Sunday Beer Club

Tomorrow May Be Christmas, But it's Also Sunday Beer Club!

2011-12-24T15:10:00.001-07:00

Today, however, is saturday, and we're making up for the lack of remaining Sunday's and drinking new beers during the week. The horror, I know.

Today's beer is from a brewery in Belgium called De Ranke. Normally a belgian is a call for me to get more beer than normal, because Deano hates the sweet beers of Belgium. His teutonic heart beats to the meter of the Reinheitsgebot being orated in High German.

But this beer is Bitter XX, a belgian golden ale. And Dean, as you can expect, loved it. It started out like a typical golden ale and then immediately begins to hop out of that category. And it gets very sharp, very pointed in hops toward the long, lingering, end.

Apologies for my hairdo -- it's Christmas Eve and I'm enjoying myself.

Posted via email from Sunday Beer Club

Very Bad Elf

2011-11-28T11:24:00.001-07:00

20111127_133343.mp4 Watch on Posterous

An amazing and interesting beer.

Posted via email from Sunday Beer Club

Good for What Ale's You (now that's original)

2010-09-02T13:05:00.001-06:00

via wired.com

from Wired Science: Ancient Nubians Made Antibiotic Beer. Click via to read about beer brewered the Alexander Fleming way.

Posted via email from Sunday Beer Club

Hot Stuff!

2010-08-12T08:50:00.001-06:00

via utahbeer.blogspot.com

Mikey from Utah Beer on blogspot tempts us with a beer flavored with chilis. Boy, oh boy, Deano is NOT going to like this one.

But I will. Read about it at the link below the image.

Posted via email from Sunday Beer Club

To-Drink List: 5 Beers We’d Really Like to Try Beer Sessions | Apartment Therapy The Kitchn

2010-08-11T11:15:00.001-06:00

via thekitchn.com

Here's "The Kitchn" blog's to-drink list of five top beers. We've not seen any of them around here, so we're up for some of these too.

Posted via email from Sunday Beer Club

Orgies or Beer? You Only Get One

2010-08-11T11:03:00.001-06:00

via gizmodo.com

When Fred gets too wasted he pisses off Wilma and gets no nooky. Or wait, is it even more insidious than that? Gizmodo reviews "Sex at Dawn" and talks about how agriculture (which basically means beer) is responsible for less sex and more drunkenness -- and war.

Oh well, thank God we have beer still.

Posted via email from Sunday Beer Club

A Lager Beer from SLC's Epic

2010-08-09T15:16:00.001-06:00

Seriously, dear reader, I sometimes suspect there is something odd about the universe. Well, I suspect there are a LOT of odd things about the universe, but one of them is that Sunday Beer Club's own Deano has an uncanny ability to pick a shirt that will MATCH our beer label, without ever knowing which beer and which label is involved. It's just weird and what more can I say? If you want to see evidence, go to the "See the beers" page and watch the very long slide show.

Today, dean's shirt was matching another beer from Epic Brewing: Pfeifferhorn Lager. Dean and I both enjoyed this refreshing summery lager with a very nice hop profile, yes we did. And we lift our glasses in toast to Ivy Gardner, my niece who is headed to Iowa to a University. Congrats Ivy!

And, since I'm writing this on August 9, I'm also going to mention that it's the anniversary of good ol' Jerry Garcia's death. Here's to you, too, Jerry.

Posted via email from Sunday Beer Club

John John Ale from Rogue

2010-08-09T15:09:00.001-06:00

As a confirmed gin-drinker who also drinks beer, our friend Angie (who runs the local liquor store) was excited to tell me about this new beer from Rogue. It's infused with juniper and is aged in Spruce barrels. The resulting expensive beer (10 bucks a bottle) was quite interesting, dry and clean tasting, but unfortunately not to my buddy deano's liking. I liked it well enough and will enjoy the next bottle.

Posted via email from Sunday Beer Club

Summer Grifter

2010-08-01T08:01:00.001-06:00

I keep trying to wrap my head around the name of this beer — but I guess one name is as good as another — it’s the beer that counts. And Dean and I quite enjoyed this hoppy “summer” IPA from McTarnahan’s Brewery.

Lots of hop-floral in the nose. A delicious malty mouthful with orange peel esters and a long hop finish. And really, here’s a toast to the entire state of Wisconsin, I mean really!

Posted via email from Sunday Beer Club

Beer Savers - ReflectionOf.Me

2010-07-30T14:25:00.001-06:00

via reflectionof.me

This is quite cool with one problem. I always finish my beer in one sitting.

Posted via email from Sunday Beer Club

To Bob Riley

2010-07-20T18:55:00.001-06:00

Dean and I thoroughly enjoyed this Imperial Pilsner. Crooked Smile has been such a pleasure! I still have another and I'm going to enjoy it soon.

The toast of this week (this year) goes out to Bob Riley, Dean's dearest dad, who passed away this week. Bob -- from all you've listened to, to you.

Posted via email from Sunday Beer Club

Mussels and Beer for Belgian Independence Day Chef Recipe | Apartment Therapy The Kitchn

2010-07-20T13:48:00.001-06:00

via thekitchn.com

I need to run and get some mussels for tomorrow's event! And some good belgian beer of course. Happy Independence day Belgium. Thank you for the beer and for not being german purists.

Posted via email from Sunday Beer Club

Lions and Tigers and Beers, Oh My!

2010-07-14T10:34:00.001-06:00

Sounds good -- Mikey's Utah Beer Blog tells us that we can have an after kids party at the zoo. See the animals and drink the beers!

http://utahbeer.blogspot.com/2010/07/zoo-pub.html#

Posted via email from Sunday Beer Club

3 Beers with Steve Jerman

2010-07-12T12:49:00.002-06:00

We were slated to try the third beer in Uinta's Crooked Line Series -- Labyrinth Black Lager. Unwarranted fears that it would prove too heavy or dessert like proved groundless to our palate. A friend from Salt Lake City, Steve Jergan, wanted to come to beer club and decided to bring a bit of Epic and Squatters with him, so we had three beers in the lineup.

The Labyrinth was DELICIOUS. It reminded Dean and I of something we've had before, perhaps the Terrible from Unibroue? We couldn't remember. We savored the three way split of the 1pt 6 oz beer and perhaps we should have split three between us, because we all loved it.

Steve brought Squatters "Little Slammers". Little Slammers are tiny bottles that contain relatively mild "golden ale". Deano didn't love it -- too bland and not hoppy enough for him. I thought they were fine and drank mine straight from the bottle, like I do with my current summer fave, Sessions red label beers.

The Intermountain Wheat beer from Epic Brewing was a surprise -- a very hoppy and flavorful wheat beer! We loved it and could have enjoyed a few more!

Note: A strange thing happened -- did this video in two parts, but the first part was mysteriously not on the memory card! Oh well, it's just me rambling on about Uinta Brewing's delicious Labyrinth. You can watch the rest though, including the commentary of our special guest Steve Jergan. Thanks Steve for coming down and enjoying our sacred Sunday with us!

Posted via email from Sunday Beer Club

Beer Review: Left Hand’s Chainsaw Ale Beer Sessions | Apartment Therapy The Kitchn

2010-07-08T10:44:00.000-06:00

via thekitchn.com

Darn it. Why can't we get beer like this here? Utah, just stop interfering with my beer drinking, PLEASE!

Posted via email from Sunday Beer Club

Cockeyed Cooper

2010-07-07T13:16:00.001-06:00

Another beer from the Crooked Line series from Uinta Brewing, Cockeyed Cooper is a Bourbon Barrel Barley Wine. Dean and I sized up this 11.1 percent alcohol beer in a 750 ml bottle and decided to split one instead of each drinking our own. We poured the beer at the temperature it was in my study sitting on the book shelf (hey, beer and books like each other). It poured with an ample creamy brown head. There were lots of esters crowding around my glass, chocolate, vanilla, molasses, licorice? It was a cool and breezy fourth of July and we enjoyed sitting around and drinking this beer.

Posted via email from Sunday Beer Club

A Delicious Beer Detour: Double India Pale Ale from Uinta Brewing's Crooked Line Series

2010-06-28T11:30:00.001-06:00

I yelped for joy when I walked into my favorite DABC location friday to pick up some beer for this week's Sunday Beer Club. Three new HUGE bottles of corked and wired Uinta Brewing beers! A massive pile of 750 ml corked bottles of Detour Double IPA, Labyrinth Black Lager and Cockeyed Cooper Bourbon Barrel Barley Wine Ale. Gold mine! Angie (our fun and friendly DABC manager) laughed and said she knew I would be excited when she saw them come in and was impressed with Labyrinth.. Picked up two of each of the big bottles and headed on home.

We opted for Detour Double IPA this first week.

Both Dean and I immediately fell IN LOVE with this beautiful beer. This beer poured with a thick, creamy headDean had oddly enough, grapefruit and lime in the nose while I was bowled over by a plentiful malty barley femented blow to the head. This beer has a full alcohol mouthfeel, it ought to coming in at 9.5 percent ABV. Malt, deep gushy figs, yeast in a complex balance of sweet and dry hops, leading to a long dry hoppy finish. Wow! I'm glad I have another and I'll be drinking it with some Thai food soon. This beer will stand up to some spicy intense food.

Thank you Uinta Brewing for making such a wonderful beer. I'm ready for another. See you next week when we look at the next in the Crooked Line series.

Posted via email from Sunday Beer Club

The Beer Chicks Drink at Google

2010-06-24T14:30:00.001-06:00

I like this video, the Beer Chicks, Christina Perozzi and Hallie Beaune give a lecture on beer appreciation to the geeks at google.

Posted via email from Sunday Beer Club

Utah Beer: Brian Head Beerfest

2010-06-24T11:18:00.001-06:00

via utahbeer.blogspot.com

Local beer blogger / aficionado Mikey at Utah Beer Blog tells us about a local beer fest at Brian Head.

Posted via email from Sunday Beer Club

Strange Brew!

