UFC 106 Beering: Athens vs. SoCal

I'm here watching the Paulo Thiago fight getting ready for the co-main events. I'm actually more fired up for the Johnson v Koscheck fight. Both fighters are black I guess, so when situations like that occur, you pull for the darker skinned one, so go Johnson. Anyway, as is my little tradition when I watch UFC's at home, I try to find some beer from the areas of the main event fighters. The best one was when I had BJ Penn (Kona) and Georges St-Pierre (Unibrou). This tradition would be great if only we could get some fighters NOT from Brazil. How much Xingu can a brotha drink?

Tito Ortiz is from Huntington Beach in Southern California. Seeing as how they probably just drink Jamba Juice in Huntington Beach, I'm going with some Stone from San Diego. Griffin is from Athens, GA, so that's Terrapin all day long. Both beers are one-time releases, so it's all even to me.

Stone 13th Anniversary
Hell of a beer baby. The bottle says we should drink this in 2009, and we are coming on the end of the year, soon. The gargoyle on the bottle is holding up a beer mug, so that's what I'll drink this one out of. My North Carolina Tarheels 2008 NCAA Basketball champions beer mug to be exact. Pours deep dark ruby colored with lacy frothy head. Smell is just like Mrs. Buttersworth without the butter. Oh yes, a richly malty beer with a strong citrusy hops to cut. Low carbonation yet not cloying. Very very smooth as well. Hmm, only 9.5% ABV... I would have guessed they would have purposefully made it 13%. Amazing amazing beer. Probably should be in a snifter, but whatever. I can see I'll need to knock back this whole 22 ouncer. I just love how drinkable this beer is. So good I may even take the the time to read all that text on the bottle. 4 out of 5 Stars.

Aw snap man, here comes Anthony Rumble Johnson. This one is gonna be "the ballz". And now Kos is coming out to Stevie Wonder.

Terrapin Side Project Volume 6 90 Shelling Scotch Ale
Try saying that three times fast. This one is straight out of Athens, GA. Home of the Georgia Dawgs, and Forrest Griffin. I poured this black colored low head beer in my snifter. Nose is strong malt, cinnamon, and some cherry liquor. Taste, is none of that, just plain. I think the Stone blew my taste buds. Kinda sucks as this Scotch ale is a one time release we bought over the summer in Atlanta. The taste is malty and spicy. It has a great smoothness with a touch of dryness. 3 Stars.

Dammit man Johnson kneed Kos while he was down. I'm hoping Kos is good to go. If not, we'll have to do it again. Now in the second round Kos is poking in the eye. This fight is jacked up. Dammit, Josh Eyepoker Koscheck got the submission. Dammit all. Rumble will be back.

Well the wife hates the Stone as she hates all the hop bombs. She did like the Terrapin. I'll need to find the cork so I can put that in the fridge for her. Ok here comes Tito, the clear winner of the beer challenge with the Stone. Although it looks like Forrest is going to win on the cards. Oh well. It think the 45 bucks I laid down for this one would have been cheaper than going to a bar, ordering food, beer, and probably the DUI ticket thanks to all the beer I had watching the FAMU game.

Celebrating FLA Classic

The DTSA has only one team playing in college, FAMU in the Florida Classic. Right now it is early 4th quarter and we are whoopin up on Bethune-Cookman 35 to nil. I've been drinking Bavaria out of the green bottle all day since FAMU's colors are orange and green.





Beer Log: Watching the game at the house, wish I was in Orlando


State: Enjoying FAMU beating up on BCU





Bavaria
Poured out of the green bottle into my tall pilsner glass. Clear beer with a slightly cooked straw color. Fizzy white head without much of a lasting power. Beer-veggie smell. Mod body with nice balance of hops and hints of bread. Not bad man. I would say the body is just under medium like they put some wheat in the grain bill. High carbo. Low 3 Stars. Rather enjoyable and very Heineken-like.

