Who We Are

     In recognition of 100,000 visits to our website, I'd like to take a minute to remind our readers who we are. The Beer Club for Men formed nearly 3 yrs ago. We decided, on Johnny's back porch, to make a valiant attempt to rate every craft beer ever brewed. Little did we know that we were on the verge of a nationwide brewing tsunami, that would make such an attempt nearly impossible. Over the years we've made lots of friends, and even a few enemies. One local drinking establishment has banished us like a big turd from a giant colon. We're offensive and obnoxious, we get that. We don't really care, but we get it.
    We are predominantly white middle aged men, although one guy looks like he could be Mexican, another is surely an illegal (Guatemalan, Pakistani, Himalayan??? we can't tell), and there is one senior citizen, who, like Obama, refuses to provide us his "real" birth certificate. We love babies, but only when they are sucking on some MILF's cans at the mall. We prefer V-8's over electric cars for obvious reasons. We grew up when kids played tackle football and rode bikes without wearing helmets. If you got your noggin smashed, you rode the short bus... end of story. We think Ronald Reagan was the best president, ever. No really, the best fucking president EVER.  We watch football on Saturdays, Sundays, Mondays, and sometimes Thursdays. We don't wear skinny jeans, and don't tolerate "men" who do. We have salty language, and we don't give a shit if it offends you. There's a disclaimer at the beginning of this blog, if you're too lazy to read it, that's your fucking problem. We actually have real jobs, and support about 1000 shitbags who don't, thanks to our exorbitantly high taxes. We prefer dogs over cats (a little too much so in Bim's case). We love our fellow craft beer bloggers and drinkers, as well as those drinking establishments who really understand the American craft beer scene. We hate to use the word scene, but reserve the right to do so when we feel hip (we hate that word too). We think John Wayne may have been the last true American movie star with balls (Clint Eastwood is a close second, Johnny Depp isn't even on the list). We hate Hitler, but miss Gaddafi with his silly perm and fake military uniforms. We ate lead paint chips and huffed leaded gasoline as children, and out of the 9 members only one is mildly retarded. Just goes to show that the risk was overrated. We will eat a bald eagle, a whale, or loggerhead turtle eggs if given the chance. Who knows, manatees may taste like bacon. We have an elaborate rating system for our farts, and have been known to send each other photos of impressively large stools. We like to dry hump pit bulls to show them who the boss is (Bim insisted we add this). We know that the latest trend among men is that of metrosexuality and political correctness but we just won't go there. We think Michael Bloomberg is an asshole for banning 32 oz sodas, but allowing hobos to buy 40oz Olde English 800. If a movie has foul humor, profanity, zombies, nudity, or lots of gratuitous killing, we'll watch it. If it stars Johnny Depp or Richard Gere, we won't. We freely admit that we watch Nascar hoping to see a wreck. We are always looking to start new chapters with younger beer lovers everywhere. We think "50 Shades of Gray" is a description of dog vision. We hate Nickelback, just like the rest of America. And lastly, we are passionate about American craft beers. Our rating scale may be rudimentary and unsophisticated, but there's no doubt where we stand when we rate a beer. We're not always going to match your opinion of what a beer tastes like, but according to JD Power and Associates, 60% of the time we're right all the time. Now that we've introduced ourselves again, let's rate some beers!
