January 28, 2009: Bayhawk's Chocolate Porter

Ah, beautiful Orange County California! The promised land for plastic surgeons, golddiggers and Caucasian families with 2.5 kids alike. A place where an apartment crammed with three families lies in the shadow of the six bedroom mansion on the hill. Where some high school seniors drive to school in a new BMW, while others work two jobs after school to help pay the rent. What a weird, fantastic microcosm to call home. I've grown up in the rolling hills of southern Orange County for most of my life, and like most natives here, I've come to accept the realities of this strange place. It's nearly impossible to explain how a place could be so incredibly repulsive, and feel so much like home at the same time. It's such a strange place that if you think about the contradictions for too long, you could very well lose your mind, but such is life here in "The O.C.". I've been trying so many different kinds of beer from every part of the world that I've decided to switch it up and taste one from my own neck of the woods; Irvine, California.

Bayhawk Chocolate Porter. Say it over and over again in your mind and it still sounds just as fantastic as the first time you said it. The name of this beer has everything. Bayhawk; I don't exactly know what that is, but it sounds like the kind of bird who's ready to kick some ass and take some names. Chocolate; who doesn't like chocolate? One of my coworkers claims to hate chocolate and none of us have trusted him ever since. (just kidding Nick). Porter; If you've never tried a porter in your life, turn off your computer right now, head down to your local bar and order a pint of porter. If they don't have any porters on tap, head to the next closest bar and keep trying until you find one. Seriously, I can't think of a more tantilizing combination of words in the english language, except for maybe "Free Bayhawk Chocolate Porter". I had such high hopes for this beer, could this beer possibly live up the the incredible levels of hype that have been boiling over in my mind?

Like the place that it comes from, Bayhawk Chocolate Porter proved to be a complex mix of flavorful contradictions. There were definitely a variety of tastes floating around in this beer, and as the name would suggest, chocolate is the main aroma. It doesn't taste like you've just taken a bite out of a Hershey bar, but the dark chocolate notes make for a tasty and sophisticated flavor. Also, there was a bit of a coffee flavor to this beer which I quite liked. Would I drink Bayhawk Chocolate Porter again? Absolutely. If you like your porter dark, almost delving into stout territory, give this one a shot. It might be a bit hard to track this one down outside of the O.C. but it could be worth it.

Cheers,
Ian

www.bayhawkales.com

January 27, 2009: Young's Special London Ale

It's the end of January, school has just started again this week and my days of playing video games in my underwear until noon sadly are over (for the next few months anyway) Yes, I hate to admit that it's back to the familiar grind of school and work for me, so instead of watching sportscenter and eating Top Ramen, I'll be writing essays and faking interest in 17th century literature. However, today is the first day of my last semester of college, and I couldn't be more ready to move on to the next stage of my life. To celebrate this momentous day, I've chosen Young's Special London Ale for my beer this evening.

If there is any one place in the world that I could chose to be at any given moment, it would be wandering around on the sprawling streets of London. In a previous post (see Quilmes) I confessed that I am an utterly hopeless anglophile. I love all things British and the magical city of London will always hold a special place in my heart. When I saw Young's Special London Ale sitting proudly on the shelf at my local shop, I felt my heart swell inside my chest with sheer joy mixed with a bit of longing. The label on the bottle sported some of the most famous landmarks from the London city skyline. Tower Bridge, Big Ben and the houses of parliament, the London eye; they were all there like a postcard inviting me back to my favorite city on earth. How the hell could I resist the call of Young's Special London Ale?

I will admit freely that I was totally suckered into buying this ale simply by the word "London" print on the label, accompanied by all the familiar monuments of the city. Luckily for me, Young's Special London Ale was actually a decent ale. It had a nice cloudy golden hue and it was just transparent enough to see light coming through the other side of the glass. One of the supposed earmarks of a quality beer is how long the beer keeps its foamy head, and whether or not that head leaves rings of foam on the glass with each sip. Young's Special London Ale kept its head longer than any beer that I've had so far, and there was conclusive evidence of the foam rings on the glass. All in all, Young's Special London Ale is a good choice for the beer drinker who likes a good sturdy ale, but one that's not too heavy or dark. I'd compare Young's Special London Ale to an ale like Boddington's in terms of mouth-feel and relative lightness for an ale, but not in terms of taste or quality. Give this one a go if you can get your hands on it, and if you're anything like me, spare a thought or two for that magical city across that pond that will always draw you back.