I guess I've got a new love for Dutch lagers after coming back from Amsterdam, where I was drinking that stuff like water.



To further celebrate, I break out the champagne flute and the Dogfish.

Dogfish Festina Peche
The nose is pretty nonexistent, but the taste is uber-sour. Made me nearly double-over the first sips. I'm not getting much peche in this amber colored beer. As I drink it up, it gets a little better, less harsh, less bitter. I'm actually getting the bread and malt. The sourness is still pretty strong, but not as shocking. No rating yet, but I am acquiring the taste.

New Moon was So Bad and Girly

I had to grab a Dogfish Palo Santo Marron. Just a terrible movie. If I were a less honorable man, I would slam this 12% ABV beer, get in my convertible, put the top down in 55 deg weather, light a cigar, turn on some DJ Screw, drive to 6000 block of Richmond, beat up a guy at Scott Gernters, grab a woman at Onyx, and probably get arrested before I could do anything too stupid. Yes the movie was THAT FEMININE.

Beerbrotha Movie Review: New Moon = FAIL

So the wife just came back from a trip to the Motherland on business. It's Date Night so we debate between the Saint Arnold Pub Crawl, and checking out a movie at Alamo Drafthouse. We're both a little tired, so Alamo it is. At first we were set to see the new Christmas Carol CGI movie and I get in my head that that movie New Moon will probably be pretty good.

Like Pokemon and The Chappelle Show, I came on this whole Twilight series very late, and just like those other two things, I figure that since it's amazingly popular it's worth a try. I was even thinking I could be drinking Blue Moon at New Moon. Get it? Not to mention the trailer had all kinds of special effects and vampire/werewolf whoop-ass. I'm thinking this will just be Underworld for a less goth crowd. And it had enough young hot half-naked men that I figured the wife may just get a fired up and we can come home and make sweet sweet love. Instead the wife is upstairs stone asleep, and I'm downstairs watching Strikeforce and drinking a bomber of Ruination straight out the bottle like a homeless man.

Well I should have skipped the beer and went straight to Everclear and Cocaine, because this was the WORST MOVIE I'VE EVER SEEN. I guess I should have noticed something was up, when my beloved "21 and up" Alamo Theatre was chock-full of 10-14 year old girls. I think I was the only son of a bitch in the whole theatre that ordered a beer. Those girls were hooting and hollering like we do at the strip club. That's not cool. Is nothing sacred?

And let's be clear, I'm not going to out-and-out dismiss a teeny-bopper chick flick b/c I'm a 29 year old 6' 2" 210 lb black man that loves watching random violence. Bring It On wasn't that bad. It had conflict-resolution, and kinda cute. I'm all over the Harry Potter. Hell, I like Grey's Anatomy (Izzy could get it).

It took all of 1 hour before there was any action at all in New Moon, and that was with the black Jamaican vampire with dreds getting jacked up by the werewolves. There was all of 15 minutes of action in a 2 hour movie. I had to sit there watching this flat-chested brooding-ass Wednesday Adam chick spending 80% of the movie crying over Cedric Diggery leaving her, or the Native American dude leaving her. It wasn't even a good love story. No flow to anything. No rhyme or reason. Just 90210 for douchebags. And what the hell was up with this Italy crap near the end? And what the hell happened to the smoking hot redhead vampire the werewolves were chasing? Can we learn more about her? What were her feelings, her needs? How could I help?

I was able to try the very nice Beck's Oktoberfest and the New Belgium 2 Deg Below. Both were fine. But in reality, I needed something with a kick to it, like heroine. And to think, sooner or later I'm going to have to see The Birth of Nation Part 2, also known as Precious.

Sierra Nevada Celebration 2009 and MMA

Beer Log: Right now
State: Just put the baby in the crib, watching some Colbert to let the DVR of the World Extreme Cagefighting get recorded a little bit so I can fast forward the commercials.

