Sunday, January 22, 2012

Boston Beer Company's Black and Brew Coffee Stout

What is the first thing that comes into your head when you hear "Black and Brew"? If your answer wasn't "Scrum at me, bro" you are wrong.

If you wanna hear about Boston Beer Company you can click here or just make it up yourself; but those are the Sam Adams guys.

So I bought this in the Sam Adams winter sampler and it's been looming in my fridge the entire time. I mean I like coffee and I like dark beers so I was really excited about sampling this guy. So, yeah, it's a stout and its coffee. They actually use a pound and a half of coffee in every barrel of this stuff. So you can imagine that I was bewildered when I found out this stuff sucks!

First of all, if they are claiming this is how they make a stout, I don't even want to consider tasting it! This stuff has a nice dark head and is a clear as Bermuda Triangle, which means it isn't clear at all. I realize the reference was pretty bad. But you can tell from the bubbles that it isn't going to be a thick, delicious beer. It is full of flavor but after 2 minutes of pouring it it looks like I'm drinking motor oil, which is also full of flavor.

It smells good enough. Heavy coffee aroma with some sweet, fruity undertones; like figs or some shit. I suppose you can taste it a little bit of it too if you make a note of it. It's got a 5.8% ABV so it's as strong as a kick in the johnson.

I dunno. It's weird. It's a watery beer with a lot of flavor but I wouldn't want to drink more than one of these in a sitting. I guess I'm just disappointed in Sam Adams, as usual. The variety pack has been pretty disappointing also but for $11 a 12-pack, I mean, it's not the dumbest thing I ever done.

Drinkability: 4/10
Taste: 3/10
Value: 6/10
Curb Appeal: 6/10

Overall: 4.75/10

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Sierra Nevada Brewing Company's Ruthless Rye IPA

An American classic such as this should be enjoyed while enjoying this beer.

George Washington once said "Beer is so cool, especially when you drink a lot of it while playing Nintendo." Wiser words were never said!

So this is Sierra Nevada's Ruthless Rye. It's it any different than their regular Torpedo IPA? Heck yes, mon fraire! My favorite thing about this and other spring seasonals is that they hit the market right after the big Chicago snowstorm. So if I drink this will it be spring faster? Damn yeah! And I feel if a groundhog drinks a six pack of this for $8.99 it'll throw up all over it's shadow and give it the finger!

Sierra Nevada started up with Ken Grossman, Rex "Sex Cannon" Grossman's long lost relation, making a small ass brewery in Chico, California. In '76 he opened up a home brew store after college and two years later he met up with his pal Paul Camusi and they rustled up some soda bins nad crap. Hey, I dunno what the heck the bought and I don't give a crap. Point is, they started making beer. By 1980, they brewed their first batch of Pale Ale, their flagship. Ken still focuses a lot of his time on the brewing operations to this day, so he's either dedicated or really bored. I'm personally guilty of one of those.

So what's this Ruthless Rye all about? Well it's an IPA ya dingleberry! Rumor has it this is supposedly to replace with Maibock Glissade spring seasonal, and you know what, I'm cool with that. This bottle houses the hottest reaper babe I EVER seen or imagined! This beer got a citrusy blast and a spicy hop to it you'd have to be a straight up goon to not, at a minimum, try it.

Will this beer blow you away though? Probably not. I mean it's a tasty IPA, as far as IPAs go. Spicer than their Pale Ale, obviously, but most IPAs are, and supposed to be. I mean look at all the foam in the picture! That hoptastic if you ask me, and I'm a freelance doctor! It's got a deep amber color and there are no bugs swimming in there, ZERO! Not including myself, obviously.

What kind of hops are they using, what kind of yeast? I dunno, I'm not that kind of doctor. But this IPA had the taste and quality I'd expect out of Sierra Nevada, stand up characters over there. If you like IPAs you should definitely try this during the spring. I don't personally care for IPAs too much but this is a pretty tasty one. A lot of fools with over hop theirs, especially if it's a seasonal, but not Sierra Nevada. Like I mentioned before, its spicy but also has a crisp refreshing taste, so it isn't like chugging maple syrup mixed with Pine Sol. Do they still make that stuff?

If you slosh the stuff in your mouth it foams like KaBoom! Coating your mouth with a light coating of malty deliciousness that I can't begin to describe. It has a very strong odor, heavy with hops and malts. Good though.

Long story short, this is a nice, pleasing IPA. It's allegedly 6.60% ABV. No wording on the IBUs on this new baby yet, but hopefully we will find out soon. Go out and grab a sixer of this though; you won't be disappointed. If I had a buddy come into town that likes IPAs I'd definitely get this again if it was still around. Would I get it again other than that? Maybe not, there's so many beers and like I mentioned before, I'm not huge on the IPAs but it's definitely worth a try for ALL beer fans, and at $9.00 a sixer, can you afford NOT to try it? Can you? Listen Ebeneezer, loosen the purse strings you old scrooge and indulge! Cratchet!

Drinkability: 7/10
Taste: 7/10
Value: 6/10
Curb Appeal: 9/10

Overall: 7.25/10

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Boston Beer Company's Old Fezziwig Ale

Sam Adam's Beer is made up in New England and people up there think it's wicked good but I don't trust a dang word that comes out of a Red Sox fan's mouth! But the Boston Beer Company are the outfit that brew all the Sam Adam's stuff. Boston Beer Company became the biggest American owned brewer in the United States when InBev bought Budweiser. You can say a lot of bad things about Sam Adam's but at least it's not brewed in Canada! But man, New Englanders are a rare breed.

The Sam Adam's line itself came about in the 1860's in St. Louis by some dude. One of the founders of Sam Adam's made up that old ass recipe in 1984 and him and two other nerds from Harvard started up the Sam Adams. The first place they had the beer available at a bar in keg form was in Jamaica Plain (for the locals).

Boston Beer Company makes like 25 different beers, though most of them have been officially retired or purely seasonal. They come out with the majority of them during the winter months and colder parts of the year.

The Old Fezziwig is better than I remember. I remembered I like it because Fezziwig was one of my favorite characters in the Christmas Carol. The fool-hearty fellow! You can see the stuff is dark, but it goes down the gullet pretty easy. It was a full-bodied flavor that you wouldn't expect from an ale. Definitely heavier than a few black lagers we've covered before. It leaves a little malty aftertaste in your mouth also; not over bearing though. This stuff will keep you warm when you are drinking outside cutting firewood for a fun-filled evening of Pictionary with your buddies. It has a chocolatey, bitter, nutty taste. A spicy, tang sure to tantalize your tastebuds. A taste so bold, that even Ebeneezer Scrooge would give you the night off to make merry with a few low class hookers.

I got the winter sampler for $10.99 for a 12-pack, so this deal is pretty rad; I mean it was good enough for me to throw my morals out the door and buy a Sam Adam's product. 6 Different beers also, variety is the spice of life! It's got an ABV of 5.9% and an IBU slightly less than 30. So man, you should just pick this up before the weather gets warmer. Because nothing is more fun than drinking outside freezing your tookus off!

Drinkability: 7/10
Taste: 7/10
Value: 6/10
Curb Appeal: 8/10

Overall: 7.0/10