Goose's Birthday Present

Goose got me 2 very nice bottles of beer for my birthday this year. Here are the details, a nice picture, and the complete ratings. Thanks again Goose.



BEER #1

Brewer: Unibroue, Quebec, Canada
Beer Name: Chambley Noire Ale:
Beer Style: Black Ale
Price: ?

Appearance: Well, I'll start with the obvious. This beer is dark; almost black. There is no way to see through the glass as the beer is so dark although it looks to be a fairly clear beer to look at. It looks very intimidating as your glass fills up.

Smell: There is definitely something citrusy although I'm getting a small coffee odor as well. Smells good.

Mouthfeel: Not too heavy, not too light. Feels like a good beer. I expected it to feel like liquid lead but it is smooth with a little zip to it.

Taste: I have had this beer before but I never remembered it being this good. Not at all what you expect. This beer has an almost light, fruity taste to it that is not indicative of the dark, black color. It is quite smooth with very little aftertaste at all. I thoroughly enjoyed this beer.

Overall Score: 4.5 with a chance to move higher when I get over the difference in appearance and taste. It doesn't go together but it's surprisingly good and smooth.

BEER #2:
Brewer: Bavik Brewery, Belgium
Beer: Petrus Winter Ale
Beer Style: Dark Ale
Price: ?

Appearance: Dark, full brown color with a very foamy head that didn't hold it's lacing in the glasses I had.

Smell: A nice wintry ale with hints of nutmeg, cinnamon, and coffee. Smells good.

Mouthfeel: A little lighter then I was thinking but still feels like beer. 6.2% alcohol so not too much but enough to let you know it's not Bud Select.

Taste: Ummmmmmmm, good. I like beer. Especially Christmas beer. This one is outstanding; an ale with plenty of holiday spices in there to liven it up but it's not too heavy. This is worth whatever Leigh paid for it. If you are looking to try a quality XMas ale, don't pass this one up.

Overall Score: 4.75. Solid from start to finish with no real faults at all. If I have it next year and it remains this good, we might be looking to bump it up into the 5.0 category.

Goose, outstanding choices that I thoroughly enjoyed. I can't wait to turn. No scotch for me though. It won't get drank.

Saturday Night Beer Fights!!!

Last night, my neighbor Kerry (and previous guest taster) brought over a couple of bottles of beer to sample. Thanks for the unexpected gift Kerry. Always a pleasure watching a Cards game (heartbreaking loss for Wainwright by the way- two blown calls in one inning on two consecutive plays- way to go Umps!). After that we took in the first hour of Saturday Night Live which had some funny stuff but we were both disappointed that there were no more Women's Sports on ESPN skits. If you haven't seen any of them, here are the links:

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/espn-classic-womens-curling/1205311/

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/espn-classic-ladies-darts/1194032/

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/espn-classic-womens-weightlifting/1219732/

Anyways, on to the beer:

BEER #1

Brewer: North Coast Brewing Co. Fort Bragg, CA
Beer Name: Brothers Thelonius Belgian Style Abbey Ale
Beer Style: Belgian Style Abbey
Price: ?

Appearance: Dark, Very Clear Red. Looks like a cabernet wine.

Smell: Not overpowering but you can definitely smell the dark fruit that the beer tastes like.

Mouthfeel: A full bodied beer with plenty of substance. A good feel. Nice foam on the glass and lacing that remained.

Taste: A very typical Abbey Ale; almost a wine flavor to it. Tastes like a beer that has been mixed with a shot of Cabernet. I did notice a caramel hint as I got closer to the bottom. Overall, fairly smooth, easy to drink, after the first few drinks, I settled in and enjoyed the rest of the glass. And I did enjoy it at 9.4% alcohol. Kerry said that he enjoyed it as well after the first few drinks.

Overall score: 3.5. Not bad at all but you definitely have to be in the mood for this type of beer. Probably a fall or winter beer for most people.

BEER #2
Brewer: Schlafly's Brewery St. Louis, MO
Beer Name: Quadrupel Ale
Beer Style: Belgiun Ale (4th in a series of four that Schlafly's has made)
Price: $7.99

Appearance: Medium Brown, semi cloudy; looks much more like beer then the Abbey Ale which looked like wine with foam.

Smell: Definitely the traditional fruity aroma of a Belgiun ale. Not nearly as overpowering as the Tripel that Kerry and I sampled earlier in the winter. (see this post:

http://thebigwallabowski.blogspot.com/2010/02/friday-night-beer-fights-episode-two.html

for the ratings on the Tripel.