2010-06-23T14:40:00.001-06:00

We had a strange Sunday Beer Club this week. Dean had purchased two tiny little 6 oz. bottles of a Cream Style Lager called "Little Kings" and I had a couple bottles of Quelque Chose from Unibroue in my larder that was next up for drinking. So we opened the "Little Kings". Frankly, they were wretched, but that has a lot to do with my beer style preferences. I detested the skunky lager smell (what are brewers thinking putting beer in green bottles, I mean really!) and the cloying cream style that tasted sweet, and Dean was barely able to choke it down.

If we thought the Little Kings were a strange beer we didn't know what to expect from Quelque Chose. Unibroue is one of my favorite brewers and this beer is unlike anything else I've had from them. Flat to the point of being almost uncarbonated, this beer poured with little or no head and no lacing. Which I would have known if I'd read the label. The ale was fairly syrupy, and quite sweet with a sour taste. The beer is made with a combination of Belgian ales (strong dark and brown) and it has been steeped in cherries for several months.

Cherries were overwhelming in the taste. Drinking a 750 ml bottle by myself was a little much (8.8 percent alcohol) being as sweet as it was. Deano refused to drink his glass so I had to man up. He despised it but I found it very interesting. The label advises you try it in summer with ice as an apertif and in winter hot like mulled wine. I have one bottle left so I think I'll pull it out as a dessert ale on some warm night, and we'll drink it in old fashioned glasses with ice and a cherry.

Posted via email from Sunday Beer Club

Static Pages on Sunday Beer Club

2010-06-22T12:46:00.001-06:00

Hey, we've added a few static pages. They'll be linked in the sidebar from here out as we add more.

Read about Sunday Beer Club hosts Don and Dean and guests Jim and Roni and see our flickr slideshow of our several years of beers.

Posted via email from Sunday Beer Club

We've got a new website

2010-06-22T11:22:00.001-06:00

We've made a couple changes here at the Sunday Beer Club blog. Since we began, 4 years ago to sample new beers every Sunday we've had our blogging home on Blogger.com at sundaybeer.blogspot.com. Sometime ago we began a new Sunday Beer Club blog at Posterous. Starting today we've decided to purchase the domain name: www.sundaybeerclub.com. If you prefer to keep reading the blogger version it will continue to be posted here as well.

So join us at www.sundaybeerclub.com or continue to read the blogger site, as you choose. We'll continue to hunt for and drink the new beers every Sunday.

Beerily yours,

Don and Dean

Posted via email from Sunday Beer Club

Sunday Beer Club

2010-06-19T08:35:00.000-06:00

Certain Inalienable Rights: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Hoppinness

2010-06-14T14:28:00.000-06:00

It's not in the declaration of Independence, but it should be. I mean, hoppyness=happiness right? This "Extra Pale Ale" poured a beautiful amber color in the glass. It had a nose of malty goodness with the bouquet of bracing hops. Very thirst quenching and flavorful. Lots of balanced flavors while in the mouth with the hop rising to a powerful aftershock after you swallow. Tasted like an IPA to me, not sure what the difference is between "Extra pale ale" and IPA.

We lifted our glass to PJ, a waiter at Red Rock down in Vegas that sports 110 beers. PJ, to you!

Naughty Nellie from Pike Brewing

2010-06-07T11:37:00.000-06:00

This week Dean and I had to move out Beer Club over to Saturday, as Deano is off to Vegas for work on Sunday. We enjoyed a couple bottles of The Pike Brewery's Naughty Nellie. Naughty Nellis is a "Golden Artisan Ale". In the glass it has a beautiful apricot color, perfect for a hot sunny day in June. A rather mild nose and a taste of apricots and fruit with a sharp hop edge to it. Beer warmed very nicely (1 pt 6 fl oz bottles) as we drank it. Very low alcohol so you can drink a few of these and not be worse for the wear.

Epic's Copper Cone Pale Ale

2010-06-01T11:20:00.000-06:00

This week we tried our second "Elevated Series" beer from Epic Brewing in Salt Lake City. This one is Copper Cone Pale Ale. We loved it! Dean and I were divided about what we could taste and smell in this one. He got a nose of mint and I found something grassy, almost like alfalfa in the nose. The beer poured a cloudy copper color in the glass with a generous and ample ultra creamy head. Notes of orange peel in the taste with yeast and fruity hops -- lots of hop on the back end.

We loved it, and can't wait to try more from this wonderful new brewer in Salt Lake City.

We noted in the passing of Dennis Hopper in our toast. Dennis, hoping you get an easy ride from here on out. To Dennis!

This is Epic!

2010-05-24T11:29:00.000-06:00

Dean and I welcomed regular Beer Club guests Jim and Roni for our first sampling of Epic's "Brainless Golden Ale". Epic is one of Salt Lake City's newest brewerys and reportedly have three lines of beers: Classic, Elevated and Exponential. Today's beer, "Brainless Golden Ale" is from the elevated series, and we found ourselves mighty high indeed. We each enjoyed a full 750 ml bottle of this nicely balanced belgian style golden ale. My allergy's prevented me from picking up much in the nose, but I loved the flavors. The barest hint of hop was nestled so tightly with the sweet fruit that this beer was a bit too easy to drink. We can't wait to go through the rest of Epic's beers. While I wait for Sundays to come for the next few months I'm going to have to enjoy the ones we hve already sampled, but it will be hard to wait.

We raised our glasses in toast to Dave from Epic. Thanks Dave for making such delicious beer! We look forward to more soon.

2010-05-23T11:09:00.000-06:00

My dad drove out from New England bringing a bunch of wine and beer. He likes Dogfish Head and brought me two new IPA’s that we tried this week and he joined us.

Dogfish Head beers, I’ve tried four now, are amazingly inventive and creative beers that push the edge of what it means to be a beer. The first, 120 Min IPA was sweet and complex and freakishly curious. Dad and I loved it, Dean was non-plussed. The second was Burton Baton IPA. Deano preferred this one, but my dad and I liked it to. More like a traditional IPA, this beer had a nice long hoppy finish. I’ve got about 5 of those Burton Baton’s left, as well as 3 more World Wide Stouts.

I wish I could buy these beers here!

The Sixth Glass

2010-05-10T09:25:00.000-06:00

Dean and I first tasted this beer when we celebrated my birthday and the three year anniversary of the Sunday Beer Club the other day. Since we're out of new beers and since we didn't really feature this beer we did so this week. It's worth revisiting!

The Sixth Glass is part of the Smokestack Series of beers from the Boulevard Brewing Company in Kansas City, Missouri. We've tried now all of them except Saison, and I'm on the lookout for that one (take note Mr. Utah Beer Buyer and our friendly beer lover in the Foothill Boulevard Liquor store!). I found figs and dark cherries in this, a malty and yeasty nose, and a sweet and complex taste. Really a delicious beer. I think I need more. It was mom's day so we toasted our mothers and the mothers of our babies and mom's everywhere. Yeah, even my mom (though I deny it in the video) despite her thinking Sunday Beer Club is stupid. Happy Mother's Day!

Top Sail, Full Sail's Imperial Porter Aged in Bourbon Oak Barrels

2010-05-03T10:02:00.000-06:00

Dean and I sampled another Full Sail beer this sunday, this one a wonderful Imperial Porter from Full Sail. This beer is aged in bourbon oak barrels for a year after it's brewed. Dean and I enjoyed the beautiful opaque pour with a coco colored foamy head. The nose had chocolate and molasses. The taste had chocolate in spades and figs, some sort of raspberry ester going on as well. A deliciously smooth mouthfeel, soft and satiny combined with a tart and bitter finish from the well balanced hops and that characteristic porter flavor.

This is one you drink slowly over a long period, especially on a blustery day like we were having on a Sunday in May in Utah. Earlier in the day I'd realized that Kate McGarrigle had passed away earlier last January and so our belated toast went to her. Farewell Kate. I think you were a gentle soul.

Red Nectar

2010-04-26T12:46:00.001-06:00

This week Dean and I sampled "Red Nectar" from Nectar Ales.

This beer pours a beautiful red / honey / amber in the glass with a decent head. It has a nose of hibiscus and floral hops. It has a smooth mouthfeel with a knife of hops that lingers at the end. Very drinkable, very thirst quenching. Dean liked it a bit better than I, and we both agreed the beer improved in flavor as it warmed with the tell-tale moderation that such temperature brings to the hoppy flavors (probably because the other flavors are invisible when the beer is too cold).

Birthday Beer Club

2010-04-13T14:49:00.000-06:00

that's a hell of a lot of beer! But we drank even more!

As I turned 54 this last past week we thought we'd do a Birthday Beer club, trying a bunch of beers, a lot of good food and good people. Jim and Roni, our semi-regular beer club guests joined Dean and I and invited a couple of their beer lovin' friends, Jodi and Ray (also known hereabouts as China Cat) and my friend Scott Abbott. I further invited Stephen and Melissa (my daughter) who brought my sweet grangirl Madeleine. I invited my other kids, but they mostly showed up for a birthday dinner afterwards for me, my oldest daughter, my youngest daughter and my third daughter, all of who were born in April!

To the best of my recollection, and photographic evidence, here's what we drank:

Hell's Keep from Squatters Brewery

This beautiful Belgian style ale made by local brewer Squatters was a big hit for those who arrived in time to try it. I have one more bottle so I'll not tax my memory here and review it again later when I don't have so much competition for taste memory.

Stone's Old Guardian

An intensely hoppy and strong Barleywine beer, this was no surprise from Stone, makers of Arrogant Bastard and other delicious beers that "You're Not Worthy" to drink. But drink we did.

Dogfish Head "Fort"

This trippy beer was not well loved by everyone, but some of us loved it. Loaded with rasberry flavor and coming in at 18% ABV this beer ws fun to drink and yummy. Fort means loud and strong, and that's exactly what this beer was.

Brasserie Dupont

I know nothing about this beer other than it was fantastically delicious. I would kill for another bottle I could polish off alone. I remember very little detail!

Well's Banana Bread Beer

Say what? This beer was brought solely so that when reviewing it I would say that I was picking up banana esters...

