What Was the Last Beer You Drank?

[Rugged One]

After missing last month's DuClaw release because of some horrible weather, Kim and I were back to business as usual in Fell's Point last night.

Until next month....or maybe tomorrow.

I'm always Jacked Up for this one. Quite a tasty little RIS.

All right! Time to double down on some Black Jack!

The release video was really good, showing how to win in Vegas with clips courtesy of The Simpsons.

Next month the New Year starts off with a bang with the early return of the Dereksl... I mean the Serum Double IPA.

...and even Six Degrees of Jack Black!

...Black Jack vocabulary...

...Russian Imperial Stouts...

Trivia time! This month's had little nuggets of info about famous Russians...

I get a little more serious with October's release, the Mad Bishop. Had to skip the Devil's Milk this trip but it will be sampled this weekend.

...while Kim keeps things healthy with a grilled chicken salad.

For dinner, I went with the release special, the Norton Shitake Prime Rib Sandwich...

Had to hit some Venom right off the bat. Aaaaaaahhh, it had been way too long!

....for this months' release. The Black Jack Russian Imperial Stout!

Welcome to a foggy and very cold (although it had been like 20 degrees warmer in PA 2 hours earlier) Fell's Point in downtown Baltimore...

[DerekRx]

Twas another beer filled weekend. Friday night started out with a trip to the Rhoads' house for some much required drinking and awesome homemade food.

Jimbo, you SO rock!

Still gets the Kimface seal of hoppiness

Heath worships Jimbo for his generosity. Wouldn't it be nice if you could just teleport to San Diego Hiro-style

Truly amazing stuff. Best IPA ever!

To finish the night, we opened up a very wonderful treat that just arrived earlier that day fresh from Jimbo, a Wipeout IPA

And some Chinese eggrolls from scratch

Here's that food to feed an army Kim was working on. Mexican pot stickers with chicken

Though it could be better than my power to turn into a rodent

Heath throws some raspberries out of his fingertips. Not a really good "Heroes" power

Kim enjoyed its raspberry taste, but didn't want to drink too much and interfer with her cooking for an army

Next, more Dogfish Head, this time the Fort

Wasn't too bad

I'm starting to enjoy stouts more and more

Next up, my 3rd beer of Christmas and Heath's 7th, the Lump of Coal stout

Very sweet with the extra time to chill

First up, a bottle of 90 minute IPA from Dogfish Head that's been sitting in the fridge for 10 months

[DerekRx]

Saturday would see us down in the Baltimore area for some pubcrawling, but first, we needed to do some Christmas shopping...for ourselves!

 

Then it was off to the Arundel Mills Mall for a little bit of shopping and some hopping. Best of all, Dave and Mary were able to join us for more drinking!

Though we were confused by the type of glass we got it in

To end the luncheon, Devil's Milk Barleywine was in order.

Along with his Buffalo chicken salad to say hi to Nicole, he used his lettuce to attack Mary

Dave was all jacked up on the newly released Black Jack Stout, an imperial

Mary went with the Bare Ass Blonde Ale, which she enjoyed. Though she was tempted by the Venom, until we ordered it

First up, some Venom Pale Ale for the Stone brothers. Sadly it tasted a bit off, not as citrusy as it should be

No tables in the bar big enough for the 5 of us, so this was all I got of the bar itself

Next stop, the DuClaw at the Arundel Mills Mall. Usually not a good idea at Christmas time, but we got there early enough

Nope, some Pyramid, Green Flash, Clay Pipe, Jolly Pumpkin and a variety of winter brews

We got plenty of stuff for ourselves, that you can't get back in PA without getting a whole case like Bud Ice?

Only one reason to be awake at 9am on a Saturday, Shawan Liquors!

[DerekRx]

After some Christmas shopping and a lame attempt at finding a Wii, we decided to continue our attack on Baltimore. Dave and Mary had things to do so we said our goodbyes and moved on to inner harbor.

Good stuff, nice and flavorful

Finally it was decided that we'd split a bottle of the Brian Boru from Three Floyds, an Irish Red ale

This is the Tom's Dream section of taps

hehe, the HeBrew Jewbilation! A beer kosher enough for Joey

While I'm looking at the bottle list for something new

Heath shows off the draft list

This place has just a few more beers than Tom's. But not come Eastcoaster!

