Drinking from the refrigerator

Last Tuesday, a couple of friends dropped by with pizza, and we opened my refrigerator to taste as much beer as possible.

I am slowly becoming something of a collector of beer (you may substitute the word pack-rat here), and I was pretty pleased to find I could pull out 12 distinct varieties of beer from the refrigerator. (People are very impressed when you can do that, incidentally.)

Here's what we tasted:



We tasted right to left - so we started with Bell's Two-Hearted, and finished with the Black Oak 10 Bitter Years. (It was only afterward that I realized this was my last bottle - curses!)

The second round, if you will, was also tasted right to left - starting with the Mort Subite, and ending with the Lava Smoked Stout.



Our collective least favorite beer was the Mort Subite. We were sorely tempted to pitch it, but that would have violated the house rules - no beer gets pitched.*

In retrospect, I think the drinking order contributed greatly to how disgusting we found the Mort Subite. It was a major mistake drinking the Mort Subite after the 10 Bitter Years. After the intense hoppiness of the 10 Bitter Years, the Mort Subite couldn't hold up.

I tend to self-identify as a stout/porter drinker, but I found, in this tasting round, I liked my big IPAs the best - the Two-Hearted, the Pliny, the Dogfish Head and the 10 Bitter Years. Who knew? My personal favorite was the 10 Bitter Years, but that's partly tied up with its scarcity.

A fun evening. Work the next day was a bit rough, but life is filled with such trade-offs.

Here's the list.

1. Bell's Two-Hearted Ale. Kalamazoo, Michigan.
2. Otter Creek Copper Ale. Middlebury, Vermont.
3. Short's Brewing Company - Magician Ale. Bellaire, Michigan.
4. Samuel Adams Octoberfest. Boston, Massachusetts.
5. Great Lakes Brewing Company - Eliot Ness. Cleveland, Ohio.
6. Black Oak - 10 Bitter Years. Etobicoke, Ontario.
7. Mort Subite - Mort Subite Kriek. Kobbegem, Belgium.
8. Innis & Gunn - Oak Aged Beer. Edinburgh, Scotland.
9. Dogfish Head - 60 Minute IPA. Milton, Delaware.
10. Russian River Brewing Company - Pliny the Elder. Sonoma, California.
11. Leinenkugel's Big Eddy's Russian Imperial Stout. Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin.
12. Olvisholt Brugghus - Lava Smoked Imperial Stout. Iceland.


*I don't tend to buy bad beer, so this is seldom a problem. And in my defense, both the Mort Subite and the Innis & Gunn were brought by someone for another house party.

Volo - Monday night $5 pints

I love Volo. Happened to end up there on Monday (March 21) evening to meet with my Toronto Beer Lovers leadership team. Here's what they had on tap.



I had the Railway City Chocolate Cherry Stout, since I was curious to see how it would compare to the Black Oak version. From what I could tell (I wasn't comparing them side by side, just by memory) - the Black Oak has a more pronounced cherry flavour. The Railway City was more subtle. Both very good beers though.

My second pint was the Durham Black Katt Stout, which is a bit of a default go-to stout for me whenever I see it on the menu.

I was trying to see how much of the beer on the menu I'd tried, and realized, I should keep better track of the beer I drink. Some people keep the bottles. I have no room for that, but a list (or perhaps more timely updates on this blog) will serve the same purpose.

Drinking in San Francisco - Part 3

My last drinking stop was more of a shopping stop. City Beer is another well-known San Francisco beer venue. They have an excellent selection of beer, and 6 taps. You can open any bottle of beer they carry and drink it in the store for a corkage fee of $1. I was there two times, and both times, they had a fair number of people in the store, just tasting and enjoying their beer. The entire thing made for a very fun shopping experience.

I simply *had* to buy some beer, of course, to bring back. (Plus, the guys at Black Oak promised to trade me some Nutcracker Porter for Pliny the Elder, and I really love that porter!)

Bringing beer back involved buying some really expensive packaging, and a lost bag, but all was well in the end, and I was reunited with my beer. Here's what I bought.



One bottle of Pliny has already been drunk, two are on reserve for the crew at Black Oak, which leaves me one precious bottle. A special occasion must be devised for this.

Drinking in San Francisco - Part 2

No vacation in San Francisco should be complete without a stop at Toronado. This little dive bar is pretty legendary, and was a definite high point on my little beer tour.




There was both a grumpy bartender and a nice bartender. I drank half-pints, paying anywhere from $1.75 to $2.50 for it (aargh, Toronto!). The nice bartender even gave us a round on the house. Everything was amazing except the restrooms, which are truly disgusting, and really make you want to be drunk enough not to notice.

What I drank, in order (all halves, unless otherwise mentioned - the goal was to taste as much of the beer list as possible):

1. Lost Abbey Carnevale Saison
2. Moonlight Death and Taxes (a dark lager)
3. Stillwater Existent (a full pint of this, they wouldn't do halves)
4. Full Sail Hop Pursuit Pale (a double-IPA)
5. Russian River Pliny the Elder - another double IPA
6. North Coast Old #38 Stout
7. Lagunitas SF Fusion Hop High IPA (this was a 10% beer, and that was a good way to finish the night.)

Such good times!

Drinking in San Francisco - Part 1

Vacations bring opportunities to discover new beer.

In San Francisco, my first beer-related stop was at Magnolia's. I opted to try a sampler, since I'd never had any of their beer before.

The beer menu.


And my sampler.


Worth noting - they served all their cask at close-to-room temperature, which was pretty cool. Also worth noting - look how many beers they have available. I can't think of any microbrewery in Toronto with such a selection.

While the beer was all good, nothing blew me away. Still, a fun way to pass a couple of hours.