365 different beers from 365 different breweries in 365 days with random musings on beer, food, music, sports, dogs and anything else interesting along the way
I'm not sure what meaning lies behind the name Omnipollo Mazarin, but I'm certain delicious has something to do with it. "What!?!," you exclaim. Yes, Marci is enjoying another pale ale. I know, it's like you don't even know me anymore. See. This is what two weeks on the west coast will do to a person!
I'm at the point where I can recognize TJ's bar at a hundred paces.
The Mazarin poured a honey color with a slight haze and a thin white head. It has a nice citrus and woody aroma. The flavor is resinous hops and lightly pine tinged. Between the flavor and the low ABV (5.6%), this is an easy to drink beer.
From the brewer: "Mazarin is my take on a 'thinker’s beer'. Rather than being big and undecipherably complex I wanted to create something that would calm a hop yearning nerve without fuddling the brain too much. In other words, a lavishly hopped Pale Ale of judicious ABV — an Extra Special Pale Ale if you will." I think he hit this one out of the ballpark!
Beer #275 Caesar Rodney Golden Ale / Twin Lakes Brewing Company, Greenville, DE
Today is a hustle day, so I'm diving right into the beer. For your reading pleasure, may I present the Caesar Rodney Golden Ale from Twin Lakes Brewing Company. This beer was on draft at Whole Foods, so I brought home a growler. In the glass you see a dark gold color with a fluffy white head. The aroma is light, with grain and grass. The taste is an earthy mix of grain and malt, with notes of bread and some light citrus and a dry finish. This beer is easy drinking, with an agreeable 5.5% ABV. I'm thinking this might be a good call at an early season tailgate.
Hail, Caesar!
Unless you live in Delaware, and possibly even if you do live in Delaware, you may not be aware of who this beer is named for. I can help. Caesar Rodney was a lawyer, politician, and military officer in the late 1700's. He served as President of Delaware (sort of like Governor), and was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. The state quarter for Delaware has a man on a horse on the back - that's Caesar Rodney. Now you know.
Thing to Think About Today:
To continue with the theme I started yesterday, let's take a moment to think about another great football movie, Varsity Blues. This movie tells the story of high school football in Texas, where the game is more of a religion than a sport. A win-at-all-costs coach is forced to turn to his backup quarterback Jonathan Moxon, played by James Van Der Beek, after his star QB gets injured - because he made the kid play hurt. Mox must now deal with his new found fame, his utter lack of respect for the coach, and Ali Larter wearing nothing but whipped cream in order to still come out ahead in the end.
Beer #274 Boysenbeery Stout / Invercargill , Invercargill, New Zealand
After a bad football Saturday, we did a late lunch with friends and got back in the groove with an Eagles win today. Ugly, but a win anyway. Also managed to go for a long walk on one of my favorite trails along the Schuykill River, which was exactly what I needed to start my day.
Now that the day is in full swing, it's time for a beer - the Boysenbeery, a stout from Invercargill Brewery in New Zealand. I drank this one in a dark bar (Famers' Cabinet), but it appeared to be a ruby color, with no head at all. Your nose picks up the scent of fruit and jam, and the taste is dry, with fruity strawberry and boysenberry notes, along with hints of cocoa and roasted malt. Interesting beer, and if you're a fan of stouts, beers with fruit, or beers from New Zealand, I can't recommend this one enough. This brew is made with boysenberry juice, and everyone knows boysenberries are were originally produced after cross breeding raspberries, blackberries, and loganberries. Okay, I didn't know that, but Wikipedia is smart in ways I am not about the origins of berries.
BoysenBEERy.
Invercargill is the southernmost brewery in New Zealand, and depending on what's out there in Chile or Argentina, maybe the world. It is run by a father and son team who have been brewing beers since the late 1990's. This brewey has no ties to agri-business giant Cargill, one of the largest privately held companies in the world.
Thing to Think About Today:
It seems football is in full swing, so perhaps we'll spend this week reviewing some of the greatest football movies of all time. I'll kick it off with one of my all time favorites, Wildcats. This film is the story of a disadvantaged high school with a forgotten about football team who hires a woman to be their head coach - much to the dismay of the players and the coach's ex-husband. Along the way she whips the Central High Wildcats into an actual team, and gets them to believe they can win. Don't just assume this is a feel good movie; it is, but it's also hysterical along the way. Incredible star power in this film, with Goldie Hawn in her prime, Woody Harrelson, Wesley Snipes, James Keach, and the ever awesome Nipsey Russell, along with a theme song from LL Cool J.
And no review of this movie would be complete without a clip from the Wildcats cheerleaders and their incredible put-down skills. U-G-L-Y, you ain't got no alibi! You UGLY!
As we were trying unsuccessfully to hustle out of the house to go celebrate a friend's birthday, the following happened...
Gary: "I'm wearing a green polo and khaki shorts." We have this conversation often as we have the uncanny ability to dress alike...like all the time.
Me: "Do you want an award for that?"
