The Strangest Beers In America

I just stumbled upon this Bon Appetit article and thought I'd share with everyone... The Strangest Beers In America.  To save some time, here's the list, but the article really goes into why each one of them is strange and weird, and has tasting notes, so it's worth a quick read.

Uncommon Brewers Bacon Brown Ale
Freetail Brewing Spirulina Wit
Short's Brewing Key Lime Pie
Wynkoop Brewing Rocky Mountain Oyster Stout
Flying Dog Pearl Necklace Oyster Stout
Dogfish Head Noble Rot
Yard's Brewing Poor Richard's Tavern Spruce
Twisted Pine Ghost Face Killah
Willoughby Brewing Peanut Butter Cup Coffee Porter

Of all these, I've actually tried two of them, the Dogfish Head Noble Rot (Yes!) and the Twisted Pine Ghost Face Killah (No!)  The Flying Dog beer seems innocent enough, a simple Oyster Stout which I've tried before... and despite the sexual Pearl Necklace name I'm led to believe it's really JUST oysters added to the stout.  I've heard of the Rocky Mountain Oyster Stout also, and I've never had the chance to try it, but I certainly would.  As for the Bacon Brown Ale... I'm not sure.  I'm still put off by the debacle that was Rogue's Voodoo Doughnut Bacon Maple Beer.  

Which of these have you tried?  Which of these would you try? 

WYES Private Beer Sampling Recap

Alright, after a few weeks of hype and impatience, the long awaited WYES Private Beer Sampling was finally upon us.  Mandi and I took off a bit early to grab a bite to eat at Avenue Pub, because no beer trip to New Orleans is ever complete without a trip to the pub, right?  They had Canebrake on tap so I had that and after a few other beers and some sandwiches it was off to the fairgrounds for the beer sampling.  I had read up a bit on some of the breweries that would be there and was excited for some of the Tin Roof Porter, Abita's barrel aged beers, and trying several of the homebrews from the New Orleans clubs.  Honestly there were so many local options that I didn't even need to get into all the various other beers.

The highlights:

Parish Canebrake through the hop Randall: delicious and obviously extra hoppy.

Tin Roof Coffee Porter:  The rumor mill says this could be the next seasonal and if this recipe works large scale then it'll be their best beer yet.

Abita Bourbon-Barrel Aged Doubledog: Aged in Buffalo Trace barrels, this is a strong improvement on the mediocre regular Doubledog.

Lazy Magnolia Southern Hops'pitality IPA: Good IPA that we should see more of.

Saint Arnold Endeavour DIPA: Fantastic double IPA, should be available locally.

Mudbug Brewery Cajun Stout: A low-abv stout with some cayenne, pretty good.

Mudbug Brewery King Cake Lager: This one had me worried but was actually quite delicious, really surprised me!

Brewstock Imperial Hazelnut Brown and Black IPA: Two brews from the local New Orleans homebrew store, both were fantastic.

Crescent City Homebrewers Strong Scotch Ale: A very good homebrew, in my opinion.

Mystic Krewe Of Brew: I tried most of their selections and really enjoyed the Rosemary Pale Ale, Hot Chocolate Porter, and the Imperial Vanilla Milk Stout. 

Disappointments:

Yeah, there were a few disappointments... it happens when you try so much beer.

Abita 18th Star Biere de Garde: Mediocre beer, which is a shame because usually their selects are pretty solid.

Bayou Teche Cafe' Brulot Biere Joi: Sorry guys, this just didn't work for me.

Tin Roof Zythos Hop Project: I think even they were let down by this one. 

Nothing really new from NOLA Brewing... they had a cask Hurricane Saison but I was hoping for something a little more from them at their local festival.

Rogue Voodoo Maple Bacon Ale: I had been wanting to try it but not wanting to buy a full bottle.  After tasting it I'm glad I didn't spend the money.

Regrets: 

Not drinking more from Crescent City Homebrewers, they had 5 or 6 beers and I only tried one... oops! 

Totally missing out on Cajun Fire Brewing, a "brewery in planning" in New Orleans.

I missed the New Orleans Rum Barrel Aged Abbey Ale from Abita... would have liked to give it a try.

That's the summary, and as you can see there were a lot more highlights than disappointments.  I didn't even get to some of the really good craft beers there like the Stone RIS, Brooklyn Sorachi Ace, or Schmaltz Human Blockhead.  There were just too many locals and homebrews to try everything as it was.  At the end Mandi and I were both thorougly satisfied with some great beers and a few we might never get to try again. And because I know pictures make every blog post better, here are some of the best ones:

Super Bowl Beer #1 - Rogue MoM Hefeweizen

Time to kick off the Super Bowl drinking with a Rogue MoM Hefeweizen that I picked up at Calandro's a little while back.  Unfortunately this was a bit of a disappointment, scoring only a C- to me. Not a good start to the drinking, but at least this leaves room to improve.  


My Rating: C-
BeerAdvocate: B

Review: Rogue XS Imperial Stout

File this one under:

Beer!

I picked this one up at Marcello's a few weeks back along with most of the others I've reviewed lately.  I poured it from a ceramic (okay, probably just frosted glass) 750ml bottle into an imperial pint glass.  (Remember, proper glassware isn't something to be overlooked!)  The color is a dark impenetrable brown, with a huge, creamy bubbly tan head. It didn't want to go anywhere either, hanging on to well over an inch for many minutes.  Like the St. Sebastiaan Dark Ale a few reviews ago, this one has a pop-top and a plunger seal.  At 750 ml, I think the plunger seal might come in useful on this one!

The aroma is what you've come to expect from an imperial stout. Roasted coffee and chocolate, but there is a bit of hops if you get a good whiff.  Very nice.  The taste is more of the same, but a bit rough around the edges. A good bit more bitter than I expected, it's tough to drink and a bit rough on the palate.

It's kinda thin for such a bitter taste... rough on the tongue. I'm just not impressed with this one much at all. Very disappointed.  And with a $15 price tag, I think this will be my last one of these guys on my tab.  Hey, good news though!  Because of that plunger-top, I still have about half left if any of you want to give this one a try!  For the style, I'll absolutely stick with the Raven's Eye I had last week.

Taste: B-

Value: D

Three fun facts/thoughts: So I nailed the Yankees in 6 (not all that hard) but I whiffed on the MVP and I called Hairston as the surprise hero and he was productive in a very limited role,  but there really was no surprise hero in this one.  Now we can see how much the Astros are going to screw up this off-season!  Wooohooo!  And in the meantime, I bet the rich get richer as the normal contenders load up on the free agents to be.  I know, another bold prediction, right?