This is what it's all about folks. I've got WEC live, I've got The Ultimate Fighter, I've got some Sierra Nevada seasonal beer, and the baby is asleep.

Sierra Nevada Celebration 2009
I sampled this and blogged about it almost exactly one year ago. I wasn't using the rating system, more trying to guess the hops in the beer. This movie Avatar looks like it will be badass. Anyway, I'm drinking this one in my snifter goblet. Orangish ruby color. Grassy, piney, citrusy hops nose coming off of a poofy white head. Oh snap, they got Leonard Garcia fighting Manny Gamburyan. Hell yeah. This beer is a strong hop Christmas bomb as only Sierra Nevada can make. Moderate to high carbonation to cut through the strong taste and facilitate a rather quick finish. The hops are rather grapefruity and grassy, probably Chinook again, mixed with some Cascade. Again, Sierra Nevada all day. Funny how the WEC has the most competitive fights as opposed to some of the more recent lumbering displays we've seen on the UFC. I am still a big fan of the balanced hop bombs and this one isn't it. I sense some caramel malt in there, but that's all I get, a sense. High 3 Star.

It's been a great year for me, and some great beering to go along with it. I just booked tickets to our annual trip up to the Maryland/DC area for the holidays. I'm considering making it back to Frederick, MD, which was the quaintest little town, and at Christmas time this place is right out of a movie. Not to mention a nice beer scene.

I'm going to attempt to train for the New Orleans half marathon on February 28. Should my knees and ankles hold up, I'll make plans for a marathon in Fall 2010. I've got my eye on Buenos Aires. Ratebeer.com shows that B-A has a great beer scene. Plus I want to have run three full marathons on three different continents. Let me know if you have any other suggestions for beering in South America...

Beering in Ontario: C'Est What

I knew I wasn't that much of a lightweight. Before I went to the Beerbistro for some really classy beering, I made it to the brewpub C'Est What(SAY WHAT?!?!) on Front Street in downtown Toronto.

I barely found the joint as the majority of the spot is underground. Despite the fact that the area on Front Street looks to be very popular. The interior was dark with a blue, green, and amber lighting. 35 beers on tap with 6 of their own. They had 5 beers on cask, and 3 on nitro. That's what I'm screaming.

Beer Log: Hanging in Toronto

State: Thirsty, dry throat

I started out with some samplers of the brewpub's own stuff, and a couple of full pints.

Al's Cask Ale

Straw colored with a muffiny nose. The beer is very smooth on the mouthfeel with a hoppy aftertaste. Low carbonation as is normal with cask beers. The taste has a light grass and bread thing, with a 60 second bitterness in the aftertaste. I'll give this a 2 Star on the plainess of it all.

Homegrown Hemp Ale

I saw this one all over interwebs when I was looking up beers to try in Toronto. The name says it all, this beer has some hemp in there. Doubtful you'll get high or anything, but just to try: Straw colored beer with a white head. Very light veggie nose. The taste is a little spicy with light pilsner character to it. The carbonation is low again yet it leaves my mouth feeling slightly sticky. Not sticky-icky-icky ooh-wee. But just a little sticky. The body is medium and smooth like a wheat beer. 3 Stars.

Not feeling to blitzed I burned through the sampler of the

Caraway Rye Beer

Thick mouthfeel you notice first, then it leaves you dry. I got a low spice and malt. 2 Stars as the last few sips are kinda sour.

At this point I wrote this passage in my notebook

"My palette is too American for this Canadian Beer. Ironically this beer would be fantastic in Texas with these English styles and the abundance of pilsner." I figure the irony comes from the fact that it's usually cold as all get out in Canada, and they would be well served with warming stouts and high gravity stuff. Anyway, time for another three beer sampler, but I'm going darker with the nitro beers.

Coffee Porter

I just need some stronger flavors here. Low sour and medium carbonation. A good mix of chocolate and coffee. The beer has a nice softness to it. 3 Stars.