Fresh from the pink elephant comes Heath's Delirium

We decided to go Belgian for this visit. Green Flash Tripel for me. Very nice and spicy with some banana finish

Here's the Wally Big Beer section that's roped off

Old tap handles sit in the window

They've got a lot of beer

Moving on from Inner Harbor we ended up in Fells Point. After seeing some llamas, it was all about Max's Taphouse

A shot of the tanks before we head out

As for me, it was all about the Pale Rider Ale, much better than the Venom I had at Arundel Mills DuClaw

Next for Heath, the Winter Ale, which was a hoppy brown ale

A picture of the taps. Doesn't the Fuel look cute

It even managed to win gold at this year's GABF in Denver

Very heavily coffeed stout, quite espresso like. But its no Tim Horton's

While Heath and myself went with the Fuel, a stout

Even Kim was ready for a beer, the Amber Waves Ale

Pretty cool big bar with some nice looking stuff on tap

We're here because of Capitol City brewing

Ooh, the aquarium and other inner harbor stuff. Not today for us

[DerekRx]

Since we were already in Fells Point, Heath thought it would be worth a shot to go over to the other DuClaw there and see if the Venom was the way it's supposed to taste.

After watching Uncle Buck, it was time to call it a night. Bet if we had more Wipeout we wouldn't have stopped so early!

Starting to get tired

Followed by the clincher, Jolly Pumpkin Oro de Calabaza

Then, it was back home for the 4th beer of Christmas for me and the 8th for Heath, the Rudolph's Revenge. Pretty good and spicey

Even the door handles here are cool looking

A nice flavorful imperial stout, but not a lot of alcohol. Good!

Nah, we'll stick with grabbing the Black Jack stout

Wonder if we should try more Devil's Milk, see if its served properly here

Cooler bar, and for some reason they have Magic Hat #9 on too

Yes, the Venom was much better here, good enough to cause me to have a Heathface of hoppy happiness

First up, the Venom, which Heath gets in his correct glass.

Just a brief walk from Max's is the Fells Point DuClaw. My favorite of the two I've been to

[thecoasterkid]

After a couple nights of drinking, I've got quite a few new beers to add to my overall list.

 

First beer up, and the only one with photos, is the Samuel Smiths Old Brewery Pale Ale.

 

The following night I did some pre-drinking at my place with friends, and went out to a bar to finish off the night.

 

I picked up a case of Mill Street Tankhouse Ale that was pretty fiery and spicy with some definite pepper bite. I was the only one out of my friends that enjoyed it.

 

Up next was the Faxe 10% beer, which I could only describe as horrible.

 

I tried a Molson Bohemian to round off the pre-drinking. It was everything you'd expect from a cheap beer. Cheap taste that's watered down and nothing special.

 

And my last beer for the day was a Rickards Pale on tap. It was pretty nice and I'd put it on par with Alexander Keiths.

In the end it was a pretty good beer, but not really quite for me. It had a caramel/toffee flavour, that when mixed with some hop bitters tasted "oaky".

Getting ready to enjoy the caramel coloured Pale Ale.

The beer of choice for the first night.

[PhishyBrewer]

Took this picture of me with my new phone. Just testing it out. It's me at work. Don't I look happy?

[Rugged One]

Kim and I had some business to take care of up in Harrisburg this afternoon. With Selinsgrove Brewing celebrating it's 10th Anniversary on Thursday, we decided to make the hour drive north to pay a visit and do a little early celebrating with this most excellent of brewpubs.

Although the actual Anniversary is Thursday, they are doing stuff throughout the week to celebrate. I may be back on Thursday to try the Solstice Dubbel X. We'll have to see.

And it was very good. Done in a Scotch style, it was very malty and sweet.

I finish up our visit with some of the 05 St. Fillin's Barleywine, straight off the handpump.

Have I mentioned how awesome the food is here? I tried their special fish soup of the day. Excellent!

Kim's goes for the absolutely awesome Razz Merry raspberry ale. Trust us, it tasted as good as it sounds!

I'm all cheary because they have their Olde Frosty IPA on tap. This was an extremely well done IPA with some spiciness that gave it a little winter warmer quality.

One of the main reasons we wanted to come up, was because they had a few of their Christmas/Winter seasonal selections on tap.

Back at our favorite PA brewpub. Selinsgrove Brewing!

