You like that stuff?

As a general rule, I prefer darker beers to lighter ones. This does not mean that it has to be a Guinness stout so thick that you could eat it with a spoon, but I do not enjoy beers that taste more like water than beer (I'm looking at you Michelob Ultra). However, living in the south, where it can get to triple digits in temperature, ordering a dark beer in the summer can raise some eyebrows. Just last night when I was having dinner with a friend, the waitress mentioned that the seasonal microbrew she believed they had on tap was an Irish style stout. I perked up with an immediate, I will have one of those please. To which she responded incredulously with a "you like that stuff?" Not exactly what I would say if I was trying to sell beer. Turns out they did not have that one, or several of the others on the menu that we ordered. That is a discussion for another time. 

In spite of the soaring temperatures outside, I have two dark beers that I have recently tried and will review, St. Arnold Santo and LA 31 Biere Noire (review to come in another post). 

About a month ago, Margaret and I went to dinner with her cousin, Philip who lives in New Orleans. See England trip post for the guy in the black Man U shirt. We went to a BBQ place uptown called Squeal. Not only was it a clever name, but also very good bbq, and much to my surprise, they had St. Arnold Santo on tap. The food was excellent and the two Santos that I had were equally good. 

St. Arnold is a microbrewery in Houston, TX. Unfortunately the beer stores locally only get a limited selection of their beers. The ones we typically get are the St. Arnold Fancy Lawnmower and Weedwacker. Both are serviceable beers, however they are lighter than I prefer. However, one of the great things about communicating with other beer fans is they understand the plight of not being able to get some regional beers locally. One of such fans in my office mentioned that he was going to Houston for the weekend and was able to bring me back a 6 pack of Santo. Thanks again, Jonathan. 

Now for the review.

Appearance: The beer had a somewhat cloudy dark brown color with a thin tan head. I also noted very good carbonation. The beer also had a nice lacing on the glass. Think legs on a glass of wine.

Smell: The aroma of roasted malt was noticeable. The most prominent scent was that of burnt coffee. This would be unpleasant in the office, but was well received in the beer.

Taste/Mouthfeel: Burnt coffee flavor noted. Smooth finish with no lingering hoppy notes on the tongue. Very drinkable.

Overall: I really enjoyed this beer. Although it is dark, it is not heavy feeling and is one that I could handle more than one of, even in the summer temps.

For more information about St. Arnold Santo, please see: http://www.saintarnold.com/beers/santo.html

The next time I am in Houston, I hope to pick up some more and possibly do a tour of the brewery.

Cheers!

It is not always about the beer

As I had mentioned previously, beer has enhanced many of the best times I have had in my life. A beer can take me back to a place that is a happy memory and allow me to re-live it. So was the case last night when I was out to dinner with Margaret. Yes I do realize how many of these posts have a common ingredient of Margaret and I eating out somewhere. We are fortunate to have our daughters with their grandmother this week. No babysitter fees means more money for a cold beer. 

Margaret's favorite restaurant in town is a place called Pimon Thai. Any guess as to what kind of food they serve? Their beer selection includes several Asian beers, like Saporro and Kirin Ichiban, as well as a Thai beer called Singha (pictured). 

This beer is a light colored and light flavored lager, that would be unremarkable and not fitting my usual preference of darker more full flavored beers. However it has a personal significance to me. It was what I was drinking during one the single coolest experiences of my life.  

In the prior post regarding the beer that started it all, I came upon the idea for the blog while on our way to England in March. The main purpose of the trip was to see Margaret's cousin Betsy and her husband Ryan, who have lived in the UK for more than a year. Another of Margaret's cousins, Philip was joining us for the trip. 

That and the fact that I had never been to Europe sounded like great reasons to go there, and they were great reasons, however my number one reason was to see my favorite football (soccer) club, Manchester United play. For those who are unfamiliar with United, they are the 19 time champions of England. To American fans, they are like the New York Yankees of England. Being analogous to one of the most polarizing teams in American sports has lead to me getting dirty looks and questions as to how I came to like them. Truth is pretty simple, when I first started watching English football about 7 years ago, I would watch whatever teams were playing. Since United are typically near the best in the league, they are on TV every week. I watched them enough to know I like the way they play and winning does not hurt either. 

By the time we planned this trip, the only tickets available for the match against West Bromwich Albion at Old Trafford stadium were the VIP seats, which come with some amenities, as well as a nice price tag. Among the amenities included were lunch in the Red Club (United are nicknamed the Red Devils) and a visit from a former United player at our table. After some debate and the realization that this may literally be a once in a lifetime experience, we paid the price and bought the tickets. 

