22 Ounces

One of our friends had recently brought over two 22 ounce beers for us to try.  This week while eating dinner and watching TV we opened and split both of them.  The first night it was Sea Monater, the Ballast Point Imperial Stout.  The second night it was the Fresh Hop IPA from the Lips of Faith Series by New Belgium.

We had the Sea Monster after dinner as we were watching TV for the night.  I really liked it.  It was big and rich in chocolate and coffee flavor.  The coffee flavor was a little to overwhelming for Mark as he doesn't like coffee and he gave the end of this beer to me.  This beer boasts an ABV of 10% as well so as good one to split on a weekday!

The Fresh Hop IPA we drank as we were cooking and then with dinner.  We've had a good number of New Belgium beers and I've reviewed a few of them now but this one was new to me.  When Mark first poured it, it had a cloudy color to it before it settled into a nice golden color.  The hop flavor wasn't as strong in this beer as I thought it would be for an IPA.  Definitely a beer with flavor but it tasted more like a big pale ale than an IPA to me.  We both enjoyed this one and with an ABV of 7%, it still has a kick to it.

2 new at home brews this week and will have some breweries to review soon too!

Sharks, Smokeaters, and some IPA

On Thursday night, Mark and I headed down to SmokeEaters for $1 tenders and IPA night.  The Sharks also happened to be on so we got to watch the game with our drinks and food.  Mark has been to SmokeEaters in Cupertino but I have never been.  It's an order at the counter kind of place.  We picked how many tenders we wanted (3 each) and then picked our sauce spiciness.  I went with traditional while Mark stepped it up to atomic.  When the food came, I was surprised how big the tenders were.  3 was plenty for me.  The traditional had a good spicy flavor and I could have handled Mark's atomic but I'm glad I got the traditional so I could enjoy the beer more without my mouth being on fire the whole night. 

On the beer side, Mark started with the Pranqster Golden Ale from North Coast Brewing in Fort Bragg and I went went with the Green Flash Le Freak Belgain style IPA brewed in San Diego.  We choose these because neither of us had tried them before.  I sipped mine and said "That's the kind of IPA I like," while Mark sipped his and said "That's the kind of IPA I don't."  Le Freak has a good balance of hops and bitterness of a traditional IPA mixed with the sweeter flavors of a Belgain.  It also rocks a 9.2% ABV.  I would buy the Le Freak again.  The Pranqster lacked the balance of hops/bitterness to Belgain sweetness and leaned too heavily on the Belgain side.  I offered to trade with Mark since it's a flavor I would like more than him but he said it's still a beer and he'd drink it.  Way to take one for the team, honey. :)

At this point, the Sharks game was very high scoring and the Sharks kept trading the lead with the Lightning so we ordered up another beer to stay until the end.  This time, Mark went with the tried and true Sculpin while I took advantage of Pliny the Elder being on tap and ordered that.  We both enjoyed our second choices and I've reviewed them on here before so not too much else to say.  We did not enjoy the outcome of the Sharks game as they lost in overtime.  Oh well, I'll still take that point out of it. 

Another successful Beer Week event.  We have one more on tap for this weekend before our budget runs out.

Valentine's Day with Lost Coast at Harry Hobrau's

Mark and I attended another SF Beer Week event on Tuesday night for Valentine's Day.  This was a meet the brewers for Lost Coast from Eureka at Harry's Hobrau.  Harry's had 5 of the Lost Coast brews on tap and you got to keep the glass. 

Mark started with the Cocoa 8 Ball Stout while I started with the Winter Porter.  Marks Cocoa 8 Ball Stout had an ABV of 5.8% with predominant chocolate flavors.  It had a lot of the nice roasted flavors we like about the Porters and Stouts.  It's a nice new Porter find.  The Winter Porter bosts a much higher ABV of 8%.  The prodominat flavors here were caramel and chocolate.  This is a much sweeter Porter.  I liked it but it would be too sweet for Mark's tastes.  Because of the sweetness, I think it leaned much more on the caramel flavors than the chocolate.  I liked it and would get it again. 

For round 2, Mark lightened it up with the Tangerine Wheat and I got the Cocoa 8 Ball.  I've had the Tangerine before and like it.  The tangerine smell in the beer is very noticeable and then is just as noticeable in the beer.  Mark said that this would be a really good summer beer for backyard BBQs.  It is light and drinkable and he enjoyed it. 

