Yesterday we had Ben over for a cookout: dinner consisted of very good (if a little overseasoned) steak and porkchops. It was very nice out, so we sat on the deck and had some beers while Matt tended to the meat.

While my beer glasses went through the dishwasher I had a Flying Dog Garde Dog, good as usual. Then: colaweizen.

For the colaweizen, or colaweizens if you're a crazy American, we combined the drinks in a 3/4 beer to 1/4 cola ratio, i.e. one 12 oz. bottle (poured with almost no head) and 1/2 of an 8 oz. pop can (poured aggressively) in each pilsner glass. The beer will darken noticeably as you pour in the coke. Scientists have determined that this is cool to watch.

I tried two American wheat beers, the Sierra Nevada Unfiltered Wheat and the Flying Dog In-Heat Wheat. Both were good (the Flying Dog mix had some leftover Sierra Nevada in it, so I'll forgive for being the worst of the two), but neither could stand up to Ben's colaweizen, which used Paulaner Hefe-Weizen and had a noticeable banana taste. Once I run out of Sierra Nevada, I guess I'll have to get a good German hefe.

It also occurs to me, just now, that I had enough bananas to juice and make bananaweizen (same ratio as a colaweizen). There's a drink I'm curious to revisit...

Labels: American Pale Wheat Ale, Biere de Garde, Colaweizen, Flying Dog Brewery, Garde Dog, Hefeweizen, Paulaner Hefe-Weizen, Paulaner Salvator Thomasbraeu, Sierra Nevada Brewing, Unfiltered Wheat

Over at Ben and Nora's yesterday night for Nora's B-day, I finally had my Sierra Nevada Southern Hemisphere Harvest, which was not bad but — since I'm not one of those types who can tell what kind of hops are in a beer — completely wasted on me. I will say that it has a nice finish for a fairly hoppy IPA.

After that Ben let me try some of the Avery Mephistopheles' Stout that Nora had got him for his birthday. It was very good; I liked the notes of chocolate and the aftertaste (which is apparently "double espresso"). Ben was right about the drinkability though: you can really tell that this is a strong, alcoholic beer.

I finished the evening with a Sierra Nevada Porter. That was decent, certainly better than some other porters I've had — but after the Mephistopheles' that beer seemed completely one-dimensional.

Labels: American IPA, Avery Brewing, Mephistopheles' Stout, Porter, Russian Imperial Stout, Sierra Nevada Brewing, Sierra Nevada Porter, Southern Hemisphere Harvest

My coworker Pete hosted a cookout yesterday, so I brought four beers: a Two Hearted, a Skinny Dip, and two Sierra Nevada Stouts.

I enjoyed the first two, as usual — I think the Skinny Dip may have been more subdued following the Two Hearted — and the Stouts weren't bad. Although as b/4, they weren't really interesting enough for me.

Several of his guests like good beer, and we had a brief conversation about the weirdness of Surly brews (if you don't like one, you can always plausibly claim that you just don't understand it), the upcoming Flying Dog mix-packs, and their fondness for the Flat Earth Black Helicopter, easily (because I hate coffee flavors) my least favorite local beer.

Later on I was offered a Stella Artois and I just couldn't refuse. It's not that Stella is better than the Two Hearted or the Skinny Dip, but on an intellectual level Stella is so interesting — with its references in Achewood, failed British ad campaign, and mysterious choice of green glass for the bottles — that I like it far more than I would an identical beer under a different brand name.

Labels: American Blonde Ale, American IPA, American Stout, Bell's Brewing, Euro Pale Lager, New Belgium Brewing, Sierra Nevada Brewing, Skinny Dip, Stella Artois, Two Hearted Ale

Went over for Barry's for some baseball with Ben, Nick, and Matt. I brought along some Munich Dark and a bottle of the Sierra Nevada Stout.

As before, the Munich Dark was too sweet for me, like brown sugar in a bottle. The stout was decent, certainly better than the Munich Dark, but it didn't really bowl me over or anything.

However, it's getting very good reviews at Beer Advocate (the Bros gave it an A+), so I'll try and pay more attention next time I have it. If this is a stake in the ground, it may be that I just don't like the American Stout style. Which would just leave Imperial, Irish Dry, Milk Stout, and (presumably) the Rogue Chocolate Stout... I think I can get by.

I also had a Budweiser later on. They aren't really delicious or interesting or anything, but I can still enjoy a cold macrobrew every now and then.

Labels: American Macro Lager, American Stout, Anheuser-Busch, Budweiser, Capital Brewery, Munich Dark, Munich Dunkel Lager, Sierra Nevada Brewing