Gordonbiersch wouldn’t be my first choice at LAX, tho.

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Prior Sierra reviews from me have been none too glowing; I’m not a fan of these heavily hopped American beers. I prefer my malty old German and English beers — but Sierra has a hell of a following. My friends Ryan and James both really like it. As James was over New Years Day, to let our kids bite each other and then watch some football, I thought it’d be great to share it with him and get a real Sierra drinkers take. “Too bitter” was his review, seems this one is even heavy handed for the real hops lovers. I wonder what Ryan will think…

Anyhow, its good — I will say I drank it and it actually tasted better to me than their Pale Ale or the Southern Hemisphere Harvest Ale. I am a Big Foot fan, and it was similar — but without the heavy booze. The booze helps.

Anyways, if you like heavily hopped American “micro” brews — give it a try.

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Sierra Nevada, in my obviously humble opinion, over hops every beer they brew. The only beer I really like of theirs, Big Foot, needs the hops to even dent the massive over powering flavor of their barley-wine. I guess I got confused — a beer by Sierra Nevada called ‘Fresh Hop Ale” is going to be too hoppy for me, but I bought it anyways. Taking a bullet for you Dethroner readers…

Sierra tells a tale of fresh picking mature Pacific Hallertau, New Zealand Motueka and New Zealand Southern Cross hops in the Southern Hemisphere and then frantically shipping them back to California.

Like our Celebration Ale, the fresh hops in this beer are dried right after being picked then shipped immediately to Chico for brewing so that they retain their peak aromatics and flavors. To ensure the freshest hops possible, we went to the added expense of flying these hops from New Zealand to Chico so we could brew with them the week after they were picked.

The beer is a pretty golden color and looked great in my pint glass (which incidentally celebrated the SF Giants 2002 NL Championship, but fails to mention the World Series they pissed away.) It had a terrific aroma, actually — what this clod can only describe as a floral bouquet — was very evident. The fun, for me, stopped there. The beer was too bitter and hoppy for me — but if you like the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, you’ll likely love this. It was a more intricate and delicate version of the Pale Ale, best I can describe. The malt, doesn’t matter as you can’t really taste it. The head was ok but I have to admit that I probably over-chilled the beer and this tends to cause funny foaming events on opening.

Not for me — but again, if you like Sierra Nevada’s hoppy beers — Southern Hemisphere won’t disappoint.

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I’ve got admit, I’ve got two other reviews to write in front of this one — but I’m not gonna. I’m having too much fun drinking my way through this beer medley. The Spaten is great. I’ve spent enough time in the Spaten tent at Oktoberfest, as well as various Spaten bierhausen (?) in Munich to know its my third favorite Munich brewery. I much prefer Schneider-Weisse and number two is Ayinger. Spaten is a great, you aren’t able to get what you want, so I’m gonna trinke Spaten kinda beer.

The Oktoberfest is kinda dark golden and it has the traditional very malty, barely hopped Oktoberfest thing going on. I like it. I like drinking it. It smells like an Oktoberfest (not like Oktoberfest, that smells like cotton candy, beer and piss.) It tastes exactly like an Oktoberfest should. You can buy this beer with little to no fear.

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The thing that caught my eye in the story was this…

One of Britain’s best-known breweries is to close with the loss of 170 jobs as the recession bites into demand and pub closures rise above the rate of five a day.

A Poem: Me Shocked

Pubs
in
the UK
Closing
at a rate
above
five a day.

Seriously — maybe the world is in economic collapse.

Carlsberg will close historic Tetley’s Yorkshire brewery from Oregon Live

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Seems Balloon Juice doesn’t care for Sam Adams Hefe:

Sam Adams Hefeweizen is so bad it should be a felony. If Obama does usher in the NEW WORLD ORDER, first on the chopping block are these jackasses for their crimes against the reinheitsgebot. Christ, this is ten pounds of suck in a sixteen ounce bottle. Thank God I have three UFO’s left. This Sam Adams is borderline flat, has no body, a bland to nonexistent aftertaste, and almost a fake sweet quality like it fell into a vat of shitty honey brown. If this was the last beer I was to drink before my impending execution, I would just ask them to give me a piss-jar of Corona or shoot me without having a beer.

This Sam Adams crap was the hefeweizen equivalent of having sex while wearing eight condoms. If someone offers you one, give them the finger.

While an old story on CNN, that I just ran across, suggests beer drinkers are for McCain:

Beer drinkers appear more likely to vote for Sen. John McCain in November, while those who enjoy wine say they’re more likely to vote Democratic in the fall.

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Cooper’s is a popular beer from Austrailia and I hear many good things about it. I have no reason to expect anything but a great beer from these guys.

Luckily, I read the label and saw that Cooper’s Vintage Ale was bottle conditioned. I decided 2008 might be “young” and only refrigerated two bottles (on the hope I’d want a second.) Four of the six pack are aging in my beer and wine cellar. The second one still sits in the ice-box.

Bitter, bland and really just not ready to be drank is how I’d have to describe it. I thought I’d gotten it too cold at first and let it warm up — that was no help at all, simply gave it a chalky after taste. I can see this beer maturing in 6+ months in the bottle, it reminded me of a belgian dubble I home brewed. That first bottle I opened after only putting the finished, bottled beer up for 6 or 7 weeks tastes like this — just not ready.

I’ll report back in a few months. We’ll see how it develops…

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Take two drinks every time:

Someone thinks the killer is dead and unwisely goes to investigate the body only to discover he is still alive.

