If you are a red-blooded American* you love watching the Superbowl! But, what beer should you drink while watching this year’s match up between two of the NFL’s most iconic teams? The New England Patriots and the NY Giants are almost equally loved and loathed by many football fans. So, hold on to your hats and make your choice!

If you are rooting for the N.E. Patriots–
Sam Adams Boston Lager

The Patriots balance both finesse with their offense and blue-collar with their defense. Much like Brady’s passes you want to be drinking a beer that is crisp, light and on target. You want something with flavor too, but don’t want to drink anything too hoity-toity where you get distracted and miss the 80 yrd touchdown pass to the Gronk or Hernandez. Sam Adams Boston Lager is a good balance of easy-drinking, crisp, but flavorful. You don’t need to go to a specialty beer store to pick up a six pack and you can cook some chowdah with it!

If the Pats win:
If Tom is still unscathed at the end of the game and the Pats are lucky enough to hoist the Lombardy Trophy you have to celebrate with Sam Adams Utopia. Voted as one of 2012′s best beers by RateBeer, this barley wine is the strongest beer (27%ABV) you can get in the US, but at $100 a bottle and a limited run of  3000 bottles it might be hard to find (much like a victory).

If you are rooting for the N.Y. Giants–
Brooklyn Brown Ale

The Giants live and die by their defense and ability to make their opponents turn the ball over. Don’t get me wrong, their offense is good, but the D is what gives this team their edge. This is a team that’s tough, unapologetic and a bit rough around the edges; thats why you will want to get yourself a six pack of Brooklyn Brown Ale. Nothing says New York more than Brooklyn (am I right Jay-Z?) and this Brown Ale is full-bodied and flavorful without being too heavy. Much like Pierre-Paul and Osi, this beer will have your taste buds scrambling out of the pocket. You can easy drink a bunch of these without missing a bone-crunching run by Jacobs (if he decides to run the ball hard).

If the Giants win:
If the Giants can make Tom Brady uncomfortable enough for him to turn the ball over a couple of times and the Giants offense is clicking, they will walk away champs once again. Celebrate with some Brooklyn Sorachi Ace! A crisp, hoppy and balanced masterpiece fit for cheers.

*For those red-bloded Americans that dont really like football, but watch the superbowl for commercials, I recommend drinking a nice St. Bernardus  or some another Belgian Tripel. At 8%–10% it’s enough to numb the sudden / loud yells and will definitely make the much-hyped commercials that much funnier!

A couple of weeks ago it started feeling a little like winter here in Florida… sure it’s warmed up now that it’s closer to the end of January. But I’ve been patiently waiting to drink a bottle of N’ice Chouffe that I had been saving all winter because the weather has been unseasonably warm. I had been looking forward to curling up with this beer on a chilly day for a couple of months, but 50º will do. I couldn’t keep waiting for the weather!

This is a seasonal strong dark ale brewed with thyme and curaçao by Brasserie d’Achouffe, one of my all time favorite Belgian breweries (maybe it’s cause of the gnomes!). It pours a rich brown color with a nice thick head (at least 2 fingers) and plenty of sediment at the bottom. The aroma is slightly sweet and spicy, probably from the thyme. The malts definitely come to the front and center, but I’m also getting a slightly sour smell that reminds me of orange zest. It’s actually lighter and smoother tasting than I anticipated, especially for a strong ale. I get some nice red fruit tastes balanced out by some peppery spicy and lots of malty goodness. Sure it doesn’t feel like winter, but this is what a winter should taste like, spicy, malty, complex but balanced, and high in alcohol to warm my belly. This was such a N’ice winter beer… highly recommend it!

After a longer than anticipated break the Beer Guerrilla is back! Getting back on track after a long hiatus is always hard, no matter what it is we are getting back into (exercise and blogging for me, haha). It’s easier to sit on the couch after a day of work and watch some TV than write a blog post. But today I reached the point of no return, either write or WRITE. So,  WRITE NOW (RIGHT NOW!)

