January 14, 2009: Skullsplitter

Tonight I'm trying a new beer called Skullsplitter. Yes, you read it right, Skullsplitter. My brother Andrew was kind enough to donate some beers to the cause and Skullsplitter was one of them. My brother told me that he'd been curious about Skullsplitter for a while, but the price tag around $12 was a bit high for a guy who's not a regular beer drinker and has two little kids at home to look after. When they finally reduced the price on this ale, my brother jumped at the chance to finally try it. He didn't really tell me anything about the beer before I came over to his house, just that it was a Scottish ale that he'd been wanting to try. So I came over to his house with few expectations about the beer, but as soon as I saw the bottle, I knew exactly why my brother had chosen it.

Skullsplitter. Holy crap, what an amazing name. It sounds more like a Swedish death metal band than a beer from Scotland. Skullsplitter hails from the Orkney Islands, off the far northern coast of Scotland. A harsh and unforgiving place, the Orkney Islands is not a place for the soft or the weak of heart. It's the kind of place where the bitter northern winds whip across the barren islands, and the unforgiving winters bring a chill to your bones. A place that the vikings, one of the most viscious, barbaric and ruthless groups of people in history chose to make as their home.

Skullsplitter gets it's name from one such Viking chief named Thorfinn Hausakluif whose viking brethren invaded the Orkney Islands around 1000 A.D. Apparently old chief Thorfinn was known by his pillaging buddies as "Skullsplitter" (I'll let you draw your own conclusions as to how he earned this dubious moniker). Anyway, this Scottish ale is named in tribute to "Skullsplitter" Hauskaluif, and for good reason.

This is a hard ale. It's not one of your sissy little cervezas that you sip by the poolside. You won't find a slice of fruit floating in this beer. This is a straight up heavy ale in the vein of it's famous neighbor to the west, Guinness. I must confess that I loved this beer immensely. From the first sip, the flavors of roasted barley and caramel jumped out at me. Like most ales, it lacks the bite of carbonationation that for me, is a plus. Bottom line, if you like your ale dark, your fistfights bloody and your vikings murderous, you'll like Skullsplitter. Be prepared to pay $10 to $13 for a four pack though.

Cheers,
Ian

http://www.sinclairbreweries.co.uk/about.html

January 13, 2009: Tusker

Today I'm featuring Tusker, a Kenyan lager that I've never heard about before. As a writer, I love to hear a good story. Anytime a new beer comes along with an interesting story, for me it's like combining the best of both worlds. Tusker is one of those beers that not only comes from an exotic locale, but also has a unique story behind the naming of the beer.

Kenya Breweries was founded in Kenya (Who would have thought?) in the year 1923 by a man named George Hurst. Hurst like many British transplants in eastern Africa was an avid hunter and frequently took part in big game hunts upon the savannah and highlands of Kenya. One hot summer day in 1923, Hurst left the duties of his fledgling brewery behind to join in on an elephant hunt. Ironically while Hurst sought to slay the hulking beast, he was impaled by the tusk of the very elephant he was attempting to hunt. To honor the memory of it's late founder, Kenya Breweries chose the name "Tusker" for their new lager, which was the nickname that George Hurst's friends had given to the elephant that took his life.

Today Tusker is probably the largest alcoholic brand in all of Kenya and perhaps even in all of eastern Africa. The brand is so successful that it even has it's own professional soccer club that plays in Kenya's top league. This beer was pretty good, but nothing to write home about really. It has a very unique, almost fruity flavor about it that almost certainly comes from the variety of barley grown in Kenya, which is near the equator for those of you out there who don't own a globe or a map. Naturally, one can't expect to find Tusker just anywhere, so if you're interested in tracking this one down, don't look around at your local liquor store. If I were to rate it on a scale of 1 to 10, it would be about a 6.5. The beer itself is adequate, but the lore behind the name gives it the kind of macabre appeall that a sick man such as my self delights in.

Maisha Marefu! (swahili for cheers)
Ian

http://www.eabl.com

January 12, 2009: Sapporo

Life is short. It's too short to live with any regrets holding you back, and sometimes it's easy to lose sight of what it's all really about. Every once in a great while, things can happen in your life that can sort of smack you in the face and make you take a second look at your life. For me it was just one of those days.

When I was at work today I was eating an orange, when I began to choke. One minute I was shooting the breeze with my coworkers, then next I wasn't breathing. At all. I'm kind of known as the goofy guy at work so no one believed me at first. For over a minute, which seemed like an eternity, I tried in vain to clear my own airway. As utter panic began to set in, my coworkers realized that I wasn't playing some sort of stupid joke and that I was really in trouble. At this point I don't remember much, it kinda goes all fuzzy in my mind. Never in my life have I ever felt the sensation of being completely deprived of oxygen in such a way that I truly feared for my life. If it weren't for my coworker Stephan's incredibly fast instincts, I fear to think of what might have happened. He performed the Heimlich on me and eventually the orange became dislodged from my throat.