The whole experience was nothing but first class. The stadium is not called the "theater of dreams" by accident. Upon arrival at the Red Club, I was handed a bottle of Singha. I then walked through the team museum and trophy room. Decades of greatness on display and lots of stories that a newly initiated fan did not know. After another Singha and lunch we entered the stadium and watched the Red Devils win 2-0 over WBA and take first place in the standings at the time. Watching matches on TV could not do the crowd and the experience justice. These are real fans, standing and chanting songs for each player throughout the entire 90 minutes. This was a complete goose bump experience. I had made it to my Mecca, and while there had a Singha, two actually. For a few minutes I was taken back there. 

Cheers!

To IPA or not to IPA?

I am blessed to have a wife who is supportive of my beer endeavors. She enjoys beer, but does not have the sense of risk taking that I have when it comes to making a selection. If the beer is not Bud Light or Abita Strawberry, she won't drink it. I mention this to contrast how I go about choosing what I drink and a recent dilemma I had.

Today my wife and I went to brunch and as usual, to quote my Scottish friend Keith, "I fancied a beer." The waitress, acknowledging her defeat at my question of what beers do you have, lead in the direction of the bar to the beer cooler to pick one out. Much to my disappointment, the only beer in the cooler that I had not tried was an IPA, specifically Long Hammer IPA from the Red Hook brewery in Seattle.

As a general rule, IPAs (India Pale Ales), are far down my list of favorite types of beers. This fact makes me feel somewhat like a poser as a beer connoisseur. Most of the people I know whose beer opinions I respect, usually have IPAs as their favorite kind of beer. The hoppiness of these kinds of beers leave too much of a lingering taste for my liking. I have a difficult time drinking more than one of these in one sitting.

Therein lies my dilemma, do I take a chance with a type of beer I typically don't like just to satisfy my curiosity for something new or settle for something old that I am not excited about? The fact that this is a dilemma for me is probably a sad indictment of me. There are people out there with real dilemmas, things that are really important questions. However, this is how my mind works.

So after what felt like much debate, it was probably just a matter of seconds, I decide on taking a chance on the Long Hammer. Much to my surprise, it did not have the over powering hops flavor that I associate with IPAs. The only IPA that I currently have in the fridge is an Abita Jockamo IPA, which has an extremely hoppy taste to me. The Long Hammer was much smoother with less of a lingering after taste. This is an IPA that I enjoyed drinking and could have more than one.

As happens more times than not, my risk was rewarded. If only my wife would give other beers a chance, she could find her next go to favorite beer. As she has told me on several occasions, why do that when they still make Bud Light?

Cheers!

Beer review take 1 - LA 31 Boucanee

Since one of the goals of this blog is to try to expose beer drinkers to new beers, I figured I need to find some way to describe what I like or don't like about the beers that I try. Having me say that I simply like a beer, or this beer sucks, is not that helpful.

Being the complete nerd that I am, I did some research on how to actually review a beer. This link shows an article I found on beer advocate that really makes it simple. http://beeradvocate.com/articles/637

It is a lot like wine tasting, which I have not mastered yet either. My wife and I recently had a nice dinner out during our beach vacation. The waiter brought the bottle of wine over and poured me some in my glass. I gave it my customary inconsistent swirling (a technique that you would think would be easy to do) and took a long sip, trying to leave the taste on my palate. My wife asked me what I was doing. She looked at me as if I was a complete moron and somehow lost the ability to swallow wine. I digress.

Back to the beer. If you recall from earlier in the week, I picked up a six pack of LA 31 Boucanee beer from a local beer and wine store. This beer comes from Bayou Teche brewery, which is located in Arnaudville, Louisiana, which is about 30 miles from where I live. The brewery uses cherry wood smoked wheat to make the Boucanee ale.

Appearance: The beer has a cloudy appearance in a glass and is the color of a light copper penny. The cream colored head dissipated quickly.

Smell: This is the hardest of the criteria for me to describe. It was only with the 2nd bottle that I really noticed how smokey the smell was. It had a burnt quality to it.

Taste: Much like with the smell, the burnt hop flavor was very pronounced. The hoppy flavor did linger on my tongue as is indicative of ales.

Mouthfeel: The beer had a light mouthfeel.

Overall: I did like this beer. The Bayou Teche website said that it would pair well with grilled hamburgers and I agree with them.

I am always looking for beers to add to my list of likes and it is even better that I can support a local small business at the same time. I would recommend this beer and will look to try the others from Bayou Teche brewery.

For more information see http://bayoutechebrewing.com/.

A new place, an old beer

In my quest to find my next favorite beer, I will usually pick one I have not tried over a tried and true solid one. I guess that is the optimist in me. This may be the only phase of my life where I may be called an optimist. My theory is that I already know the upside potential of the beers I have tried, but a new one has unlimited potential.

