Tis the season - Fall Beers

Breweries typically put out seasonal beers to compliment the weather or flavors of a particular season. Summer beers are typically light and refreshing, winter ones hearty and having a warming quality. However the season that may be prime seasonal beer time is fall. Many breweries have pumpkin ales or harvest beers that fit the cooler weather and season. Fall was made for beer, the most important beer month, October falls in the season. Hello Octoberfest anyone?

In honor of the fall season and October starting tomorrow, here is a list of the top fall beers. Fall Beers

I know this is a good article since it was sent to me by 3 different people. Enjoy.

Cheers!

It's new to me - St. Arnold Winter Stout

Having lived in Lafayette for the past 8 years, you would have thought that I would have hit all the beer and wine stores in the area. However as a creature of habit, there was one that I had not visited until recently, Philippe's Wine Cellar. 

I am usually not too picky about wine, and can find lots of good ones in the $10/bottle price range at local supermarkets. Due to this, I rarely felt the need to visit a specialty wine store. Now that I am expanding my beer universe and exhausting what is on the shelves at the usual places, I figured it was about time to try a new place. Their beer selection was quite extensive and they even sell single beers. I have frequently had to purchase a six pack to try a new beer only to have 5 unwanted ones left.

I picked up the LA-31 Acadie single and a six pack of the St. Arnold Winter Stout.

Appearance: Beer poured a pitch black color with a thin khaki colored head, which dissipated quickly. It did leave a nice ring and some good lacing. The carbonation was minimal.

Smell: Lots of chocolate aromas with this beer. I also noted some roasted malt smells. Nice aromas for this stout.

Taste/Mouthfeel: As would be expected by the nose, chocolate and caramel flavors dominate. The mouthfeel was on the heavy side of medium, but not as heavy as a Guinness. The St. Arnold Stout was also less bitter than the typical stout.

Overall: I really liked this beer. For some Stout lovers, this one may be on the mild side, but it has a nice character and is very drinkable. Lots of chocolate flavor and no bitterness. This is a very good stout and worth trying. For more info on this beer, please see St. Arnold Winter Stout.

I am glad to see I have another option for harder to find beers locally. I will certainly be back. For more information on Philppe's, please see Philippe's.

Cheers!

Drowning my sorrows - LA 31 Acadie

Growing up in the New Orleans area in the 80's I can remember some bad New Orleans Saints teams. Having the likes of Dave Wilson, Richard Todd and John Fourcade at the quarterback position made for some less than competitive teams. Only in the early 90's did the team garner a level of respectability being led by Jim Finks, Jim Mora and the Dome Patrol. However, even then they were always second fiddle in their own division to the dominant San Francisco 49ers. Only in the NFL could teams from New Orleans and Atlanta play in the Western Division of the NFC.

Recent history has been much better for the Saints and their fans. Since the arrival of Coach Sean Payton and quarterback Drew Brees, the team has been a perennial playoff contender and won the franchise's only Super Bowl.

An autographed cover page from the Baton Rouge Advocate newspaper the day after the Saints won their only Super Bowl.

I can recall the pure joy I felt watching the Saints win that game and how I said that I would be content if they never won another game again. Of course I did not mean that. Since their win, they have continued their winning ways, but not to the extent of being a champion. That is until this year.

The Saints have started this season losing their first 3 games. These games were not even against the class of the league, and two were at the Superdome and showed that there is no home field advantage with this team. As a life long fan, I will still support them, but I already feel like this season is for the most part over in terms of being competitive. It is extremely rare for a team to start 0-3 and make the playoffs, especially when the difficult part of their schedule is to come.

So what you ask does this have to do with beer? Besides the obvious, that it is the beverage of choice for watching the games, it also helps to drown the sorrows of another disappointing loss. There is a tear in my beer this Sunday.

The Bayou Teche Brewery has come out with a new seasonal beer, the LA 31 Acadie. I picked up one this weekend to give it a shot.

Appearance: Beer poured a copper orange color with a very thin white head. It had a clear appearance and provided only patchy lacing. It was well carbonated.

Smell: I picked up mainly a yeasty aroma, with nothing else apparent.

Taste/Mouthfeel: Beer had a mild malt flavor at the outset. The beer had a peppery finish, some honey-like sweetness and the slightest lingering bitterness. Mouthfeel was medium bodied.

