Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Ass Puckering Hoppiness is Back: Samuel Adams Hallertau Imperial Pilsner




If you like ass puckering hoppiness to your brews then you'll be happy to know that Sam Adams Hallertau Imperial Pilsner is back baby!! I received an email today and this is what it read:

One of the greatest parts of this job is being able to explore and push the boundaries of what beer can be. For those who appreciate hops as much as we do this is truly a joyous time. Samuel Adams Hallertau Imperial Pilsner is back and prepared to wow you. You see, Samuel Adams Hallertau Imperial Pilsner allows us to truly showcase the unique flavor and aroma characteristics in our favorite Bavarian Noble hop, Hallertau Mittelfrueh, found in every bottle of Samuel Adams Boston Lager®. And we don't mess around here. We use 12 pounds of hops per barrel when we brew Samuel Adams Hallertau Imperial Pilsner. To give you some perspective, one barrel of a big, full-flavored beer like Samuel Adams Boston Lager uses about 1 pound of hops per barrel and average beers use about 1.5 ounces per barrel. But don't look for a traditional "Hop Bomb" experience with this brew. Hallertau Mittelfrueh hops are known for their finer aromas and complex flavors and they make Samuel Adams Hallertau Imperial Pilsner incredibly fragrant but not too bitter. In fact, the resulting brew is amazingly balanced. Keep an eye out for Samuel Adams Hallertau Imperial Pilsner at a beer store near you, but act fast as supplies are limited and it will be gone quickly.


Not sure if we'll see this one in the New Orleans area but I'll keep my eyes open and report back if I see it!

Cheers!

The Beerbuddha

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Drinking Old School...Really Old School


From Discovery News

Ancient Yeast Reborn in Modern Beer
Eric Bland, Discovery News

Sept. 23, 2008 -- Trapped inside a Lebanese weevil covered in ancient Burmese amber, a tiny colony of bacteria and yeast has lain dormant for up to 45 million years. A decade ago Raul Cano, now a scientist at the California Polytechnic State University, drilled a tiny hole into the amber and extracted more than 2,000 different kinds of microscopic creatures.

Activating the ancient yeast, Cano now brews barrels (not bottles) of pale ale and German wheat beer through the Fossil Fuels Brewing Company.

"You can always buy brewing yeast, and your product will be based on the brewmaster's recipes," said Cano. "Our yeast has a double angle: We have yeast no one else has and our own beer recipes."

The beer has received good reviews at the Russian River Beer Festival and from other reviewers. The Oakland Tribune beer critic, William Brand, says the beer has "a wierd spiciness at the finish," and The Washington Post said the beer was "smooth and spicy."

Part of that taste comes from the yeast's unique metabolism. "The ancient yeast is restricted to a narrow band of carbohydrates, unlike more modern yeasts, which can consume just about any kind of sugar," said Cano.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Beer Review: Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin Ale



Out of the pumpkin beers that are available here in the Big Easy this one is by far the best. I know, it isn't saying much when you consider just how many craft breweries are pumping out awesome pumpkin ales but until Abita brews a pumpkin ale it's what we got. Enough said, on to the review!

Brewery: Buffalo Bill's Brewery

Beer: Pumpkin Ale

Style: Pumpkin Ale

ABV: 4.90%

Recommended Glassware: Pint Glass

Serving Type: Pint Glass

Appearance- The beer poured a hazy orange amber with a huge off white head which dissipates quickly. Lacing was minimal to nonexistent.

Smell- A nice smell of pumpkin pie. Pumpkins, nutmeg and cinnamon.

Taste- The pumpkin and spices are very slight in the taste and are more noticeable in the aroma. The taste however comes off way too sweet for me and the finish is a bit unpleasant.

Mouthfeel- Thin and watery with a lot of carbonation

Overall- Not a horrible beer. I can taste the pumpkin more in this beer than the others I've tried. I would find it difficult to drink a lot of these since they are way too sweet.

Score: Photobucket 3 out of 5 Buddhas

Beer Review: Dogfish Head Punkin Ale




So last night the Canadians sent down a cold front which made our normal humid New Orleans nights a wonderfully cool 65 degrees. The perfect night for a pumpkin beer! I must admit is was a fantastic night with the wife and kid asleep and myself sitting outside on the swing watching the full moon peaking through the branches of the oak trees and listening to the sounds of the boats moving lazily down the Mississippi River. It was the perfect beer drinking moment. Earlier in the week a fellow New Orleans beer nerd, Ken Kolb, had brought me two awesome gifts: Beer! He had been reading my blog and saw that I was reviewing pumpkin ales and brought me a Dogfish Head Punkin Ale(along with a Lagunitas We're Only In It For The Money). What a guy huh folks! Anyways, on to the review!!!