Cheers,
Ian

http://www.youngs.co.uk/beer-bitter.htm

January 26, 2009: Baltika 3

It's no surprise that I've been pretty hard on Russia lately. What with the Ugly Z and the mystery can of Kvass(see earlier posts) in the last 2 weeks, I've not seen much from my Soviet commerades to convince me that Russian beers are worth the gamble. I'm giving Russia another chance with Baltika 3 tonight, I'm hoping that I won't be disappointed yet again by a lifeless, substandard lager but my hopes aren't too high.

Luckily for me, Baltika has a few more things working in its than Ugly Z and the Kvass did. First off, Baltika breweries is huge. We're talking second largest brewery in all of Europe huge. It also has a name and label recognition that it's Russian counterparts that I had sampled thus far lacked. Baltika also offers a huge variety of different types of beers, ranging from light to something called Krepkoe which is roughly 10% alcohol by volume. I could have had my pick from any of a number of styles from Baltika, but I decided to go with the Baltika 3, which is considered their classic pale lager. I was really pleased with the Baltika 3, firstly because I didn't immediately gag when I tasted it, and secondly because I was able to enjoy the whole beer undisturbed. There was an ample amount of carbonation to provide that signature bite that comes along with most lagers, and I found that the Baltika 3 kept its carbonation and resisted going flat for a longer period of time than your typical lager would. Baltika 3 is a decent beer and although it was very drinkable, the truth is that there isn't that much to set Baltika apart from the hundreds of other lagers that I could obtain more easily here in the states. Baltika 3 did do a fine job however in restoring my faith in the brewers of Russia. Well done Baltika!

Budem zdorovy!
Ian

www.baltikabeer.com

p.s. fake drug paraphenalia photograph compliments of Mr. Mike Bocuzzi

January 25, 2009: Singha

Singha is another one of those beers that met its untimely end due to default. Since I started the 365 brews project, My brother Andrew has been among the most supportive of my friends and family, even going so far as to contribute different beers to the cause which is always greatly appreciated. Last week he donated a Russian beer that earned the dubious nickname of Ugly Z, because of its putrid taste and ridiculously long Russian name which I am too lazy to write. Today my brother has donated a new type of brew called a Kvass. It's not exactly a beer (only 1-2% alcohol), but it's close enough and it was free, so I thought I would give it a try. I'm sad to report that this was strike two for russian beverages in my book. If you've never tried a Kvass, it tastes like all the after products from the brewing process of beer, with a ton of herbs mixed together that tastes more like something you'd find if you mixed all the contents of your medicine cabinet together in a blender and drank it. Truly, truly awful stuff even for me who will eat and drink just about anything at least once.

However, as the 365brews project continues to develop, I've learned to adapt and create alternative solutions in the event that I have a beer that is utterly undrinkable. This is the part of the story where Singha comes to my rescue, and not a moment too soon.

Singha comes from the south east Asian country of Thailand, and is the kingpin of the Thai beer market. The Boon Rawd brewery was the very first of its kind in Thailand, and Singha is the oldest mass produced beer in the country. For this reason, it's no surprise that Singha is widely exported to the western world and can be found at almost any Thai restaurant in the United States. Singha is in fact, a solid beer, if not a great one. In my opinion it can hold its own with many of the more popular lagers from the west in terms of refreshment and quality. Outside of Thai restaurants or Asian markets however, you may have a tough time tracking this one down. So in the end, I learned my lesson and enjoyed the respectable taste of Singha, rather than choking down the horrible Kvass. Thanks for trying though Andrew, keep those brews coming my way!

Choc-Tee!(cheers in Thai)
Ian

www.singhabeer.com

January 24, 2009: Dos Equis Lager

The unthinkable happened tonight. The absolute worst, most devastating, cruelest twist of fate for any beer lover to suffer; I drew the short stick and it was my turn to be the designated driver. No!!!!!!!!!!!

One of the harsh realities of living in southern Orange County is that if you and your mates want to go to a proper bar or club, you've got to drive at least ten to fifteen miles to the nether regions of the county that don't completely shut down after 9 p.m. every night. It's a Saturday night and it's time for me to pay my dues and be the chauffeur for the evening, which is fine because any of my friends will tell you, it doesn't happen much. Not to worry, dear readers. Your beloved hero from 365 brews found another way to alter his consciousness without overindulging in the booze, but that's another story for another day. The story for tonight is about the one beer I treated myself to tonight( Ok, ok....3 beers, but who's counting?), Dos Equis.

