14 Jan 2010

Today I got off of work and headed to BevMo to pick up 2 days worth of "Beer of the Day". After I parked I decided I should call my friend Sara. I was supposed to go out of town this weekend to visit her. She recently moved out of town about an hour and a half away. Of course at work today I find out that I have to work the weekend, so I had to reschedule my hotel reservation and give her the bad news. I called her and told her that it would be another week till I was able to come down. So, she asks what I'm doing and I tell her that I'm walking around BevMo trying to find some beer for my blog. She reccommended Xingu. Never heard of that before, so I look and look, the whole time on the phone with her. Finally I broke down and asked and of course the clerk walked me right over to it. I got that and another 6-pack for tommorow and rolled out.

According to the website: Pronounced “shin-goo”. Xingu Black Beer is named after the Xingu River, in the Amazon Rainforest. Inspired on old recipes of Indian beer, Xingu Black Beer is a two-time winner of Beverage Testing Institute’s Gold Medal as the best dark lager in the world. This exceptional beer is a great success in Brazil and in the USA, and consumers are now having a chance do drink it in Australia and England. Xingu Black Beer has a following that ranges from beer critics to fans and consumers alike. Its secret lies in being a beer with a distinguished and delicious taste while at the same time being very easy to drink. From its creation, Xingu Black Beer has been associated with several initiatives for the protection of the Amazon Rainforest, and it is now proud to be supporting the Y Ikatu Xingu organization.”

Now, when Sara told me this was a black beer I had no idea that it was going to be "BLACK"! I mean, I got home and poured one into a glass and it looked like Coca-Cola. I was like "Wow, that really is freaking black." I have to admit that immediately made me a little nervous. Especially after my Arrogant Bastard experience. I was pleasantly surprised when I took a sip and discovered and very smooth flavor. This beer certainly made an excellent first impression which is why it gets 8 Mason Jars. I would not only reccomend trying it but go try and find it.

13 Jan 2010

Oh, man. Well yesterday my damn service engine light came on in the truck. I have a 2004 Nissan Titan. So, after talking to my roomate, who reccomended the garage across the street, I got off of work and headed straight there. When I got there, the place had like 30 cars sitting around. I talked to the head dude, Harry. He sent one of his guys right over with the computer thingy that tells you what's wrong. He plugged it in and nothing. Apparently, it was dead. They said to come back in about an hour. So, since I didn't wanna drive too far, I swung into 7-11 hoping they had some beer I hadn't had before and HOPEFULLY a freaking hot dog. So, I walked in went straight to the beer cooler and saw the Stella Artois. Now, I've had buddies drink this in the past, but the bottle is a little frufru (another made up word). But I just had another buddy at work tell me how he and someone else both did a 12 pack of this beer and the other guy wound up puking. So, I figured why not. I grabbed the beer, chips, and a hot dog. FINALLY! I got home popped in Ocean's 11 (the new one, cause we just watch the original the other day)

According to Wikipedia: "Stella Artois (pronounced /ˈstɛlə ɑrˈtwɑː/) is a 5% ABV (5.2% in some markets) lager first brewed in Leuven, Belgium in 1926 as a Christmas brew, and named Stella after the Latin for "star".[1]
Although Belgium is best known internationally for its ales, the so-called "table beers," the bottom-fermented pilsner lagers such as Stella Artois head the list for domestic consumption, making up almost 75% of Belgian beer production. Stella is promoted as an international brand by its brewer, AB InBev. In its home market of Belgium, however, it is marketed, priced and sold as a regular lager. Despite its success internationally, the number 1 selling beer in Belgium is its sister beer Jupiler.

I was thoroughly impressed with the strength of this beer. Now, I probably wouldn't reccomend it as a "sit around the house and drink" beer. But if you're out and just have time for one or two. You have to try this. I give it 8 Mason jars. It was smooth and strong.

Oh, by the way. I did go back to the shop, and the damn computer still wasn't charged. Finally, 3 hours and the rest of the beer later, I headed back and it turns out I need a new air sensor. So, Friday, my truck gets dropped off for a few hours.

12 Jan 2010

Well, since Tuesday is my day off, I hit up my buddy Kevin to see if he wanted to go to the "Vic". Then my friend Morgan stopped by so the three of us headed off to the bar. We had a pretty damn good time. We shot some pool, shot some shit and talked. I of course had some Blue Moon. So, of course on the way home we stopped by 7-11 at about 11:30 and they still didn't have any freaking hot dogs. It's crazy, they wouldn't even throw one on. Ugh!! Anyway, I digress. Hit the sack and woke up to try out my beer of the day.