I did pick up the banana, and then put it down again. Weird. I think Jodi liked it.

Lips of Faith La Folie Sour Brown Ale

WOW. Not many liked this, but I did. Intensely flavored, sour and surprising. This drew names like "the kimchee of beers" and a few other I don't remember. But, I'm ready for another.

We enjoyed also some Sessions Red label, some Fransiskaner Hef, another bottle of that lovely Ommegang we tried a few weeks ago.

Thanks to all who made this day possible. Birthday Beer is the best.

The Return of Spring and the Sunday Beer Club Blogs, with Three Beers and Old Friends

2010-03-09T09:21:00.003-07:00

To Irene: Patron Saint of the Sunday Beer Club, Who is invoked at the anniversary / restart of the Sunday Beer Club blog

Dean and I have been doing the Sunday Beer Club now for three years. Both this year and last my blogging ceased in the dark January winter and begins again with the first spring light in March. While we continued to celebrate weekly beer club here on Sunday's, we haven't blogged about it the post holiday depression we call January. So, albeit a bit early for the anniversary (in May), we sampled three beers with some old friends.

The first was brought by regular guests Jim and Roni. They brought a "sour" style beer from local brewer / restaurateur / tandem-team racer Squatters Brewing. It's called 529.

Squatter's 529

529
Brewer/Brand: Squatters
Abv: 7.1%
Style: Oud Bruin
Serving: 750 ml Bottle ~ corked and caged
Squatter's Blog

Beer Review from Slug Magazine

Let me say right off that Dean and I have gravitated to different 'favorite' styles over the years. When I began drinking beer I made a slow foray from familiar favorites Miller and anything but Bud toward craft beer. I began with Hefeweizen's (from local brewer Squatter's and Red Rock) and moved slowly into Ale's. Eventually I began to favor the Belgians, the hoppy but densely rich and often balanced Stouts, Double's, Triples, and the wide range of Pale Ale styles. Those darker beers I prefer more at a castle's room temperature (think stone walls and bear rugs and large fireplaces in cavernous rooms) letting the hops or other sharp flavors become smoothed by the presence of those volatiles that would be in slight evidence when the beer is popped out of the fridge and drunk straightaways. I prefer my hops to be focused in a balanced way, and some of the more wildly hopped beers are difficult for me to appreciate unless I drink them at 50 degree's or more. IPA's and for some reason Porter's are my least favorite styles, though I drink and enjoy them as well.

Dean's path to good beer was similar to mine, beginning with Red Rock's Hefe's and graduating into Pale Ale's, fine lagers and pilsners. But via his favorite style, IPA's, he's moved into the dark side of beer culture, favoring those wildly cutting aromatic hops to the fruity flavors of Belgians, sweet triple's, or especially lambek's. So he didn't love this Sour, but tolerated it and was glad there were cheeses and breads.

I loved it. It reminded me of sour apples, but softened like a diaphanous silken scarf across a soft breasted woman on a picnic afternoon with deep blue calm skies and puffy coulds. It was full of yeast, of feeling fermented, of illicit cider. Dean characterized the flavor as a sort of really good apple beer.

Stone's Russian Imperial Stout

Imperial Russian Stout
Brewer/Brand: Stone Brewing Company
ABV: 10.5%
Style: Russian Imperial Stout
Serving: 22 oz bottles, capped and caged

We've had a small collection of delicious Stone's Beer gifted to us from the hilariously funny Stone Brewing Company. We drank the last today, the gorgeously rich and complex Russian Imperial Stout. Think esters of coffee, chocolate, heavy, the sense that lots of things are melding around in those flavors, barely poking their heads out for a second and then hiding in the swarm of flavors. Amazing beer really. We all loved it and it made us gobble up the delicious Blue Shropshire andHumbolt Fog cheeses we were slathering on crackers and the Sopressata salami's from local salami artist Creminelli.

Full Sail's Vesuvius

Vesuvius
Brewer/Brand: Full Sail Brewery
Abv: 8.5
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Serving: 22 oz bottle, capped

Ah, Vesuvius. Remarkably, I remember thinking that this beer was mild when I first tasted it several years ago. This golden belgian ale is my current daily fave, priced remarkably reasonably by Full Sail Brewing Company, as they seem to with all of their fine beers. It's very fruity with deep crevices of yeasty fermentation. Again, this beer went to my palate, but was tolerable to Dean whose favorite beer of the day was the Stout.

Weizen-Bock from Ayinger

2009-12-07T11:32:00.000-07:00

Weizen-Bock is an exceptionally good Ayinger beer that we tried on a cold snowy day in December. It's a wheat beer in a bock style. It poured orange cloudy in the glass and it had wonderful wheaty-malty nose with notes of clove.

It tasted of delicious banana esters with hints of clove and spice. It was a bit sweet and reminded me of a belgian, which is probably why deano didn't like it.

We toasted all those poor souls (like me) with seasonal depression. I am already tired of the long winter and it's just started.

2009-12-05T15:55:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd tried every Full Sail beer but I was pleasantly surprised to find Keelhauler in the Draper Wine store. For this beer club we were joined by our friends Jim and Roni. We tend celebrate beer club with cheeses and foods when they come and this day was no exception. Roni brought along 3 cheeses, two made by her Step-Father - a delicious Camembert and a farm cheese. The other was a quite interesting strong blue cheese that tasted like it was parmesean as well.

The beer poured with a nice head and dark chocolate in the glass. I got figs in the nose and Jim said he got smokey charcoaly notes. Figs continued in the taste. Quite nice.

We toasted John Jones, the spelunker who died in the Nutty Putty caves this last week. His fate and the caves themselves are now sealed.

2009-11-29T09:13:00.000-07:00

All of the hops and barley for this beer were grown on the estate in Chico, California where Sierra Nevada is brewed. This results in a very fresh beer, the hops and barley going from field to kettle in a matter of hours. It was a delicious beer, Deano and I thoroughly enjoyed it -- I need to get some more before this seasonal beer is gone!

The beer poured a beautiful honey color in the glass. The nose had hints of vanilla the taste tangerine and allspice. A beautiful round beginning with a great hoppy slice all the way through it.

A marvelously crafted beer. This week, we toast Olivia Patricia Thomas, who at 114 was the 3rd oldest woman in the US who passed this week. To you Olivia!

Hop Trip from Deschutes Brewery

2009-11-16T11:06:00.000-07:00

Hop Trip is a seasonal ale from Deschutes that's claim to fame is a four hour trip from hop field to the brewery's kettles. The result is a wonderfully balanced, fresh hop tasting beer that is extremely drinkable and thirst quenching. The beer pours a lovely honey in the glass with an ample, creamy, lingering head. It's nose is tangerine and piney. In the mouth it is mildly carbonated, sweet with a medium hoppy finish -- it felt very balanced. I tasted apricots and pine in mine. Medium alcohol in this made it easy to drink the entire 1 pt 6 oz quicker than I would have thought. I could have gone for another.

Dean and I both loved this beer and welcome getting some more before the end of the season.

We toasted, in arrears, Ali Akhbar Kahn, the famous sarod player from India who passed away last June (I didn't realize this until the day before our Beer Club).

To Claude Levi-Straus:Double Wide IPA

2009-11-09T12:39:00.003-07:00

Jim and Roni came to beer club and brought 2 very large cork bottled beers from Kansas City, Missouri's Boulevard Brewing Company. Jim and Roni tried this beer at the Bayou and liked it so much they ordered a very expensive case of Doube Wide IPA and were gracious enough to share with us for Beer Club.

In a wide-mouth glass goblet as was recommended I barely got any head, but in the smaller mouthed glasses it poured with a substantial lasting head. Interesting. Had a nice floral and piney nose, a very yeasty/malty and fruity flavor followed by a deliciously hoppy back end. A delicious beer!

We toasted Claude Levi-Strauss, the father of modern anthropology who passed away.

Rasputin (Holland) Russian Imperial Stout

2009-11-01T12:26:00.003-07:00

This is the second Russian Imperial Stout we've tried (the first being from North Coast Brewing Company). This one was brought to us by Rod Schiffman as a gift.

What an amazingly rich beer. The shelf life for this beer if properly stored is 25 years! Now that's amazing.

The beer pours with a gargantuan head, frankly quite hard to pour without one. The head wasn't really creamy tasting, but like I said, prolific. Quite a complex beer, lots of flavors in it -- we found chocolate and berry of some kind. Would love to get a few more and see what a few years in a cool place does to the flavor. I'll bet it would get more complex.

We toasted the Utah Brewer that we couldn't remember the name of: It was Glenn Harris, not John as I say in the video. Also -- Soupy Sales, who passed this last week. It was Soupy who famously told kids to sneak into their parents bedrooms and liberate those little green pieces of paper in their wallet and send them to Uncle Soupy. In return, he would send them all a postcard from the Caribbean!

Part 1

Part 2

Captain Bastard's Oatmeal Stout - To Royden

2009-10-25T12:19:00.005-06:00

Captain Bastard's Oatmeal Stout is a beer I've previously enjoyed on tap at local longtime brewpub "Squatters". It's now being sold in the grocery store (being a 3.2 ABV beer). Has a nice molasses and oatmeal flavor, pours with a generous creamy head and has a nice hoppy finish.

We solemnly toasted Dorise's father Royden V. Carter, who passed this week at the age of 88. Roy loved a good beer and we wish we could have lifted one with him, rather than just in his honor. To you Roy.

Ayinger Dunkle

2009-10-18T12:08:00.004-06:00

Ayinger Alt-Barisch Dunkle Dark Lager is a very tasty flavorful beer from Bavaria. It pours with a generous head and is fairly clear and golden brown in the glass. Both the nose and taste is malty and molasses. A nice crisp mouth feel and a satisfying flavor, perfect for a cool fall day with sun.

Wasatch White Label

2009-10-11T11:23:00.022-06:00

I'm several weeks behind in my beer club reviews, so here are a quick series of posts to catch up.

