Michigan Brewing Company's High Seas India Pale Ale

Pours a nice amber with a great thick, tan head. Looks like Rogue's Northwestern Ale, so I'm hoping it's going to be a good one.

Smells grassy, malty, not too sweet like many IPA's can be.

Nice. Solidly bitter, sharo and crisp like a pale with a big punch. Fades to a sweet-ish malt aftertaste.

Nice beer. Nothing too sexy, but very drinkable and clean.

Harpoon Brewery's Session 28: Glacier Harvest '09 Wet Hop

I find Harpoon to be a solid brewery, but nothing terribly sexy. Something like St. Arnold's. Good, but no real standouts when compared to the likes of Rogue, Great Divide, North Coast, and similar breweries. Hopefully one of their bigger beers will change that impression.

Pours clear and a bit weak compared to the Sierra Nevada wet hop series.

Smells about the same. Just a bit hollow.

And I guess paying more for a bomber isn't a guarantee that a beer is going to be better. Their regular offerings are far better than this one, which tastes like it looks and smells--weak for a wet hop in a limited and supposedly bolder series.

Brauerei Beck and Co.'s Beck's Dark

Well, I'm not sure why I bought this. I had never seen it before, and the notion of "Beck" and "dark" seemed so contrary that I was just plain intrigued.

Pours a deep coppery brown with a decent tan head that is small celled and goes quickly.

Smells like a German pilsner to me. It has that in-your-face skunk smell that I like about pilsners, with a hint of nut brown thrown in.

Smooth enough, certainly has more body that the standard Beck's, Carlson, or the like. Tastes like an adulturated pilsner. Not terrible, but oddly twangy and tastes like it's almost exclusively made of adjuncts.

Meh.

Weihenstephan and Doemens's 1809, Berliner Weisse

I've pretty much decided to only have one beer tonight, so this better be good. I'm iffy on Weihenstephan beers, but had never seen this in Texas so I grabbed it as a single bottle.

Pours a clear deep yellow with a huge fizzy white head and strong carbonation. Despite the light color, the bubbles rise fairly slowly, which is encouraging.

Smells like pure malt. Light, slightly sweet, with a hint of what seems to be a usual sharpness for German beers. Crisp.

Wow, that was unexpected. I was expecting something between a pilsner and a golden. But this is like sparkling apple cider, almost. Light and dry like a beer with quite a bit of wheat, without the off flavors of a Belgian style wheat. Tart, with a green apple sweetness and a slight alcohol taste very similar to champagne. After reading about it it seems that it's known for that, and was called the "champagne of the north" by Napoleon in 1809.

Interesting. Kind of like a lambic, or frambose, in a way. Glad I had it, but will probably not look for the style again.

Indian Wells Brewing Company's Mojave Red

Admittedly, I bought this because I like trying different stuff, and because I love this brewery. I have not been out searching for the elusive red lager, but this is one of few breweries that I'd buy one from. My guess: that it is exactly what it says it is. Nothing more, nothing less, and certainly nothing sexy.

Pours red enough, with moderate carbonation and a small, fizzy tan head that fades quickly.

Smells like a tart pale. Kind of on type, but also with a hint of rice.

Yep. Nothing sexy. Moderate bitterness with less malt than an ale, it's light and drinkable but that's about it. Better than a macro, nothing close to their other beers. Gets a bit card-boardy as it warms.

Nothing mysterious, just a red lager.

Goose Island Beer Company's 2009 Christmas Ale

Brown Ale? For a Christmas Seasonal? Admittedly, I have no idea if they brew this on a regular basis as a brown, but I'm all for a switch from the regular Christmas/winter warmer beers.

Pours coppery, shaded brown, with a huge tan head that sticks forever. Looks good, but not like a brown so far.

Wow. Hoppiest brown I've smelled since Palo Santo (which is not a %%$*&%*&*ing brown). Grassy hops are prevalent, with a malt backing that isn't too sweet.

Smooth. Goes down very nicely, but the first thing that grabs you is the grassy hops again. This feels and tastes like an IPA, and a good one at that. In fact, it's the best Goose Island beer I've had. It's just not a brown. It also gets very sweet as it warms, like an IPA. No nutty flavor, and it doesn't dry quickly like many browns either.

Don't let that stop you from buying it if you run across it though. It's a damn good beer.