As ridiculous as is sounds, an orange nearly ended my life. Just ten minutes before Stephan and my other coworkers were outside with me, I was all alone with 14 third graders who would have been unable to assist me. It's horrible to think about it, but had I still been alone when I ate that fateful orange, the 365 brews project might have sadly turned into the 11 brews project.

My brush with death has truly rocked me to the core, and caused me to really question what is most important in my life. I realized that I wasn't really afraid of dying, I was afraid of not living. What I mean is that in the moments after the incident, I thought about all the things that I wanted to experience in my life that I would have missed out on. I would never get to see the pyramids in Egypt, never go skydiving, never go to a world cup match, never get to marry the love of my life or have children. I'm only 25, there's so much more living I have to do before I'm ready to kick the bucket.

I guess I just forgot that this life is not promised to anyone. You can have all the hopes and plans for the future, and it can all come crashing down with a piece of fruit that gets wedged in your windpipe. I might not be here tomorrow, so I'll be damned if I ever live my life with regrets again. I've got a new lust for life that only the shadow of death could have brought out in me and just like the old cliche says, I'm going to live everyday like it's my last, because it very well could be.

Saporro had the lucky distinction of being the first beer that I chose to drink after my choking fit that caused me to reevaluate my life top to bottom. Honestly after what happened to me, I can say that while this certainly wasn't the best beer that I've ever had, but I can't remember ever enjoying a beer more that I did tonight. I guess it doesn't hurt that Sapporo is a decent beer in it's own right. Tonight it definitely hit the spot and I think I was able to really savor the refreshing taste of this Japanese lager. I enjoyed every last drop of the Sapporo and I think that it will always have a special place in my heart for the beer as being the first beer of the rest of my life. Sapporo gets high marks from me, due to both it's smoothness and it's relative ease to locate in most grocery stores. Go ahead, drink a Sapporo and as the iconic character Red Ellis from the classic film "The Shawshank Redemption" once said... "Get busy livin', or get busy dyin' ".

Kampai,
Ian

P.S. Be sure to let the important people in your life how you feel about them today, because you never know when it might be too late. =)

www.Sapporousa.com

January 11, 2009: Hinano Tahiti

I've had an amazing weekend. Last night was my friend Brooke's birthday and she had an absolutely incredible party at the ultra-cool Standard hotel in downtown Los Angeles and me and my closest friend got beyond hammered at the roof top bar, surrounded by skyscrapers bathed in the flourescence of a full moon. I woke up early this morning, while all of my friends were still deep in their drunken slumbers. Still half drunk, I grabbed a gatorade and headed downstairs, and out to the city that was also just beginning to wake up with the rising sun. I walked down 6th street and wandered around Pershing square for a while, chatting with a few bums by the fountain before I decided to move on. There was a lightness to my step that seemed to increase as the bright morning sun began to cut it's way through the dominating shadows of the enormous buildings. Everything I saw, every crack in the sidewalk, every art deco building that seemed out of place among the monolithic concrete buildings that encased it, every toothless grin that passed me by; I was taking it all in and I was becoming a part of it. I had my finger firmly on the pulse of this little slice of urban paradise and I thought to myself in that moment about how lucky I was to be alive, to be able to drink in the fullness of life and just be a part of something greater.

There's a point here, I promise...

After my almost indescribable weekend, I've found myself in unusually high spirits and I'm hoping I can find a beer that can match my enthusiasm for life. Enter Hinano Tahiti. My sunday morning stroll through the streets of L.A. made me realize how small my world really is. I go to work, go to school, sit around in my 790 sq. ft apartment, and generally don't get much of a chance to be a part of the great big world that exists outside of the bubble of Orange County. Today I've decided to try something a bit exotic with Hinano Tahiti. Is there anywhere in the world that is more exotic than the black sandy beaches of Tahiti? I was intrigued by the little hula girl on their logo and decided to give this lager a go.

In my opinion, this is a thoroughly decent beer. For a company that's only been around since 1955 and comes from a tiny little rock in the middle of the pacific ocean, Hinano Tahiti seems to have gotten it right. It was a pleasure drinking this beer, and there was no trace of an aftertaste. A lot of times I don't realize how much I'm truly enjoying a beer until it's gone before I know it. That was the case with Hinano Tahiti and I truly wished I had another one in my fridge right now. My only minor criticism of this beer is that as the beer began to warm, it lost a bit of it's edge and tasted just a bit flat by the end, but not enough to be considered to be a major drawback. This is definitely a specialty beer and your not going to find it at your local grocery store. If you can find it at a shop like Bevmo! or a similar specialty shop, it comes highly recommended from yours truly.

