Since the left over Beer Tasting beers are taking up space in the fridge, Ktreva gave me an option. Either skip the beers I have waiting and start doing reviews on thoseÂ… or sheÂ’s going to give them away. (She knows better than to dump it out, it was part of our wedding vows). To decide which one to review, I just opened the door and grabbed one. The winner was Headless Man Amber Alt by Tyranena Brewing Company in Lake Mills, Wi. This beer was provided by Harvey of Bad Example, which gives him enabler status.

The beer came from a squat 12 fl oz. brown bottle. There is a maroon label. With the name of the brewing company on top and the city/state on the bottom. In the middle appears to be some kind of prehistoric design with the name of the beer center left.

There is a nice golden amber color to the beer. The body itself is clear and light passes through it easily. It formed a quarter inch head made of tiny bubbles that fades to a film on the top of the beer. There is no lacing on the glass at all.

The smell is a combination of malts and a hint of caramel. There is also a slight biscuit scent to it. You can also get a slight hint of hops. The taste is a mix of caramel malts and a slight burnt bread taste. A hint of grassy hops is also noticeable. The body is bitter and lives the same lingering bitter aftertaste after youÂ’ve finished.

This is a medium to light bodied beer. There is a good level of carbonation that gives a little bite to the tongue.

At the beer tasting this was one of the worst beers reviewed. This gives credit to a point I tried to make a couple of times during the tasting; tastings and reviews are not the same thing. Reviews you drink one beer and review it. Tastings you sample many beers and pick your favorite. At the tasting I gave this beer a 3, this was the sixth beer overall. With a clean pallet and actually drinking all 12 ounces, this beer isnÂ’t as bad. Realistically IÂ’d rate it a 4. ItÂ’s drinkable, just not great

Posted by: Contagion at 06:04 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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This last weekend I hosted my first ever Beer Tasting. IÂ’ve attended Beer Tastings, but IÂ’ve never hosted one. The ones I attended were always a formal event. An attendant or host would serve 4-6 fluid ounces of beer in a sampler glass and weÂ’d all sit at a table and discuss what we liked and didnÂ’t like about the beer. Each person would have a scorecard and we would discuss the beer to death. I liked these tastings because I was able to sample beers I had never had before, but to be honest I really didnÂ’t like the atmosphere. So for my tasting I decided to go with something a whole lot less formal.

We were all in my back yard. Most of the time we sat around a portable fire pit Ktreva and I had as we reviewed the beer. I had grilled up burgers, brats, hot dogs and Chicken Asiago Cheese Bratwursts. We had potato salad, barbeque baked beans, chips and other food. Of course there were saltines and pretzels to clean the pallet before the tasting. So as people arrived, everyone could eat and make sure they werenÂ’t drinking on an empty stomach.

I did print out some interesting beer facts I had found online and gave each participant a copy, which I was made fun of for doing. Honestly, I really didnÂ’t care. I think two or three people actually liked the information in there and took the packet home. Others burned them or threw them away. Either way I was okay with it.

During one of the breaks in the tasting we did some brief tomahawk throwing. Apparently my hawk block had seen too many days outside and one too many tomahawks. It started cracking and coming apart until finally it shattered when Wes of Bodhran Roll, Please sunk a hawk into it at 7 paces. Thus ending the ‘hawk games.

Overall the “skilled” group of tasters was Shadoglare, Labgirl (Shadoglare’s new GF), Wes, Harvey, Ktreva, Noah, Bruce, Wil, Tina and myself. Graumagus showed up right at the end with two more beers and only really was able to review 2 beers… the two he brought.

Now you have to keep in mind, this was not a beer review. It was a beer tasting. Basically itÂ’s to decide whether or not you like a beer. We did rate the beer, but that was more for fun than anything else. Plus by the time we hit the 10th beer, our taste buds were pretty much broken, even after cleansing the pallet. Below is a list of beers I order tasted along with the average rating, including highest and lowest scores.