Blue Paddle Pilsner-Lager is brewed by New Belgium. New Belgium is best known for it's amber ale Fat Tire. Blue Paddle is their attempt at a European style pilsner. Now I don't have too much experience with pilsners, but this brew was decent. It was smooth and definatley not dark. I give it about 6 mason jars. If it should present itself give it a try.

11 Jan 2010

Well after a fairly rough night at work, coughing and sneezing the whole time I made it through. I hit BevMo on the way home and picked up a beer for today and one for tommorow. Had a brief conversation with the guy at the counter about how graveyard shift sucks and then I was on my way. I wasted no time at all getting home. After all, I had been sick then went to work and really wasn't feeling too great, but good enough to drink some beer. So I headed on home and decided to relax. I ran a hot bath, with a cold beer and tried to make a phone call to a friend, but no answer so I just chilled in the tub with my glass of Red Trolley Ale. You know I was really surprised, my roomate reccomended the bath with some espon salt, it really worked. Once I got out everything that was stressing me out was gone from my mind. I really felt like a new man.

Anyway, Red Trolley Ale. This ale was originally brewed as a seasonal beer. It apparently became so popular that now it is brewed year round. It has a strong caramel flavor, but itself is not too dark a beer. The first couple sips were actually a little strong on the flavor, but the brew got progressively smoother after that. As a seasonal brew I give this 8 mason jars, but as an everyday beer only 6.5 mason jars. I definately reccomend this guy if you ever get the chance.

10 Jan 2010

Well, unfortunately no new beer today. Apparently I finally caught whatever the hell everyone else around me has had. I mean I feel like crap. This sucks. Oh well, my roomate, made me homemade chicken soup. It's freaking delicious. Seriously, you would never buy the store bought crap again if you had it. I did have a couple bud lights, but that's it. No leaving the house for me. Did watch a weird movie called "Taking Woodstock". It had Demitri Martin in it, who I think is hilarious. The movie, not so much. Anyway, gonna take some theraflu and get some sleep. Should be back up with beer in hand tommorow.

9 Jan 2010

Well, after waking up from a night at the "Vic" it was time to hit up the beer of the day. But let me just say that by buddy Kevin and I were at the bar after I attended the party I spoke about yesterday. We went down there and drank some beers and played some pool, when this dude walks in with two "ssssmoking" girls. I mean they were like model hot. I think the dude was Austrailian, I think. We talked to him a bit, but were "slightly" distracted by his companions. I really don't remember much that he had to say, but it was totally weird that they were there. I mean really, who would walk into the "Vic" with those two girls. Something seemed a little off, I'm not sure what, but I'll let you speculate. Anyway, I got drunk and we stumbled to 7-11 and I finally got home. Back to the present.

Today's beer is Peroni. Peroni is an Italian beer. I chose the Nastro Azzuro which according to wikipedia is "a 5.1% alcohol by volume pale lager. It is the Peroni Brewery's premium lager brand which was launched in 1965. The name means "Blue Ribbon" in Italian, in honor of the Blue Riband won by Italian ocean liner SS Rex in 1933. Nastro Azzurro is the sponsor of the MotoGP rider Valentino Rossi.

I was pleasantly surprised by this one. To be completely honest, I actually felt a little fancy drinking an italian beer. It had a great smooth taste and wasn't too light. I'm giving this guy 7.5 Mason Jars. I would highly reccomend you give it a try.

8 Jan 2010

Well, it's Friday. Ohh Yeaaahhh!! Left work a little late today, had a retirement ceremony that I had to attend. It's cool though, don't have to go back to work till Sunday morning. I decided that today was the perfect day to hit up BevMo. Needed a new BevMo card anyway. I got to BevMo and had to pick a few other things for a going away party. I think I was driving the poor guy at the store crazy. When he asked if he could help me I don't think he had any idea what he was getting into. First I thought I should get a bottle of wine for the party. Being the consumate hick that I am, I certainly needed help with that one. He reccommended a zinfandel that would taste like a $15 bottle, but only cost $7. Oh yeah I said, that'll work. Then I needed some bottles out of the liquour cabinets. First was a bottle of Jack Daniel's Single Barrel. Then to the next cabinet for 2 bottles of Hennesy. (They're for the aforementioned retirement) Then of course I had to ask his opinion on my beer of the day. Well, I already knew today's was Arrogant Bastard, but more so for tommorow. He said to try Peroni, which I will tommorow. Anyway, I also picked up a case of Sierra Nevada at my roomate's request, and of course, a 30pack of Bud Light. I got to the counter and the gentlemen asked, "Having a party?" I said, not particularly this is pretty usual. Ha Ha. Anyway, $175 later I was leaving BevMo with my now racked up rewards card.