A good Valentine's Day at Harry's.  The four pints cost $27 and we got to keep the glasses.  Also, the Lost Cost brewer introduced himself to us and gave us a DVD about their brewery and gave me a pair of bottle cap earrings. 

Mark and his keep the pint.

Wine Affairs IPA Night

It's SF Beer week so we rallied our friends together to go to IPA tasting night at Wine Affairs in San Jose.  They hosted a blind tasting IPA event where for $15, you blinded sampled 8 beers, taking notes, making guesses and then ranking your favorites.  If you stayed until the end of the event, they told you what the brews were.  We left early though so had to wait until the newsletter came out to find out the results.  I had to turn in my notes card so don't have notes on all of the brews but here's the results of my favorites. 

#1: Beer C- Grand Teton Lost Continent Double IPA.  This beer was less powerful, bitter hoppy than a traditional IPA so more up my alley.
#2 Beer A- Black Rampage Imperial IPA.  Similar flavors to the first, less bitter. 
#3 Beer F- Firestone Walker Double Jack Imperial IPA- More hops and bitterness than the first two but still a flavor I really enjoyed. 

I think the 3 beers that my 3 choices ended up as goes along well with what I know about my IPA taste buds.  I like hops but I don't like the high bitterness that also often goes along with IPAs.  All of my choices were Imperial or Doubles and lacked that bitterness to them. 

Mark ended up liking the Grand Teton Lost Continent, the Black Rampage Imperial IPA, and then also the Green Flash IPA. 

All the other IPAs that were in the mix were ones we had tried before like Lagunitas Hop Stoopid, Stone Runiation Imperial IPA, Russian River Pliny the Elder, and Ballast Point Sculpin.  Funny I wasn't able to pick out any of them by name when blindly trying them!  Even Mark didn't get the Stone Ruination.  Although his favorite is the standard IPA, not the Imperial.

Overall, this was a fun event.  We got our friends together to drink some beer.  However, Wine Affairs is hosting a number of these type of events this week and I won't be going to any of the others.  The sample beers were very small.  Like 1-2 oz. small.  This means tops, we were each poured a pint in all.  That's an expensive $16 pint.  Flashforward to Tuesday night at Harry's Hobrau where Mark and I each got 2 pints (4 pints in all) and were able to keep the glass (review to come soon) all for $27.  Much better bang for your beer buck.  I know you are paying for the novelty and selection at a tasting night but the pours were still small for what I think we paid for.  Also, it was hard to get a good taste for the flavor of the beer with such a small pour.  Glad we went to the event but I would have hoped for bigger pours (obvious though right?)  The evening contined with more beer, friends, and at our house after too!

Super Bowl Sunday

On Super Bowl Sunday, Mark and I had a low key day and kept it simple.  During the week, we received an email from Rock Bottom that $5 would be added to our Mug Club on Super Bowl Sunday so of course we had to take advantage.  We headed over around 1:30 so that it wouldn't be too crowded and we could be home in time for kick off.  Mark got the Pale Ale and I got the Red.  Both were good.  Mark's was nice and hoppy and my a rich red color.  The best part was that the big mugs only cost us $2.25 after our Mug Club credit was applied! 

After getting home, Mark made some guacamole to enjoy during the game.  We then checked out what beer we had in the fridge and decided to go with a Gordon Biersch theme.  We started with the Blonde Bock with the expectation that it would be a light flavored beer.  However upon our first sips, we were both surprised by the flavor punch it had.  The Blond Bock boasts an ABV of 7% and packs a sweet, malty, slightly wheaty and fruity flavor.  Not a favorite but tasted better than the expectations I had for it. 

Next was the Czech Style Pilsner.  Neither Mark nor I order a lot of Pilsners while out so I don't really know how I feel about them.  After tasting, I would describe this beer as "fine."  It was a light beer overall.  Light in color and in flavor.  No powerful flavors and slightly dry and bland.  We both enjoyed the Blonde Bock more.

That wrapped up our Super Bowl Sunday drinking.  After the buffalo chicken sandwiches we made in the crockpot, we were both pretty full. 

Today starts SF Beer Week!  We have plans to check out a few events this week, including a blind IPA taste test tonight so there should be some new reviews and posts coming up.  

