Whiskey Drinker

Greetings readers. Some of you may have noticed that my beer reviews have been slightly less popular than my music reviews. While I'm not eager for popularity necessarily, the popularity of a post does reflect the interests of my readers. With this in mind, I'm changing the nature of my beer-related posts yet again. Unless I experience something quite interesting, I'm going to round up the beers I consumed in any given week with a brief description. This spares me the trouble of writing lengthy reviews for every drink I have and it spares my readers a series of beer posts when it's obvious that most of us are here almost exclusively for extreme music. I'm not sure if this will always be a Sunday thing, but I'm eager to get this started and I think it'll be good fun for all of us. That said, here's what I've been drinking this week.

Evander Brown Ale (Cigar City)

This one has a beautiful caramel body with a thin, almost nonexistent head. The aroma is rather subtle, but the flavor here reminds me of a blunter, more spiced version of the pumpkin beers that show up in the fall. The pumpkin itself is absent, but nutmeg and cinnamon are absolutely dominant flavors in this thin and delicious brown ale. The aftertaste settles in with a light cocoa flavor, somewhat reminiscent of some darker beers I've enjoyed recently from these guys. I'm not always into things that remind me of pie, but this is worth checking out if you're into the style.

Zinneke Belgian Style Stout (Smuttynose)

This beer is ridiculous. It's like somebody made it just for me. I'm not a big whiskey drinker, but bourbon barrel beers just really seem to do it for me. The sweetness of the Belgian yeasts plays nicely with the bitterness of the whiskey barrel as they blend smoothly into a really well-rounded and tasty stout. It's dark, heady, and refreshing. Some people only drink stuff like this in cold weather, but I'm sitting on my sunny porch and loving life right now. Highly recommended, as most Smuttynose Big Beer Series release are.

Positive Contact (Dogfish Head)
This beer is a collaborative effort with and a tribute to rapper Del The Funky Homosapien. While hip-hop and related genres aren't my specialty, I feel the man's legendary status is well-earned and this beer does proper justice. A light and smooth drinker with surprising spice and sweetness from a pairing of cider and cayenne flavors (among many others). Perfect for warm evenings spent in the company of friends. I listened to a tape by No Pleasure in Life while drinking this, but the song this was named after makes quite a good soundtrack too.

Beer Review: Anchor Brekle's Brown Ale

Today I'm examining a beer from my native region, the San Francisco bay area. Anchor Brewing Company were one of the first breweries to enter my vocabulary when I first came of age, so it's fitting that I'm including a beer of theirs that I've never had before. When I first turned 21, I would often go to the liquor store around the corner to grab a bottle of Anchor Steam, as I found it preferable to many of the other beers that were readily available and within my price range. I had no concept of the diverse flavors beer could have nor did I know the difference between cheap malt liquor and high quality craft beers. Still, I knew I was drawn to beers with a richer flavor, more meant for sipping than chugging. In the honor of my own nostalgia, I'm drinking a beer that is equally nostalgic for the brewery.

Named after Anchor's first brewmaster, Gottlieb Brekle, this beer builds on a traditional brown ale in the finest of ways. Pouring a beautiful, rich brown with a slightly foamy head, this beer's malty aroma gives little warning of the broad array of flavors that will sweep across your palate. This is instantly smooth and enjoyable, even to those without much of a taste for beer, as its darkness and thickness are contrasted nicely by an almost honey-like sweetness. There's a slight feeling of crisp, delicate bubbles on my tongue as I swallow the last of each sip, which leaves a pleasant warmth in my mouth. This beer is rather middle of the road in alcohol content for a craft beer (6%), so I imagine it would be great to bring a couple bottles of this to a social event where the goal is to have a drink in hand without getting heavily intoxicated.

As with anything based on an old recipe, I really enjoy imagining that one of my great grandfathers may have enjoyed beers like this in his younger years. As somebody with a strong desire and love for relics of the past, this beer appeals to me greatly and happens to taste just as good as I'd hoped. This doesn't appear to be a particularly limited beer, but this was definitely the first time I'd seen it before. For a musical pairing, I'm listening to NPR's stream of the new Pig Destroyer album, Book Burner, which comes out today. It's also a brand new experience from an old favorite that I loved well before I understood their genre or why they appealed to me: the perfect pairing.