Oh! Molasses!

We should all learn about the great molasses disaster of January 15th, 1918 in Boston Massachusetts. We learned about this disaster from drinking a fine Manly Men's Beer club Blackstrapped Molasses Ale. you should do the same thing.

Sam Smith's Organic Ale

I just love organic stuff! And this is a fabulous session beer to boot! In essence, the taste is nothing overly special, it's a standard ale. A bit on the bitter side with some good flavor, light with descent effervescence. This beer is ORGANIC and that makes it rate higher for me. So I'll give it a solid 75. I should keep this in my fridge as a go to beer.

at Brasserie Beck Downtown

Fullers Chiswick Bitter from the tap was the perfect beer to start brunch with accompanied by the waffles from Brasserie Beck. It was smooth, light, a little watery, good for a hangover! Giving this beer a rating seems to be wrong. It is what it is, and that is a good session beer or a beer to start a morning off right!

We enjoyed a Lost Abbey Avant Garde. I remember nothing about drinking this beer. I recall I thought it was good. I liked the name Avant Garde. Rate Beer gives it a 95 so i'll go with that!

What I do remember well is Lost Abbeys Oak(brandy) Barrel Angels Share! This beer just f*cks with your taste buds! I'm sure we'll be drinking this a few more times to try and figure it out. It's dark, it's malty, it's sweet, it's a tad smokey, it's a tad vanillaish, it has aftertastes galore! Weird thing was that I couldn't stand the aroma. I actually had to make sure not to breathe in while sipping it as it was such an offensive odor to me, yet I couldn't keep my lips off it. Kinda like a very sweet horny ugly girl at 1am in a bar after a long dry spell. I'll give a nod of 100 to this since it's so freakin' complex. I give it a 0 for aroma though.

AleSmith Wee Heavy. This beer was the last one we enjoyed and was consumed right after the Angels Share. I feel bad for the placement of this beer as I was already drunk out for the day and had the onslaught of taste bud satisfaction and confusion from the Angels Share just prior to this. Under any other circumstances this would have been the sh!t for the day! It's a beautiful dark bitter sweet syrupy smokey whiskey finished Wee Heavy that garners a 100 rating from me.

BRASSERIE BECK, 1101 K Street NW, Washington, DC 20005

Stone Smoked Porter

For any of you who know Stone, especially this Smoked Porter, you understand it's beauty. Not only is it a craft brew that has a well balanced onslaught of flavor, it is one that you can drink often never tiring of it's mild sweetness complimented by a bit of smokiness and dry bitterness. Never too much in any direction the perfect Porter that pours so very dark with an admirable head. I give it a 92. It's not quite interesting enough to rate it higher, but it's beautiful balance demands a high score!

my rating of Stone Smoked Porter: 92

sorry, drank this one while watching game 6 of NHL by myself so He will not be rating it yet

A visit to Church Key DC (Birch and Barley's upstairs bar), part 1

Before I get into the details of One of the finest Beer's I have ever consumed, I need to make a quick note about the warm inviting atmosphere of Church Key DC, Birch and Barley's upstairs bar and the knowledgeable and un-pretentious staff from the manager, the bouncer, and our favorite server yet... Ben. After consuming some fine beers both from the extensive tap line up (over 50!) and the gorgeous array of bottles(over 500!) I asked Ben a question: "Ben," I said "My two favorite beers in the world are the Allagash Odyssey and Ola Dubh's line of 18, 30, & 40. I do not want those beers, although they are on your menu. What beer would you recommend I taste in that same vein?" Both Me and Him were impressed as Ben asked us to wait a few minutes while he consulted a committee of fellow employees on what they could offer us that would tantalize our palates. When he came back to announce the recommendations we listened intently. It was His turn last night to pay the bar tab, but upon hearing one of the suggestions I pulled an exception and purchased one last bottle of beer to share. To share with Him and Ben. It is times like these that you do not question the price of the bottle. You do not question the fact that the $65 you are spending on the beer is, in fact, the grocery money for the following week.

Enter Great Divide Brewing Company's 2007 Yeti!

This fine brew rates #34 on ratebeer.com's top 50 beers. It is a beautiful Imperial Stout aged in oak barrels. It's nose differs from it's taste and it's taste develops subtly both with each sip and as it has time to breathe. The chocolate and malt so strong in the nose (that should be made into an air freshener or candle) make way for the very smooth hoppiness and, for a brief moment in mouth development, piny undertones. It is a very dark and viscous stout that pouts so thick you can tell it is thick. It may indeed be able to hold a spoon standing and even the edges of the glass are pitch black in color. Special thanks to Ben and the manager at Church Key DC, Birch and Barley's upstairs bar for providing us a complimentary pairing of their chocolate cake that is rich and dark and tasy. I had the distinct and unique feeling at the last sip of perfection. At that time I would have been happy to die in a fiery crash of a meteor. An amazing location, good food, and incredible beer and sharing it with Him, one of the best Buddies one could ever ask for!

my rating for Great Divide Brewing Company's 2007 Yeti: 100

Stay tuned for part 2 of our birch and barley escapade when I get the list of all the other beers we tasted from Him.

Harviestoun Ola Dubh 30

Harviestoun's Ola Dubh. One of life's finest pleasures made for a celebration of passing my national certification examination for massage therapy today. I had the 30yr version hiding away (already drank my 40yr). Any beer that costs this much for this little, comes in a signed box and is sealed with a real medallion reeks of an overpriced hoity toity beer that can't live up to it's hype. If you thought that, you would be oh so wrong. This is all it's cracked up to be and so much more. A true beer that never disappoints! The deep rich aroma of chocolates and woods and fine scotch malts. My word. A modest head and a viscous fluidy flow. Mmmm mmmm mmmm! Okay, I need to apologize to him as I consumed this beauty alone, but I do have another one hidden away to share with him later.

It has it's own medallion... and signatures... and number... and box!!!

There is a Master of Wood!! 

Do I really have to say that this beer gets a 100?

Friday Afternoon beer at his house...

Maybe we both should have been working, but I headed over to his house and we broke open a couple beers! What was in His fridge but a Schneider Weisse Hopen Weisse, a nice summer brew with some interesting citrus notes. It's a solid beer that doesn't linger too long and would be good for to share a few on a front porch with a friend.  We then had a Baltika Dark Lager from Russia! It was interesting for sure. Good for one bottle. Up front it was med-full bodied and had a mellow taste to it. The back end was interesting to say the least. Not a bad beer, not a great beer, but definitely worth a taste for fun.

my rating: Schneider Weisse Hopen Weisse gets a 75, Baltika Dark Lager gets a 60