drink 43 different beers

No big build up here. Came home from my walk, drenching wet with sweat. Forgot to put my water bottles in the fridge so I grabbed a beer.

This beer is made in Thailand and I’ve had several times at this Thai place I go to. To be quite honest I wasn’t really thinking about writing anything when I slammed this bottle down in about four swigs. I’ll say this. Great with Thai noodles and super duper after walking four miles in the Missouri humidity.

Would I buy it again, yep, its yummy.

Tonight’s selection is Thunderhead India Pale Ale brewed by Pyramid Breweries which according to their web site has four full time beers and two seasonal beers all made in Washington state.

By the early 1800s the British East India Company had large amounts of troops in India protecting their investments. And what do troops like to drink? I’ve no idea but for my little story lets say they like beer. The problem, shipping beer from England to India without it spoiling. The answer to this was high hop/alcohol content. The resulting beer became know as India Pale Ale.

All of that in mind I cracked a bottle and headed for the deck. After pouring to a deep amber with a good healthly head (Unc!!) and letting it settle a bit I dove in. Right off the bat…Wow! This stuff is smooooth, like butter smooth. Like any good IPA it had a distinct hop flavor. First impression. Hey! This stuff is pretty good.

After a few more sips I noticed a slight sweet after taste on the front of my tongue. Perhaps too much of a good thing as far as the hops go? Not sure. Like most IPA this would be good with hot spicy food, bbq and the like. What am I talking about Pale Ale is good with anything. Hell, its good with nothing.

Overall, a good all around taste and one of the smoothest beers I’ve had in a while. Could do without the sweet kick at the end though. Would I buy it again? Prolly not. Would I drink it again if someone else was buying? Clear me a stool and pass the peanuts.

Disclaimer: I had this selection at around 8:00pm. I’d not had solid food since 11:30am. You do the math.

I might check this one off tonight

...this one is now done! Here’s the complete list – and I can recommend almost all of these:

1. Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Ale, Sierra Nevada, U.S. (Calif.)
2. Old Peculier, Theakston, U.K. (N. Yorks.)
3. Newcastle Brown Ale, Newcastle Breweries, U.K. (Tyne & Wear)
4. Bass, Bass (Marston’s), U.K. (Staff.)
5. Guinness Extra Stout, Guinness St. James’s Gate Breweries, Ireland
6. Stella Artois, Beck’s, Belgium
7. Shiner Kolsch, Spoetzl Brewery, U.S. (Texas)
8. O’Hara’s Irish Stout, Carlow Brewing, Ireland
9. Phin & Matt’s Extrordinary Ale, Southern Tier Brewing, U.S. (N.Y.)
10. Sam Adams Boston Lager, Boston Beer Co., U.S. (Mass.)
11. Saranac Oktoberfest Lager, Matt Brewing Co., U.S. (N.Y.)
12. Southampton Secret Ale, Southampton Publick House, U.S. (N.Y.)
13. Rogue Dead Guy Ale, Rogue Ales Brewery, U.S. (Ore.)
14. Dogtoberfest, Flying Dog Breweries, U.S. (Colo.)
15. Peroni, Peroni, Italy
16. Kronenbourg 1664, Brasseries Kronenbourg, France
17. Elephant Malt Liquor, Carlsberg Breweries, Denmark
18. Samuel Smith’s Organic Ale, Samuel Smith’s Old Brewery, U.K. (N. Yorks.)
19. Baltika Porter (#6), Baltika Breweries, Russia
20. Duvel, Brouwerij Duvel Moortgat, Belgium
21. Sierra Nevada Harvest Ale, Sierra Nevada, U.S. (Calif.)
22. Fuller’s Extra Special Bitter, Griffin Breweries (Fuller, Smith, & Turner plc), U.K. (London)
23. Mad Anthony’s American Pale Ale, Erie Brewing Co., U.S. (Penn.)
24. Railbender Ale, Erie Brewing Co., U.S. (Penn.)
25. Harviestoun Bitter & Twisted, Harviestoun (Caledonian), U.K. (Scotland)
26. Hacker-Pschorr Weisse, Hacker-Pschorr Brewery, Germany
27. Peche Lambic, Brasserie Lindemans, Belgium
28. Snow Goose Winter Ale, Wild Goose Brewery, U.S. (Maryland)
29. Backfin Ale, Clay Pipe Brewing Co., U.S. (Maryland)
30. Stone IPA, Stone Brewing Co., U.S. (Calif.)
31. Stone Pale Ale, Stone Brewing Co., U.S. (Calif.)
32. Arrogant Bastard Ale, Stone Brewing Co., U.S. (Calif.)
33. Sam Adams White Ale, Boston Beer Co., U.S. (Mass.)
34. Brooklyn Pennant Ale ‘55, Brooklyn Brewery, U.S. (N.Y.)
35. Allagash Dubbel Ale, Allagash Brewing Co., U.S. (Maine)
36. Hitachino Nest Real Ginger Brew, Kiuchi Brewery Inc., Japan
37. Chimay Ale (Chimay Red), Bieres de Chimay, Belgium
38. Moinette, Brasseries Dupont, Belgium
39. La Fin du Monde, Unibroue, Canada (Quebec)
40. Harviestoun Old Engine Oil, Harviestoun (Caledonian), U.K. (Scotland)
41. Lancaster Hop Hog IPA, Lancaster Brewing Co., U.S. (Penn.)
42. Lagunitas Censored Rich Copper Ale, Lagunitas Brewing Co., U.S. (Calif.)
43. Garde Dog Biere de Garde, Flying Dog Breweries, U.S. (Colo.)

