Everything That Rises Must Converge

In the "odd parallax" category, the day I finally post about my Italian beersperience is the same day that Dogfish Head announces, surprisingly, that they will be brewing the 'My Antonia' beer that Sam brewed with Birra del Borgo, but this time for US release. I will be looking forward to getting my hands on some in April. How about Italian beers for the April meeting?

In other DFH news, we may be able to find Squall IPA.

On an unrelated note: I have some work set out for me.

Also...

Matthew McConaughey's brother (himself named "Rooster," I kid you not) named his two children Miller Lite McConaughey and Margarita Olympia McConaughey because he likes those beers.

Seriously.

Check out this quote:

Rooster, who is also the father of a son and a daughter, claims he isn't surprised that Matthew, 40, and Camila decided not to name their newborn after a booze, as their children's cousins are.

"I think I ruined it for him because I've already taken up that territory," Rooster says laughing. "I named my [3½-year-old] boy Miller Lyte because that's my favorite beer. And my [11-month-old] little girl is named Margarita Olympia ... I liked that beer, too, even though they don't even make it anymore."

Oak-Aged-Yeti Breed, anybody?

TCOB: Unfinished Posts, 2009 Edition

I know the new year baby has kicked old man time out of the picture for the time being, but for the life of me I can't let 2009 go quite yet - mostly because I have a handful of blog posts I wanted to put up, and just never got around to it. So... here goes.

Embarrassingly, I never finished posting about my trip to France and Italy. So... Here goes, lightning round edition. I think I got through telling you all about France. (Though check the name of this French lemonade: Psssschit. I think it is supposed to be onomatopoeia for opening a can, but it looks like something else.)

So as I remember, I petered out just about the time I got to St. Peter's home (Rome, of course). Catherine and I took a flight from Paris to Rome, and after landing, I decided to get on the good foot immediately: while waiting for the bus to the city, I picked up the best I could find - Peroni's Gran Riserva Doppio Malta, which is supposed to be a kind of bock, I think (at 6.6% abv). To be honest: I was surprised that Peroni could make anything this tasty. Not that it was great, by any means; just surprising... for an Italian beer. I'd give it a thumbs-sideways, though perhaps the heat (it was over 100 degrees) and the hours of travel made it seem better than it was. I remember it being really malty, with decent hops, but being rather thin.

Ok, so Rome seemed a bit more beer-tastic than Paris, actually, because you could find relatively local stuff quite regularly, whereas in Paris you were generally restricted to the big brewers. Even the well-known "beer joints" in Paris only served stuff you could find at Greene's liquor. But Rome offered several stores within a few blocks of our hotel that at least had Italian microbrews - though stuff you might be able to find over here if you look hard. I grabbed a couple of beers from Birrificio del Ducato (brewed in a small town north of Parma, which is north of Tuscany), which makes some good (not amazing) stuff. I tried their Strong Ale "Chimera" first (6.5%), and thought it was midway between a thumbs sideways and a thumbs up. Creamy, toffee-like sweetness, and spices made for a good beer - but on a hot, hot, hot day this was perhaps a bit too sweet. The light lagers were beckoning, but I kept my head down and powered through the more interesting brews.

So the next day I picked up another beer (I love how in Europe you can buy a beer and walk around with it - a beautiful thing): L'Orso Verde (Green Bear)'s Vertigo. Orso Verde is from Busto Arsizio, outside of Milan, and they seem to make some pretty interesting beers. Vertigo is a double lager (7% abv) that was surprisingly hoppy and refreshing, and spicy, as I remember (lost my notes for this one). I loved it, especially on another blistering day. I had this one while walking to a monastery to have a peek at some epitaphs; the brothers there seemed to recognize it as a good beer when I put the empty bottle in my bag. Thumbs up, for sure.

I next sampled AFO, a pale ale also from Birrificio del Ducato. Hoppy, fruity, flowery - this is a good beer. They call it "Ale for the Obsessed" - and I was seriously impressed; it was a genuine and uncompromising thumbs up. It didn't hurt that I ate this along with a lunch from one of my favorite eateries ever - Pizza Art, the amazing and not-to-miss artisanal pizza joint in the Centro Storico (and a block from our hotel, thank God). This beer is probably available in the US. It's a good one (think Dale's Pale Ale but coppery and with a subtler hop profile).