[DerekRx]

For my 5th beer of Christmas, I decided to try out something I grabbed yesterday at Shawan, the Otter Creek Alpine Ale. Twas a fairly malty amber ale with some slight hoppiness at the end. No real aftertones though.

Wasn't too bad, but nothing noteworthy either

An Otter Creek seasonal, the Alpine Ale, supposedly good after skiing, which I stopped doing years ago

[Rugged One]

After sharing the 7th and 8th beers of Christmas with Derek this weekend, it's time to start taking this thing home for the final week.

 

The Anchor Christmas Ale, 2006 style.

Loaded with tons of cherry flavor and a little spice, I was expecting a little more this year. Oh well, it's still better than most.

[PhishyBrewer]

^Last years was so much better.

[mcjaco]

^^ Almost picked that up on Saturday, but I had the cart full already.

 

I've fully stocked the fridge for the family arriving this weekend. It's mostly for me and my sanity.

 

I noticed something odd while at the store as well. Bell's is gone (stupid Chicago distributors) and in it's place, more Victory choices!!!!

 

I'll get some pics up over the course of the week.

[DerekRx]

For the 6th beer of Christmas, I decided upon the Allagash Grand Cru. Very fruity with a zesty tingle, I'm not exactly sure why they proclaim it to be a winter brew. I guess because of its alcohol content, but usually something like this I'd enjoy more when its warmer outside than the usual winter cold. Luckily for me there were record high temperatures today!

Even Nan wants in on the good stuff

Tart and tangy, and too easy to drink (luckily they ain't cheap!)

For dessert, since we're already on a fruity beer kick, lets go to the king of fruity beers, the Lindemans

Not bad stuff, just not very Christmasy

Allagash's Grand Cru, its got a snowflake on it, that means winter

[Rugged One]

Mmmm, this past weekend's awesome surprise of a bottle of Pizza Port Wipeout from Jimbo got me in the mood to knock down some more West Coast IPA.

The Green Flash IPA. Great example of the style. Reminded me a lot of the Stone IPA. Still can't touch the Pizza Port though.

[PhishyBrewer]

The Popeye Beer Club... I totally have to stop here!!!

 

http://www.bento.com/rev/0857.html

 

The largest selection of Japanese microbrews in the world, many of them served on tap. (They even have "tasting sets" so you can try a few at a time.) They also have Belgian beers and "Hair of the Dog" from Portland (considered to be one of America's most distinctive beers) on tap. The food ranges from just-average to inspired, but the main draw seems to be the beer.

 

[PhishyBrewer]

Just thought I'd throw this out there.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300062211852

[DerekRx]

For my 7th beer of Christmas, I went with the Harpoon Winter Warmer, a beer a few of us really were surprised by at the Greak Brews of America beer festival at Split Rock back in November. Well, we must have been really REALLY drunk by that point, because this thing was pretty blah. This was pretty much like the Shipyard Pumpkinhead, only without any pumpkin or pumpkin spice, and just buttloads of cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg. No alcohol taste or maltiness or anything you'd expect from a winter beer, just cinnamon.

 

Next was the Hop-ocalypse from Clay Pipe Brewing in Maryland. Somewhat reminded me of the Lost Coast Indica IPA, except not as good. Unfiltered but not an explosion of hops that the artwork or name would suggest. Kinda like a nice segway if you're going from pale ales to ipas. Not enough tree bark and chemicals for my taste, but still a decent brew.

Its a good not-quite-IPA, but I was expecting more from the name and artwork. No explosions of hops or end of the world for me

Cool artwork and a neat name is the main reason I chose to pick up this beer

This is the face I make when I drink a cinnamon stick

Harpoon's Winter Warmer (what warms you about cinnamon and nothing else??)

[Rugged One]

As we start heading towards the finale of the 12 Beers of Christmas, it's time to start profiling some of those most excellent of the Belgium XMas kind.

 

The 10th Beer of Christmas: The Corsendonk Christmas Ale.

This was a nice one. Nice and sweet with lots of fruit accents. Nicely balanced with some slight hops at the end. Good stuff!

[DerekRx]

Its time to share the 8th Beer of Christmas with you all on this Wally Wednesday. Tonights gift to myself was the Bad Elf, all the way from Ridgeway over across the pond in England. It was surprisingly good as far as an IPA from England goes, but there wasn't much holidayness to the beer.