Faultline again!

This last week, I found a Group on for Faultline Brewery.  The deal was $10 for 10 3 oz. beer samples (5/person) and 1 appetizer of your choice.  We couldn't pass that up so we each bought and then used one of them this past weekend.  Mark and I headed down for pre dinner drinks on Saturday.  We ordered the Chicken Drummettes appetizer and each got a 5 3 oz. sampler with the Kolsh, Hef, Best Bitter, Pale, and Stout.  As we've reviewed before, we enjoy the Hef, I like the Best Bitter, and we both like the Stout.  Here's Mark with his sampler card. 



Faultline's current seasonal brew is a Weizen Bock.  We each added a sample of this for $1.  I really liked it!  It had the refreshing taste of a Hef with some extra maltiness to make it taste like a winter beer.  It was higher in alcohol content (I think a little over 7%) and the higher alcohol punch was noticable but not overpowering at the end.  Mark enjoyed it too. 

This really was a great $10 Group on deal as our appetizer alone would have cost us $10.25!  Good thing we bought another and can come back another time. :) 

Sonoma Chicken Coop...and then Harry's

When out celebrating a friend's birthday party with dinner at Sonoma Chicken Coop, we discovered that their Campbell location brews its own beer.  Since Mark and I were late to the party, we decided we would have to go back another time and sample.

Last Saturday was a beautiful, sunny, mid 60s January day so Mark and I took our roller blades and gloves down to Campbell and the Los Gatos Creek trail.  After enjoying the weather with some blading and catch, we decided it was time for some beer.  So we headed over to Sonoma. 

As it was between lunch and dinner, the restaurant was relatively uncrowded and we grabbed two seats at the bar.  Sonoma currently brews 6 bears, the Kolsh, Hef, Pale, ESB, Scottish Ale, and the Porter.  I started with the Scottish Ale while Mark started with the Pale. Here's our review.

Scottish Ale- I liked this one.  It was slightly sweet malty with less hops.  It was carmel in color and very pleasant.  I'd order it again.  When Mark tried it, he liked it but said he'd probably order his Pale over the Scottish Ale.  The sweetier, maltier flavor made it more kind of beer than his.   

Pale-After having some of my Scottish Ale and then tasting Mark's Pale, the plae tasted a lot more hoppy and bitter.  I think my reaction was just from the switch of beers because Mark did think it was overwhelmingly hoppy or bitter.  He enjoyed it as well but would put it on the lower end of pale ales he would order out. 

Then we moved onto round 2.  I ordered the Porter and Mark ordered the ESB. 

Porter- Dark in color with light head.  It had a nice roasted flavor to it.  Couldn't specifically pick out a strong flavor in it but a good beer. 

ESB- When asked about it 6 days later, Mark said "eh, it was good but nothing to write home about."  I think I'll have to ask for details of his opinion sooner if I want moe info. :)

At that point, we were going to call it a day so asked for our bill.  The bartendar who we had talked some with since we got there commented that we weren't going to try them all.  We said not today but then he poured us partial glasses of the Hef and Kolsh.   Yay for making new friends! 

Hef- A nice Bavarian style Hef.  Lighter in flavor than some of the better Hefs we've had recently. 

Kolsh- Pretty good for a Kolsh!  As they are more along the lines of "fizzy yellow beers" than Mark and I usually order, we often pass on the Kolshs.  This one had some nice flavor to it though and was much less watery than we anticipated.

We headed back to our cars with the intention of driving home.  However, somehow Mark must have gotten lost because we ended up at Harry's Hobrau!  Our barthender friend we met last week was there again so we said hello.  Here we split Pliny the Elder.  Pliny the Elder is brewed by the Russian River Brewing Company which I've hear good things about and home to make it up to someday.  Pliny the Elder is an Double IPA with an ABV of 8%. 

It is golden, orange in color and smells citrusy.  I wouldn't go so far as to claim that I could smell the pine but it definately smelled fresh.  I was excepting lots of bitterness as it is a Double IPA.  However, I would say that while the bitterness if definately present it is a very smooth drinkable beer with a good malt balance.  Because it is so smooth and fresh, I think I could have a few too many before the higher ABV caught up with me! Makes me curious about the other brews from Russian River. 

Another good Saturday.  With Super Bowl Sunday being today, who knows that tasting is coming up next!