Over the years, I’ve become something of a beer “snob”. I seek out good craft beers, and generally refuse the bottom-of-the-barrel suds that you find on special at your local watering hole on any given night. However, I haven’t gotten to the point of insistence on sniffing my beer out for three minutes as I swirl it in its special glass before I drink it. Frankly, I can’t be bothered to tell you about the fruity, malty, nutty, smoky or woody “notes” that dance on each part of my tongue when I take a sip. I do love beer though, and here, I will share with you some of my favorites, giving you enough of a description or story to hopefully want to try them if you’re into beer. Follow me!
The Beer List is back with a vengeance at The No Seatbelt Blog, as two different batches of gift brews were bestowed upon me by friends and brothers this Christmas season. I’m kicking off the resurgence by cracking open the first of seven beers that my good friend Chris brought back from California as a birthday gift for me. Just upon seeing the name, I already loved it, and decided that Figueroa Mountain Brewing Company’s Weiss Weiss Baby would be the first down the hatch. Continue reading
For the second week in a row, a beer from Victory Brewing enjoys the spotlight here at The No Seatbelt Blog, for this special Christmas edition of The Beer List. Unfortunately, my first choice for this episode was White Christmas from Sam Adams, but I have been searching in vain to find it this year, and I ran out of time to write this review as scheduled. I wanted to find a Christmas or winter-themed beer, and those are obviously easy to come by during this time of year, and the good news is, I found just that in Victory’s Winter Cheers. Continue reading
Happy Sunday from the land of hops and suds known as The Beer List here at The No Seatbelt Blog! Here we go…
All the way from the magical land of Pennsylvania comes a Belgian tripel ale that will knock your socks and your taste buds off, and it goes by the mighty name of Golden Monkey. Victory Brewing, located in Downingtown, has been pumping out this strong but delicious triple ale for nearly two decades, and it’s no wonder why it has such staying power. Continue reading
After a beerless couple of weeks due to a sudden and unfortunate medical condition which is now resolved, The Beer List is back right here at The No Seatbelt Blog with the skinny on another awesome brew! It’s good to be back! Continue reading
Thanks to a very gracious coworker, I got my hands on Terrapin Brewing Company’s Walking Dead Blood Orange IPA this week. Themed beers such as this are all the rage now (see my rundown on one of the Game of Thrones beers here) and that’s all well and good. I’ve grown to really like IPAs since I’ve gotten into the craft beer scene over the past four or five years, although one particular beer a month or so back threw me into a crisis of faith and made me question why I like, or convinced myself that I like such hoppy, bitter brews. Continue reading
Three years ago this past week, Hurricane Sandy brought New Jersey to its knees. Although the recovery is still ongoing, the citizens of the Garden State banded together to restore what had been lost or destroyed, and set out to simply help their neighbors. New Jersey’s own Flying Fish Brewing Company joined in on the efforts by donating a cool $75,000 to relief organizations, as well as some of the proceeds from sales of their brand new brew Forever Unloved (FU) Sandy. Continue reading
The other day, I stopped at a liquor store in Farmingdale, NJ to pick up a couple of birthday brews for my longtime friend, podcast-mate, and beer lover Andrew. This particular booze joint always has a good selection of craft beers, and surely enough, there was a crop of strange and experimental bottles from Dogfish Head, which is one of our favorite brewers. Along with a bottle of the brewery’s Black and Blue (which I’ll review at another time), I pulled the trigger on the Birra Etrusca Bronze, which I had never seen before. Continue reading
The great Red Forman once said in an episode of That 70’s Show that “the French should stick to what they’re good at – making bread and losing wars.” It turns out that their Canadian brethren at Unibroue Brewing prove that they’re good at more than that with their impressively delicious beer called La Fin du Monde, which quite literally means “the end of the world.” Continue reading
Back in March of this year, Jenn and I received this Game of Thrones-themed beer as a gift at our engagement party, and last night, we finally cracked it open. We actually popped it open, as the bottled was corked instead of capped. In honor of the show that she loves and I have zero interest in ever watching (I just inadvertently found out what Valar Morghulis means in the context of the show – “all men must die”), we slowly sipped this dubbel ale that was brewed only once by the New York-based Ommegang Brewery and then retired. Continue reading
As far as I’m concerned, Sam Adams can really do no wrong. While a couple of their standards are not necessarily anything to write home about, I can’t say I’ve ever disliked one of their brews. The Boston-based brewery has the seasonal beer thing down to a science, releasing delightful variety packs for each time of year. Continue reading
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