No Philters is not the beer review that is going to tell you about “mouth feel” or “lacing”.  These reviews are for the popular beer kids, not the geeks.

Last weekend on Survival Sunday (for some people Mother’s Day… not the same thing, but for some, maybe they are), I was watching football (soccer).  Since those games are in England, they are usually on around 10am.  Which makes choosing the right beer to watch the game with all the more important.  Normally I watch with a Guinness which is a great morning beer.  Smooth, tasty, and as apposed to the popular belief it’s not that heavy.  I am not saying there are light beers, but there is no reason to pretend like you can only drink one and then you are full.  Anyway, this isn’t about Guinness because that wasn’t what I was drinking.  This day I was drinking Rogue’s Voodoo Doughnut Bacon Maple Ale.

The Bacon Maple Ale smelled sweet and tasted mostly like Maple, with some smokiness on the back.  It was amber colored and I found it pretty easy to drink, which honestly was kind of disappointing.  With a name like Bacon Maple Ale, I thought it would much bolder.  The drinkability (thank you Bud Light) was great, but how many of these are you really going to have.  As it is it comes in a 750ml painted pink bottle.  If it are looking for something that is more readily available to compare it to, I would go with Newcastle.  Not for the flavor, but more for the “feel” and “look”.  If you plan on eating a breakfast that would compliment it, such as beer pancakes (substitute beer for buttermilk) then I think it’s a hit, but in my opinion it doesn’t work as a stand alone beer to enjoy in the AM.

Suggestions are welcomed, but No Philters is going to touch on a variety of topics over the next few weeks including beer pairings and especially with the Summer of Cans starting, canned beer.

-Phil

cans just cans

Also for those of you wondering, I completed week 2 of the Kettleworx system.  It seems to be going well.  I sweated more this week, but I found the routine to be a bit easier, so it was probably just warmer in my place than it was during week one.   Sadly, no buzzed exercising this week to talk about… sorry Kirk.

PSA

What can I say.  This is one of the worst booze related stories I’ve read.  How can anyone say that this is remotely ok.  Clearly this guy is a waste.  If you haven’t heard this story, as I do not know what kind of coverage it is getting, a man in South Jersey has been arrested four times out of the last five weeks for drunk driving.  In his lifetime his license has been suspended 23 times.  That’s insane.

Having a license to drive (and kill) is a privilege, but now-a-days it seems that people consider it a right.  I live in NJ, but I also spend a decent amount of time inFlorida, so I’ve seen the worst.  These states give out licenses like they have a quota to fill and that quota is too see how many idiots, maniacs, old bastards, and cripples they can get on the highway all at once. 

A big issue now are the teenagers that drive while texting or DWT.  They want to curb this; they should suspend a teenager’s license for doing this.  Nothing sucks more as a teen than to not have your license taken away.

Sorry for the serious topic today, though the comic is hysterical, but we just wanted to say that The Brewery enjoys beer and all alcoholic beverages, but when we do we enjoy them responsibly.  Be safe out there regulars.

Saturday afternoon there will be a beer review.  I will be reviewing Rogue’s Voodoo Bacon Maple Ale, so check it out and then enjoy it at brunch on Sunday.

-Phil

mass transit

UPDATE!  This guy just got his 5th DUI in 5 weeks!  Amazing.

I work out one pint at a time (16oz = 1lb)

Tonight I did us all a favor and proved that working out is much more enjoyable when you’ve had a few pints.  Thursday night I found myself drinking a few PBR’s with friends about 15mins from my house.  After 2 hours or so of drinking I left because I told myself that I needed to complete my KettleWorx work out for the week.  Three times a week, 20 minutes a day is what they tell me, so I try to stick to it.  For those of you that know me, I am a) not fat nor b) terribly out of shape, but I am challenging myself to complete this 6 week workout.  Also that guy that hosts this DVD is charming, so I didn’t want to let him down.  It should also be noted that since I am already pretty skinny, so I am only working out with the “resistance” DVD.

