Some people have asked me questions on my beer ratings. First you have to understand that my 1-10 scale is broken down by quality.

0-3: Swill that should not be consumed by man or beast. This is the type of beer one uses for making beer brats, or in the case of energy beers, water the lawn. If someone gifts you a beer that ranks a 0-3 on my scale, you are allowed to not drink it and pour it down the drain after the gifter leaves. However, you are obligated to gift them a 0-3 scale beer. Of course that is unless they were returning said beer to you.

3.5 to 6.5: These tend to be your standard beers. They have a decent quality, but nothing all that outstanding. Most beers fall into this category. IE any of your standard American beers; Miller, Budweiser, Coors, etc as well as many of your micro-brews and imports. These tend to be the beers that most people drink on a daily basis.

7.0 to 9.5: Beers that are exceptional. These are the beers that when you taste one, you tell all of your friends about with the caveat “You HAVE to try this.” These are the beers that a person savors and enjoys. These are the beers that brewmasters strive to make. One that if you have a six pack, that last beer will sit in the fridge longer because you don’t know when you’ll get more. These are the beers that when I find one, I like to buy a six-pack to share with friends so that they can sample it as well.

10: The Perfect Beer. There cannot be a perfect beer, nothing is perfect, there can always be better. You may think you have the perfect beer, and then 10 years down the road someone brews one even better. I highly doubt I will ever bestow a 10 on a beer. If I do, it will be the day I stop sampling new beers.

So there you have it, my rating scale. Maybe itÂ’s a little harsh, maybe itÂ’s too broad, but thatÂ’s how I tend to rate everything on a scale of ten. 3.5-6.5 being average.

You can see all my beer reviews in the Alcohol Archives.

Posted by: Contagion at 10:59 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 383 words, total size 2 kb.

I know this is kind of cheating, but one of my favoritest bloggers, Richmond, gave me a four pack of Guinness Draught. It would be extremely rude of my to not do a review on it. Plus, itÂ’s the only beer in the house. My wife says itÂ’s because of my 6-day drinking binge IÂ’ve been on. I say itÂ’s because she wonÂ’t get off her butt and go buy me more beer. So tonight I dedicate this review to Richmond, the woman that will do the one thing for me that my wife wonÂ’t, bring me beer!

Guinness Draught comes in a 14.9 fluid ounce Nitro Can! “Hear something? That’s the Guinness floating widget delivering you the great taste of Guinness Draught”. I don’t know if Guinness invented that little widget, and I know there are other beers out there that have it in them, but dang it. The damn thing is, well, Brilliant! The can is black, with the Guinness harp and the name of the beer on the front.

This is probably one of the best beers to pour into a glass. ItÂ’s a drink AND a show all together in one. The beer is a dark brown, so dark one probably could call it black and no one would question it. ItÂ’s so dark, light barely passes through it. The head is a thick and creamy tan color that pours thick and lasts long after the beer is gone. Right after the beer is poured the rising of the head and the flowing of the beer downward through it is mesmerizing. The head leaves a good lacing all over the glass.

When the scent of sweet malts, dark roasts and a tantalizing hint of coffee hits the nose, ones mouth will start to water in anticipation. The taste is a near perfect blend of barley malts, a touch of bitter hops and touch of oak. There is a mild aftertaste that has a slight nuttiness to it that is satisfying.

Surprisingly, and some of my readers may disagree, this is a medium bodied beer. There is a creamy mouth feel to it, but there is a slight wateriness to the texture. There is almost no carbonation to the beer, but it doesnÂ’t need it with the widget adding the nitro goodness to the beer.

This is one of my favorite beers. I truly enjoy drinking it. With itÂ’s lower then average alcohol by volume, one can drink this all day and not end up as impaired. I rate this beer a 7.5 out of 10.

Posted by: Contagion at 06:16 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 437 words, total size 3 kb.

Well hell, its Wednesday and time for my weekly beer review. Well unfortunately I didnÂ’t realize until just now that I donÂ’t have any beer this week. So in the spirit of the season, IÂ’m going to do a Glogg review. Hey, itÂ’s alcoholic and dammit, itÂ’s either that orÂ… well Diet Coke.

