Beer of the Week & January Beer of the Month!

Plus… Final January Calendar and Subscribe via Email

 

OK, lots of news, so let’s get to it!

1)   Beer of the Week  -  I had 3 Very Good beers this week, but only 1 can be the Beer of the Week.  What will it be?  Hobgoblin Dark English Ale?  Firestone Walker Pale 31?  Or Coney Island Lager?  All were quite good, but my BOTW is… Firestone Walker Pale 31!

2)    Beer of the Month  -  Each month, I’ll consider each BOTW and declare one my favorite Beer of the Month or BOTM.  At the end of the year, I’ll assemble all 12 beers into my Ultimate 12-Pack (thanks Jim), sample them all again (thanks Linda), and crown one my Beer of the Year!

So, my January Beer of the Month is… Surprise!  Also the Firestone Walker Pale 31!  This is a very tasty, very drinkable beer that I enjoy quite a bit.  Please give it (and all the other VG rated beers) a try!

3)    The January Beer Calendar is now updated for the full month, in case you want to run out and buy one of these beers.  Remember, each logo links back to the review of that beer.

4)    New Feature – Subscribe via Email.  If your day is just not complete until you read my daily blog, now you can subscribe and get updates emailed to you as soon as I post them.  Look down the right column a little bit for the SUBSCRIBE VIA EMAIL box.

That’s all folks!  Good night!

Day 31, Jan 31 / Session Black Lager

Day 31 / Jan 31

Session Black Lager

Full Sail Brewing Co.  /  Hood River, OR

Scissors cuts paper.

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I’ve  made it through the first month of 365 Beers and 50 Pounds.  Yay me!  I’ve had at least 1 beer every day this year so far, and let’s say I’ve dropped somewhere between 3 and 5 pounds, depending on the time of the weigh-in and which unreliable scale I just stepped off of.

Today’s beer is the sibling to yesterday’s beer.  Session Black Lager.  Same stubby bottle.  Same rock, paper, scissors cap.  Different beer, but still pretty light in flavor and alcohol content.

This is a black lager, also known as a schwarzbier.  Although it is very dark in color, it’s not heavy or thick.  It has slight flavors of malt and smoke.  And yes please, I’d like another.

Day 30, Jan 30 / Session Premium Lager

Day 30 / Jan 30

Session Premium Lager

Full Sail Brewing Co.  /  Hood River, OR

Rock smashes scissors.

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For those of us old enough to remember taking a sip off of Dad’s Black Label, seeing a bottle of Session Lager on the shelf might wake up brain cells that have long beer dormant.  I remember Dad getting Carling Black Label, Schlitz and Schmidt’s in those little bottles back in the 70’s.

Session comes in an 11 oz. stubby brown bottle, sold in a 12-pack box.  It’s a good, crisp, classic all-malt (no rice or corn adjuncts) lager, golden in color with a thin white head.  Session Lager should really appeal to most beer drinkers – craft beer drinkers and mass market beer drinkers. 

FYI, by definition, a “session” beer is generally a beer with a low or moderate alcohol content, of which a large quantity can be consumed over several hours (i.e. a “session”).  Session beers may also be called saison or farmhouse beers.

NOTE:  Check the bottom of the cap.  If you truly are having a beer drinking session, you could have a fun game of Rock, Paper, Scissors.

Day 29, Jan 29 / Lot No. 3 India Pale Ale

Day 29 / Jan 29

Lot No. 3 India Pale Ale

Evolution Craft Brewing Co. / Delmar, DE

I think I drank a smuggled beer.  May I have another?

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If you’ve been following this blog, you’ve probably figured out that I know a thing or two about craft beers and breweries.  Over the past few years, I’ve had beers from many craft breweries, visited several of the East Coast craft breweries, shopped in beer stores like some women might shop in shoe stores (spent a long time, checked out all the styles before making my purchase), and read about beers in various publications and websites.

So imagine my surprise when I see a beer on the menu of The Majestic in Alexandria, VA, from a brewery that I had never even heard of before!  What’s this?  Lot No. 3 India Pale Ale from Evolution Craft Brewing Company?  I must have it!

This was a good, aggressively hopped IPA, and it went very well with our appetizer of steamed mussels (yes, that’s what’s behind them in the picture).  As did champagne, an old fashioned, and a vodka & soda, apparently.  (Not mine, but my dinner companions’ drinks of choice).

So this morning I did some Googling to find out about my new beer friend.  Evolution is a small brewery that opened in 2009 in Delmar, DE (east of Cambridge, MD, north of Salisbury, MD, west of the Ocean).  According their website, they only distribute in Delaware, Maryland and DC, so somebody must have smuggled this beer across the Virginia border! 

It looks like they have 5 year-round beers (IPA, ESB, Pale Ale, Porter and Stout) and a couple seasonals.  They encourage folks to tour the brewery and tasting room, and purchase growlers to go.  Could be a good summer road trip!

BTW, this was our first visit to The Majestic Café in old Town Alexandria, and it was quite tasty.  Their menu offers primarily southern style comfort food with a contemporary twist.  Meat loaf and fried green tomatoes share the menu with seared salmon (my health-conscious choice) and seafood stew.  Street parking is conveniently located 7 blocks away :) .

Day 28, Jan 28 / Coney Island Lager

Day 28 / Jan 28

Coney Island Lager

Schmaltz Brewing Company  /  San Francisco & New York

I got my Beer Freak on!

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A freaky bar deserves a freaky beer.  The first time I had a Coney Island Lager was at The Palace of Wonders in DC, on H Street NE, a small 2 story bar with sideshow artifacts and frequent travelling sideshows and burleseque shows.  Hey, I had to check it out!

At that time (a few years ago), Coney Island was not widely distributed outside of New York City, and the Palace had it driven in especially for the bar.  Now it is distributed in 25 states.  Schmaltz also produces the He’brew line of beers as well.

The taste of this beer was surprising complex for a lager.  As you can see, it’s more of a copper color than the yellow color you might expect in a lager.  This beer is made with 8 different malts and 6 different types of hops.  Quite tasty!  Another contender for Beer of the Week.

I split a 22 oz. bottle with my wife, but you can also find it in 12 oz. bottles.  Coney Island is releasing a Summer Variety 12-pack this year with Coney Island Lager, Sword Swallower (Hoppy) Lager, Albino Python Spiced White Lager and Mermaid Rye Pilsner.  I’ll definitely be grabbing this 12-pack!

NOTE 1:  Some of the proceeds from the sale of these beers go to save Brooklyn's Coney Island community and to preserve it as a National Landmark.

NOTE 2:  Riding the Wonder Wheel at Coney Island is on my bucket list.  It’s fun and history all rolled into one!