Anyway, on to the beer. I've had several buddies tell me about Arrogant Bastard. So here we go. On the back of the bottle there it says: "This is an agressive beer. You probably won't like it. It is quite doubtful that you have the taste or sophistication to be able to appreciate an ale of this quality and depth." blah blah blah. Some other crap about small breweries vs. big breweries and what not. Let me tell you, this damn thing was a lot of work. I poured, or should I say, plopped the beer into a glass and was already concerned. I do like dark beers, but this made Guiness look like Bud Light. It was, strong to say the least. I have to give this 4 mason jars. I was drinking it thinking "When will it end?" My roomate even suggested that I dump it out, but I am dedicated to my task so I completed it, finally. I would not reccomend this beer to the faint of heart.

7 Jan 2010

The best laid plans can sometimes not work that way. Ok, so I left work this afternoon and texted my roomate to see if she needed anything. Starbucks, pretty typical request, no problem. I had actually thought of going to BevMo today to check out their unusual beers, but BevMo is just a little inconvenient to get to plus I wanted to make as few stops as possible. I figured, Target has a Starbucks AND sells beer...Perfect. Right? I go cruisin into the Target near my apartment and figure, what the hell, I'll check out the Blue-Rays. After looking for a few minutes I was like, "What am I doing? Focus Grasshopper!" So I preceded around the store. I then saw Target's new Bulk sales area. Apparently they are trying to compete with Costco and Sam's Club, good luck with that. So I take a look, cause they might have some amazing deal. Prices weren't bad but nothing special. I keep walking and see the snack department. Oooh, pistachios, awesome! I grab a bag and head to the "beer" department. I passed the pet food, the soda, even the canned soup, no freaking beer. WTF Seriously, the Wal-Mart right up the street sells beer, even the other Target sells beer. So what gives. Needless to say I was slightly dissapointed, cause now, I have to make more stops regardless. I ditch the pistachios and roll out.

Well, now what? On my way to the Starbucks closer to home I pass Lucky's and figure what the hell. I stop go in and start cruisin the beer aisle. I finally settled on the beer of the day. Smithwicks Irish Ale. I grab a six pack and go to the counter and ask for a couple packs of smokes. "ID" the lady says. Weird, I've been here plenty of time for smokes and beer and was never asked before, but OK. Well my ID is from PA and she's all freaking confused and has to get the Manager and I'm just standing there looking 30. So the manager, who's even younger than the register chick, comes over and says "I'm pretty sure he's 21" with a knowing smirk. It was freaking ridiculous. Seriously it was 1 pm on a Thursday and I was buying a uncommon beer. But I digress. On to the beer.

According to Wikipedia: Smithwick's is an Irish red ale style beer from Kilkenny in Ireland. Smithwick’s was originally brewed in St. Francis Abbey Brewery in Kilkenny, known as 'Smithwicks Brewery' until c.2000. The brewery is situated on the site of a Franciscan abbey where monks had brewed ale since the 14th century, and has ruins of the original abbey on its grounds. It is Ireland’s oldest operating brewery, founded by John Smithwick in 1710 on land owned by the Duke of Ormonde.[2] It is the major ale producer in Ireland. It was purchased from Walter Smithwick in 1965 by Guinness and is now, along with Guinness, part of Diageo. Smithwick's as most people know it today was originally created as a special brew for the first Kilkenny Beer Festival, later called Smithwicks No. 1 and now just Smithwicks. The head brewer in those days was Ron Girdham. Smithwick’s for the domestic market is brewed in Kilkenny and the higher strength export variety is brewed in Dundalk. Smithwick's is listed in the top five best tasting beers by the McHale beer rating club of Ireland.