First off let me tell you that drinking before you work out is fantastic (DISCLAIMER: I do not advocate drinking and working out.  I do this because I have a popular beer review website.  You, on the other hand, probably have some wedding that you want to look good for even though you hate the woman you are about to marry, which is reason enough to drink, but I digress).  It felt like the time flew by just like the pounds were flying off of my body and being replaced with lean muscle.  Since I completed the workout twice already this week I had basically memorized the different moves that were required, so paying attention wasn’t an issue.  Anyway if you are going to buy these DVDs I would suggest that you get a bigger Kettlebell, because according to their website the DVDs come with a 5lb bell, which is great if you are a pansy and want to get bullied, but I opted for the 20 pounder that I had lying around and it worked out just fine.  The only negative was when I smashed my hand into my ceiling while doing some sort of squat, up punch and wrecked my thumb on my right hand, but I fought through the blood and finished my workout which ends with a pat on the back… I told you he was charming.

Overall I give this workout 4 stars.  I might let everyone know how weeks 2-6 go, if there seems to be an interest in this because as it is I did this review on the fly.

-Phil

beer-leet

Faster than a speedy beer funnel

If this strip was a cartoon or radio show, I think we can all assume that Jimmy Durante would have done the Pabst Burglar’s voice.  Ha-cha-cha-cha!  If you haven’t heard, which you probably haven’t since who receives these kinds of stories other than us, a college student had her Pabst Blue Ribbon stolen by a mad man with a knife (which later turned out to be a fork).  Well the good people over at PBR sent someone over to drop off some new PBRs to replace the one(s) that got stolen.  Pat yourself on the back Pabst, you made us proud.

Say what you will about Pabst, but seriously in this economy even a single PBR is a tough thing to lose.  Maybe not the best story or the most interesting for this blog, but I wanted to acknowledge this PBR super beerman on The Brewery this week.  When I think of a PBR man, he is a lot like Banana Man (click for video).  When and where ever he is needed he simply chugs a beer and is transformed into PBR Man and then he goes out and saves hipsters from drinking a beer that they might enjoy or stops a bank robbery.  You get the idea.

Also last week I wrote about the American Budweiser cans.  Well it looks like they read my blog because they are doing the same thing to the bottles.  You can check the story out here.  I cannot wait for Memorial Day, not just for the day off, but to also enjoy a Bud, with my buds, and America.

-Phil

Be sure to come back later this week for a No Philters beer review.  I promise it will be there and I will let you know via twitter when it is.  Twitter!  Everyone one uses it, so should you.  Follow @brewerycomic

Drinco de Mayo

This Saturday is Cinco de Mayo (CdM), so don’t go out to eat on Sunday because the kitchen staff will be hung over.  For those of you not in the know, which I can’t imagine there are many readers of this site that aren’t, CdM commemorates the Battle of Puebla where the Mexican army achieved an unlikely victory over the French.  It is a day of Mexican pride, much like St Patricks Day where Guinness is drank and people eat corned beef, on CdM people drink Mexican beer (which they will order by asking for a cerveza) and eat at Chilis or On The Border.

I normally bitch about “Amateur Nights”, but as I have gotten older I learned to avoid them.  Irish pubs on Cinco de Mayo and Mexican joints on St Patrick’s Day.  It’s brilliant really.  I’m kidding of course.  I go to all of the same places I go to regardless of the night of the week or the holiday because I am not an Amateur, I’m a regular, so I do what I want, regularly.

Amateur night aside, we are fans of drinking beers that are themed around the holiday that it currently is.  We drank Guinness on St Patrick’s Day, I will drink Tecate on Saturday, and on Memorial day, Flag day, and the 4^th of July I hope Budweiser makes those USA Bud cans because I will drink those.  Nothing says America more than drinking from a can with an American flag on it.  When associating a beer with a holiday it only makes the holiday that much better and gives you that much more to look forward to.

What are some of your favorite beers to drink on certain holidays?  One of my favs is Pumpkin Ale on (and around) Halloween.

-Phil

Saturday I will review Tecate for No Philters, so be sure to check it out.  Finally this is Brewery #97, so we are looking forward to #100 soon.

ThunderHighball

Here at The Brewery we enjoy pop culture, especially movies.  We regularly enjoy beers and other brews that are in movies while watching those movies.  When watching My Bloody Valentine we drink Moosehead.  When watching Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones we drink mead or ale.  When watching James Bond films we drink martinis.  Well apparently that last one is going to change.