Ok, but this all paled in comparison to the place you CANNOT MISS if you ever go to Rome: namely, Bir & Fud (Beer and Food). Catherine and I walked in, and the dude at the helm let us sample every beer on tap (15 of them) and then we had two delicious pints. The bartender knewthe abv, ibus, and stories of every beer on tap, and was glad to struggle through all of them in broken English. Good food, too. It's like the Brick Store with exclusively Italian beers. Go there, seriously. Go.

So while there, my favorites were generally those on tap from Birra del Borgo, a fantastic brewery due east of Rome, about halfway across the "leg". From them, we got to taste the good Re Porter (7% Porter, smoky and delicious, bitter chocolate taste, smooth mouthfeel), the absolutely amazing Re Ale Extra (a 6.4% IPA style, delicious hop bite, a pineapple-bread flavor, and a nice finish), the not-that-different but still amazing Re Ale Anniversario (8%, supposedly Belgian but huge hops), and the delicious My Antonia, a collaboration with Dogfish Head (7.5% Imperial Pilsner, huge hops, pine needles and sage). We also had a couple of beers from Montegioco, which I highly recommend, and Panil sour, which you can get in the states (but damn is it a good sour). Also, strangely, beers from Port, which you can't even get in Atlanta. We sat down with a pint of the Re Ale Extra and the My Antonia (which is actually brewed with sage leaves, and just smells like a hop-and-sage bomb sitting there on the table). For the next hour or so we sipped beers and stared at each other in the streets of Rome. That, my friends, is the definition of a well-spent afternoon. Let me give you a taste:

Then, we simply had to leave the scorching temperatures of Rome to find solace in the cooler climates of Venice. While I love Venice so much (and am thankful that I have research to do there), it is most decidedly not a beer town. Nothing like Rome; the best I could do was a Birra Venezia, and even that wasn't good. It's brewed nearby, at least. Not really awful, I mean I enjoyed drinking it, but I certainly wouldn't saddle up to a bar and say, "man, I need one of those Birra Venezias." That's like saying, "I sure need a Corona." If you're playing volleyball, fine. But I wasn't, so I stuck to drinking wine and delicious Spritz, the Venetian drink of choice. Basically Prosecco and Campari. Mmmm. But take a look at the view:

So you have to give it to Venetians: they like their awful beer, but at least they don't go to ridiculous lengths to get it there. Oh, wait:

Ok, so that's our trip - and my Italian beer rundown. I think Italian beers would make a great beer club, since there are quite a few one can get at Greene's and Hop City.

Alright, I think I exorcised the blog demons. Let's try to get the flow back for 2010 (twenty-ten, right?)

Merry Beer Club Christmas

The Dirty South Beer Club has been spending a lot of time together recently (check out post on Chattanooga trip - HERE). Last week the Dirty South Beer Club celebrated the holidays as you might have expected; with a sampling of seasonal brews. But we also upped the ante by holding a beer-themed white elephant. The combination of the two resulted in a fantastic time had by all, though I regret to say that we did not get around to rating any of the beers we drank.

We started with a magnum of Anchor's Special Ale 2009. In ordering this at bars and bringing it to parties I have not heard rave reviews. Since we had no ship to christen, we embarked on drinking it. Birthday boy, Ajay, who brought the beer remarked that "we are never gonna finish this thing," and we did have a hard time getting through the huge bottle. This slight departure from our normal habits resulted in uneven pours for this first, and the next few rounds. Amelia was heard saying that she had, "a lot of the that," as she tried to share a large pour with others.

Second was Bruery's 2 Turtle Doves, provided by our hosts Brennan and Catherine. Someone was quoted saying that it "tastes like raunch beer." But I think it was generally well received. I also sampled their Autumn Maple on Thanksgiving and remember being satisfied.

