Pfeifferhorn Lager / Epic Brewing Company

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Pfeifferhorn Lager

Epic Brewing Company / Salt Lake City, UT

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First of all, let's get something straight.  The year of beer was last year, complete with a set of unbreakable rules (different beer every day, no Coors Light, etc.).  Any blog postings this year will be haphazard, at random, whatever and whenever I feel like it.  Get it? Got it. Good.

Now then, on to the beer.  In Utah, beer under 4% alcohol can be sold at grocery stores, and beer over 4% (heavy beer) must be sold at the state liquor store.  As a point of reference,  most of your macro-brews sold in other states are actually above 4% ABV: 

Budweiser = 5.0% abv

    MGD = 5.0% abv

      Miller Lite = 4.2% abv

        Coors Banquet = 5.0% abv

          Coors Light = 4.2% abv

But in Utah, all of these wonderful beers are 3.2% ABV.  Even some of the craft beers that will show up in this Beer Run are 4% or lower.

Epic Brewing is one of the newer craft breweries in Utah, but already has pretty wide distribution - you can get many of their beers here in Virginia.  The beers I've seen around here are usually from their "Exponential" series - big beers, imperials, saisons, sours.

The Pfeifferhorn Lager is  from Epic's Classic Series.  This was recommended to me by the lady working at the liquor store.  It's a very good lager (5.3% alcohol),  with a crisp, spicy finish - a bit more character than you'd generally expect from a lager.

Day 358, Dec 24 / Old Man Winter Ale

The unfortunate Santa on the left started out as
 a candle, but lost his head as the night
burned on.

Day 358 / December 24, 2011

Old Man Winter Ale

Southern Tier Brewing Company / Lakewood, NY

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Here’s to the Old Man.

On Christmas Eve, I cracked open a Southern Tier Old Man, brought over the previous night by HHH.

The taste opens with huge tangerine citrus hops. Orange & grapefruit are there as well, but stronger than in the nose – as is the rind. Firm bitterness. The great citrus / tangerine hop character is joined by a bit of resin and a touch of pine that really sticks around in the finish with some spicy & earthy notes and some rind. Toasty grain & biscuity pale malt provide a nice base along with a touch of caramel sweetness, hints of bread crust, and dark sugars.

OK, I didn’t write that.  I didn’t even taste that.  I just copied some dude’s review from Beer Advocate.  But I definitely did enjoy it, as a strong, rich winter ale.

Chime in readers (both of you) – do you distinguish this level of tastes in your beers?  Because I don’t, and I don’t think I’d want to.  You’d spend too much time analyzing your beverages and less time enjoying them and the company of your friends.  Not every beer’s gonna be great, hopefully most will be good, and some are just cold, wet and have alcohol.  And yeah, some suck, but I’m sure you know better than to avoid them.  Unless you’re some crazy blogger, out to drink 365 different beers in a year.

And here’s to my old man, who passed away back in 2004.  Merry Christmas Dad, I miss you.

Day 355, Dec 21 / The Gift

Day 355 / December 21, 2011

The Gift

Starr Hill Brewing Company  / Crozet, VA

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One Hellerbock.

Starr Hill’s winter seasonal is The Gift, a German Style Hellerbock. Most winter seasonal are darker, heavier beers, but this one is a lighter beer, but still full bodied.  This has a malty, slightly warming lager taste.  In fact, I picked up a six pack to enjoy after the run is over.

Day 352, Dec 18 / Auld Acquaintance Hoppy Holiday Ale

Day 352 / December 18, 2011

Auld Acquaintance Hoppy Holiday Ale

Pike Brewing Co. / Seattle, WA

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He-men deserve a good beer.

Remember that projection TV my friend and I tried to get out of the basement on Samichlaus day?  Well, we gave it another shot on Sunday, with the help of Super Sliders Lifting Straps.  A small bruise and a couple wall dings later, we were able to get it out.

We celebrated this small life victory by splittling a 22 ounce bottle of Pike’s Auld Acquaintance Hoppy Holiday Ale.  It’s actually not too hoppy, despite its name.  It was a nice, sessionable, lightly spiced ale.  Highly enjoyable, indeed.

Day 350, Dec 16 / Santa’s Butt Porter

Day 350 / December 16, 2011

Santa’s Butt Porter

Ridgeway Brewing, South Stoke, England

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Santa’s Butt tasted better than I expected…

On the third day of Christmas, I cracked open Santa’s Butt.  Wait, that doesn’t sound too good, does it?

Santa’s Butt is a hearty winter porter, dark in color and malty in taste, not too heavy.  It was actually very good.

Ridgeway Brewery is a small brewery in South Stoke, England, and many of their beers are holiday themed seasonal.  The label for Santa’s Butt actually caused some controversy for its importer back in 2005 and 2006.  Several states objected to the image of the jolly old posterior on the label, but “butt” actually refers to the barrel Santa is sitting on.

Here’s the explanation on the label.