Beer Review - Oskar Blues Mama's Little Yellow Pils

Beer Review - North Coast Brewing Old Rasputin

Beer Review - Sierra Nevada Northern Hemisphere Harvest Ale

Beer Review - Blue Moon

Beer Review - Smuttynose Winter Ale

Beer Review - Sam Adams Black & Brew

Beer Review - Tecate

Beer Review - Brooklyn Brewery East India Pale Ale

Beer Review - Narrgansett Lager

Beer Review - Sam Adams Holiday Porter

Beer Review - Victory Brewing Storm King Imperial Stout

Beer Review - Boulevard Brewing The Sixth Glass

Beer Review - Anchor Porter

Beer Review - Coniston Brewing Bluebird Bitter

Beer Review - Butternuts Beer & Ale Porkslap Pale Ale

Beer Review - Stone Brewing Levitation Ale

Beer Review - Breckenridge Brewery After Rakin Autumn Ale

Beer Review - Cisco Brewers Pumple Drumkin

Beer Review - Sam Adam's Bonfire Rauchbier

Beer Review - Sam Adams Irish Red

Beer Review -Thomas Hooker Octoberfest

Beer Review - Left hand Brewing 400 Pound Monkey

Beer Review - Opa Opa Red Rock Ale

Beer Review - Flying Dog Old Scratch Amber Lager

Beer Review-Sam Adams Boston Lager

Beer Review- He'Brew Brewing Bittersweet Lenny R.I.P.A

Beer Review - Berkshire Brewing Berkshire Ale

Beer Review - Harpoon Octoberfest

How to Pour a Beer

Damn if I know how to pour a beer. If you Google it you will find videos showing you how to tip the glass to pour. Then you will find videos showing the straight down pouring method. Both claim to release flavor and aromas. Both claim to release the carbonation leading to the proper head on the beer. Both claim to be the 1 true religion of pouring. So here is my simple solution, open the beer pour it in the glass and drink it. Beer is about fun. Beer is about good friends. Pour it then drink it and you will have correctly poured a beer!

PS: If you watch the videos I have poured both ways.

Redesign

Playing around with the blog templates. I am having issues integrating Word Press and Facebook so I might stay with blogger.

Beer Review Brooklyn Brewery Oktoberfest

Beer Review- Shipyard Brewing Pumpkinhead Ale

Beer Review - Grittys Halloween Ale

SAB Miller buys Fosters

http://soc.li/40KMwLL

This is not a good news. I was hugely disappointed in the Grolsch that I tried recently which is brewed by SAB Miller.

Beer Review-Smutty Nose Homonculus

An Alarming Trend

I was looking up Magic Hat when I came upon this piece of disturbing news. Magic hat was bought by North American Breweries in 2010. Ok, I thought what is this North American Breweries. I checked them out and they own Genesee Brewing, Dundee Brewing, Pyramid, Magic Hat, and MacTarnahan's. This is a trend that alarms me. If you go back to the 60's and 70's which was the great wasteland of American beer there were 2 things that ruined our beer. First was consolidation as a country we were down to only handful of breweries left and those few left were being dominated by the giant national breweries. The second trend was the cheapening of ingredients in the name of profits. Rice and corn in beer are cheaper than barley malt but they also have less flavor. I can't tell if this a local phenomena or a national trend but for our taste buds I hope we don't return to the 70's.

PS: Genesee became Dad's choice when 'Gansett became too expensive.

Beer Review - Otter Creek Stovepipe Porter

Beer Review - Grolsch Premium Lager

Beer Review - Magic Hat HI P A

Beer Review - Stoudt's Gold Lager

Magic Number 300

Drumroll please the 300th beer was Magic Hat Ourtoberfest!

