Day 364, Dec 30 / Redbridge

Day 364 / December 30, 2011

Redbridge

Anheuser-Busch / St. Louis, MO

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Give me my gluten!

Well, I wish my penultimate beer on this quest was something better, but I’m afraid it’s not!

We took my in-laws to the Air & Space Museum out by Dulles airport this afternoon, and then we poked around Reston Town Center for a little while.  We popped into Clyde’s for dinner, and surprisingly we got a table for five right away.

The only beer on the menu that I hadn’t yet had this year was A-B’s Redbridge, a gluten-free amber beer made with sorghum instead of barley or wheat.  While I’m glad that those with Celiac Disease have a beer they can drink, I’m sorry that it’s a pretty crappy beer.  To me, the taste was a bit sour and foul.

See you tomorrow (or probably New Year’s Day) for the final beer of the year!

Day 347, Dec 13 / Haffenreffer Private Stock

Day 347 / December 13, 2011

Haffenreffer Private Stock

Private Stock Brewing Co. / Utica, NY

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aka Private Stock, Head-wrecker, Head reckaz, P-stock, Heff's, Heffy's, Haffy, Haffen-wrecker, Green Death, Ghetto Torpedo, Green Grenades, Green Lightning, Liquid Crack, Booty Juice, Death in a Bottle, Hava-a-Reefer, Jolly Green Giants, Da Green Monsta, Blitz Monkies...  

Or…. The beer too bad to die!

This 40 ounce malt liquor has been sitting in fridge since I picked it up in Massachusetts this summer.  I had originally planned to do a 40 ounce Beer Run this year, but thankfully, I’m just about at the end of the year!

I’ve got memories of drinking the Green Monster with my high school buddies, for the same reason most people drink malt liquor – the buzz for the buck!  Haffenreffer has actually has a very long history, beginning in the 1870’s, with a number of stops and starts in production, and several ownership changes.  In fact, there are conflicting reports as to who actually owns and produces the brand now – it could be Miller, Pabst or somebody else.

A novelty feature of Haffenreffer is the rebus puzzle on the back of the cap.  There was one puzzle that my friends and I could never figure out.  The best we could come up with was “How about an exploding carrot, baby?”  But I bet this guy figured it out, because he’s got all of the Haffenreffer and Falstaff rebus caps!

How’s the beer taste?  Pretty bad.  Really bad, actually.  Did I spit it out?  Well, no.  Did I finish the 40? Hell no!

Apparently, a lot of people are very fond of the green monster.  Check out these web sites!

The History of Haffenreffer

Haffenreffer on 40ozMaltLiquor.com

Forty Ounces of Fury – The Malt Liquor Taste Test  

(Haffenreffer was actually omitted from this test, but the site is pretty cool.)

Day 340, Dec 6 / Samichlaus Classic

Day 340 / December 6, 2011

Samichlaus Classic

Brauerei Schloss Eggenberg / Vorchdorf, Austria

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The strongest lager in the world!

OR… Santa Claus Kicked My Ass!

Back in January when I started this quest, a former co-worker (who we’ll just call The Hammer) brought me in a beer that he had recently received a four-pack of as a gift.  He said it was the worst beer he had ever had.  Or the nastiest thing he had ever put in his mouth. Or something along those lines.  Now, I took that with a grain of salt, because The Hammer has a kegerator of Miller Lite in his Man-Cave.

But nonetheless, I was intrigued.  So I did some research on this mysterious beer.  Samichlaus is Austria’s version of Santa Claus, who apparently travels the countryside with his creepy sidekick Schmutzli (I’m not making this up).

Samichlaus Bier is the strongest lager beer in the world, clocking in at 14% alcohol by volume.  Brewed only once a year on December 6, Samichlaus is aged for 10 months before bottling. This beer is one of the rarest in the world. Samichlaus may be aged for many years to come. Older vintages allegedly become more complex with a creamy warming finish.