As you may remember from my last post I brewed a batch of Irish Red. Well, after bottling the beer and letting it bottle condition (that’s where the beer gets its carbonation) for about a month or so, I was really excited to pop one open! It poured a cloudy but nice reddish color with some pretty good carbonation. I couldn’t believe that I MADE this… it looks like beer! The aroma was pretty light with mostly sweet malt with some floral hops since I dry-hopped an ounce of hops for added hops flavor and aroma. Wow… not only does this look like beer… it smells like an OK beer! Now it was time for a taste. My expectations weren’t very high, I was just hoping that it would taste better than Budweiser. The taste is light and crisp with some slight bitterness from the hops at the tip of my tongue along with some breadiness on the mid palate, however there’s definitely some emptiness and dryness back end (almost like a dry white wine). It’s definitely not the best beer I’ve ever had, but it’s also not that bad… and guess what, It looks like beer, smells like beer, tastes like beer and I MADE IT!

The next beer I make will be a Hefeweisen and it will be even better! I guarantee it!

This year I got to go try some awesome food and drinks at the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival. All thanks to our awesome friends Katie and Jon (from KatiesCucina.com and SewWoodsy.com) who have some connections (I think they might know the mouse himself!)

I’ll save you the full recap and just say that most of the food was good, but the beer selection wasn’t great. Belgium only had Stella, Hoegaarden, and Leffe and although I definitely enjoy Leffe, I was hoping they would have some less commercial beers to try. The Craft Beer kiosk and Hops and Barley kiosk had the usual commercial offerings you’ll find in most grocery stores. Germany, on the other hand, brought it! They had beers I had never heard of or even seen (no, I’ve never been to Germany). I tried 4 of their beers: Altenmünster Oktoberfest, Hövels Original Bitterbier, Braufactum Indra, and Sion Kölsch. My favorites were the Braufactum Indra, which is an IPA, and the Hövels Original Bitterbier. I guess I’m a sucker for bitter beers, huh? Yep! IPAs and Altbiers FTW!

Last weekend I finally got to celebrate Oktoberfest… but it was definitely worth the wait! I went to an event at Redlight Redlight, one of my favorite beer bars in town. They were late to have an Oktoberfest celebration because they were waiting on some special beers that come in wooden barrels (think Donkey Kong). They were pouring Schneider Wiesen Edel-Weisse (a Redlight tradition for Oktoberfest) and Hofstettner Hochzeitsbier von 1810.

First we tried the Hofstettner Hochzeitsbier von 1810 which is a special Oktoberfest beer from Austria based on a recipe from 1810. It was poured into a genuine Schneider Weisen Edel-Weisse stein, specially ordered for this event! Pours an amber color with a thick foamy head. Smells sweet but has a hint of herbaceous undertones. On the palate I tasted some caramel malts on the front with some sharp pine sap/pinesol undertone. Earthy but smooth taste with the bready malts dominating but not overpowering. Overall a nice start to the evening, this beer warmed my belly like a nice Oktoberfest beer should.

After enjoying that beer, sitting outside in the late afternoon sun and listening to some great german folk music I anxiously awaited the popping of the main attraction (brewed to commemorate the participation of Georg Schneider in the annual Munich Oktoberfest, before their brewery in Munich was destroyed in 1944). Schneider Wiesen Edel-Weisse was highly anticipated by everyone in the bar and the steins were quick to get filled as soon as it was popped. I hurried over to the bar because of my irrational fear that they would run out in less than 5 minutes. It pours a light straw color with a good amount of light and airy head that was in the mood to hang out a bit. This beer smells of bitter grapefruit along with some banana (Mmmm) and straw, which was a very welcome complex aroma. Tastes of sour limes with very little of the sweetness that you’ll find in American Wiesen styles. Almost has the sour fruit tastes of a Saison style beer. I got a little sour apple and honey coating in the mid palate with an exceptionally smooth finish. Leaves a freshness in my mouth after drinking it that was really nice.

I couldn’t think of a better way of spending a Sunday afternoon than drinking some awesome (and pretty rare) wooden-barrel poured beers while sitting outside and enjoying some German music with good company. Happy Oktoberfest everybody!