297 Beers and Counting

As many of you know the reviews and the Blog come from my list of all the beers I have tried. Mrs. Amazing and I are our way this afternoon to the Beer Fest at the Holyoke Canoe Club. I will break the 300 mark this afternoon and then some. I love my job! 'Gansett most likely was the first beer I ever tasted. It was the beer that Dad drank and my first was a sip of Dad's beer. This is a picture of the can I remember we would have opened with a can opener no flip tops back then.

Beer Review - Sam Adams Octoberfest

Beer Review - Thomas Hooker Blonde Ale

Favorite Beer

One thing I get asked all the time is what is your favorite beer or what is the best beer. Now you would think this would be an easy question to answer. The easy answer for me would be Sam Adams Boston Lager other than in a brew pub this is most likely the beer I would order when out. The tougher answer is I am not really sure, one I am on a journey of discovery (so much beer so little time) two I am never drinking the same beer twice. Though check out my Naughty Nurse review that was a very pleasant surprise. I have been pondering this post for several weeks as a follow up to the only 2 beers I never finished. Falstaff was far from the best beer I have ever tasted but it some respects it was my favorite. In high school and college I worked summers building boat trailers. From 8 to 5 every day we worked assembling trailers. It was hot sweaty dirty work. At 5 we hopped into our cars and headed to a local lounge. The lounge had 20 oz mugs chilled and the draft beer was Falstaff. Now these mugs were over chilled the beer would actually have ice floating on the top. I know that beer that cold loses flavor but nothing ever went down better than that ice cold Falstaff on a 90 degree work day. Some days you would drain the whole mug in one sip. I swear you would see steam coming off us as we drank that beer. That my friends was my favorite beer.

Beer Review - Otter Creek Otter Summer

Beer Recommendation

A friend recommended that I try the Halloween Ale! Looks like I am on a mission.

Beer Review Otter Creek Black IPA

Beer and Friends

I will be heading out after work to meet friends from high school. We will be gathering at a local chain restaurant 1 town from where we all graduated. When we used to do this back in the day it would have been Bud and Schlitz. Today there is a fine array of flavorful beers including Sam Adams, Long Trail and Blue Moon on tap. Beer has always been in taverns and inns. One of life's simple pleasures is to enjoy good friends while enjoying a good beer.

Cheers!

Beer Review - Dogfish Head My Antonia

Beer Review - Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron

Beer Review -Anchhor Brewing Brekle's Brown

Anchor Steam Beer

Anchor Brewing Company is a legend among the beer cognoscenti. If you go back to the middle 70's most of the smaller regional breweries were going out of business. We were left mostly with the national giants Miller, Budweiser and Schlitz with their pale watered down excuse for a beer. I have to admit I drank a lot of Miller back then and enjoyed it. The major brewing revolution that created the fantastic flavorful beers of today was still in the future. Anchor was formed in 1896 by Ernst Baruth and Otto Schinkel Jr. The reason it is called steam beer is lost to the mists of time however by 1896 Steam Beer was the term for most west coast beers. Anchor stumbled along in one form or another for the next 70 years including doing what no one knows during prohibition. In 1965 the brewery was set to close again when the hero of the story Fritz Maytag appeared on the scene. Fritz enjoyed drinking Anchor Steam at the Old Spaghetti Factory in San Francisco. When owner of the Spaghetti Factory mentioned to Fritz to go see the brewery before it closed he rushed down there and soon bought 51% of the operation. It took Fritz 10 years to turn the old girl around but Fritz and Anchor were pioneers in what is now known as micro brewing. I have been to San Francisco and had bottled Anchor Steam. Now out of the blue I have found Anchor Steam on draft in Western Mass. It is not a big bold beer like many of the new creations . Anchor Steam is a nice amber rich but smooth drinking beer slight hop flavor and nice head. 6 caps is my top rating but I had 8 of them last night so you know I kept on drinking this beer.

If you are a beer fan you have to drink an Anchor Steam at least once in your life as Anchor Steam is one of the bedrocks of our modern beer drinking experience.