Mouthfeel: Good also; this is a heavyweight and there is no doubt about it. It has more alcohol in one 12 ounce drink then 3 Bud Lights. 12% overall and it packs a punch. Heavy and thick.

Taste: Not as fruity as the Tripel by any means but it is much heavier. Definitely a noticeable difference between the two. This leaves a much more nor=ticeable skunkyish taste in your mouth at the end that seems to have about three phases; none of which are extremely enjoyable. Overall, the taste is not as overpowering during the drink but it makes up for that in the aftertaste.

Overall Score: I think I like the Tripel better overall. I'm saying 3.0 on this but only as a one glass drink at dinner. As a stand-alone beer on the patio, it's probably not going to happen at all with me.

And the winner is: The Thelonius Monks from Califoria!!! Who said Church was bad? If they served this, I might actually go.

THANKS TO KERRY FOR THE BEER!!!!

Footnote: After we finished these, we each wanted one more beer before bed so I went to the fridge and grabbed the only thing in there: two Natural Lights. They tasted like watered-down rain water after the other two beers. It was like drinking purified air.

Friday Night's Escapades

On Friday, Tim M. came up to watch the draft. Several of the fellas decided to get together and head to Culpepper's to watch the NFL draft and drink drafts... After the draft was over, they all headed to Rob Porter's favorite bar; the Hook and Ladder on Highway M (North of 70 Highway K). While they don't have a website, here is the Metromix review:

http://stlouis.metromix.com/restaurants/american/hook-and-ladder-pub-ofallon/419680/content

To start the evening off, we order several buckets of assorted AB products at $12 apiece during the Cardinal game (normally $15). The evening as usual, got hopping as the karaoke DJ opened things up to everyone about 10:30. To start the evening off, Kevin did a Smashing Pumpkins song, "Disarm." It went downhill from there. I soon sang "The Bad Touch" by the Bloodhound Gang. (This is the "You and me baby ain't nothing but mammals so let's do it like they do on the discovery channel" song. Classy. Everyone say "getting horny now."

The majority of the Karaoke songlist is in the player so if you have little ones nearby, you may want to avoid the Bloodhound Gang song and definitely the Sandler song that Owens nailed: "A Medium Pace." He hit every note and rocked the house with that one. The best was when the bartender (a nice 50 or so year old named Patty) stared at him with her mouth open after he sang the "pull the shampoo bottle out of my ass" line. It was truly hilarious and probably the best karaoke song I've heard.

Here was the complete lineup:

Kevin: Smashing Pumpkins "Disarm"
Black Crowes "Remedy"
Simon and Garfunkel "Homeward Bound"

Owens: Adam Sandler "At a Medium Pace"

Slim: Lit "My Own Worst Enemy"
Sinatra "New York, New York"
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy "You and Me and the Bottle Makes Three"

Rob: Ram Jam "Black Betty"
Rick Springfield "Jessie's Girl"

Me The Bloodhound Gang "The Bad Touch"
Tom T Hall "I Like Beer"

Slim and Me (Duet) Toto "Rosanna" in honor of the Vegas lounge act at the Excalibur a few years back. We heard Rosanna at least 20 times in one weekend by the same band in the same lounge in Vegas. I have nightmares about that song.

Everyone should see the fellas karaoke at some time in their life. It is a spectacle.

IMPORTANT PROGRAMMING NOTE: It was decided that on the day of the USA/ England game, we are going to head to a St. Charles bar at about 6 AM to pre-party. Can't remember the name of it. I'll add that in a little bit. June 12th. Everyone block out that day on your calender and plan on meeting us for the game.

Here's how we grow rocks in Wentzville

Recently, I decided to fix a spot of grass on the side of my yard that would not grow. I knew there was a rock left underneath the ground that had to be taken out. So, I got the shovel out and decided to dig. And dig, and dig. Eventually, I had to get the pry bar out to start getting this thing out of the ground. About two and a half hours later, I fin ally removed the last piece from the ground. Here's a picture of the final damage:




As you can see, the five gallon bucket is full of rock pieces less then 2 or three inches across. The shovel lying on the hole is a full size garden shovel so you get some perspective on the size of this rock. All those pieces lying on the ground were broken off by me using a sledge hammer.

The moral of the story is that if you move to Wentzville, you get rocks; big ones.