Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron

Here is a beer that will launch conversations that are usually reserved for fine wine and whiskey. This is a nice strong beer that impresses all who taste it, even me, and I usually do not like beers that are too dark to see through. It is a dark brown color, almost black. The taste changes as you sip and ranges from chocolaty, to nutty, and also woody. Strong at 12% it does hides it's alcohol well. Price falls in line with the rest of the prem four packs.
On the strong beer ranking It goes above the DF90. Highly recommended to all, it's well worth seeking out. I'm glad the dog fish fellow stopped making the tv show long enough to bring this one out.

JHS

Flying Dog double Dog

Strong beer for those who love hops.
This came highly recommended to us, and it did not let down. Although I'm not quite sure it is a pale ale, it is a nice strong quality drink. Nice amber color, first tase is a hoppy explosion, quite strong, just under overbearing, even for myself and I love the strong pales and ipa's. This hoppy tast does get less noticable as you drink and lets you enjoy the rest of the flavor. At just under 12% this is strong beer - it seems you can feel one, finishing the whole pack of four would be a night for most people. Cost wise it falls in with the rest of the premium four packs. I would highly recomend this to those who are hop hounds. As for ranking it I feel it falls under the Dogfish 90 in the strong beer chart (the DF90 seems a little smoother in it's main body of tase).
As was recommended to us we recommend it to those who love the strong stuff.

JHS

Coors light homedraft

Coors light home draft

Essentially a stripped down tap a draft, this product is another form of packaging to compeat with the hyny keg. I know, for those who are really paying attention, you can get coors and coors light in the mini keg, but for many of us you just don't see then around here. Also compared to the keg can it is advertised to those who want large amounts of beer on hand for your gatherings or football party's. I'm personally not a big Coor's light drinker, but lets have a look.
As with the tap a draft it's a 1.5 gallon container. think a giant soda bottle that fits three growlers in it. Unlike a tap a draft it has provisions for only one co2 canister on it, and no stand/drip tray. The cardboard box acts as it's stand, however it was noted there are small feet formed in the bottle which may act as a stand if no box is around. The directions are clearly marked on the box, as is a small do not reuse/recycle label on the neck of the tap. To use you pull out the red tab, twist the co2 cartridge on (which produced a burbling sound much like a water bong as my co-tester puts it), pull down the red "safety" which locks the tap in place (a must if you have little hands in the fridge when you are not looking), put your glass under the tap and pull it down. It works similar to a bars tap set up, as you pull the tap handle co2 is let into the tank and beer is pushed out the nozzle.
Well the first two glasses were foam, I'm not sure it it was out not being familure with the poring style, or if it was an common issue with these (slimier to the mini kegs which always seem to put out some foam glasses when first used). After those first two tries the tap pored cleanly until it was finished. The beer? well it was good, fresh, clean tasting, and oddly filling. There was also a distinct co2 smell to it like you would get from any bar's tap set up. Also noted that when you put the handle up there is no dripping from the tap that plegs the mini kegs, so keeping it in the fridge means no clean up. It advertises the beer to be fresh for 30 days after opening, something never seem to have the ability to check.
Our tester lasted for about 15 glasses, not bad, but this prompted us to run out to get a second to finish our night (We noted the second had no foam glasses at all with the first glasses) . Price wise it falls inline with the 18-24 packs of Coors, so like the mini keg it falls within the curiosity realm, and has a small premium to pay for fresh beer. Unlike the mini keg they pour cleanly all the way through and left almost no beer in the container when done. between the two the home draft is clearly the better.
The results were what I expected considering that it's based on a system home brewers have used for years. As said before it's clearly marked not for reuse, I'm sure most people would not want to. Looking it over it is not known why, it does comes cleanly apart into cleanable pieces, although i'm sure the tap handle is cheap plastic and not meant for multiple uses. Unknown is if the co2 or nitro cartridges are the same as the tap a draft system. The bottles themselves can be sealed with a standard growler cap, so even if not reusable as a draft set up, for those who need a large storage container could use it.



