Posts Tagged ‘ Matt ’

Breaking in the new island

Got a new kitchen island to replace my shitty IKEA island. Had to christen it properly. These aren’t in any particular order, you’ll survive.

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Wicked Weed Genesis: Quite tasty, but I’m really not getting tropical fruits here….more like another version of Russian River Temptation.

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4 Hands Brewing Madagascar: I’m sorry to say this, but you were an okay beer, but too much carbonation plus many other tastier beers led you to being dumped into the sink at 3:30AM. Maybe next time we’ll budget livers accordingly. Or not.

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Central Waters Cassian Sunset: Uhhhhhhh, it had a thin mouthfeel but smelled awesome. Yes, memory is incredible.

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The Rare Barrel Becoming: I really like this beer despite being a small Rare Barrel hater. This beer reminds me of a Sante Adairius beer more than an Rare Barrel one. Praise doesn’t get much higher than that.

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Dieu du Ciel! Double Barrel Peche Mortel: HOLY GOD I LOVE THIS BEER. I find it kind of hilarious that it’s hard to find a barrel aged beer these days with only one adjunct. God have mercy on us all.

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Looks like I had this beer twice trololol.

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Hair of the Dog Matt: This 2013 bottle is absolutely singing right now. Tons of apple brandy and the slight oxidation cuts the sweet nature of the beer. I think we opened this at 2AM, so we’re all very smart.

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ALL BOW DOWN TO THE KITTEH. Seriously though, Biere Rouge is drinking fantastic right now, and is a great palate cleanser to all the dark beers we had been drinking previously.

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Cantillon Lou Pepe Kriek: This 2011 (2013 cork date) bottle is picking up an enormous amount of funk. I really like it. Best beer of the night!

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Until this motherfucker came in and blew all of our collective minds. Bow down to Drie Fonteinen’s Armand ‘4 Herfst!

This did a number on my liver

Binge watched Entourage and drank a bunch of beer with some friends. It made my liver suffer.

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Upright Fatali Four 2013: Old beer, but it’s amazing. Heat has subsided a little bit, but the funk has gone off the charts. I love this beer, it’s great and I still haven’t experienced anything else like it from another brewery. A

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Allagash Ghoulschip: This is what all pumpkin beers should be like. Nice tartness, with a pronounced smoky toast flavor (from the pumpkin seeds) at the end. B+

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De Garde Belle Ensemble: This beer is super funky and SOUR. If all of De Garde’s older sours are going to be like this, we have a good couple years to look forward to! A

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Hair of the Dog Matt: This beer is wonderful as always, so delicious, with a side of diabeetus.

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Crooked Stave Origins Grand Cru: Haven’t had this beer in about a year or so, and it tastes even better than I remember. Wonderful mellowness with a nice savory finish.

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Block 15 Premiere Annee: This beer has aged pretty well, and I’m not sure if I could pick this out from the standard geuzes from Cantillon, Drie Fonteinen, and Tilquin.

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Block 15 Golden Canary: This most recent batch just isn’t as good as the original. For srs, batch 1 is best.

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8.9%?! This beer ruined me.

Can’t decide if this beer is flat or not…

Of course it’s from Hair of the Dog, what else would you expect? Also, happy Halloween!

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Hair of the Dog Matt: Less carbonated than I remember, virtually flat, but there are a few bubbles that seem to be floating around in there….somewhere. Absolutely delicious, with a nice balance of smoke, malt, and apple brandy. Was it worth waiting in line for 6 hours a year ago, just to pay $15 a bottle? Maybe.

CAMPO IS BACK. COMMENCE DRINKING!

This is stuff from Monday, but my liver was mostly recovering for the past week so I obviously couldn’t finish posting everything. Sorry I’m not sorry.

First stop, wine tasting!

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And now…. beer!

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Drie Fonteinen Hommage: Better than any fruited Cantillon I’ve ever had. It’s still a little on the sweet side, but after some cellaring the funk is going to match the sweetness and then it will be perfection! A+

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Hill Farmstead Flora: I think this is the best Hill Farmstead beer around! Tart, with a dry and vinous finish! A+

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Hair of the Dog Matt: Dessert in a bottle. Sweet, sticky, with tons of apple and a bit of smoke. A+

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Hill Farmstead Brother Soigne: hnnngh. A+

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How many glasses can my friend’s girlfriend handle? Many.

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De Garde Blackberry Bu: Best of the regular Bu by a mile! So jammy and tart, with huge blackberry notes. A+

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Yeah……Campo tried Winter last time, so we had to open another season. HERFST!!!!!

Drinking in Cologne

So I’m in China right now, but I got to finish these posts somehow!

 

Time to bring on a tasting with Uli himself!!!!

 

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The crazed scientist himself. Note how bright it is outside.

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H.ertie Kickbacks: This beer if freaking amazing. A+

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Not a bad hoppy beer from Europe. They don’t really know how to do these things though.

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Upright Fantasia: Drinking like a peachy champion. However, I still maintain that as good as this beer is, the label is simply awful. A

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Upright Jeux D’eau: Drinking better than before, maybe I shouldn’t have sent out so many bottles to people…A-

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35 year old berliner weisse: no big deal.

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Don’t remember much about this one, other than it being really interesting.