 

Followed that up with a Magic Hat #9, always nice and fruity with a little bit of hoppiness.

Better on a summer day, but still good on Winter-eve, #9.

OK for a British IPA, but what does an IPA have to do with Christmas!?

The Bad Elf, precursor to his 3 worse elf brothers

[Guest]

I hate cheap beer. Sometimes in life Coors Light and "Others" come into play... roll with it, please.

[DerekRx]

9th beer of Christmas coming up on this Thirsty Thursday. Since its the first day of Winter, I decided to go with a Winter Ale, by Mendocino Brewing's Saratoga Springs branch up in NY. Unlike some of the other Winter ales I've had this year, this one was really good, an oatmeal stout. Normally I don't care for oatmeal stouts, but when you throw in enough chocolate, coffee, and a sweet caramel beginning, I start to dig it. Plus it was really smooth.

 

Since I was already on the stout side, I decided to follow it up with some Bell's Java Stout. Also really good, though this one was pure coffee, just like the name implies. I don't drink coffee in the morning, but maybe I'll start drinking coffee stouts for a good wakeup!

Holy wakeup call! I don't like coffee, I don't really care too much for stouts, but put them together and I like it!

Because I don't live in Chicago, I can get Bell's stuff, like the Java Stout

I was expecting just a typical oatmeal stout. This is my surprised face, as it was much more

First up, Mendocino's Winter Ale. Thick chocolate and coffee, yet smooth. Served in a Selins Grove glass for their anniversary today

[mcjaco]

^ OK, that's not even nice....

 

[DerekRx]

Holding off on the 12 beers of Christmas for a day, tonight is Gladness. Which pretty much means I'll be eating at a buffet like an ACEr. But in true BACT style, I'll be drinking first!

 

I'm so ready to go back to SoCal (for the beer, nothing more), so with that, tonight I decided to try the Green Flash West Coast IPA, a beer I sampled at the Liar's Club back in September, only this time in bottle form.

 

Nice and citrusy, unfiltered particles floating around having fun. A little bit of alcohol presence, but the overall taste is of grapefruit and pine cones. Kinda like Stone's IPA, but not as good IMO.

Not as good as Stone's stuff, but it takes me to where I want to be, especially when its cold and rainy outside

Green Flash, the gateway to San Diego

[Meteornotes]

Mary just brought me home a six pack consisting of three bottles of Mad Elf, and three other Troeg beers. Yay!

 

dt

[DerekRx]

^Dave, you made the right choice going with a woman who will bring you home some good craft beers!

 

Tonight's Gladness festivities continue, but only after we do the annual tradition of getting buzzed first. Since I can pretty much drink bottles of anything at home for way cheaper and less smokey than most of the places around, I talked my coworkers into heading to Canal Street (which was finally opened this time) for some good ole Legacy brews. They were lacking a good selection of Legacy stuff (brewed in the basement, seriously) but they made up for it with what they had on tap, the Midnight Wit, Hedonism Red, and NorEaster Stout. And after all that was said and done, I managed to snag my 10th beer of Christmas, the Corsendonk Christmas Ale, which was fantastic.

 

Then, it was off to eat like a bunch of ACErs, Amish style!

And so, another Gladness is in the books for another 365 days but the beer drinking tradition shall continue daily until then!

Still buzzed? Shelly hangs out with the Snowman

Its no Gladness without the balancing of the cup

This is the face of Gladness

Up first for me was chicken, stuffing, corn, meatballs, and a cheesesteak

Then it was time for Shelly to receive her big gift of the year, Gladness. A buffet of awesome Amish food for $8.

With a nice sweet Belgian flavor, spices, cherries, and a taste of the holidays, it was definitely a hit

Next up, the 10th beer of Christmas, Corsendonk Christmas Ale, on draft with the glass and everything

Next up for me, the NorEaster Stout. Not as good as others I had yesterday, this one was more of a normal oatmeal, but I'm really starting to dig them, especially this time of year

Down there they be brewing some good Legacy stuff, like Hoptimus Prime

Jeff and Shelly, the Miller Lite family, even broke the norm and went micro, Jeff with a Hedonism, Shelly with a Midnight Wit

At Canal Street, home of Legacy Brewing, I started out with the Hedonism Red, nice hoppy finish