Really, the packaging is quite unassuming. IÂ’m poured mine from a green glass gallon jug. These look awfully familiar, like something IÂ’d see at a re-enactment. Most likely at one time it held homemade root beer. ThereÂ’s not even a label or instructions on it to tell you what the alcohol content is. Fortunately I know from experience you need to warm this. I also know to keep it away from a heat source. Which makes warming it very difficult.

When poured into a glass it has a cloudy maroon color to it, almost like cranberry juice. It has a cloudiness to it that is typical of any type of mulled spirit. Really, if you didnÂ’t know what you had in your hand, it might pass as some kind of warm Cran-apple cider.

How to explain the scent, letÂ’s start by my suggesting not to take a huge whiff off the bottle. After uncrossing my eyes I could smell a distinct mixture of raisons, apricots, prunes, cloves, cinnamon a hint of grape and a smidgeon of almonds. That was once I cut through the power of pure grain alcohol. Whew! The taste can best be described as happiness. ItÂ’s a fruity mixture with a hint of alcohol to it. Despite the scent, one really canÂ’t taste the alcohol. There is a tantalizing mixture of fruits and spices that really tingle the tongue. With about a 65-70 % alcohol by volume, itÂ’s surprising how one really canÂ’t taste it.

We have here a medium bodied drink. It took a couple of mugs to make sure that I had the right texture to it. As IÂ’m typing, my fingers are starting to go numb. Maybe I should have eaten first.

IÂ’m going to give Glogg a rating of 8 out of 10. Sure, maybe I made it thus I am biased toward it, but dammit! ItÂ’s my review and IÂ’ll give it what I want!

Posted by: Contagion at 05:20 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 380 words, total size 2 kb.

Yesterday I did something I had wanted to do for a long time. I made glogg. What is glogg you ask? Glogg is a traditional Scandinavian winter drink. ItÂ’s like a mulled wine that generally has raisons, almonds, prunes and apricots in it along with spices. ItÂ’s served warm, and tends to socially lubricate a person. Traditionally Glogg has a high alcohol content to it, but now a day more people make it weaker or even non-alcoholic so as to just enjoy the flavor.

Me? Nope, I made it in a fashion that only someone with my resources can. (wink, wink; nudge, nudge) Graumagus will be happy to know that my garage wasnÂ’t involved at all; it was all made in my kitchen. I started making it yesterday morning and finished bottling it around 5:00 PM last night. In the planning stages I figured on making at least a gallon of glogg. Somehow I went from making a gallon, to making almost two gallons of this winter delight. Of course I ended up drinking a quart of it last night. Quality control and all, I canÂ’t just go giving this to people if it tastes bad. If you havenÂ’t figured out, mine didnÂ’t taste bad.

Oh and is this stuff strong. I set a match to it to burn off any excess fumes. It went up in the biggest ball of blue flame I’ve seen. Ktreva and Clone heard the whoomp when it lit all the way in the living room. So as to not burn off all the alcohol, I quickly put the lid back on the pot to extinguish the flames. Clone wanted me to do it again, Ktreva was just upset I didn’t tell her I was doing it so she could see me do the, “I set my sleeve on fire dance”. I didn’t really set my sleeve on fire, but it did get singed a little.

Now I know some of you may want the recipe or have one. What IÂ’ve learned over the years is that there really is no recipe. Sure you can find one, I know because I have at least 20 different ones. And thatÂ’s the thing. Glogg is made to taste by the person making it. Each persons taste is different then the next. There really is no standard recipe. Heck you can even go to stores and by pre-packaged spices to add to other alcohol to make glogg. There is even a liquid extract you can add to other alcohol to get a glogg flavor. Me personally, I made mine from scratch. I figure if IÂ’m going to make glogg, IÂ’m going to MAKE glogg. If you have a recipe, and you follow it to the letter, look at other recipes. See what they do, you might want to add a little something to yours. Experiment a little. You may be pleasantly surprised.

So IÂ’m not sharing my recipe at this time. I think this is one that IÂ’m going to keep in the family.

Posted by: Contagion at 08:38 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 508 words, total size 3 kb.

