Beer Review – Lazy Mutt Farmhouse Ale

This was my contribution to the annual Christmas Beer Exchange with my co-workers.  I always try to buy something I’ve never had before.  This one has the added bonus of coming in non-traditional 8-packs, so I thought I’d give it a whirl.  This review is from my notes.

The Lazy Mutt pours a blonde translucent color due to the yeast in the bottle.  There is a small amount of bright white head that dissipated quickly.  It has a hoppy aroma with hints of lemon.  With a very light mouth-feel and such a dry crisp finish (there’s virtually no after taste), it’s lucky there is a little hoppiness and lemon spiciness in the middle or this beer would have not much flavor at all.  It tastes much more like a summer blonde than a farmhouse ale such as the New Glarus Spotted Cow.  It’s drinkable but commits the cardinal sin of beer — it’s boring.  When the 8-pack packaging is the most memorable feature of the beer, it’s not a good beer.  I don’t think I did the best job of contributing to this year’s beer exchange.

Grade: D+

Bucks at 500 by break?

Well, you’ve got to admit, at least the Bucks are fun to watch.  As I write this, they’re kicking the snot out of the Heat in Miami.  Brandon Jennings may be the steal of the draft.  He was taken 10th overall, after a few other better known point guards were taken.  Yet, he has just earned his 3rd Eastern Conference rookie of the month award.  He’s had some troubles with his shot here and there and has looked tired at times.  But, remember, this kid went from high school ball straight to Europe.  Played in Europe for 1 year and the Bucks took him in the draft.  He’s not used to how long a college season is let alone an NBA season.  He’s going to have some ups and downs, but this kid is going to be something.

You put that together with Bogut finally starting to come close to living up to a #1 overall pick by being aggressive and averaging a double-double every night (amazing what the kid can do with a point guard that actually feeds him the ball), Ilyasova looking like he does belong in the NBA, Carlos Delfino following suit, Warrick and Bell providing some scoring off the bench and you’ve got a nice team out there.  Are they great?  Not even close.  But, they are entertaining to watch and it’s been a while since you could say that.

Assuming the Bucks get this win they’ll be 21-25 with 5 more games before the break.  They’re terrible on the road (5-18) and 3 of those 5 games are on the road.  But, only the Orlando (32-16) game has the feel on unwinable.  They also play New Jersey (4-42) and New York (18-29) on the road.  They get Detroit (15-31) and Indiana (16-32) at home.  If you look at it on paper, the Bucks should enter the All Star Break with a record of 26-26.  That may not seem like much but without your highest paid player (for the second year in a row), Bogut is your most experienced starter (he’s still only 25) and your starting point guard is only 20 years old that’s not a bad place to be.

If the playoffs began today, the Bucks would be in 9th place in the Eastern Conference and out of the playoffs.  If they can get close to .500 by the break and continue to grow and develop, perhaps they can actually make the playoffs this year.  It’s been a long time coming, but the future is finally looking up for the Bucks.

Beer Review – Fade to Black Volume 1

Left Hand Brewing has an awesome label and and interesting name for what they call a Foreign Export Stout.  In other words, the kind of stout you’d normally get from outside the contiguous 48 states.  It didn’t take much more to convince me to try it.

Fade to Black pours exactly that, a black stout with a creamy dark tan head that laces nicely on the glass and doesn’t easily dissipate.  It has a distinctly roasted malt aroma with a hint of milk/lactose with dark, bitter chocolate.  It has a medium body that begins with a sweet smooth chocolate flavor that glides to dark roasted malts blended with a nice amount of hops.  Despite the good head retention, it’s not the most carbonated beer in the world.  This beer has great balance and is easy to drink.  If I had another one, I’d open it up right now.  I’m a stout and porter kind of guy, so I might be a bit biased, but this is a beer I’d go out of my way to buy.  Like I said, a little light on the carbonation, but Left Hand Brewing did a fine job making this one.

