As I’m sure you’re all tired of hearing, I have drunk many, many different beers—roughly 2,300 by my best current reckoning. It has been, and continues to be, a really awesome, life-enriching hobby, with the incredibly minor drawback that finding something truly new and different seems to be increasingly difficult with each passing month. Innovation in the field of beer is constant, and I’m sure the surprises won’t ever really run out for me, but when I see a brewery like San Francisco’s Anchor Brewing put out an “Estonian-style ale,” yeah, I’m going to jump on that, because I’ve never had an Estonian-style ale!
Saaramaa Island Ale, the sixth brew in Anchor’s Zymaster series of experimental beers, was inspired by the Anchor brewmaster’s trip to, well, Estonia’s Saaremaa Island. He brought back a sample of the local yeast, and used it to ferment Saaremaa Island Ale. It was this last bit that really had me interested: A strain of brewing yeast that’s not Belgian or German or English or American, with the potential to produce new and unfamiliar flavors. This is the shit I get most excited for: A new hop that tastes like lemon and gunpowder; a beer aged, for the first time, in barrels that previously held gin; a yeast that—well, I don’t know yet. Let’s find out!
Okay. Hmm. Well. For a beer inspired by a distinctive brewing tradition, there’s a lot that’s familiar here. Saaremaa has a warm, friendly orange-gold color, with a quickly dissipating head. It’s a sweet beer with a slightly spicy finish, incorporating flavors of cantaloupe, banana, candi sugar and clove with minimal hop presence. If you read all of that and thought, “that sounds like a Belgian golden ale,” then we’re on the same page! There’s little, from what I can tell, to differentiate this from a Belgian golden or pale—and a good golden or pale, to be sure, but I have to admit to a bit of disappointment. And not because there’s anything wrong with this beer, at least as far as I can tell!
Part of never having had a beer from Saaremaa Island, and having had any Estonian malt beverage just the once when I was already drunk at a hipster bar in Chicago’s gay district, which, like, I’m still not even sure why they had bottles of Saku Originaal lager… anyway, what I’m getting at is that I don’t have even a remote reference point for the thing Anchor’s brewmaster was inspired by. This is certainly a very good beer, in that it tastes very good. It may also be a good Estonian-style beer; at the very least, I have no reason to doubt that it is. Its only failing is its failing to present my senses with something new, and the more I think about it, the more I doubt that I was reasonable in expecting that. Sometimes a beer’s just a beer.
lady snow says: It just tasted like a farmhouse ale to me. Maybe a farmhouse ale with honey. It’s very enjoyable! This is the sort of beer I think I could drink more of than most other beers. Nothing all that distinctive about it, but it’s just really good.
tl;dr: You’re even more justified than usual skipping to this line today, as much of the above comprises some extremely silly hemming and hawing about my personal expectations for the beer. It’s very good, and should be an especially big hit with any fan of the lighter Belgian styles.
Grade: I’m going to have a Wekken Sour next. It’s a blend of DeProef’s Zoetzuur wild ale and Left Hand’s Wake Up Dead imperial stout. It won’t be the first time I’ve had a sour stout, but it’ll be the first time I’ve had this one. Can’t wait.
make it snow is an alot of beer who couldn’t find a good free photo of Saaremaa Island. Image search that shit though, because it looks beautiful. He drank about an Imperial pint of Anchor Saaremaa Island Ale, and lady snow drank the rest. Drink something nice tonight yourself, will you? It’s only Sunday.
Firth Of Fifth:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD5engyVXe0
The Carpet Crawlers
Heed their callers
Gotta get in to get out
Gotta get in to get out
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yUN6CsuVPw
Since there is all this Phil Collins love going on, I will post this as it is sort of related. The title/lyric “senseless acts of selfishness on made-up English Oceans” refers to the legend about Collins’ “In the Air Tonight,” and the line “Made-up English stomach contents” is a reference to the Rod Stewart stomach-pumping legend, both of which are completely fabricated. The song is supposed to be told from the perspective of notorious Republican organizer Lee Atwater about how easy it is to get dumb people to believe dumb shit. It’s a really fucking good song.
https://youtu.be/viAsB60haz8
http://cliparwolf.com/images/k/k-07.jpg
Not sure I follow.