Back on October 11th we enjoyed some Wasatch White Label. White Label is a Belgian style white ale made by local brewer Wasatch Beer. It's refreshing, light, fruity and easy to quaff. Poured cloudy in the glass and there was nose and taste of pear.

Our toast was to Becky who is no longer with us for the saddest of reasons. To her and her mourning co-workers.

Full Sail's Old Boardhead Barleywine Ale No. 8

2009-10-05T09:15:00.001-06:00

This was the third barleywine ale we've enjoyed for Sunday Beer Club. Deano immediately loved it, with the mouth of hops he experienced on tasting it. I was impressed by the balance of malty fruit with the hops, giving this beer that lovely round flavor I love. We'll be drinking more of these.

Since I never blogged about the earlier two Barleywine we tried from Uintah and Sierra Nevada, we should buy some more of that and try these side by side. I guess I'm not sure if these are seasonal or if the Uintah Barleywine is still available. We'll just have to see.

2009-09-28T15:34:00.000-06:00

Last week my friend Gary A. brought me back 4 Young's Luxury Double Chocolate Stouts. This is a canned beer with one of those nitrogen infusers inside the can. Typical of the nitrogen infused beer it poured very creamy with a gorgeous head. It's fun watching the head settle. It's more fun to drink that creamy goodness, and on the video you can see it was just too creamy for my mustache!

Like all the nitrogen beers I've had, this one feels quite flat in your mouth. For Deano, that's a game stopper -- he wouldn't finish his. That's ok deano -- give it to me (he did) and I'll drink it (I did). Plus I have two more!

There's no sense of hops in the taste or on the ingredients listing, so I guess they don't use any. They do add "natural chocolate flavor", which was fine by me because chocolate really seems to go nicely in a stout.

All in all I loved this beer, but dean didn't. There you go. No arguing with taste, eh?

Oh, have you noticed that deano always seems to have a shirt that "matches" our beers? It's not planned, he's just clairvoyant that way.

Our toast, of course, is to Gary A. Thanks Gary and Tiff for bringing us (me) this fine beer.

Liberty Ale

2009-09-28T15:15:00.003-06:00

My daughter Kristina went to San Francisco so I asked to bring me a couple beers. She brought "Liberty Ale" from Anchor Brewery. I've had Liberty Ale before but we've not reviewed it on Beer Club, so we tried it out. By the way, I'm posting this in arrears as I got a bit behind. The day before this beer club my third granddaughter was born and I never got around to typing this up.

This beer has an interesting smell that Dean and I frequently associate with "lagers". It has a bit of banana note and a creamy head. This dry-hopped beer that has a subtle but lingering hop note that we quite enjoyed. It's a very drinkable beer, thirst quenching and delicious.

Oh, in the video below, you can see the surgical mask I still had on from the visit with my darling granddaughter, just one day old. Our toast was to you Maddie!

Samuel Adams Octoberfest

2009-09-14T14:37:00.000-06:00

Another Sam Adams beer this week. This one, a seasonal beer is usually sold out in our local store by the time I get there, and so sweet Angelica saved me a six-pack. Thank you Angie! This beer clobbers you with malt smell and taste and finishes you off with a fine noble hop lingering in your mouth. Sweet and hoppy -- the perfect combination. I think this is a Märzen, but I'm not sure. We quite like it. Dean and I both thought there were either some orange notes in the taste or it would go nicely with an orange plopped in. A lovely beer for our first fallish September beer club.

We toasted Angelica Pierotti, the best beer supplier around! Thanks for all you do for us Angie.

Session Black Lager from Full Sail

2009-09-10T13:23:00.000-06:00

Dean and I both quite enjoyed this light bodied dark lager from Full Sail. It's bottled like their other Session beer in those little bottles that remind me of being a kid. The beer poured a small head unless you poured it hard, but it had persistant lacing. Dark in the glass and mildly carbonated it tasted like root beer and malty with little hoppiness.

We both enjoyed two of these 5.4 beers, we normally just drink one beer during Sunday Beer Club. I'll be drinking a lot of these. A bargain at 1.00 a pop.

Squatter's Hop Rising and a Toast to Senator Ted Kennedy

2009-08-31T17:00:00.000-06:00

This week deano and I sampled a marvelous new beer from Squatters. Man, these local Utah beers just keep getting better, especially those that make their way to the State Liquor store. These are not your 3.2 father's beers! This beer, "Hop Rising" is a "double" India Pale Ale. Double the hops and double the malt make this gorgeous beer both sweet and hoppy at the same time. In the glass the beer poured a beautiful golden color with a generous head. It had a very smooth mouthfeel, deano thought it felt like a porter in your mouth. It had a beautiful fruity / yeasty nose with hop's evident already. In your mouth it was what I often call round, fruity and yeasty / malty with an immediate blade of hops that lasted throughout and lingered quite a while in your mouth.

We both LOVED this beer and will be drinking a lot of it over the next few months, I'm sure.

Deano composed our toast: Who else, but the Lion of the Senate? Ted, these beers are raised in tribute to you, for all you did and a life of sacrifice and service.

Mike's Pro Am Black Lager

2009-08-24T06:48:00.000-06:00

This week Dean and I received a gift of beer from Kyle, a guy who's dating my daughter Caitlin (and who is the brother of the bride that was married in my back yard a few weeks ago). Kyle brought us a bottle of a beer available on tap at RedRock in Salt Lake City called Mike's Pro Am Black Lager. Mike Johnson doesn't work for RedRock but is a local brewer who I guess uses their brewery and they serve what he makes on tap.

This black lager poured almost opaque in the glass with a head if poured a bit hard. The head started to melt away fairly quickly. The nose was very yeasty with a hint of root beer / spice. Mouthfeel was a tad watery and there was not a lot of carbonation. Tasted sort of like root beer, very mild, not very hoppy at all. I liked it as did Dorise and Kristina. Deano didn't finish his, didn't like it at all (you like what you like, no offense to the kind gifter). Neither did Melissa or Stephen who also tasted it. Looks like I'll be finishing off this growler.

Samuel Adam's Imperial Stout

2009-08-17T09:09:00.002-06:00

This is the third in the Imperial series of beers we've tried from Samuel Adams. Prior to this series I'd never tried a Sam Adams beer before and I've been pleasantly surprised (I think I had and didn't really love the "Boston Lager" and had seen some of the flavored beers -- and so I just ignored them.

This beer poured a beautiful chocolate in the glass with a rich creamy head that almost got away from me. I was expecting the results I've had with other stouts and poured it a bit harder than I might have, but no need -- it was a perfect, lingering and creamy head. The mouth feel for this beer, like some other heavy stouts I've had was pudding like and the taste was pure mocha, coffee, malted barley and some hops.

Dean and I both loved it and my wife Dorise who was sitting outside with us quite liked it too. She's not a beer girl, but she likes these dark and heavy beers. And we toasted her, it was her birthday the other day.

Beer News

2009-08-15T09:06:00.000-06:00

Beer News: "

We just got in some new full-strength beers from Squatters that are icing down right now.

Hell's Keep is Squatters take on a Belgian Golden Strong Ale. I have to say it is quite Duvel'ish in character and a very impressive example of the style.

Hop Rising is a 9% ABV Double IPA which is reported to be quite balanced and delicious. I've been out of town for a bit so I haven't had one yet but it sounds great.

"

Mark tells us about some new Squatters beers we've got to go sample for Beer Club!

Samuel Adams Imperial Series: Double Bock

2009-08-10T10:58:00.000-06:00

This was the second of the Samuel Adams Imperial series we've tried: The Double Bock lager. Talk about a loaf in a bottle, this thing was the most malty beer I've ever had. Pouring a beautiful carmel in the glass with substantial creamy head, it fairly jumped out at you with its pound of malt in every batch. The beer had a heavy mouthfeel, like velvet on your tongue. Malty delicious in your mouth with a surprisingly overwhelming alcohol feel -- perhaps just a bit over the top at 9.5 percent. The beer was very, very sweet and as it warmed it took on more and more honey notes.

We liked it, but we'll be drinking it again in the fall. Luckily, it was a fairly cool August day, the temperature sitting at around 70 degrees. In the video we claimed the toast was going out to all of our readers, but afterward we realized it was the anniversary of Jerry Garcia's death, some fourteen years ago in 1995. So of course, we tip our glasses especially to ol' Jer -- this bock's for you.

Rogue Beers, One On a Harley Davidson

2009-08-02T14:49:00.000-06:00

Today we sampled two beers from Rogue that are new to our local state liquor store. We're grateful that the supply of beers in Utah is robust enough that we can continue to sample one new beer each week: we splurged this time and tried two!

The first beer was Rogue's American Amber Ale. This extremely refreshing beer poured a beautiful amber color in the glass with a medium head. It had what I call a "round" mouth feel, and a strong nose of yeast (which once we drunk it, we couldn't smell it anymore -- odd). The beer is nicely balanced and had a steady hop layer that was consistent through the drinking of it. I quaffed this one quickly. It was SO GOOD!

The second beer we tried was Rogue's Mocha Porter. This opaque, brown, creamy delicious beer poured with a huge head that I slightly overpoured -- but it was so yummy and creamy I didn't mind. Like the label says -- it's a coffee tasting beer that is a powerful porter. Very hoppy and malty, obviously with chocolate / coffee notes. We loved it too.

We could drink Rogue beers every day! Oh, and we had a bit of fun making the second video. I even put a shirt on for you.

2 Beers from Dale and Don's Ta-ta's

2009-07-27T13:35:00.004-06:00

Oh, dear -- Ben the cameraman was supposed to spare you a view of much below my neck, but in this first video I'm afraid you'll get a bit more of me than you might have wished. Oh well -- I'm an old fat guy who likes to not have to wear a shirt at his house -- deal or move on.

But the beer! Today's beer club highlighted two beers, generously donated by my old buddy Dale.

The label is a bit confusing, but I think the brewery is Tap Room No. 21 and the variety is "Moe's Back Room Lager". This light lager wasn't very hoppy and was a tad more sweet than I prefer. But it had a beautiful yellow color, poured a reasonable head (that melted fast) and was pleasant enough to drink on a hot summer day. We agree with the toast on the label, celebrating the repeal of prohibition.