I'm gonna call this Guiness Light Light Light. I took a sip out of the bottle and realized that it should probably be drank out of a glass. I was right. This beer had a slight resemblece to it's much thicker cousin, without the molassessness (another made up word). Since I lean towards the darker beers I did enjoy this one, but again this one was really nothing to write home about. I'm gonna give this guy 6.5 Mason Jars. If you have a chance try it out, but don't rush to the store.

Oh, by the way, after the beer adventure I finally went to Starbucks and had to park in front of Becks Shoes. I've been looking for a pair of boots and decided to check them out. All I can say is "Ouch!" My debit card started yelping just looking at the prices.

6 Jan 2010

Ahh, I'm truly enjoying this endeavor. Today on my way to Safeway to pick up the beer, I texted my roomate to see if we needed anything. "eggs n coke" was the response. I don't know about you but I thought it was freaking hilarious. I said "weird combo" and a sarcastic "ha ha" was the response. Today I decided to go with another non-american beer. Red Stripe.

According to Wikipedia: Red Stripe is a Jamaican lager-style beer whose logo is a bold, diagonal red stripe. It is brewed by Desnoes & Geddes Limited, originally a soft drink manufacturer incorporated on July 31, 1918, by Kingston, Jamaica natives Eugene Peter Desnoes and Thomas Hargreaves Geddes. In its current formulation Red Stripe is 4.9% alcohol by volume. It is brewed in Bedford, England.[1]

I was pleasantly surprised that I liked this so much. I guess I was expecting some crazy flavor or something. I did take a sip and say "Yeh Mon" but that was probably just my weirdness coming out. I gave Red Stripe 6 Mason jars. It was good, but not particularly special. It was light and tasty. I especially like the bottle. The short stem really saved time when getting beer from bottle to mouth. I reccomend a try.

5 Jan 2010

Sushi, Sushi I love Sushi. After waking up in the morning from my night at the "Vic" I realized I was starving. I was taking out the trash when I saw one of my buddies doing his laundry and decided to shoot the breeze for a minute. I told him about my lack of intestinal fullfillment. He preceeded to tell me "You should go eat, that's what most people do when they're hungry!" Hardy har har. But he was right. A couple days ago I saw a Sushi place down the street and thought I should try it out. Today was the day. I asked my other buddy if his wife and him would like to go and invited my roomate. We piled up in the car and cruised down the street. We walked in and it did have the feel of a decent japanese sushi place. Now, I'm more used to a sushi bar where you sit down and grab sushi as it passes by in front of you. This however was more of a sit down kind of place. I wound up ordering a sushi and sashimi platter. Delicious, I love wasabi. Anyway, I also ordered a Sapporo.

Sapporo is Japan's oldest brewerey. It dates back to about 1876. It's gone through a lot changes over the century, but all for the better. I found the beer was rather tasty. A fair balance of flavor and full-bodiness (not sure that's a word). Anyway, I gave this guy 7 mason jars. If you get a chance give it try.

4 Jan 2010

Today I opted to try something a little different. Up to this point I have been buying the beer at the store. Today, I chose to go to the bar. My work schedule is a little unusual and today I found out that my hours are a little more fixed. So to my pleasant surprise I have Tuesdays and Saturdays off. This of course means that Monday and Friday nights I can tie one on...WooHoo!! I sent out a few "Hey what are you doing tonight?" texts and only got a couple hits. Well, it is a Monday night after all. So, a phone call and a buddy pick-up later we were on our way to the "Vic" also known as the Victorian Pub. It's a little neighborhood spot about a block down from my apartment. We strolled on down and ordered. I decided to go with Blue Moon Belgian White.

According to Wikipedia: Blue Moon, a Belgian-style witbier brewed by the Molson Coors Brewing Company in Golden, Colorado, was launched in 1995. In Canada it is marketed as a similar beer called Rickard's White and is brewed in Montreal, Quebec[2]. Originally called Bellyslide Belgian White, it was created by Keith Villa, a brewmaster at Coors Field's Sandlot Brewery (the onsite brewery owned by the Molson Coors Brewing Company). The beer is orange-amber in color with a cloudy appearance because it is unfiltered. It is also spiced with coriander and orange peel in addition to the hops found in most beers. Blue Moon has a more pronounced orange flavor than many other beers of the style. The grain bill for Blue Moon includes malted barley, white wheat, and oats.

I found that I thouroughly enjoyed it. It was not a heavy beer, and went down very smooth. For that reason I give this beer 7 mason jars. I will certainly be ordering this guy on a more regular occasion.