JHS

Pumpkin beers are popular this year, has anyone heard of trying some with raw suger on the glass? I'm interested in this since it seems to be used with some beers, and is catching on. Sam's seems to have the best mass produced October fest so far.
Coors is pushing their version of tap a draft kegs lately (not a mini keg like we reviewed), I haven't tried one, but it's one of two small systems we are considering for dispensing brews.
Many music fests this year. Open beverages seem to abound at the Riverhead town fair this year,they always have at their polish fair, but not so much at the town fair in the past. Good thing??? I don't know. There was fresh tap Long Ireland and Bluepoint, along with coolers of something called voodoo juice we had several of. I would say lets check out the oyster-fest in oyster bay to see if it's catching, but alcohol beverages are banned for it.
Everybody have a great Halloween, remember if people avoid your house trick or treating because they see your bringing in a case, there not worth your candy anyway. Sad but it's happened.

Note to our friends-

Sorry to say the usual computer that is used to blog here is down, there will be a few posts without pictures until we can retrieve them from it. Since the blog posts are stored on the blogger web server i am going to post what has been saved to get them out there. We will update as we can to include them and to hope show them soon.
also - I am going to change the settings around to try and get some more traffic, I would like to get a little more feedback on how to improve it a little.

prove the blog.
Thanks to all
JHS

Dundee's Honey Ale

Although not a summer ale, It feels like summer is a great time to visit it again. Known around here for this particular brew, with a little research it turns out this company makes a variety of styles including a Summer Ale. Availability does not seem to be good of the other varieties yet. But We will try when it comes around.
This ale has been around for a long time, I remember drinking this ale in my frog beer drinking days. It's best to think of it as a transitioning beer. One to drink when it's time to step from the mass produced beers to the smaller craft made beers. The taste? Think of the before mentioned frog beer, then add a little sweetness, and a smoother, sweeter finish. It places just above the frog beer in our rankings.
Final word - great beer for those who are bored with bud, but not into sams yet.



JHS

summer Ale's are out

Summer Ales Are out

OK, maybe we get a little too excited about the little things, but Sam's Summer ale is out. For us this is the beginning of the summer ale period.
Sam's have been the first to bat for the last few years around here and traditionally have brewed a good beer. Unfortunately this blog wasn't around for the last time but although first, there not always the best. Last year the consensuses was that Bluepoint had the best summer ale out, the year before it went to Harvest moon by Coor's Blue moon Co, despite a late and short availability. The year before that? well that would go to Samuel Adams.
The thing about seasonal beer is exactly that, it's seasonal. Large company's that have continuous batches can quality control and adjust a batch to produce a polished product. Seasonal beer's have nothing (new) to Base their batch on so every year you end up with a different result. What was great one year is not the next, ect...
We will be here to do out usual half drunk judgement.
As for Sam's, well this year they are showing a promising start, lets hope there's competition out there.


JHS

Content Alert

As our followers all know (yes all three of you) lately life has been getting in the way of our posts here. We all still meet regularly and partake in out favorite activity, hoverer one of us can only watch at the sidelines for a while, and some of us are, well, not motivated.

I would like to invite all those interested in adding to out blog to send us your info or perhaps something to post

Growler Filling Station, Eastern LI

Hi to everyone,

We would like to announce our discovery of a new growler filling station in Suffolk.
Riverhead beverage has brought six taps of fresh brew to anyone who wishes to fill their own jugs. Of coarse if you forgot yours , they can supply you with one. Also of note is that they are working on an expanded craft brew selection. We wish them luck and we will be visiting them soon.
If you are not able to make it out to Riverhead, there is a growler filling station at the beverage in Wading River. They also have a rather impressive craft brew selection for those interested.

JHS

If anyone knows of other growler stations please let us know, we would like to collect a list for publishing later in the year.


Current to our records as of 5/7710
Eastern Long Island -
Growler filling stations:
Wading River Beverage
Riverhead Beverage

Breweries / Mini Brew:
John Harvards, By the Smithaven
MallBrickhouse Brewery, Patchogue
Bluepoint Brewery, Patchague
Southampton Public House, Southampton
Greenpoint Brewery, Greenpoint firehouse
Long Ireland ???

beer cap challange '98

Lets play a game, this is posted here and on our sister blog. We'll make it simple, at some point during the summer of 1998 we started to save most of our beer caps resulting in the picture. lets see who can guess the total amount of caps there. No prizes for this, all caps count as one including growler caps. We will reveal the total when we post the '99 version in a few months.
Good luck to all- feel free to post your guess

jhs

BEVMO!