Buzzards Bay Brewing Company's Black Lager

Well, these have been sitting around for a while and when I looked up the brewery online I discovered that the brewery has changed hands and all Buzzards Bay labels/beers have been discontinued. I guess the schwartz wasn't with them.

Pours a deep copper brown, almost opaque. Nice tan head for a lager.

Good malt smell, with no apparent hops. I hate to use "dark fruit" as a description, but that fits here. Kind of like a yeasty raisin. Slightly roasted flavor as well.

The fruit/sweetness is mostly gone in the taste. Slightly roasted, moderately bitter and roasted, with a clean feel.

I'm not a huge fan of this style, and of the ones that I've had I think I like this one the least.

Brazos Bend State Park

This place is kind of unique for me, but is still one dimensional. You can see gators in many places in SE Texas, but there are a ton of them here. And if you're a bird watcher (I'm not) this is also a hot spot for you.

But, like I mention, that's all it is. A series of trails around several ponds and a channel connecting them, fairly full of alligators.

You should probably go, especially if you have kids, but take bikes so you can get around and see the whole place easily. Walking would be fairly boring, and even the kids will get tired of alligator after alligator. And don't take the dogs. Several alligators wait at the edge of the water, facing land, and would most likely pounce on them. Yes, I'm serious.

There is an observatory here as well, but I'd say your time was better spent driving all the way out to the Davis Mountains to see the McDonald Observatory. Go here for a fairly close day of something different. Its main benefit is that it's close to home for me, so I don't watse too much time on the road. But again, take the kids and bikes and it's at least something different to do for half a day.

Ridgeway Brewing's Lump of Coal Dark Holiday Stout

Dark? We'll see about that. I'm hoping for a stout that's maybe somewhere close to an RIS, or at least bigger than most straight-up stouts (I'm looking at you, Guinness).

Nope. During the pour is looks like little more than a rauchbier. It's dark, but you can see right through it. It's opaque in the glass though. Thin light tan head that thins further to a collar even faster. Low carbonation is visible at the edges, helping the head evaporate.

Alcohol. That's the first thing I smell here. Once the head is completely gone that fades to a very vinous deep fruit smell, much like a porter.

Wow, it's like a merlot, without all of the vinegar. The alcohol bite, odd for a beer with only 8% ABV, makes up some of that difference though. So, maybe a strong burgundy? I'm a closeted wine drinker (hell, I can't even tell my friends I drink so many different beers), so I can stand to drink this, but it's a weird beer. It also has a strange feel to it like a flat Coke and has more of a twang than any bitterness. Roasted grain comes out next, mostly in the aftertaste after the wine and twang are gone.

I was thinking about buying Ridgeway's Bad Elf series of beers, but not any more. I'll also skip this one in the future.

Patillo's BBQ

So, a white man walks into a BBQ place in Beaumont...

Alright, admittedly I'm just checking to see if the Beer Brotha is reading. But, I was the only white guy around and to me that says I'm in for some good food. I circled past a couple of local BBQ places while in Beaumont today, and passed them up because they look a little too much like a chain or like Luther's. This place looked promising, so I'm glad I found it.

If you have to be in Beaumont, which I don't recommend, you should stop in here, which I do. Shoot yourself in the head for being in this God-forsaken town after you've eaten here, so at least you go out somewhat happy.

Also, if you're near a chemical plant, and smell something funny (I mean strong funny, not the usually funny smell of Beaumont), then the sirens all go off about a tenth of a second before every flare tower on the property starts shooting out 50' flames, get the the Hell out of Dodge.



Anyway, the beans are ranch style, but less than the usual in-your-face-ness that many have, which is a good thing. They're stewed for plenty of time and with plenty of pork--not fatty salt pork--which is nice. Slaw is better than some, but isn't much more than cabbage and mayo. It has something else in it, but not much. It's also got quite a bit of the thinner cabbage leaves in it, which makes it feel a bit mushy, but it's still fresh and good. The two-meat plate had a third side option, so I tried the rice jambalaya, which has a nice zip to it. So far, so good.

Interesting sauce. Heavily peppered, it also has a bit of a chili pepper zip to it. Clear cajun influence that is a nice take on a sauce. And that's a good thing, because the meat came smothered in it. It's neither molasses nor vinegar based, seeming instead to be a base of some sort since it had quite a bit of rendered fat in it. In hindsight, this seems to be te flavor for the beans as well.