Dos Equis has long been one of the most popular choices among cerveza fans for a good reason; this is actually a damn good beer. One of my pet peeves about this beer however is the name. Anyone who has ever taken even the most rudimentary of Spanish classes learns that the letter X is pronounced AY-Keez. Pretty straight forward, no? But if you order a Dos AY-Keez at the bar, the bartender will stare at you like you're a member of the Taliban asking for weapons-grade plutonium on a U.S. military base. Somehow the name of this cerveza has succumbed to the forces of linguistic bastardization in popular American culture and is now known as Dos Eck-eez. Even my friend Crowe who speaks Spanish and whose entire family comes from Ecuador refers to this beer as Dos Eck-eez. However, I refuse to forfeit my linguistic principles and continue to refer to this quality beer by the name it deserves; Dos Ay-Keez!

Anyway, Sorry about the tangent, hope I didn't lose some of you with that rant. Dos Equis is a good choice for those of you out there that like a light tasting cerveza. Dos Equis is pretty refreshing and lacks the skunkiness that I detest in so many lower quality cervezas. If you're like me and prefer something a bit darker and heavier in taste, Dos Equis also makes an amber that is well worth a taste in its own right. For tonight I'm just drinking the standard lager, and in the middle of this hot, cramped, human herd of drunken debauchery that I can't fully appreciate tonight, Dos Equis is definitely hitting the spot. If you live in California, you can typically find this beer wherever beer is sold. If you live in other parts of the world, I'm not sure what your chances of getting your hands on some Dos Equis are, but it's a nice option if you can get it.

Salud!

Ian

P.S. Dos Equis has one of the best beer advertising campaigns in recent years with their "most interesting man in the world" series. You can find em on youtube if you've never seen them.

http://www.staythirstymyfriends.com/

January 23, 2009: Fat Tire

Tonight, Fat Tire Ale became my beer for the evening completely by accident. I left my apartment early in the evening with a can of Foster's in hand, fully intending to consume the ridiculously large volume of lager at some point in the night. My girlfriend was too tired to go out, so I hit the streets on my own and met up with some friends. We tossed a stuffed football around for a good thirty minutes or so in my friends living room, and the big can of Foster's sat there, staring at me from the corner of the room. After trying to decide where to do our drining for almost an hour, the can of Foster's still sat there, warming with every second of indecision that ticked away. Eventually we ended up going to some sports bar in the next town over and I gave up on the Foster's for the evening. I don't really expect anything but the standard fare of Budweiser of Coors when I end up at a sports bar, but I was pleasantly surprised to find Fat Tire on tap.

As suddenly as we had ended up at this sports bar, I'd inadvertently upgraded from a beer that I'm fairly indifferent about to a beer that I truly enjoy. Fat Tire is the kid of beer that you never really get sick of. It's got that reddish amber color that almost always means for me it's going to be a great beer. But this is not your stadard amber ale. Fat Tire definitely has a unique quality about it's taste that I haven't ever really found in a comparable amber ale. Fat Tire has come a long way in a short period of time, and the word about this quality ale is spreading. It's not that uncommon to find Fat Tire on tap at many finer establishments in Southern California these days, and if you get a chance to sample this brew, be sure to give this ale a chance!

Cheers,
Ian

http://www.newbelgium.com/beer/fat-tire

January 22, 2009: Cerveza Suprema

Here's some facts about the central American country El Salvador:

Population: About 7 million, making it the most densely populated country in central America

Currency: Eliminated their own unit of currency, the Colon, and now trade exclusively with the American Dollar.

Independence: Gained from Spain in 1821

Racial Demographics: 90% Mestizo (Mix of native and Spanish blood) 9% white, 1% indigenous

Main Export: Coffee

Beer: Not so great

My beer for tonight is Cerveza Suprema, which as you probably surmised hails from the land of El Salvador. I've already had a Salvadoran beer this month called Centenario which honestly wasn't half bad, but Cerveza Suprema didn't quite live up to the standard of it's fellow Salvadoran beer. I feel kind of guilty because I don't have much to say about Cerveza Suprema. It was just one of those beers that had literally nothing to distinguish it from the litany of lagers and Cervezas that have already established themselves among the import market in America. That's the thing with an import like Cerveza Suprema, I have to have a reason to want to go out of my way to find this beer and buy it. This beer was about as forgetable as "The Dana Carvey Show" that most of you out there probably don't remember from some fifteen years ago. Don't go out of your way to try this beer, you're just going to forget that you ever had it.

Salud,
Ian

http://www.laconstancia.com/