I think I don’t like IPA (except in a masochistic “I can so drink this extremely bitter beer!”), but I think I like ESB. Doesn’t that stand for Extra Strong/Special Bitter?

Recently, I enjoyed drinking a Bridgeport ESB . Are there different types of bitter?

Mystery Beer ‘07 by Magic Hat Brewing Company (cursed no deep linking!)

It is not a mystery to me that this is an IPA — a super hoppy, slightly sweet IPA. I’m OK with that, because I like that sort of thing. You may be like the original owner of this bottle, though, and take one taste and demand that I trade him.

His loss, really. Hops ftw!

Brewer: Great Lakes

All Clevelanders are confronted with a single defining moment when traveling. This moment consists of one of two questions, depending on how informal one’s relationship is with those one encounters. If it’s a very relaxed environment, and the conversants are relatively young (under, say 35), a reference is made to a certain scatological sexual act. If everyone is over 35, or if it’s a Sunday School class, invariably, upon finding out you’re from Cleveland, someone will ask, “Isn’t that the place where that river caught on fire?”

Yes. Yes, it was.

We’ve moved past it. Put it behind us, and collectively settled it, emotionally speaking. We don’t do that anymore. At least not on accident. Our fire water is strictly on purpose, now. In fact, we’ve learned to embrace it. YES. SHIT YEAH. Our river caught on FIRE. Beat that Toledo. We named a beer after it, and if the EPA doesn’t like it… Well, who are we kidding? Their water purification budget has been cut back to three pool skimmers and a water noodle.

My lack of beer experience led me astray tonight. Evidently “Pale Ale” is too similar to “India Pale Ale”. I knew that I didn’t like India Pale Ale. Knew it with a passion. Evidently I don’t like “hops”. Who knew? I did, and dammit, I still drank the damn Burning River. That’ll teach me to not read a label. Two thumbs down, but that’s just for the hops.

Thanks a generous gift of a home beer brewing kit, fuzzybrewingbunny and I took a stab at making our own beer a few weeks ago. The starter kit contained a red ale recipe to start with, and we happily boiled up a delicious wort, fermented, and bottled it. As some red ales have a very strong flavor, I was worried the home brew would be tasty but difficult to drink. Happily, the home brew was both delicious and refreshing!

Our next kit is a raspberry wheat, which I am looking forward to. I generally enjoy fruity wheaty beer so I am thinking this stuff will be right up my alley.

I like Dogfish Head a lot. However, I was not aware that they seem to have taken the “American Pilsner As Piss” commentary by a lot of critics slightly more, uh, literally, than most.

They’re soon re-releasing a previously shelved beer under the name of Golden Era. This renaming is probably a good idea, because it used to be called Golden Shower Imperial Pilsner.

The actual logo for this beer:

Nothing quite says “pilsner” to me like conjuring up images in my mind of people urinating on each other.

I went campdrinking this past weekend, and had a whole lot of new beer. I’m going to try to document most of it, one beer at a time. Here we go!

Midas Touch Golden Elixir by Dogfish Head

At 9% ABV, you can really taste the weight of this ale, but in an excellent way. The grapes and saffron come through subtly, and all in all, it’s an intriguing, smooth bottle of beer with a nice hint of honey sweetness.

Plus, it’ll totally get you drunk off your ass!

Fuck that shit.  Pabst!  Blue!  Ribbon!

I drank a man’s beer in Reno, just to watch him cry …

Type: Porter

Brewer: Great Lakes Brewing Co.

Drunkeness: High

A beer blow-out weekend brought the tasting of at least a dozen different beers including, Miller Chill. In short Miller Chill = better than Tequiza (if you remember that) but not by much. Fake lime taste really hurt any chances of this one coming home with me in the future. I’d rather add my own, fresh lime, thank you.