St. Paddy's Day 2007

So much happened this year I can only haiku it at best. 3 days of revelry and lots of dark beer. "do me i'm irish". bouncing toucans. irish car bomb, hemp ale, catch her in the rye, full monty stout, irish car bomb in that order. new brewer at Olde Auburn Alehouse. green, red and brunette as far as the eyes could see. gams galore. melonhead text message. Alehouse on fire. Opie wants an ass whoopin'. trying to qualify on the entrance ramp to I-85. more dark beer. Festive Ale 2005 1 liter. Mr. Vega's hypothermia. couple of stogies. drinking till you're sober. more dark beer. and the stout mouth is still hangin' around!!

Our Tastes-- SnakeBite

Yep, that was next on the list after the Rotten Pear. Guinness layered on top of wonderful Hornsby's Hard Apple Cider. Now this was truly a treat. I hadn't had one of these since 1997 or so.

Our Tastes-- Rotten Pear

The Stump brought over some Woodchuck pear so we layered some Guinness on top of it of course. It layered out beautifully!! It drank a bit too sweet for me so we moved on to true....

Our Tastes-- Black Chaser

Using Brüno we had BlackStone Chaser Pale Ale with Guinness. Very nice and different. Amazing what you'll start to layer under Guinness this time of year. Also had some Boddington's which was kick-ass, but never got to really make a good Bubblebee out of it. Save it for later.

T-Minus 7 Days to the Green

Ok, so I've watched Braveheart half a dozen times already and starting training for those irish car bombs. Also gotten back to running because those pints aren't calorie free. Last year I found a great place that had my family's tartan, you can find at your own here.

Our Tastes-- Rotten Pumpkin

This is one of my own concoctions. Half Jack's Spiced Pumpkin Ale and half Guinness. Seems to be very pleasant. The pumpkin gives a nice sweet maltiness to the Guinness as the finish. The 5.5% of the pumpkin ale doesn't hurt either.

Brew Batch #20!!

I went All-American for my 10th batch so for this one I salute the other great country that makes okay beer, Belgium, with witbier. A personal milestone! This marks my 1000th personal bottle (assuming it makes). This type of beer originated in Louvaine (that's not France!) by mixing hopped beer with unhopped to give it a cloudy appearance. Of course some of the taste came from it being bacterially infected too. OG 1.044+0.00 @63F. I'm really hoping it drops to 1.005 at least because I added an extra 1lb of sugar since the yeast strain is EtOH tolerant.

Our Tastes-- BlackTop

I personally think it should be renamed Black Asphalt but this is half Guinness and half Fat Tire Amber Pale. Very nice indeed. The difference in colors of the beers gives great layering effect. The overall matching of brews is extremely nice as well. The crispness of the Fat Tire is a great finish the Guinness heaviness.

T-Minus 10 Days to the Green!!

Start brushing up on your history to impress the lasses and "walk the dog"

Our Tastes-- Black Fud and Black & Blue

Since I started getting ready for the Shamrock Run (placed 2nd in my age division, good time overall to be posted at http://www.auburnrunning.org in a few days) I haven't had any beer or stogies. Well I took care of that Saturday night until the wee hours of the morning. Guinness and anything never tasted so good. Black Fud (Guinness and FudPucker Pale Ale) not so great, but the Black and Blue (Guinness and Wicked Merry's Berry brew batch #18) was wicked sweet!! It had a soft light purplish head and Wicked Merry's just seemed to gently slide under the velvety Guinness. Kick ass sea-bass. Unfortunately this beer is not available at mass market as of yet. So let the weeks of Black and ANYTHING roll on!