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Beer on left was awful, beer on right was being slowly opened because it’s a gusher

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I was at this for quite some time, but it was worth it.

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Oh yeah, director of brewing operations at Victory Brewing in Philly was with us. Cool dude.

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I like these stainless growlers, and apparently they do counter pressure fills now!

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Hair of the Dog Matt: Yep, we had another one.

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Lost Abbey Veritas 012: I was underwhelmed. Probably because the other beer was so good?

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Nope nope nope. Also, it’s getting pretty late, and I’m feeeeeelin’ it.

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Oh look what I found. OM NOM NOM

Drinking in Antwerp!

We met up with some of Europe’s huge tickers (rate beer thingy) at a bar in Antwerp that was opened just for this tasting. God I feel special.

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But first, we had to travel through Brussels. So naturally we went to Cantillon. 50N4E was delicious.

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So much beer on the Thalys high-speed train…

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Yep, bar is shut. Let’s get started.

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Orval Green: I like this more than Orval, much more crushable.

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Block 15 Peche: Yep, still my favorite peach beer. A+

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This pilsner was garbage. D-

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De Garde Loak: Tasty, but it has a weird flavor going on this time, maybe it’s something to do with this particular bottle. B

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Cantillon 50N4E: Yeah, I really have no problems drinking this multiple times in a week. A+

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H.ertie Framfort 8: This is an incredible Uli blend, the best that I’ve ever had. So much sweet raspberry while maintaining funk and sour along with a nice soft finish is pretty miraculous. Might be the best beer of the whole trip. A++

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Goose Island Proprietors: Yeah, this beer is still fucking amazing. Best variant since Vanilla! A+

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Hair of the Dog Matt: Great change of pace from a bunch of sour beer. A+

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Yep, getting drunk!!!!!

Then we went over to Kulminator…and got smashed.

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Drie Fonteinen Hommage: FINALLY TICKED THIS FUCKER YEHHHHHHH! It was absolutely amazing. Best fruited beer I’ve had from Drie Fonteinen! A+

The streak of drinking continues

Man, what a bender weekend. Met up at Apex with the guys from the Commons bottleshare to get some Alpine beers on draft. Things then began to snowball…

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I had a delicious sandwich earlier that day.

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Alpine Chez Monus: One of my favorite beers from Alpine, so much apricot flavor in this beer! A+

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Alpine Keene Idea: Great IIPA, almost on Hop Venom levels in my opinion. I wish there was an easier drinking IPA on draft though… A

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Alpine Nelson: Found one! My favorite hoppy beer from Alpine. This beer is the shit. A+

While we were at Apex, we heard that Cherry Bourbon Fred was on draft at Hair of the Dog.

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So we all got one. This beer is incredible. Tastes like dessert! A+

Then we hit the bottle list…

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Hair of the Dog Pannepooch Reserva: Very good, but not nearly on the same level as Cherry Bourbon Fred. A

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Hair of the Dog Adam from the Wood: It’s good, but fading. I’m sad I have to hold onto my last bottle for another 3 years until the next batch comes out. A-

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Hair of the Dog Matt 2010: This beer is great, but I think I like the 2013 version just a little bit more. I’m really splitting hairs though. A+

Hair of the Dog 20th Anniversary

Sorry for the delayed post, I’ve been busy lately.

I went to Session #1 for the event, which was actually kind of a bummer. The event was from 1PM to 4:30, but Hair of the Dog didn’t even open until 1:30PM, meaning that we got shorted half an hour of drinking time. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but when you’re dropping at least $50 for the event, it bugs you a bit.

Now, time for some photos:

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Decent crowd, big line to get inside the pub though.

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Matt 2010: 2nd favorite beer of the night

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 Pannepooch Reserva: Really, really sweet.

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Jim: Weird, but it somehow works

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Maple Fred: Really tasty, but also cloyingly sweet.

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Adam from the Wood: Yep, not as good as Matt

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Bob: Don’t understand the hype on this one

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Matt 2013: Best in show!

Post De Garde

My friend was in town from Singapore so we decided to drink some beer and eat some food while watching the Timbers stomp all over Chivas.

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Upright Wedding Beer: Extremely light, with mild tartness and a nice citrus flavor. One of my favorite Sole Comps. A

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Hair of the Dog Matt: Stupid good as always. Stood up to the beastly funky cheese that we pitted it against as well. A+

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Cantillon Kriek 100% Lambic: This beer has picked up a lot of funk in the last 2 years, I like it! Paired well with the ridiculously buttery cheese that we had as well. A

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Upright Barrel Aged Flora Rustica: I’ve drank so many of these that I don’t really need to say much here. A

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De Garde Lee Noir: Very good, better out of the bottle than on draft, which is what I expected. A-/A

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De Garde Cran Bu Weisse: Need I say more? A+

Hair of the Dog Matt

Got in line way too many hours early, just to Hair of the Dog could take my 600 dollars. Oh well, my friend got in line at 7AM, for a 10PM release. What a crazy dude.

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Have to try the bottles before you commit all that money. All the moneys.

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Load up on calories, because beer doesn’t have enough of them.

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Bourbon Fred 2012.5: Draft only version when they were playing with new types of Belgian candy sugar. Highly dangerous. Recommended. A+

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Lots of beer, and a 1L bottle of Matt.