Day 50, Feb 19 / Harpoon Oak Aged Dunkel

Day 50 / February 19

Harpoon Oak Aged Dunkel  (Session 34)

Harpoon Brewing Company  /  Boston MA

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My friend Kevin brought this bottle over around Christmas as a hostess gift, before I had even conceived of my beer quest.  I cracked it open and shared a little bit with Linda on a lazy Saturday night.

This is part of Harpoon’s 100 Barrel Series, which is a “showcase” series for Harpoon’s brewers.  Every couple of months a different Harpoon brewer will choose a style, develop a recipe, and brew the beer — from selecting the ingredients to the final filtration.

The Oak Aged Dunkel is brewed using traditional German ingredients and aged on American Oak.  This was an excellent beer, not too heavy or bitter, with a toasty malt flavor.  This beer is not actually aged in oak barrels, but is fermented with oak spirals (pictured at left) in the tank, which achieves much the same taste in a much shorter period of time.

You can definitely taste the flavor of the wood in the beer – this would probably be great paired with a nice bourbon as well.

NOTE:  These 100 Barrel series don’t last long – if you see one in the store and it sounds interesting, buy it!  These bottles are not distributed as widely as the regular Harpoon beers, so it may be hard to find in your area.

Day 49, Feb 18 / Shiner Dortmunder Spring Ale

Day 49 / February 18

Shiner Dortmunder Spring Ale

Spoetzl Brewery, Shiner TX

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You just gotta love Shiner!  It’s classic Americana.  Shiner beers are brewed by the Spoetzl Brewery in Shiner TX, about 90 minutes from either Austin or San Antonio.  Every drop of Shiner is brewed in Shiner.

What started as a small, regional brewery has grown into a somewhat hip, nationally distributed brand, with year round and seasonal beers that are consistently refreshing.

The brewery has a rich heritage, started by German immigrants in 1909, and the many of the current employees are descendants of the original employees.  The people of Shiner, TX are as much a part of the beer as the ingredients (yeah, that sounds a little gross, but it’s true). 

In 2004, a short documentary called “Something’s Brewing in Shiner” was released, about the release of a mysterious new beer.  All of the residents of Shiner were invited to try and comment on the new beer before it was released.  The folks in this video are just good people.  Click the picture to view the trailer.

The Spoetzl Brewing Company turned 100 in 2009 – in the years leading up to their anniversary they released a specialty brew each year to commemorate their heritage.  The tradition has continued past the anniversary.

• Shiner 96 — Märzen/Oktoberfest Ale
• Shiner 97 — Bohemian Black Lager
• Shiner 98 — Bavarian Style Amber
• Shiner 99 — Munich Style Helles Lager
• Shiner 100 Commemorator — Starkbier
• Shiner 101 — Czech-style Pilsner
• Shiner 102 — American Style Double Wheat Ale

Shiner Dortmunder Spring Ale is their Spring seasonal.  The same beer was actually released last year under the name Shiner Frost.  It’s a light colored, extremely refreshing beer, more of a pilsner or lager taste than an ale.  However, you can definitely taste the hop flavor.  This is a very crisp beer, it would be great on a warm day.

Day 48, Feb 17 / Mad Fox Defender APA

Day 48  /  February 17

Defender APA (American Pale Ale)

Mad Fox Brewing Company  /  Falls Church VA

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Another Thursday, another Happy Hour… but not a going away Happy Hour.

Not even a work Happy Hour.  But I did work with these guys – over 20 years ago!

I met up with a couple friends (commenter and followers HHH and Mark D), back at Mad Fox Brewing Company in Falls Church, for a couple beers and a little dinner.

Mad Fox’s beer selection does change regularly, as new batches are ready.  So anything I might write about here might not be on tap anymore when and if you stop by.  New on tap was the Defender APA (American Pale Ale).

The Defender is a hop-forward ale (I had to ask HHH what that really meant – it’s just a beer that has a dominant taste of hops over other flavors).  It was quite good, a relatively light ale and had a very slight citrus taste.  I also had a Kolsch and an Orange Whip IPA.

The best thing I had that night was the soup of the day - Tuscan Sausage soup - a hearty, tomato broth based soup with chunky vegetables and sausage.

NOTE:  Mad Fox fills and sells growlers of all their beers on tap, and you can bring in growlers from anywhere to fill.  If you Like or Friend or Follow or Poke Mad Fox Brewing Company on Facebook, you’ll see that they post pictures of all (most) of the growlers that people bring in to fill, which is kind of neat.

They also post pictures of all of their daily food specials.  And new beer tappings.  And pictures of kids.  And waitresses.  Note to Mad Fox – you’re an over-poster!

(Sorry for another crappy Blackberry photo.  I’m due for a new phone – should I get the Verizon iPhone or a Droid?  Which droid?  Discuss!)

Day 47, Feb 16 / Birra Moretti

Day 47 / February 16

Birra Moretti

Brewed by Heineken Italia  /  Milano, Italy

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Birra Moretti was a brewery founded in northeastern Italy in 1859.  In 1996, the brewery was sold to Heineken.  The original brewery was sold to Birra Castella.

Their flagship beer is also named Birra Moretti, a pale lager, very light in color and mild in taste.  It went fine with my dinner, but honestly I would have liked to have had a glass of wine with dinner, but you see, I have this slight, 365 day obsession…

WEIGHT LOSS UPDATE:   Wednesdays are weigh-in days for The Biggest Loser contest at work.  I wasn’t looking forward to today’s weigh-in, as I had slacked off the elliptical a bit this week, and, as you may recall, I had 3 beers Monday and Tuesday nights.  So it came as a surprise when the scale at worked showed 3 pounds less than last week.  So that’s about 7-8 pounds from the 1^st of the year.  Now time to get serious.