Overall: I thoroughly enjoyed this mild drinkable beer. So far this is the best beer I have had from Bayou Teche Brewery. For more info on this Brewery, please see LA-31

Fortunately for me, I am not only a fan of American Football, but also, the original football. My club, Manchester United picked up a vital win this morning against its regional rivals, Liverpool Football Club. At least one of my teams was on the right side of a decision today.

Cheers!

Beers of the month August/September

It is the middle of September and that means time to crown the beer of the month and the four runners up. My total volume was down this month with only 14 new beers sampled, but I figured it was still worth highlighting the five best of the bunch.

5. Murphy's Red Ale

• This one does not fit into the "craft beer" category since it is mass produced, but still not one that a typical American beer drinker would likely look for. Beer had some nice head and lacing. Like other red ales it had a minerally and metallic aroma, but a much milder flavor. A nice balance and character made this one my favorite red ale. Murphy's

4. Sierra Nevada Porter

• A great example of the Porter style from a fantastic craft brewery in California. Nice head, lacing, chocolate, coffee and malt flavors. These guys just consistently put out good beer. Sierra Nevada Porter

3. Anchor Summer Beer

• One last shot for summer. This wheat beer had an unexpectedly creamy mouthfeel, but did have an expected light and refreshing drinkability. Just enough complexity of flavor to make it not watery. Anchor Summer beer

2. Samuel Adams Octoberfest

• An early fall seasonal beer. Very impressive looking with a copper color and nice carbonation. Smooth malt flavor with some citrus notes. No bitterness gave this beer a high level of drinkability. Sam Adams

1. Rogue Dead Guy Ale

• I had been holding on to this one due to not really liking their Mocha Porter, but was a very pleasant surprise. Nice malt flavor with a great finish. Some banana notes and no bitterness. Appearance was great also. Beer of the month. 

Three months down and still lots of great beers to try. Thanks for the support. 

Cheers!

That time of year - IPA

Below is a link to an interesting article I found on IPAs. Not my favorite type of beer, but this article mentions some good ones and differentiates the different types of Pale Ales. Enjoy!

Pale Ales


Cheers!

Is summer over yet? - Anchor Summer Beer

The date on the calendar and cooler temps outside these days (upper 80's for highs instead of 90's) are both indications that summer is almost over. Folks in south Louisiana know better than to assume that just because it may be the fall season around the corner that the hot days are behind us. As most of the breweries are now putting out their fall seasonal beers, such as Octoberfest or Pumpkin beers, I found myself with a summer seasonal still in the fridge and figured I should make way for the new season.

The summer beer in question is the Anchor Summer Beer, which I picked up at my local Albertson's store. This is the fifth beer I have tried from the Anchor brewery, the others being the iconic Anchor Steam, Liberty Ale, Anchor Porter and Berkle's Brown Ale.

Appearance: Beer poured a crystal clear golden color with lots of carbonation. Even more impressive was the pillow soft white head. I have yet to see a wheat beer with this kind of fluffy head or one with such good retention. As would be expected, nice lacing was present.

Smell: Nothing stands out from an aroma standpoint. I did pick up some yeasty smells, but nothing complex.

Taste/Mouthfeel: Some wheat characteristics were present on the palate, including some lemony flavor near the end. The mouthfeel on this one was impressive. Due to the color it has a light mouthfeel, but was almost creamy due to the head retention. Although it had a light mouthfeel, it had enough wheat presence to not be watery.

Overall: Very refreshing and drinkable beer. Very impressed with the appearance and flavor that was just enough, not too complex or watery. I prefer this one to the Abita Golden wheat beer I had reviewed previously. This may rival the Anchor Steam for my favorite Anchor beer. For more info on this beer, please see Anchor Summer Beer

With the football season started fall will be here soon. I am glad that I have one more nod to summer before the season turned.

Cheers!

Another birthday treat - New Belgium 1554 Enlightened Black Ale

You have heard me complain about the limited selection of regional beers in Lafayette. Don't get me wrong, we have little trouble getting beers from the Louisiana craft breweries such as Abita, NOLA Brewery, Bayou Teche or even Tin Roof. My complaint is more the lack of availability of other regional craft brewery selections like Dogfish Head or the beer that started me on this quest from the Yards Brewery in Philadelphia. In order to get out of state regional beers, the closest large market is Houston, TX, which is about 3.5 hours away by car.

Being in the energy industry, myself or my colleagues are often called upon to visit this Mecca for oil and gas and therefore take advantage of the beer selection there to bring some of these hard to find ones back. Such was the case recently when one of my colleagues brought me a six pack of half Dogfish Head India Brown Ale (the Collar's first beer of the month) and half New Belgium 1554 Enlightened Black Ale, which I will profile. This treat made for a great birthday present, thanks Jonathan.

