Beers of the Weekend (and the week, so far)

By: Greg B As you all might have guessed by now, I am a lover of many things, beer being one of them.  Since I’ve basically devoted the past 5 days to food and beer, I figured I should share with you the many bears beers of the world I’ve recently consumed, and something about them.

Starting on last Wednesday, My roommate and I went to Riptide, a new bar in Fells for a few beers.  I had a taste of some god-awful martini that was brightly colored (I was trying to talk with the girl who ordered the martini, but, after tasting it, I dont think I’d want to be associated with someone who drinks that junk.  It tasted like cotton candy).  My roommate and I ordered Dos Equis lager from the tap, which is always better than the bottle in this case.  The lager is not quite as good as the amber, but it’s a nice refreshing beer, with real mild hops. Afterwards, we wandered over to the 2nd floor of Slainte (pronounced slan-cha)                                        http://www.slainteirishpub.com/.

Wednesday night after 9pm is “Industry night” where it’s half off all checks, so, food and alcohol, half off.  Since this was a pretty sweet deal, we went in and ordered a cheap pint of Guinness.  I then compared the classic Guinness to another Irish stout, O’Hara’s.  I have to say, I’m pleased with my own beer making abilities when I can say that I’ve made beer like, and better than, O’Hara’s.  It’s not bad, but it lacks the malty goodness of other stouts, it’s not thick enough, and it tastes slightly over hopped.  Perhaps this was due to the direct comparison to Guinness, I do not know.  After having another beer (not on their beer list, but it was like an Irish version of Bodingtons ale which was good, and helped me get past my English beer boycott), we went home.  In all, the best beer of the night was the guinness.

Friday, as I mentioned in the write up on NINJA!  we had a Japanese beer, though by and large the night was spent drinking Sake.  We did drink another beer at a bar nearby, but I came in before seeing what was being poured from the tap (I was distracted by the actual ghostbuster’s firehouse and had to go check it out.).  It was a medium-high hoppiness, light in color and bitter, leading me to believe that it was probably an IPA of some sort.  Saturday, however, was more devoted to beer.  Asa hosted a rooftop party, complete with excellent albums like ‘metel’ by pink Floyd.  For beer selection, there was corona, Negro Modelo, and Tecate.  We started the night off right too, with a bottle of Chimay Blue.   Chimay blue has such a nice head when poured, and really is such a smooth beer with excellent alcohol and bitter flavor working together, it’s hard to drink other beers immediately afterwards.  However, a few pieces of sushi and pretzels later, Mexican beers were going down quickly.  Of the beers I mentioned, I think negro model is the best beer.  It has excellent malts and has a nice thick body.  Now, when it comes to the ‘best’ mexican beer, it really all depends on moods.  Most times, when I’m in a bar and want some nachos or a burrito or chili rellenos, I want to drink tecate.  It’s cheap and really, in all honesty, is NOT a good beer, but I like it for that fact, actually.  And besides, who can argue with a 24 ounce can of beer?

Sunday, I arrived home and met my father at the train.  To continue my search for the Founders Kentucky Breakfast Bourbon Imperial Stout, we went to Half-time, the largest selection of beer I’ve ever seen in once place.  http://www.shop.halftimebeverage.com/main.sc  if you’re ever in Poughkeepsie, you have to go here.  They have aisles and aisles of beer, by country and brewery, plus fridges along the inside walls, kegs in the back, and about 10 beers on tap for your growler.  It’s amzing.  My father picked up a bottle of English Ale, while I got two, 1 liter cans (that’s right, each can is 1 liter) of beer fron Denmark (hidden in the Scotland aisle).  One lager and one darker.  I drank the Lager last night, it was pretty good.  It was odd holding a beer can that held more than 33 oz of beer, but it was a great feeling at the end.  Unfortunately, the beer had kind of a funky after taste.  It was only then that I realized that this beer was made by the same nation that made Carlsberg, which is gross.  I will be trying the other, darker beer later, and will let you know how it turns out.

The following Monday, my father and I drank at Ale Mary’s.  Troegs Wheat beer and a Heavy Seas unfiltered wheat beer.  Both of which are excellent beers, especially the unfiltered beer, which tasted slightly like a Barley wine and went straight to my head.   But both beers had exceptional body and taste, carbonation was perfect, and, really, I cant say enough good about these beers.  Tonight, DuClaw has a release party for their Mysterium, and I look forward to checking it out (and grabbing a glass of the Consecration, the American Nut Brown ale, which is amazing).  See you at the bar!