Two Idiots Enter, One Drunk Leaves

I've had a bottle of 2008 Weyerbacher Blithering Idiot burning a hole in my pocket (shelf?) since I bought it at Capone's a couple months ago.  However, I really enjoy doing side by sides with the fresh version when I have an older vintage (like when I did Troegs Mad Elf a while back) and so haven't had the opportunity to open it.  Since I just bought three Blithering Idiots, I finally had my chance do a comparison.

Russian River Pliny the Younger (yes again)

I don't usually repeat beers but I walked two miles to get a glass of this so I'm going to repeat it.  Plus, as I like to say, it's my blog and you'll read what I write.  Or you won't I guess.  I hope you will though.  Seriously, please read my blog.  Tell your friends!

Okay, yeah.  So.  Pliny the Younger.  Thanks to Philly Tap Finder, on Friday morning I saw that St. Stephen's Green (at 17th and Green) was tapping a sixtel of it at noon.  Thinking it would make for a pleasant walk whether I got a glass or not (if it was a mob scene I would have just turned around), I made my way there.  However, surprisingly enough, there weren't that many people there when I arrived and I got a seat and everything.

I got my glass and took a seat and enjoyed it while reading my kindle.  Wonderful citrus aroma without any bitter notes.  Tons of citrus up front (maybe even some pineapple?) followed by a little sweetness and finishing bitter and dry.  Like many other IPAs the bitterness lingers a little but not overlong.  It does leave your mouth super dry though.  Curious what the final gravity would be considering the dryness of it.  As I said last time, I couldn't find any heat from the 10.25% ABV which is an accomplishment in and of itself.  Fantastic beer but not one that's easily available so until next year that's all she wrote.  If I'm still doing this then, look for another entry because it really is just that good.

Thursday at Nodding Head

I needed to kill some time while waiting to meet my wife for dinner so I thought what better way to do that than spend an hour reading at Nodding Head and enjoying some beer.  I did a little research using Philly Tap Finder but decided I really wanted to try the Belgian Chocolate Stout so headed to Nodding Head.

Duck Rabbit Barleywine

I recently bought a few different barleywines and the Duck Rabbit's was the first I tried.  I really like Duck Rabbit as a brewery and love their Milk Stout (and enjoyed their porter recently), but unfortunately I wasn't terribly impressed with their barleywine.

Very slight aroma with some caramel and fruit followed by a little alcohol.  Fruit opens up the first sip, followed by a few sugary notes but finishing with a fight between an unpleasant bitterness and strong alcohol.  When it warmed up the alcohol and bitterness faded a little but they never fully went away.  It wasn't a drain pour or anything, but I wasn't eager to open up a second right after finishing it.  I love their bottle though.  Doesn't the duck look dapper in his bowler?

Weyerbacher Old Heathen

While I was trying to save my last bottle of Weyerbacher Old Heathen in order to do a side by side with Heresy (which is this aged in bourbon barrels), my thirst got the better of me and I couldn't wait anymore.  Old Heathen is an Imperial Stout on the lighter side of ABV at 8%.  What?  8% is comparatively lighter!

This is quite tasty and really want to try Heresy at some point.  I feel the sweetness would hold up well to the bourbon flavors imparted by the barrel.  The aroma was mainly chocolate and vanilla with a small hint of coffee.  Very inviting.  Initially get fruit followed by chocolate.  Silky mouthfeel.  I got a tiny bit of bitterness (I expect from the hops) but it's immediately covered up by even more silky chocolate.  For whatever reason, the aftertaste is all vanilla and left my mouth happy.  If you couldn't tell, I really enjoyed this and could easily go back for more.  The Bells Expedition is still probably my favorite of the bunch, but Old Heathen comes really close and is available all year round which is a big plus in my book.

Why I Oughta IPA

I realized I still had a bottle of my buddy's Black Double IPA (his words) in the beer refrigerator and figured I should drink it while it's still sort of fresh.  I had it once before during the second beer tasting and thought it was pretty tasty.  This time I haven't had like six beers before it and thought it was still really good.