DragonÂ’s Milk: Average: 8.5. Highest: 9.5(twice) Lowest: 7.5
Dirty Helen: Average: 3.5 Highest: 5 Lowest: 0 (Yes, someone gave it a zero)
DragonÂ’s Gold: Average: 4 Highest: 7.5 Lowest: 2
Badger Porter: Average: 5 Highest: 8 Lowest: 2
1554 Brussels style Black Ale: Average: 6 Highest: 8 Lowest: 4
Headless Man Amber Ale: Average: 1.5 Highest: 3 Lowest 0 (Twice)
Mocha Porter (Rogue): Average: 4 Highest: 7 Lowest .5
Bully Porter: Average: 4.5 Highest: 6.5 (Twice) Lowest:0
Black River Red (Pioneer) Average: 5 Highest: 7 Lowest: 4
SummerShandy: Average: 3.5 Highest: 7.5 Lowest 0
Oscars Stout: Average: 7 Highest: 8 Lowest: 6
Celis Grand Cru Average: 1.5 Highest: 2 Lowest: 1

The best beer of the weekend was DragonÂ’s Milk provided by myself with an average rating of 8.5. The lowest is actually a toss up between Headless Man provided by Harvey and Celis Grand Cru provided by Graumagus. Honestly if you want to be fair, Celis Grand Cru was the worst of the two. If you subtract the highest and the lowest rating Celis scores a 1.5; Headless Man scores a 2.

Now we did rinse and dry the glassware between beers, but by the end of the night the rinse water and the standard American Lager we drank the rest of the night looked the same. Can you guess which one is the beer?

sorry about the crappy quality of the pic, but you get the idea.

Sunday was more of the same for those that wanted to come back. We really didn't drink different kinds of beers, but we did drink a lot of beer. approximately 4 cases to be exact.

Overall it was a good time. The feedback I received was very positive, including multiple recommendations that I do this every year. Which, Ktreva and I discussed it and decided that we are going to host a Beer Tasting every year. It is going to be an annual event every Memorial Day weekend. Including possibly a second one in the fall, possibly coinciding the Blogcrawl.

So if you are interested in getting on the invite list, let me know.

Posted by: Contagion at 07:26 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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1 It was a fun time - I'd definitely be interested in doing it again sometime. LabGirl also said she enjoyed it, and even the people at work that I mentioned it to during the requisite "how was your weekend" chats said it sounded fun - I think you've got yourself a winner of an event there I was just thinking I probably should have kept my own scorecard so I could keep track of what I thought of each one, since there were so many it's hard to keep track of - especially after I've had six or so and start getting a little loopy LOL

Posted by: Shadoglare at May 27, 2008 09:13 PM (yUtP2)

2 I still have everyone's scores in my review journal. If you want what you rated each one, I can get it to you.

Posted by: Contagion at May 28, 2008 06:34 AM (Q5WxB)

3 Thanks for a great time. Except for killing your 'hawk block, it rocked!

Posted by: Wes at May 28, 2008 08:22 AM (1crE/)

4 Yay! Hopefully I can make it to the next one!! Glad you all had a great time....

Posted by: Richmond at May 28, 2008 10:33 AM (6ERLz)

5 Glad it went well. Sounds like a blast!

Posted by: jimmyb at May 29, 2008 03:45 PM (HGDRS)

6 I could just cry....

Posted by: BloodSpite at May 29, 2008 06:52 PM (qAM4w)

7 *volunteers for invite list*

Posted by: Harvey at June 02, 2008 08:14 PM (eFRvV)

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Petey of PeteyÂ’s Powderhorn was the sponsor for tonightÂ’s beer review. Tonight IÂ’ll be reviewing SmithwickÂ’s by Diageo in Ireland. Diageo is the same brewers that make Guinness. This is one of the rare beers that I can remember the very first time I had one. I was sitting at FadoÂ’s Irish Pub in Chicago and they had a beer rep there. I had ordered a Guinness and he came over and asked if I wanted to take a survey. He was with the brewing companyÂ’s marketing department and offered to buy me one. So much like tonightÂ’s beer, my first SmithwickÂ’s was free!