A friend stopped by to help me move an old projection TV out of the basement (we failed), and we split my bottle of Samichlaus, which was brewed in 2008 and bottled in 2009.  Don’t worry, I had my 7 ounces, he had the rest.  Based on the advice of other drinkers, I took the beer out of my fridge and let it warm up for about 90 minutes to let the flavors come through.  It poured with a thick, rich red color with very little head, and the smell of the alcohol was very intense.  The beer is thick and syrupy, and the taste is very complex.  But most people would probably consider it foul.  This was my first, and most likely my last, Samichlaus.  If you’re interested, check out what the real beer geeks on Beer Advocate have to say about it.

I actually followed it up with 12 ounces of New Belgium Hoptoberfest, a lighter mildly hoppy beer.  But about 35 minutes later, the Samichlaus started to kick in, and I was drunk on a beer and a half!  Imagine if I had drank a whole bottle!

Day 337, Dec 3 / Michelob Ultra

Day 337 / December 3, 2011

Michelob Ultra

Michelob Brewing Co (InBev)  /  St. Louis, MO

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Beer?  Or Sports Drink?

OK, first, we’ll address my beer selection for the night.  My wife and I attended my new company’s holiday party last night, which was a very nice event at the Gaylord Hotel in National Harbor, just outside of DC.  While the beer selection was respectable (Sierra Nevada, Sam Adams…), the only beer I hadn’t yet had was the Michelob Ultra.  So I had one, and then moved on to better beers.

I checked out Michelob Ultra’s website to get a link for the blog, and the website looks more a site for a sports drink than a beer.  It shows people hiking, running, biking – Lance Armstrong is even there!  I guess the implication is that Michelob Ultra is a great way to replenish your body’s natural hops and barley after exercising.

And another thing – there is a link on the website labeled “Flavors.”  Really?  Flavors?  How about “Beer Styles,” “Our Brews” or “Our Beers?”  Click the link and you’ll know why they say flavors – Lime Cactus, Pomegranate Raspberry and Dragon Fruit Peach.  Yuck.

The only good thing I can say about Michelob Ultra is that it’s only 95 calories.  I guess if I only drank Ultra this year, I would have lost the 50 pounds!

Day 336, Dec 2 / Genesee 12 Horse Ale

Day 336 / December 2, 2011

Genesee 12 Horse Ale

Genesee Brewing Company / Rochester, NY

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Zombie horses.

Genesee has brought 12 Horse Ale out of retirement for their Heritage Collection.  In fact, if you check Beer Advocate, there is a gap in review dates, skipping from 2005 to October 2011.

In its day, 12 Horse Ale was the premium beer in Genesee’s line.  It was actually first introduced in 1934.  For its reintroduction in October, Genesee delivered cases of 12 Horse Ale to local bars via horse-drawn buggies.

It’s definitely better than regular Genny, but unfortunately, not good enough to raise it above a NG grade.

Day 335, Dec 1 / Genesee Beer

Day 335 / December 1, 2011

Genesee Beer

Genesee Brewing Company / Rochester, NY

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Sentimentality wins over taste.

I grew up in Syracuse, NY.  Our local beers in the 70’s and 80’s were Genesee, Utica Club, and Matt’s Premium.  And when I was of legal drinking age (of course), I definitely had a few of each of these.  I certainly don’t remember them as being great tasting beers, but I do remember my Dad drinking them, and they were some of the first beers I had.

So, remember those pictures I posted last week?  The beers I didn’t buy in Pittsburgh?  Well, what I didn’t post was the other case I did buy – The Genesee Heritage Collection.  Eight classic stubby bottles each of Genesee Beer, 12 Horse Ale and Genesee Cream Ale.

The first of these I sampled this week was the flagship Genesee beer, which would have been better if it was a lot colder, I was on a boat waterskiing with my friends, and I was 25 younger.  But that didn’t happen, so it was pretty bad.  This is a light beer, brewed with corn grits in addition to barley malt and (not much) Yakima Valley hops.  I can’t recommend, but if you have memories of Genesee and want to remember the taste – I have 7 more classic stubby bottles of it!

One more thing – as I was researching for this blog post, I ran across another blog post titled “Dad’s Favorite Beer,” in which the author and commenters recall what their Dads drank.