We also drank a very nice beer from Gordon Biersch called "Märzen". It is a traditional Bavarian lager that is brewed in March (Märzen) and drunk during the warmer summer months. It has a nice malty finish with a slight touch of hops, a beautiful carmel color, a medium head which dissapated quickly and a very satisfying flavor. We enjoyed it.

You're Not Worthy

2009-07-20T08:37:00.002-06:00

My good friend Dale Taylor sent me pictures of beer in Arizona: you want any of these? One of them was shining through: A beer I'd heard about but had never been able to sample. Arrogant Bastard Ale! Yes! Yes! and Yes!

This beer market's itself with the tagline described in the title above. Poking fun at the Bud crowd who drink "fizzy yellow beer" they think will make them sexy, or those who respond to multi-million dollar ad campaigns to make you think they are a small brewery, it warns away drinkers who "probably won't like it" and taunts "Questions? Comments? Don't send them to us!". It's all very funny, but this beer is fantastic and deano and I both enjoyed our extra-large bottles of 7.2 percent goodness.

It pours with a gorgeous head, a tight brown foam that persists while you're drinking it. Drunk cold, it's mildly hoppy, a bit of fruit, malted caramel and wonderful yeasty odors. As it warms up we were split -- deano preferred it cold, I loved the shift to downright slap-you-in-the-face hoppy goodness. A very silky mouthfeel and plenty of alcoholic punch made this a perfect drink-it-on-a-sunday-afternoon-and-then-take-a-nap beer. I didn't find the alcohol overpowering in the mouth -- but I did sleep for a good hour in the heat of the day afterwards.

Verdict: We ARE worthy, and we want more of this beer. Oh Utah, could you please figure out how to deliver us more of these?

And, a toast to Dale Taylor -- and Walter Cronkite.

Spicy and Potent: Samuel Adams Imperial White

2009-07-13T10:20:00.001-06:00

For whatever reason, perhaps because it's such a huge "non-micro" beer brewer, I've not sampled many Samuel Adams beers, and we've not had any for Sunday Beer Club. But Deano and I are fast running out of beers to sample and our Liquor store friend Angie just got three new high potency beers in from Sam Adams, so we figured we'd try it. Dean and I were split on this one: I liked it, he was non-plussed. I thought the spicy, thick stuff was quite interesting. He felt like it ought to be retasted on a cold October day. I'm happy to swill it then too.

Dean and I both thought this beer would be better with food. I think it's sweetness would work nicely against a tomato vinegrette salad with feta and basil, or even a chicken pesto sandwich with sun-dried tomato. I should try that and return and report.

In the video I mistakenly try to identify hops in the taste. Wrong. It's not hoppy at all. I think it was the spices that were confusing my inadequate beer palate. But that doesn't stop me.

The toast to my my drinking buddy Deano -- who refused to appear on camera but (as of this date) is on our masthead. I'll be having more of these, but only one or two at a time, thank you.

And her is my somewhat less sober correction:

Mirror Pond Pale Ale

2009-06-15T12:39:00.000-06:00

This week we sampled a new beer in the Lindon Liquor store: Mirror Pale Ale. This beer, made by Deuchutes Brewery in Bend, Oregon. It's a delicious beer, very mild and balanced with a nice hoppy finish. Dean really loved and it and so did Jim and Roni (that's Roni above).

Here's a fun picture of Roni too.

We look forward to trying more of these during the week and sampling some of their other beer. Good things seem to come from Bend, Oregon!

Beer Domino's

2009-06-10T15:03:00.001-06:00

"After so many beers a person is happy just to lay down" is I think what the final line says.

Balitka No. 9, No. 9, No. 9, No. 9...

2009-06-07T20:23:00.000-06:00

Deano criticized me for not posting since January. I was thinking I'd catch up -- but better he said to just begin where we are. And where are we? Ugh... Russian beer. Baltika.

Today we sampled No. 9 Baltika, a caramel colored, fairly complex, fine headed beer from Russia. It actually had a fairly decent mouthfeel and flavor, until you swallowed it. Then it was dominated by this horribly sweet "splenda-like" flavor, like malted milk balls. Devoid of any sense of hop -- this beer was fairly disgusting. If only they had cleaned up the finish, it would have been quite drinkable. We thought that perhaps paired with something very acidic it could be tolerated... but we won't be trying it soon.

Thanks to Stephen for buying it for us --- but, the Baltika we have left for next week fills us with dread.

and one more thing...

Where The Beer's Are

2009-05-14T09:00:00.003-06:00

Two years ago this May, Deano and I began the Sunday Beer Club. It's a club with two hosts, and we generally have to agree on what beer we get and who drinks it with us. And it's every Sunday -- we've never missed a day. And we photograph it and store those photos out on Sunday Beer Club on flickr. We've done that pretty faithfully as well.

But as they say often from the pulpit in these parts -- "I have indeed been remiss..." because, every Sunday or Monday we have not blogged since January. One of our two faithful readers noticed!

We've drunk all the beers and taken all the pictures, we just need to tell about it again here. I tried a couple of times to catch up but the task seemed daunting. Plus there were beers we tried but -- I have little recollection of what they were like. While I try to describe the beer as best as I know how my memory seems to recall in a sort of binary. Good and Bad. I nuance that occasionally with, really good and ok.

So I'm going to try and blog about one beer we drank every day here for the next week or so. I'm not going to go back in calendrical order -- so, I'll just pick the beer "not blogged about" with my memory to guide me until I've caught up. See the beers we've yet to blog about here.

Meanwhile -- it's time for the annual Sunday Beer Club party. We're going to invite a few folks who've come to have a beer on Sunday with Don and Dean -- and we'll be bringing a sampling of our favorite beers from the year.

I'll be sure to try and write something here about the party, both before and after.

And now it's time to do some work.

Scape Goat Pale Ale, from Big Sky Brewing in Missoula, Montana

2009-01-25T15:43:00.001-07:00

Today we tried a second beer from the Big Sky Brewing Company in Missoula, Montana. Scape Goat Pale Ale has won a gold medal as the best English style pale ale west of the Mississippi. It pours an apricot, honey color in the glass with very little head. It doesn't have a very strong nose that we could detect. It's taste is reminded me of citrus and dried apricots, some grapefruit and orange. It has a fairly watery mouthfeel, it would be easy to drink a lot of this beer. It has some nice crystal hop flavors on the back end. Dean and I both liked it and plan on doing more of this beer soon. Side note: Back last summer I tried another beer from these folks, Moose Drool. I panned it at the time, but Mikey at Utah Beer made me think twice. I had a glass of this today after beer club and was quite impressed. What made me object earlier this year? Who knows, but I quite like this interesting and tasty brew. Consider me repented.

Utah Beer in the NY Times Travel Section

2009-01-24T09:59:00.000-07:00

http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/travel/25journeys.html

Perfect 10

2009-01-18T13:28:00.000-07:00

Ok, so it may not be the 1970's version of Bo Derek on the beach, but it's no slouch either. This is the second Trappistes Rochefort we've tried, and the third I've had. No. 10 has notes of caramel and fig in the nose with a sharp hop in there with it. It pours a beautiful chocolate in the glass with a firm creamy and fluffy head that persists all the way to the end. It's like velvet and fruit in your mouth, with deep fig and caramel flavors and some other fruit I couldn't quite place. It's relatively high alcohol (11.2 Vol) didn't taint the flavor at all, and gives a nice buzz for a bottle.

Deano and I enjoyed it, but I gave it higher ratings that he did (he would have ranked Bo lower too, I think). He doesn't like the fruity quality as much as I do.

We raised our glasses in a toast to our next President (in just two days!) Barack Hussein Obama! Here's to you!

Bourbon County Brand Stout

2009-01-11T13:29:00.004-07:00

Holy Grail of Stouts! This beer packs an amazing punch on all counts. So much so that my drinking buddy deano is going to do the initial review! That's something, deano never comments on the Sunday Beer Club. Well, that's changed now. What did you think Deano? (note: deano posted before I did, so scroll down to see what he had to say).

In the meantime, I guess I'll add my two cents.

This beer poured with very little head, as Dean notes comically below. Amazing notes of vanilla, chocolate, smoke, molasses and more molasses, were both in the nose and taste. The taste was almost overpowering with flavor. As the label says, there is more taste in one sip of this beer than there is in a whole six-pack of most beers. There was a very velvety mouthfeel, it felt like pudding in my mouth. Like a blanket keeping my tongue happy. The high alcohol didn't seem to overpower me, until I'd finished the beer. It's a good thing I didn't have a second or I would have had to pass out.

What can I say, we loved this beer, and here's a toast to our friend Matt. Thanks for the beer Matt!

Deano's observations

2009-01-11T13:26:00.013-07:00

Bourbon County BRANDSTOUT:

As a lager is to a runway model, BOURBON COUNTY BRANDSTOUT is to an offensive lineman for the Green Bay Packers. This beer is 6 parts used motor oil, 3 parts ale, and 4 parts molasses. I think that might be more than 10 parts, but after drinking this beer which is 13% alcohol by volume, I can barely type, let alone add.

Our friend Matt smuggled a 6 pack of this beer in from California. Don and I have decided to drink another two of the bottles this coming week at room temperature, and save two bottles for the first cold day next fall since the label proclaims, "flavor will continue to develop over 5 years." If it develops anymore, we will need a knife and fork to drink it. Although my friends generally know I appreciate good head, this beer poured with none. In order to get a proper head one generally pours the beer at about a 45 degree angle. Given the heavy body of this beer, the next time we will try pouring it from the top of a three story building.

I would say this is the only beer that stained my hand when i wiped a little off that had spilled down my chin.

Trappist Rochefort No. 8

2009-01-06T18:02:00.000-07:00

I thought we'd tried these beers, but evidently not. These delicious beers, the Belgian Trappist Rochefort beers, are too good to ignore. We tried this one Sunday, it had a surprising hoppy back end for a Belgian. Very yummy.