We have our standard 12 oz. brown bottle. There is a green front label with the picture of a golden castle towner on it. The name crosses the tower. At the top of the tower is the year 1710. At the bottom of the label it states “From the Brewers of Guinness”.

There is a nice dark brown color to it, much like a cola. Light passes through with some difficulty. If you hold a flashlight up to it you can see floating particles. An inch thick tan head formed when poured. It consisted of a mix of large and small bubbles. It faded slowly and by the time I was done with the beer there was still a good foam on the top of the beer. There was some lacing on the side of the glass as well.

The smell was mostly of sweet malts. There was a touch of a bread scent to it as well. Roasted malts makes up the majority of the taste, there is a hint of caramel to it and a slight bitter finish. The aftertaste is mild and unobtrusive.

This is a medium bodied beer. It is a little heavy on the carbonation for my tastes. ItÂ’s an easy to drink beer.

This is a good beer and I could drink one of these most of the time. I donÂ’t even need to be in the mood of it. It really does taste like a Guinness light. ItÂ’s got most of the flavor and none of the heaviness. I give this a 7 out of ten.

Posted by: Contagion at 07:29 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Shadoglare of Refractional Darkness sent me a link to a St. Petersburg Time's article on The World's10 most disgusting beers. I've actually drank some of these. In fact just this last weeks review of Cave Creek Chili Beer is listed as number 7 on there list.

7. Cave Creek Chili Beer This is the perfect beer for people who hate themselves and desire punishment. This unholy union of a whole chili pepper and a fiendishly nasty pale lager will get medieval on your tongue.

I don't know if I'd go that far, but it isn't good. Again with all beer reviews there are beers on this list I wouldn't have put there as I've had worse. Yes, they have the Camo Genuine Ale, but really the Camo Ice Silver is even worse. In fact that is the beer that started the Beer Reviews on here as a warning to others not to drink it. Also I would have added Bud Light Chelada and Four.

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Bruce of Back to the Batcave supplied tonightÂ’s brew. He gave this to me a while back, but I was saving it for the Cinco De Mayo beer review. Why, because tonight IÂ’m reviewing the original Cave Creek Chili Beer by the Black Mountain Brewing Company in Tecate, Baja California, Mexico.

It comes in a clear 12 oz bottle, which means if it sits on the shelf too long or is exposed to light itÂ’s going to skunk up on you pretty darn fast. It has a gold label with a green Chili pepper on it outlined in a red dripping sauce. The words Chili Beer are in bright red underneath it.

There is actually a nice golden lager color to it. No head formed at all when it poured and it leaves no lacing or ring on the glass. The only remarkable thing about this beers appearance is the green chili pepper floating in it.

The smell is an over powering scent of pickled peppers. If you take a long hard smell to it, you can get a hint of beer in the background. The taste is pretty much nothing but peppers. If there is any malts or hops to the flavor, they canÂ’t penetrate the overpowering flavor of peppers. This reminds me of a prank that was played on me when I was in college. A friend of mine poured about a quarter of a bottle of DaveÂ’s Insanity sauce into a can of Keystone Light. The flavor is much like that, only not has hot. The aftertaste is that of a mild hot sauce.

This is a light bodied beer. Actually I didnÂ’t keep it in my mouth long enough to get a good feel for it.

First off, let me just say Bruce is a dick. This really is one of the more vile beers IÂ’ve had the displeasure of drinking. If you have any type of stomach or gastro problems, IÂ’d avoid this beer like a snail avoids salt. If you ask, I did not eat the whole pepper, I did take a nibble, but that was just to see what it tasted like. The beer and the pepper werenÂ’t too hot; itÂ’s just not a good taste for beer. I give this beer One out of Ten.

I also give Bruce the finger.

Posted by: Contagion at 05:52 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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