Next was Weyerbacher's Merry Monks'Ale. It was described by the group as "fresh" and a "little bitter." Or as a "light seasonal ale" that was "more carbonated than normal."

The Heavy Seas Yule Tide followed that. This is part of their 'Mutiny Fleet' of imperials. Its Belgian Triple styling did not win the group over. One person said that "it smells like my towel when I need to wash it." Similarly the St. Bernardus Christmas Ale disappointed the group. The Special Holiday Ale Stone, Nogne-O, Jolly Pumpkin collaboration effort smelled great and received better reviews. The alcohol content was apparent as some mentioned cough syrup.

The next three all featured Santa and brewers that begin with the letter 'R': Rogue's Santa's Private Reserve and the Pickled Santa and Santa's Butt from Ridgeway Brewing in the UK. Santa's Private Reserve faired well last year when we tried it. Comments usually reflect its spruce flavors. The Pickled Santa sounds gross, but it was not special enough to merit much attention for being especially bad or good. Santa's Butt is a porter "so big it won't fit down the chimney." It was also said to taste like the reindeer's butt. Keeping with the santa theme, Mikkeller's Santa's Little Helper 2009 was next. This beer was hands down the favorite of the night. "It tastes like Christmas," said one secular sipper after a sample. Another (with a computer head) said, "crazy different wild conifers." (applejuice) Get this one while you can.

Next was the X-mas Zinnebir from Brasserie De La Senne / De Zenne Brouwerij. Despite its "funky surreal label" it could not stand up to the tastes left in our mouth by Santa's Little Helper. On person said it had a, "high traffic carpet aftertaste." There was also some frozen margarita in a bag purchased solely because it read "ALCOHOL is IN IT!" and a rather delicious barleywine (Uinta, from Utah) that appeared serendipitously. Finally, the night was capped with some Sparkling Ale from Bell's.



During all this beer drinking there was also the white elephant taking place. Some of the gifts included a Decatur bottle opener, a knitted DSBC coozie, a six-pack of Beck's NA, BSP t-shirt and Guinness Bell, St. Bernardus 4 pack and glass, bottle of Life and Limb, signed copy of Love at the Pub, pack of Burton Baton and glass, matching tuxedo pint coozies, glass made from old Stone bottle, a bottle of Ola Dubh Special 40 Reserve, and a box of beer themed and flavored NUNU Chocolates. The first 7 people opted for wrapped gifts but then the stealing began. The Ola Dubh bottle was highly sought after. The Beck's was not.

The whole thing was presided over by a polyester suit-wearing, martini-wielding, Will-Ferrel-impersonating-Robert-Goulet-impersonator played by Brennan. Additionally, the King of Beers(Club)--Ben--made 'Dirty Awards' for all of us. They included titles like the Best Baking, Beer Bringing, and Baby-Making Award. The whole night unwound into a mini Thursday night party, exacerbated by some whiskey tasting. This is common for DSBC. I think a new tagline for the group could be "Dirty South Beer Club: The third Friday of the month just got a lot less productive." This picture even appeared in the notebook to acknowledge the steady stream of hip hop bumping in the background. At some point, it was switched from Christmas music, the unofficial new anthem of DSBC, Fur in my Cap. Needless to say, DSBC is one of my favorite things.

Happy Holidays from Dirty South Beer Club

Chattanooga Beer Weekend

Just over a week ago the DSBC had an outing in Chattanooga. We rented a cabin just north of town where we spent Friday and Saturday night. We also made it out into town to sample the local brewery's offerings.

On the way up to Chattanooga we stopped off on the north side of the river to sample the city's finest hot dogs at Good Dog. They offer a variety of hot dogs including one topped with frites. I (vargo) opted for the Chicago Dog and a separate order of frites. For dipping they offer the traditional Heinz ketchup, as well as a wasabi and a curry ketchup, a spiced mustard, and mayonnaise. We got a second dinner down the road at Greenlife: the grocery store nobody doesn't love.

