Mint Mojito


Considering I'm hypoglycemic and sugar sends me into fits of rage, followed by blacking out, I picked up some Spice Exchange Sugar Free Mojito mix a while back. $3 at TJMaxx Home Goods. Decided to mix this green concoction with a couple of ounces or so of Bacardi. Never had a mojito before, not much of a liquor guy I suppose. It's probably a warm weather drink. Very refreshing and minty. I can imagine if I was at a party and didn't have gum to freshen up my breath I'd find one of these. Damn its minty. Reminds me of picking mint from my Grandma's yard and eating it. The mint is lingering. It's a bit limey as well.

Meh.

Stella Artois in Steamboat Springs


Had a few pitchers of Stella Artois on the banks of the Yampa River. Drinks were at The Boat House. Good place.

Fat Tire fresh off the tap


BA Rating: B-

ABV: 5.3%

Another one I tried while at The Royal Peasant.

This was a really smooth beer. It tasted a bit like flat Coke. Really nothing that jumped out at me as I drank it but I really did like it. Could definitely see where one could end up drinking more than their fair share at one sitting.



BA Rating: A-

ABV: 8.3%

I had this at The Royal Peasant. This was a very good beer. Hints of coffee, toffee, and dark fruit. Great aftertaste.

Open Bar at Lady & Sons....

Chivas Regal and Soda was the choice drink of the night. Excuse me...drinks of the night as not just 1 was consumed!



A glass "cup" of chardonnay in first class on a flight to Dallas. The lovely lady seated next to me was having the vodka soda. Clearly for the calorie savings.

Strawberry banana smoothie





Strawberry Lime Sparkler

Strawberry Lime Sparkler from Pappadeaux's.

School group meeting. Buckets.





More Fat Tire at Parma Tavern

If you follow i just ate this or just know me, you know I love Parma Tavern.  We picked the dog up from the UGA vet hospital today (mad props to them for fixing my dog) and thought she deserved a special treat. In reality I think we meant we deserved a beer or two after all the dog stress we've endured over the past couple weeks. Either way, we were gonna go somewhere in Athens but headed toward the house instead.

Since it was such a beautiful afternoon/dusk-time we decided to take her to Parma and sit outside on the patio. I had a Fat Tire. That's what I always have there. Fat Tire tastes best at Parma because of the magic glass.

Yum.

Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA (In a Dogfish Head glass!!)

I want to just skip to the good stuff by them. 120 minute is not available in Georgia apparently. Maybe it's only sold on Sundays so we miss out by default.

I've had 90 Minute before, but it was so long ago I can't remember. The 60 minute made me want to just skip a step or two though. It was good, but not as IPA as I expected. Tasted way malty. Looked purty in it's own glass though. I probably would have been better off saving a couple bucks and going back for Sweetwater IPA, I haven't been turned into a Dogfish Head fanboy quite yet.












In honor of St. Patrick's Day I had to have a Guinness...

Morlein Friend of an Irishman Stout
























Just one of many consumed!
I've really been digging the Belgian brews lately. I love the distinct flavors. This is another one by the Canadian Unibroue, dark and awesome. Another badass label as well.

One day I hope for pockets deep enough for me to have Belgian beers for breakfast. (Nice alliteration, huh?)

9% ABV
BA: A-

Yuengling Brewery Traditional Lager


BA Rating-B-

ABV-4.40%

I drank it from a can at a "Stock the Bar" party. It's Yuengling. Meh. There was a choice between Budweiser, Miller Lite, and Yuengling...Well, you get the point.

I hit the level on my passport (now Brewniversity) club to get a $10 bonus. So what did I do? Spent way more than $10 on beer. That's what.(part 3 Part 2  Part 1)
 

When I ordered this the server said "ohhh..Abbey...have fun" and walked off. I was like WTF chick??? You can't just do that. Turns out she was an "IPA girl" and wasn't a fan of this particular beer.

The first Ommegang I had was (I think) Ommegeddon. My wife ordered it mixed with some kind of cider. It was a sour beer, so the mix was actually pretty good. 

The Abbey Ale was yum fun.

8.5% ABV
BA rating: A-
I intendend on posting one of the beers from my beer of the month club. Heavy Sease Pale Ale, to  be exact, but it was skunked or something so I'm going to call them Monday and say give me more beer for free, please. I'm bummed because Heavy Seas Small Craft Warning is one of my favorite beers of all time.

Sweetwater IPA is up there too though. It's also pretty strong but very drinkable. I can drink way too many of these.