Nothing to follow.
K.
WBS was right about tonights TWD, the episode was just shitty. Not I got a story I didn’t like shitty, just fucking awful shitty.
Tony Banks et. al.:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRSgvfNZcWA
https://vine.co/v/iqBOHBwZJYO
http://49.media.tumblr.com/677c2ec4497cb16b70c7d072c47bd0d7/tumblr_o0simvKww91tbt5dxo1_400.gif
KEEP THEM MOWER BLADES SHARP
https://youtu.be/y1tFQMjc-IE
http://i.perezhilton.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/best-zombie-kills-lawnmower-dead-alive.gif
That’s All:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1oKVm_qiYg
http://36.media.tumblr.com/8be4faea37de904436f18f018bef7e35/tumblr_o0hevsR9nE1rojphdo1_540.jpg
The Hardly Boys and the Case of the Violated Monkey
Wonder if it was spanked or shocked.
http://ww1.sinaimg.cn/mw600/5528fe1bgw1e4ieh75tz6g20dw07h49u.gif
Paperlate:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wHqUOE16vo
http://41.media.tumblr.com/b6ce3b2f21fe37f88139513294273e8d/tumblr_o0hewzvWK71rojphdo1_1280.jpg
http://45.media.tumblr.com/a80440d35cde588c9b57a2e38899c295/tumblr_o2gdd9FQjB1qgckmbo3_400.gif
Thanks WCS.
Still can’t understand why I can’t post YouTube videos, but:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huXh3M7bCs4
Talking about top-whatevers. Top-ten ever for your buddy. Could listen to this 1000 times straight, and never get bored with it.
Doesn’t get much better,
Until this weekend I thought it had to do with posting privileges, but obviously that’s not it or else you would be able to. I also saw someone relatively new embedding video this weekend, so now I assume I’m just incompetent.
I’m #5 on the masthead and I can’t post YouTubes.
It’s all topsy-turvy.
We have a masthead?
I have tried multiple ways from multiple programs and no luck. I actually like to open a new tab with the song anyway since they get interrupted when it refreshes.
http://49.media.tumblr.com/5215dad22a2ada60aa8c29e59fe7528e/tumblr_netup1dkMJ1svbttyo1_400.gif
Sally Field…. high as fuck.
http://49.media.tumblr.com/4b8364aedc0c54e6e69a2cb4c562a8b1/tumblr_n4k7cf1yB21sr2rgro4_250.gif
http://49.media.tumblr.com/4b8364aedc0c54e6e69a2cb4c562a8b1/tumblr_n4k7cf1yB21sr2rgro4_250.gif
http://41.media.tumblr.com/8827b95b96f38c01ce57151474439fb9/tumblr_o0iejqebeY1rojphdo1_1280.jpg
Apparently I am too.
http://49.media.tumblr.com/e229c1cdfe6ad45e581e7c010b4c2275/tumblr_o0ivigB0Il1tbt5dxo1_400.gif
HOW Y’ALL DOIN’ THIS EVENIN’???
Obligatory because of a comment below. Gonna finish the ep, see you in 40ish min
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1plPyJdXKIY
Turn It On Again:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StfLy3pzno0
Home By The Sea:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0j6d7VeYvdQ
Land Of Confusion:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHmH1xQ2Pf4
I remember watching this as a kid, and having absolutely no idea what was going on. Fraggle Rock on acid.
Currently taking a break in the middle of TWD. I have to say while the ep is entertaining, the reasoning behind why it is happening is still fucking stupid. Last week was just lets fuck this up for the finale and this weeks logic isn’t that much better
Mr. theeWeeBabySeamus is PISSED about this episode. You are taking it way better as a fan.
http://49.media.tumblr.com/d8fd580191b5c7e6006a7d02053e06d1/tumblr_o0cm60jHxY1rxpytqo1_400.gif
The WCS harem.*
http://45.media.tumblr.com/3a7b9b48dfe85464761c67ad496162c7/tumblr_nla1l18vlC1rvcjd7o1_500.gif
Mine too.