3 Jan 2010

Second day didn't go so well for the blog, but was still fun. Today, I found myself at Walmart. How exciting right? I'm more of a Target man myself, but I had to go and send money, via "Walmart Gram" or whatever to the ex-wife. That's always fun isn't it? I mean really, I'm not good enough, but my money is? WTF Anyway, I go to Walmart and get in the hour long customer service line. Seriously, people will return ANYTHING nowadays. It's crazy. I was the only non-broke sucker in the whole line. I'm sending money, everybody else is receiving or returning stuff to get money back. Ugh, I really don't like Walmart. So I get done sending the "Shut up and leave me alone" money and remember, Oh they sell beer. I'm kinday lazy and hate to make multiple stops, so I figured what the hell. I go to the beer aisle and was pleasantly surprised by the selection. (There were other beers besides PBR) I opted to go with a brew that I knew was local. Well local to where I work.



Gordon Biersch is a brewery in the San Jose area that got it's start about 20 years ago. Basically two friends wanted to be able to provide good (fresh) beer to the public and Gordon Biersch was born. They have several offerings so I just grabbed one. The Marzen is a mildly sweet, auburn colored lager. This beer originates from Bavaria where it was brewed in March ("Märzen" in German) and stored in caves to be enjoyed during warmer weather. At the end of September, any remaining kegs of Märzen were consumed during the two week celebration which became known as Oktoberfest.

Now to be completely honest, I do favor the darker beers. I know what you're thinking. He drinks a lot of Bud light. Well, bud light is decent and cheap. But to avoid too much biased, I really thought about it and gave this beer 6.5 mason jars. Very tasty, a little dark, but not too much. I would reccomend this to someone who doesn't usually drink darker beers but want to try. Cheers till tommorow.

2 Jan 2010

Oops, this is off to a great start. Second day in and I already missed. It's not entirely my fault, I had the night off so me and some friends went to a local bar to drink and sing karaoke. My first couple songs were okay, but I've learned no singing and being drunk. The only beer I had was bud light. Although I learned that Wild Turkey is not my shot. I'm a Jack man. I don't remember who bought that shot of Wild Turkey, but if they try it again I'm gonna punch them in the face. Anyway, after a lot of bud lights and shots, surprise, surprise we would up at denny's. Now this is the ONLY time I will eat at denny's (helps that very often it's the only place open). However, everybody but me and my buddy's girlfriend were involved in some male drama. So her and I had a good old time at a huge table just eating and being drunk. Good times. Now that I have digressed completely from the blog, I will be back tommorow.

1 Jan 2010

Day One - After getting off work at Noon, yes, I said Noon on New Years Day (worked from 3 am until noon, sucked) I had to stop for some puperonni's for my me and my roommate's dog's. (Baby is hers and Sid is mine) Went to Lucky's and grabbed the treats and checked out the beer aisle. Now, Lucky's is not exactly the beer connoisseur's dream location, but it sufficed for my purposes and time-frame. After eliminating all of the typical choices I still found myself in a pickle as to which beer to choose. After much deliberation and several odd stares from other customers, who were probably trying to figure out why I was pacing back and forth, I finally settled on a beer that I had been wanting to try for a while. Land Shark Lager. Now the truth is that the reason was purely superficial. The freaking bottle has a shark's dorsal fin on it. That's cool.

According to Wikipedia: Land Shark Lager is a 4.5% abv pale lager launched in 2006 as the house lager for "Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville" restauraunt chain. Not a whole lot of info to go on. Generally I give the beer 4.5 mason jars. It wasn't bad, just light. My daily brew is Bud Light so that should give you some idea as to my normal pallet. It just wasn't anything special. I certainly would not turn one down, but, I probably won't rush back to the store to buy on anytime soon.

What's the point?

I recently saw a movie that gave me the idea to start a blog. With the new year here and people making resolutions I decided to do something a little different. I am quite the regular beer drinker and thought that I should do something "productive" with my hobby. So, I am going to attempt to try a new beer everyday in 2010. I will try the beer and give my opinion on it. I am considered a bit of a hick amongst my friends so my rating will be based on a 1 to 10 scale of mason jars. Pretty simple, right? We'll see. It might be a little tricky but I'm gonna give it a shot. I will try to avoid more commonplace beers like Bud or Miller and focus more on local brewers and international beers. I will try to give a little bit of info on the beer of the day and try not to be too drunk when I do. So here we go.