     We started the night with an Virginia brewery, Starr Hill and their All Access Wee Heavy (8.5%). These guys have stepped up there game on this one. It was a real nice example of a Scottish Ale that we all liked a lot, rating a really good. Next was one from the Rare Beer Club, Sly Fox's Ichor (10%). Like most Belgian beers, the over-carbonation was obnoxious but the taste was good, rating such. Finch Beer Co.'s Cutthroat Pale Ale (5.5%) was supposedly brewed with orange peel but we couldn't taste it. A little orange may have helped mask the other offensive flavors. At least no one hurled. It rated a so/so. Deschutes and Boulevard's Conflux Series No. 2 White IPA (7.3%) was like a Manny Pacquiao fight decision, all over the place. Some liked it, others loathed it. Total vote...good. Founders/Green Flash Linch Pin White IPA (7.0%) was a better example of this style of beer, and was a solid good. DuClaw's Soul Jacker is a blend of Black Jack and Devils Milk (9.5%). We like these two separately, and hoped the blend would be awesome, but it was only a good. Terrapin Side Project 16 Phlux Capacitor (9.8%) is billed as an oak aged American Ale. No one liked it, giving it a so/so. Please put that shit back in the barrel! Independence Brewing Co.'s Jasperilla Old Ale(9.3%) was another miss, rating only a so/so. Stone's Bottleworks 13th Anniversary Ale (11%) is a one-off that Stone brews for the famed Seattle bottle store. Someday we hope to see our own BC4M brewery brew some swill for our favorite bottle shop, Grape and Gourmet. Maybe a 200 IBU hop bomb with Jimson weed and bath salts, called Face Eater Angry Hop Zombie. This beer however, unlike anything from us, was good. Dry Dock's Signature Series Bligh's Barleywine (10%) was the surprise of the night. Sweet, with a very complex flavor, we loved this beer, rating it a really good. Despite the Urban Dictionary description of Dry Dock, this beer rocks! Full Pint Brewing Co. supplied us with their Tri-PA, Tripel Batch Imperial IPA (9%) whatever that means. It was drinkable but not overly enjoyable, rating only a good. Next was Crooked Stave's Blackberry Petite Sour (5.0%). Everybody loves blackberry's and we also love sours. This beer hit the nail on the head. It was an easy really good. We followed that with Cantillon's Classic Gueze (9%). Like many beers in this style, it smelled like shit, but once you get past that, this sour beer was a crowd pleaser, rating a really good. We were on a sour run now, so we uncapped a Natty Greene's 230th Anniversary Oak Aged American Sour Ale (6.2%) which was surprisingly good. We have been rather hard on these guys in the past, but this beer was nice, rating a really good. The Bruery's Sans Pagaie (5.8%) is a sour blonde aged in oak with cherries. Another great sour beer, another really good. Goose Island Madame Rose (2010) (6.5%) is a Belgian style ale aged in wine barrels, with cherries, and was another really good. Snake remarked that he hadn't been exposed to this much fruit since the last time he spent a whole week starring at the Folsom Street Fair. And the sours just kept coming. Russian River's Beatification (Batch #5)(6.0%) was the final sour of the night, and maybe the best. Another really good beer, these guys rock!  On to the stouts. We started with  Goose Island's Big John (11.5%). Goose Island makes some outstanding stouts, and this was no exception. All that was missing was 6 months in a bourbon barrel to push this one to RFG status. Still, it easily rated a really good. We ended the night with a Fifty Fifty Eclispe (2011 Buffalo Trace)(9.5%). Another great beer. Dark as night with just the right amount of whiskey flavor, this beer was an easy really good. So smooth! A cool 19 beers down, it was time to call it a night. Cheers from the BC4M! And thanks for your constant support and verbal abuse! We look forward to the next 100,000 visitors!