[sploosh]
http://49.media.tumblr.com/ee36725f1cb244923dfd32b90bf8a9b9/tumblr_nla1l18vlC1rvcjd7o9_500.gif
Mental harem, anyway.
http://cdn.meme.am/instances/500x/53018568.jpg
http://49.media.tumblr.com/5d0084a94ff4a0c670dbf50ce3aa3f72/tumblr_nla1l18vlC1rvcjd7o3_500.gif
Top-25 song of all-time, hands down.
I had to do math to log on tonight. What is that? 8+1? I could have easily gotten that wrong. Is that a specific to site thing or a new to wordpress thing?
9
It took me 6 tries but I got it. It is the principle of it
It happens.
I was going to originally go with spelling it “principal” but I wasn’t sure people wouldn’t just think I spelled it wrong, so I went with the lesser joke.
Oh, that would have been good.
http://cdn.meme.am/instances/400x/39473140.jpg
If you have an 8+1, you probably have a handgun with a caliber of .380, possibly .25. Don’t ever forget there’s one in the chamber.
And if you have 15 + 1, you and Nate Dog are about to regulate.
Lawrence Taylor too.
http://45.media.tumblr.com/3742ac3175c458aa96947512b792daf7/tumblr_o0kvs13sFg1tbt5dxo1_400.gif
“Hold me.”
http://49.media.tumblr.com/a65fdcb86a38b9bc87115bb219d2416e/tumblr_o0wd5srBUs1tbt5dxo1_400.gif
“Paint me, Niklaus. Like you do the others.”
http://49.media.tumblr.com/8cea470777cee2a3b90b36ea104ed987/tumblr_o0odm3vN2I1tbt5dxo1_400.gif
As if there could be anything better than In The Cage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4tDKF_uwRI
FREE TO FLUTTER IN MEMORY OF THEIR WASTED WINGS
A Trick Of The Tail:
FUCKING SQUONK WOO
Turn It On Again:
Mood For A Day II:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LY0c6qc95oI
The Knife:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XhDHJNuyXw
http://49.media.tumblr.com/04835f9c629601811b54564ef1f0b7e5/tumblr_mfyc8eO8m71rfi1ufo1_500.gif
Afterglow:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xA_uWtbXnh8
http://49.media.tumblr.com/fb4aa4a8a84dacf6c6dbf9ef76f3e15c/tumblr_o1w5pcaE1Z1ts5c27o1_540.gif
St Sebastian
http://www.benekeith.com/images/beverage/Old_Man_St._Bernardus_A_400x400_CLEAR.png
Follow You Follow Me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plcFlVa2RFw
http://cdn-static.denofgeek.com/sites/denofgeek/files/styles/insert_main_wide_image/public/alan_partidge_knowing_me_knowing_you.jpg?itok=q2lIiE8p
Counting Out Time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXUmKw4pFdc
And, from my uncle’s favorite album of all time:
Abacab:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWiMaarZym4
Got to give you credit, Sill. Of all the bands in rock, I didn’t have you pegged as a Phil Collins-Genesis fan.
First concert ever: Invisible Touch Genesis 1985.
http://45.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mcviv3wBHf1qg39ewo1_500.gif
Heeeeeeeeeeeeey, Ladies…….
http://41.media.tumblr.com/ce5127ff54150d19900f271faa04107d/tumblr_o14lqr99Rk1rojphdo1_1280.jpg
http://49.media.tumblr.com/8e5640f6623d479de7bccd6af068b41b/tumblr_nxpa9hkQfn1qe4ru4o1_540.gif
The young Vincent Price is annoyed by my “jokes.”
http://49.media.tumblr.com/3ae2f32ac7972e27c1d91d0e57980e7a/tumblr_nxqjc0ZVvu1qhlmruo2_250.gif
His grandson, Jody, also enjoys it.
