This past weekend Winter Springs, FL hosted the 33rd annual Central Florida Scottish Highlands Games, and what is a Scottish event without great beer. Dunedin Brewing came with taps pouring 4 tasty beers. While I’m far from being the Gary Vaynerchuck of beer, I do imbibe with some degree of discernment. Being an outspoken fan of IPA’s though, I was a bit out of my comfort zone with this tasting but I’m not afraid to Hail the Ale whatever its particular variety. In this video I review Dunedin’s Drop Kick Murphy’s Red and the Brewmaster’s Nitro Stout Special. Enjoy!
I have been following the “Beer Wars” movie and associated PR news in the beerblogohopsosphere over the past couple weeks and really wanted to write someting. Not something about the movie since I didn’t see it, but something about what it brought out. I never could quite get my thoughts into even a semi-coherent form.
So, I’ll just let Jay Brookston take it from here. Not only does he sum up much of what I’ve been thinking over the past few weeks, but he is a much better writer than I. The latter should not be news to anyone but my mom: she thinks I’m special and would have chuckled at the “brewhaha” reference that I refrained from using.
A few weeks ago, Flying Dog sent me a bottle of their Dogtoberfest Fall seasonal. I’m a bit late on reviewing this since I had to wait for most of the cold that had invaded my body to leave so that I could actually taste what I was drinking.
According to Flying Dog (and I have no reason to doubt them), Dogtoberfest is a “traditional-style Marzen, brewed with 100% imported German ingredients”. This is a lager that uses Light and Dark Munich and Vienna malts and is hopped with German Perle and Hersbrucker hops. ABV is 5.3% and IBUs are 30.
From the first sip to the last, this was a really good beer. It isn’t as malty as some marzens like the Brooklyn Brewing Oktoberfest I had a few days ago, but it has a great flavor and is very drinkable. This is a good beer for tailgating, grilling out, or just chilling out. I’ll definitely be buying this one throughout the rest of the much-too-short Octoberfest beer season.
Flying Dog kindly sent a bottle of their spring seasonal Garde Dog to HTA HQ. Garde Dog is a Biere de Garde or “a beer for the keeping” according to the info. provided with said bottle. I really don’t know why you’d keep this since once I drank it, I immediately wanted to have another one. I can’t see keeping these around long in my fridge or at a party.
[...] is golden to deep copper or light brown in color. They are moderate to medium in body. This style of beer is characterized by a toasted malt aroma, slight malt sweetness in flavor, and medium hop bitterness. Noble-type hop aromas and flavors should be low to medium. Fruity esters can be light to medium in intensity. Flavor of alcohol is evident.
I’d say that in this case, Flying Dog nailed it. This is a great, easy-drinking beer. It would be perfect for a party or to introduce someone who doesn’t normally drink craft beers to something that has great flavors without being too extreme in any direction.
For your video enjoyment, Flying Dog has put together an interview w/their Executive Brewer to talk about Garde Dog. I’m embedding it below, but check the link if you want the higher-res version or are seeing this in your feed reader.
Beer and Philosophy: The Unexamined Beer Isn’t Worth Drinking is book about beer and philosophy (this is how all my grade school book reports started out, so it’s all I know..). It is a collection of short chapters from philosophers, beer lovers, beer makers, and beer drinkers–with most authors being more than one of those–and edited by a philospher and beer lover, Steven D. Hales. I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that Alan McLeod, a fellow beer blogger at A Good Beer Blog was one of the authors. I was sent a review copy of this book courtesy of the editor/publisher.
The book begins with a foreword from “The Beer Hunter” himself, Michael Jackson followed by an Editor’s Introduction. Both set the stage for the philosophical questions brought on, related to, and maybe even answered by beer. From there, Part 1 is The Art of Beer, followed by The Ethics of Beer. Not to be outdone, The Metaphysics and Epistemology of Beer and Beer in the History of Philosophy round out Parts III and IV. With the exception of Part 1 which has six chapters, the parts contain three chapters each. Since the chapters are written by different authors with very different backgrounds and writing styles, you may want to treat this like a collection of short stories and read one and let it sink in before tackling the next one.
Since this is a beer blog, here’s a quick list of the chapters written by beer folks:
The Beer Matrix: Reality vs Facsimile in Brewing by Garrett Oliver, the brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery.
Quality, Schmaility: Talking Naturally about the Aesthetics of Beer; or Why is American Beer So Lousy? by Martin Stack and George Gale. Martin Stack is an Associate Professor of Management at Rockhurst University who’s scholarly work is focused on the brewing industry.
Extreme Brewing in America by Sam Calagione, the founder of Dogfish Head.
What’s a Beer Style by Matt Dunn, a homebrewer who wrote his biology master’s thesis on brewers yeast and evolution and is now completing his PhD in the History and Philosophy of Science.
These were my favorite chapters since they were written in a more natural writing style about topics I’m familiar with. In contrast, the chapters that were heavier on the philosophy ranged from very interesting to unreadable for me. I don’t fault the authors for this since they were writing about what they know in a more academic style that they are familiar with and for their audience.
Overall, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to anyone even if you don’t think you’re interested in philosophy. Many of the topics brought up by the authors were likely thoughts you’ve had while enjoying a beer but may not have taken the time to think about so it is nice to see someone take the ball and run with it. You can buy the book at Amazon (referral link which I make a few pennies from)
