Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Day 178, June 27 / Sunray Wheat


Day 178 /  June 27, 2011

Terrapin Beer Co. / Athens, GA

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As sweet as Tupelo honey…

And brewed with a touch of it too.  Terrapin Sunray is a good summer wheat beer, with the typical tastes of cloves, banana and just a little honey.  The honey is not overpowering and not too sweet.  The beer pours a cloudy but bright yellow color with a thin head.

To the best of my recollection, my dad only had three albums – Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five”, The Associations Greatest Hits (they had more than one?), and Herb Alpert’s “Whipped Cream and Other Delights” (I liked that one).  So when I was a senior in high school, I was discovering all the music that may parents should have been listening to when I was growing up.  So I bought a Time Life six record set of the greatest rock and roll hits of the 60’s. 

Today’s Song of Summer was on that collection.  Enjoy!





Monday, June 27, 2011

Day 177, June 26 / Smuttynose Summer Weizen


Day 177 /  June 26, 2011

Smuttynose Brewing Co.  /  Portsmouth NH

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I spent a nice afternoon at the Nova Summer Brewfest in Leesburg and had the pleasure of sampling several beers, in mini pilsner glasses!  I ran into some friends, smoked a cigar, had some buffalo jerky and a chili dog.  What’s not to like?

Thankfully, one of the first beers I came across was the Smuttynose Summer Weizen – I also happen to have a bottle of this in the fridge too.  This was a nice, crisp wheat ale, definitely great for a hot summer day.

Down below the song of the day is the full published list of the beers that were allegedly on tap at the festival, and no, I did not sample them all. 

SSOTD:  Is this a summer song?  Don’t know.  But I heard it again today for this first time in a long time, and you should too.



Beers of the NoVa Summer BrewFest

16 MILE                     AMBER SUN/GOLDEN BLUES/OLD COURT
21ST AMENDMENT       BACK IN BLACK/FIRESIDE CHAT
ABITA                       PURPLE HAZE/RESTORATION ALE
ALLAGASH                 WHITE ALE/BLACK ALE/CURIEUX
ANDERSON VALLEY      WINTER SOLSTICE/WEE GEECH/BOONT AMBER
ANHEUSER BUSCH       SHOCKTOP/SHOCKTOP RASPBERRY/MICHELOB AMBER BOCK
APPALACHIAN             WATER CAP WHEAT/TRAIL BLAZE BROWN/HOPPY TRAILS IPA
BALLAST                    BIG EYE/BLACK MARLIN
BLUE POINT               SUMMER ALE/BLUEBERRY
BOSTON                    SAM ADAMS LAGER/SUMMER ALE/CHEERY WHEAT
BROOKLYN                 LAGER/BROWN
BRUERY                     ORCHARD WHITE
CAP CITY                   AMBER WAVES ALE
CLIPPER CITY             LOOSE CANNON/IPA
COTTRELL                  OLD YANKEE ALE/MYSTIC BRIDGE IPA
CRISPIN                    ORGINAL ORIGINAL SIN APPLE
DC BRAU                   CORRUPTION/PUBLIC
DUCK RABBIT             MILK STOUT/RUSSIAN IMPERIAL STOUT/PORTER
EPIC                         MID MTN MILD/SPIRAL JETTY/SOUR APPLE SAISON/SMOKED & OAKED
EVOLUTION                LUCKY #7 PORTER/SPRUNG/LOT #3 IPA/MENAGERIE #5
FLYINGDOG                DOGGIE STYLE/ RAGING BITCH
HARPOON                  IPA/SUMMER BEERS
HEBREW                    CONEY ISLAND LAGER/ALBINO PYTHON/HUMAN BLOCKHEAD ALE/LENNY RIPA
HIGHLAND                 FIALIC ALE/OATMEAL PORTER
KONA                        LONGBOARD/WAIALUA WHEAT
LAGUNITAS                IPA/LUCKY 13/LITTLE SUMPIN SUMPIN
LAUGHING DOG          ALPHA DOG/DOGZILLA
LEFT HAND                THE STRANGER/MILK STOUT
LEGEND                     BROWN ALE/HEFEWEISEN
LONG TRAIL               DOUBLE BAG/IMPERAIL IPA
LOST RHINO               FACE PLANT IPA/NEW RIVER PALE/PACIFIC PILS
MAD FOX                   KOLSCH/WEI HEAVY
MAGIC HAT                #9/WACKO
MILLER                      BATCH 19/BLUE MOON SUMMER HONEY
NEW HOLLAND            GOLDEN CAP/DRAGON’S MILK/POET/FULL CIRCLE KOELSCH
NORTH COAST            RED SEAL
OLD DOMINION           BEACHHOUSE/OAK BARREL/HOP MT/
OLIVERS                    ALS TBD
OMMEGANG               BPA/HENNEPIN
OSKAR BLUES             DALE’S PALE/MAMA’S YELLA PILS/G’KNIGHT
PORT CITY                 OPTIMAL WIT/MONUMENTAL IPA/ESSENTIAL PALE ALE
REDHOOK                  LONG HAMMER/PILSNER
RJ ROCKERS               BALD EAGLE BROWN/BUCKWHEAT AFTER DARK
SCHLAFLY                  KOLSCH/DRYHOP APA
SMUTTY NOSE            IPA/SUMMER WEIZEN
ST GEORGE                IPA/SUMMER
STARR HILL                NORTHERN LIGHTS/THE LOVE
STOUDT’S                  SCARLET LADY/SEASONAL
TALLGRASS                OASIS/BUFFALO SWEAT
THE RAVEN                LAGER
TROEGS                    TBD
UINTA                       ANGLERS PALE
VINTAGE                   50 TBD
WIDMER                    PITCH BLACK/ROTATOR IPA X114
WILLIAMSBURG           CHESAPEAKE ALE/WASHINGTON’S PORTER/TAVERN
WOODCHUCK              AMBER/LIMITED SUMMER

