Our Tastes-- Saint Arnold Winter Stout

This is the last bottle of brew I managed to "leg" back last year from the Cotton Bowl. Made in Houston, TX at Saint Arnold Brewing Co. I'm sampling their Winter Stout. The first thing you notice is the sweet malty aroma followed by a creamy tan lingering head that seems to slide effortlessly up and down the pint. I am amazed by the small bubbles rising from the glass and forming the head. It's a dark brown with great legs. 2000 sweet stout winner at GABF. Four malts and 2 hops varieties (if still available) of Pacific Northwest hops are used. This beer oddly enough came to the fermenter just like the Sam Adams Longshots, in 97' they held a brewing contest and used the recipe of the winner. Saint Arnold (the actual saint) has an interesting story. For years he extolled the virtues of drinking ale and the dangers of drinking water (of course water wasn't that clean back then) and at his funeral his pallbearers stopped to have a mug of beer but sadly there was but one to share among them. However, as the mug was passed around it never went dry allowing even the mourners to be satisfied!! Saint Arnold, patron saint of homebrewers 580-640A.D. Oh, and this one is 5.6%abv. Have one, if you're lucky you'll always have a full pint?

TnDC Field Trip #7 (and #6 revisited)

After 6 years in the making I finally got to obtain 2 bottles from my barrel at Maker's Mark. I had my name put on the side of a 1 year old barrel (#479007) and have patiently waited for it to mature, but I never thought it would taste this good. May be all in my mind, but philosophically isn't everything? We drove up to E-town the night before and gathered with everyone else at noon, the only problem was that so many people showed up early they had to start letting people in early!! This was by far the largest Ambassador gathering I have ever been to. The barrel makers were there (aka the coopers) knocking out barrels left and right. I also picked up a master distiller bottle and 2 ambassador bottles. The ambassador bottles were the first with colored labels. It was a great trip and continued on our way back to N'ville. We stopped and made a "leg" drop to Junk at work and had an early dinner at BlackStone Brewery. I picked up a growler of Maris Otter and Porter while I was there to enjoy later. Of course I made the customary stop at Midtown Spirits as well. Basically everything I was too sick to do last time, Merry let me do this time.

Our Tastes-- SweetWater Road Trip Ale

I've been drinking this brewery's beers since 98' and I've never blogged them. Thought I would start with this one since it is sort of the "spring ale". Used to be that SweetWater made a 420 pale ale, Exodus porter, SweetWater Blue, IPA, ESB, Festive ale and Georgia Brown. The ESB apparently stayed on the shelf too long, so they pulled it out of rotation, the porter went through a label change then was pulled for the same reasons but may return soon according to friends at the brewery and now they have a Summer Hummer. Now they have started the "Catch & Release" series which actually started with another beer Happy Endings and progressed to their "seasonal limited line". This brew started out as a true pilsner but had to be finished off with a pale ale yeast which coincidentally yielded a super brew. Enough that after being introduced last year has made it back into rotation. It pours a nice golden yellow with light wafting head. The foam dissipates quickly and leaves a super session beer to enjoy with a unusual pilsner taste. Try one, it doesn't fit the mold.

End of Another Era

Reindeer Ale #7, bites it as I type. This was my first attempt at a recipe with my influence and I'll have to say it's good to see it go. The nutmeg and cinnamon seemed to become overbearing as it aged. And those metric Negra Modelo bottles...tossed'em all! Alas we all have to start somewhere.