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!