Hazed and Infused

2008-12-29T11:29:00.001-07:00

Dean was excited the other day as we got a new beer in the local liquor store. Angie's doing a great job, she has greatly improved the beer selection every year she's been there -- and we appreciate it!

This particular beer was from Boulder, Colorado. Colorado is to beer making what Napa Valley is to wine, and this is one of the first beers we've gotten from there. Hazed and Infused is "infused" with dry hops, and what a wonderful infusion that makes. It's my new favorite beer and I'm headed there in a few minutes to get a six pack to enjoy.

This beer has a very round and fruity mouth feel, some apricot scents and a lovely balance between hops and fruityness. It doesn't end in that typical hoppy fashion, but seems to get swallowed up by fruit again. I liked it alot. It's really good cold.

We toasted Dorise's dad Royden, who's recovering from pneumonia. Get better Roy and then we'll lift one together. Oh, and in this video I left in my bitching to Dean holding the camera. It shows what an ass I can be.

Beer for the Week

2008-12-27T12:57:00.000-07:00

Most days during the week Dean and I enjoy a beer after work. On Saturdays we like to lift a few in the early afternoon. Since I'm taking vacation this last week or so I thought it would be fun to hit The Bayou in Salt Lake City for some of their exclusive (to Utah) brews. We live about 50 miles south of The Bayou, so we have to make a special trip. Deano had to work but I made the trek up with friends Jason and his brother Geoff and Jim and his wife Roni (Jim and Roni make regular appearances at Beer Club on on Sundays).

We all got to sample some lovely Christmas Beers, and it was a great time. I'll just link here to the Flickr slideshow of some pics I took and that Jim took with my camera.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wickenden/sets/72157611630004505

Solstice Beer Club -- Jason's Christmas Visit: He Brought Beer!

2008-12-22T12:02:00.002-07:00

This week Jason Huntington, a dear friend dating back to my WordPerfect days, was in town for Christmas and spent a few days at my house. He graciously brought six large bottles of Snowqualmie Avalanche Winter Ale.

This delicious seasonal ale had tastes of apricot skin and flesh, lots of orange peel-like hops and a sweet nose of yeast, a beautiful dark amber in the glass, a gorgeous and generous head. It's about a 7.1 alcohol by volume beer, and a big pint of it was just right. There were five of us drinking, so we split the last one.

A very impressive beer on a Solstice Sunday. We toasted, of course, Jason, but we also toasted my sweet-lovey grandboy, Tavian, who turned two years old this Solstice. After beer club I cooked a roasted scallop and pasta dish, with a baby romaine salad with an impromptu garlic dressing. We drank three bottles of wine and spent the evening on the snowy deck with a roaring fire. The days grow shorter from here!

It's not even Sunday!

2008-12-19T16:58:00.000-07:00

This is a special edition of Sunday Beer Club, even though it's friday. You see, good friend Jason is in town with some fine Washington State beer for us to try, and this one has been in the fridge since last Saturday, since Rod Schiffman brought 2 beers for us to drink then. AND, there is a Sierra Nevada seasonal APA that we want to try before too long, so we have to keep up.

Today we drank a couple beautiful Wasatch Winterfest. This local beer pours a delicious brown color with a rich creamy head. I got a nose of cloves, and when I sipped it I thought of those oranges studded with cloves you sometimes have at Christmas.

It was a delicious beer, we had two and at 7.1 percent it was enough to wash away our guilt for cheating and having beer club in the middle of the week. If you're wondering why we have such a rule, it's just that we are trying to prolong the inevitable: we'll soon run out of new beers to try. And that is the whole point of Sunday Beer Club. And, though we can carry on by trying all the Fosters and whatnot, we're enjoying keeping to the really cool beer. Nuff said.

We loved this beer, and we're going to consume huge quantities of it over the next week or so. We just needed a "Beer Club" to make it kosher.

Beautiful Belgian Beers

2008-12-14T19:21:00.003-07:00

We've been fortunate in having as a friend, someone who travels outside of Utah and gives us a break from the mundane selections available from D.A.B.C, that mormon controlled entity that limits our consumption. Today for Beer Club we were pleasured with two delightful beers from Belgium: A numbered porter and a lager from Grimbergen.

This lager -- hell, I don't usually like lagers, but this was exceptional. A wonderful flavor, complex, and full of hoppiness. Delicious..

We enjoyed it with a plate of cheeses Rod brought back from Holland, blue cheese, Gouda, some unpasturized and beautiful... and a farmers cheese. All noteworthy as one might imagine.

Rod also brought a limited number Porter from Belgium: 153 of 450. So delicious, I thought I got berries in the nose, some definite chocolate malts and hoppiness.

So nice to have such beers available. Thanks, Rod.

Beer Club with Jim and Roni

2008-12-08T09:16:00.000-07:00

This week we had two beers for Beer Club. The first is the second beer brought back to us by Rod Schiffman. Rod's been working in Amsterdam and brought us last week's beer as well as this weeks: Texel's Triple. This delicious beer had yeasty orange, cream and butter notes in the nose and a very complex body. We were all very impressed with these elegant brews from Holland. The problem now is: how do I get more??

For the second beer we revisted Snow Cap from Pyramid. This beer has chocolate malt flavors and seems (to Jim at least) like it's a "light porter". I can see that. What I know is that I could drink a LOT of these beers on a cold day.

And for our toast, well -- we drank to a certain part of Jim's wife, Roni!

Texels from Holland

2008-11-30T14:31:00.000-07:00

My friend Rod Schiffman brought us this delicious beer from Holland. It was unlike anything we've had before, pouring a rich brown in the glass with a big head and persistant lacing. It had a very complex taste, sort of like pipe tobacco in the back end with hints of other things I couldn't identify properly. Beer was very tasty and it's too bad we have only two! We have a couple Triple's from the same brewery. Our toast, of course, goes to Rod for bringing us this delicious beer.

Rogue's Yellow Snow IPA

2008-11-28T14:13:00.001-07:00

Another wonderful beer from Rogue, "Yellow Snow". After drinking this I noticed that I had it's distinctive bottle in my study up on one of my book cases. I forget when I first tasted it, but this was the first time we had it for beer club. This remarkable beer has a very hoppy character. It's got only a hint of fruity in the nose and is filled with an orange peel hoppy flavor. It never goes over the edge into metallic, but is beautifully bitter and full. I loved it, we went out the next day and bought more.

Sunday Beer Club - Opa Opa IPA

2008-11-28T14:05:00.000-07:00

My Father Brings a Bevy of Beer

My father drove out to Utah and brought us a six-pack of Opa Opa IPA from a brewery in Massachusetts. This refreshing beer was quite fruity in the beginning with the hops coming alive on the backend. In many ways I thought it was very similar to Squatters IPA, which is one of my favorite beers. Dean liked it a bit less than I, said it had a metallic taste, but he was not feeling well and I think that colored his judgement.

Here's the video, we toasted my dad, his wife Pauline and her daughter Susie. It was her birthday! My daughter's Melissa, Tina, and Amy were in attendence.

Anderson Valley's "Poleeko Gold Pale Ale"

2008-11-10T08:08:00.001-07:00

This weeks delicious beer was made by Anderson Valley Brewing Company. Everything we've tried by them is wonderful and this was no exception. The beer poured with a nice head (which didn't persist in the glass that I used). It had a fruity and yeasty nose. I thought the flavors were nicely balanced between that round fruityness at first, followed by a distinct hoppy character afterwards. Best of both worlds of what I love in ales. We'll be buying more of this in the weeks to come.

Dean and I lifted our glasses to President-Elect Obama: Here's to your victory, and here's to you making a difference in the world. We also toast the wonderful songbird Yma Sumac who died the other day in a rest home somewhere. They don't make pipes like that everyday!

Stella Artois

2008-11-03T10:46:00.000-07:00

We're starting to have to select the beers we wouldn't normally select, since I think both Dean and I prefer an ale to a lager, with some notable exceptions. But, I saw a facebook picture of a daughter of a friend drinking this and thought, "If Alpha is drinking it, it can't be bad", and bought some for this weeks beer club.

Stella Artois has a nice malty nose, typical of lagers I thought. In the glass it was very clear and poured with a fine and small head, which didn't last very long. The mouth feel was reasonably carbonated, and the taste very crisp and clear. I thought it had a bit of a nutty flavor. I'd prefer to drink a beer like this on a very hot day, rather than a cold and rainy one like we had. I think it wants to be pretty cold, and I could put away quite a few, it being fairly low in alcohol that I could detect.

This week's toast goes out to Dean's father Jim. At 79, he's a real Maverick, and just bought himself a Harley Heritage Soft Tail. Way to go Jim! This one's for you (and you too Helen). Jim and Helen joined us last year as special guests.

Firestone California Pale Ale

2008-10-26T14:21:00.001-06:00

Today we enjoyed another Firestone. A couple weeks ago we sampled "Double Barrel", and today we tried their California Pale Ale.

This beer had a nice malty nose, not much head and that dissapeared quickly. It was fairly carbonated and had a distinct orange peel hoppy flavor. It was pretty good beer, and both dean and I liked it. He gave it a slightly higher rating than I did.

We toasted the newly late Merle Saunders. Merle was the keyboard player in the Jerry Garcia Band. He had a stroke a couple years ago and could only play with one hand. He was a happy guy and one who will be missed, an original San Francisco jamband kind of guy. Also, we note in toast that yesterday was Bill Graham's death anniversary.

Rogue Chocolate Stout!

2008-10-19T19:31:00.002-06:00

Oh my GOD!!!!!!

This was the most amazing beer. I was worried, because "flavored" beers are not usually what I want. Rogue added actual chocolate besides the chocolate hops, but the result was the most wonderfully drinkable stout I've ever had. I had two glasses, I could have drunk 4 in the same sitting. The wonderful chocolate aroma, oat flavor and freaking amazing choclate truffle finish just about did me in. If you can find this beer, GET SOME, and I'm going back and getting a bunch more. Here in Utah, it's temporary, and, like all good things, it WON'T LAST.