Recently while on a trip out west we discovered our new favorite store. It's name is Bevmo! and it is to beer stores what toys r us is to toy stores. There are multiple locations in California and Arizona, they are literally the size of a small supermarket, and they have most anything one can want for your next gathering. Beer wine liqueur, they have it. Kegs, glasses, even cigars and soda, they have it. The store we were in had a great selection of national brands, local brands, and mini brews. They do ship, if you want something, but no alcohol to our area. This is unfortunate because they have great prices. This store gets a full five star rating from us, and we recommend everyone to check out their web sight, if only to see what we are missing. Bevmo!, we wish you were here.


JHS

Hi all and happy new year. Weve been busy with other chores this holiday season, but be sure we have some new stuff planned for our blog: A few new beers tried to be reviewed, a new years challange, and an open dicussion on our new favorite beverage store. We would like to thank our followers, both of you, and hope to continue to put out some more drunk rantings for all to follow.






JHS

Magic Hat #9

As the bottle claims, it's not quite pale ale. It really isn't quite an Indian pale ale either since it has much more flavor to it. It's kind of an orange to amberish color. When drinking the #9, it seems to have a clean start as well as a clean finish. There's definitely a different taste to it, more than any other pale ale. The brewer says it has a apricot taste to it.

Open up a bottle or two or three, and be sure to read the quotes and facts that are printed on the inside of the caps. I did that and won a free Magic Hat bottle opener. The bottle opener I received wasn't even some cheapo piece of crap and actually felt strong and solid. I mailed in the flattened out bottle cap and as well as my mailing info and it came was in my mailbox maybe 2 weeks later.

On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the highest we would give this beer a 7.7 keeping in mind the uniqueness of this particular beer. It's the type of beer which someone would look for specifically when they are in the mood for it, nothing else is quite like it.

MD

pict and editing by JHS

Bottle vrs Glass

Which is better - drinking from the bottle or from a glass?

It's a age old question, is it better to drink right from the bottle or pour it into a glass, after all why dirty up a glass if you will just have to wash it? Yes, I know that sometimes there's no choice, at the bar, in a restaurant, over your friends, and sometimes you just don't have one available. This isn't what i'm talking about. I'm saying your at home going to get a brew, will you stop to pull out the glass and make the pour? or is it not worth the effort.

Of course, if you got your canned beer, your best with a glass if you have one available. Despite every know hows - your educated argument that whats in the can is the same as what would come out of a bottle (ok this is true) - You still taste the can- i don't know about you, i will pass on the aluminum taste if I can. luckily right now it seems that bottles are the same price as cans, they take up a little more room to store but there is no taste from the container drinking from bottles
Drinking from the bottle is convenient, you get right to it, no extra step like pouring. Now it's true a good beer drinking glass will have to be cleaned, and stored. It should be special purpose, just for beer drinking, less you contaminate it with other flavors, you can even get different types of glasses depending on the type of beer you are drinking. Shopping for good glasses can get complicated, this feature, that label, what price. In the end I found a few nice ale glasses I keep around to drink from. There nice and thick to prevent easy breakage when people get drunk, although I did like my set of pilsner glasses when I had them (unfortunately - they were not nice and thick).

Now since you can tell I'm on the glass side -there is scientific proof with research done by that king of beers company for the drinking out of the glass side. With a glass you can get the perfect head, and it releases excess carbonation, thus you can drink more without feeling as full or as drunk. You get a sensory pleasure drinking from a glass, see the beers color. If you mist and freeze the glass it can be more refreshing drinking from one on a warm day. And the best argument of all, your kids don't pickup on the glass like they do with the bottles when they are at that certain impressionable age.

JHS

Dogfish Head 90 minute Imperial IPA

Here we have an beer which claims to be perhaps the best IPA in America. The company calls itself a "craft Brewer" which I suppose means it brews smaller batches than the rest. I have seen other "craft brewers" in the past and usually when they get big enough to get into the local supermarket there is something to check out there.