Appearance: As you can tell from the picture, the beer looks like I poured some cola into the Chimay goblet. Carbonation very much present at the start, but no head or lacing to speak of.

Smell: Picked up a musty aroma. Smelled typical of a Belgian style beer, like a Chimay.

Taste/Mouthfeel: Up front picked up roasted malt and coffee flavors. As it warmed, the chocolate flavor became more pronounced, as did a fruit sweetness on the finish. Mouthfeel was on the heavy side and some of the carbonation was detectable.

Overall: This beer had some good qualities of Belgian style beers, like the malty flavors, but was not overpowering and sort of on the mild side. It also comes in lighter on the ABV at only 5.6% it is much lower octane than the Duvels of the world. A nice flavor, but not overwhelming, a solid effort. but not remarkable. For more info on this beer, please see 1554

Cheers!

Cheers to Birthday Beers

This past weekend, specifically Saturday, was my birthday. In order to celebrate, Margaret and I went to New Orleans for among other things, to run the NFL Back to Football Saints 5K on Saturday morning.

This is me prior to the start of the race, and yes I wear those short running shorts. Give me a break, these races can be hot. The course was through downtown, a quick trip to the French Quarter and finishing on the 50 yard line of the field in the Superdome. This was without a doubt, the coolest 5K race I have ever run. Runners appeared on the big screen as they crossed the finish line and there were additional timing pads installed on the 10 yard line so participants could have their 40 yard dash times captured. Unfortunately, the nice weather we are now experiencing in south Louisiana did not come in time for the race. It was a hot one.

That evening, Margaret and I went to dinner with my brother and sister-in-law at Midway Pizza on Frerret Street in the Uptown section of New Orleans. The name would lead one to believe that it makes "Chicago" style pizza, Midway being the name of an airport in Chicago. Their pizza was deep dish, but not exactly Chicago style. However they did have an impressive selection of local and regional craft beers.

Nola Brewery's 7th Street Wheat

Brooklyn Brewery Seasonal

Chilled pint glasses are not really conducive to getting the complete flavor of the beer, so it will be pictures only this time. I can report that they were both tasty. 

After dinner, the four of us met Margaret's cousin Philip and some of his friends at his neighborhood bar, the Rendon Inn. I had been to the Rendon Inn before, but it was only 1 time and it was at least 13 years ago. As I remember it, this place was a dive and did not make our regular bar rotation while we were in college. Much to my surprise, the place was nothing like I remembered. The interior was updated and made for a much nicer atmosphere than the last time I went.

Even more to my surprise was the selection of beers they had. My brother, Phil (only slightly confusing that my twin brother and Margaret's cousin are both named Philip) and I had between us, St. Arnold Santo (readers know this is a favorite of mine), Jefferson Stout, and the Sam Adams Octoberfest pictured below.

The new Rendon Inn was quite different than the old place. Making it even better is the fact that we walked from Philip's house there, only two blocks away. I have always wanted to live in a place with a neighborhood bar within walking distance. We will definitely be going back to this place.

It was a great birthday and weekend. Lots of good meals and beers and even a little exercise so I won't feel so bad about myself when I step on the scale in the morning. It was also nice to be able to spend it with my brother Phil.

The Birthday Boys

Cheers!

After a long day - Spaten Optimator

Not much in the way of a back story with this beer, the Spaten Optimator. I picked it up at my local World Market store. It is a German Doppelbock, which is the same style as last month's beer of the month, the Ayinger Celebrator, see my review here Celebrator. Since this one has a higher ABV, it was part of a one beer evening after work.

Appearance: Beer pours a hazy dark brown color with some carbonation. As you can tell from the picture, there is little to no head. As would be expected, no lacing was present also. Visually this beer did not do much for me.

Smell: If I was blindfolded and asked to identify this beer by smell only, I would have guessed a Heineken. The beer had the typical smell of a German or Belgian beer like the aforementioned one. Again, not winning me over so far.

Taste/Mouthfeel: Luckily for me, the taste was not what I was expecting based on the nose. No Heineken flavor or skunkiness for this one. I did get some molasses sweetness and dark fruit, like cherry flavor with a sweet finish. Beer also had a heavier syrup like mouthfeel. No bitterness was present.

