Thanks Giving

I am sure this is the first time such a lineup was waiting for anyone arriving into Brownsville, TX. Thanks brother.

Lost Abbey Gift of the Magi
Russian River Beatification
Marin White Knuckle D-IPA

Smokestack

Boulevard's Smokestack series are available in Austin. Have you had 'em yet? If not, what are you waiting for. I actually just got around to trying the Sixth Glass Quad, which is killer. Boulevard's regular lineup is so-so, but if the rest of the Smokestack series are as good as this one.... forget about it. I think I may pick up the whole series for my Thanksgiving trip to Brownsville next week. Better than Tecate, that's for sure.

Thirsty Thursday #16

Kona Pipeline Porter
by Kona Brewing Co., Kona, HI
Style: American Porter
ABV: 5.40%

I gotta say this beer surprised me. I was not expecting much. When Kona first made a splash on the Austin scene I had my reservations. Without hearing any rumblings in the beer underworld, all of sudden every supermarket in town had huge displays of Kona Brewing's offerings. It seemed a bit fishy to me. And it made me wary of their beers. Why had I not heard about this earlier? Just who is pushing these beers on us? .... You know what I am saying?

So I held out, until I saw this beer. I am willing to try any beer and coffee concoction. But coffee beers, coffee porters specifically have not always met my expectations.

This one was different. Kona did the roasted coffee aromas and flavors very well, subtle, not too over the top. If you like coffee, get this beer. If you like beer, get this beer. If you don't like beer or coffee, I feel sorry for you.

Oh, I just had apple pie with ice cream and this went great with it. Try it.

Sam Calagione featured in the New Yorker

Saw this on Brookston Ber Bulletin:

Sam and Dogfish in the New Yorker.

From (512) ...

Freetail Opening

From Freetail:

FREETAIL BREWING CO. ANNOUNCES OPENING OF SAN ANTONIO LOCATION

Locally owned and operated microbrewery takes flight on Black Friday

November 7, 2008) San Antonio, TX – Freetail Brewing Co. will open the doors of their inaugural location on the corner of 1604 and NW Military in the Hill Country Plaza retail development on Thanksgiving weekend, November 28-30. The opening marks a fresh approach to San Antonio’s brewpub scene combining artisan pizza, salads and sandwiches with a microbrewery featuring unique selections of craft beer. Opening specials will include happy hour prices throughout the weekend.

How come I never knew about this. Brewed in Portland, Maine. That is Joshua L. Chamberlain, civil war hero and distant relative, adorning the bottle.

New bar in Austin

The beer list on their website is most likely incorrect and reflects what they have in their South Bend pub. But I am still looking forward to trying it this weekend.

Shiner 100

Click to enlarge.

52 IPA's

A great blog I came across this morning. It made me incredibly thirsty at 10:30 AM.

I poached the picture from his flickr page. I hope he does not mind terribly.

Shiner

This is old. Last weekend was the Texas Book Festival. Much of it was passable. I did not wake up in time for Douglas Brinkley on Saturday. But I was able to catch Mike Renfro the author of Shine On: 100 Years of Shiner Beer. I took peak at the book. Well designed (unlike their bloody website). Nice pictures. Heavy on the history, light on the beer. An attractive book to have around I guess, if yr into coffee table books.

P.S. Stay away from Shiner's annoying website. It will crash yr shit.

Thirsty Thursday #15

Avery's Ale to the Chief!
by Avery Brewing Co., Boulder, CO
Style: Double IPA
ABV: 8.75%

As we watched the election results role in, this was my beer of choice. Quite fitting. Brewed to celebrate the arrival of our next president (who we know now will be Obama). This beer reminded me a lot of Mahraja, Avery's other DIPA. It is a bit too sweet for me. I prefer my DIPAs to be more like Great Divide's Hercules, which is straight up delicious. Avery makes better stouts and porters.

Tedo from BarleVine liked it more than I did and had some good things to say:

This is much more of a straightforward hop bomb. One of the more interesting characteristics was the spiciness of these beer, it was pretty intense white pepper notes among other things that I couldn't place. It added a different flavor profile than what I'm used to, it was rather pleasant though. There's also some citrusy bitterness, that along with the hoppy resin really saturates ones mouth. Even with all this intense character it went well with our dinner of hatch chili turkey burgers on ciabatta bread with fried potatoes.

BA Tasting: November 2008

It was another nice one. A good amount of sours:

Schneider Hopfen-Weisse
Deschutes 20th Anniversary Wit
Southern Tier Pumpking
Portsmouth Hop Harvest I
Southern Tier Unearthly IPA
Sierra Nevada Chico Estate Hop Harvest
Olfabrikken Porter
Southhampton Imperial Porter
Jolly Pumpkin La Roja Artisan Amber Ale '07
Panil Barriquee
Lost Abbey Isabelle Proximus
Jolly Pumpkin Autumn Fire '07
Flossmoor Station IPA
Stone Double Bastard '06
Delirium Tremens
Mikkeller It's Alive!
Lost Abbey Judgement Day
(this is where I left)
Dogfish Head Shelter Pale Ale
Left Hand Twin Sisters DIPA
Super Baladin
Liefmans Goudenband
Schlafly Biere de Garde