Beers of 2014

As usual, my beers of the year list highlights those I drank for the first time last year, but there are a couple here that don't meet that criterion. I'll explain when I get to them.

No ranked order this year, just an approximately chronological list of the beers that made my year. 

Nugget Nectar (Tröegs Brewing Co.)

I didn't acquire as many "white whales" last year as I did the year before—I think perhaps that's a phase I'm growing out of—but this was one of my most sought-after beers when the year started. A trip to the newly opened Craft Beer Cellar in a neighboring town to get my hands on some late-season Lagunitas Sucks proved fruitful in helping get advanced notice of a future shipment of this wonderful Imperial Amber (which isn't quite as good as Sucks, but I can't guarantee a blind taste test would confirm that). Get to know your beer guys, kids. I mean, young adults. 

Chico King (Sierra Nevada/3 Floyds Brewing Co.)

Sierra Nevada's Beer Camp Across America 12-pack of collaborations with smaller brewers was another of the most highly coveted products to me this year. A few of the guest collaborators were breweries it seemed I might never get my hands on their offerings. Most of the beers were good but not great, but this was the first one I drank and it made the biggest impression on me, even if everyone else raved about the Double Latte: Coffee Milk Stout collaboration with Ninkasi. 

Fort Point Pale Ale (Trillium Brewing Co.)

My first actual visit to Trillium was a fruitful one. Some half-drunk guy who worked across the street tried to convince me to opt for Congress Street IPA instead, and on most days I would have. But, I was planning on sharing it with a friend who's not a hophead. Still, this one has many characteristics I was instantly infatuated with—gloriously citrusy hops and a nice bite—that leave it straddling the line between pale ale and IPA. In fact, this one beats out Nugget Nectar as my favorite non-IPA-that-could-be-called-an-IPA, and was probably also better than any IPA I had last year as well. Time to head back to Congress Street to get more of what Boston's best brewery has to offer. 

Breakside IPA (Breakside Brewery)

It's not officially a rule or a tradition, but it seems our trips to visit KJ's family always include one night where I pick a restaurant/brewpub to go to dinner with her parents. Breakside was an excellent choice this time around, because the food was good, the atmosphere worked for a party of five that included two senior citizens and a toddler, and because their IPAs were excellent. Perhaps the fact that my father-in-law, whose favorite beer is Fat Tire, chose this over their Woodlawn Pale Ale—which was about to be my recommendation—put me in just the right mood, but I think it was really strong on its own merits. 

Fred (Hair of the Dog Brewing Co.)

I went to Portland's Hair of the Dog seeking out Adam, but I found Fred first and he made Adam seem much less friendly. Yes, these beers are named after dogs and no, they don't have much bite, which I guess is a good and a bad thing. Fred was golden and delicious (and 10%) and Hair of the Dog was one of two beer highlights of our recent family trip to Oregon. As a bonus, I got to take LC one block down the street to watch freight trains pass at street level...not once but twice. 

Celebration Ale (Sierra Nevada)

I'm not really sure how long it had been since I last enjoyed this one, but it dates back to the days when Sierra Nevada Pale Ale was one of my first favorite micro-brews in the mid-'90s. Celebration Ale was always a wintertime treat that was noticeably bolder than anything I was drinking at the time. I hadn't really thought twice about it in years, until the Beergraphs guys started talking it up. The fact they were now calling it a Fresh Hop IPA (i.e. a winter ale that doesn't get any spicyness from anything but hops) made it a must-have-again for me. I was not disappointed. 

Loose Cannon Hop³ IPA (Heavy Seas Beer)

Two-plus years ago, during our visit to Baltimore for a friend's wedding, an 11-month old LC and I explored parts of the city together while KJ did pre-wedding things with the girls. After he nodded off in the stroller, I took him to Heavy Seas Ale House. He woke up a little quicker than anticipated, but I still enjoyed a cask-conditioned Loose Cannon with him. It was good, but not great, I'll admit. For Christmas this year, it was one if the beers in my stocking and it was much better than I remembered. I even snapped a photo of LC handing one of my stocking beers to me and it turned out to be this one. Clearly, this is our beer. 