The brisket was good. The smoke had to fight its way through the sauce, but it did. It was tender, but sliced a little too thinly for me. The pork ribs were less smoky, but for some reason also less affected by the sauce. I wish they had been left in the smoker a little longer so as to reduce the amount of fat on them. The rub is primarily finely ground pepper, but appears to be otherwise similar to the sauce. The chicken was very good. Because it had the skin on, you could take it off and have chicken with little or no sauce. It was well smoked and tender, just right.

The pecan pie was most likely commercial, and was just OK.

The only issue is that I thought maybe the ribs should have been smoked longer. They were just a little too fatty, although they were good. That and the thinly sliced brisket are really not terribly substantive criticisms, and although I do intend to try different Beaumont BBQ places, I definitely want to come back. I'd recommend this place to anyone, it's a slight spin toward the cajun, I guess because Beaumont is just a little too close to Louisiana for my taste. Maybe that's what the funny smell is...




Patillo's BBQ
610 N 11th St,
Beaumont, TX 77702
(409) 832-2572
Monday 10am-4pm
Tuesday-Friday 10am-8pm
Saturday 10am-6pm

Odell Brewing Company's 90 Shilling Ale

I lighter scotch ale billed as an amber? Should be interesting.

Pours rubyish amber with a nice light tan head and good carbonation.

Smells like an amber. Slightly sharp hoppy smell backed by malt, but nothing out of whack or overpowering.

Tastes a bit like a Scottish Ale. I guess I'm having a hard time describing why, but it tastes a bit more peaty, or oaky, than a standard amber. It has about the right amount of bitterness and malt, both of which are balanced and kind of indistinct, it just has a bit more complexity to it that I like.

Good beer. Bodes well for this brewery and the several others from it that are waiting for their turn in the fridge.

Samuel Smith's Winter Welcome Ale 2008-2009

Ran across last year's vintage of Winter Welcome, and couldn't resist seeing how it held up. It went well with my winter warmer binge anyway, and was an excuse to buy another Sam Smith beer. I have to go through the others, and look for more Stingo...

Pours almost a straight amber that's lighter than many warmers. Great light tan head that's as big as you want it to be, which gets pillowy before slowly receding. Fairly strong carbonation.

Despite not truly being a beer to be cellared, it seems to have held up well. Good carbonation is a good first sign, and a fairly floral smell is another. Very slightly bitter and malty, with a good balance. No obvious spicy smells though.

I like this beer, but it's more like a light pale than a warmer. That may be the first sign of how it's mellowed over the year. It's mildly bitter with a good malt backbone, neither or which is truly significant in flavor. But it's solid, and like most every Sam Smith beer is very good. It just has no winter warmer spice to it, is all, but like I said that's as likely to be because of the extra year it spent in the bottle as anything else.

Guess I'll have to go out and get this year's to see.

Sprecher Brewing Company's Winter Brew

Continuing with the winter warmer binge with this fire brewed (can you brew any other way?) lager. Lager? We'll see.

Nice. Darker than most warmers, it pours brown like a bock with reddish amber highlights and a nice tan head.

Smells bigger than many lagers too, it's got a solid malt smell while keeping the spicy smell that warmers need.

Huh. Bigger in body than many lagers. Smooth and slow in the feel, with not a lot of carbonation to help pick it up. That's okay, but different for the type is all. It's not as light as the usual ales, which is an interesting twist. Light bitterness and slightly peppery in the aftertaste, the taste is dominated by a nut-brown flavor.

Good beer, just different for a warmer that is an admittedly vague class of beers. This would be almost indistinguishable from some browns.

Boulevard Brewing Company's Nut Cracker Ale

I'm not too wild about another Boulevard beer, but it's one of many winter warmers I picked up on my latest beer haul, and I was able to buy it by the single, so no harm no foul if it isn't the best.

An unfiltered warmer. Interesting. Pours the appropriate reddish amber, with a nice tan head that gets pillowy before receding. The unfiltered appearance is nice.

Initially, the pour threw off a bit of a sharp hoppy smell, but it's much more tame once it's all in the glass. After the smell settles it's just straight=up malty. You have to really get in the glass to smell any specifics, and it is a bit bready when you do, but otherwise it just smells like many beers of the type. Nothing fancy, just beer.