I love to travel! When I travel, I like to eat where the locals eat and drink the local beers. Maine is well know for its fresh seafood and thankfully I’m a fresh seafood fanatic, but some people might not know that Maine is home to some really good beers. The wife and I decided to bar hop around town after a brewery tour of Allagash Brewing Co.  (I’ve already covered Allagash and their awesome Belgian style brews) on our first day in Portland. Our first stop was Gritty McDuff’s, a brewpub in the middle of historic Portland, that brews 9 beers in-house. We ordered their sample and tried 7 of their beers and quickly realized that that each one of their beers were all on the warm and on the watery side. Not a good start to our bar swing©, but I knew there was something better around the corner. (Bar hopping is for frogs… Beer swings are for drunken apes and humans! Bar swing© is a Copyright of Beer Guerrilla 2011)

After drinking that sample flight we headed over to Sebago Brewing Co. which had come recommended by the some of the Allagash people as a good place to get a beer and a bite to eat. The sampler flight beers were definitely better here. I enjoyed their IPA the best out of the sampler, but all of the other beers were well brewed and pretty tasty. We ended up not eating here for some reason, I just can’t recall… things were a bit hazy. We continued on to The Grill Room & Bar for a bite and yet another beer. We shared an awesome pepperoni pizza here along with a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale… I think, I mean… I’m pretty sure.

At this point a normal person would have decided to wrap it up and head back to the hotel for a good night sleep… but, I’m not a normal person. I’m a beer-loving, hairy ape! I really wanted to stop by a bar called Novare Res that my friend Summer had highly recommended. After passing by it a couple of times (it’s set back in a small alley off a maine street and a bit hard to find) we  found ourselves in a very cool local beer bar full of brick, xmas lights and tons of character. All I remember at that point was having some drunken conversations at the bar while drinking a very strong Belgian Ale. This bar was the highlight of the bar hop… but it’s definitely the least memorable one since it was the last stop. If you are looking to do a similar bar swing© I would recommend going to Novare Res earlier rather than later.

On my recent trip to Portland, Maine my better half and I wanted to stop at Allagash Brewing Company because we are really big fans of their beers, we wanted to go so badly that we drove to the brewery on our way into town from the airport (how dare you judge us!). The brewery sits in an industrial area pretty much half way between the airport and our hotel. We were lucky to have made it just in time for a brewery tour because the tour was the best one I’ve ever been on. Before the tour we got to try some of their beers. We tried their White Ale, Tripel, Victoria Ale, and the Curieux. Although all of the beers we tasted were awesome, my favorite was the Curieux. It’s basically a Tripel aged in a Jim Beam bourbon barrel for 6 week, adding some smokey vanilla notes along with the obvious woody and bourbon flavors. It was still very smooth and had all the great clove and spice flavors of a good Tripel. The tour guide was really knowledgeable about their brewing process and was able to talk about some very scientific aspects of their brewing with brettanomyces and other experimental stuff they try on a small scale. She also talked about brewing in their very own coolship. According to the tour guide “A coolship is a large shallow pan used to cool wort overnight using outside air temperature.” This method is used in Belgium… and because Allagash is so obsessed with brewing in the traditional Belgian style that they decided to build their own. (That’s just how they roll, G)

Another cool thing about their brewery was that all employees were encouraged to brew their own experimental batches. Their aging cooler was full of small barrels with employees names and each one was full of their own creations. I felt like that was such a great way to keep all the employees interested and motivated in brewing good beer and the brewery in general, whether they are the head brewer or just a receptionist. As you can tell… I heart Allagash, and so should you. They brew everything from classic Belgian styles to extremely experimental styles that defy classification. So, if you are ever at a good beer bar buy their beers and if you are ever in Portland, ME do the brewery tour… you wont be disappointed in either.

Now that the  you’ve heard the big announcement I’m ready to blog about beer! So, be sure to check back in for more!

I am always excited whenever I’m about to drink anything with the words “Gran Cru”. Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary’s Gran Cru was no different. This beer pours a cloudy amber color with a light head with not much carbonation. It smells like salted caramel, sweet ripe fruit, oaky/woody aroma dominated by alcohol. this beer is no pushover. I was going to qualify it as an american pale ale on steroids but Sierra Nevada brewed it as an american style strong ale (emphasis on the STRONG).

Right off the bat it hits you with a strong malt and hops combo punch.  it’s got a lot of hops that linger on the back end giving you a nice bitter aftertaste but the downside of this beer is the sticky sweetness that comes with a beer that is pretty alcohol heavy. It tastes stronger than the 8%-9% ABV advertised on the bottle.

This beer is Sierra Nevada’s “Gran Cru”, but its not necessarily as refined as one would imagine with that name. This is a good beer with interesting flavors… but more of an XO than a Gran Cru.