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
Beer #335 Gritty's Best Brown Ale / Gritty McDuff's Brewery, Portland, ME
Almost time to launch the countdown of the last 30 beers. Can't get too far ahead of myself, so I'll worry more about that tomorrow. Particularly since there are huge things happening at BlogNamedBrew Manor tonight: two bottles of exceptionally rare bourbon have arrived! A friend and fellow connoisseur put in some rather hard work and managed to score five bottles from Old Van Winkle Distillery, near universally regarded as THE premier bourbon producer out there. Part of the big deal behind this distillery is the age of their bourbons - I managed to score a 20 year old and a 12 year old bottle, while my friend pulled in the Holy Grail, a 23 year old bottle.
Think about this for a second... the last time the 20 year old bourbon saw the light of day, Bill Clinton hadn't yet been elected, Manuel Noriega was still running the drug cartels, Color Me Badd had the #1 song in the country, and I still was somewhere in high school. So yeah, this bourbon is OLD. At some point in the near future, I'll give you a complete run down when these get cracked open and sampled. But that's another story for another day.
Don't sleep on this Van Winkle
Instead of a world class bourbon, tonight I'm sampling a brown ale from Gritty McDuff's Brewery, out of Portland, Maine. This beer has a dark amber color with a thin white head. There's an aroma of malt and honey, and the taste is thin and (unfortunately), soapy. There's some honey and sweet malt, but too much sweetness. If you're in the market for a brown ale, you might want to keep moving past this one and find another option. This beer is greatly lacking, which is unfortunate as I do enjoy a nice brown ale.
Gritty. But not in a good way.
This beer comes from a brewpub in Portland that first started making beer in 1988. And there you go.
Thing to Think About Today:
I'm out of steam, and I'm too busy dreaming about bourbon (and going to bed) to be much more creative than to say that if tonight's beer is the (allegedly) "best" brown ale, then we're finishing up tonight by rocking Bobby Brown. And, because I wasn't very nice to this beer or brewery, then it's time for some Don't Be Cruel. See you tomorrow, people.
A bottle of Delsym, box of Mucinex D, a course of prednisone and a small inhaler later, I'm still sick. And tired. Sick and tired. Ha. And I'd love to have the last week of my life back. But thank god for doctors who don't need to see you before prescribing more drugs. I'm happily curled up in my pajamas with the first dose of antibiotics on board!
All this drug consumption is definitely cutting into my drinking time. Suck it, cold. I've got work to do.
At least I didn't waste a good beer on my drug-addled self tonight. I would not recommend Gritty's Best Brown Ale by the Gritty McDuff's Brewing Company out of Portland, Maine.
It poured a reddish mahogany color ale with a tan head. The aroma is rich malts and very buttery. The flavor on the other hand is nonexistent. It's very thin and water like. There's a strange rubbery chemical thing happening. If I think about it really hard, I could make myself taste that buttery malt. But then it disappears and I'm left with a thin, watery blech in my glass.
This is a poor beer. It's so bad that I have to think there's something wrong with it, right? I guess I should be on the look out for other Gritty McDuff beers to see if there are redeeming ones.
Beer #316 Pumpkinhead Ale / Shipyard Brewing Company, Portland, ME
Another weekend in the books, thankfully filled with more picture perfect weather. Closed things out today with another trip to the yoga dojo and a road trip to swap beers with a friend who had some hard to find beers in stock. Apparently, through Instagram he has joined an underground network of people trading hard to find beers. They may also be able to set you up with a mail order bride, illegal firearms, and erectile dysfunction pills without a prescription. You just need to know their secret password, I think.
After drinking a D.L. Geary yesterday, today I'm drinking a second beer in a row from Maine, the Pumpkinhead from Shipyard Brewing. In the spirit of full disclosure, I haven't caught the pumpkin beer fever that has been sweeping the craft beer scene each of the past few autumns. There are some decent ones out there, but I don't go out of my way to find them. But, in the spirit of the season, I decided to dive in and try one. This beer pours with a clear gold color and a wispy white head. There's a light aroma of nutmeg, and the taste is light, with some flavors of pumpkin. It's not an overpowering beer to begin with, and what little pumpkin and spice that are on board are content to also sit quietly and not make much noise. If you're looking for a good pumpkin beer, I suggest looking elsewhere. If you want a light beer that has a hint or two of fall without much in the way of flavor or complexity, go ahead and buy this one.