http://49.media.tumblr.com/01c59267c9a9cacee99631f92b241699/tumblr_nz8h55i7h71rpc5kho1_250.gif
Mood For A Day:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LY0c6qc95oI
http://www.conceptcarz.com/images/Saab/1946-Saab-92001-Ursaab-04.jpg
Nathan For You is the dumbest fucking thing on TV right now. I can’t stop watching. It’s phenomenal.
http://45.media.tumblr.com/aec9491513d3271d6563902a79875d44/tumblr_npsnbhfwUe1r9msvko1_400.gif
On a scale of one to Manos: The Hands of Fate, how bad will Independence Day 2 be?
As bad as Mallrats 2 and Clerks 3, albeit a jillion times more expensive.
Plan 9999999999999999999999999999999999 From Outer Space
I regret that I only have one +1 to give. This is just damn good hustle, son.
/slaps Sill on the ass, HARD
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down there, slick. There’s going to be a Clerks 3?!
Unfortunately. And MallRats 2 will be called MallBrats. If there is a Chasing Amy sequel, Smith should take a nice hot bath a la Frankie Petangeli.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2564126/?ref_=nv_sr_3
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4574472/?ref_=nv_sr_1
http://49.media.tumblr.com/c0fae4240193b73c5ee6f5b0028c2fd5/tumblr_n1d7itow0q1qdwl9jo7_250.gif
Brace yourselves: angry Walking Dead fans are coming.
You’re goddamned right.
I was already bitching it up over on my piece o’ shit baseball thread.
Fucking asshole writers/producers.
But Jeffrey Dean Morgan is awesome.
http://45.media.tumblr.com/e7afe6fb2434daa586946fdc2784ab50/tumblr_o19gxkQRs21rd9rd8o1_500.gif
Balls asked about breweries in Dallas or Texas in general WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY down at the bottom of the comments; thought I’d bump that up here.
http://49.media.tumblr.com/54bf0ea5cb407b0a26be2d72f5e23f96/tumblr_o0trqolFyn1uakbflo1_500.gif
Balls, if you gave up waiting for an answer, it’s down there!
Thanks to both of you!
Oh, sploosh.
http://45.media.tumblr.com/e8715e05de3209dad40f1fdf4ef6554b/tumblr_n2g1cvloQ51r1ad86o5_250.gif
The extra 30 minutes of Walking Dead is just commercials.
http://45.media.tumblr.com/4a7ead930704b09e71f4e57668d68fbc/tumblr_nzl55rUrc71sqf5tdo1_400.gif
Great post, BTW.
http://49.media.tumblr.com/b869a7350d7a8a31649cc2b1fbca09b1/tumblr_n9e39iLhm01r4zr2vo1_500.gif
http://45.media.tumblr.com/f37dd31807e9669d05b2648ca99af671/tumblr_o15nbskQN01rbhnqko1_400.gif
Thanks!
I remember beer…
http://www.theglobaledition.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/beers-320×190.jpg
Now I wonder how many I’ve tried. Between all the local brew tastings, different kinds from good liquor stores, and being persistent at several tap houses that have “beers from around the world.” Shit.
http://45.media.tumblr.com/f416f70d4960a6f401c873d76ca32032/tumblr_o2w3b6olXe1qfr6udo3_500.gif
I don’t think I’d even be able to guess if I hadn’t had pretty solid means of keeping track for the last nine years or so. I have a few over 2,200 logged on Untappd, and I’ve always kind of assumed there are 100 or so that I drank before I started using Untappd and didn’t drink again after I started using it. (The more I think about it, the more I think this is probably a substantial underestimate.)
At most of the breweries I do a flight or two with friends. That is about 7-10 each place. Between here and Cali at least 100 (?) places just in the last few years. Plus the others over many decades. I will call it a “lot”……
http://49.media.tumblr.com/471e6fc559573aeea3e4a10dea342ee7/tumblr_o16hxmOv3S1qanwe4o2_r1_500.gif
and yet I know a few people who have drank Coors Light for ~97% of their prodigious beer drinking efforts.