I remember when I needed an excuse to drink. Now I have a slipped disc. I can start drinking at 8am and everyone just smiles and nods.

Drink of the Week’s Killer Halloween Drinking Game

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I rarely enjoy fruit flavored beers — they over-do the fruit and taste too tart. Jack’s Pumpkin Spice Ale actually respects the beer! Jack’s is creamy but light and with a crisp finish. The cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg present in a really nice way, I could almost not find the clove, but it is hidden in there someplace. I’d describe it as a cream soda/light ale, lightly spiced. The pumpkin flavor is mild and blends really well with the ale and spices. Its funny but I think this may be a perfect Fall sitting by the fire beer.

I didn’t think I’d ever say this about an Anheuser-Busch beer, but I like it. I will have no problem finishing this six pack.

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Even the most ardent beer fans would have trouble subsisting on their favorite brew day in and out, but scientists have just discovered that the pentailed treeshrew lives off a frothy, fermented nectar that smells like beer and has its same alcohol content.
Humans previously were thought to be the only animals that regularly imbibed alcohol, but the soft-furred, slender treeshrews drink far more than most humans ever could for their body weight, and have been doing so for up to 55 million years.

Tree Shrew Lives on Nature-Brewed Beer [Discovery.com]

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Seventy-five years ago today, April 7, 1933, marked the beginning of the end of Prohibition in the United States. … When the law changed at 12:01 a.m. on April 7, beer flowed legally from taps for the first time in 14 years. These low-alcohol brews would tide the nation over for the next seven months until Prohibition was altogether repealed on December 5.

God bless Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who pushed to repeal Prohibition entirely.

Beer’s 75th Re-Birthday [Imbibe Magazine]

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HERE AT LAST! The wait is OVER! Friday, February 8th, 2008 marks the day that The Original Seefurth Family Mamma Mia Pizza Beer hit the street. Brewed and bottled at the Sprecher Brewing Company just outside of Milwaukee, WI, Sprecher is already offering 16 ounce bottles for sale in their gift shop.

I’ve had a lot of beer with pizza and my local pizza parlor adds beer to the sauce, but this is truly integration at its finest. I wonder how it tastes?

Previously • Horrible Ideas: Pizza Beer with Real Pizza Bits [Dethroner]

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It makes logical sense, but seems lame. The Michigan State Attorney General hath decreed that barbers may not serve a courtesy beer to their clients for concomitant consumption without a license to serve liquor. The barber claims this is an old time custom and will pursue his right to serve beer during a trim.

“I’m glad we finally got clarity on the issue,” Thomas Martin said today. “Offering a complimentary beer is not something that we created, it’s an old-fashioned service that was done years ago. We just brought it back with the other old-fashioned services that we provide.”

He said he would work with state legislators to legalize the practice.

His barbershop sure seems cool.

No beer at barbershop, attorney general says [M-Blog Live] (Thanks for the pointer Ryan @ Brewers Daily)

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Personally, I haven’t ever enjoyed a bar that was so crowded I couldn’t sidle up the bartender in the first place, but it’s not difficult to see why this would be dangerous in all the good ways. [via Peter W Knox] (Thanks, Richard!)

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“He offered to buy us beers if we would just let him go home,” Officer Joel Reierson wrote in the report.

I wish cops would be that cool. “Dude, I’m drunk. I got a pocket full of dope and pills. How about you back off, have a beer and I run home and sleep it off?”

Seems a 24 year old in Indianapolis got caught in possession of xanax and weed while drunk in public. The cops found more xanax and more weed in his car. When faced with arrest the gentleman evidently offered the law-enforcement professionals $100 and some beer.

How did it work for him?

Narayan Thomas Trivedi, 24, was held in the Marion County Jail this morning on initial charges of bribery, drug possession, public intoxication and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Whoops! Additional charges!

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Please go vote for Abita Turbo Dog. I like it a lot. Currently it is looking behind the Sam Adams.

I wonder which remaining brew I’ll pick if the Abita gets the ax?

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Fresh, home-made ice cream tastes wonderful. Ben and Jerry’s have a great book out that makes ice cream making simple. I love organic smooth peanut butter ice cream.

Anyhow — Boston.com offers a recipe for Guinness-based Ice Cream that seems a bit more complicated than Ben and Jerry’s but still easy: Guinness ice cream [Boston.com]

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The ground-breaking study shows that the hippocampus, the part of the brain involved in memory, spatial tasks and many other functions, was more than 10 per cent smaller in those whose tipple was wine than in those who favoured beer.

Why? Are they myths about bottle or keg conditioned beer with the yeast left in true? Do the things left in the beer help your brain? I’ve never once seen the “less hang-over from homebrew” rumor to be true — I drink a lot more when I drink my homebrew and I get a massive hangover.

What could be be? Seems the researchers are attributing a substance called homocysteine — which wikipedia doesn’t appear to mention as impacting yo noggin — but certainly shows some cardiovascular and skeletal issues. Regardless it seems the vitamin B producing stuff in beer yeast helps limit the bodies production of homocysteine, which is a nice side-effect of getting a buzz that wine won’t provide.

Researchers found that beer drinkers had the lowest levels of the compound. One theory is that other ingredients of beer – B vitamins and folate – may break down homocysteine.

Definitive proof beer is better for the brain? Doubtful — but relax, don’t worry, have a homebrew!

Wine is worse for the brain than beer, research finds[The Independent]

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