Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Losing Lost Abbey Opportunities

Lost Abbey is releasing three winter ales on Saturday, November 24. I am out of town and will miss Lost Abbey's second special release this month (Waaahhh (in the voice of Artie Lange)). I missed the release of Angel's Share earlier in the month. I will try to find out if any of these Christmas beers survived the weekend and try to get them next weekend.

Avant Garde

I brought an Avant Garde for Thanksgiving. I will share it relatives as we snack on a cheese plate while preparing dinner. I had a Belgian (Stone Verital Epic 05.05.05) with Thanksgiving a few years ago and did not go very well, so I'd rather enjoy the Avant Garde before dinner. I wonder how a big double IPA would go with a Thanksgiving Dinner? Its big smash-mouth taste may be the right choice, because subtlety gets destroyed with all the various flavors at Thanksgiving. Something to try next year.

UPDATE: The Avant Garde was excellent as a pre-dinner drink. I did not get to have it with the cheese as I was picking up a relative, but did manage a glass during food preparations, and it was fantastic. Everyone commented on how good it was and wondered why I only brought one bottle. Something to remember next year, or better yet at Christmas.

Monday, November 19, 2007

Lipstick On A Pig

OK, maybe the title is too harsh. Seriously, I am not going to drink Michelob just due to marketing (except at Seaworld). Any beer from AB is not going to compete on taste with a good craft brewer. No way. The Bud Light add at the opera is pretty funny.

Devotion to Devotion

I had a Lost Abbey Devotion with dinner last night. This has to be the most sublime beer I have ever tasted. It is not the hop-bomb I usually favor. It is so good and drinkable without loads of alcohol. This beer was originally a seasonal beer from Lost Abbey but is now part of its regular offerings, which is good news for all beer drinkers.

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Holiday Brews

I saw the first six-pack of Sierra Nevada's Celebration Ale the other day. This ushers in the Holiday Brew season. This is my favorite beer-time of the year with all the interesting concoctions. (Although I guess May and June are becoming IPA season so my seasonal preference is subject to change, but not yet.) Celebration Ale is a good IPA/DIPA, and my favorite Sierra Nevada offering. I will keep posting on other Holiday Beers I come across.