Pretty zippy feel to it. The body is bigger than usual because it's unfiltered, but it has pretty good carbonation that makes it feel a little faster. It's also on the slightly high side of bitter for the style. Not overpowering, and not really unbalanced, but just tipping toward bitter. Not sure at what stage they stopped filtering, but it almost tastes wet hopped.

Pretty good beer, and one of the best, if not the best, Boulevard beer I've had.

Odell Brewing Company's Isolation Ale

I'm going to make the rounds of several winter seasonals over the next few days. I'll start here, and move up to the ones that I expect to be much better. Still, I have high hopes for this one, since it's one of my recent beer haul from out of state.

I'm going to call this one a winter warmer, although it says nothing as to style on the label or the website. If you're listening Odell, you should put that on there. Just because.

Pours a coppery amber, almost like a red. Nice but not impressive tan head and good carbonation.

Smells right for a warmer. Slightly spicy hops smell, with a hint of malt. Light overall, and instead of bitter the hops are more peppery than anything, like a warmer should be.

Nice. Still a little peppery, which gives it a good zip. No alcohol bite or hops flavor, which appear to be just bittering hops that linger just a bit in the aftertaste. Warmers are never really sexy, but when done well, like this one, they're light and drinkable but have good flavor to them. Nothing extreme, just a good beer.

Rogue Brewing Company's Chocolate Stout

If you have someone you're trying to introduce to good beer, but aren't quite sure which way to go, try this one.

Pours deep, opaque black with a big brown head that stays well with good carbonation.

Obvious chocolate smell. This is not the chocolate you get from roasting the barley a certain way, like Brooklyn's Black Chocolate Stout (which is also a very good beer). It tastes like sweeter chocolate, and has an obvious cocoa taste. It's not over the top though, like Young's Double Chocolate Stout (which is not a good beer), and strikes a good balance between the desire for a chocolate taste but still having some semblance of beer flavor to it. Young's is like drinking a chocolate cake. Brooklyn's is like drinking beer with deep, unsweetened, dark chocolate. This is more like beer with a sweeter chocolate, but still beer. No discernible hops flavor, but the bitterness comes out a bit in the aftertaste. Great, smooth feel to it, because the cocoa gives the feel of lactose, without that cold lactose taste.

It makes a great dessert beer. It was the first of many I had, because I was starting someone off slowly on about a dozen beers that were strong ales or heavier, but I'll have to keep some around just in case I ever get to have more than beer for dessert.

Rogue Brewing Company's Double Dead Guy

I went on a beer sampling bender yesterday, at a friend's impromptu Christmas-Is-Later-This-Month party, and had about ten different beers. Most have been reviewed fairly recently, so I'm limiting this post to one of the two that wasn't.

Pours a hazy, deep amber with strong carbonation and a big (huge if you're not careful) light tan head that never fully fades.

Great hoppy smell. Grassy. But not too crazy, it's also backed up by a solid malt smell so it's very balanced.

Tastes as expected. Smooth, fairly big body to it. Not just higher in alcohol, which seems to be the sole aim of many strong ales, it has a bigger body and great feel to it. It's not overly hoppy or one dimensional, either, although it's not exactly the sexiest beer out there. But, if you want a fairly large beer without going to a stout or barleywine, or the slightly one-dimensional IPA, this is a good pick. Lots of taste in every category, without any one getting out of hand. The 9% ABV is a bonus, and you can't detect it at all in the taste.

Sierra Nevada Brewing Company's 13th Release Harvest Wet Hop Ale

I love it when the SN seasonals roll around at the end of the year, and had to grab this one. The douchebags at BeerAdvocate are calling this one a pale ale, but I guess they just haven't tried it yet or something. Not even Stone or Victory would try to pass this one off as one of their craptastic pales, as over-hopped as all of their beers are. It's every bit an IPA.

Pours a clear, bright copper color with decent carbonation and a huge head with tiny cells that never goes away.

Crisp, but still malty, smell. Lots of aromatics are thrown off by the huge head, adn you can smell the sharp grassy hops almost from across the room.