1 I have a "Love/Hate" relationship with "stuff" spawned in your garage. Actually it's more of a "Love/Memory loss" kind of relationship.

Posted by: Graumagus at December 17, 2006 10:30 PM (8P21O)

2 Is this stuff still going to be around on Dec. 31? :-)

Posted by: Harvey at December 18, 2006 12:04 AM (L7a63)

3 It better be, or he'll have to make a new batch

I'm sure the 27 day will still be around as well hehehe

Posted by: Graumagus at December 18, 2006 08:25 AM (8P21O)

4 Trust me, I'm not drinking two gallons of this stuff in the next two weeks. I drank a quart of it Saturday night and I have no recollection of what I did between 6:30 PM and when I woke up at 7:00 AM.

Posted by: Contagion at December 18, 2006 07:08 PM (MsT2U)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Tonight we are on the last of the Tommyknocker beers. Luck of the draw had me saving the worst for the last. Tonight we had the Pick Axe Pale Ale. As many of you may remember, IÂ’m not a huge fan of Pale Ales.

The standard brown bottle is once again the delivery system of choice. On the front we have two Tommyknocker elves mining with a really over sized pickaxe. The back label has a brief description of the beer again with the history of Tommyknockers and the dating system. According to the date, this beer goes skunky tomorrow. IÂ’m really cutting it close.

When poured into the glass you have a healthy looking beer with a nice cloudy bronze color to it. There was about a quarter inch of a head that lasted until the beer was gone and left lacing all up and down the side of the glass. The Pick Axe was the first Tommyknocker beer to actually pour a decent head and have it last.

The aroma was an almost overpowering scent of green hops. Very bitter to the nose and almost drowned out the underlying hint of citrus and pine. To be honest the pine scent may be coming from the tree sitting next to the computer desk. Nope, took the beer outside and it still has a hint oÂ’ pine. The taste was bitter mix of hops with some malts. Occasionally I thought I could taste a subtle hint of oranges, but IÂ’m not sure. There is a very strong and bitter aftertaste to it.

This is a medium bodied beer with a strong carbonation to it. There is a bite on the tongue and a slight coating action to the mouth and throat. When drinking something bitter, this is not a good thing.

I really did not enjoy this beer, probably because I donÂ’t like most pale ales. IÂ’m going to have to give this a rating of 3.5 out of 10.

Posted by: Contagion at 06:45 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 338 words, total size 2 kb.

I almost forgot it is Beer Wednesday! ThatÂ’s the second most unforgivable sin I could have done. The first being actually forgetting it is Beer Wednesday! Let me start off by saying that IÂ’m ready to finish these Tommyknocker beers so I can get onto something completely different. Yes, all the beers have a different flavor to them, but they are pretty similar in quality. That being said, tonightÂ’s beer is the Tommyknocker Alpine Glacier Lager.

Once again we have the traditional brown bottle with front and back labels. The front has one oÂ’ the Tommyknocker elves climbing a glacier as a ram looks on. The back label has a brief description of the beer and the history of Tommyknockers as well as a dating system. This beer will go bad on December 9, 2006. Boy, IÂ’m cutting this cone close arenÂ’t I?

Upon pouring into a glass the first thing I noticed is that this lager actually has cloudiness to it. Light passes through its golden yellow body, but you canÂ’t clearly see whatÂ’s on the other side. The head is very thin and turns filmy after a couple of minutes. There actually is some lacing on the side of the glass.

I could smell an enticing combination of corn and other grains. There is a hint of sweetness to it that comes from the malts used in the brew. With a hint of sweet malts, the flavor is that of various grains. The flavor fades into a very mild grassy aftertaste that surprisingly isnÂ’t unpleasant.

Like most of the other beers made by Tommyknocker, it is a light bodied beer that is very smooth to drink. The 12 ounces disappeared before I got to the second paragraph. There is a good level of carbonation. The feel off this beer is veryÂ… inoffensive.

I may be ranking this beer a little harsh because IÂ’m not in the mood for this type of beer, but IÂ’m going to give it a 5 out of 10.

Posted by: Contagion at 06:07 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 343 words, total size 2 kb.