Our Tastes-- Old Dominion Spring Buck

Fresh off the delivery truck (which was probably UPS) is this new one from Old Dominion for the spring/summer, Spring Buck. It poured a great clear "blonde" color with a more zippy aroma than I am used to with blondes. Ample carbonation and a nice taste makes this a welcomed addition to the already well tasted OD brews we've had in the past. The difference between this brew and other summer wheaty blonde brews has to be the chamomile. The orange is palatable much like Spring Heat Spiced Wheat by A-B, my own BW (Belgian Wit) or even a Summer Hummer. No abv listed on the site, but it's as smooth as I have come to expect from the dozen or so beers I've imbibed from OD. Kind of makes my nubs start to poke out. Wish this was one of the new brews introduced to AL during the Magic City Brewfest.

Our Tastes-- Big Sky Brewing Company Moose Drool

Had it not been for Dr. A saving my life with the Heimlich Manuever, on an intern trip I would have never known about Moose Drool. It poured a great true flat nut brown head, the aroma smacked of pecans (or whatver they grow in Montana). The color is rich dark clear brown leather that grabs out at you. As far as any foam legs, nada. Brewed with 4 malts: pale, caramel, chocolate, and whole black malts and 3 hops (pre-hop shortage) Kent Goldings, Liberty, and Willamette hops: this one's a keeper.

Our Tastes-- Samuel Adams 2006 Longshot Old Ale

As much as I would like to have waited for The Enabler to try this one, I had to get in to some. Don Oliver's Old Ale was the second non-employee contestant that won this glorious right. It pours a magnificent mahogany color and heavy malt bill with a slight hop note. The 10.4%abv is as smooth as any great blended beer. He's a student of all occupations and plans on being a brewer/brew pub owner. This one may be the best of the all simply because of the wonderful overall profile and taste. Old ales are an English type of beer that are aged for at least a year. Many brewpub owners used to buy mild ales from brewers and age it in casks just to be able to sell it at a higher price. Hell, I could do that with gas at this point. Don came in first in the Southwest regionals. Man, I have get on the side of one of these bottles!

For My 33rd

I enjoyed a great b'fast with Pops, got a new running shirt, gambled and lost, had some Alaskan King Crab legs (to support the Deadliest Catch) and lobster tails (to support Lobster Wars), had my first Maker's Mark cigar (thanks to Momma Neese), tried the Belgian Tripel (Ménage à Frank) and it was great. The malt and raisins blow you away at 7.4%abv. I am looking to either rename this one or find a strong ale recipe that I like and call it Mitchell's Gibbet. Named after Anthony Mitchell, one of the last victims of the Halifax Gibbet torture device. Just another Mitchell boy making history when his remains were found in the 1800s at the base of the original.

The End of Another Era

After many years of having NBA (this one brewed 4/23/07 Batch #21), I pushed the last gulp of this brew into the bottomless pit known as my belly. None of the NB recipe's for this one have matched BBC's NBA which is a little sweeter than I would like but nonetheless a keeper. Next time I brew this one, I'll make a tweak here and there.

Our Tastes-- Samuel Adams Longshot 2006 Dortmunder Style Export

Next in the LongShot taster is Bruce Stott's Dortmunder Style Export. It poured a very clear dark straw pilsner color. Aroma for me is a slightly malty bread with hints of hop. Bruce came in 1st in the Northeast regionals that got him to GABF, later putting him in the SALS 6er! I had to research the history of dortmunder beer a little and I wonder if Bruce used the true sulfated H2O and balanced with CaCO3 (calcium carbonate=chalk) because many times I've learned the pH can sway the flavor profile a ton. This one weighs in at 5.5%abv and is a keeper fo sho'. I like it as a slightly influenced golden pilsner tangent.

Our Tastes-- Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy

Just when you think we've blogged all of the beers a brewery makes they throw a seasonal out there. I first had this at this year's 2nd Annual MagicCity Brewfest, so when I saw it in the stores I went ahead and picked up a 6er to give it a good once over. Summer Shandy is a weiss beer not a wit bier with a zesty lemon taste, for us its literally 4.2%abv lemonade. This is an extremely light pouring brew with an erupting head. I didn't swirl it to pour it up but it was laying on its side in the fridge and may have done it on its own. The taste is not as sweet as Hooch, Mike's Hard Lemonade, but more of a taste of its own. The aroma is the same as homemade lemonade. Made with pale and wheat malt and only cluster hops, I'd drink more of this...matter of fact believe I'll have another.

Hop Garden

We plant more hops by 10am than most people do in a year! Announcing the 1st annual TnDC Hop Garden! Started with Zeus and Centennial, this year is destined to be green. Some people plant a tree by giving back, I plant humulus lupulus, with a 13-17% alpha acid (max 20% at harvest) hop vine. The Enabler and I turned earth, used idiot sticks and constructed a fence that Growler can't get through! After letting a recent purchase from Freshops cultivate in some pots, we transferred the budding vines to the ground and sat back. The dewpoint had to be about 70 this morning (meaning we were planting on the friggin' equator, a couple of beers cooled us though)! But I am confident that we will have at least 120 sunny days for these rhizomes to get a good root system going and allow for a nice harvest next year. My only problem is how I am going to transplant these bad boys when I move. Dave at Freshops was kind enough to allow us to replace a Sunbeam, but the ones we have are coming up nicely. I want to make sure the next time the Google imagery satellite passes over that it captures the compound giving back to the hop harvest!

Our Tastes-- Samuel Adams Longshot 2006 Boysenberry Wheat

As you breathe in through your nose letting your mouth hang over the rim of the pint, the poingant aroma of a sweet wild berry hangs in your mind. The pour is a generous froth and dissipates to a light head with a dark honey color. Taking a mouthful of this one reinforces why I entered the LongShot this year. It is an awesome complex taste of a smooth wheat not too filtered and a slightly bitter bite to the aftertaste. Hops? Can't really pick'em up. Over the next few days I'll be trying all of the LongShots that I have left over in anticipation of either the email for more samples or my score sheet. This is a nice drift away from the norm for SA. I would say buy some but you'd be lucky to find it at this point. May 15, 2006 in celebration of craft beer week Sam Adams launched this contest to allow homebrewers the chance to be nationally distributed. Two regular joes and one Sam Adam's employee brew is chosen to represent the 6 pack. Ken Smith a brewer at Boston Brewery was the "employee" winner of the Beer Lovers Contest on this brew and I've never had a Boysenberry but I can tell you what it tastes like!