Gary: "Yes, I do. The greatest Gary ever award. It's mine since Gary Coleman is out of the way." Long pause. "Oh wait there's Gary Sinise."
At this point I've stopped what I'm doing and am staring in awe at the lunatic I've opted to share my life with. He went on to make an unflattering gesture directed at Mr. Sinise. I'll leave that to your imagination.
So from Gary's delusions of award-worthy grandeur, we'll transition to a Ryedentity Crisis. It's a rye ale brewed by Knee Deep Brewing Company in San Jose, California. It poured a shade I'd describe as wet straw.
It smells of rye and general beer aroma. The flavor is very malt forward with a little fruit and nice hop. At the midway point, I thought there were notes of citrus as well. Honestly the flavor reminded me more of a saison than a rye ale.
Well, that didn't go according to plan. You see, that's the thing about sports - it's a zero sum game. For every hero, there is a goat. For every winner, a loser. For everyone who becomes Mr. Popular in the blink of an eye, there's someone who may want to sleep with one eye open for a few nights. There's a kid in Penn State's locker room who as of today very clearly won't go down in history. Well, let me take that back, he'll go down in history, just not the right kind of history. What everyone will conveniently ignore is that team sports are played by teams, and anyone who stepped on the field could have made one more play to change the game. But they didn't, and here we are. Losing sucks under all circumstances, and I refuse to accept it.
Today's beer is the Nostradamus, a strong dark ale from Brasserie Caracole. In the glass, this beer has a dark chestnut color, and a huge tan head. It looks more like a root beer float than a beer, in fact. The aroma is filled with stone fruit, figs, and leather, and the taste has notes of cocoa, leather, figs, raisins, malt, and plums. A big beer at 9% ABV, Nostradamus has a thin mouth feel, and would be the perfect beer for a cool, autumn evening.
Luscious
Caracole is brewed in a town near the French border, and is housed in a building dating back to the 18th century. However, the link on their website to learn more about the history of the brewery is broken. Sorry, Charlie.
Thing to Think About Today:
It's obvious that Penn State needs more confidence, more enthusiasm, more... (dare I say) swagger. We were watching a re-run of How I Met Your Mother last night, and after being proven correct when people thought he was wrong, Barney dropped a great quote, "Who's the man now, Leroy?" What most everyone in the world doesn't know, is that he was channeling one of the most confident, cocky, um.....swagger-y characters in the history of film: Sho'nuff, the Shogun of Harlem.
Sho'nuff!
Sho'nuff was the charismatic and violent villlian in The Last Dragon, a martial arts film about a clean cut young man named Leroy who must ascend to the "final level" in order to get the "glow", which is sort of like The Force from Star Wars. In his path, is the ruthless and super cool Sho'nuff. I'll go ahead and spoil the film for you - Leroy finally gets the glow, but it's Sho'nuff who steals the movie with his self-promoting style, mind-boggling confidence, and rather unique fashion sense. Here's to Penn State either getting the glow or just kicking some ass along the way. Either one works for me at this point. I'll leave you with some classic Sho'nuff and Leroy to close out the evening:
Today's beer comes from Wild Onion Brewing Company, which is based in Barrington, Illinois. The selection is the Jack Stout -- described on the label as a full bodied and luscious stout brewed with five kinds of malts giving it a rich mouthfeel and nuances of chocolate and espresso. It has a 6% ABV.
It poured pitch black with deep cocoa color head. The head is quite dense but bubbled away and left a thin film behind. The aroma is rich chocolate with some fireplace. It drinks thin with a lactic sensibility. The flavor nicely melds chocolate, coffee and roasted malts. There is just the tiny bit of cola bite at the end. This is a very good beer.
Cheers! I'm off to TJ's in Paoli to watch the PSU Virginia game. This could be my last visit there depending on how the game goes!
Beer #272 Stiegl Pils / Stieglbrauerei zu Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
It was a tremendously exciting way to kick off the weekend, with three rather important things happening all in the span of 10 minutes:
1. Walked to the front door of the house to find a box from Brooks Brothers, containing new shirts and socks. I love Brooks Brothers; it's sort of all I'm wearing these days. Looking forward to fall to start breaking out sweaters again.
2. A big black dog ran over to greet me. Ordinarily that would be great, but this dog had no owner, and no tags on her collar. Thankfully a neighbor had been chasing her and came equipped with a leash, which we used to walk this new and damp dog (she had been swimming in a stream near our house) to my fenced in back yard, where she stayed until an owner could be found. Happy ending to this one, as Ellie Mae (that's the dog, not my neighbor) is now home safe and sound!
3. I went to the man spa to get a haircut. It's my quiet time, with a little scalp & face massage thrown in for additional relaxation. It's the weekend, so you know I need to look all kinds of handsome.
And that, my friends, is how you kick start a weekend. Another good way is with beer, and tonight I give you the Stiegl Pils, by Stieglbrauerei. I had this one at a picnic, so I poured it into a plastic cup. Looked gold with a fluffy head due to my vigorous pour. There's a slightly sweet aroma, and flavors of grain, apple, and lemon, with a tiny hint of spice. Really nice and easy, and definitely a good summer picnic beer.