Overall: As much as the Appearance and Smell were disappointments, the taste did some to make it up to me. I liked the mellow sweetness and fruit flavors. At a 7.5% ABV, this made for a nice single beer evening after a long day at the office. This beer however was not as good as the Ayinger Celebrator mentioned above. For more info on this beer, please see Optimator

Cheers!

A tale of two beers - Newcastle Werewolf Blood Red Ale & Murphy's Red Ale

I have mentioned before that I grew up in New Orleans. I also graduated from the University of New Orleans, the largest public university in the New Orleans area. UNO is primarily a commuter school that services the citizens of the New Orleans area. There is not much in the way of "college life" that a larger school would have, it did not even have a football team. Once classes let out, there was not much in the way of students sticking around campus.

Luckily for me, New Orleans does not lack entertainment for college students, even if it is not on campus. There was and still is, a lively bar scene in the uptown area of the city. While in school there, I would frequently hit a few of the bars. Of them my favorite was a place called Madigan's. This place was a little different than the other bars we would visit in that it was typically less crowded and the crowd seemed to be a little more mature than some of the places where college, or even high school kids frequented. Madigan's was even the place where I was officially introduced to my future wife, Margaret. We had several classes together, but it took a friend of a friend to introduce us. Thanks Scott.

In my Madigan's days, my beer consumption typically consisted of Bud Light and Bud Light only. However, they would often have on special Killian's Irish Red. I had sometimes thought with my wallet and not my palate and tried it a few times. I recall they were $1.50 a piece when the place had them. All I remember about them was minerally taste that was almost blood-like, which was really not appealing to me at the time. It was so memorable that it was not until recently that I had tried one again. I guess my tastes had changed and it was not too bad, as my father used to say, which was his highest compliment.

On the heels of my better than expected reunion with Killian's Irish Red, I decided to try two more of the style, specifically the Newcastle Werewolf Blood Red Ale and the Murphy's Red Ale. I picked both of these up at my local World Market store.

First the Newcastle Werewolf Blood Red Ale:

Appearance: Beer poured a dark copper color with a thin off-white head with little retention. Beer had a clear appearance with good carbonation which lead to decent lacing.

Smell: Much like the Killians, this one had the mineral aroma that I do not particularly care for.

Taste/Mouthfeel: As with the nose, lots of metallic and mineral flavor present. This beer also left some lingering skunky bitterness that reminded me of Heineken in terms of after taste. The bitterness mellowed as it warmed, but the mouthfeel was thin and watery, which lead to a weak finish.

Overall: I wish this beer was mythical like the creature it is named for. It had some of the bad qualities that kept me away from Killians for so long with the metallic taste and aroma. It followed that up with being thin and watery. I would not recommend this beer, however the Newcastle website is something I would recommend. For more info on this beer, please see Werewolf

Murphy's Red Ale:

Appearance: Beer poured a copper color with three fingers of thick fluffy off-white head with good retention. This beer had a less clear appearance than the previous one, but still had good carbonation, just harder to see. Nice lacing noted.

Smell: Similar to the Werewolf, the primary aroma I got was a minerally and metallic one.

Taste/Mouthfeel: Unlike the Werewolf, the palate was not like the nose. A nice malty and yeasty flavor was present with no bitterness. The mineral aroma I smelled was not present in the taste profile. As it warmed up, a sweetness was present on the finish. A medium mouthfeel for this beer.

Overall: This Red Ale was much more balanced and had some nice character. It's flavors were more complex than the Werewolf and was much more enjoyable to drink. For more info on this beer, please see Murphy's

Being a parent and struggling with a picky eater child, I frequently implore her to try something she did not like initially a second time, as I tell her tastes change over time. This is true with beers as well. It just took the right red ale for me to be convinced. Keep trying beer lovers!

Cheers!

Greetings from Ghana

For those who are not familiar with the part of the world that I live in, Lafayette, Louisiana is the largest city in a region of the state referred to as Acadiana. It got this name from the people who first people (non-native Americans) who populated the area. These people were of French decent and left Acadia. Canada in order to have religious freedom. French is still promulgated here, but it is less the kind spoken in France, but what is called "Cajun French," because the Acadian people are referred to as Cajuns.

Another prominent characteristic of Lafayette and the surrounding areas is the importance of the energy industry, specifically oil and gas production. It is the number one employer in the area, and the industry that I work in. Companies of all sizes from mom and pops to the largest of international service companies have a presence here.

