Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Boundary Bay ESB

Lots of hop, clean finish, nice white legging..... This is a good esb! A little on the sweet side but overall body is decent. It has a slight heavy finish as you would expect from Boundary though I had no problem finishing the entire 20oz bottle. I have yet to pin this one up next to some of my other favorite ESB's (like BrewMunkeys) but this one has some clout. Definetley one of their good staple beers.

Moylander Double IPA

This one has been sitting on the beer shelf at the grocery store forever. Finally got around to trying it.

Nothing really stood out on this one. wouldn't really call it a double IPA either. The pour was average as was the smell. Medium body, dryish finish no excessive hop or malt taste nothing to really give it "double" status in my opinion. But then again I live in the northwest and my definition of what a double IPA should be might be a little skewed... Overall a solid beer, but I'm not going to be buying another bottle.

April Brews Day 2008

April Brews Day was alive as ever this year. The awesome appearance of the sun earlier that day certaintly made a beer festival very enticing. They had sold out of tickets by at least 8pm, but my memory of the event was slightly fogged. Hooray beer!

This was their second event at this site and the first with an expanded layout. The crowd was great, beer was poured, and the drink tickets were bountiful. My only complaint about the event in whole was trying to figure out if people were in line or just chatting, which was a minor detail. They had covered area's in the middle incase of rain and the main covered site was reserved for info, tshirts, tickets, and such.

Beers that stood out that day were Georgetown Brewery 9lb Porter and Flyers Pacemaker Porter. I do appreciate a good porter! Of the closest breweries to attend (Boundary Bay, North Fork, and Whatcom Brewery), Boundary Bay certaintly took the cake with most consistant and drank (being the beer is most in demand). I didn't bother to try the Whatcom Brewery and North Forks typical highlight beer Son of Frog was served a little too warm and flat due to a jockey box problem. It is generally a good beer so try it on tap at their establishment off highway 9.
-Oskar Blues Brewing was present as well all the way from Colorado! Since loosing ties with Dickerson Distributing their beer has been hard to find here in local grociery stores. "Best beer in a can" certaintly goes to them, though it would have been nice to be served from tap.
-Scuttlebutt is another favorite of mine. Hailing from Everette, this brewery does several beers worth mentioning. Their Amber, IPA, and Porter are worth trying. Since I was familiar with them I tried the Mai Bock. It was definetely a bock though it wasn't to impressed overall.
-Georgetown Brewery brought both their Manny's Pale Ale and the 9lb Porter. Both were good choices. Kudo's to their brewers for producing a full flavored beer. They will definetly be on my to do list when I make it down to seattle.

But like many things, I lacked sufficient time to make complete rounds to every tap and brewery. So to the Max Higbee Center, thank you again for coordinating such a great event!

And for the ugly, there was a theft the day prior to the event that deprived us of some quality brew from both Lazy Boy Brewing and Skagit River Brewery. More details here: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/102/story/393565.html

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Dogfish Head: Chicory Stout

http://www.dogfish.com/brewings/Seasonal_Beers/Chicory_Stout/13/index.htm

Semi sweet Molassas tones and coffee tones. It poured without a head and remained in the glass a dark mass. This beer finished great and if you like coffee flavored beers, this is a good one. More of a porter than a stout though. They mention being brewed with licorice root though its presents is not overpowering. Overall a good beer. This is a seasonal beer released on Dec 1st.

Friday, April 18, 2008

The Imperial Tard Munkey


Here it is in all its glory. The Imperial Tard Munkey will kick your ass, but you'll like it...

As you pour a sweet hop smell assaults your nose. I'm thinking it smells like hops and maple syrup I think I might want to put this on pancakes! The head builds to a dense thick and dark layer, you might need a shovel to get to the beer below. The taste, omg, its sweet but bitter and full bodied but smooth chocolaty hoppy malty oaky vanillaish with I can't distinguish what else! My tongue is tingling! I don't want more, I need another taste! I'm going to go enjoy my beer now, I'll get back to you guys later!

Fish Tale: Organic Wild Salmon Pale Ale

For a pale ale its not terrible. Its a little sweeter than I prefer. Its got a great malty flavor, hint of chocolate malt?, a decent hop content, but I have to try to find these off flavors. Overall a decent Pale Ale.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Brew Munkey Tasting - Saturday May 10th

We're planning to have about a dozen people over for our first ever tasting night!

We will be featuring:

Porter - IPArter #2
IPA - Munkey EyePA
Scottish Ale - Brewkakii
Weise bock - needs a name
Lager - Pre-prohibition style, no name yet
Belgian Tripple - also needs a name
+ possibly a few other surprises...

Get a hold of one of us if you're interested in attending!

Friday, April 11, 2008

BridgePort Brewing Co IPA

http://www.bridgeportbrew.com

This is a great IPA. It has medium body, great bitterness, and a good finish. Not heavy on the tongue like some IPA's I've had, this one doesn't cling and is topped off with some great hoppy spicyness. I've had this beer on multiple occassions and ranks up there with my favorite IPA's.


PS, Check out their website for great beer recipes!

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

2008 April Brews Day - Bellingham WA

I have been having troubles finding links and info for this event so I will be posting my own info that should easily be crawled by google.

What: Pacific Northwest Beer tasting event
When: April 26th, 2008
Where: Depot Market Square (across from Boundary Bay Brewery in Bham WA)

Website: www.maxhigbee.org/aprilbrewsday.html

This is a great event for a great cause. This will be my 3rd time there and its not one to be missed!