I have indeed been remiss

2008-10-19T14:11:00.004-06:00

Several Sunday Beer Clubs have gone by, observed, but not documented. As they say in certain religious meetings, "I have indeed been remiss"... or I would have indeed been remiss, or something like that. So, here's a rundown of what we drank while I was being remiss...

On Sunday the 28th of September we drank Coopers Sparkling Aussie Ale. This cloudy beer had some sediment in the bottle. It was good, a bit sour tasting.

On October 5th we tried a beer that has been de-listed, meaning it's not going to be sold anymore: Peruvian Cristal. A very clean lager, no skunkiness whatsoever, tasted really fresh, really carbonated. Loved it. We bought a six-pack for the indian summer days this last week.

Then on the 12th of October we drank Mac's Blackwatch. I was very sick, had been sick an entire week with some flu bug, but I didn't let the sickness stop me. I can't remember anything about the beer, other than what's in this video.

Sign the Petition

2008-09-25T14:23:00.001-06:00

Our friends at Utah Beer make a reasonable request of our overlords:
http://utahbeer.blogspot.com/2008/09/help-make-it-cold-day-in-hell.html

Firestone Double Barrel Ale

2008-09-22T14:36:00.000-06:00

Firestone Double Barrel is a mildly hoppy and somewhat fruity beer. We drank it a bit cool and it needed a few degrees to warm up to show a bit more character.

Three Beers for Sunday Beer Club!

2008-09-15T13:36:00.004-06:00

Hops, hops, hooray! Ok, that was corny (barley tolerable). Jim and Roni told us they were coming to Beer Club and were running a bit late. Dean and I often drink before beer club, something that we've already had. Our unoffical rule (unoffical because Deano flouts any convention he sees fit to) is that we drink all new beers in Sunday Beer Club. But Deano arrived with 2 "Pass Time's" and was thirsty before they arrived, so we imbibed. I don't remember too much about this beer other than I loved it, it was very malty, had a very interesting taste, good carbonation and head, and was cloudy in the glass. I'm anxious to try it again, though I hear it is a close out.

Once Jim and Roni pulled in, we began our Beer Club properly, with a brand new Belgian golden ale called "Duvel" (which I'm told is "The Devil").

Duvel, that's what comes to mind when looking at this shifty eyed gentleman

Duvel is a wonderful beer, finely crafted with a most complex nose, pouring a great creamy head, and sparkling with carbonation. Delicious belgian yeasts, a nice balance between sweet and hops, and very refreshing. We must buy MORE.

The third beer we sampled comes from one of our favorite breweries: Unibroue. Located in Canada, this wonderful brewery produces high octane, amazing tasting beers with the most luscious yeasty flavors. We were excited to see a new label in the store: 17. 17 is a dark, malty beer with an amazing nose and taste. In the nose we got blueberries, molasses, and lemon. In the mouth we got rasberrys in chocolate, chocolate, coffee, molasses, lemon, blueberries, and burned toast (not an unpleasant aspect of such). I just wish I had ten more! They were delicious and we were all in agreement. We'll be getting it again.

Oh no, a week late and it's sunday already!

2008-09-14T08:11:00.003-06:00

Somehow, last week's Sunday beer club got chronicled in pics and video, which were duly uploaded to Flickr, but never made it into a blog entry. I blame a strange week -- had a rough time getting much done at all. So, here's a quick re-tell before today's Sunday Beer Club begins in about 4 hours.

We drank Anderson Valley Brewing Company's "Summer Solstice" nicknamed "Cerveza Crema". Deano and I split on this one, though he's vacillating. I loved it, he found it odd. I thought this beer had a very interesting taste sensation. Fruity at the beginning, sort of like melon rind in the middle, with a bit of sour at the end. I don't know if anyone else experiences it like that, but that's how my mouth characterized it. The label copy says that since this beer is very popular with Anderson's "hispanic friends" and because it sounds cool they named the beer Cervaza Crema, which does sound cool. It didn't remind me of any mexican beers I've been able to taste, but if hispanic brothers and sisters love it then I'm south of the border in my tastes too. Fire up the grill, put on the Carne Asada and tortilla's, and let's drink a whole bunch of these.

We toasted Roni Sermersheim, who was lying in bed post surgery. We hope Roni feels better soon.

Delicious Pinkus Ur-Pils

2008-09-01T09:42:00.000-06:00

We sampled Pinkus Organic Ur Pils on a refreshingly cool Sunday noon. Kristina was still sleeping, Melissa yet to arrive and so it was just Deano and me. This nice and cloudy beer (due to it being unfiltered, proudly) poured with a fine foamy head that vanished quickly. It had a pleasant nose and a very balanced flavor that was most pleasant. Melissa was to later describe this beer as "earthy". I tasted bananna notes and deano found citrus. It packed a bit of an alcohol punch as well. We loved it, and give it our highest ratings. This beer, contrary to last weeks advice, is not very hoppy but delivers more flavor as it warms. So why do we keep drinking our beers so damned cold? Habit I suppose.

As you can see in this image, it's truly beautiful in the glass. Very cloudy and appealing, and that feeling only gets better when you drink it in. Very drinkable, very welcome.

and a quick postscript about the cool label:

Sierra Nevada's Anniversary Ale

2008-08-25T15:07:00.000-06:00

This week we choose a beer that was fairly inexpensive by Utah standards, about 1.78 a bottle. It was Sierra Nevada's "Anniversary Ale". The beer is a very hoppy ale with a malty nose and orange peel esters and a fine persistant head. Dean and I thought the beer was much better at a bit cooler than room temperature, at the colder temps we usually drink our beer the hoppy qualities take over from the minute the beer is in your mouth. You may be saying that we should drink our beer at a warmer temperature all the time, but -- we don't. However, for beers like IPA's or stouts, we find they taste better by the time we get to the end of the glass. You can't teach an old couple of dogs anything, it seems.

Anyway, it was a good beer, interesting, complex. Neither Dean or I felt it was something we absolutely loved, but it was drinkable and enjoyable.

Here are a couple videos of our impressions:

Gold Medal Winner Squatter's IPA

2008-08-17T14:35:00.000-06:00

We finally got around to trying local Utah brewer "Squatter's" award winning IPA. Pulling in successive Golds from both the Great American Beer Festival and the World Beer Cup, this nicely balanced fruity and hoppy beer is a beautiful amber in color and has the nose and taste of dried apricots. Dean, Tina and I enjoyed this at noon on Saturday and Amy arrived a bit later and split one with her husband, Ben.

There wasn't much in the way of head, though it had some lacing that remained. Dean and I were both surprised at how little hoppy flavor there was, though I suspect it's because of the heavy fruity front end. I love the beautiful "round" flavor of this beer, and I add it to one of my favorites. I'll be drinking this again soon.

Beers from Down Under - Thank You Caleb

2008-08-11T10:13:00.002-06:00

Deano's friend and co-worker Caleb brought back from his trip to Austrailia and New Zealand, three fine beers. We sampled two this Sunday, intending the third for later in the evening. Alas, the freezer took one of them. I don't want to think about it, it's just too sad.

But, the beers we had were wonderful, and here's the report.

Check out the Tasmanian Tiger Stripes on the Bottle

We started with a beer from New Zealand called Cascade Lager. It's got a very bright lager-y nose, and a fantasting long lasting fine and creamy head. It had an extremely clean flavor, with interesting notes I couldn't quite place, but remind me of that No. 2 Lager from Full Sail. The bottle celebrates the "Tasmanian Tiger", an extinct predatory marsupial (!) from New Zealand. It's got fun stripes on the bottle. A definite winner.

Next we had a big bottle of Victoria Bitter, labled "VB" and "The Best Cold Beer. This was a fantastic ale, very drinkable. Head wasn't as notable, but it had a very clean and delicious taste. I could drink it all day.

I don't want to think about the beautiful bottle that we left in the freezer, only to break and go to waste. Probably never get another shot at that beer.

Here's a couple video reviews:

Ayinger Brau Weisse

2008-08-04T09:01:00.001-06:00

Jim and Roni came back to Beer Club and brought a beautiful Hefe-Weisse from Ayinger. I haven't been a huge fan of Ayinger, but this beer was wonderful. It poured gorgeous amber honey in the glass with a fine and fairly persistent head. In your mouth the carbonation bubbles pushed the fruity flavors at you instantly: bananna, cloves, pear, apples, citrus. Deano thought it a tad too fruity for him, the rest of us loved it. Who knew, Deano now complains if a beer isn't hoppy enough. I remember a time where the only beer he would drink was Hefeweisen. What's next, an IPA kick?

Drank this shortly after working on my swamp cooler on a very hot August day, and it was wonderfully refreshing, like the shade itself.

Kokanee, the Glacier Lager

2008-07-21T10:38:00.000-06:00

For this week's beer club we sampled "Kokanee", which says it's made from glacier water, from the Colombia Brewery. Unfortunately we found this beer, though not unpleasant at all, uninspiring. Dean, Tina and I all agreed that the beer had very little flavor, hardly any nose, not much in the way of carbonation or head, and you couldn't detect much in the way of hops. It wasn't a bad beer, I imagine that if you like Coors you'd find this beer amazing. But, compared to the flavorfull beers we tend to sample, this one seemed just o.k. On the other hand, I'd imagine if there were a cooler full of these things you'd have no trouble drinking them. Hell, I've been drinking Modelo Especial all week, with a little lime, and that's a very unsurprising beer.

This week we raised our glasses in toast to George Carlin who recently passed. Now, he was a man who had a good deal of hoppiness!

Playin' the Harp

2008-07-14T10:14:00.004-06:00

I've seen this beer on the shelf for years, but have never tried it. But Deano picked up a few bottles of Harp's Lager, from Guiness, and we were all pleasant surprised by this wonderful summery brew.