Hazelnut Chocolate Ale

Nose is strong cocoa powder. Soft bitterness sneaking into a strong chocolate flavor. Very smooth and surprisingly dry. 3 Stars.

Old Town Brown Ale

Medium cinnamon and spice, as well as a little gritty on the tongue. Smooth again but loacking in flavor after the last two. Should've got this one first. No rating.

Excuse me... had to put the baby in her crib and grab a Lagunitas Brown Sugga, damn thats good beer. Like an idiot, I didn't think there was any affect with those samplers, so I few full pints of some other Canadian craft beer wouldn't hurt.

St. Ambroise Pale Ale

The only St Amb I've had was their Apricot Ale, which was on a dusty shelf at a beer store in Lafayette, LA. Then I held on to it for nearly a year before drinking it. Needless to say it was pretty terrible with a pinch of apricot. Anyway, the pale ale was copper/amber color, with a reddish white head. Rather malty nose. The taste is a light caram-malt and spice, with a pinch of grassy hops in the back of the tongue. Basically a Low 3 Star American Blonde ale.

Amsterdam Spring Bock

My kingdom for a bock. Cinnamon, malt, bread nose on a dark ruby colored beer. Low tan head. Fruity flavor (like sweet cherries) right up front, that seems almost peachy/apricoty on the second sip. Low carbonation. A few more sips and I get the light bread and notice the moderate body, followed by a very light hoppy aftertaste. 3 Stars. Feeling this one for sure.

King Czech-Style Pilsner

Some random rock due came in looking like 140 pound versions of the Undertaker and I asked the waitress for her favorite beer. Although I'd rather not try a pilsner at this late in the game, why not? Clear, straw and a touch of sourness on the nose. Good hops and low malt. Light-medium odies. GOes down really easy. 2 Stars.

Overall, C'Est What was pretty nice. The beer was okay, but is probably the balls for the Canadian pallete. Just love the selection

BeerBrotha Sports Review

It turns out that some of my most popular posts are when all my sports teams lose and I'm sitting here bypassing beer for hard liquor.

Well this weekend is no exception. On Friday night I find a babysitter and dragass over to Lucky's Pub for some good beering and for their Houston Dynamo game watching party. This place has about 250 beers available, maybe 30 on tap. Good prices on pitchers of beer, plenty of craft beer from all over. I was drinking only Texas beers but the last pitcher we got was of Hoegaarden. BIG MISTAKE. At that point, the Dynamo let those pretty boys on the LA Galaxy score a goal. Then later on they got a penalty kick. This loss knocked us out of the playoffs, and the CONCACAF. Painful man.

Georgia Tech basically raped Duke to take home the ACC Coastal title, good stuff therre. The Perfect Option is killin' em out there. I finally got the baby asleep (wife is out of town) and I put my FAMU football game on the online radio. FAMU was ranked at 20th in the D1 FCS with the magic number at say 16 to get into the playoffs. I dose off as we are down 6-0 to sorry Hampton. (The beer from Lucky's messed me up, especially since the baby wouldn't let me sleep more than 3 hours).

I manage to wake up when the radio is already playing light airy favorites of the 70s. I look up the score we got SHUT OUT 25 to ZERO against Hampton, at 5 loss squad. So much for the playoffs.

Houston was on bye week and Carolina got the big win, but like an idiot I didn't update my fantasy squads, so I was stuck with Jay "5 times" Cutler at QB, and no kicker. So I'm on track to lose in both my leagues.

Tiger Woods won but screw him, it's football season. I couldn't even muster the strength to watch any NFL football today. Just down in the dumps, again on the sports scene. I was pulling for Pacquiao and that worked out well, but Brandon Vera dropped the decision to Randy "Lay-and-pray" Couture. Hate when that happens.

I had myself a Pyramid Juggernaut, Real Ale Coffee Porter, and some Fat Tire, and it all tasted terrible. You know it's bad now.