Round 3: Nut Brown Ale

So, No posts the past few days, because I've no time to drink past few nights. Sorry bout that, but life catches up to you some times, and I don't always feel like downing a beer (or half a beer, whatever) right before bed. 

In any case, I debated a bit between trying the Nut Brown ale, or the Pilsner. I'd never had a Nut Brown ale, or any kind of Brown ale for that matter (to my knowledge). I've no idea what a Brown Ale is. I have had pilsners tho, So I decided on the Nut Brown Ale instead:

In anycase, poured myself and my Dad a glass (he's been going drink for drink with me so far, other then the porter). It poured well, and had a nice Head. Thats the first thing I noticed anyways. Either it just forms a head better then the other beers, or I was getting better at pouring. The color was similar to the Spring Lager, as you can see below

I gave it a good sniff (required of all beer snobs to do so), and noted taht what sent it had was faint and (get this) nutty. Big surprsie, right? It was also very mouthwatering. 

As for taste, it was surprisingly sweet. More so then the Spring Lager. And, not surprisingly, there was a nutty aftertaste. Not like peanuts or cashews, but more like walnuts or almonds ( I don't regularly eat walnuts or almonds, so it's hard for me to say which one it was the most like). I'd be curious to see what nuts go into the mix for the beer, but I figure thats one of those Trade Secret thingies (least ways I didn't see any ingrediants listed on the site). There was some bite to it, but not enough to make me cringe. 

As far as aftertaste, what little there was of it was actually kinda pleasent. The whole thing went down and tasted very smooth as well. I came out liking it very much. Best one I've had so far.

Round 2: Spring Lager

So, the second beer i tried from the St. Georges Brewery was the Spring Lager. 

I've had simmilar "spring" drinks. THey all tend to try to be lighter then the winter ones (usually stouts), and I've noticed that summer drinks tend to be "ales". This Spring lager tho, was nice. I liked it.

First off, the color. It has this nice golden red. Not quite the red of Killians Irish, but, IMO, comprable. (see below for a crappy picture of said color.)

My first impression of the taste was a twang. I can't explain it better then that, but theres some distinct Umph in the beer the first sip you take. The flavor was close to being sweet, but not quite. It was surprisingly mouth-watering. It's been a while since a beer has done that for me. Unlike any and all Budwiser beers, this Spring Lager really had "Drinkability". There was a far less bitter bite to it then the Porter, which was also nice. I mean, I can deal with some bite, but not too much (say,  IPA too much). The aftertaste was different too, much different. What after taste there was for the Spring Lager (which was faint) was sweet, not bitter. So, another nice surprise.

On the whole, good beer. Not my favorite of all time, but it's up there. I always like it when the local stuff turns out to be good, and seasonal beers often tend to be among the best a given microbrewer makes. Good beer.

Round one: Porter

The first of the St. George's beers that I tried was the Porter, since I tend to be a fan of Porters and Stouts.

Porters are at the dark end of beers. Tend to be smooth, and have less of a bite then most beers (at least in my experience). Often, like Stouts, Porters are made with  some chocolate or coffee or similar ingredient. Least I think so anyways.

At first glance, this beer was pretty darn dark. Night on black. The head wasn't much to write home about tho. Smelled like porter, maybe a hint of chocolate, hard to tell.

Sadly, it went down hard. There was more of a bite then I expected, to say the least. That was surprising and depressing. I don't like to associate bite with the darker beers. There was also a very unpleasant after taste, something else I don't normally associate with Porters or Stouts. Sadly, I have to rank this one rather low on the beers I've had. Oh, its better then any cheap beer, and at least half your non cheap beers, but it just wasn't quite what I want in a Porter. Whats even more sad is that the Porter and the IPA are the only 6 packs aside from the sampler pack that were available for purchase at the Farm Fresh that is the only place I know of off the top of my head that sells products from the St. George's Brewery.

And thus ends my first short review of the St. Georges Porter.

Back in the Saddle again, or A Quest for St. George.

*Dusts off the cobwebs*

Right so, been a while since I or anyone else for that matter has posted on this blog. I haven't had all that much to say. I could go on about graduation a few days ago, or family or what not, but Instead, I'll regal you with a story of a quest of a sorts.

Some background:

This past semester at Virgina Tech, I took a class called World Regions. Very fun class. The teacher is an eccentric individual. In fact, Eccentric is a bit of an understatement, but whatever. In anycase, he thinks hes a super hero. Or well, he has an alter ego as a super hero. That too doesn't matter much, but it should give you an idea of how awesome he is. 