In the ever increasing cost to make a Hollywood movie somethings have to give and unfortunately it is not very easy to market a brand when the drink that is made from it has no label.  Bond drinks vodka martinis, so aside from requesting a specific vodka brand when he orders the martini there is no way to really sell the advertising of the brand in the film unless they slap a label on his martini glass or get the stupid Svedka robot serving the drinks or hitting on Bond.  From this stand point it makes sense and the beer they chose was Heineken which I think also makes sense.

Among all of the beers that would have the bank to afford this type of brand recognition I think Heineken is the best choice.  They often appear on higher end restaurant menus and as part of the beer bottle selection in clubs.  I often look at Heineken as a premium beer offering, even though they are really nothing special, and I do enjoy them when they end up in my hand, which isn’t very often.

Regardless James Bond still drinks, so how can anyone complain.  In fact a man of his prestige drinking a beer is great to see, though I am sure drinking booze in a movie will warrant an automatic “R” rating one day because someone will find it offensive.  We have a lot more movie/beer or cocktail pairings and we plan on posting some below, I encourage you to do the same.

-Phil

I Scream…

Have you seen this?  In case you haven’t and are lazy, typical American (I kid, plus that would include me), our Japanese friends over at Kirin have developed soft serve beer.  Soft serve as in Mister Softee ice cream and beer as in the thing that we love.

The soft serve beer topping is made from, well beer, that has been chilled to –5 degrees Celsius (23 Fahrenheit for us US folk) and then it is placed on top of a beer to keep it cold.  It also makes it look like a child’s treat, which is probably why we will never see it here in the states.

It’s true.  We just can’t handle something like this here.  A little over a year ago there was an incident where a toddler was served an alcoholic beverage that was mistaken for apple juice and it was all over the news.  We just can’t have something that is alcohol related and looks like something a child would enjoy in this country.  How we currently get away with that alcohol whip cream is beyond me.  Not beyond me because I am against it, but beyond me in the sense that some idiot hasn’t given it to his or her child yet.  This is the world we live in, a world where it is perfectly ok be a moron and still blame someone else because some blood sucking lawyer will be there to force the party that would get hurt by the press the most into a settlement.

Jello shots, whip cream, Swedish fish vodka, alcohol comes in all sorts of forms that we enjoyed as kids and now enjoy as adults.  Don’t let a few rejects ruin the fun, let’s get ourselves some ice cream beers.  I’m sure we can figure out a way.

-Phil

Sake it to me…

With the recent popularity of hybrids, (cars, labradoodles, asian fusion, Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter) some would say that it only makes sense for beer to jump in.  Ok I don’t know if those things are popular or if it makes sense for beer to jump into the hybrid game, but I still don’t see the harm in beer taking a stab at it.  There are already some beer combos that have been introduced to us over the years like the Shandy, Boiler Maker, Black Velvet, and Michelada, but these are really considered beer cocktails.  I am talking about a hybrid beer.  Something that is cross breed with something else to make something entirely new.

In a recent press release Cambridge Brewing Company announced that they will be releasing a second batch of true sake-beer hybrid.  They are not talking sake bombs, they are talking an actual sake-beer brew.  Most American Adjunct Lagers (Bud, PBR, Coors) are brewed with rice anyhow, so this hybrid does make some sense in my mind since Sake is brewed using rice that has been polished in order to remove the bran since rice containing only starch makes great sake.  Working with BostonSake, a Boston Sake home brewer, they brewed Sake which they then added to the wort, in a fermenting tank at the beginning of the fermentation process.

I like this idea, mostly because I like beer and sake.  In fact I would even say that I love sake and beer, so this combination works for me.  The 14% ABV is a little interesting and I wonder how it affects the taste since 14% is about right for a Sake, but on the high side for a beer.  If this hybrid is as good as it sounds I can easily see Sam Adams, which is just down the road from CBC, or our friends over at Dogfish Head trying their hands at something like this, which I would like because then I would be able to get some.  As it is I am trying to find free weekends to head up to Boston in order to grab some brews.

-Phil

Today’s strip is also inspired by a hybrid of sorts.  If you play video games, which I do on occasion, but not this game, there is one coming out that takes place during the American Revolution, but you play as an Assassin that runs around doing this or that during the war.  I am assuming he is helping the Americans.  An American Ninja, ha, it would never work.

Where ya brew at?