Grade: A-

Packer Review and Preview

Now that the Vikings are no longer in the playoffs I can freely talk about the Packers.  Why did I wait for the Vikings?  Part of me wondered if Brett Favre was right and Ted Thompson didn’t know what he was doing.  It sure looked that way through the first 8 games, and, in actuality, Favre didn’t lose that game all by himself.  That last pass was a bonehead mistake and it cost the Vikings their last chance to score, but he got the crap beat out of him, his fellow Vikings kept making mistakes, and he still kept them in contention to win throughout that game.  Too bad for him people will remember the last pass much like they remember the last pass in the NFC Championship Game between the Packers and the Giants.  But, I digress.  This is about the current Packers, not their old legends.

Now on to the Packers.  Halfway through the season I wrote them off and looked forward to a new coach and GM.  So much for my prognosticator abilities.  The Packers went 7-1 in the second half of the season and put on one heck of a show in Phoenix.  Unfortunately, an INT by Rodgers on the Packers first play and a fumble by Driver on their third play dug too big of a hole for Rodgers to dig them out.  But, you know what, despite holding the ball too long (a problem all season and on the last play of the game), Rodgers showed me he’s one of the elite QB’s in this league.  He’s got one of the best set of receivers top to bottom in the league and a running game that gains a sneaky amount of yards.  Course, he helps out quite a bit as the Packers second leading rusher.  But, if the Packers can shore up the offensive line (they were forced to turn to Mark Tauscher, Scott Wells and Chad Clifton — all Packers before Thompson was in charge — to stabilize the offense) this offense could be special for quite a few years to come.  Where their picking in the draft there may be some decent underclassmen OT’s available.  Bulaga from Iowa or Campbell from Maryland might be available around then.  But, I wouldn’t be surprised if Thompson took the WR from USC, Damien Williams, as he tends to draft WR’s and Williams is one of the better kick returners available in the upcoming draft.

On the defensive side of the ball, I’m a bit at a loss.  Is the defense the defense that ate up the Cowboys, or the one the gave up 503 yards to Rothlesberger and let Warner march up and down the field?  Clay Matthews was a great pick by Ted and I think with a full, healthy training camp, Raji will be what Thompson hoped Justin Harrell could become.  They have Collins, Woodson, Jenkins, Pickett and some other great role players.  I think they need to upgrade the MLB, the other CB and other safety positions.  There’s no one available in free agency (especially without salary cap victims this year) to pick up that’s better than what the Pack already has,  that leaves the draft.  Taylor Mays will be long gone by the time the Pack picks.  Eric Berry from Tennessee might be a good pick if he’s still available as he can play CB or safety, but he might not be available.  There really aren’t any LB’s projected to be available when the Packers pick that are better than what the Pack currently has (including some of the backups).  So, if the Pack doesn’t go offense in the first round, Thompson will likely trade down — as is his MO.  But, the guy surprised the heck out of me in last year’s draft and it turned out to be one of his best.  Hopefully, Thompson can surprise me again this year.  If so, the Packers might have something special in the works for the 2010 season.

Beer Review – Lagunitas Maximus IPA

This beer pours a perfect head with plenty of lacing on the glass and is a oragnish amber color.  Has a floral, hoppy smell and it smells a little like grapefruit.  Medium bodied beer with strong hops taste right from the get go.  It has a slight sweetness and malty flavor towards the end, but still has a strong hops finish with a very smooth texture.  There’s a hint of citrus as well.  They don’t call this Maximus IPA for nothing.  There’s a lot of hops flavor with plenty of bitterness.  It’s almost too much hops but as I said when I reviewed the Three Floyd’s Alpha King, I’m not a huge IPA fan as I prefer a little better balance in my beer.  But, from a truly style standpoint, if you like IPA’s and hops, this is a good one for you.  It’s not quite as good as the Alpha King, but it is a pretty good beer and a really good IPA.

Grade: B

Beer Review – Stanlick Brewing 2009 Bock

It only seemed fair that I put my beer through the same judging as others.  So, here’s the review of my homebrewed bock.

Pours a dark brown with reddish hues.  1 inch white head that dissapates fairly quickly leaving little lacing behind.  Pleasant malty aroma with just a hint of hops.  Medium bodied with very little hop flavor on middle of tongue but finishes with a slightly more bitter flavor.  I could drink this all day, but it could use a slightly more present hops bitterness for better balance but fits the bock style fairly well.