6.7% ABV
Beer advocate: A-

BA Rating-C-

ABV-4.8%

Stopped at Sr. Sol (best Mexican food in Athens IMO) on my way back from running errands around town this morning. Picked up some great tamales, a chicken quesadilla, and a Pacifico Blanca while I waited. Pacifico is just another watered down version of Mexican beer. It's not terrible, but only serviceable at best. Very mild flavor, if any at all. No significant smell, not really any color. Worst of all is that it was served with a lime. Eww. At least the tamales were on point once again.

Presidente


Cerveceria Nacional Dominicana Presidente

BA Rating-C

ABV-6.0%

Today I finished my first two classes of the semester and it's officially "Spring Break" (for those school goers without jobs) so I decided to grab a beachy beer and a stogie (Macanudo Portofino). Presidente just so happens to be one of my regular go to brews. Most people turn to Bud or Coors, I turn to Presidente (maybe it's because my Uncle turned me onto them a few years ago, having a Dominican aunt probably doesn't hurt my credibility here...haha...).

Drank this one from the 12 oz. bottle. Still really cold thanks to the chilling station at the ABC. The smell isn't an exciting one, corn with a slight skunky undertone. Very crisp and a bit bitter once on the tongue.

Overall it's not the greatest beer of all time, but I'm not sure anyone has ever claimed it to be. I wouldn't give it a "C" like the BA faithful have but a C+/B- at the max. I think it's a good macro brew and a great alternative to the American light beers.


This is gonna pair nicely with the nasty chalupa I had to settle for at Taco Hell and that robust Macanudo Portofino.



BA Rating C+

For a happy hour special, it wasn't that bad. It wasn't great, but it wasn't horrible either. The C+ is about right for a middle of the road decent beer.

Stone Russian Imperial Stout


BA Rating-A

ABV-10.5%

I picked this guy up at the ABC on my way home from work the other night. I’ve tried curtailing the amount I drink by drinking beers with more ABV. Sounds fool proof eh? Anyways, this is a spring 2009 release and that stored very well. Poured into a Stone Levitation Ale Glass it poured a creamy head that faded fast leaving a little lacing on the glass. It smelled of bitter chocolate and alcohol, stronger on the alcohol side. Silky, chocolate, coffee, bittersweet, awesomeness; with a slight alcohol after taste. Two of these beers would’ve kicked my arse, I got a nice little buzz from the 22 oz. it provided. I would definitely recommend this beer to Russian Stout lovers.

Red eye





If you know me, you know that I occasionally like things that are over the top. Not because I think it's classy or attractive or cool or even right, but because I just do. It's not necessarily funny, it just makes me laugh on the inside. My other side is 'less is more'. I guess I'm pretty polar, that's a whole different discussion though.

Anyway, I saw this beer at the liquor store and was immediately drawn to it for obvious reasons, the freaking werewolfette on it. A couple days ago a young man working there told me it was terrible. I figured, hell, it's near all the Belgian stuff, and so maybe terrible isn't that bad. After all, beer lovers classify light domestics as terrible, so there was a chance this was going to be bad, but still drinkable. 
Werewolf:
See the red type toward the bottom of the bottle? "You must be sure you wanna taste it". I'm curious as to what they mean by that. At this point I see it as a warning.  smells like....old candy? Old people's candy? Swedish fish? It tastes like...old candy? Old people's candy? Swedish fish? Old Swedish fish? Yeah. It was turbl. I drank half and poured the rest in the sink.

It sucked, but it still has a werewolfette on the front. A blonde chick that is turning into a werewolf. The interesting thing is that when she transformed, it started on half of her body, not a slow gradual change throughout. This particular strain of werewolf takes over half the body completely before moving onto the next half. It seems more painful than the werewolf that the people in the movies come down with . That's Hollywood for ya though, always glamorizing things and making them less real.


ABV: ?? Not sure.
Beer Advocate rating: C+





As a token of my appreciation for this company making such a fine brew I designed them a shirt:

I drank fire.




Well, it was fire until I dropped it in the beer at least. Flaming Dr Pepper. It really did taste like Dr Pepper.

Sierra Nevada Harvest Wet Hop Ale

WET HOPS. That means they're fresh. In this case, the hops are picked on day 1, sent overnight to the brewery and brewed up the next day. Fascinating, I say. I'd like to try wet hopping a homebrew. It almost seems like a waste to dry them out then use them...like drying out broccoli before adding it to a broccoli casserole, only with more drunkenness at the end.

Dude at the beer store recommended this based on my love of Sweetwater's Wet Dream. I like it, seems a bit dry at the end, but I may just be a little dehydrated to begin with. My beer store has beer tastings every Friday. Today it was Thomas Creek Brewery from SC. They had 5 or 6 beers and poured a few ounces of each. All of their beers were very drinkable. The red ale was good, IPA was mild for an IPA, and they did have an Imperial IPA that was 12.5% ABV. One of those beers that could make you do dance funny after a few since the alcohol is masked well.

