Avery Reverend, Harpoon Winter Warmer, Stone Oaked Arrogant Bastard

The first one is somewhat brief. These were drank at the Saucer with friends and I kinda spaced on writing about the first one as I was drinking it.

Avery Reverend - a Quadrupel

Appearance - amber.
Aroma - Malty.
Taste/Mouthfeel - sweet, brown sugar with a slight alcohol bite, creamy feel, super smooth going down.
Drinkability - One is enough. It seems very strong (just looked it up, it is 10%). Not sure I would be able to drink more than one. It is typically sold in a 22 oz bottle and I bet that is more than I would want.


Harpoon Winter Warmer

Appearance - Dark amber.
Aroma - Nutmeg and cinnamon.
Taste/Mouthfeel - lightish with a sour malty taste. Lot of nutmeg.
Drinkability - at first the flavor is over powering but after a drink or two, it is very enjoyable. I think 3-4 of these would be quite good in an evening. It is the beer I plan on buying for me and my buddy's annual "Winter Beer" tastings.


Stone Oaked Arrogant Bastard - an American Strong Ale



Appearance - dark cloudy amber.
Aroma - Hoppy and bitter.
Taste/Mouthfeel - smooth and super hoppy/bitter. Bitterness lasts for a long time.
Drinkability - my favorite beer at the moment. I could drink it by the gallon. It is very very very hoppy, almost the hoppiest beer I know of although I believe Avery Maharaja could give it a run for the money. It would be perfect with a very bloody steak.

Harpoon Triticus and Oskar Blues Gordon Ale

Again all were drank from the Saucer. The first beer was the whole reason I went.

Harpoon Triticus - a Wheat Wine drank on tap from a snifter
Appearance - black as ink with a tan head
Aroma - malty maltiness with a hint of malt
Taste/mouthfeel - super stout with a spicy maltiness, very smooth and smoky aftertaste with a hint of bitter chocolate. It is somewhat bitter and even with the strength of flavor, it is not too heavy. Slight alcohol burn, I believe it is 11.5 % alcohol after all.
Drinkability - a good beer! Not one I would drink frequently by any means (a six of this would be five beers too many) but a very tasty beer and my first "Wheat Wine" ever.

Oskar Blues Gordon Ale - Imperial or Double IPA poured from a can to a pint glass
Appearance - dark cloudy caramel small white head
Aroma - hoppy
Taste/Mouthfeel - strangely sweet, not nearly as bitter as expected. Don’t get me wrong, it is bitter, just not super bitter. Pretty moderate mouthfeel, not really heavy but not light. slightly malty.
Drinkability - I think the sweetness would get to me if I drank more than a couple of these. I bet it would be a good beer to introduce IPAs to people tho. The sweetness somewhat masks the bitterness.

As a final note, Sam Adams Cherry Wheat just is not as good as I remember. Tastes like crappy cherry flavored cough syrup. Used to be a favorite. Either my taste has changed or this beer has.

Car insurance

So I saw a commercial for "General" car insurance. You have probably see it before as well, it had a cartoon General in a green army uniform. He was super short and had a massive white mustache and a round helmet that was so low over his eyes that it didn't seem like he could see (ala Beetle Bailey style). They advertised car insurance that anyone could get, it took just a minute to apply for online and instant proof of insurance was printed out for whatever you needed.

My thought is, could you not just plan ahead a bit and use that to your advantage? I think that if I could create proof of insurance when I needed, why would I need it all the time? I imagine that I could set up a laptop or IPad or something and a printer in my car and if I got pulled over or got in an accident, run a batch file or something that would log me in, get car insurance and print out the proof? Seems like it would save a bit of money! :)

Of course I guess a police officer may not see it as humorous if you have a bad connection or have trouble with the printer (would sitting in a 150 degree car dry the ink up in a printer the same way it does all the pens I currently have floating around my console/glove box area?) so maybe this is not feasible. And the set up may cost more to maintain in annoyance and time than normal daily insurance. It would take up space too, I bet this would take up at least one of the seats in the car. Just a thought I had.

Honey Brown, SA Oktoberfest, and THE BEAST

I had all of these at the Flying Saucer in Addison. I had to go to try THE BEAST since I have never had the opportunity to try it before. I had a couple others worth mentioning and I will list them first.

JW Dundee's Original Honey Brown

Poured it from a bottle into a pint glass
Appearance - clear golden amber
Aroma - very light, it was very cold so I let it warm up a bit and still had almost no smell at all.
Taste/mouthfeel - super light feel, lot of carbonation. Very light honey flavor, tastes more like an amber than a brown. Almost no aftertaste, very light and sweet.
Drinkability - an old favorite that I have not drank in years. It is still a super easy to drink beer that I would recommend to any new beer drinker. A very refreshing beer.

Sam Adams Oktoberfest

On tap, drank it from a pint glass
Appearance - red and clear with a decent head.
Aroma - slight sour smell. Not a strong odor
Taste/mouthfeel - sweet and malty with a lingering nuttiness. It is right in the middle of a light and a moderate heaviness for the feel. Aftertaste is a nice nutty warmness
Drinkability - it gets a bit sour which I could see being an annoying quality after a few of these but I could also imagine finishing a six of these quite easily over the course of an afternoon. Not the best Oktoberfest beer this year but a decent beer.

Avery Beast

On tap, drank it from a snifter type glass
Appearance - red and dark with a slight cloudiness. Very decent tan head on it.
Aroma - smells good!! Smells like fruit and warm brown sugar.
Taste/mouthfeel - I will have a hard time describing this one, it has a very complex flavor. Very malty with an alcohol burn. Strong sugar and a fruity flavor, dates perhaps? The maltiness is almost over powering. Very strong alcohol burn followed by super malty sweetness. Lingering alcohol burn with a slight hoppy aftertaste.
Drinkability - it is a decent beer but I do not see me ever getting it again. It is just too much flavor and too strong. I could see having a small glass of it for dessert, maybe with vanilla ice cream but it is too much to have more than one of these. Having a hard time finishing this one.

New blog and new to blogging

Hello,

I have been told many times that I need to start a blog about beer (mainly by people that I send text messages to describing a new beer or telling about wonderfulness I have found). This blog will not be just about beer however. I think it would be boring if I spent page upon page, day upon day talking about nothing but beers. I do plan to list out new beers I have tried or old ones that I think deserve to be mentioned but since time has a way of clouding memory, I will only comment on beers as I am drinking them or shortly after. Anything else I think is important or funny will just be bonus.

I also plan to try to brew my first real batch of beer this winter and I hope to be able to update anyone who cares about the progress.

This is my first real "blogging" attempt and it is entirely possible that I will become bored with this and stop it in a few months/weeks/days but who knows.

That is all for now,
Jess