Great taste. Better (and much cheaper) than their Estate series, it has a big grassy hops punch right up front with a great feel and body. Smooth going down, with the carbonation keeping the big malt lighter than it would otherwise be. Not sweet or bready, the malt just lends to the feel more than anything else so as not to interfere with the hops, which keeps it crisp.

Boulevard Brewing Company's Boulevard Pilsner

Uhhhhhh, the label says "genuine American lager," but it's a pilsner. Clearly not an American beer. It doesn't say what style pils it is, but by smell alone I'm going with Czech. And the label is clearly a rip off of Budvar and Czechvar, with the Boulevard being a match of the low hanging fruit variety.

I haven't been terribly impressed by Boulevard beers to date, but like stouts, I have to buy every pils I see.

Pours a deep yellow with an amber tinge, and strong carbonation that keeps the fizzy white head alive.

Skunky smell, like a pils should have, and a Czech pils especially. That's a good thing, the way it's supposed to be.

Fairly malty for a Czech, but only in the feel. Still has that light, bitter, and skunky taste to it that this style needs. Like all pilsners, it's best cold. It gets a little oily as it warms, and the sharpness dulls a bit.

Best Boulevard beer I've ever had. Still not an American style though, and not near as good as Urquell, Czechvar or Budvar. I even like Czech Rebel better. But still, it's a decent one. I'm sure the BS label affected me more than it should have.

Yard's Brewing Company's Brawler Pugilist Style Ale

This is the second time I've had this beer. The first time I saw the label and I thought it was pretty cheezy. Pugilist ale? For when you want to go a few rounds? Ehh.

I'll tell you what though, this is a damn good beer.

Pours a deep copper color, much like some bocks. Great light tan head that slowly recedes.

Nice, complex and floral smell, backed by a neutral malt.

Feels like a bock too. Great flavor in a 4.2% beer. If a session beer can have this much taste, maybe even Oklahomans could brew good beer if they put their minds to it--probably not though, cow turds brewed by hayseeds won't taste good no matter how much alcohol is in it.

Slightly tart and malty both, this really does taste like many bocks. Fairly neutral hops profile, and malty but not sweet or bready. Still, although neutral in many ways that should not be mistaken for flavorless. Like many bocks it's not really sexy, but it's solid. Just more feel and flavor than most lighter beers.

Samuel Smith's Yorkshire Stingo

Probably the beer I'm most looking forward to in my last out-of-state beer haul is this one. Samuel Smith is my favorite all around brewery. Solid, straight-forward beers with great taste and feel. Never trying to be more, or push an envelope, or to claim that someone's not worthy, all of their beers are solidly in the middle of the style guidelines and conservative. Perfect outlook on brewing beer. I have no idea what a Stingo is, but I can't wait to find out.

Pours hazy amber, with a moderate head, but it almost never goes down. Moderate carbonation in tiny bubbles. Obviously bottle conditioned.

Definite oak barrel aged smell. Not as scotchy as most American oak aged beers that try to be bigger than they should, but it smells solid. Malty, slightly scotchy, but no real bitterness and no alcohol.

Damn. This is exactly what a barrel aged beer should be like. Smooth and oaky, with a rich feel and taste. Slightly sweet malt, moderate bitterness that has no independent flavor.

This is better than any Belgian to me. No weird off flavors, but every bit of the complexity that you would expect in one of those beers. Fantastic beer. Worth every penny of the $11.50 I paid for the bottle, and I will have to find more.

The Saint Louis Brewing Company's Schlafly Brand Coffee Stout

I've seen a few Schlafly beers pop up in Houston, but not this one or I think I would have bought it. Always up for a new stout.

Pours a brownish black. Fairly opaque, but as it pours it appears to have the average stout body to it. Nice head, even if it is a little on the light side color-wise.

No real coffee smell to it, instead it smells more like a milk stout. It has that sweetness that lactose can impart. If you try hard, you may be able to pick up a deep roasted bitterness that may come from coffee. It's faint though, at least while the beer is cold.

Nice. Surprising, even. It has a good solid body to it and a smoothness that again feels like a milk stout, but the lactose smell isn't present in the taste. The coffee really isn't either, but it's there a little bit. Fairly high level of bitterness for a stout. Nowhere close to Storm King, but quite a bit more than your average stout.

Very good beer. Hint of coffee. Just a hint. But nice feel and taste, even if it could do more in the coffee department.