Stouts and other Delicacies

The night started big, with Stone's Imperial Russian Stout (10.5%). This tasty Rusky brew was described as the bulldyke of stouts... soooo meaty! It was agreed that this beer was good. Next came Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout from the Great Divide Brewing Co (9.5%). This one was OK, but not as good as the first. The group was split between a so/so and good. Dogfish Head 120 minute IPA (18%) was next. At $11 per 12 oz bottle, it's pricey. It has a very sweet taste, not as hoppy as one would expect, but packs a giant alcohol wallop! It rated a good. Sierra Nevada's Glissade (6.8%) was next. No idea what Glissade means (although Fred said that Busch Gardens used to have a coaster named Glissade), but the beer was alright and was rated a good, a great session beer. Next up was Sam Adams Irish Red (5.5%). I think we may have had this one before, but we took another shot at it. This beer has no soul. It's a forgettable, bland beer and rated a so/so. We finished the night with Brooklyn Brewing Co's Black Chocolate Stout (10.1%). I know we drank and rated this already, so there will be no additional comment. Sometimes the keeper of the book makes misakes!

Potpourri

The night started with Nugget Nectar, from Troeg's (7.5%). Fred had heard that this was a good to great seasonal brew, one we needed to sample, and I guess he was right. The group voted so/so, but someone apparently tampered with the bible, and changed it to a good. I liked it. Allagash Tripel reserve Belgian Style Ale (9%) was next. We were working our way up the beer chain. It was really wheaty and rated only a so/so. Legend Pils (5.8%) was next. It had a good, light taste, but Fred thought of it as the K-car of Pilsners (if you are too young to remember K-cars, screw you!). This was followed by St. Georges Russian Imperial Stout (7.6%). The group thought is was a Good. Sam Adams Irish Red (5.5%) finished the night. It was rated a so-so to good, but there was no recorded discussion. This sometimes happens late into the night.

Porter Night

Johnny decided it was time for Porters, and in true BC4M tradition, we did it in a big way. Seven different porters. Someone should have recognized that drinking mass quantities of porters would be a horrific assault on the colon, but beer love is blind. We started strong with O-Porter, from Norway (7%). It was a good beer to start with, with a strong coffee flavor, yet light body and very drinkable. It had floaties in it, which was a little creepy, but one assumes that the alcohol sterilizes... or lets hope it does!This one rated a good. Bell's Porter (5.6%) was next. Bell's makes some good beers, but this one was just So/So. Yuengling Porter (4.7%) was next. I give Yuengling street cred for being America's oldest brewery. That said, this beer would be a good amber lager, but a piss poor porter! It sucked. D. Carnegie and Co. Stark Porter(5.5%) was next. This is a Swedish beer. It was more like a traditional porter and the group was split between so/so and good. Sinebrychoff Porter (7.2%) was next. This was a Finnish beer. It tasted good, but really smelled bad. Thus, the smell was this beers downfall and it rated a So/So. Founder's Porter (6.5%) was next. This was a nice beer, described as "dark, rich, and sexy". It rated a good. And to end the night, we finishe with Stone's Smoked Porter (5.9%). Stone beers are often over the top, but this beer, by contrast, was not as strong as we had hoped. It rated only a So/So. And with that the evening was over. The following day was spent expelling those same porters, which was nowhere nearly as fun as drinking them!

Ken Hosts

This was an odd night, as several club members were out of town. Despite that, the show must go on! Crazy Ken offered to host. It was a chance for him to unload beer left over at his house from New Years Eve. The evening started with a little homebrew. I am always tring to pawn this swill off on anyone who hasn't tried it. CHC's Best Bitter (5%) continues to improve with age. The group rated it a so/so... let's hope I get home before they all get diarrhea from this crap! Now for some CHC's Blonde Ale (5.1%)... this one has not gotten any better, and it still sucks, really bad! Heavy Seas Mutiny Fleet Yule tide (10%) was next. This brew had a sweet, vanilla flavor, and rated a so/so. By this time I was afraid that the homebrew may have permanently altered everyone's tastebuds. Sapporo (4.9%) was next. I've had this Japanese beer while living in Japan, but this one is made in Canada. Still, it rated a good. Next came the Michelob beers. The only good thing that can come from Anheuser Busch being owned by the Belgians, is that they may actually start brewing some decent beers. I don't want to waste a whole lot of time on these beers, only to say that the Rye (5.9%) was good, Porter (5.9%) was so/so, and Pale Ale (5.5%) was a good. We capped the evening with a Williamsburg Ale Werks Ironbound (6.8%). This was a very complex brew, and despite the fact that we started with homebrew, our tastebuds recovered and we rated this one a Good.

Fred Hosts

Unlike most BC4M meetings, this one had no real theme. In fact, I don't remember much of the meeting at all. We met at Fred's Place, that much I remember. It started with a Pilsner Urquel (4.4%). It was crisp and clean, and rated a good. Next up was my personal favorite beer, the Dogfish Head Raison D'Etre (8.0%). This is one sweet beer. As we've said before, Dogfish Head can be hit or miss, but this beer rocks! RFG, hands down. This was followed by Small Craft Warning Uber Pils (7.25%). It too rated a good... the evening was looking good. Then came Corsendonk Belgian Strong Pale Ale (8.5%). The people who brew this shit should be ashamed. Our homebrew, which is not good by any means, is better than this. It SUCKED!. Then came Santa Fe State Pen Porter (5%). Tank brought this back with him from CA, which was way cool, since it's not a beer that we can get locally. However, it was only So/So. And just like that, the meeting was over.

New Years Eve 2009

The CHC (Carriage House Commons) has a New Years Eve crawl that goes from house to house. It's a legendary party, the biggest one of the year for our neighborhood. This years crawl (the 5th anniversary), the BC4M decided that it's members would each have a new beer to try out. The unfortunate thing is that massive amounts of alcohol are usually consumed at these parties, making it especially hard to do any objective judging. That never stopped us though, so we barreled ahead. I have no idea who had what beer, but here they are: First stop, Fred's house for Terrapin Midnight Project Brew 2, Depth Charge (7.0%). This was an expresso milk stout, and the members found it to be good. Next up was 10pm and his Brooklyn Brewery's Black Chocolate Stout (1o.1%). Even at that high an ABV the members found it to be bitter and a little harsh. It only rated a so/so. Third up was J. Wilders contribution of Allagash Victoria Ale (9%). This brew was sweet but smooth, and rated a good. Bim Bim produced the next two, a bottle of New Belgium 1554 Enlightened Black Ale (5.6%) which was very smooth, and rated a good and Dragon's Milk, (9.0%) an ale aged in oak barrels and it really had s bourbon/oak flavor. The group gave it a good. Snake presented us with Scaldis Noel (13%). This corked, bottle fermented brew had an alcohol level of 13%, and was a crowd pleaser, earning the coveted RFG. From this point the night gets a little hazy. No one can remember exactly what, if any beers were sampled later that night, and the Beer Bible is of no help, as all recordings stop here. There were probably others, and we probably liked them, but we will just have to drink them again!