Its his second class that matters, the one I wasn't enrolled in: Geography of Wine. Neat, right? A class devoted to the origins of wine. Long and short, the man knows his wine, his beer and his booze. And he talks about it, a lot. I've gotten a ton of recommendations of all kinds of stuff to drink from him, usually over Drinks at some place like Soulvakis, the local Greek place (yeah, that's right, I've been drinking with my Professor. Hell, he bought me and my Girlfriend lunch once).

Right so, background on the professor, check. Last day I am in Blacksburg, I decided to stop at the Vintage Cellar on the way out of time. The Vintage Cellar specializes in wines and rare (read that as not your Budweiser) beers. They tend to have all kinds of stuff from all over the place, including "local" guys. I've been blessed in Blacksburg with 2 local breweries: The Bull and Bones, which is also a restaurant, and the Blacksburg Brewing Co, which makes an excellent Pilsner (first One I had that I liked. Sadly, it's not bottled....I'm gonna miss that beer...)

Anywho, I'm there to pick up a beer for my Uncle. He came down to Hampton to watch my Grandmother while my Mom came up to see me graduate, and I knew he liked beers by the St. Peters brewery. So I got him some, and I picked up a bottle of wine for a friends approaching 21st birthday. While I'm there however, I hear someone call my name from behind the counter. Low and behold, its Prof. Boyer, my World Regions Professor and drinking buddy. Turns out he spends a lot of his free time there. He and I and my folks and girlfriend get to talking. We get to going on about local beers. And this is when I find out that, low and behold (I like that phrase, "Low and Behold"....I can make a dick joke out of it, I'm sure), that there's a Local Brewery in my hometown of Hampton, VA. The St. Georges Brewing Co. Total shocker, let me tell you. 

Well, I get home. Give my Uncle his beer, and find out that he bought a 6 pack of St. George's India Pale Ale (for those not in the know, an IPA is a kind of beer. It involves a specific method of brewing that I don't really know, as in all honesty, I don't really like IPA's. I think the official term is too hoppy. Its been ages since I've had one, and I'm not exactly in a rush to see if my opinion has changed now that I drink beer quasi-regularly. I'm sure I'll encounter one again sooner or later, but I'm not gonna actively search them out). He also had one of the Porters (a darker kind of beer similar to a Stout) for dinner the night before. Get this: he found them at the local grocery store. Not a specialty store, the local Farm Fresh. Fuckin A.

So the next day, I try a few of the Local Farm Fresh's till I find the one he went to (turns out to be the one that has the Star Bucks that I used to work at in it. Small world). I see a 6 pack of Porter, a Six pack of IPA, and this:

The St. George's DragonPack, or Sampler pack. It has 6 beers: Porter, Lager, Pilsner, Spring Lager, Nut Brown Ale, and American Brown Ale ( I have no idea what the Difference between the two are, but if I had to bet, it'd be their Nuts). I quickly deduced that this was not all that St. Georges had to offer, but it was all that was on the shelf (Other beer's offered include: Golden Ale, India Pale Ale (mentioned earlier), Summer Ale, Fall Bock, and Winter Stout. As you can imagine, the last three are the other seasonal ales, like the Spring Lager, that are available when any reasonable person would imagine, as their names would suggest). So, after a quick debate, I went ahead and nabbed the awesome DragonPack. $9 later, myself and my new shiny box of beer were in the car and on the way home, bottles rattling as they eagerly awaited a stomach acidly death. 

Thus was the Quest for St. Georges Beer.

In an effort to make myself do more blog posts, I shall be trying these beers over the next week or so. One a night, when I have the option to do so. The drinking started last night (May 19th), tho the actual blog post for the first drink I tried (the Porter) will be up tomorrow. I am keeping my notes on the beers in my handy dandy Moleskin Notebook (purchased yesterday, before I decided to go on a beer quest), and will provide pictures. I may also include input from my Dad, who is willing to try some of the beers. Not every one tho, because some nights he just doesn't feel like trying a beer. 

So, you've all been warned. I promise the next few blog posts from me (ie, 6-7) will not be nearly as long as this one, and will end with a special post (I'm not telling what it is, but I'm sure someone will figure it out sooner or later. Feel free to guess). In the mean time, I have some drinking to do. G'nite!

PS: this blog is cross posted on my Art of Manliness blog page.