Honorable Mentions: World Wide Stout (Dogfish), DirtWolf (Victory), Jurata (Coronado/Cigar City)

Council Rock and the Hall

If you're still reading, you've certainly noticed this blog's output has dropped off quite a bit this year. I don't expect that to change anytime soon, but I'm still going to try to keep writing about what I consider the essential subject matter. 

To that point, I'm a little (as in way) overdue for an update on my annual trek to Cooperstown for induction weekend. 

Hall of Fame weekend was the last weekend in July, and we spent Thursday through Sunday in Cooperstown. Here are some highlights. 

A Thursday evening visit to Council Rock Brewery, a relatively new place on the outskirts of town. I wasn't expecting to be blown away, and I wasn't, but I was pleasantly surprised. 

I enjoyed a flight of five 5-oz. samples for $8.50, which included a few guest taps as well. In fact, I was just as impressed with the offerings from Hamilton, New York's Good Nature Farm Brewery (Bavarian Dream Hefeweizen and American Brown Ale). 

The Council Rock beers (Full Nelson Pale Ale and Vienna Lager) were very good as well, leaving me to wonder if this isn't already the second best Cooperstown brewery. More on that at a later date, hopefully. 

I was a little less enthusiastic about the one guest beer from a brewery I was already familiar with (Captain Lawrence Kolsch). 

Of course, this and future vacations will surely have an increasing emphasis on Little Chuck's entertainment, so this year seemed like a good time to check out the Farmer's Museum for the first time. 

Considering he still talks about it, I'd say the Farmer's Museum was a hit, although at one point we realized he thinks a farmer is what you and I refer to as a barn. We haven't really bothered to correct him—well, we've tried, but it hasn't worked—so we're leaving this as one of those cute toddlerisms that will correct itself eventually. 

Here's another reason the Farmer's Museum was a big hit. As I said earlier, I hope to eventually get around to writing something about the Cooperstown beer scene, including the area's history as a hop producer. 

Of course, there was Saturday night's parade of Hall of Famers down Main Street. No acknowledgement from Eddie Murray this year. He's still a family favorite, but Rollie Fingers is now LC's favorite player. Because of the mustache, of course. 

Last, but certainly not least, here are the induction ceremony high—and low—lights:

• Greg Maddux made a fart joke.
• Dumb Braves fans started the tomahawk chop/war chant (or whatever it is) during Tom Glavine's speech. 
• Many dumb Braves fans left after Glavine's speech. Honestly, I suspect that's what the Hall of Fame wanted. Why else would they schedule Maddux, Bobby Cox and Glavine as the first three speeches. 
• I missed most of Tony LaRussa's speech waiting on line to use the porta-johns. 
• Frank Thomas cried. A lot. It was fantastic. 
• Dumb Braves fans booed when Joe Torre referenced the 1996 World Series—his first in a career that spanned 18 years as a player and 16 as a manager to that point—during his speech. These are the first boos I've EVER heard at a Hall of Fame induction ceremony, except those directed at Bud Selig.

Obviously, not all Braves fans are dumb, but the notion that only Yankees and Red Sox and Phillies fans are idiots has been out the window for many years, as far as I'm concerned. 

My Favorite New Beers of 2013

In 2012, I attempted to go the entire year without drinking the same beer twice.

Last year, I decided rather than deprive myself of the enjoyment of drinking a really great beer a second or third time, I would simply try to drink as many new (to me) beers as possible.

I don't know the exact number because it's not easy to determine, but according to my Untappd profile, I drank exactly 100 beers for the first time (since I started using the beer drinker's social network).

That last part is important because there certainly are a few I drank in the pre-Untappd days as well, but Untappd doesn't know that.