BC4M's 100,000 Blog Hit Contest

The BC4M blog is nearing the coveted 100,000 hits mark. If YOU are the lucky 100,000th visitor, take a screen shot showing hit number 100,000 and send it to beerclubformen@cox.net and you will receive a BC4M prize pack which includes a T-shirt, pint glass, tasting glass, bottle opener and a RFG rated beer from our cellar. 

An Evening with Ace and Gary

As many of you loyal readers know, we have been big fans of local upstart brewer, Beach Brewing and have watched as their beers have gotten progressively more bolder, daring and certainly tastier. While their initial offerings were pedestrian and mainstream, it was after they hired home brewing champion Chicago Mike to work alongside head brewer Jean-Pierre LaDouche (a.k.a. Dan the Farting Brewer) that their beers got bigger and better as they released amazing beers like Hoptopus and Diablo Roja. It seems that the magical pairing of the two guys the BC4M have dubbed "Ace and Gary", had created a veritable melting pot of great new ideas that has led to the surge in popularity of their beers. Looking to push the envelop even further, it was unfortunate that creative differences with Beach Brewing President Steve Stifler had caused our duo to head out on their own in an attempt to bring a "fresh" attitude to craft beer. With fascinating ideas such as their black IPA "Mandingo's Anaconda", a cream stout called "The Milkman Cometh" and an imperial stout named "The Devil's Taint" the two were convinced they would find enough backing to have their operation up and running in no time. Last week, after Ace and Gary were finished canvassing the Commonwealth drumming up investment capital for their new brewpub, Manhole Brewing and Eatery, they stopped in to a BC4M meeting to share a few of their new recipes. First up was a pair of freshly kegged sours, called surprisingly enough, "KOCK" and "BALS". KOCK or "King Of da Creampipe Kriek" and BALS "Bare Ass Lavender Sour" were aged for almost 3 weeks in a used Wild Irish Rose barrel. Evidently the two sours have been a huge hit wherever they go as one of Ace and Gary's biggest fans penned a fan appreciation video to thank them for their amazing beers. "I suppose we are to believe the only thing he tried was your beer?" said a smirking Fred while Bim added, "Is that Chaz Bono?" Both beers were actually quite tasty, and had a nice balance between sweet and tart while showing real promise for future batches. Next we tried The Brew Kettle White Rajah (6.8%). This one smelled amazing from the start. A bounty of citrus tantalizes your nose while the hop bite upon finish puts it among the best IPAs on the market. Really good was the result so we then tried another IPA, this time it was an Odell / Thornbridge Pond Hopper (9.5%). Even though this one is labeled an Imperial / Double IPA, it is much more reminiscent of the standard English IPA. Lots of sweet malt and sugary flavor gives way to just a hint of hop bite. "Too much fucking sugar, not enough fucking hops at all" said Chicago Mike as we gave this one a mere good. Another IPA was then opened, an Eagle Rock Populist (7.0%) which wasn't much of an improvement over the Pond Hopper. "West Coast IPA my ass" said Bim, as Fred added, "They wont be in business long if they keep making this shit". It graded as a good at best, so we then tried a Two Brothers Circus Penguin (5.9%), a pale ale supposedly brewed with organic beets and blood oranges. "What the fuck, another Greenpeace organic nonsense beer?" yelled Fred, while Jean-Pierre replied, "Organic Beets!....be still my beating heart". One sip and resident veterinarian Bim poured his out, "Tastes like it was made with dried monkey urine, and I would know". Lacking any recognizable flavors, it did however have a hint of hops and so it got a so/so. Next was a lambic from one of the best IPA breweries in America, Alpine and their Chez Monieux (5.8%). Bright ruby red color and a sweet and sour cherry flavor gave this one a nice touch that was a crowd pleaser. Really good was the score so we then tried Alpine and New Belgium's Gouden Vallei (7.29%). "I think that means Valley of Boobs" said the mammary loving Fred, while Wilder added, "Sounds like a great spot for our next man trip". This one is a pale ale spiced with pink peppercorns (what the fuck?) that adds a nice hit of spice to the finish. Crisp and airy, it was refreshing and rated a solid good. We then tried an Olde Schoolhouse Hooligan Stout (7.6%) that was typical of the style with a bit of cocoa on the back end and just enough hops to balance it nicely. A good we next opened an Odell Footprint RegionAle (9.5%). Seemingly taking a cue from Sam at Dogfish Head who is on a quest to add every fucked up sounding ingredient known to man to a beer, the boys at Odell decided to use an ingredient from each of the 10 states they distribute to. Jamming everything in the boil from wheat, corn, barley, green chilis and even prickly pears, this one has a lot going on. In fact, there is too much going on as the different flavors hit your taste buds at various times leaving your tongue confused. Its as if they took Thanksgiving dinner and blended it into a frappe so you can drink your whole meal at once. Thankfully this wasn't quite that bad and it finished decent but still only garnered a good. Our final beer of the night was a Ballast Point Tongue Buckler (10.0%). This was the first beer Fred and Nestle had when they went to California last year and this was also the first time any of the BC4M boys had a chance to try it. Big, bold, sticky and hoppy like a mofo, this is like Oskar Blues Gordon (or G'Knight to you newbies) on steroids. "Almost like a fucking barleywine" said Chicago Mike, while Wilder added, "My tongue is definitely buckled, but I ain't gonna lie, this shit is good". The consensus was that it was easily the equal to the RFG rated Gordon so it too joined the coveted list. Done for the night, we almost pissed ourselves laughing as we watched our favorite beer making duo make their way out the door. Until next time boys and girls...when you are thirsty and need something to "hose" you off just remember to check out our pals Ace and Gary.....they are always UP to something.