Upon arriving to our dear slightly suburban abode, we were quite impressed by the extensive variety of styles featured in decor. But the house became more and more special the more full it became as DSBC members trickled in. As we cranked the Lady Gaga and commenced a low-key beer tasting, we all sat back, relaxed, and enjoyed. We sampled the delicious (but unbalanced, as Ben says) Rogue Yellow Snow IPA, Anchor Christmas (many people enjoyed the spiciness--Katy thought it to be mediocre), Mt Carmel IPA from Cincinnati (Lauren enjoyed, some found it too malty and not hoppy much), Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA, and perennial favorite Dale Pale Ale. Among others.

Saturday activities were kicked off with a fabulous breakfast and a lunch buffet to pack--so we could get on and do our thang. At that point, we split--one group went hiking up in the Chickamuga river bluffs, one to climb at Little Rock City, and one to urban hike in Chattanooga.

Fun was had.

Returning to our 'Nooga home was made sweeter by a quick dip in the hottub. Well, not exactly, as Katy started cooking her body in that hot whirly pool of hell. But eventually it cooled down and we dipped before spiffying up to check out BEA'S! Bea's is a great southern diner with circular tables and a simple menu. You pay one price and it is all you can eat. Servers constantly bring out plates of fried chicker, okra, peach cobbler, chicken and dumplings, pulled pork, and mashed potatoes, which are placed on a lazy susan and shared by everyone at the table. There is almost no waiting for food; you sit down and eat.

After dinner we headed over to the Terminal Brewhouse. This is a new local brewery in Chattanooga next to the Chattanooga Choo Choo. We battled the big crowd to find spots at the bar and stayed for a drink before heading back to the Sudworth residence. There we drank more beers like the Highland Cold Mountain Winter Ale, Avery's DuganA, and the new Georgia favorite Bell's Two Hearted Ale. We also played games and talked about Jersey Shore and The Situation, but ironically we did not get in the hot tub that night.

Sunday morning was a busy one, as our check out time was 10:00. The kitchen was buzzing as Sam and Amelia prepared a bintl of latkes for us. We ate more breakfast and took our time cleaning up, and then headed in to town with packed lunches. We landed on the south side of Chattanooga's Riverfont in the Bluff View Arts District. We strolled around in the misty rain and took some pictures before getting back in to the cars and rolling down to Atlanta. All in all a successful DSBC outing.

Skull Crushing Power

Check out this story (link) in the The Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine. It examines the structural integrity of the beer bottle and asks whether or not it is stronger than a human skull. Both full and empty bottles were examined. Here is an excerpt of a recap of the study by Pat Walters.

Bolliger, who is head of forensic pathology at the University of Bern, went to the store and picked up 10 half-liter bottles of Feldschlösschen Original — his nation's most popular brew. He emptied six of them, left four full and, using a precisely calibrated energy-measuring device, started dropping a steel ball on the bottles from various heights. Bolliger's conclusion: Full bottles shatter at 30 joules, empties at 40, meaning both are capable of cracking open your skull. But empties are a third sturdier.

I'd be interested to see how different bottle shapes and sizes affect this. But here at DSBC we, in no way, advocate using beer bottles as weapons. Beer is for drinking.

The Allegory of the Beer Cave

It's been a while since I've read Plato, but this McSweeney's piece -- THE ALLEGORY OF THE BEER CAVE by Craig Klein -- is still pretty funny.



I'm gonna go ahead and pretend that the author wrote it during his Introduction to Political Philosophy class.

In Anticipation

I'm just back from my first beer in 5 days. Vargo convinced me (he didn't really have to twist my arm) to go to the book signing for Love at the Pub. Vargo asked me if I a) wanted to bid on a BSP table, and B) if I wanted some Sweetwater IPA. Well, Ben wouldn't let me bid on a table (but Vargo did!) so that left me with one option. And I don't really like Sweetwater beers very much, so I wasn't very excited about it. But Vargo told me this was a special Sweetwater, made with Centennial Hops. I was skeptical at first, too, but it was delicious!! Sweetwater CAN make good beers afterall! (Though I am still slightly skeptical that it was a Sweetwater beer--it tasted a lot like Bell's 2 Hearted Ale)

Anyway, we are off to Chattanooga tomorrow. That's right, the dirty south beer club is taking over Chattanooga. We've got lots to do there and lots o' plans. Between the excellent hiking/bouldering/rock climbing/swimming (wait--too cold to swim--it will be in the 20s!) options, coupled with the historic city with a wonderful Riverview Bluffs arts district and cool sculpture gardens plus the art museum and aquarium, the start of the Trail of Tears, yummy pizza/home made ice cream/gourmet hot dogs/southern style joints, we are so set. We are certainly going to be holding court and doing some major beer samplings!