I do like the Ichabod Crane-esque logo
So, not a winner, but it was probably doomed from the start due to my general "meh" attitude towards pumpkin beers. In some ways, I do find that odd, as fall is my favorite time of year, and Halloween and Thanksgiving are my two favorite holidays. We do have an Imperial Porter from Shipyard's Signature Series in the beer cellar, so we'll definitely be circling back to this brewery again in the future.
Thing to Think About Today:
If it's a beautiful fall day, why don't we stop and think about fall. Going back to the college days to drop in some Toad the Wet Sprocket for their hit song, Fall Down. Enjoy fall while we have it, but go easy on the pumpkin beers, dear friends.
Things I found in my purse after cleaning it out today:
- 14 paperclips - 6 balled up receipts - 5 ponytail holders - $3.62 in change - 3 empty prescription containers - about 25 business cards that escaped from their holder - about 50 menu cards - bracelet, necklace and ring - rusty binder clip (how did it get rusty?) - enough Band-Aids to start an urgent care center
This was in addition to the usual wallet, keys, notepad, make up bag. And I wonder why my shoulder hurts when I carry my bag for awhile.
How do I reward myself for getting that bag cleaned up and organized? With a subpar beer. Sometimes, Marcella, sometimes...
I'm going into this whole pumpkin beer season with a bit of bias. I'm not a fan of pumpkin pie, but I do enjoy pumpkin roll. So I figure that I'm bound to enjoy one of the pumpkin beers currently lurking in my fridge, right? Wrong.
I went with Shipyard Brewing Company's Pumpkinhead Ale. It poured a deep golden color with very little head. It smells like a pilsner with fall spices. But both scents came across very distinct and not very appealing. The taste is very disjointed. It starts out very bland, almost corn flavored and turns to overwhelming pie spice. Nutmeg, cinnamon...not good at all.
This is a poor beer. Cheers to hoping for better luck tomorrow.
Beer #315 Geary's Pale Ale / D.L. Geary Brewing Company, Portland, ME
Good Saturday to you all! It's another gorgeous fall day here in our 'hood, which we took advantage of by getting the dogs out the dog park to run around. All went swimmingly until Picasso joined a cabal which was trying to eviscerate another dog. In his defense, it's a bad call for a dog owner to try and bring a puppy to a dog park, particularly one that has issues with socialization. Thankfully, everyone escaped unscathed, and a beautiful afternoon was not ruined. Special added Saturday bonus? After not carrying kirby cucumbers all year, my grocery store magically had some available today. Rather late in the season (I guess I should thank global warming?) for homemade pickles, but I have one more batch underway right now. Damn good day.
Good days require good beer, and today I'm going with a Geary's Pale Ale, from D.L. Geary Brewing. In the glass, this beer shows off a clear copper color and a lingering white head. Your nose picks up a floral aroma, with grass and malt, and when you take a sip you find lemon, sweet malt, and tea, with a nice, dry mild bitterness on the finish. Thin and easy (hey, just like me!), this beer is a keeper. If you see it, drink it.
I should talk to them about calling it "GARY'S".
D.L. Geary has been a long time contributor to the craft beer scene, having opened their doors all the way back 1983, which was without a doubt the infancy of the U.S. craft beer movement. David Geary spent time learning the trade in England and Scotland, and I think that shines through in this beer.
Thing to Think About Today:
College football rivals Cal and Stanford squared off today, and I'm sure there were plenty of highlights and great plays. In the world of sports, spectacular plays happen every single day, without fail. However, once in a blue moon, the planets and stars align just so to give us a highlight beyond comprehension, a play that transcends sports and becomes bigger than the game itself. Thirty years ago, one such play happened in the college football universe, and is so well known for it's chaotic and miraculous ending it is simply referred to as The Play.
