Right On!

I agree w/your St. Bernardus Abt post. She's something special! The other St. Bernardus are quite good as well......for special occasions.

St. Bernardus Apt 12

I went to one of my favorite niche restaurants last night - the Half Moon Saloon, in Kennett Square. I ordered this beer and an antelope burger. This place is know for its quality beer and fresh game burgers. I was blown away by this beer. Simply unbelievable. It was sweet smoothness to the core. This beer is a dark, Belgain ale. Flavors blend mystically in this 10% abv killer. The St. Bernardus Apt 12 is a heavy hitter in terms of both alcohol and taste. You would think a beer this strong would have a heavy, residual alcohol flavor, like sipping whiskey. This beer was strong, but silky smooth. I've tasted some good beer in my day. I can't rate this beer high enough. This one goes right to the top of the list. It was that good.

You've heard the saying "you get what you pay for", right? With a beer this good, this smooth and tasty, comes a high price tag. I can't remember the price off the top of my head when I was at the beer store. I paid something like 10 bucks for one bottle at the Half Moon. I want to say you need about 100 stones at the beer store for this beauty, maybe more. If you ever decide to go out and get a case of this stuff, number one you won't be sorry, but more importantly, number two don't go handing this stuff out at a party. This stuff should be reserved for a very select few. This stuff is priavte stash, private reserve quality. And if you have a safe in the house, that'd be the best place to store it.

I didn't even need to have another one of these beers for it to change my mind, to soften my tastebuds. This thing catapulted to the top by the time I was a quarter of the way through.

Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin Ale

Why didn't don't snakes drink beer? Because they can't hold their alcohol....

Terrible, I know. Before I get into this beer, I'd like to briefly introduce myself before moving on. My name is Brendan, and I enjoy beer. Alot. I also write about music on my music blog I've had for over three years... (pardon the shameless plug).

Since that's all you need to know about me for now, I'll get right into my first beer review. My first beer review is a seasonal one - pumpkin ale. Does pumpkin actually mix with beer? We're about to find out...

After setting my mind on pumpkin ale, the local beer store sold me on a pumpkin ale; but not just ANY pumpkin ale. I'm talking about the first pumpkin ale known to man. The brewery that paved the road for all other pumpkin ales. I regrettably was swayed from a well-know Blue Moon version of the pumpkin ale and bought "America's Original Pumpkin Ale" from the Buffalo Bill's Brewery distributed in Orgegon, Washington and Northern California.

Let's skip a few steps and get right down to tast. BB's Pumpkin Ale is not sweet, just as pumpkins are not sweet, nor would the flavor of a pumpkin be revealed through a beer saturated with hops. The pumpkin flavor is hardly noticeable too. For a thicker, tasteful beer I would recommend this. However, if you do not like your beers flavored, although not overpowering, the ale is predominantly backed with some substantial spice!

In other words, if you're looking to get fired up, this is not the beer, but neither is Coors Light. Or if you are into the Belgian whites like I am, this may not be for you either. You won't be able to put down a 6-pack with ease, but would compliment some yams and pumpkin pie. I don't have another pumpkin ale to match this one up against, but I would have no problem recommending this as a starter. My final grade is: Tasty, although I think my grade is right in line with this review.

Check out Buffalo' Bill's website here and get tasting some more of these Western US beers!

Let's welcome our newest member

It seems we have a new contributor, but no contributions. His name is Brendan. He likes beer too. I think he's been lurking here at this well-traveled blog for a while now. I think he has a whole bunch of material saved up for our reading pleasure and is about to unload a torrent of new posts.
We're ready, Brendan, when you are.

Sam Adams Octoberfest Beer Review Oct 2009

Sam Adams Octoberfest, and Octoberfest beers in general are always highly anticipated by me and my mouth in particular. What other month can you drink a beer especially designed for that month? How much of a no brainer is it order an Octoberfest type beer in October?

This one however, is a slight disappointment. I can only muster up a rating of "drinkable" for it. For those of you new to this blog, other ratings available are "very drinkable", and the rarely used "undrinkable" (see Presidente revisited!) I will definitely be trying the Stoudt's Octoberfest, as reviewed by BeerMeHaenn, an always trusted source for all things beer.

Ok, back to Sam Adams Octoberfest....

Per the website, "it is a malt lover's dream, masterfully blending together five roasts of barley to create a delicious harmony of sweet flavors including caramel and toffee. The beer is kept from being overly sweet by the elegant bitterness imparted by the German noble hops."

I agree that it is not overly sweet, however the blend of flavors seemed to be too much. There was nothing distinctive about the flavor of it...it was almost as if they tried to hard and accomplished too little. I drank 2, and the second didn't change my opinion. Drinkable, but not enough to keep my wandering eyes (at the different beers on tap), at bay.

Happy drinking, and thanks for reading. Now, to get a pumpkin with the kids.

Kennett Brewfest

I can't make it this year. Haven't made it yet, believe it or not. This is on my to-do list for next year. This festival is in my back yard, for crying in the sink.

check out who is going to be there this year: http://www.kennettbrewfest.com/breweries.html That is quite the impressive list. Rogue, Dogfish, Victory, Flying fishes and dogs, the list goes on. There are breweries nationwide coming to this festival. We have to go and do "research".

This could turn into quite a little party.

Oh yeah!

go to this site!!

http://www.beeryard.com/

There's allot of beer we have to post about!

cold one