Plus, we're descending, en masse, to Terminal Brewhouse. They won't know what's hit em.

Any suggestions?!

Montreal - Biere!!!!!!!!!

I went to Montreal. I don't speak french. But, I speak beer, so I figured I'd be ok. I was right.

First, let me say that I was a bit skeptical of Canadian beer. A few years ago we Lovehardsteins went to British Columbia and Seattle and found the stateside beer far superior. But, I had heard and read good things about Montreal beer scene so I went through customs (slowly) with an open palette. Good thing.

The beer in Montreal is off the hops!

I was there for two nights - and Basserie Dieu Du Ciel got my patronage both nights. I knew this brewery was well-respected, but it wasn't until I put their Peche Mortel Imperial Stout (au Cafe) to my lips that I understood. This beer was big, bold, and balanced. Just about perfect - especially with the chill Canadian autumn weather nipping at me. I have this thing when I drink an amazing beer where I'll sip, and then remove the glass from my lips and just kinda stare at the glass in awe. And I did that twice before I could even say anything about this one. My buddy got the Chaman Imperial IPA - risky business when you aren't in the US - land of big IPAs, but it too was excellent!

Upon returning home (with a couple Peche Mortel's in my bag) I learned that this beer gets Beer Advocate's #19 best beer in the world, making it the highest rated beer I've ever tasted. I also saw that I can get it here in the Dirty South - albeit at twice the price.

The other great exbeerience was a midday flight of beers at Le Saint Bock (and here). I remember the baltic porter being particularly good, as well as a Saison, but all five were solid and a couple were their own.

On the culinary side, I ate Poutine = french fries, cheese curds, and gravy) at 3:30am. Not good.

Can you beat Hop City?!

Ben and I finally made it over to Antico Pizza in the West Side. Yes, it was a pain to make the trek from the perfect city of Decatur. But the West Side was worth the trip. The pizza--though I'm not here to talk about the pizza--was perfection! I won't go into it, but we brought our own (because they literally only make Neapolitan style pizza and calzones, oh and a few canolli. Our pizza was enjoyed even more because we had the Founders Centennial IPA and the Great Divide Hercules (Double IPA). The Founders can't be got here in GA and was lovingly brought in from TN or NC or something. They both truly deserve their A rating on Beeradvocate, but I prefered the Centennial along with the pizza (Hercules was too sweet).

But hither dither, we used the opportunity to go into Hop City. Mama mia, what a beer store! Of course the staff were super knowledgeable (even if they didn't swoon when we talked about DSBC) We skipped the Belgian section entirely and hunted around for the best possible Yankee Swap Beer Club gift ever. The only requirements (besides being beer related) is it must cost around $15.

[Yes, our beer club is engaging in a "White elephant gift exchange" also known as a yankee swap (watch the Office episode on this subject). No, we didn't purchase an iPod.]

We bought lots of stuff we hadn't seen in GA before, a six pack of random brews (Brooklyn Chocolate Stout, Hop Wallop, Hop Infusion) and the Clipper City Yule Tide (it has a Santa on it) and the Oskar Blues Old Chubb (no Xmas relation but it Red & Green. Plus, we never have scotch ales!) for our Beer Club holiday themed beer.

We got a Thomas Creek Extreme IPA for our upcoming Beer Club getaway to Chaaaaat-a-Nooga , which Ben will complement with his Cincinnati feature of Mt Carmel Nut Brown Ale and the Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter. Be excited, this is rated an "A" both by the bros and by the general masses on BA! Lots of good beers to look forward to in our lil' club.

Decatur, up your game...watch out Sherlocks, Hop City is in town!