PFTC has also had 2300 beers, but they were all 40’s of Mickey’s.
Ages 13 through 16 I had several of those. They had the patented Automatic Spill In Lap pop-top.
Drank a lot of Mickey’s as a kid, and a lot of OE 800. Mickey’s was one of the more palatable malts. I think St Ides was probably the worst one I remember.
What does gunpowder taste like anyway?
Dammit, you got me. I’ve never taken a big bite of a horse blanket either.
I always wonder where some of these descriptors come from, and more importantly, why they’re considered positive traits.
I was once trying to find wine for some occasion and was reading labels. One was described as having flavors that included asphalt.
Never bought it.
I mean, things generally taste like they smell, right? I don’t have an answer for the more important question, though. I don’t know why I like beers that taste like leather.
That’s a little more insight into the lives of you and lady snow than I was expecting.
[snicker]
As one who’s fucked around with black powder rifles; it tastes terrible; very gunpowderery.
Heh. For some reason my dad started hunting with a black powder rifle for awhile. It never failed to amuse the rest of us when the loud, dry “click” would send the buck he had lined up running for the trees because he’d load the fucking thing wrong. This happened more than once. We started leaving him thank-you notes from the deer tacked up around our camp. He was not as pleased with this as the rest of us were.
I really liked the history of it and it was interesting to see how fast you could load it compared to a Civil War musket time. The ones we messed with were made from Hawkins kits. Surprisingly accurate up to about 125 yards with a lot of drop. Plus they kicked like a mule.
It was accurate and certainly powerful. I think his was a 50 cal. It’s just not a particularly convenient weapon for hunting, especially if you’re not that practiced with it.
Do you guys make the bullets with the mold? My uncle showed me that. Pretty fucking cool.
No, he never went that far. We used to reload shotgun though. We did a lot of trap shooting.
Where do you find all these beers? I live in the relatively beer-friendly state of California and there are a lot of beers you mention that I’ve never seen.
Anchor Saaremaa Island hit pretty widely here. I think I got it at a grocery store. It’s from a California brewery, too; do you guys have issues with beers getting from NorCal to SoCal and the other way round? That’s the only thing I can think of for this one.
Looking back, three of the beers I’ve reviewed most recently (Live Oak Hefeweizen, Martin House Kafkaesque, and Real Ale Hans Pils) are only in Texas, so you definitely wouldn’t have heard of them. JW Lees Harvest Ale would probably only be at stores with a substantial focus on beer, and might be kept in back. The time I reviewed the fantasy football prizes that OSZ sent me, one had been out of circulation for years, and the other maaaaay have been Oregon-only? OSZ can maybe confirm that. Some of the other stuff I know makes it to your area, but it’s probably either on and off the shelves in a hurry, or kept in the back for people who know to ask for it.
I’m visiting a friend in Dallas on the Tax Day weekend. Any recommendations for beers I should try that are only in Texas?
I had something all typed up for this and then my computer crashed. I’ll try to reinvent the wheel as quickly as possible.
My favorite breweries in the DFW are are Lakewood, Community, and Martin House. I can’t remember if you like stouts, Balls, but if you do, grab any version of Lakewood Temptress you see. (There’s even one inspired by Thin Mints!) Community makes really good beer across the board (their Public Ale is awesome and easy to drink), and Martin House is just brilliant at making weird shit. They have a salsa verde beer, for God’s sake.
If you like hops, there’s also Peticolas. Not that the other breweries don’t make great IPAs, or that Peticolas doesn’t make anything else, but that’s the main appeal with them. And finally, Revolver makes a wheat beer with blood oranges and honey called, well, Blood and Honey. It’s a big local favorite and there’s not really anything else like it that I’ve had.
Awesome! Thanks!
http://36.media.tumblr.com/f96d3a0dbbcd4bdc5d8d611a0803139c/tumblr_o1dwooMdvj1rojphdo1_1280.jpg