Drink more Beer

I am on the way to a wedding of a friend's daughter last night. Mrs Amazing and I are talking about how the camera really does add 10 lbs. She turns to me and says "You are going to keep drinking beer for the reviews". I think to myself I really love this woman!

The Big Weekend Needs Big Beers!

This is the beginning of the labor day weekend. Don’t tell the boss but I did sneak out early for a wedding tonight at which I will be have a brew or two. Both of these bottles are specialty brews one from Dogfish Head and the other from Anchor Steam. They are 22oz bottles and I am planning on trying both of them this weekend. I will be a happy beer drinking man. Look for the reviews later in the weekend. Till then I will be uncapping some cold ones!!!

Biere de Mars

A very smooth take on the traditional French farm house ale. If you are a fan of bold flavors this is not the beer for you. 1 cap for this beer not that the brewmaster did anything wrong its just not what I would choose to drink.

And Sharon our cat made her second appearance in a review!

BrewFest 09/09

Brewfest 2011!

The Brewfest is back! Come taste dozens of great, craft beers from of the area's best brewers. Enjoy music, food and one of the most scenic spots on the river.

$30 per day or $40 for the weekend, no tokens. $20 Sunday only.

• Friday, 9/9 3-10pm
• Saturday, 9/10 12-10pm
• Sunday, 9/11 12-4pm.

If you are interested in volunteering, please see the attached form in the column to the right.

Beer from the following brewers will be available, with more expected to confirm shortly:

I hope to see lots of people there

Beer Review Victory Prima Pils

A traditional pilsner very crsip with a tart hop taste. The first thing you taste is the hops followed by a nice smooth mellow after taste. This is a 6 cap beer you and your friends could spend an afternoon drinking Prima Pils.

Regular Beer

Last night I was having a cold one talking to my better 2/3rds. She turned to me and asked “Are you ever going to review any regular beer?”. So now I have to think about regular beer. What is regular beer, Budweiser? I will drink Bud in a pinch but I don’t think any one is interested in a review of the King of Beers. But Budweiser is a Pilsner style and that is what she is getting at regular beer equals Pilsner beer.The style is most familiar to us as beer. It is pale yellow clear with a good head just what our mental image of beer should look like.Over the last 200 years Pilsner has become by far the most popular beer style here in America and in Europe. Pilsner is light crisp and what we think of first when think of beer. Pilsner comes from he Czech city of Pilsen and was one of the first bottom fermented beers that is the hallmark of the style. August Busch copied the style and Budweiser became the largest selling beer in world. So off to the local beer pusher to find some Pilsners. I love my job.

I was working on the the sermon and the order of service for our Labor Day service. My work was done and it was time for a cold one (see above). I cracked open a Smutty Nose Shoals Pale Ale a took a sip. I immediately noticed the roasted malt taste, I waited for the hops to kick in I appreciated the smoothness of brew I stopped and looked at the colour (a nice dark red amber). I realized that I was drinking more critically now that I doing these reviews. In the past I would have quaffed my first sip and gone damn that's good then checked the Red Sox score(not good). Now I unconsciously really tasted the beer. This is a good thing I really understood what I liked about this beer. For those who care I would give this 5 caps.

Hurricane and Beer

Beer was the drink of choice for several millennia for the simple reason was that it was safe to drink. Water was not always safe or even prudent to drink. So as the Hurricane Irene approaches it is time to stock up on beer. It is the only prudent thing to do.

A Tale of Two Beers

The most famous opening line in English literature is Dickens Tale of Two cities,"It was the best of times it was the worst of times". This blog and the reviews are about the best of beer and right now I am going to discuss the worst of beer. In the 52 years of training, practicing and preparing to be the Amazing Beer Drinking Man there are only 2 beers I couldn't finish. Those of you that know So Grafton know the railroad tracks. A friend of mine and I walked those tracks to the Village Dairy where we picked up several bottles of Knickerbocker Natural. Back to the tracks we went to quaff this fine beverage when we realized we didn't have openers. I learned how to open a beer bottle on railroad tracks, car doors and belt buckles have also been used as bottle openers. We tried the beers and it was by far the worst beer ever it just didn't taste right as if it was bottled before it was aged. I never finished that beer in fact we just left them right there on the tracks.

