Liquid Solutions

LogoLeftIf I had unlimited funds, I would spend a chunk on Liquid Solutions website. They have a great selection of Oregon and Washington beers plus foreign and California as well.

Let me give one example of how great Matt Maples and his staff are to customers. I needed Berliner Weisse for a beer & dessert tasting. None of my local spots had any. Now I could have driven to the Bruery for some growlers but I do not have the room to store it. I check Liquid Solutions and they have two types of Berliner Weisse, I had shipping questions that Matt answered and he even held off shipping to avoid excess heat!

I cannot recommend Liquid Solutions highly enough.

100th Beer Post!!

Thanks to the advice of Tomm Carroll, I checked out BoHo in Hollywood. Open since March of this year, it is a odd spot. Great big picture window but on the inside it is eclectic old boy’s club / library. Very interesting and very busy.

I had two vastly different beers. First off was Dogfish Head’s 90 Minute IPA. Very interesting. This is a strange observation to make but it tasted thick but not in a stout or porter way. Not something that you drink fast. For an IPA, not a hoppy aroma or taste but you can really tell you are drinking a big beer. I will have to taste the 60 minute to compare.

Secondly was the Rogue Chocolate stout. Oh was this good. Great Aroma of chocolate and malt. I could spend hours just taking in this great smell. And it was so easy to drink. This is a really good beer. Great with dessert.

The BeerGauge

This is a great tool if you want to stoke controversy at your beer establishment of choice or if you just want to antagonize your barkeep.

The Beer Gauge measures the perfect pint for you and makes sure you do not get less than what you rightly deserve.

My current beer wish list

These are the (4) breweries that I cannot get out here in Southern California but really want to try…..

Three Floyds
Magic Hat
Cigar City
and most of all…..NEW GLARUS!

What brewery do you wish distributed to you?

Tasting notes

Here are my notes from my tasting at 55 Degree Wine & Beer Store and from BJ’s.
55

The Foret really was alcohol from aroma to taste. Kind of tinny and not as complex as Saison Dupont which is the gold standard for Saisons. Between the two, I would always go for Dupont.

Ahh! St. Bernardus. Their Wit is the gold standard in this category. Sparkling. Effervescent. Tasted like oranges. Pitch perfect. In comparison, I also had BJ’s seasonal Nit Wit. Great name. Mediocre beer. Not much flavor. Just sort of sat there. Unfortunately, that is pretty much the same review I could give for every BJ’s beer. Nothing remarkable.

The McChouffe Brown was good. Nice and solid. Not much aroma. Nice earthy flavor though. A little chewier than most browns.

Mission IPA. I saw that it was made in San Diego and thought HOP BOMB! But this is restrained. You can really smell the hops but when you take a drink, it is a balance of malt and hops. Very nice.

Lastly, the St. Peters Old Style Porter. Very nice Porter. I liked it. Nice and drinkable. Not too smoky but not too light either. Another balanced beer.

It's a great day in Alabama

I give a large shout out to the folks at Free the Hops. They finally got the restrictive beer laws in Alabama changed!!!

According to the NY Times, “..You see, until last week, merchants in Alabama were not permitted to sell beer with an alcohol content that exceeded six percent. Alabamians could buy all the bourbon, vodka and Thunderbird wine they wanted, but mildly strong beer? Forget it.” and furthermore “…But now that has all changed. Last Friday, Gov. Bob Riley of Alabama signed a bill that raises the alcohol limit to 13.9 percent, although the container-size limit will stay in effect.”

Have a great weekend Alabamians!! Roll Tide!!

Kloster Andechs

Andechs Monastery is one of the most beautiful spots on earth to be brewing. And they have been there since 1455!! On the top of a hill, west of the big city of Munich, out in the countryside (almost).

They have a great cavernous beer hall. Plenty of outdoor seating. A great giftshop with incredible prices. Fish and pork aplenty and many excellent beer choices depending upon the season. Their darker beers go excellent with the pretzels and pork.

Spezial Hell and Dunkle Weissbeer being my favorites.