This company makes a few different versions of their Ipa's. The main difference here is how and for how long they hop the beer when brewing. Their main versions include their 60 minute, 90 minute, and 120 minute Ipa's. Each seems to cost about the same amount per package, about what 18 bottles of your average domestic brew on sale costs. The amount of what you get for the premium? Well a package of 60's come with six, 90's come with four, and the 120 well you get just one 12oz bottle*. Remember this is for the cost of your domestic 18 pk on sale.
It should be said that you will probably not find the 90's in your local market, hopefully your distributor may carry it. The 90 comes in at a whopping 9% apv. Strong enough by any standards, and at nearly twice the apv of most domestics, it easily makes up for the premium cost. Considering you only get 4 to a pack, that's a good thing. For most people four can do you for a night, if you need much more well it may be time for a break for a while.

Being a fan of Ipa's we gave a taste. There is the slightly bitter taste which all Ipa's share, perhaps a little stronger than average. However there is little to no aftertaste with the 90's. On a 10 point scale we rate it a 8.25. We also noted that when drinking them slowly they produce a nice mellow drunk.

Best in America? It's a dam good beer, one of the better we tasted. The only downside I see is price and availability. Despite this we recommend a try, what you will miss in quantity, you'll get in quality.

JHS

*Note on the 120 - this may be a beer however it drinks more like a liqueur. It drinks like a nice sweet schnapps - sweet, and strong - best drunken slowly. Chill it and use a small glass, like Champlain. Be sure to share, like the SHPH tipple ice bock, it is not easy to come by and worth a try. If not for only the reason that you can say you did.

Heineken DraughtKeg ®

I know, when you open a bottle of this stuff it can be a gamble. Maybe you get a good beer, maybe it's a skunk. This beer was one of my favorites in my younger days, however those skunks seemed to come more and more so I found other beers to try. Here they came up with something different: It's a keg, small enough to fit in the fridge, since no outside air gets into the can it stays fresh for a month after opening, and it's large enough for most people for a weekend. If you like the container there are tap stations available that can cool and dispense the beer like a small kegerator. I have even seen another name brand use this small type container to dispense their product recently.
In anticipation of trying it I looked around on the web to find some info. Not everybody seemed happy with it, main concern seemed to be foaming. It's been said to read the bottom for the made date code, the fresher the better. On inspection I found there was no way I could figure out the codes when I looked for it. So for warned I grabbed the one that seemed coldest in the case and threw it on ice until tap time.

When it was time it was simple to tap - clip on the hose and dispenser mechanism and it was set to go. The "hot tip" is to poar the first glass, which is mostly foam and toss it. This seemed a wast to me so i put it aside and poured two more. It seemed the second and third was as foamy as the first filling, about a third glass with beer and the rest with foam. The foam wasn't anything abnormal in my opinion, just seemed like any over carbonated keg, or a bottle that got out of control. Anyway the foam died down quickly and I was able to fill the rest of the glass without a problem. Patience seems best here for the best poar. Oh yea the foamies do get better the further you get along.

When drinking I found it to be a great beer, just like I remembered it, and best of all no skunk here. The consensus is it's got a pleasant taste , giving it a bout a 6.5 on a 10 point scale, above average. It's a pale amber colored lager, very drinkable even to the tasters who did not usually enjoy this style of beer. We got about 13 tall glasses out of the keg, making this form of container a little more expensive than others for this beer. The premium comes for the freshness, and uniqueness of its dispensing. I Would put it at about the same price as two six packs of good to premium beer.

In the end we would get another one, not for its container but for the freshness of its contents.

JHS

Welcome to our blog

Hello and welcome to our blog
What you will find here is our opinions and reviews of various beers and beer related products, which relate to our home on Long Island. This blog is not to insult or promote one product or brand over another but to give a published reference. Feel free to visit our sister blog Eastern LI Beer Blog as well.

Please note we do not suggest or endorse doing anything stupid or illegal. It may be a great night now but it wont be if you hurt yourself or somebody else. Please use caution with consumption and read and follow all warnings on the beverage you are consuming. All pictures shown on this blog is an original creation, any trademark, name brand, copyright, or product is shown for reference purpose only and will be removed at the request of the registered owner.

If you wish to contact us or would like to join our group please email us at LIBeerBlog@gmail.com