The Week in Review (What I drank in a sentence or less)

(A little late on this post...)

1. Weyerbacher Lima-Had it on tap at Blue Monkey Tavern-Black IPA, pretty good but I feel like every brewery is currently brewing a Black IPA.
2. White Birch Espresso Imperial Stout-Very good beer. I love coffee and I love beer so it is usually a great combo. Thanks to Bob for getting this bottle to me.
3. Heavy Seas Loose Cannon-Very drinkable. Also had this on tap at Blue Monkey Tavern.
4. Ithaca Cascazilla-Being from upstate NY, I have always been glad to get Ithaca beers in the Philly region-Great beer.
5. Southern Tier IPA-I took this beer to a wine and Cheese party as my drink of choice that night. Glad I did. Solid beer, but I love the 2XIPA.
6. Stoudt's Octoberfest-Had this while tailgating at the Phillies last home game. Good beer, even though the Phillies lost that game.
7. Yards Philly Pale Ale-Had it at Citizen's Bank Park, usually I get Hop Devil but it was replaced by Sam Octoberfest so I got this-Always a good beer!

Mmm...Hops!

The Week in Review (What I drank in a sentence or less)

1. Uinta Crooked Line Series-Cockeyed Cooper-A bourbon Barrel aged barley wine. I have not had much from this brewery but this was good, I will have to seek out others from the Crooked Line.
2. Resurrection Ale-I picked up a 6 pack of cans of this beer from Baltimore. 7% Belgian ale in a can, Good stuff.
3. Sam Adams Sample A (Belgian Style IPA)-Part of the Sam Adams Beer Lover's Choice program. A good beer but not quite as good as Flying Dog's version of the style.
4. Sam Adams Sample B (American Rye Ale)-Sometimes I don't care for Rye ales, especially if there is a lot of Rye but this was good and not too much Rye. It also seemed to be the crowd favorite of the two.
5. Sam Adams Latitude 48 IPA-This is a very good IPA. Now available year round, it is nice to have a solid IPA option from Sam Adams.
6. Sam Adams Black Lager-I had not have not had this for a couple of years and forgot how good it is. Almost like a porter. A very good beer.
7. DuClaw Brewing Serum-A Double IPA. Very Hoppy and at 9% a bit overpowering. Not quite as balanced as I would have liked.
8. Rogue John John Hazelnut-This is the 3rd installment of the John John Ales and again as with the first two, it is a bit disappointing. I had high expectations for this one as I really enjoy the nuttiness of the Hazelnut and figured the rum barrel aging would add to it. Instead I feel like they traded the nuttiness for a rum flavor. It is good, probably my favorite of the three so far but I was hoping for more.

GABF Medal Recap

10! The local breweries/brewpubs will be bringing 10 medals back to the Philly Region. Here is the recap:

1. Category 4: Field Beer-Bronze for Weyerbacher Brewing CO-Imperial Pumpkin Ale
2. Category 22: Kellerbier/Zwickelbier-Silver for Triumph Brewing Co-Kellerbier
3. Category 34: European-Style Dunkel-Silver for Triumph Brewing Co-Dunkel Lager
4. Category 37: Bock-Silver for Troegs Brewing-Troegenator
5. Category 49: American Style Amber/Red-Silver for Troegs Brewing-HopBack Amber Ale
6. Category 61: South German Style Hefeweizen-Gold for Stoudt's-Heifer in Wheat
7. Category 64: French and Belgian style Saison-Gold for McKenzie Brewhouse-Saison Vautour
8. Category 70: Robust Porter-Gold for Iron Hill-Pig Iron Porter
9. Category 76: Imperial Stout-Gold for Iron Hill-Russian Imperial Stout
10. Category 79: Barley Wine Style Ale-Gold for Troegs Brewing-Flying Mouflan

Congratulations to Troegs Brewing Co. (3 medals), Iron Hill Brewery (2 medals), Triumph Brewing Co. (2 medals), Weyerbacher (1), Stoudt's (1), and McKenzie's Brewhouse (1)!

Not your typical Pumpkin Beer!

I picked up a new beer from Heavy Seas from their Mutiny Fleet line of Beers. It is an Imperial Pumpkin Ale aged in Bourbon barrels. I have been loving the barrel aging trend (especially Backwoods Bastard from Founder's and many others) and this one really intrigues me as it is a Pumpkin beer, sounds good even though I am not a huge fan of Pumpkin beers. This beer comes in at 9% abv and reading the beeradvocate reviews, I think I will enjoy it. I have also enjoyed many of the newer releases from Heavy Seas lately, most recently I had Smoke on the Water (a smoked porter) and it was quite good. After this, I will be trying the newest Rogue John John Ale-Hazelnut aged in Rum Barrels. You have to love some of these creations lately-quite unique!

The Week in Review (What I drank in a sentence or less)

1. Brooklyn-Pennant Ale-Great session Pale Ale and great special at Bell-$16.99 a case-Can't be beat!


2. Stillwater Artisanal Ales-Stateside Saison-Solid Saison from a new brewery-Have to try other styles from Stillwater. Very Promising.


3. The Pike-Kilt Lifter Scotch style Ale-Very good and at $3.99 a bomber, a great deal too!


4. Rogue-Double Chocolate Stout-(chocolate) x 2=8.7% abv. of goodness!


5. Ballast Point-Sculpin-On tap @ Blue Monkey Tavern, So Good!


6. Stone IPA-on tap @ Bobby Ray's Place opening night-Bar was crowded (too soon to evaluate)-This beer was great and reminded me how much I love West Coast IPAs!


7. Coffee Porter (my latest home brew)-Down to less than 10 bottles-Still holding up well, I still think it should be darker but the flavor is good!


8. Wolaver's-Pumpkin Ale-Sampled at Bell beverage and then a case purchased to be split between Linda and Wendy-Good beer, just not my favorite style.


9. Dogfish Head-Bitches Brew-A very limited release with a lot of hype. It was good but I expected more.


10. Victory-Hop Devil-An old favorite, had it on tap at Chickie's and Pete's South Philly


11. Yards-Pale Ale-A very solid Pale Ale, again at Chickie's and Pete's South Philly

On Deck

I have a bunch of new stuff that I will be trying soon:

• Dogfish Head-Bitch's Brew (Beer brewed to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Miles Davis album) Very Limited
• Rogue-21 ale (Brewed to commemorate the 21 years of Beers Rogue has brewed for the Oregon State Fair)
• Rogue-OREgasmic Ale

And further out....Waiting to find and buy and try:

• Founders Nemesis
• Founders Backwoods Bastard
• Rogue John John Hazelnut Ale