Brewery: Dogfish Head Craft Brewery

Beer: Punkin' Ale

Style: Pumpkin Ale

ABV: 7.00%

Recommended Glassware: Pint Glass

Serving Type: Pint Glass

Appearance- This beer poured a murky orange with huge two fingered off white head that had incredible retention. Lacing was present throughout and left nice foamy rings.

Smell- Huge toasted malts and biscuit aromas. Very faint pumpkin spice smells coming through.

Taste- Incredible! More so as a brown ale than a pumpkin ale. Nice roasted sweet malts in the front followed by a nice bitterness in the finish. The pumpkin parts of this beer are so slight it is almost undetectable. I mean I do get very slight hints of nutmeg,cinnamon and a brown sugar sweetness but not much more. That's ok cause this beer is still a great beer.

Mouthfeel- Nice medium body with medium carbonation.

Overall- I really enjoyed this beer. It may not be what I expected in terms of pumpkin but it was still a fantastic brew. Perhaps I just need to get another bottle and give it another try!!

Score: Photobucket 4 out of 5 Buddhas

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Great American Beer Diet Challenge Week 5



Looks like I clocked in at around 274 this week. Sweet, a 3 pound loss! Looks like that 12oz prime rib and loaded baked potato from Texas Roadhouse didn't hurt me all that bad. By the way, that damn steak was awesome! Oh, and the rolls with that cinnamon butter? WHAT! Killer! Oh and yeah I have been drinking at least one beer a day!!

The funny part is I haven't exercised at all the entire time. I really haven't had the time. Ok, that's bullshit, I haven't really made the time. It's tough when you're trying to balance a family, a job and the exercise on top of that. I guess I should quit bitching and just try to find some time huh? I make time to check my email and my fantasy football team! Oh well I'll try! Anyways, until next week!!

Cheers!

The Beerbuddha

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Beer Review: Williamsburg Alewerks "400" Ale























OK, so I was going to go into all this stuff about how I am originally from Virginia and how Virginia is such an awesome state and talk about Jamestown and its 400th anniversary to lead up to this beer but I won't. This beer doesn't deserve it. I was SO disappointed with this beer I have given it a new rating that we haven't seen here before on The Beerbuddha: Drain Pour. For me to give it this rating is such a disappointment because I really looked forward to reviewing the beer and giving everyone the lowdown on this brewery out of my home state. Well, hopefully I will be able to with the other Williamsburg Alewerks brew I have. Well, until then here is my review of this beer.

Brewery: Williamsburg Alewerks

Beer: "400" Ale

Style: American Brown Ale

ABV: Not Listed

Recommended Glassware: Pint Glass

Serving Type: Pint Glass

Appearance- Nice dark, amber brown with little to no head and no lacing.

Smell-A nice nutty and sweet aroma. Nice hints of roasted malts and caramel.

Taste- Horrible! There is this bad sour taste that just ruins this beer. Ugh, this beer became a drain pour.

Mouthfeel- Medium body with very little carbonation.

Overall- A HUGE disappointment! I really hope the beer went bad and this taste wasn't intentional. Started off great but then went south! I don't even think the Jamestown colonists would have consumed this swill.

Score: Photobucket

Friday, September 12, 2008

Beer vs Wine



Place: Cork and Bottle
3700 Orleans Ave
New Orleans, LA 70119
(504)281-4384

When: Wednesday September 17th, 2008

Time: 6:30pm

Price: $25

Who:

Team Beer: Dan Stein(Steins Deli), Derek Lintern, The Beerbuddha

Team Wine: Jon Smith(Cork and Bottle)

Come on out on Wednesday and help us answer the ultimate question: Which goes better with cheese, Wine or Beer?

For reservations call Cork and Bottle: 504-483-6314

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Beer Video Of The Month

Beer Review: Shipyard Brewing Pumpkinhead Ale























Ah fall, my favorite time of year. I love seeing the leaves change to wonderful reds, yellows and oranges and getting away from the oppressive New Orleans heat and feeling the cool, crisp air it brings. The fall means football, baseball World Series, Halloween, Thanksgiving and a whole gang of great fall seasonal beers.

One of those seasonal styles I always look forward to in the fall is the Pumpkin Ale. The Pumpkin Ale is fall in my opinion. Yeah, there are Oktoberfest beers but there is just something about Pumpkin Ales that really get me in the spirit of fall.

