Survey Says

We surveyed 100 people from around the Washington, DC metro area to evaluate the newly minted Firenze Ale. In retrospect, checking to confirm participants were of legal drinking age would have been a good idea. With any luck the judge will understand that this was all done in the name of science. Here's the feedback we obtained before the fuzz showed up:

Firenze pours a beautiful golden-amber color as if it were in a commercial with the Swedish bikini team. The foamy top is a nice off-white that settles well and leaves a web down the glass as you drink. Carbonation is neither overpowering nor is the brew flat. The armoma is that of an Italian (or English) ale but a bit weak. Firenze comes in at 2.89 percent ABV but only 140 calories per serving. Rather than saying the only thing Firenze lacks is solid flavor, the Marketing Department at DBB suggests that Firenze is "never-filling, always refreshing, and has an easy-drinking taste."

That, my friends, is drinkability.

Cheers!

A Star is Born

This evening we take a look at North Coast Brewing Company's Blue Star Wheat Beer and we are impressed. When poured into a pint glass from the 12 oz bottle it starts clear and finishes cloudy (think Allagash White) - probably our fault for not knowing this brew is not filtered. It's a bit startling to see the transformation but fortunately this was our second (or third) bottle for the evening so we were not deterred. Now, a sophisticate drinker would do homework first and find out that around mid-pour you should swirl the bottle and finish. We are not very sophisticated so it went from quite clear to London fog without warning.

The color is a pale, golden color - exactly what you would picture wheat to look like if it were made into a liquid. The head (that's what she said) is a familiar eggshell white and thins out in short order. You can certainly smell the wheat and a lemon or citrus as well. This is a good summer beer - crisp taste with a quick, dare we say refreshing, finish. A bit sweet and the wheat you smell follows into the flavor. The carbonation is probably just above what you would normally expect in a brew - if there's a fault, that would be it. Otherwise, we will keep this beer on the summer schedule (particularly in the humid, misery that is a Washington, DC summer).

The one major drawback of the beer is that the logo on the bottle looks strikingly similar to a this one:

Cheers!

Spring (Break) Fever

This is the peak season for conglomerate brewers of light beers. It's as if you can buy only Bud Light, Miller Lite, or Coors Lite in Florida or Cancun. OK, you can find good Mexican drug cartel powder in Cancun but there's still plenty of watered down beer. (Don't worry kids, they never go after the young, attractive, American tourists with seemingly endless supplies of disposable income).


Thus we introduce the first in our series of Spring Break '09 stories. Admittedly, there is a certain level of cross-over with "Nothing Good Happens in Florida" but residents of the peninsula state can at least take solace in the fact that most individuals featured in Spring Break '09 will be from other states. We lead off the series with this 20 year old student from Georgia:

According to the article, she's sitting on the curb drinking her Bud Light with her posse but without a care in the world. When the fuzz moves in, she refuses to provide "biographical information" or personal identification. What does underage, public intoxication while refusing to cooperate with authorities get you? "[A]n April 14 court date."

Cheers!

got beer?

In a major blow to dairy farmers across the country, and to the "got milk?" advertising campaign, Dr. Katherine Tucker of Tufts University announced that drinking a glass or two of beer (or wine) may build bone density. You need three glasses of milk to get the same effect.

In the Reuters article, Dr. Tucker said "the effect of alcohol on bone mineral density (BMD) that she and her colleagues saw was "larger than what we see for any single nutrient, even for calcium. It's not ambiguous. It's very clear."

According to the "got milk?" Web site "Drinking three glasses of milk a day may significantly reduce your risk of bone disease and fractures. Consuming milk later in life may slow the rate of bone loss and help maintain bone density."

One or two glasses of beer. Three glasses of milk. You do the math.

What did Dr. Tucker's study say about drinking more than 1-2 glasses of beer (or wine) daily? Go read the study.

68 Reasons to Attend SAVOR

If you're still on the fence about attending SAVOR in Washington, DC on May 30, 2009, you might want to think about the 68 breweries that will be there - each bringing 2 brews. That's 136 samples, people.

Breweries scheduled to attend (subject to change):
Abita Brewing Company
Allagash Brewing Company
Anchor Brewing Co.
Arcadia Brewing Company
Avery Brewing Company
Blackfoot River Brewing Co, LLC
Blue Point Brewing Company
Boscos Brewing Company
The Boston Beer Company
Boulevard Brewing Company
Breckenridge Brewery
Brewery Ommegang
The Brooklyn Brewery
Brown's Brewing Company
The Bruery
Capitol City Brewing Co.
Captain Lawrence Brewing Co
Clipper City Brewing Co
Coronado Brewing Company
Deschutes Brewery
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
Firestone Walker Brewing Company
Florida Beer Company
Flying Dog Brewery
Flying Fish Brewing Co.
Foothills Brewing
Full Sail Brewing Company
Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant Group, Inc.
Great Divide Brewing Company
Great Lakes Brewing Company
Harpoon Brewery
Heiner Brau
Hook & Ladder Brewing Company
Hoppy Brewing Company
Karl Strauss Brewing Company
Lagunitas Brewing Co
Left Hand Brewing Company
Legend Brewing Co.
The Lost Abbey
Magic Hat Brewing Company
Moon River Brewing Company
New Belgium Brewing Company
New Holland Brewing Co
Odell Brewing Company
Oskar Blues Brewery
Rock Art Brewery
Rock Bottom Brewing
Rogue Ales
Russian River Brewing Company
The Saint Louis Brewery, Inc
Saranac/ The F.X. Matt Brewing Company
Shmaltz Brewing Company
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
Ska Brewing Co.
Smuttynose Brewing Company
Southampton Publick House
Sprecher Brewing Company
St. George Brewing Co.
Starr Hill
Steamworks Brewing Co.
Stevens Point Brewery
Stone Brewing Co.
Stoudt Brewing Co
Troegs Brewing Company
Two Brothers Brewing Company
Uinta Brewing Co & The Four + Brewing Co
Upland Brewing Company
Weyerbacher Brewing Company

24 Bottles of Beer on the Wall

Today we bottled a full case of 12 oz. bottles and a one gallon jug of Firenze Ale. The final gravity was 1.010. The recipe calls for a final gravity of 1.014 so we were a bit off. We added just under 3.76 ounces of priming sugar (original recipe calls for 3/4 cup for five gallons or 4.75 ounces) for our four gallons. The aroma was good with an amber red color. We have relatively high hopes for this one. The wait time for Firenze is much shorter than for our previous Perk-A-lator Stout so we'll offer up a final review in just about 2 weeks.

Cheers!

Reel Big Fish - BEER

Cheers!