O’Fallon Brewery of Missouri has created a sticke alt as the second addition to their Brewer’s Stash series of beers and is currently holding a contest to name their newest brew. It will offer an alcohol content of about 10% and is described as "big and malty, with hints of toffee" by O’Fallon’s brewmaster, Brian Owens.

Their Scotch Ale, a.k.a. Wee Heavy, was the first brew in their Brewer’s Stash series, according to an article on stltoday.com. This ale weighs in at 10.4% ABV and will be hitting stores in 4-packs this month.

So, got an idea for a name? Check out contest details and enter right away!

TAGS [ O'FALLON | O'FALLON BREWERY | O'FALLON CONTEST | BEER CONTEST ]

Which brew will reign supreme? Have a hand in choosing by voting in The Washington Post’s Beer Madness brackets! Beer Madness, is their "annual quest for Everyman’s favorite brew, returns with a twist.This year, [they've] included beers from 22 nations." The first votes could be cast starting yesterday; round two begins on March 24th.

Last year’s Beer Madness winner was Troegs HopBack Amber, which I had the pleasure of enjoying on tap for the first time, just Tuesday. Deliciously sweet in the beginning with a kick of hops through the finish, it beat out Ommegang Hennepin in the final round, 7 - 2. The judging panel is described as non-beer-geeks who considered Hennepin "Too sophisticated for my palate" and that rather, [they] "like the simple flavors of hops."

To each his own, I always say.

If you don’t want to see your favorite brews benched, make sure to do your part and vote each round.

Cheers!

TAGS [ BEER MADNESS | WASHINGTON POST ]

Ah, St. Patrick’s Day parades. Here in Western New York we throw some pretty huge parties the weekend prior to March 17th, complete with parades and floats and beer. We definitely go big.

Today however, I’d like to focus on the shortest St. Patrick’s Day parade in the world, held in Dripsey, Cork. It’s just 100 yards long and runs between the town’s two pubs, The Lee Valley Inn and The Weigh Inn. That’s right. 100 yards, from one pub to the other. I could probably cartwheel for 100 yards. I couldn’t make this stuff up.

Enjoy the Randy Handlers below, one of the features of this yearly parade. Yes, the Randy Handlers. Again, I couldn’t make this stuff up.

Is it too early for a beer?

TAGS [ ST PATRICKS DAY | DRIPSEY | CORK | PARADE ]

Great ad from Guinness in celebration of the holiday. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

TAGS [ GUINNESS | GUINNESS AD | ST PATRICKS DAY ]

Journals are a way to keep the simple things in life more personal. The act of touching a pen to a piece of paper and gracefully curling, or forcefully pushing ink across a page is a dynamic action that invokes feelings of abstract expressionist painting, like action painting made popular by Jackson Pollock, if we peel back the layers of pomp and circumstance surrounding the art world. It’s a method of communication, through and through.

The pen striking the paper is an action that has been lost in this digital world. I don’t even know if I could pick out some of the most important people in my life’s handwriting at this point, as well as I could pick out their style of writing. I’ve seen love letters from my Grandparents courting each other in their youth and looking back on this simpler, more direct time, it seems to translate feelings and emotions through calligraphic looking sentences much better than the 16 or so, default web safe typefaces available to blog in.

The digital revolution gives us an opportunity to share information, quickly and efficiently with little to guess at a precise meaning, but some of the translation does get lost in the bits and bytes. Sometimes you just need to keep things to yourself or share with one or two people who are physically present.

A tasting experience is a very personal thing that deserves your full expression of emotions and full insight that might include doodles or scrawling not available on your laptop or phone. Sometimes you just need to write it down on a boundless page, without the confines of a 400 pixel wide column. For personal experiences let your feelings really flow. Short snippets on Facebook or Twitter don’t always give you the room you need to express yourself. For your life, get a journal. For tastings, get a beer tasting journal.

TAGS [ BEER TASTING | TASTING JOURNAL | TASTING NOTEBOOK | BEER TASTING BOOK | BEER REVIEWS ]

On Saturday night, my best friend Margaret held her second (I’m sure of many more to come) beer tasting party; no theme, just tons of beer in pints and foods. It was a great party full of delicious brews we can’t always get here, since her brother brought some from California. The party was so good, in fact, I was unable to attend any St. Patrick’s Day festivities on Sunday… at least the weather was so cold and rainy I didn’t mind staying home too much.

Here’s all of the beers we tried Saturday night. Please note that there were usually between 2 and 6 of each kind but in order to fit them all in the photo, we only displayed one of each:

There were some interesting brews that I had never heard of, like Druid Fluid (a barleywine) and Red Rocket Ale (an American amber). Although I enjoyed most of what I sampled that night, the stand-out for me was Dogfish Head Midas Touch. I don’t know if it’s because it was so different from everything else I tried, but it certainly stuck in my mind.

According to DFH, their Midas Touch "recipe is the actual oldest-known fermented beverage in the world! It is an ancient Turkish recipe using the original ingredients from the 2,700-year-old drinking vessels discovered in the tomb of King Midas." Made with barley, honey, white muscat grapes and saffron, it was one of the most interesting beers I’ve had in a while. I could envision myself enjoying this on a hot summer day or paired with Indian or Thai food. I really look forward to picking more up soon.

Along with all of the beer, we enjoyed Stone Ruination IPA Cheese Soup, IPA cheese dip (I believe that was made with Stone Ruination as well, come to think of it), fresh guacamole and a selection of fine brie and champagne cheddar.

We finished off the night with some chocolate and coffee stouts, paired with my tasty Guinness cupcakes, which I frosted this time with my very own Guinness buttercream concoction, instead of my usual cream cheese icing.

All in all, the party was a raging success and we can hardly wait to do it again. In fact, even my cousin’s girlfriend is interested in having a beer tasting party - I believe this one will be in May. I’ll be sure to regale you on it in entirety.

Cheers!

TAGS [ BEER TASTING | BEER TASTINGS | CRAFT BEER | DOGFISH HEAD MIDAS TOUCH | GUINNESS CUPCAKES | BEER REVIEW ]

Everyone knows that Boston is home to the bar Cheers (where everybody knows your name) but they may not know that Beantown is also home to another bar with sitcom ties. The Regal Beagle, named after the famed neighborhood pub in Three’s Company is now open for business in Brookline.

With fun specialty drinks like "The Dizzy Blonde" (La Favorite Rhum Agricole, fresh lime, and simple syrup, $10) and "The Old Landlord" (Old Overholt rye, Angostura bitters muddled with oranges and cherries, $9) it sounds like a place we’d like to hang out. Their beer list is pretty impressive too! Domestics include Otter Creek Copper Ale, Avery White Rascal, Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA and Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout and there’s even a "Big Boys" section on the list with a 16.9 oz Hacker-Pschorr Hefeweisen and 22 oz servings of BBC Coffeehouse Porter and BBC Steel Rail.

Don’t worry; unlike other bars that pay television shows homage this one isn’t super cheesy. You won’t find bartenders dressed in 70’s garb or show memorabilia hanging on every square inch of wall space. Just check out their website and you can tell that they’re a classy establishment.

From what I can tell, they seem to have taken the best attributes of television’s Regal Beagle and combined them with a fantastic menu that’ll keep you coming back for more. Next time I’m in the area, I’m definitely going to check it out. If you manage to beat me to it, let me know what you think!

TAGS [ REGAL BEAGLE | BOSTON BARS | BOSTON NIGHTLIFE | THREE'S COMPANY ]