Oddly, they're both wearing helmets
Back in 1982, future Hall of Famer John Elway marched his Stanford squad down the field for a last second field goal to take the lead over Cal and lock up bragging rights for a year. Well, not exactly last second - four seconds remained. All Stanford had to do was kick off, tackle the kick returner, and then head to the locker room to celebrate. Only problem?
Only problem was no one told Cal the game was over. In a play that needs to be watched multiple times to be believed, their kick return squad morphed into a rugby team, using five backward laterals to keep the ball alive and moving down the field. While this was going on, the Stanford Band started wandering onto the field for their post-game concert, only to find themselves as part of the madness of the final play.
Keep in mind this was before the era of instant replay - to this day, there are questions about whether certain runners were down and whether certain laterals were legal. Both sides thought they won, and when the refs gave the final nod to Cal, a legend was immediately created. I recall seeing this highlight as a kid and being completely mesmerized. I still am thirty years later.
So we have a new roof and new siding. We finally replaced the old, beat up bathroom window. And yet every time I come home, I want to barf on my front door. Partly because it couldn't look any worse than it does now but mostly because it looks like hell compared to all the shiny and new stuff. Where are those goddamn house fairies? This front door isn't going to paint itself! And now it's football season and I really need those fairies to come take care of things because my schedule is about to get hectic. Word to the wise...condo association!
Although if I were to get my act together and paint that door myself, I would definitely want a D.L. Geary's pale ale while I'm doing it. This is another one of those beers for that other Portland...Portland, Maine.
It poured amber with a light tan head of medium consistency that left significant lacing behind. The smell was sweet and floral with some caramel. It has a slight piney and floral hop flavor. There's also just a little wheat.
The pale ale would make a great summertime or picnic beer. Or even outside project beer! Perhaps it's just their marketing but I could totally taste this going well with lobster. I could picture it now...a little seafood shack on the coast of Maine...perfect bread, buttery delicious fresh lobster and a Geary's pale ale.
Beer #245 Simcoe Spring Ale / Peak Organic Brewing Company, Portland, ME
The definitive list of things I'm exceptionally good at doing:
1. Playing team handball
2. Making homemade tomato sauce (usually with meatballs)
3. Break dancing
Okay, you got me. Items one and three may not be entirely true, but item number two is absolutely legit. Tonight, Marci is at a work event, so I'm at home making some Multi-Million Dollar Sauce (now officially trademarked!). Multi-Million Dollar Sauce™, you say? As you may have read in Marci's post yesterday, the San Marzano tomatoes which I just lovingly hand crushed were donated to us by a rather generous millionaire with a huge garden (farm?), so it works. The sauce is now simmering, and the house smells absurdly delicious. However, the kitchen is a royal mess, so I'd appreciate it if you all didn't mention that one to Marci. Thanks, you guys are the best!!!
The beer for today while magic is happening on the stove is Peak Organic's Simcoe Spring Ale. It pours a lovely amber color in the glass, with a fluffy white head. There are aromas of malt and citrus, and flavors of grapefruit, caramel malt sweetness, and pine, with a dry, bitter finish. Easy drinking at 5.4%, this is a great option if you want some hop bitterness in your life, but want/need to balance that with some richer malt flavors as well. Definitely give this one a try.
I completely neglected to grab a picture of this beer in my glass before I finished it off, so instead, I present you with a picture of Multi-Million Dollar Sauce™ on the stove. I sincerely wish this was a scratch and sniff picture, as it's heavenly. I mean, we can put an over-sized toaster oven/dune buggy on Mars and have it send us pictures, so this whole scratch and sniff thing on computers should be coming just around the corner.
NOMZ.
Thing to Think About Today:
Usain Bolt went ahead and did his thing this week, cementing himself as the "Fastest Man on Earth", without question. He seems to be inclined to think he's the greatest athlete on earth, but I guess he hasn't had much time to watch the decathlon. Yes, many people can be good at one or two things, but it takes incredible athleticism to master ten different events spread over two days - 100m dash, long jump, shot put, high jump, 400m run, 110m hurdles, discus, javelin, pole vault, and 1500m run. America has a long history of success in this sport, including Ashton Eaton's 2012 gold.
