Wednesday, March 19, 2008

The Matrix

My cubemate, Dan the Man* told me he gets Dogfish Head, Flying Fish and Flying Dog all confused.

I made a little matrix for him

Flying Dog = FD = MD - FreDerick, MD that's where it's brewed, now
Flying Fish = FF = NJ - the "J" kinda looks like a fish-hook
Dogfish Head = DFH = DE - brewed in Rehoboth: Dykes, Fags & Hippies

Simple

* Everyone I know has a qualifier or nickname - Pirate Pete, John The ParrotHead, Bingo Bob, HotTub Ronni, and so on.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Sure, guys. Whatever you say.

Magic Hat Lucky Kat Irresitable Pale Ale
Lucky Kat purrs as he pours with a grin on his mangy face and a grin in his searching eye. He sits on the fence he calls home, dividing up from down. Is he an imperial beast or a pale soul from the east? Only he knows and we know only this: if you reach out to pet him he'll bite back with a big, hoppy kiss.

Dry-hopped with Amarillo and Crystal.


Do the folks at Magic Hat think they are all there is? Granted word travels slowly in VT; but they must have some contact with the outside world: New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, at least.

Maybe they DON'T know about the IPA's being produced in Pennsylvania, Maryland and especially at Dr. Calagione's Monster Shop in Delaware.

I hate to say this, but the bloom is off the blossom. With Magic Hat discontinuing Blind Faith and Fat Angel, they have only HiPA and Circus Boy to hold my attention and even that is at a $7.99 price point.

They may be coming up with even more clever sayings under the bottle cap than, say, "The Universe begins three feet to your left" but my cap-alogue topped out at 310 or so ... the PDF is done, so I'm not adding any more, and I'm really not looking.

Thanks for the T-shirts, but I think we're finished here. Nice box, though.

Magic Hat Lucky Kat: Aspires to HopDevil, falls short - 8.75

Saturday, March 08, 2008

Going Deep

I had the pleasure of tasting two offerings from a NY brewery which has only recently shown up down here.

From Southern Tier

IPA:
Let's run the numbers [vs. DFH :60 benchmark]:
Twist off - lose 1/2 point
Cheezy label/packaging - lose 1/2 point
Hoppiness vs. DFH - not quite; lose 1/2 point
Value [$ per oz.] - .11 [ties DFH case, beats DFH six (.14)]; gain 1/4 point
Buzz Factor [oz. alcohol per $] - .54 [ties DFH case, beats DFH six (.43)]; gain 1/4 point
All told - 9.5, HopDevil territory; just a little bit lighter

Jah-Va Imperial Coffee Stout:
Pint #1 of a 22 oz'er
BBChocoWhat??? Feggedaboudit! This is the new champ of Extreme Stout!!!The ABVs aren't really kicking here - well, I haven't stood up in an hour either, so I don't know. It's got the same sweet, sour, creamy, smoky flavor without the nuttiness. The head is much like a nurse named Jen; thin, blonde, eager to tease, not very clingy and quick to disappear. It has BBCS's oceanside breakfast aroma, but either the pancakes got burnt or the toaster's broken, again.

[...one hour later...]

Pint #2... bottle done.
I feel like one of those free-divers who hold their breath and let the weighted sleds drag them down 300' or so into the ocean then they slowly resurface, spending 15 minutes or so down there.

I'm back up, head above the waves, breathing free and clear. Vision normal, heart rate normal, BP normal, manual dexerity ... normal, for me, anyway - spellcheck?

Now for a DFH to cleanse the palate and on we go.

Monday, March 03, 2008

Oh, It's Here Now

I saw my first bat of the year!!! He was fluttering just above the trees at sunset.

With the "coming home" temp at 60° or so, I was not surprised. I was actually a bit disappointed that, although the garage door was open when I rolled in, and the girls' bikes appeared to be missing ["good they're still out, I can get changed real fast and catch up!"] they were just parked on the grass, not indoors.

As much as I wanted to do a quick change and ride out, there was dinner to be made, homework to check, test scores to review ... at least it will be warm enough tomorrow morning to run without gloves.