Here in New Orleans we are already starting to see an influx of seasonal beers. Hell, I already have a list of Christmas beers I'm supposed to be looking at and placing an order for. In terms of Pumpkin Ales we only get three here in the New Orleans area: Buffalo Bills Pumpkin Ale, Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale and Coors' Harvest Moon Pumpkin Ale. You have to remember, fall isn't a great season down here in the deep south. We go from hot to cold and there is no in between. Being from Virginia, I'm used to a full four seasons, fall being one of them so I'm always in a constant state of reminiscing when September and October come.

Anyways, enough talk and on to the first review of the whopping three pumpkin beers we get in Louisiana.


Brewery: Shipyard Brewing Company

Beer: Pumpkinhead Ale

Style: Pumpkin Ale

ABV: 4.5%

Recommended Glassware: Pint Glass

Serving Type: Sam Adams Glass

Appearance : This beer poured a clear, straw gold and had a small white head which dissapated quickly. Lacing was non existent

Smell: Nice canned pumpkin pie filling smell. Nice hints of nutmeg and cinnamon.

Taste : Same as the nose, the nutmeg and cinnamon are there. Has a very weak taste of pumpkin pie. This beer just falls flat for some reason though. It just really doesn't taste exactly like a pumpkin pie more like the spices that go into a pumpkin pie. Kind of disappointing actually.

Mouthfeel : Thin and watery and way too overcarbonated. The beer leaves a bad sweetness in your mouth as well.

Overall : Very unimpressed. My first pumpkin beer of the season and this one falls flat on its face. It's as if the brewer made this beer strictly for novelty purposes and not for quality.


Score:Photobucket Image Hosting 2.5 out of 5 Buddhas

Blog About Beer: The Mother of all Beer Blogging Contests


















Fellow beer blogger, Luke, over at A Blog About Beer, has created the "mother of all beer blogging contests". The contest is to celebrate the year anniversary of his blog. He has partnered with MarketLeverage.com and is giving some seriously awesome schwag away! Check it out!

First, the Prizes:
First Prize:
A Flip Video Ultra camera ($179 value) from MarketLeverage

Second Prize:
Beer Package One: Featuring a Dogfish Head Brewing Hat, a handful of beer-themed stickers, a coaster set from Brooklyn Brewing Co. compliments of Awesomedeals911.com, the best place for cool guy gifts; and a secret prize pack from Flying Dog Ales.

Third Prize:
Beer Package Two: a $25 gift card to the official BlogAboutBeer.com store, a Dogfish Head hat and a Brooklyn Brewing Co. keychain from awesomedeals911.com.

Fourth Prize:
A $50 Amex Rewards Card from MarketLeverage

Fifth Prize:
A 2 gigabyte USB flashdrive pen from MarketLeverage and 1500 Entrecard credits



That's some badass free stuff! I'm almost tempted not to put a link to his site, give details of the contests or post this blog. Read on and you'll see why!Here is a description of how to enter the contest:


Here’s how to enter:
Sign up with MarketLeverage (but it must be done using the links to MarketLeverage on this page or I’ll have no way of knowing you signed up!)- 5 tickets

Blog about this contest on your own blog with links back to both BlogAboutBeer.com and MarketLeverage.com (make sure your blog entry leaves a trackback on this post; if it doesn’t, please leave a link to your post in a comment) - 5 tickets

“Stumble” this contest post using StumbleUpon (if you “stumble” the post, let me know in a comment) - 1 ticket

Digg” it using digg.com (if you “digg” the post, let me know in a comment) - 1 ticket

Vote for the post on “brewpoll”, using the brewpoll button at the end of the post (if you vote with “BrewPoll”, let me know in a comment)- 1 ticket

Comment on THIS post (which you’ll have to do letting me know you stumbled, dug, etc. etc. so really it’s like a free ticket)- 1 ticket

Subscribe to BlogAboutBeer.com via the RSS feed, either using your favorite RSS feed reader or Subscribe to blogaboutbeer.com by Email - 3 tickets

Here’s my favorite part: Write a guest post for BlogAboutBeer.com. I’ll accept nearly all of the decent guest posts and they’ll appear here on BAB over the coming weeks (complete with a link back to your own blog or website, if you have one/would like the link). - 5 tickets (PLUS: a bonus of 5 tickets for best guest post).


Ok, so as you can see I'm a sucker for free stuff. Not only that but it's a great opportunity to write about a blog who genuinly does a great job. Well, good luck to those of you who sign up!!

Cheers!