If we're talking about the decathlon and the greatest athletes of all time, the conversation may just start and end with one man - Jim Thorpe. Born in Oklahoma, Thorpe matriculated to Carlisle Indian School, where he starred in football, baseball, track, lacrosse, and ballroom dancing. I kid you not, he was the 1912 intercollegiate ballroom dancing champion. As if that wasn't enough for one year, he also went to Stockholm for the 1912 Olympics, where he outclassed the field to win gold in both the pentathlon (long jump, javelin, discus, 200 yard dash, 1500m run) and the decathlon.
However, he was later stripped of his gold medals when it was found out he had received compensation for playing professional baseball. Those medals would later be reinstated, and some say the punishment for Thorpe was in fact simply racism against his Native American descent. Thorpe is buried not far from Philadelphia - his widow was upset that Oklahoma wouldn't erect a monument in his honor, so when the town of Mauch Chunk was willing to pay to have him interred in their town, she accepted their offer (Thorpe had died penniless). Jim Thorpe High School still uses the moniker 'Olympians' for their sports teams.
Sure, Thorpe was great at all those athletic events, but could he make homemade tomato sauce from scratch? I'll just go ahead and assume I'm better than he was, and leave it at that.
Today's beer hails from the other Portland...Portland, Maine. It's the Simcoe Spring Ale from Peak Organic Brewing Company.
I poured it like a crazy person and had to slurp the overflowing beer leaving behind this lovely photo. The head was quite thick and as it's disappearing, it's leaving behind craggy foam and plenty of lacing. The color is a slight hazy apricot shade. Nowhere on the bottle did it read pale ale other than the hint in the name -- Simcoe Spring Ale.
Plus Gary said it was the closest thing that Whole Foods had to the light summer beer or kolsch that I requested for dinner. Evidently we were both duped. That being said, this isn't a bad beer. The Simcoe hops were intended to lend a piney, floral flavor and they do just that. This beer is crisp and flavorful and bracing. It does remind me of spring interestingly enough. There's a little grass in the flavor to go with the other green tastes. Overall I give it a thumbs up. Cheers!
I love the label on this bottle of Mean Old Tom from the Maine Beer Company. . It is simple and incredibly appealing. You know what's also appealing?
This beer.
It is amazing. Mean Old Tom is a stout aged on natural vanilla beans. It pours a deep, dark chocolate brown with a thick cocoa color head. The smell lightly roasted coffee and malt. The flavor is full despite a nice thinness to the mouthfeel. It is roasted malt, a touch of coffee and a vanilla soda like taste. Every few sips I also get a bit of cola flavor as well. Complex but refreshing. Exactly what I need after a long day of staring at budgets.
Just because I like knowing this about the brewers I enjoy...Maine Beer Company is dedicated to the environment. They use renewable energy, spent grain is donated to a local farm, everything but the kitchen sink is reused or recycled and 1% of all sales are given to environmental nonprofits. This is the kind of business I can get behind. Cheers!
Beer #178 Bar Harbor Real Ale / Atlantic Brewing Company, Bar Harbor, ME
Tonight's beer is a warm-up beer. The JV game to get the crowd ready for the varsity game, or the opening act coming on with the house lights still up. Tonight, the main event is at Teresa's Next Door, where they're hosting a special dinner with the brewers from New Holland. The beer list is overflowing with sours and rarities, and you may recall we both have New Holland in our Top 25 for their Blue Sunday Sour. Game on, people. Game on.
So, the beer for the appetizer course is the Bar Harbor Real Ale from Atlantic Brewing. It pours with a cascade of foam. So much so, that either one of the dogs was shaking up the bottle before I opened it (possible, but not likely, because they don't have thumbs), or this beer may be a bit past its prime. That one is more likely, particularly since the "best by" date was somewhere in 2010. How do I know that? Because the little grid on the side of the bottle only goes up to 2010. You would think if it was still good in 2012, it would, oh, I don't know... have a spot for 2012. Thanks for selling us old beer, Total Wine.
Would you like some beer with your foam?
Anyway, a job's a job. Once the off white foam subsided, the beer is a chestnut color. You get aromas of malt, and the flavor gives off earthy, roasted malt notes. It definitely doesn't seem right. I'm not going to get into much detail, because I'd rather drink a fresher version of this. Sorry, kids.