The international companies, as part of their employee development programs encourage their employees to do rotations in different regions of the world. Due to this, Lafayette gets a fair amount of people and their families from all over the world to live in the area for brief periods. As our luck would have it, primarily due to our kid's school, we have had the good fortune of becoming friends with some families from the UK. This has been a great experience for Margaret and I as well as our kids. I know growing up in New Orleans, almost all the kids I went to school with were just like me and the experiences were pretty homogeneous. Our girls get to learn about customs in other countries and will be more well rounded.

One of the families we befriended is the Wise family who are originally from Scotland. Lafayette was the first international assignment for them and they wanted one that would be not drastically different from their home in Scotland. They stayed in America for almost 3 years and we became great friends. Elizabeth and Margaret hit it off and were instant friends. Having children at the same school helped with this. It took a little longer for Keith and I, but our commonalities made us have a great friendship. I am a big fan of British and as I would find out, Scottish humor. Our mutual love of football (soccer), beer and even the early 90's rap group Public Enemy made for an great friendship. I am pretty certain that among the last things I thought I would have in common with a guy from Aberdeen was an enjoyment of the music of Chuck D and Flavor Flav. As Margaret and Elizabeth would attest, we are incredibly similar, even down to our traits that our wives do not necessarily appreciate.

As all good things tend to do, Keith's temporary assignment to the US ended last September when he and his family moved to Ghana for another assignment. Quite a move for a second international assignment. Needless to say, we were very sad to see them leave. I have however been somewhat successful in keeping up with Keith while he has been in Africa. We typically exchange e-mails or texts every two weeks or so. We have even made some arrangements to meet up with the Wise's next April in Scotland for a half marathon in Edinburgh. However he and Margaret pulled off the surprise of a lifetime this past weekend which meant not having to wait that long.

This past Friday night after we had dinner, I noticed someone had pulled into our driveway. I was not expecting any visitors and walked out to my garage to see who it was. Much to my surprise it was Keith all the way from Africa. Needless to say, I was very surprised and tremendously happy to see him. He had been in America all week visiting clients in Texas and he and Margaret had worked about 3 weeks in order to pull this off. Looking back, she was very jumpy and nervous about me finding out, but still managed to put together a completely unexpected surprise.

Keith and I on Friday evening with my new Ghanian football jersey and the black star flag of Ghana. I know this is a beer blog, so in case anyone is wondering, the beer in the picture is the Coney Island Albino Python lager, which is quite nice, but not the main attraction of this post.

As would be expected, we had lots of beers and good times this weekend. It was like old times. We even skpyed with Elizabeth, Cameron and Francesca in Ghana.

One of the things I really like about the Wise's is how much they embraced being in America. They traveled all over the country on holidays and Keith even drove a Ford Mustang convertible while they lived here. You can't get more American than that. He also enjoyed the local beer, specifically Abita Amber, of which we had several this weekend.

Although this was a whirlwind weekend, it was fantastic. Kudos go to my wife and Keith for the coolest surprise and the effort it took to make it happen.

As they say in Scotland, cheers mate!

Sometimes a beer is not what it seems - Brekle's Brown

One of the first craft breweries that I came across a few years ago when I decided to pursue my beer interest was the Anchor Brewing company of San Francisco, CA. Their signature Anchor Steam and Liberty Ale were available locally and I enjoyed them very much. I have previously profiled their Anchor Porter and I have recently noticed two additional of their beers available in my local Albertson's, their summer seasonal and the Brekle's Brown Ale.

I have made no secret of my love of brown ales. They may be my favorite style of beer and the Brekle's seemed like it would be right up my alley. However, as I would find, this brown ale was nothing like what I expected.

Appearance: Beer pours a dark copper color, not quite as brown as I would have thought. This should have been the first sign. A really soft creamy two fingers of khaki head was noticed, with good retention. This beer also had good carbonation and nice lacing, see below.

Smell: Second tip off that this was not what I was expecting, was the hoppy aroma that I got from about a foot away. This beer smelled just like an IPA with the citrus and grassy hop notes.

Taste/Mouthfeel: Much like the aroma, this beer had the flavor profile of an IPA. Hoppy citrus with lingering bitterness. The unusual part was the thick creamy head that accompanied the medium mouthfeel. It had some features of a brown ale, but all the taste of an IPA.

Overall: Probably more than any beer I have ever had, this one did not taste like what I had expected. It was more of a hybrid that one particular style. It had the things I like about a brown ale with the nice creamy head and lacing, but the flavor profile of an IPA. This one will take some more study to determine a grade. Sometimes beers, like people are more than meets the eye. For more info on this beer, please see Brekle's Brown.

Cheers!