A votre sante!
Ian

http://www.hinano.com

January 10, 2009: Cerveza Mexicali

I'm going to be totally honest here.... I don't exactly remember this beer. Last night my friend Brooke turned 21 and we had pretty much one of the best parties ever at a hotel in downtown L.A. called "The Standard". I had the Cerveza Mexicali pretty early in the evening, so I could really take in the full flavor of the beer and give the beer the thoughtful analysis that the 365 beers projects demands. But realistically, when the night ends with someone from your entourage being kicked out of the club for puking on the floor, getting in an argument with a girl from Brooklyn about the weather, pants and underwear mysteriously disappearing and inviting people you've just met to come back to your suite to eat left over Subway sandwiches, you're not going to remember much about that one beer that you had at the beginning of the night.

I guess all I can go by is the assumption that if Cerveza Mexicali was any good, it would be worth remembering. Since I think I've already stated several times in this blog that I'm not a big cerveza guy, logic would dictate that Cerveza Mexicali probably didn't break the mold. Anyway, I think the pictures from this night can do more to describe the experience than I ever could just rambling about it, so enjoy!

Cheers,
Ian

p.s. Happy Birthday Brooke!

January 9th, 2009: Moosehead

Uh oh. I've made a classic rookie mistake, and even though I could have predicted that it would happen, nevertheless I'm caught in a bit of a predicament. A week ago my beer drawer in the fridge was overflowing and I had a world of possibilities laid out before my taste buds. Now I've already drunk the more appealing beers in my stock and I'm left with the dregs. However, as I've said before, the show must go on and I must accept my fate for tonight anyway.

Moosehead Lager. What a great name. One of the most effective weapons in the marketing arsenal of any beer company is the name of it's brand. If you were at a restaurant and had you're choice between a beer called Moosehead and a beer called something like Cunningham's or Eckleberg's, you're probably gonna go with the Moosehead. You've got to have something to intice the consumer into giving your brand a shot. Just ask the good folks at Stone Brewing Co. that make Arrogant Bastard Ale. So the brewers of Moosehead Lager have done the first step, now all they have to do is impress me.

Moosehead is the oldest brewer in Canada and used to be a much more popular import in the states than it is today. There is however a solid contingency of Canucks here in America who keep the fortunes of Moosehead afloat in an oversaturated American market. I've had Moosehead in the past, but as I recall there wasn't anything particularly remarkable about this Lager. My tasting tonight reaffirmed the mediocrity of Moosehead Lager. When Moosehead's popularity began to wane in the 80's, they cut the price in an attempt to compete with the Budweisers, Coors and Millers of the beer world. Simply put, there is a clear reason for Moosehead's lack of performance compared to the big boys of beer in America, and it's the taste. Moosehead is not a bad beer. It has all the positive attributes of a good lager, but seems to be somehow not quite up to par in regards to taste, refreshment and quality. I guess the best way I can explain it is that Moosehead is good for what it is, but not good enough to make me want to choose it over many other lagers, given the choice. It's relatively easy to get your hands on a case of Moosehead Lager here in the states, so go ahead and try it. But just in case you do try and you don't like, I'll leave you with my favorite four word saying...."I told you so!"


Cheers hosers!
Ian

http://www.moosehead.ca/

January 8, 2009: Arriba

Well, it's about ten at night, I've just gotten home from torturing my body by playing soccer with my friends, and now I have to drink a beer. This is one of those nights that the 365 beers seems like more of a burden than a pleasure, but the show must go on. On the docket for tonight: Arriba. I have to confess that Despite my slight aversion to cervezas, I love the name of this beer. Arriba!!!! andalay, andalay, epa epa!!! This sounds like the beer Speedy Gonzalez and his cousin slow poke Rodriguez would drink after a long day of out running their arch nemesis Silvero Gato. Unfortunately, Arriba lacked the fun and playfullness of Mr. Speedy Gonzalez.

When I popped the cap of this almost flourescent cerveza, my olfactory senses were barraged by an ovewhelming skunkiness that seemed to stink up my whole apartment. For anyone out there who thinks that Corona is skunky, pop an Arriba and you'll think this beer is more Pepe Le Pew than Speedy Gonzalez (Ok, that's the last Warner Bros. reference, I promise!). One thing I will say for this beer is that the taste wasn't nearly as bad as the putrid stench it emitted. I would probably compare this cerveza with Pacifico in terms of taste and crispness. Would I drink Arriba again? Doubtful. However, if you're a cerveza kinda person it's not a terrible choice if you're able to track it down. Just make sure you plug your nose when opening it and in between sips. Andalay, Andalay, Arriba! Arriba!!!!

Salud,
Ian

www.laconstancia.com