Inviting aroma of pine and orange peel.  Lots of citrus and pine notes up front with a pleasant roasty finish.  Some sweetness balances a slight lingering bitterness.  The best part, at least for me, is that the bitterness from the hops never overwhelms the palate and just kind of lives on the edge.  I'm a big fan of balanced IPAs and found the roasted finish to be one of the better ones I've found in black IPAs that I've had.  Nice job Pete.

Dark Horse Three Guy Off the Scale Barleywine

I recently opened a barlyewine from Dark Horse named Three Guy Off the Scale.  This clocks in at 15% and, while not harsh, the alcohol has a heavy presence.

Smells a little like rocket fuel mixed with sugar, caramel and toffee.  Mmm, rocket fuel.  The first sip followed with tons of caramel, toffee and dark fruit with a slow alcohol burn in the finish.  As I drank more and it warmed a little, the alcohol burn in the finish subsided a bit and I was left with delicious caramel and plum.  It actually reminded me quite a bit of Samichlaus and, while super strong, was still tasty.  I wouldn't drink more than one in a night for obvious reasons but one was great.

Cooking with Beer 3 - Beer Dinner

Recently we got together with some friends (our monthly cooking club) and the theme for this month was cooking with beer.  While I didn't have too much trouble finding recipes, variety was an issue for me.  There were a bunch of bread, chocolate desserts and beef recipes that came up but not much else.  Still, Jo and I managed to find some ideas.  As I'm the resident beer geek and and I make dessert often (my wife would say too often) I was challenged with finding a tasty dessert.

With Jo's help (aka she found the recipe), I found a variation on brownies that looked really tasty.  I've made a similar recipe but it didn't include beer and flipped the order of brownie and blondie layers.  The new recipe was Black and Tan Brownies and they turned out quite well if I do say so myself (and I do!).  I followed the recipe but instead of the Guinness, I went with something more flavorful.  I'm betting any stout would work (chocolate, american or imperial), but I decided Dark Horse Too Cream Stout would work really well.

Sharing is Awesome

My buddy Craig was opening some of his bottles that were suspected of being infected (Abyss '09 apparently smells like metal and tastes like death at this point) and came across his '09 Portsmouth Kate the Great.  If you don't know (which I guess most of you don't), Kate the Great is an imperial stout made once a year by the Portsmouth brewpub in New Hampshire.  They produce around 900 bottles which get snapped up immediately.  Before this year, the line generally started forming some time in the middle of the night.  Given they release the bottles in the middle of winter, those people are freaking crazy.  And probably still cold.  This year they did some bizarre lottery ticket thing so it was all a crapshoot.  Less freezing, more gnashing of teeth about how life is unfair.  All this boils down to is that Kate the Great is nearly impossible to get and Craig is awesome for sharing it with me.

Weyerbacher Riserva

Jo and I opened one of our bottles of Weyerbacher Riserva the other day.  It's an American Wild Ale (a sour) that was aged in barrels for 6 months or so (I don't really remember exactly) with a ton of raspberries.  It then conditions in the bottle for as long as necessary in order to create carbonation.  However, with the 2010, Weyerbacher had a lot of trouble getting it to carbonate and eventually decided it would just have low carbonation this year because it just wasn't going to ever fully carbonate.

Smells very sour and acetic.  Sharp, vinegary and very pungent.  First sip and you get a ton of sour.  While the flavors are reminiscent of raspberries, it isn't like drinking a glass of them as the sourness and vinegar notes are more prominent.  I felt like it has mellowed a bit since we bought it last November, but Jo disagreed and it's possibly just my imagination.  As I drank more and it warmed up, I started getting some mild apple juice notes similar to some other sours but the citric acid flavors always quickly overwhelmed everything.  Compared to some of the Russian River sours, this is sort of one-dimensional but I still enjoy it.  Definitely a sharing beer though as it's powerful and a 750 can take a while to finish alone.