Grade: B

Beer Review – Spotted Cow

This beer pours a light slightly cloudy yellow.  Pours a nice head, but quickly dissipates.  The aroma is slightly yeasty, but nothing to exciting.  Its a light bodied beer with a clean mild hop finish.  This beer is a popular favorite among those who don’t want to drink macro brewed beers but don’t feel real adventurous.  At least in Wisconsin anyway.  I’ve always had an apethetic attitude towards it and after having a couple of them over the Christmas break, I know why.  This beer has nothing offensive about it which makes it fairly drinkable, but there’s nothing memorable about it either.  That makes it a beer you’re happy to drink, but not willing to go out of your way for.  The label lists it as a “farmhouse ale”.

Grade: C+

Beer Review – Cave Creek Chili Beer

With a beer that’s got a jalapeno pepper swimming at the bottom of the bottle, you’ve got to at least give it a try, right?  Well, I did and a shared some with my brother’s-in-law at my wife’s family get together.  Reviews of this one were pretty poor so my expectations were set pretty low.

It pours very blonde with little to no discernable head.  It looks a lot like a U.S. macro-brewed lager.  Take your pick, Bud or Miller.  That’s pretty much what it looked like.  Has very weak aroma, almost like a light domestic lager, only there is a faint peppery smell.  It has a very light mouth feel with no real amount of malt or hop flavor.  In fact, it’s a lot like a Corona Light.  The finish is just as boring, and then comes the pepper.  It’s a heat that heats you after you’ve swallowed and it kind of climbs up the back of your throat and into your sinus cavity.  After a few more sips, the pepper dominates everything else and you can’t taste anything but heat.

While an interesting brew and one that I think everyone should try based on the novelty, it’s not a beer that I could recommend.  About the best thing I can say for this beer is that I didn’t dislike it.  Without the pepper flavor it would have committed the defining quality of a bad beer — it would have been boring.  If your cooking with beer and you’re doing something that needs some heat (beer batter or beer cheese soup comes to mind), this would be a great candidate to purchase.  As far as pure drinkability, it has none.

Grade: D

Beer Review – Alpha King Pale Ale

This was my most anticipated beer sampling of the holiday season.  I had heard such great things about it, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it.

Pours a beautiful amber color with a nice off-white colored head that sticks around and leaves significant lacing on the glass.  My anticipation has only gotten higher at this point.  Has a fruity and floral nose.  Sure smells like there are a lot of things going on.  Higher anticipation still.  It has a medium body with a strong hop bitterness that is almost out of balance with the sweet caramel malt flavor.  It has even more hop flavor at the finish.

This beer is a hop-head’s dream.  Very IPA kind of feel to this one.  I’ve got to be honest, I was a bit disappointed but I think that was largely due to my hyped up anticipation.  If you don’t like bitter beers, you probably won’t like this one.  It does follow the IPA style very well and has a lot of stuff going for it.  Despite not meeting my lofty expectations, it was quite a tasty brew and I would still recommend every one should at least give this a try.

Grade: B+

Beer Review – Point Classic Amber

I know, it’s kind of a mass produced beer which I tend to shy away from.  But, I promised a review of all of the beers I’ve sampled over the Christmas season, so you’ll get a few massed produced reviews here and there.  Beginning with this one.

First of, Point Brewery gave it an apt name.  It is indeed a bright amber color that pours clear.  Minimal white colored head that quickly dissipates.  It has a malty nose and not much else.  With a light to medium mouthfeel you do feel like your drinking something of more substance than a glass of water.  There is a mild hops flavor and very clean finish.

All in all, a pretty average beer.  Because of its medium body, this is a brew that has a decent, but not great drinkibility.  It’s mostly interchangable with most other amber ales.  While not a bad beer,  its not a great beer by any stretch of the imagination.  While I certainly wouldn’t turn it down if someone offered it to me, I’m not going to go out of my to find it either.

Grade: C