Day 46, Feb 15 / Kilkenny Irish Cream Ale

Day 46 / February 15

Kilkenny Irish Cream Ale

Smithwick's Brewery / Irish Ale Breweries Ltd , Kilkenny, Ireland

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Team Fat, Drunk & Stupid returns to SHITT!

OK, here’s the rules:  No Googling or outside help of any kind.  Answer these 6 questions in 10 minutes or less.  If you’d like, post your answers in the comments section below.  The prize?  You may be able to claim that you’re smarter than 4 middle-aged dudes.  Ready?  Go!

1)  Which 20th century president was the first historical figure mentioned in the 1989 Billy Joel hit, “We Didn't Start The Fire”?

2)  Which 3 fingers are extended to form the letter “F” in American Sign Language?

3)  In Lewis Carroll’s book Alice In Wonderland, which character told Alice, "I'm mad, You're mad, We're all mad here."

 4)  In the musical composition Peter And The Wolf, which instrument represents the wolf?

5)  What island, also the name of a county in Ireland, is the name of a 1996 hit by the band The Saw Doctors?

6)  What bluegrass and country singer has won the most Grammy awards by a female artist, with 26 in total?

Those are the questions that my work pals Tony, Jim, Stank and I (Team Fat, Drunk & Stupid) missed on last night’s Pub Trivia Quiz at The Auld Shebeen in Fairfax, VA.  We knew Maple Leaf, quiche, Harry Connick Jr., Staten Island and 20 other correct answers (total of 30 questions).  (I’ll post the correct answers in the comments section in a couple days.)

So, with 24 out of 30 correct, we didn’t think we had a chance of winning last night’s contest.  But… 5 out of 19 teams tied for first at 24, including our friends Amy, Katie, KT, and Rob.

So all 5 teams got 1 tie breaker question – the closest to the correct answer wins.  And the question was…

          In feet, how long is each exterior wall of The Pentagon?

          The correct answer:  921.6 feet

          Our guess:              1050 feet

Were we the closest?  I don’t recall all the other team’s answers, but I think one was 1200 feet and another was 10,000 feet.  So YES, we were the closest, and we won for the night!  $50 gift certificate for our next visit.

Team FDS is the reigning Auld Shebeen Tournament of Champions Champion, which was held last June.  That was a 4-round, 100 question quiz that also resulted in a 5 way tie.

BEER OF THE DAY:  I had a couple Kilkenny Irish Cream Ales, a nitrogenated red ale with a rich creamy head, like a Boddington’s or Guiness in texture.  The taste is smooth, slightly malty and sweet.  I like it!  Apparently it makes me a little smarter.  Just a little.

Kilkenny is brewed by the makers of Smithwick’s beer, and up until 2000 it was brewed at the St. Francis Abbey Brewery, which dates back to 1710, in Kilkenny, Ireland.  It is currently in limited distribution in the US.

BTW, SHITT stands for Sure Happy It’s Trivia Tuesday!

Day 45, Feb 15 / Three Dog Night!

Day 45 / February 14

Fat Dog Stout Stoudt’s Brewing Company Adamstown, PA				Ellie’s Brown Ale Avery Brewing Company Boulder, CO
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Indian Brown Ale Dogfish Head Brewing Co. Milton, DE
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Three Dog Night!

First off, Happy Valentine’s Day to y’all.  Just chilling at home with my wife and daughter, nice steak dinner with risotto – yeah, I know, not so good for the weight loss program.

So I’m sitting in a training room at work today, waiting for a meeting to start and my co-worker (and fellow amateur blogger) Tony asks me what’s on tap for tonight.  I told him that I had 3 dog beers left in the fridge, but I really wanted to end the Dog Beer Run.  He says, “You know what that means?”  I say, “Ummm… no.”  And he says, “It’s a three dog night!”

So, thanks to the Tone Man for tonight’s theme.  Turns out it was three dark brown dogs (keeping up with last night’s theme).

So first up was Fat Dog Stout, an Imperial Oatmeal Stout from Stoudt’s Brewing Company in Adamstown, PA.  Yes, it was a Stoudt’s Stout.  I’ve visited Stoudt’s brewery, beer hall, restaurant and antique hall several times and have always had a great time at their Oktoberfest celebrations.  I’ll write more about that in a future post, but be sure to check out their website.

As I have previously noted, I’m not a huge stout beer fan, but it was Fat Dog, so how could I resist?  Any Imperial style of beer generally has a higher alcohol content – this was 9%.  And the oatmeal means that it is brewed with oats in addition to the other grains.  This had a heavy taste, slightly sweet, very filling.

Next up was Ellie’s Brown Ale from Avery Brewing Company in Boulder, Co.  The beer’s namesake is the dog on the label, the founder’s late Chocolate Lab Ellie.  This was a medium bodied brown ale, slightly nutty and lighter than the stout.

And the beer I’m nursing right now is a Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale, which, according to Dogfish, is the “original hybrid, a cross between a Scotch Ale, an India Pale Ale, and an American Brown.”  There’s definitely a lot going on here.  Most Dogfish beers are very complex, and this one is no exception.  It’s a bit too complex for my tastes, but it’s probably one of the more mainstream beers available from Dogfish.

Technically, only one beer counts for today, so let’s count the Stoudt’s Fat Dog Stout.

Tomorrow – the return of Fat, Drunk & Stupid to SHITT!