No cherry on top

A cherry smoked wheat ale by Bayou Teche. Unremarkable.

3 Blacks

Listed in order of preference:

Black Chocolate Stout, by Brooklyn Brewery

Allagash Black, a Belgian style stout, by Allagash Brewing Company

Hop Strike Black IPA, by TommyKnocker Brewery

Blond and IPA

A Leffe Blond and Brooklyn Blast IPA after power was restored.

Trogue Javahead

A well-balanced coffee stout served at Bare Burger.

Beer on a hot day

Bronx Pale Ale (background) -- like a not too hoppy IPA; Ommegang
Gnomegamg -- sour, yeast, citrus.

Southern Tier Old Man Winter Ale

Keeping this old man and old lady warm. Reminds me of a pale ale but
it's classified as an " old ale" according to Beer Advocate.

Three unfestive beers

Robeer purchased all of the Octoberfest beers carried by a local beer shop (pictured below).

We tasted in order Otter Creek Oktoberfest, Stoudts Oktober Fest, and Victory Festbier. Unfortunately, we were disappointed.  If we had to purchase one of these beers again, Robeer would choose the Otter Creek, though he found it bland.  I would not choose the Victory. Stoudts was evervescent like a cider but not as complex. Victory tasted by crushed juniper berries and I only like gin with tonic on hot and humid day. Robeer thought this beer tasted metallic.

Founders Breakfast Stout

On draft at Swift Hibernian Lounge, NYC. It was "Incredibly good," reports Robeer.

Bock and pils at Half Pint

Lionshead Pilsner and Narragansett Bock.

Sierra Nevada Kellerweiss

A hefeweizen that tastes like a strong pils with a Belgian nose and
color. Note the thick head.

Weihenstephan takes center stage

Well, almost, the sweet potatoes fries at Half Pint are darn good, too.

Two brews at Georgia's Eastside BBQ

Hush puppies for the vegetarian and pulled pork for the omnivore.  Can you guess who drank which beer?

C-bus brews

We drank some fine and refreshing Columbus beers on hots days in June: Columbus Brewing Company Pale Ale and Elevator Brewing Company Hefeweizen.

Three locals at the Brick Store Pub

Robeer attended a conference a few weeks ago and sent us this photograph of three beers served at the Brick Store Pub in Decatur, GA.

The beers from left to right: Terrapin Monks Revenge, brewed in Athens; Thomas Creek Conduplico, brewed in Greenville, SC; and Jailhouse Breakout Stout, brewed in Hampton, GA.

Dogfish Head Sah'tea

We learned about Sah'Tea, a Dogfish Head brew, at the teaspoons & petals blog.  Unfortunately for us, Sah'Tea is not sold in our area (within 50 miles of our zipcode).

Here is a description of the beer from the Dogfish website:

A modern update on a 9th century Finnish proto-beer.  Brewed with rye, we caramelize the wort with white hot river rocks, then ferment it with a German Weizen yeast. In addition to juniper berries foraged directly from the Finnish country-side we added a sort of tea made with black tea, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and black pepper. The spicing is subtle and balanced and Sahtea is a highly-quaffable, truly-unique brew with a full-mouth feel.

Image: Finlandia Sahti (source)

The original Finnish beer - Sahti - sounds delicious, too, according to its Wikipedia entry:

Sahti is a traditional beer from Finland made from a variety of grains, malted and unmalted, including barley, rye, wheat, and oats; sometimes bread made from these grains is fermented instead of malt itself. Traditionally the beer is flavored with juniper berries in addition to, or instead of, hops; the mash is filtered through juniper twigs through a trough shaped tun called a kuurna in Finnish. Sahti has a distinct banana flavor due to the yeast. Sahti is a top-fermented brew (ale), and while baking yeast has been used traditionally, ale yeast may also be used in fermenting.

Update, 5/19/2011: Read a New Yorker article published on November 24, 2008 about Sah'tea at A Better Brew: The rise of extreme beer, by Burkhard Bilger (hat tip Beertography).

Beer offerings at airport kiosk

Back in the new year with a photograph of bottled beers being sold at a CIBA kiosk at La Guardia Airport.

Bier in München

A conference brought us to Munich where we drank several beers including the two below, Hefe-Weissbier Hell and Dunkel (right).  Each 0.5L of beer cost 3.50 Euros.

Vietnamese Coffee

We are back...with a photograph of Vietnamese coffee.  Our first, at Kelley and Ping in SoHo.

The white layer at the bottom of the glass is condensed milk!  Here's a link to a how-to brew Vietnamese coffee via INeedCoffee.com

Taps, taps at Amity Hall

Beers on tap, does not include bottled beers.

Greenwich Village's newest beer bar, Amity Hall, did not disappoint.  The bartender certainly had amity or "a cordial disposition"  and the beer menu was long and from what we sampled, tasty!

The Mothers Milk Stout (pictured left) was a "liquid" stout while the Blue Point Sour Cherry Imperial Stout was tart with sweet fruit and dry chocolate. Pictured right, the Stone Vertical Epic had a very creamy head.

Deux bieres du Quebec

St. Ambroise Biere De Ble A L'Abricot by McAuslan Brewery and Les Brasseurs de Montreal La Chi Oriental.

The apricot wheat ale is amber in color with an apricot nose that intensifies as the beer warms.  (Read brewery's description.)  The Brassuers has a ginger nose and tastes like a winter ale.  (Read brewery's description.)  Salut!