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.