Thing to Think About Today:
We need to get some freshness back in here. It's as simple as that. So, we turn to Outkast to give us So Fresh, So Clean. Hopefully Total Wine is listening.....
As I was rocking out on my drive home tonight, I realized that when David Lee Roth shouts, "I've got my pencil", he's probably not taking about his pencil...is he? Chew on that for awhile.
I've managed to find another real ale to drink tonight. You may recall that it didn't go so well last time.. Tonight's real ale is brewed by Atlantic Brewing Company. It's advertised as being handcrafted in small batches and is best enjoyed fresh. I don't think this one was fresh based on the amount of head that exploded out of the bottle and the fact that the best enjoyed before label ended with 2010.
The Bar Harbor real ale looks like cola in the glass. It smells a bit of toasted malt otherwise is very mild. It tastes burnt in a bad way. It's also watery and kind of gross. Advertised as an English brown ale, it doesn't deliver. There are far superior examples out there.
I'm out of here...tonight is a tap takeover by New Holland at Teresa's Next Door and there is a flight of sour beer with my name all over it. Cheers!
Beer #31 Peeper Ale/ Maine Beer Company, Portland, ME
For the first time in 2012, I made dinner instead of having a waiter bring it to me or grabbing it from a drive-thru window. Threw together a chicken, sweet potato, and cheese combo. Sweet potatoes are like the healthiest food ever, so it totally cancelled out the negative impact from the cheeses. Cooking is something I dabble in but wish I was better at doing. Beats going hungry, though. For the three people reading this, I can hook you up with tonight's recipe if you ask politely. Or impolitely. Whatever.
Our thirty first beer is a straw colored pale ale that has a nice lemony, citrus nose. Easy drinking at 5.5% ABV, Peeper Ale is dry with a understated hop flavor, and finishes with a pleasing earthy, pine taste. Very tasty, smooth beer that I really enjoyed drinking. Winner.
It seems Maine Beer spends has as much of a budget for their website as we do for Me, You, and a Blog Named Brew, which is to say none whatsoever. Not too surprising when you consider this brewery is run by two brothers who might be the only employees. But it's not about websites, it's about finding great beer. And if you manage to find this on draft (looks like New England/NYC/PA is the territory for now) do yourself a favor and try this one.
Thing to Think About Today:
This brewery was started by two guys who married a big dream with hard work and persistence. Got to love that these guys are pouring their heart and soul into this beer. I also just learned that the CEO of Puma is 32 years old, which is a bit younger than I am. So now I'm frustrated, as I don't think I'm living my dream job. Why can't I run a brewery or a trendy sneaker company? Maybe I need some inspiration, some motivation, some examples of hard work in action. And if we're talking hard work, we're talking The Hardest Working Man in Show Business. James Brown is always best live, so we'll take Cold Sweat from the concert in Zaire before the Ali-Foreman fight.
Beer #14 Curieux/ Allagash Brewing Co, Portland, ME
Spending time with the family today, lots of laughs and story telling in store. Highlight for me is my nieces and our dogs pairing up - the girls are absolute animal lovers and they light up when they get to spend time with the hounds.
Today's beer is another barrel aged ale, the Curieux from Allagash. Nice subtle oak flavor, just a hint of vanilla and some floral notes. Liking this one a lot. Would pick this over yesterday's offering due to the more subdued vanilla notes. Anything Allagash puts out is going to be great, so no surprise this one is delicious. Enough writing; time to enjoy the holiday.
Thing to Think About Today:
On Christmas Eve, it's a must that we go with the finest Christmas carol ever. Everything else is a battle for second place. I present without further delay: Bing Crosby and David Bowie's masterpiece: Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy.
Filmed in October of 1977 for a television special, this duet paired two diametrically opposed singers in the buttoned up Crosby and the buttoned down Bowie. Regardless of their differences, they pulled this song off and created a beautiful moment. Sadly, Bing Crosby would die just a month later before the special aired. Should David Bowie ever show up at my house and ask to play the piano, we're definitely doing Panic in Detroit.
