This Friday we'll be drinking Wexford Irish Creme Ale, and we hope you will be too!  Odds are you can pick this up just about anywhere...I called around.  Wexford comes in little pint size nitro-can and pack a modest 5% ABV punch.  The widget (more to come later!) in the can provides a smooth creamy texture (and plenty of head).  I haven't had this beer, but I am pretty curious.  From what I can tell it should be pretty malty/bready/yeasty with minimal hop presence. I guess going into this I beer I have Boddington's pub ale in mind...but this presupposition is probably based more on the beer style and packaging. Anyhow, pick up a pack and drink with us this Friday!  (And for those of you who disdain the flavor of beer, you can participate by buying this Wexford Towel off ebay--it's only a penny right now!)

I just wanted to make a quick note on here.  With all the incessant Christmas music starting to blare in ever store that you visit, it's time to mention that seasonal Christmas beers will be coming out.  We will be trying a few but you ought to pick one up on occasion.  You might find some delightful surprises.  I would suggest some Thanksgiving beers but there are few to choose from.  If anyone knows of a Turkey Leg Lager, Mashed Potato Porter, or Stove Top Stout let me know.  Actually, there should be some Sam Adams Cranberry Lambic (although not really a Lambic) coming out before too long.  Anyway, stay tuned for some Christmas beers hitting the shelf before long.

In order to continue our style series and given that we just drank a Double Bock, I think that a discussion on Bock beers is appropriate.  First of all, a Bock is still in the family of Lagers.  Although top fermenting (i.e., Ale Yeast) can be be used in this beer at cooler temperatures, it is preferable to use Lager Yeasts in this style.  So what does Bock mean?  The thinking on the subject is that Bock beer originated in Einbeck Germany but began to be pronounced Bock as it moved geographically.  Bock was simply intended to indicate "strong."  However, due to the corruption in pronunciation, it became associated with a Ram or male goat.  This is why a goat is often pictured on the labels of this style of beer. The reason that these beers had to be strong was because of their long storage periods, shipping times, and sustaining qualities.  In fact, German Monks would often drink this style when fasting food.  These beers are certainly strong in nature.  They are rich and malty with little emphasis on hops.  What about Double/Doppel Bocks?  Essentially the term means extra or double strong.  So, if you wish to drink a Double Bock, expect a little extra.  Sam Adams makes a Triple ...

Typically, this style of beer doesn't hold rank in my "favorites" category, but I was pretty excited to drink it.  It has been a long time since I last had this beer.  I vaguely recall picking it up shortly after I discovered the world of beer outside of canned pilsner.  I am sure back then the little dangling white plastic ram on the bottle is what enticed me into buying it.  Anyhow, the taste has since vanished from my memory. Appearance:  The beer pours with a thick head that dissipated quicker than I'd expected...not much lacing on the inside of my glass.  It is not quite black--brownish read in color--and pretty translucent.  Swishing it a little I could tell it was not as thick as I'd expected. Smell:  I think this brew makes fragrance discernment easy for the untrained nose since the wafting ingredients are strong and distinct.  You can easily pick up the roasted malts.  There is strong irony smell.  Caramel/mocha/coffee/nuttiness is very noticeable from the malts.  There is also a very distinct fruit smell; noticeably, cherries.  Hmmmm...this description sounds like candy! Taste:   Thank goodness it doesn't taste like candy.  I am most definitely not a sweet tooth, and overtly sweet ...

What an interesting and glorious name.  What else can one say about this beer?  We might as well behave like the dog on the bottle and go for it (I mean trying the beer).  I've mention some information on Porters before when I wrote about Stouts.  I'm also planning on writing an article about them later on.  Now to the beer. Upon pouring the beer there was a lovely dark brown liquid with hints of deep red.  This particular beer had fairly low head retention and carbonation.  The lower carbonation is perfectly appropriate to the style (many actually prefer it).  The beer looked ready to drink right when it was poured.  I love a beer with a beautiful bouquet, and this one fit that category.  There were nice caramel and toffee notes to this beer.  Additionally, I noted the smell of the alcohol.  Really the few things that I noted here dominated this beer.  Sometimes the emphasis of a few points makes a beer better than convolution with too many ingredients.   As for the last of the beer, it had a roasty and slightly sweet coffee flavor.  It almost smacked of the aftertaste when drinking a mocha latte; so, there were slight chocolaty notes.  Along with these flavors there was a dry maltiness and a ...

