Back Into The Swing of Things

Went to Frisco Grille's Troegs Brewing pint night last night, and forgot to pick up a free pint, d'oh! Whatever, a good time was had. While in San Diego I saw in their beer list they had Magic Hat's Odd Notion sour beer and I really wanted to try a taster of that. Sadly, it disappointed. It had some sourness, but as Oliver the bartender said, it tasted like one of those spritzy lime sodas, wayyyyy too light.

Keeping with the theme, they had Troegs' Mad Elf, Hopback Amber and Dreamweaver Wheat on tap. The Mad Elf is a wildly popular, high-alcohol winter ale brewed with honey and cherries. Its a really unique taste, not too sweet, a bit watery/on the light side as far as body/mouthfeel, but good. I'd had a six pack at home and wanted to try it on tap, pretty much the same but always fun to get something fresh out of the keg. I was less interested in the Hopback and Dreamweaver so left those for other patrons.

One interesting thing I saw was a customer ordering a "Mad Dream" where they combined the Mad Elf with the Dreamweaver. The Troegs rep was there as well, nice guy, handed out some literature and whatnot. Sounds like they'll have another Troegs event at Frisco Grille in January to mark the release of Troegs' wildly popular Nugget Nectar, so be on the ready for that if Nugget Nectar makes you happy.

After that it was a pint of the Sierra Nevada Anniversary Ale and the Southern Tier IPA. Both were delicious, particularly that Southern Tier. Not all of their offerings are great, but some really hit the spot.

Frisco has clearly become my top spot. It took a little getting used to but the gentlemen behind the bar as well as owner Adam are all nice people, they keep a ton of interesting beers on, the menu's good, and occasionally I can pick up a copy of the latest Mid-Atlantic Brewing News or Beer Advocate if they haven't already been picked over by other customers. Good stuff.

The Masala Mama Shall Be Ours

Some brewery called Minneapolis Town Hall makes the world's highest-rated IPA on BeerAdvocate.com. It is called Masala Mama and my friend Steve who writes Summer of Beer has managed to acquire a growler of this hard to find beast in anticipation of my trip out here.

I'm heading his way from San Diego today, so hopefully we'll be able to split that and see what the great reviews are all about. Nice friend, huh?

Max's Rare and Obscure Beers Event

Just a reminder, its tonight, 5 pm until close. The list:

ON CASK

George Gales Prize Old Ale

JW Lees Harvest Ale Aged in Calvados

De Regenboog Catherine The Great

ON DRAFT

BFM Abbaye De Bon Chien

BFM La Mandragore

JW Lees Harvest Ale

Southern Tier Choklat

Southern Tier Creme Brulee

Smuttynose Brett & I

Smuttynose Jack Daniels Porter

Smuttynose Oak Aged Barleywine 2005

Great Divide Espresso Yeti

Dogfish Head 120 Minute

Dogfish Head Theobroma

Dogfish Head Palo Santo

Dogfish Head Pangaea

Allagash Victoria

Allagash Black

Birra De Borgo TE

Birra De Borgo Genziana

E. Dupont Organic Bouche Brut 2007

Samichlaus Helles

Piccolo Birrificio Chiostro

I'm not familiar with all of those obviously, and my favorite resource to study up and get relevant advance information including reviews, ABV and style is Beer Advocate. Searching within their site's search engine is a bit clumsy at times though, so my trick is to go to Google and type, for example, "Piccolo Birrificio Chiostro Beer Advocate" and that will usually pull up the specific page for that beer on the first return. If not, play around.

Latest Brew Reviews

They can all be found at Beer Advocate.

Sierra Nevada 2008 Summerfest (Czech Pilsener)
Flying Dog Garde Dog (Biere de Garde)
Smuttynose Hanami Ale (fruit beer)
Grozet Gooseberry & Wheat Ale (Scottish Gruit/Ancient Herbed Ale)
Fraoch Heather Ale (Scottish Gruit/Ancient Herbed Ale)
Stone Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale (American Strong Ale)
Einbecker Mai-Ur-Bock (Maibock/Helles Bock)
Clipper City Heavy Seas Red Sky at Night (Saison/Farmhouse Ale)

The Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale got my highest grade, an A-/4.15. I'm still getting used to the "ancient ale" style, so the Fraoch and Grozet were difficult to grade.

Maryland Natives Clipper City and Flying Dog both fared well.

Also, be sure to enjoy Flying Dog's brewer video about what went into making the Garde Dog.


Flying Dog Brewery Garde Dog Biere De Garde from Flying Dog Brewery on Vimeo.