Voodoo Big Black Voodoo Daddy

I bought this a while ago and decided it was time to open it up. Big Black Voodoo Daddy is an imperial stout coming in at about 12.5%.

Smelled of molasses, chocolate, roast and coffee with a slight hint of dark fruit. Just a huge, complex aroma, pretty crazy. Starts with a lot of coffee and roast but absolutely no bitterness. Some chocolate and a nice mild roast in the finish. While the molasses and dark fruit from the nose didn't follow through in the flavors, the actual beer was still really good and incredibly smooth. I figured the ABV was high, but I couldn't believe it was 12.5%. Even Jo thought it tasted good. Definitely be on the lookout for this if you like stouts though it's a seasonal so you may not find it for a while.

Labor Day Bar Crawl

It's Saturday, my wife's out of town, I'm alone. So what do I decide to do? What? Not that, sicko. I decide to do a bar crawl going to Farmer's Cabinet -> Varga Bar -> Hawthorne's Cafe -> Devil's Den. Now, I guess it's weird that I decided to bar hop by myself for hours on end, but I really enjoy sitting at bars, talking to bartenders and trying new things. I guess I'm a weird dude and I'm okay with that.

First stop was the Farmer's Cabinet. I haven't been back since my awesome birthday dinner and knew it had been too long. At 11:30am, it wasn't particularly busy which was nice. There was only one other dude at the bar plus the bartender. I started with a glass of De Molen Cease & Desist, also known as Disputin, a Russian Imperial Stout.

Voodoo at the Khyber Pass Pub

After a great couple of beers at Capone's for lunch, Jo and I took a few hours off to run some errands and prepared for dinner and beers at the Khyber Pass Pub. The event Saturday night was with the Voodoo Brewery with head brewer Matt Allyn and his assistant. Voodoo is a Pennsylvania brewery located all the way on the west side of state. It's a really small brewery with just Matt and his assistant as the employees and then a group of volunteers for when they need more people. They make a few really good beers that can be found in Philly although I don't know how far their distribution really gets. On Saturday, the Khyber also still had some taps from their Ballast Point event the night before, some Duck Rabbit stuff, and then a whole bunch of other awesome beers on their 20 taps. So it really wasn't just a Voodoo night as far as beers go which allowed for variety.

Bed & Brews at the Inn at Cooperstown - Friday night

My wife and I recently traveled up to Cooperstown, NY to participate in the Bed & Brews weekend at The Inn at Cooperstown.  Besides the two awesome nights which I'll describe in detail later, you also get as part of the package:

• One rare commemorative Ommegang Abbey Ale jeroboam (3L bottle), signed by the Brew master - Limit 1 per reservation
• One Ommegang Abbey Ale Chalis per person
• One Brewery Ommegang sweatshirt or two t-shirts

The jeroboam is a giant 3L bottle of Abbey and the glasses are very nice chalices with an Ommegang logo and a nice gold rim.  On top of that, Friday night is a tasting where all the guests at the Inn share their favorite beers (or homebrew or whatever).  Saturday night is a private tour of Ommegang by one of their brewers plus a very delicious dinner with beer pairings at their new Cafe.  All in all an excellent package.  Check out some pictures on their website under the "Packages" tab.

Friday Night Beers

Had two great beers last night.

The first beer was Sierra Nevada's Summerfest.

This beer was surprisingly excellent.  I had always read about how excited people were that Summerfest was available but never really knew why since it seemed like such a generic summer.  However, with all the hype I figured I should try it out just to see what all the fuss was about.  The beer poured a nice looking orange with beautiful head and smelled mildly of oranges.  Taste wise, it started very clean with some mild sweetness and finished with a smooth flavor of orange and citrus.  There was basically no hoppiness to this beer and it would make a great session beer on a hot day.  The Summerfest totally lived up to the hype as well which was really satisfying.  When this comes out next summer I'm definitely going to be on the lookout for it because both Jo and I really liked it and on a hot summer day it will be great to kick back with a glass of this.

The second beer I had last night was Voodoo's White Magick of the Sun.

Where the Sierra Nevada was smooth and unassuming, this beer is totally in your face.  The base of it is a wheat ale but because of all the spices they threw into it the style isn't terribly recognizable.  However, for one beer in the night, it was a very good attempt at something different.  I thought the spices blended pretty well and made for a nice experience.  I definitely don't think I'd order a whole pint, but I enjoyed 12oz of it.