Sunday, August 31, 2008

Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft

See, I had this partykeg of Spaten in my beerfridge, and it had been "aging" for about a year. It's Labor Day Weekend and earlier today, after three hours of "open heart surgery" on our file server at work, I thought it was time to tap that little party keg to make sure it was still good. And boy was it ever still good. Nice crisp, malty Bavarian lager.

Of course I am a bit of a hop-head, and thusly I happen to own a couple of bombers of Great Divide's finest Hercules Double IPA. That's a suck-your-face-out hop-lovers nirvana of a beer.

So you can guess where I am going with this - I blended the two - about 2/3 Spaten 1/3 Hercules. Very VERY tasty. The maltyness of the Spaten still comes out nice and big at first, but then the hops kicks in and takes over to a looong, pleasantly bitter finish. Nice, friendly German American blend - hence the name German American Friendship.

Monday, August 25, 2008

SUPERFAIL!

The first beer/tequila mix went so well, I thought I'd try it again. I shouldn't have.

We mixed the latest from Clipper City's Heavy Seas line - their 10% Unfiltered Weizen Dopplebock called Hang Ten - with a shot of Patrón Silver. The mix was 1:1. It was an abomination. We resisted the urge to up the ratio of beer to tequila for fear we'd just be making more of this vomitous substance, and we'd be responsible for drinking it.

The beer on its own is decent enough, if you go for that yeasty sweet high gravity wheat flavor. And of course the Patrón is a perfectly cromulent tequila when enjoyed without the aforementioned yeasty sweet high gravity wheat flavor. But they don't mix well. Not even a little.

Readers will be happy to know that both yovo and I survived the ordeal, washing the failure down with a pint each of the nectar from Camel City.

Friday, August 1, 2008

Fail. Blah!

As a beer blender, I certainly look for tasty blends - blends that add an interesting experience to enjoying a fine craft beer individually. And sometimes I like to live dangerously.

The other day, I felt like taking a risk, and blended Bell's Expedition Stout with Triangle Brewery's Belgian Golden. Think "coffee and citrus" - FAIL! Not good. Don't do it.

Honestly - I did not have much confidence in this, so I just used a small glass. But I did finish that.
Blah.