Thoughts on Beer

Since there’s a lot to tell, I’m going to break up the stories, first starting with the week leading up to our wedding.

My future wife, myself, and another friend of ours drove from Iowa to New Jersey a week before our wedding.  We traveled well and made great time (mostly because we drove overnight and I slept).  The first few days were dedicated to planning, and as friends and family began to arrive, we started to hang out with them as the wedding plans started to fall into place.

McSorley's Old Ale House

The first big event we did when our friends from Iowa arrived on Wednesday was go to one of our favorite spots in Manhattan, McSorley’s Old Ale House.

We love this place because they only have two types of beer: light (similar to a pilsner) or dark (kind of like a darker red ale).  McSorley’s is so old-fashioned, as a great example of an old-style ale house, they didn’t allow women (even the owner) in the bar until the early 1970’s.  When you order a beer, they bring you two 12 ounce mugs, and with almost 20 people in our group, they kept bringing mugs of ale.  After we left, we were congregated outside the front door, and the barkeep who kept our table full of beer chatted with us.  He had a bit of an Irish accent, and I mentioned why we were there, and that we were planning on going to Ireland for our honeymoon.  He wished us well and called us “Lucky”.

Morning Wood

On Thursday, we had our rehearsal dinner.  At the dinner, I handed out the special beer I made for my groomsmen, called “Morning Wood”.  From the blurb I wrote on the label:

Take a luxurious dark breakfast stout, made with oatmeal and chocolate, infused with three types of coffee: Sumatra, Kona, and Peruvian Dark, and you get something to wake up to.  But, take that stout and age it for several months with toasted oak to give it nice vanilla overtones, and now you have “Morning Wood”.

The name made this beer unique enough, but we tried it to celebrate, and it was delicious.  It smelled like coffee, and had a nice smooth roasted chocolate flavor.  The oak was just right, and gave it a slight oak and vanilla flavor.

Summer Bryed

In addition to the “Morning Wood”, I had also made two 5 gallon kegs of a dry-hopped rye pale ale to commemorate our wedding.  It was named  “Summer Bryed”, after my own summer bride.

With almost 50 people at the rehearsal dinner, the 10 gallons only lasted a few hours.  It was nice and light, and had a great hop aroma and flavor.

That brings up to the day before our wedding, so stay tuned for more stories, and more beer!

You may have noticed about a week ago that I didn’t publish any articles for over a week.  Well, I got married and we had our honeymoon in Ireland.  Needless to say, I have a boatload of cool stories to share from the whole experience, including the Guinness counter (shown to the right), so stay tuned!

Sierra Nevada 2010 Southern Hemisphere Harvest Ale

I got a chance to have some of the Sierra Nevada 2010 Southern Hemisphere Harvest Ale.  It uses hops from New Zealand that are picked then immediately shipped to brewery before drying, to be put into the brew.

The beer smells like a pine-like hop aroma with a hint of a fruity scent.

It tastes almost like it smells, with a pine-like citrus hop flavor, and finishes hoppy on back of your tongue.  The aftertaste is hop-filled with lingering bitterness.

Have you tried the Southern Hemisphere Harvest Ale?  What did you think?

Samuel Adams Mile High Barley Wine Ale

I had the chance to try the final of the three Samuel Adams Longshot Beers: Mile High Barley Wine Ale.  Just like the name states, it’s a barley wine, which is a strong, malty ale.

Initially, it smells like caramel and plums.  It was very smooth, and had a very heavy mouthfeel.  Coming in at 9.8%, it is a nice potent ale.  It finishes with a strong caramel flavor and was slightly hoppy, and had a nice balance. It was created by Ben Miller from New Mexico.

What did you think of the Mile High Barley Wine?

Samuel Adams Old Ben Ale

The second of the Samuel Adams Longshot pack that I tried was the Old Ben Ale.

It was a nice strong English-style ale.  It was a 9% ale brewed by Michael Robinson of New Hampshire.

At first scent, it smells like plums or raisins but was pretty difficult to pick out.  It was a thick beer and had a strong caramel flavor. It was very smooth but strong.

Have you had the Old Ben Ale?  What did you think?