BEER

I may have already told this one, but I took a bartending class a couple years ago, and the bartender was sharing random thoughts and stories throughout the evening. My favorite thing he told us was that Stella Artois, while marketed as an upscale beer in the US, is actually the PBR of Belgium. A total trash beer that you get for 25 cents a glass.

It's not good.

During my trip this past couple weeks I did try Peroni for the first time, and I thought that was pretty okay by major label, adjunct lager standards.

Yay!

Pumpkinator's release was this week, by the way. I didn't make any tempt to buy any. Still sitting on a couple THREE bottles of 2013 Pumpkinator, which, with two years' aging, are probably finally at peak awesome now.

Yeah, '13 was the last year I made the effort to buy them because it was so darn difficult. Even then CM was doing the not-on-shelf technique. BTW update: I have three, not two.

Tried two weird-ass beers from Fort Worth's Martin House Brewing over the weekend.

Martin House Salsa Verde Ale, blonde ale brewed with Hatch chili peppers, tomatillos, lime and cilantro. True to its name, it tastes like you're drinking a cup of salsa verde. Verdant, floral, tangy, with just a lingering spice. Not the hottest chili beer I've had, nor the best - in fact, I never want to drink this again - but one of the more interesting ones that delivers on its promise.

Martin House Turtle Power, an altbier brewed with blackberries. Full-bodied, slighty smokey, undeniably fruity. Although it's not particularly strong at 7%, my first impression was of cough medicine. Then halfway into the glass, I was like, "No, I like it now." Then by the end I was like, "Okay, good, that's over."

After these two educational, if not altogether satisfying, diversions, I put my trust in the server's hands and had him bring me nothing but IPAs for the rest of the night. Those I liked.

Martin House are the pretzel stout people I mentioned a couple weeks back. I never realized how much weird crap they brew until looking at it like this. They became a local Dogfish Head so slowly, I didn't even notice.

Some friends of mine just opened up a taphouse here in town. They have all of their 25 kegs listed online, with a measurement of how close the keg is to being blown that updates in pretty much real time. It's the greatest thing. I'm planning to spend a lot of time there.

Last night's future headache was composed of:

From The Dirty Bucket in Woodinville, WA. Description shamelessly copied from site.

"Bedraggled" Irish Red

Has a great body and full mouth feel. With a traditional hop profile and a complex grain bill "Bedraggled" is refreshing Irish Ale.

5% ABV 24 IBU


From Blue Lightning in Woodinville, WA. Description shamelessly copied from site.

Scotchie Scotchie Scotch - Scotch Ale 6.9% ABV

Our scotch ale is one of our favorites and we put our own twist on what a scotch should taste like. The grain is smoked for 6 hours in a BBQ Rig with apple wood.

Smacks, I like the "Bedraggled" a whole lot. I go to that brewery about once every 2-3 months. That and their porter, when they have it, are what I drink at The Dirty Bucket. The Ron Burgundy inspired "Scotchie, Scotchie, Scotch" took the full glass to get used to over the course of the 45 minutes I took to drink it. The smoke flavor is strong in the ale. Apple wood was probably the best choice. Can't imagine that brewed with something like mesquite smoke infused in the grain, though I'd wager some zymurgist has. 

The other day we went to our favorite bar for lunch, and Mrs. Snape planned to only have one beer with the meal, so she didn't mind splurging on the Prairie Bomb!, which is a 14% mega-stout brewed with cacao nibs, coffee and ancho chile. It was fantastic as expected. What wasn't expected was when the server brought it out in a full PINT glass. Normally such big beers come in more responsible 10oz snifters. Nope. 16 ounces of 14% beer at 11:30 in the morning made for a lethargic second half of that Saturday.

Do any of you like to do special beers for Christmas Eve or Christmas dinner?

We've been doing the Bruery's series the last few years, this year is Eight Maids a Milking. We usually drink that Christmas Eve in front of the fire after things have died down.

I also have a 11% abv RIS from Brouwerij de Molen (a Dutch brewery I really dig) I've been saving for Christmas Day when the kids are running around driving me crazy. We'll pick up a few more things Christmas Eve, most likely, to drink with dinner or later in the day. I'd like to grab Slapshot's Daddy's Gonna Kill Ralphie, since A Christmas Story is a family favorite.

Snapey, have you found a Christmas Eve beer yet?

We have now collected a few more things for our festivities. I wanted to get Slapshot's Daddy's Gonna Kill Ralphie, but apparently Slapshot is having some kind of distribution problem, so there's none to be found.

So we chose a very local brewery (Noon Whistle) and got two "Crowlers"* of beer there, Bog Theory (cranberry mint saison) and Waving at Strangers (barleywine). And my BIL is bringing beer from Kansas City so we'll see what else we need after he arrives.

*Crowlers are brilliant - they're basically liter-sized cans, they fill them straight from the tap and seal the can right there. Makes it super easy to store a few things and sample more than your standard growler.

Wallet Inspector you may have already seen this but look! www.thrillist.com/drink/nation/best-beer-brewmasters-favorite-beers-of-2015 You're about halfway down!

Sounds like an excellent choice. I generally enjoy any beer that involves the words coffee and/or porter.

Well done, and super cool that you have one of Wallet Inspector's beers. I can guess the Boulevard quad, but which tart? Love child?

In addition to the Brooklyn coffee porter, we have a selection of local brews: Community Mosaic IPA, Lakewood Holiday Bonus (holiday spiced porter, yum), and Revolver Blood & Honey, the only wheat beer I like.

Plus there's a mystery bag in the fridge which Mrs. Snape has forbid me to inspect. My present. All I know is that it's a bomber and an IPA. I'll find out tomorrow and can't wait. Since I had today off and Mrs. Snape skipped out at lunch time, but we still had a full day of sitting, we've already done a full round of drinking today. Ah, holidays!

The beer Mrs. Snape got me was the Infamous Brewing Company Double Tap, a 100+ IBU imperial IPA. The verdict: good, but not great. I appreciated the pronounced bitterness. This is very definitely my kind of beer, but the dankness lacked balance from the brighter, more effervescent punch of my favorite IPAs. This was downright wet and soil-y. It's a beer with vision, but not precisely to my taste.

She also got herself a bomber of the Deschutes Black Butte XXVI, the 2014 edition of their annual anniversary release. An imperial porter aged in bourbon barrels and enhanced with cocoa nibs, pomegranate molasses and cranberries. Haven't tried it yet.

The Brooklyn Intensified Coffee Porter is very good by the way. Pronounced coffee flavor. A bit light in body considering the alcoholic heft (11.8%), and more carbonated that most super stouts, but quite tasty.

Finally, I took a quick snap of my fridge last night. Except for the Woodchuck (which if you haven't had that particular Woodchuck, you should), this is all local beer. Such a good consumer am I.