I mention this because my wife and I tried a new restaurant for an early dinner this evening. The restaurant is called Acme Taco. It is a funky Mexican restaurant that bills itself as "Not your typical Mexican food." The place did not disappoint food wise. We were both thoroughly impressed. The salsa included in the picture was particularly good.

However the beer selection was not nearly as impressive. Aside from the buds and millers of the world, the only beer that somewhat appealed to me was the Abita Amber pictured. When we lived in Mandeville, we were within 5 miles of the brewery in Abita Springs. I regret that in our 3 years living there, we only went to the Abita brew pub one time. When I think microbrewery in Lousiana, I think Abita. They have several standard brews and several seasonal choices.

Their flagship beer, the Amber was as good as I remembered, and even seemed to taste better in the bottle. I know this is blasphemy, but it was good.

On our way home, we did stop at a local wine and beer store and I was able to pick out two new 6 packs (St. Arnold Spring Bock and LA 31 Boucanee). It is funny to me how at my age, I really look forward to picking out new beers. This for me is as good as Christmas. My fingers are crossed on these ones. If these don't work, I guess I will just do it again, because as Manfred Mann so eloquently sang in his immortal song, blinded by the light, "mama, that's where the fun is."

Cheers!

The beer that started it all...

In March of this year, my wife and I went to the UK to see her cousin and cousin's husband for a few days. We were also joined by another cousin that lives in the US. On our way to the "best cousin trip ever", we had a layover in the Philadelphia International airport. We had dinner there before departing for London.

As I am prone to do, I asked our waitress for a local beer. The above pictured beer, the Yards Brawler, is what she brought. As I was drinking it and subsequently another, I realized how much I enjoy trying unique beers from all over. It was during that dinner that I decided that a blog would be a good way to at the very least, catalogue them for my future reference, and at best, maybe attract some other ideas about what others like.

The Yards Brewery is a Philadelphia microbrew that produces 5 signature ales and a host of seasonal, limited runs and ones they call "Ales of the Revolution." The Brawler is described as a ,"pugilist style ale. Boasting superior taste and champion flavor, crafted in the style of English session ales."

I thoroughly enjoyed this beer and I did not even know the significance of stumbling upon it on my way to England. I plan to sample others from this brewery.

For more information about the Yards Brewery, see the link below.

www.yardsbrewing.com

Cheers!

Baytowne beer garden

Every year our family usually goes to the beach for a summer trip. We typically stay in Sandestin, Florida. Besides the beach, the area offers other attractions such as great outlet mall shopping, and a community called the Village of Baytown Wharf.

Baytowne Wharf has several shops, restaurants and attractions for kids. We spend one evening of our annual trip there to walk around and have dinner. Due to our hiatus from the beach last year, I only now noticed that the wharf has a beer garden. Truth is, it may have been there all along, but I was not as interested as I am now. Anyway, the place looked authentic, or as authentic as one can in a preppy southern venue. The bartender was even dressed as a St.Pauli girl.

I had a small dunkel, pictured. Dark beers such as Dunkels are usually my favorites. This one was bitter like I like, but as usual, I had built my expectations too high. The taste was ok, but the $8 price tag for the half liter made its taste even less appealing.

I should know by now that the best times I have with beer are when I have no expectations. But as I believe, even the worst beer is better than no beer at all.

Cheers!

Beer at the beach

There may be no better place to enjoy a beer than the beach. It is made even better when the kids are both water safe and require less supervision. That is the case this vacation. Three days a week of swim practice finally pay off.

The beer pictured is Red Stripe lager from Jamaica. The beach bar has a limited selection. This may be the first Red Stripe I have had since working in Jamaica on a client 11 years ago. Not my favorite, but it will do in a pinch.

Cheers!

Welcome to the collar

As a starter, let me introduce myself. My name is Matt Manning, I am a CPA by trade, husband to Margaret, and father to two girls, Regan (7) and Addison (5). However the most important fact about me that you should know as it relates to this blog is that I love beer. So many of the most enjoyable moments in my life have beer as a common ingredient. In fact, I am having a beer as I type right now. A Yuengling lager, to be more specific.

My beer philosophy(if you could call it that) is very simple, if you like the taste of a certain kind of beer, who am I to try to convince you that you shouldn't like it. I simply wish to share some of what I like and hear from others about they like. I fully acknowledge my limitations regarding being able to explain what I like about certain beers. Sometimes a simple, "ahh that tastes like beer should taste", is good enough.

As I mentioned above, part of what I enjoy about beer is how it seems to enhance good times. Therefore, the discussion on the collar will not just be hardcore beer facts and ratings, but will include the experiences with those beers.

Finally, about the name, the Bishop's Collar refers to the foamy head on top of a beer poured into a glass. I always liked the term and thought it was a nice fit.

I hope you enjoy the blog I look forward to hearing from you. Cheers!