It's official, tonight will be the first of many tastings in the "Best American Beer in Gainesville" 2007 beer tasting tournament. It works like the NCAA basketball deal. Check out the bracket PDF if you please. Five judges conducting blind taste tests, 8 different beers to sample per sitting.
There's more details, but those are to come. For now, if ya want, download the bracket and follow along. Feel free to hold your own tourney. The beers were chosen based on the best American beers available in Gainesville, Florida. They were chosen using an average total score based on those scores available on beeradvocate.com and realbeer.com.
Here's to finding the best beer in Gainesville.
Slainte!
Monday, July 23, 2007
Friday, July 20, 2007
Brilliant Beer Marketing
A couple of days ago I received a package from the Boston Beer Company. If you are a member of the American Homebrewers Association and Beer Advocate, you too may have had the same experience.
Around 11PM I was returning home to find a small cardboard box in front of my door. I brought it inside and examined its exterior. There was a silhouette of a glass on the side and it read, "Sam Adams Boston Lager 16oz." Sweet! Someone sent me beer glasses.
I opened up the box and there was a letter from Jim Koch of the Boston Beer Company explaining that he had been searching for the perfect glass to serve his Sam Adams Boston Lager in. It also said as a member of AHA and Beer Advocate, I would be the type of person that would understand his quest for this perfect pint glass. Right off the bat I was amazed. And no I didn't think he sent me a personal letter. ha ha. He explained that as a homebrewer he would be honored if I used his glass to serve one of my own homebrews. How cool is that? What a great way to market your product. I can say that I wanted to immediately go out and purchase some Sam Adams Boston Lager to try out these glasses(I actually had a Brookyln Lager in the glass first... sorry Jim, that's all I had in the fridge).
As a marketing professional and a homebrewer it always makes me happy when I see a talented brewer using tasteful marketing to promote their hard work.
Great job Jim Koch, and if you have a chance, check out the glasses for yourself. Enjoy.
Bring Me Down Brown
Now as a lover of craft beer, I like to try as many small batch brewed beelz as possible. And if at all possible support my local brewers. There's a small brewery/pub in Dunedin, Florida. I've yet to take the trek down there to see it in person, but they do distribute their bottled brews here in Gainesville, FL. So my fellow band members and I decided to try a few of their brews. This particular review is for their "Beach Tale Brown Ale".
We popped the top and poured three small samples from the 16oz brown bottle. It produced a nice health head of chocolate brown foam that left a nice silky residue on the glass as it very slowly creeped down the glass. The aroma was a bit strange. It had almost an astringent smell to it. I wouldn't say it was a bad smell, just not what I expected from a brown ale brewed with roasted and chocolate malts. The color was a dark brown with some serious carbonation going on. In fact, I can't remember the last time I saw that kind of carbonation in a dark brown ale.
Then to the fun part, the tasting. Each of us slowly ingested this murky brew to see what it was all about. "Awwwwww maaaaaaaan", was the first thought out of our mouths. That astringent smell led to an over-carbonated bitter flavor that bitch slapped our palates. We were disgusted. This beer had some hints of old apples, alcohol bitterness and a mouthfeel like sandpaper. Not exactly what any of us were anticipating. It was almost comparable to a super-carbonated rootbeer without any of the sweetness. Just bitter, bubbly, and overwhelmingly disheartening.
One of our least favorite beers is Shiner Bock. As my friend Dave put it, "Shiner Bock is the Mendoza Line for beers." ha ha. Good point. This Dunedin Beach Tale Brown Ale fell way below that line.
I hate to dog the local Florida brewery, but man, this beer was not good. At least that's the way the three of us judged it across the board.
I'd stay away from this one if I were you. Give one of their other brews a try. We sure will as I hope they can do better than that.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Brooklyn Beer is now in Florida!
If you haven't heard already, Brooklyn Brewery has begun its efforts to distribute its fantastic beers to the state of Florida. Right now in Gainesville, FL, the only selection available is the Brookyln Lager. The flagship brew of this fine brewery, this lager has a crisp, refreshing taste with an abundance of hop flavor that in my opinion surpasses that of the Sam Adams Boston lager that has become so popular in the past few years. If you like a nice amber lager with a good dose of hoppiness, then Brooklyn Lager is a must. Try this beer with a burger and some onion rings and your day will immediately improve.
I will post updates as more of the Brooklyn Brewery beers become available in Gainesville and the surrounding areas.
Prost!
Friday, July 6, 2007
Battle of the Beers List Released Today!
Here it is! The official list of American beelz that will be part of the 64 beel bracket that will determine the best overall beel available in Gainesville,Florida. It's a tough task, but we're up to it. The list is set up with the name of the beel in bold and the Brewery in italics. Check it out!
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Battle of the Beers Coming Soon!
David of the Castellanos clan has done what most of us could only think of... he has taken the time to create a 64-team... uhhh beer, bracket to determine the best beer available here in Gainesville, Florida... American beer that is... hey yesterday was the 4th of July afterall. Now since it will only be beer we can get around here, no complaints if your favorite does not appear. Actually he had to scale the bracket down a bit and even some of my favorites didn't make it. Based on combinations of info from realbeer.com and beeradvocate.com, Dave has made a pretty damn comprehensive list of competitors. Over the next few months we will be having blind taste tests using a system of judging we're still trying to figure out. ha ha. So keep checking back here as the bracket will be available as a downloadable PDF so you too can play along if you so choose. This is sure to help us get through another disgustingly hot and humid North Central Florida Summer.So here's to beers and all the magical flavors they provide.
Slainte!
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