So I am sitting out on my “Sports Porch” (it’s a screened in porch where we keep some sporting goods) and drinking a tasty beer out of a can.  As I sat staring off into nature, I wondered where did this beer come from.  Then deeper I thought, where was it even brewed?  There are breweries all over, it can  be from anywhere.  That gave me an idea.  Why not invent an app that can scan a barcode and tell you where is was brewed.  I ran inside fired my PC ready to write line after line of annoying painstaking code only to realize that someone had already beat me to it.

The person that beat me to it is none other than our buds over at Budweiser.  They have recently released an app called “Track Your Bud” which will tell you where your Bud was brewed and even where the farms are that grew the hops and barley.  Aside from the fact that I know that most people don’t like Budweiser and could care less where it was brewed, this is still a pretty cool idea.  It really gives the end user a feel for where the product came from and makes the whole experience feel a bit more personable.  Knowing that it wasn’t just manufactured in some cold, dank, gray, lifeless factory and that someones hardwork actually went into this product does mean a lot.

Again, I know most of you don’t like Bud products, but with this app Budweiser has managed to take that beer in your hand and really make you appreciate what it is. I find thinking like that is the same reason why I enjoy baking.  Putting raw ingredients together to make something great.  I hope other brewers can find the time and money to put something like this together.

-Phil

Follow Up:  I just downloaded the app and tracked a Bud Light that I had in my fridge.  It told me that it was brewed in Newark (which I could have guessed) and exactly how old it was.  There was some other info like videos and stuff, but not much as to where the hops and other ingredients came from, well not exactly where they came from because they mention some states, but I was hoping for an actual point on a map.  It might just be my crappy android or maybe the app isn’t fully working yet or maybe I have no clue what I am doing, but it is still a good idea and I hope others see it and improve on it in the future.  Also it links to facebook and I was the first person to “Track” that run of beer, so I called it Happy Hour Comic.  I hope others track their Buds and end up under my Happy Hour Comic Batch.

No Philters is not the beer review that is going to tell you about “mouth feel” or “lacing”.  These reviews are for the popular beer kids, not the geeks.

Afraid of Americans…

We had a short week this, so I got a Beer Review for you and hopefully next week we can manage a new strip.

Here in NJ we have had a mild winter with some warm weather and since Feb 8^th, just a few days after the Giants big win at the Superbowl, the sports talk radio shows haven’t stopped talking about baseball.  That means Spring and Summer and full time warm weather, not just weird 60 degree February days, are right around the corner.  That also means that the Summer of Cans will be here shortly as well.  For our non-regulars, SOC is the celebration of enjoying the nice weather while drinking canned beer.  It’s great!

Where am I going with all of this?  Well, I’ve started my Summer of Cans early.  In fact I’ve simply turned it into “Cans”.  If I see a can that looks good I pick it up.  I’ve decided that there is no reason to wait for Summer any more.  My most recent pickup was 21^st Amendment Brewery’s Bitter American Session Ale and I must say that it was pretty damn good.

I’ve discussed session beer extensively in the past, but for those not in the know a session beer is exactly that, a beer that you can drink a lot of during a particular session like lounging in the pool or riding the train or on your lunch break.  Since they are usually lower in alcohol than your other full flavored beers it makes them easier to drink, which our friends at Bud call “drinkability”, but trust me here Bitter American is full of great malt and hop flavors.    Bitter American comes in at 4.4% ABV, so you can enjoy a bunch of them without feeling too guilty or too hungover the next day.  Also the can has a monkey in a space suit on it.  That alone should be enough for you to grab it out of your beer stores cooler.  If it’s not you need to seriously reconsider your priorities in life.

21^st is one of my favorite breweries, so if you have a chance grab some of their brews.  Plus all their beers come in cans making them that much better.

-Phil

cans just cans

Also I made Beer Bread the other day.  Beer has always been refered to as liquid bread, so I figured why not turn it into actual bread.  I found a Sam Winter Lager in my fridge and decided to use it to make the bread.  You will need:

3 cups flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

¼ cup sugar

1 12OZ beer

1/4 cup melted butter

With those you are going to want to do this:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Mix dry ingredients and beer.  Then pour the mixture into a greased loaf pan.  Pour melted butter over mixture. Bake for about 45mins to an hour and enjoy hot.

I roasted some garlic before hand, smashed some into my mixture and then folded some whole cloves in before placing it into the loaf pan.  Yes, I made roasted garlic beer bread.  It was great, though if you are doing something like that, cut back on the sugar a bit.