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Day 176, June 25 / Beach House Golden Pilsner

Day 176 /  June 25, 2011

Old Dominion Brewing Company  /  Dover, DE

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I knew I should’ve brought one with me…

So yesterday, we went to my college friends’ annual pig roast – they’ve been doing this for over 20 years now.  One whole pig, roasted for about 16 hours, tons of side dishes (including my jalapeno poppers), great music, lots of kids (some of whom are now of drinking age), and lots of beer.  Granted, not as much as we used to put back, bill still a lot.  2 kegs and a bunch of bottles.  But no summer beers.

I even stopped into a bar with a  friend afterward, and no summer beer to be had there either.  So when I got home at around 11, I reluctantly cracked open the Dominion Beach House Pilsner.  Reluctantly, because I really didn’t want another beer.

My palate was sufficiently numbed from Yuenglings, Bud Light (yeah, I know) and jalapeno poppers, so I don’t know if I can give an accurate review of the beer, so we’ll just give it a Good, OK?

The Song of Summer is from the official soundtrack of the 2011 Pig Roast.



Day 175, June 24 / SommerBrau


Day 175 /  June 24, 2011

Gordon Biersch Brewing Co.  /  San Jose CA



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Suzanne Somers:  1970’s ditzy, jiggly TV star, Thighmaster spokesperson and infomercial queen.


Pat Sommers:  Eigthies and nineties rocker, and rock and roll mentor to dozens (hundreds?) of kids.


SommerBrau:  Gordon Biersch’s summer seasonal kolsch style beer.  Definitely a good representation of the style, smooth and crisp with a nice bite from the German Tettnang hops.


Summer Song:  Here’s Pat Sommers and one of his and my favorite students doing a classic Beatles tune.


Thursday, June 23, 2011

Day 174, June 23 / Bell’s Oberon Ale


Day 174 /  June 23, 2011

Bell's Brewery, Inc. /  Kalamazoo, MI

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Saving (one of) the best for (near) last…

I’ve had the Bell’s Oberon Ale in the fridge since the beginning of the month.  Each day when I select the beer of the day, I’ve seen that smiling sun calling me.  But I waited.  Until today.  I couldn’t hold out any longer.

Bell’s Oberon is another “go to” summer beer, always hitting the spot.  It’s a light wheat ale with mildly fruity aromas.

I’ve got to give a shout out to Dropbox.com, a service which has helped me out tremendously in the last month of this blog.  Dropbox is an online file storage service that integrates with your PC and your mobile device.  I ditched the Blackberry about a month ago, and got a Droid for a week, took it back and got an iPhone.  Now I take most of the photos for the blog with the iPhone, upload them to Dropbox, and they automagically appear in a folder on my laptop and my desktop!  All for free!

Song of Summer:  Here’s a tune from a band that normally plays only instrumentals, but invited some guest vocalists, like Dave Alvin, on their “Sing Along With…” album.