There's something behind this beer in a paper bag that I'm excited/laughing inside about.



ABV 6.7%
Beer Advocate rating: A-
(several of the BA reviews of this beer weren't crazy about the aroma, I'll agree to the extent that it wasn't strong, but what was there is great. It's a pleasant scent.)

Stone Cali-Belgique IPA

 There's a description on the back of the bottle that explains what the hell Cali-Belgique means. Neat, right? Yeah. So, anyway, wow. This stuff is good. I drank it after the BSP Quad so the 6.9% didn't really rip through, but that could be different if I wasn't alread primed.

I loved the way this one hits. The finishing flavor is that of fresh hops. I thought it was familiar, made a guess and I was right - Chinook hops (FACT CHECK ME HERE). I only knew this because it's one of the varieties I have growing on the side of my house and when the first ones popped through I crushed and smelled them non-stop, but damn I felt smart when I could pick that out.

The bottle on this one is styling as well. That gargoyle is one badass looking dude. And he's just sitting there like "Oh, hey. Me? I'm just a gargoyle. enjoying a mug of brew. Watching from the corner of old buildings."

6.9%ABV
Beer Advocate rating: A-
I got the email from Sweetwater about the latest Dank Tank beer a couple weeks ago and since then my head has been on a swivel. Call me a Sweetwater homer, but to date, the Dank Tank Wet Dream is the best beer I have ever had. So I looked for this on my Friday package store trip and at Taco Mac last week with no success. Stopped by the package store on a whim today and BAM! hidden behind a couple Big Ol Belgian Blue Balls was a whole line of these bad boys.

 I popped this one open before cooking dinner and I'm not going to lie about the next part. Poured it in a pint glass. Took a sip. Took another BIG sip and then felt like I got popped in the mouth with straight alcohol. "What the shit?" I decided to wait a few minutes to regroup. (Went out to the car to get some stuff. phone charger, chapstick, etc) The truth is the first sip (gulp?) beat my face up. I drank this like it was anything but a 11% brew.

I embraced/respected it after that and we got along well.
I treated the beer right and it treated me right. Had a nice dark malty flavor that was easy to drink and grew on me more and more. Sweetwater suggests letting one sit in 'your cellar' for a while. I got an extra one to do just that.



And the breakdown of BSP? Well, the Sweetwater folks probably have something in particular they want it to mean, in fact I know they do but here are some things I think the BSP should stand for:
Beautiful Suds Pontificate
Ballin Straight Pimpin
Bring Some Pie
Break Slippery  Penguins

ABV 11%
Beer Advocate rating: A-

Lagunitas Censored Ale (aka the Kronic)


Lagunitas Censored Ale


Beer Advocate Rating=B+


ABV-5.9


Review:


I bought this beer as a single 12 oz bottle in a Make Your Own 6 Pack (MYO6P) from my favorite brew cave (ABC). I'd had it before on tap at Trapeze but didn't really remember much from that trip.


Poured a weak, almost translucent, copper with little to no lacing. Very sweet at first and very smooth, ends with a slightly bitter after taste. Hints of caramel, citrus and maybe even a bit of brown sugar. I'd definitely give this beer another go.


I'm not the best with the photography or reviews but hopefully it'll get better as we go...Now drink and be merry, or whatever...


I hit the level on my passport (now Brewniversity) club to get a $10 bonus. So what did I do? Spent way more than $10 on beer. That's what.(part 2)


I've been eying the Unibroue beers for a while. Thought it was right to pull the trigger on this one when I had some beer credit (If you're keeping track, I'm up to $14 in beer on a $10 credit). I'm a rookie to Belgian style beers but I know what's good and this is good. Has an amazing citrus/spice flavor to it that makes the 9% alcohol dangerous. 


By this time my palate recovered from the jalapenos and salsa so I was able to enjoy this to its full extent. I was, however, drinking this delicious Canadian golden ale on a cool evening while watching the winter olympics...where the USA was competing with Canada head on in almost every sport. Maybe I'll be more appropriate and choose my setting and food pairing more carefully next time. Who care's though? It's awesome beer.

9% ABV
Beer Advocate rating: A

Great Divide Titan IPA

I hit the level on my passport (now Brewniversity) club to get a $10 bonus. So what did I do? Spent way more than $10 on beer. That's what.(part 1)

First I had Titan Great Divide IPA. When I take too long picking out beers or just don't have a direction my wife picks for me. She picked this one.
 Probably had some pine and citrus and all that going on. See, I messed up with this and was eating cheese dip with jalapenos...that can screw up the flavor of anything. The hops definitely stuck out, but I'm sure some of the more intricate flavors were lost. Oh well. It was an IPA, it was good.


7.1% ABV
Beer Advocate rating: A-
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