Cheers to you Richard Dawson

For many of us who grew up in the 70's and 80's, one of the golden standards of television was the afternoon game show. From Match Game, to The Newlywed Game to Bob Barker and The Price is Right, game shows filled the schedule on all 3 of the major networks (that's right you spoiled fucktards living in grandma's basement with your 500 channels of Japanese anime porn, we only had 3 back then and we even had to get up to change the channel). Perhaps the greatest of them all starred a dashing English transplant who had risen to fame earlier in his career by playing Corporal Newkirk on the smash comedy series Hogan's Heroes. The game show of course was Family Feud, and no one owned the set like the horny bloke from the U.K. that would start each show by planting his lips on every female contestant regardless of size, race or age. With a quick wit and a charming smile that even ultimate pantie peeling crooner Tom Jones could have taken a lesson from, Dawson was the original TV pimp master. Show after show, year after year, our affable host watched as some of the most "gifted" and "educated" people on the planet took their chances on winning the "Feud" and going home with the then monumental sum of $5000 bucks. They just don't make them like they used to, and it was with much sadness that the BC4M's version of Richard Dawson, hooter aficionado Snake Pliskin himself, delivered the news to the rest of us that the greatest host of all time had been called up to the big game show in the sky. Snake, who's hearty laugh and endless supply of machismo captivates all the ladies, usually spends most of his time at a BC4M meeting making like Richard by kissing and fondling our better halves instead of drinking beer. He thought it was only fitting to call a special meeting to have a few drinks to honor the "kissing bandit" himself. First up was a new wild ale from The Bruery, Otiose (8.2%). Aged in oak barrels with guava added, the sour notes puckered Snakes lips and he asked, "did you say guano added?, cause this tastes funky as fuck!" Everyone else seemed to enjoy it and we rated it a solid good. Next up was the newest release from another of our favorite brewers, Firestone Walker Wookey Jack (8.3%). Black IPA's are all the rage in the craft beer world, as seemingly every brewer is coming out with one, most of which are watery messes that are better left in a portajohn. This one however, is simply amazing, "Holy fuck that is good", said Fred, as Bim added, "Does everything they make have to be so fucking good?". With a crisp hoppy body and a touch of rye that gives it a slight peppery finish this is one fine beer and it received the coveted RFG. We then moved on to a collaboration between The Bruery and Bootlegger's Brewing, Chocosaurus Rye (7.0%), a rye beer that has cocoa nibs and vanilla beans added to the mix. Only the most subtle hints of vanilla could be detected although there was a substantial amount of milk chocolate flavor that was sadly a tad flat for our liking. Still it was a solid effort on a style we hadn't ever had and it got a good. The next beer was from another west coast great, The Lost Abbey Cuvee de Tomme (11.0%). This is a big brown ale that they use 4 types of sugars in before throwing it into bourbon barrels for over a year all the while sitting on a bed of sour cherries. This is one massively complex beer that tantalizes your tongue with a barrage of bold flavors including raisins, dates, cherries, and bourbon. "This is my type of beer" smiled Snake, as Fred added, "Too many of these and someone is going home without panties". A really good was the rating so we then tried a Old SchoolHouse Brewer's Reserve Imperial Stout (10.0%). This one had a solid but not spectacular stout body with a a roasted malt backbone that screamed mediocre. Merely a good, we then tried The Bruery Sans Pagaie (5.8%). This is another wild ale from Patrick Rue and the boys and it was yet another winner. Sour lemon and sour cherry combined with a surprisingly ripe smell that could stop a horny billygoat in his tracks, although the taste was simply crisp and refreshing. "That shit smells like shit" said Snake, while Bim added, "Hmm, smells sorta like the uterus of that cum dumpster I saw today at the clinic". As he dunked a handful of chips into the cheese dip he laughed and added, "Or did I just forget to wash my hands after I saw her?" Despite the stomach turning description of the meat flaps Bim had massaged earlier in the day, this one was a real treat and got a really good. Our final beer of the night was The Bruery Barrel Aged Smoking Wood (13.0%). As many of you know, we generally despise three types of beers, light lagers like Bud, hefeweizens and rauchbiers. To us, the typical rauchbier tastes like they took the ashes from a fire bombed towel-head hideout and fermented it through a baby's soiled diaper before bottling it. This one however, is simply divine. Not overpoweringly smokey like your great aunt Gertrude and her 5 pack a day Pall Mall habit, this one is much more subtle and allows the porter base to shine through with a surprisingly sour finish. "Guys, I gotta tell ya, this is my favorite beer of the night" said Snake. We all agreed it was phenomenal and it too garnered an RFG rating. By this time, we were a bit tipsy and decided to call it a night with one final salute to a one of kind television icon.....Survey Says...........Rest in peace brother....