The Beerbuddha

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Beer and Food Pix: Beer and Pizza























So I decided to start doing a piece where I talk about pairing beer with food. After giving it a lot of thought I realized people really don't want to read they just want to see it. That and my usage of the English language is close to caveman grunts compared to other beer blogs out there so it would be easier for me to explain it visually. So I came up with a cool little thing I'm calling Beer & Food Pix(Awesome name huh? I really put a lot of thought into it!) in which I take a picture of the food I'm eating and the beer I paired it with. Pretty simple.


Ok, for my first installment of Beer & Food Pix I picked a real easy one. Beer and Pizza. Nothing goes better with pizza than a great beer. This is a standard pepperoni pizza from Rocky's Pizzaria in New Orleans paired with an Abita Amber. Enough said, right? Yeah, yeah I know, you guys want to see fancy food paired with fancy beer. Hold on to your lederhosen I'll get there!


Cheers!

The Beerbuddha

Abita Fall Fest New Orleans Pub Crawl
























NEW ORLEANS PUB CRAWL
Friday, September 12, 2008
$1 Abita Fall Fest
First 500 to register receive a FREE commemorative Pub Crawl t-shirt.

Party starts at...
The Boot - 6PM-8PM (Registration)
1039 Broadway St.

From there head to...
The Palms - 8PM-9PM
7130 Freret St.

Crawl on over to...
Phillips - 9PM-10PM
733 Cherokee St.

Then make your way to...
Roccos - 10PM-11PM
7601 Maple St.

And

Pat Fannie's - 10PM-11PM
7537 Maple St.

The true Abita drinkers will finish up at...
Bruno’s Tavern - 11PM-Till
7538 Maple St.

The Pain Relievas: Sam Calagione Rap Group

Monday, September 8, 2008

Beer Picture of the Moment
















Pacifico went to Creature Advertising Agency in Seattle, Washington who created one of the coolest marketing campaigns. They used 19 vintage 1960s VW Buses that were hand painted by local Seattle artists. The vans and the artwork are awesome. As a former VW van owner I would love to get my hands on one of these babies when they are done with them!!

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Great American Beer Diet Challenge Week 4


















Once again it is weigh-in time. I missed last week due to having to evacuate for Hurricane Gustav but I am back and hoping that we don't have to evacuate again for Hurricane Ike! If another hurricane comes I'm going to have to enact Operation Heavy Drinker which will have me drinking and reviewing a helluva lot of beers so I won't have to evacuate so many next time!!

As you can see I gained weight this week. I weighed in at 277 with is approximately a 5 pound gain from the 272 I reported to Chipper Dave. I guess that is what happens when you eat nothing but fast food and order the Rib Feast at JJ's Barbecue which was the local BBQ joint in El Dorado, Arkansas. Damn good I might add!! Well no more of that and back to the grind! Until next week I leave you with picture evidence of my weight gain!

Cheers!

The Beerbuddha

Photobucket

Friday, September 5, 2008

Beer Review: Jolly Pumpkin Calabaza Blanca


















Ok, so as many of you know I "evacuated" my beer during Hurricane Gustav. It came out to about three cases of beer. This may sound stupid to you but if you ever find yourself in El Dorado, Arkansas you'll be wishing you brought your own beer as well. The selection, while not Mississippi or Alabama bad, was pretty pathetic. The only craft beer I saw in the area was New Belgium, Rogue, Boulevard and the local brew, Diamond Bear. The rest was "craft" from the BMC boys and your typical macro brew. So after about three days of small town, in laws, visiting an old folks home three times and a TV with one station I started going through beer withdrawal and the Jolly Pumpkin Calabaza Blanca was the cure. Enough talk, on to the review!


Brewery: Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales

Beer: Calabaza Blanca (Batch #279)

Style: Witbier

ABV: 4.80%

Recommended Glassware: Pint Glass, Pilsener glass or mug

Serving Type: Chalice(it's all I had)

Appearance- The beer poured a hazy golden color with a nice medium white head that stuck around awhile. The lacing was present throughout the life of the beer.

Smell- Wonderful citrus aroma. Nice hints of orange and lemon zest. Nice barnyard funkiness with hints of spices and hops.

Taste- A nice grain taste with hints of orange, lemons, spices and a sour funkiness. Very clean and dry with a nice bitter finish.

Mouthfeel- Has a nice creamy mouthfeel with a medium high carbonation which gives it a nice crispness.

Overall- Another impressive beer from Jolly Pumpkin. This one isn't my favorite but is still a top notch, interesting brew. These beers make me want to try more wild ale beers!! Great stuff!

Score: Photobucket 4 out of 5 Buddhas