers coined as "Imperial."

After finding the entry in my Oxford Companion, I simply replied that it means that a beer named as such is intended to be set apart and bolder than others of the same type.

That night I went on thinking about (over a few beers, of course) how that enables anyone, even homebrewers that name their beers, to tell others that their brew is an "Imperial." I thought more of this subject yesterday after coming across something referring to an Imperial Pilsner. Something I've never heard of.

When i used to think of an Imperial, the first thinks to my head were darker brews such as stouts and porters. Some darker pumpkin beers could also be included. Now, it seems as if it's just a loose terms casually thrown around as a marketing ploy. Though, I could be wrong.

If an Imperial beer means that it's just bolder and set apart from its brethren then the circle of anything by said name is limitless. Is it not?

 

Beer Review: Southern Tier Creme Brulee

Serving Type: Draft

ABV: 9.6 percent

Appearance: Southern Tier Creme Brulee pours a thick black. Just straight black. I couldn't pick up any other highlights such as a brown or red within the body. It looks like something you can chew. It's head provides an inch thickness, is more fizzy than thick and is an attractive shade of beige.

Smell: This beer smelled like some sort of an epic dessert. Good thing I had it after my meal. Vanilla is the most dominant aroma. Caramel and chocolate hints followed that up. Overall, the three aromas are extremely sweet.

Taste: Amazingly sweet. I can do sweet, but not too much of it. This has a ton. As it warms, it just becomes too much for me. That doesn't mean it's the beer. I'm like that with anything. Otherwise, the vanilla and chocolate are prominent on the front. There's also something roasty about this brew's flavor. I'm not entirely sure if it was a dark chocolate or coffee taste that was hidden somewhere in there. The darkness in flavor is almost a welcoming feeling. You're not completely consumed in sugary sweetness.

Overall Rating: 

This is a really complex beer. If you can handle the sweetness, I suggest you try it. If you've got a sweet tooth this could be right up your alley. Milk Stouts are definitely something I'm looking into exploring a bit more.