Picnic tested, picnic approved.
This brewery has been in operation since 1492. As in the same year Columbus summered on the Jersey Shore, people. Or, another way to think of it - this brewery had been in operation for 250 years when Mozart was born in Salzburg, the same town where you'll find Stieglbrauerei to this day. A little history lesson for you to think about there.
Thing to Think About Today: I'm just going to go ahead and assume that Mozart used to drink at this brewery way back when. Which of course, means there's only one possible thing to think about as we kick off this weekend. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, this dose of Falco is for you!
Does bluetooth go bad? Or do they just become possessed by the devil and randomly place calls depending on the moon's cycle? I spent my entire evening commute at the mercy of my self-dialing phone. For a dozen calls. Calls in which the ID didn't come up on my in-dash display. Oh and this is my work phone so the person on the other end of the phone could have been any one of our trustees or donors. Best part is that my phone was safely in the backseat of my car and the bluetooth controls didn't work so I was completely at the mercy of the devil phone.
Evidently good fortune was still somewhat on my side because all the calls went to Gary. But it was still awkward asking him to hang up on me repeatedly. Good times.
I'm going to soothe my slightly rattled self with a Red Mo from Otto's Pub and Brewery in State College, Pennsylvania. I've spent how many years of drinking age in State College and never set foot in the place. How does that happen? Trust me...we'll be rectifying that situation this season!
The Red Mo an American red ale. It poured a really nice chestnut color with a tan head that left a bit of lacing in the glass. The smell was malt and light roast. The flavor is spicy with a slight fruitiness. There's a good amount of biscuit along with a nice hop bite at the finish. This is a good beer.
I am strangely dumbfounded by the number of people I see driving around without shirts on. I could almost understand it on a warm Saturday afternoon. Maybe you just went swimming or worked outside all day...ok. But at 7:45am on a Thursday? In a car on the highway? That is just weird.
I'll contrast my musings on naked-on-toppers with a can of Heady Topper.
Brewed in Vermont by The Alchemist, Heady Topper is a double IPA with an ABV of 8%. The label suggested that I drink it from the can so I did. Evidently that preserves the hop aroma. The can also suggests avoiding being a d-bag by recycling the can. I have to assume that the brewer John Kimmich has something to do with these suggestions. That makes me really like him.
This beer also really makes me like John Kimmich. This beer makes me think he's a genius. It smells of pine and resin. Maybe some citrus? Curiosity got the better of me and I ended up pouring a tiny sample into a glass to find out what color it is. Bright golden yellow in fact.
The flavor is potent...to say the Heady-Topper is hoppy is an understatement. But it strikes a balance between lots of hops and the extreme punch you in the throat over-hopped beers. This double IPA finds the exact level of hop that makes a beer a winner in my book.
I also noted grapes and pineapple as I was savoring it and also remarked on the nice dry finish it had. This beer is best enjoyed fresh. I'm not sure how old this can is...definitely a few months since we took possession of it. Is it better closer to the canning date? Hopefully I'll luck into another can soon and will report back.
This is a very good beer. Go out and find yourself a friend in Vermont and enjoy one yourself. Sadly The Alchemist saves all the goodness for the citizens of Vermont exclusively. Cheers!
Beer #27 1809 Berliner Weiss / Professor Fritz Briem, Munich, Germany
I saw a woman wearing a sleeveless leather vest to work today. Leather-ish, anyway, maybe vinyl. This was worn as a top, not outerwear. All of this was very odd (I don't work in a Harley dealership or a sex dungeon) and I'm furious I didn't get a picture. Imagine the picture below, but gray, and with more buckles but fewer chrome studs. Yep.
Illustrative purposes only - not actual vest!
Now that I've shared this unusual fact with you, I'm going to drink a beer and figure out whether or not I can wear my sleeveless puffy winter vest as my shirt tomorrow. The beer while I'm thinking is one of my all time favorites, the 1809 Berliner Weiss from Professor Fritz Briem. Briem isn't a brewery, but rather a brewer, and perhaps a professor at a school in Germany which teaches people how to brew beer. And why didn't I go to college here?
This beer has a hazy yellow color, with a relatively fluffy white head. The aroma is a blast of tart, funky citrus, when you drink it you get a glorious mix of tart and sour thanks to the Brettanomyces, with lemon, a hint of grape, green apple, and grain. This beer is outstanding and eminently drinkable - the standard bearer for what a Berliner Weisse should be. Which of course means it's headed for the Top 25 list of beers/breweries for the year.
Sexy time.
This beer was one of the first beers that got us deep onto the path of liking high end craft beer. Thanks to Teresa's Next Door in Wayne for originally introducing us to this amazing brew!
Thing to Think About Today:
If we're talking about leather outfits in the workplace and 1809, let's go ahead and think about a guy who wears leather outfits to work and sings about 1999. Indeed, people - it's time for some Prince!