Dean and Bottle in Matching Yellow

There's a most pleasant clean taste of hops and barely about this beer. On a hot day, I think I could just sit around and drink bottle after bottle. Soon enough I'll be speaking like I was beyond the pale, with a bit of brogue and blarney.

We'll be sure to stock the fridge with some of this the rest of this summer. Melissa would like it! Poor Tavian thought it looked most tasty as well.

You can actually see the elusive Deano drinking in the background. Oh, and by the way, it's a lager, despite me calling it a summery ale.

Summerfest

2008-07-07T12:57:00.007-06:00

Bottles of Summerfest Ale from Sierra Nevada

The Sunday Beer Club tackled Sierra Nevada's Summerfest Ale yesterday, and we had a pretty good size group. In addition to Don and Dean, we welcomed Jim and Roni and my daughters Melissa and Kristina. Here's a little blurb about the beer:

We decided we like this nice offering from Sierra Nevada, and plan on consuming more of these as the Utah summer months force triple digit afternoons on us. Sitting in the grape leave shade, drinking a yummy beer, what else could one ask for?

Here's Jim mugging with the beers

Missa, featuring her new cool hat. Here, she's talking about her Tarot Readings

A glass of nice, summery, Summerfest ale in Melissa's hand

Roni and Jim during Beer Club in the shade

We truly made this beer club a "summer fest" because after the regular beer club we moved on to a summer evening on the deck with a delicious bbq and cocktails for Missa and her friends, and Jim, and Roni stayed for both events!

Moose Drool

2008-07-01T10:32:00.006-06:00

Moose Drool - just don't think about it

Maybe I have a saliva issue (certainly the Moose on this label does ;0). I'm sure that some people find the name of this beer charming -- I found it disgusting enough that I couldn't get the image out of my head during the tasting, especially looking at the label. Moose Drool is from Missoula, Montana from the Big Sky Brewing Company. It's a brown ale and is light bodied beer. It had a caramel nose and had medium carbonation and fairly low alcohol. I found it slightly hoppy at first but then finishing quite sweet, though thin tasting.

Tina Beena's Glass

Moose Drool was sampled by me, Deano, Melissa and Tina. Melissa really liked it as you can see from her description below, while neither Dean, Tina nor I really thought it was something we'd buy again. Dean felt it needed to be better balanced, and I found the sweet end a bit unnerving.

Don's Shirtless Review

Melissa's Review

Pontoon Boat Ale

2008-06-29T16:22:00.003-06:00

Bottles of "Curve Ball" waiting to be drunk

Last week we tried a beer we hadn't seen before from Pyramid Brewing Company called "Curve Ball". This "summer ale" has a very light taste and it's the kind of beer you could drink a lot of sitting around watching baseball games as the label sort of suggests or as Deano described it as a "Pontoon Boat Beer", a beer you could drink and drink sitting out on the water fishing in Wisconsin. Neither Dean nor I thought the beer very interesting, but Melissa, who joined us a bit later, just loved it.

I have to admit, when I tried a bottle on a very hot afternoon about a week later, after having mowed the lawn, I was grateful for a smooth, easy beer and found it much better.

In the glass it had nice carbonation and a decent head with persistent lacing. Flavor, as I've suggested is a bit unremarkable, except perhaps unremarkable flavor is just what you want on a hot afternoon, watching the game, throwing the line in, or while you smell the lawn you just mowed mixed with honeysuckle wafting in the air.

Extra Special Bitter

2008-06-17T10:54:00.005-06:00

I like an IPA fine, Deano less so. But some IPA's are just too bracing for me in terms of hoppy bitterness, like Son of Spot IPA from one of my otherwise brewerys (I love Sunspot itself, for instance). So it was with a bit of trepidation that I saw 3 beers in my fridge waiting for Sunday Beer Club that I had been avoiding for a long time. Extra Special Bitter. Why would I want even more bitter beer?

Three bottles of bitter, extra special

But, Dean assured me that this was not bitter beer at all, in fact, I can't even guess at what the word bitter might mean in it's nomiker, other than as a generic reference to hops bearing beer. But I can tell you one thing, it is extra-special.

Deanster poses with beer

Fuller's Extra Special Bitter is a delicious and refreshing beer. It's got that flavor I call "round", somewhat fruity, slightly hoppy, with wonderful yeasty notes in the nose. It's nicely carbonated and pours a lasting medium head and has persistent lacing throughout the drinking.

Dean examining today's offering

We loved it.

Another year, and more beer

2008-06-08T07:34:00.003-06:00

For some time now Sunday Beer Club has had some regular "members" besides Don and Dean. So, we officially welcome my beer drinking daughters Tina and Melissa, as well as Beer maven Jim who comes once a month or so with his lovely wife (non-beer drinking) Roni.

This year we look forward to sampling more beers from the Utah cache of beers available and we will begin to re-sample favorite beers we drank previously and see how they fare with us.

Today we drank bottles of "Trois Pistoles" from Unibroue. Unfortunately Deano was sick this weekend, so he drank a bit and then went home to bed. Poor dean, because the beer was very good.

Three Little Towers of Beer

Like all the beer I've sampled from Unibroue, this has a strong yeasty flavor, with a fruity taste in the beer. In the glass this poured creamy with a large head that was persistent. Mouth feel was very fruity with lots of carbonation, again like some of their other beers.

My Glass, yum!

I think this is my favorite of the Unibroue's we've had so far, can't wait to try it again during the week.

My Daughter Tina at Beer Club

Sunday Beer Club Anniversary Party

2008-06-02T08:08:00.008-06:00

Last Sunday we celebrated a year of Sunday Beer Club on my front lawn. Deano and I enjoyed the company of Melissa, Kristina, Nicole, Jim and Roni, and Dorise. Roni brought three delicious appetizers for crusty toasted baugette slices: a garlicy pesto sauce, a campari and basil sauce, and a mushroom and garlic sauce. So very good! I made little split red peppers stuffed with chevre, shallots sauteed in butter and cilantro which were then broiled and also an english cucumber salad with fresh cilantro and shallots in red wine vinegrette.

But I've forgotten to mention the most mentionable: The Beers!

Let me show you first, the after: the best evidence of beers drunk.

A pile of beer bottles after the bash

Each of us brought a six-pack of our favorite beer. By far the most popular was a favorite from the year, Pike's Kilt Lifter, which Tina brought. The most popular brewery seemed to be "Unibroue" with Don (Don de Dieux), Melissa (La Fin du Monde), and Jim (2005 Limited Edition) all bringing beers from that brewery. Tina even brought a Unibroue beer, Trois Pistoles, thinking it was a regular beer tasting sunday, but we decided to hold off on it until next Sunday and so brought the popular Pike's. For Dorise and Roni we had Lambec's, the Peach being more popular with them than the cherry.

The pics below are a sampling of the good time we had. We're looking forward to another year of beer drinking on Sunday.

www.flickr.com

Last beer of the Sunday Beer Club Year: Double Bag

2008-05-26T19:18:00.005-06:00

Well, it's been a year since Deano and I began the Sunday Beer Club. We've had a lot of beer (nearly all the fun ones in the store), special guests Vegor, Jim Sermersheim, Kristina and Melissa, and a few special beers brought from other locales. We've had a lot of fun.

Our last beer club of the season comes from Vermont and is called "Double Bag". No, you can't get this beer here in Utah, my dad sent a six pack of it to me via UPS. That's an expensive way to get your beer!

Long Trail Double Bag: The wine drinkers beer

This beer was delicious, wonderfully balanced. It's labeled as a double alt, which I'm guessing is a double alt-bier or old style ale beer? Anyway, it was delicious. A bit like the Brother David's Double we love and the Wasatch Devastator, Deano immediately described it as his "new favorite beer". Too bad we can't get any more!

Kristina Mae drinking a double bag

Tina, Deano and I enjoyed this beer on a warm saturday (I know, but the following day was our "opening of the gin season" so we didn't want to get too wasted) afternoon at the end of May. It had some nice malty notes in the nose, a beautiful carbonated mouth feel, and subtle notes of hoppy and sweet balanced perfectly in the beer. We both said it was 5 steins!

Oktoberfest Ur-Märzen with Jim and Roni

2008-05-19T14:38:00.005-06:00

Just the beers, please!

For this week's Sunday Beer Club, Jim and Roni came and Tina joined Dean and I as well. It was a hot spring day, reaching into the 80's but we took refuge on the west side of the house on the lower shady patio. It was a lovely day and we experienced two delicious beers.

Party Krew

The first, as you can see in Jim's hands here, was Spaten Oktoberfest "Ur-Märzen". It's a spring bock (brewed in March I guess) and was very tasty. Jim noted that it was very balanced between hops and sweetness. I noted nice bready notes in the nose, that were very subtle in the drink. It had a decent head and a nice mouth feel. We all liked it and gave it high marks.

The second beer (sorry, no photo of the bottle) was Monk Shine Abbey Ale. We all worried this beer was packaged so fancy that it couldn't be good, but we were wrong. As you can see in the next shot by the glass in Dean's hand, it had a wonderfully creamy head. It had lots of little stuff floating in the cloud. We all liked it.

Dean with Monk Shine Belgian Style Ale

Jim Drinking a Beer

Roni enjoying an "espresso martini".

We had a fun time, with Tina and Roni drinking Espresso Martini's instead of beer. Since it was a sort of indulgent afternoon, Jim, Dean and I followed our beers with a more noble martini.

Dean's "real" martini

Bitburger, to da mudders

2008-05-11T19:58:00.004-06:00

Today's beer club featured daughters Melissa and Tina as well as the old boy's Don and Dean. We had a nice german lager called Bitburger and followed it with assorted beers like Wasatch Devastator, Michelob Amber Bock, and a beautiful Belgian vitbier we have not as yet reviewed, but have been drinking for some time. Sinners!

Bitburger is a traditional german lager, but very clean tasting. It's flavorful without being heavy. I'm not a huge lager fan, but I could drink this one all day.

We lifted our glasses in toast to Dorise and Betty, our wives (and Tina and Missa have Dorise as a mom) and to our own mothers. To moms!

A couple of videos of the event