Guilt has been weighing on our consciences here at Thank Heaven for Beer after our flirtation with evil a couple weeks as we drank and promoted that blood sucking beer, Nasfuratu.  Pennence in mind, this week we bring you a highly acclaimed and most delicious beer--Celebrator--put out by Ayinger.  This beer, called the Pope of Beers (Eat that Budweiser!!!) is said to originate from a monk's recipe (notice the cricifix in the background of the picture that was taken off the brewery website). This beer bleeds culture.  Out of the heart of Bavaria, Atinger puts out a fine line of beers.  If you ever so inclined, you can even hop on a plane and stay on sight at the brewery's hotel.  Now that's my kind of vacation!  I encourage you take the time to click on the links provided in this post and check out the histroy of Ayinger provided provided by the brewery website. Celebrator is a doppelbock; that is, a very hearty and malty beer.  You will definitely pick up on that roasted flavor and hints of chocolate/coffee.  This beer, slightly more alcoholic than many beers (6.7%) is a beer in itself. Pick it up and drink with us this Frday! Cheers!

Since I mentioned Lagers first, that is what  I'm going to talk about (yes, it's that arbitrary).  I know that we have all heard the term "Johnnie come lately."  In the beer world, the pinnacle of this saying is found in the Pilsner style of beer.  As you might or might not have guessed, Pilsner is actually an appellation that denotes where the beer came from.  Pilsners came from a Czech town called Pilsen.  A few factors really led to the dominance of Pilsners.  Here they are. One: Pilsners picked up steam because of advances in malting techniques.  Grains were now more evenly cooked, and this led to lighter colors in the grains and, therefore, in the beer.  Two: The mass usage and availability in glassware allowed these new phenomenal beers to be seen in a different light, so to speak.  Before this time, glassware was not able to be mass produced.  In addition, there was not a great deal of continuity in glass size (in that they were blown by mouth).  Three: Advances in refrigeration allowed these Lager beers to be clean and crisp in the mouth.  Prior to the advances in refrigeration, there was not the ability to ship and spread these beers around the world.  These three really led to the almost hegemonic dominance of ...

When I first came up with the idea for this blog, I hoped it would bring people together under one common denominator...beer.  Right off the bat, after we shared our earliest beer memories, someone mentioned how nice it was to share the personal experience of beer drinking, so tonight, I'll get a little personal, once again. If you've stumbled across the "About" page here on the blog, you've picked up that I have four kids.  I love these four kids, but the lack of babysitters (free babysitters) results in my wife and I only going out on "date nights" just 3 or 4 times a year.  So when we get to indulge in these fanciful occasions, they mean a good deal.  This past Saturday night we found a free babysitter (thanks dad!) and hit the town. First we stopped by Dale's.  Dale's is a little burger joint that's been pumping out inflation resistant quality burgers for twenty years.  While the beer selection isn't outstanding, the cheap burgers and small town atmosphere is a worthy substitute.  San and I washed down a couple fabulous bacon cheeseburgers with fries with a pitcher of Blue Moon. We paid our bill and walked across the main street of ...

In marketing, many times companies have been on the edge of false advertising...this is not one of them.  When the bottle tells the drinker that this is an intense hop experience, that is exactly what it means.  More about that in a minute. In terms of appearance, there was a nice foam white head on this beer.  There was also plenty of head retention and some lacing.  The Pilsner was golden with a tough of Amber, which is not typical of most Pilsners.  Normally Pilsner are very blond and pale.  All in all, the beer looked very nice in the glass. When taking in the beer's aromas I noted that the alcohol was obvious.  There was obviously a prevalent (and nice) hop aroma on the nose.  I also noted hints of sweet malt and a powdery (powdered sugar?) touch.  Also notable were the winish qualities of the aroma.  When I tasted the brew, I found the hop bitterness to be at the forefront.  This was not unbalanced, in that the warmth of the alcohol along with the long grainy and malty finish completed the beer.  In addition to the other qualities I noted, there was a citrus (grapefruit) hint in the beer.  I even caught a very ...

I thought a good starting place for the series would be to talk about the two major lines of demarcation when speaking of beers.  As far as beers go, there are Lagers and Ales.  Here is a basic breakdown that will help us to be clear about how the terms are being used. Lager stems from a German word that means "to store."  This comes from the fact that at certain times of the year the weather was too warm to brew the types of beer that were desirable to Germans.  In order to ensure that they had the necessary provisions to drink, they would store their beers in icy caves.  This cold aging first stemmed from necessity.  However, they soon discovered that the aging and cold conditioning of these beers produced a clean and less fruity taste.  It wasn't until modern refrigeration that the spread of these beer was possible.  In terms of modern definitions, a Lager is fermented and stored from 32 to 55 degrees Fahrenheit.  Furthermore, a yeast strain that is specific to Lagers is also utilized in the brewing process.  Beyond this, the yeast is also bottom fermenting (i.e., the yeast rests on the bottom of fermentation vessel).  For ...