Just reread my previous post and decided that I sounded like a wine sipping, pompous ass. Beer should be fun.

So I’m ditching the B.S star ranking system and just going to tell you what I think of the suds.

Please, forgive me and please, please don’t make me drink any Coors lite!

This first selection I picked just because I liked the name. Its brewed by the Abita Brewing Company which according to the web site is located 30 miles north of New Orleans. And was founded in 1986.

Appearance: On the web site it says that this beer may have a slight “purple haze” due to the raspberry pulp it contains. My poured to a rich gold. And yes I was somewhat disappointed. I’d never had purple beer before.

Head was light which it maintained throughout the consumption. And was a bit cloudy as any self respecting wheat beer should be. 2.5 out of 5 stars just because it wasn’t actually purple. Looks good, lets move on.

Aroma: Oddly enough, a slight whiff of raspberry. Go figure. 2 stars.

Palate : Sooth in the mouth, very thin and light. 2 stars

Flavor: Starts slightly acidic, but finishes with a little kick of the sweet raspberries. Not bad just not a lot of there, there. This is what the brew masters at Bud make at home on the weekends. 2 stars.

Overall: 2.125 on the sliding Stitch Scale. Not a bad beer. Not a great beer. Its a bit on the sweet side for my taste. It’s nice and light, would be a good beer for drinking with heavy foods, or just to sit about on the deck and drink on a hot day. Would I go out of my way to find it again? No, probaly not. I can’t get past the sweet aftertaste.

Too funny that I just achieved this goal and the next night my friend Braveheart had this one for me to sample. It was really good! Such a light hint of Orange!

We pass this brewery every few months on our way to the Owens Valley.

I used to work in a coffee house that served beer and wine. We specialized in imported beers when that was a big deal in the early eighties.

We used to make up a six pack of six different imported beers and take them to our friends Bonnie & John’s house and we’d have a tasting amongst the four of us and play Trivial Pursuit. How eighties can you get? (I wore a leotard and a wrap around Indian skirt, too…sheesh.)

I like dark beers and pale ales. A black and tan makes my night.

Can I name them all?

1) Hannen Alt (only in Germany, sigh)
2) Pilsner Urquel
3) Mississippi Mud
4) Chimay Trappiste Ale
5) Falstaff (local N. Indiana brew)
5) Mojave Red
6) St. Pauli Girl
7) Whitbread
8) Sam Adams
9) Budweiser
10) Miller Genuine Draft
11) Coors
12) Olympia
13) Heineken
14) Fat Weasel
15) Shiner Bock (recently in Texas for the first time)
16) Hamm’s
17) Pabst Blue Ribbon
18) Stroh’s
19) Dos Equis
20) Tecate (first time with lime)
21) Bass Ale
22) Guinness Stout
23) Corona
24) Beck’s
25) Foster’s Lager
26) Moosehead
27) Labatt’s (skunky and wonderful…wow, it’s been years and I need another taste!)
28) Pete’s Wicked Ale
29) Amstel
30) Molson’s
31) Asahi
32) Kirin
33) Carlsburg (oh, the Carlsburg salesman who used to come to the sports bar I worked in was so…NORDIC and fabulous!)
34) Grolsch
35) McEwan’s (oh yum)
36) Tsing Tau
37) Watney’s
38) Wurtzberger Haufbrau
39) Fischer Labelle
40) Killian’s Red
41) Newcastle Brown Ale
42) BJ’s Pirhana Pale Ale
43) Tatonka Stout

Apparently I could go on, since I’ve tasted varieties at BJ’s Brew Pub, etc.

This is over the past 25 years, you understand.

Not in one night. Though as a much younger Stitch this was tried many times.

The fact of the matter is that I hardly ever drink. (I just recently drank the last of a six pack from last years St. Patricks Day) When I do endulge, my limit is 3. But, as my art chic, ex-girlfriend was fond of saying

“life is too short to drink bad beer”

With that in mind I’ll be trying 43 different beers and recording my comments. If in fact I’m still able to sit upright.

You might be thinking… What does the attatched photo have to do with beer other than she seems to be wearing instead of drinking it.

Who cares?

Had a few of the bheers from the store I mentioned previously. The first was Hitachino Nest’s Real Ginger Brew, from Japan. The Japanese tend to go for “dry” beers – very light in their makeup – but this doesn’t qualify. It was copper and robust and malty, and the ginger taste was somewhat subtle if you went sip by sip. Hitachino Nest has a full line of bheers and now I need to taste them all.

The second was an old flame: Chimay Ale. The red one. I still recall my first Chimay, back at the Brickskeller in DC when I was in college. Oh, it’s smooth…what a decadent way to spend an evening, particularly when you’re back in college and the best you’d ordinarily have, owing to your budget, might be Budweiser. It does make an impression on a young lad, and still does, now that “young lad” no longer applies. I would recommend this brew to anyone who is in need of some pampering for their soul…or perhaps to anyone who was supposed to have gotten laid this week and didn’t. (That doesn’t apply to me, mind…but it really is that good.)

The third was Moinette, a Belgian ale. I was shocked at the straw-like color when I poured it, but the taste is spicy and pure Belgian bliss. It’s from the same brewery, I discovered, that makes Saison, so it’s gonna be good stuff, and it is. Almost a banana-clove flavor, subtle enough to blend with the natural malt flavor, and lightly hopped (as opposed to Saison, which is this with more hops). When I hit the lottery, I’ll have a keg of this on hand. Oh, and it’s 8.5%, so I’m suitably…shall we say “mellow” at this time.