The only other beer I couldn't finish was at Boston Beer Works right across the street from Fenway Park. Now I love Boston Beer Works and have downed many a flavorful pint there. I was there one fall and the waitress recommended their Pumpkin Ale and I hated it. I could not finish that beer. Pumpkin Ales are very popular right now and I might have to try 1 or 2 or 3 as that will be what is on the shelf this fall. So after all the beer I have consumed only 2 beers is not a bad ratio, remember Beer is good!

Beer Review - Smutty Nose Robust Porter

Decisions! Decisions! Decisions!

Of course on one hand I can't go wrong but which beer to review next? The Dogfish Head is labeled malt beverage aged on Palo Santo wood. It is aged in unique barrels of an exotic Paraguayan wood. It is something that I have no prior expectation of the taste. The Smutty Nose is a Porter and Porters are hearty beers that are close to a stouts. After the gym tonight I will have to make the tough choice. It is a tough job tasting all these beers but I am the man for the job.

PS: Anyone has a preference let me know.

Beer review - City Steam Naughty Nurse

Beer and Baseball

There is nothing better than a cold beer on a hot summer evening at a baseball game. I don't know who first paired baseball and beer but I salute their genius. I went to the New Britain Rockcats game to night. They are the Minnesota Twins Double A team in New Britain Ct. The baseball is good though the 'Cats lost 7-3 to the Reading Phillie's. It is the beer that is major league. The Rockcats have Sam Adams and Long Trail both on tap. Tonight I had Sam's Boston and the Oktoberfest. It was not that many years ago all I would be able to get at a ball game would be Budweiser in a can better than nothing but not Sam Adam's on draft.

TGIF

TGIF means more reviews coming this week end

New Logo

Check out the amazing new logo!! Paul Stallman at Alias Solutions designed it www.alias-solutions.com. If you need branding or web site work I highly recommend Paul's work

Thanks Again Paul

Thomas Hooker Hopmeadow IPA.wmv

Coming Attractions

Just like the movies we are letting you know what is coming next. I know my first review was an IPA but this will not be an IPA centric blog. I won't become the Amazing IPA Drinking Man there are to many other great beers waiting to be tried. I have an assortment of other Smutty Nose styles to try but this IPA was calling to me on the shelf at my local beer store. So coming soon Thomas Hooker Hopmeadow IPA!!!!

SmuttyNose IPA.wmv

Smutty Nose IPA

I posted my first review up on You Tube look for AmzingBeerDriningMan or seach Smutty Nose Ipa

Drinking beer

When I was growing up beer was not that good. We had Schlitz, Budweiser and Miller for the national brands and every regions had there local brands. In general everything tasted similar as everyone copied Budweiser. Pilsner was the basic style of almost every American beer. There were a few exceptions but overall everything tasted the same. The first big break through I remember is the German beers Lowenbrau, Becks and Heineken become more readily and America's beer tastes started changing. Of course we then had the Microbrew revolution which led to the beer culture we have today. I am not a beer snob I will and have drank any and all beer. :Last year I started a chart trying to track all the beer I have tried. I am up to 282 known beers but I have tried and forgotten hundreds if not a thousand other beers. With the encouragement of my friend Eric the Amazing Dog Training Man(yes he knows I stole his title in fact he encouraged me to use it while we were drinking beer) I am documenting my beer adventures. A few other facts I have been drinking beer since I was 2 which means I have been drinking beer for over 50 years. If I am drinking it will be beer 99% of the time. Like I say Beer is good so lets light the drinking lamp.