So, for the sake of this post, I'm considering only beers I know I tried for the first time in 2013. Here are my nine favorites:

9. Brown Angel (Clown Shoes)
It's my turn to decide what AfroDan's next brewing endeavor will be, and the thought that came to mind was Imperial Brown Ale. The idea is to make something that recalls my memory of my first favorite craft beer, Brooklyn Brown. Since my beer drinking standards have changed considerably in the past 20 years, that concoction would have to be a full-bodied and fairly aggressively hopped version of the American Brown. Fortunately/unfortunately, Clown Shoes beat me to it.

8. Undercover Investigation Shut-Down Ale (Lagunitas Brewing Co.)
Only the second-best new (to me) beer from Lagunitas this year struck me as a stronger, but less balanced, version of the first. We'll get to that one in a bit.

7. ISA (10 Barrel Brewing Co.)
Of course, it's virtually impossible to compare beers I tried early in the year to those near the end. To that point, it's difficult comparing beers I drank even a week apart. So, what I have to go on are the ratings I gave these beers in the moment. That can be problematic too, because my standards might change a bit from time to time, but this list is comprised of beers I gave 4.5 and 5-star (or cap) ratings. In January, I gave this Oregon session IPA a 5, which for some reason, I'm questioning a year later, but there was definitely something about how much IPA goodness was packed into a 5.5% beer that made a big impression on me.

6. One Boston (Trillium Brewing Co.)
I realize I'm mostly sharing anecdotal information about my experiences with these beers rather than telling you that much about the beers themselves. For this one, I wrote something that covers both angles.

5. Furious (Surly Brewing Co.)
After seeing some discussion between a couple Twitter pals about a beer bet, I took a chance (or so I thought) and placed a wager on a struggling Yankees team. Needless to say, they made me look like a wolf of a Yankees fan as they swept four straight from the Twins and earned me a @MightyMpls hand-picked Surly variety pack, which included this hopping mad IPA that had been one of my most sought after beers to that point.

4. Sahalie (The Ale Apothecary)
Sometimes setting, and a host of other characteristics, has a lot to do with how much I (and probably you) enjoy a beer. In this case, the setting was a brunch gathering in Portland, Oregon. My beer-drinking pal out there bought this wildly expensive wild ale especially to share with me, while the girls drank mimosas or some other brunchy alcoholic concoction. No, it didn't make this list because it's the first and only pre-noon beer I've drank since my son was born, but like I said, context matters.

3. Heady Topper (The Alchemist)
That's right, the highest rated beer on Beer Advocate, BeerGraphs and pretty much everywhere else was only the third best beer I tried for the first time this year. I've got to be honest here. This was the most pined for beer—the only one that comes close is Samichlaus, which was once known as the strongest beer in the world—in my personal history of beer drinking. Before I got my hands on it, I wondered if it could possibly live up to expectations. I've had some really great IPAs before. What characteristics could possibly make this one that much better? As it turns out, Heady Topper wasn't disappointing at all. The fact that I rank it third just tells you how truly fantastic my two favorites were.

2. Enjoy By 11-12-13 IPA (Stone Brewing Co.)
I'd pretty much given up hope of getting my hands on one of Stone's limited-release, guaranteed-to-be-fresh, IPA offerings, when I spotted this on the counter at my local beer store. It was their last one, and for $10—a surprisingly reasonable price for a bomber of such a popular brew—it was mine. I had only recently tried Heady Topper for the first time. Although that one was a little more unique in that it's hoppyness seems to linger longer than any other IPA, and although it's difficult to compare two beers consumed a couple weeks apart, I thought this was just a little better.

1. Lagunitas Sucks (Lagunitas Brewing Co.)
When I checked into this one on Untappd, I commented "If 5 star beers are first-ballot Hall of Famers, this one's more Willie Mays than Lou Brock." That's the understatement of the century. In reality, Lou Brock is more the equivalent of a 3.5 star beer, but that's beside the point. Sucks (aka Brown Shugga' Substitute) is definitely the Willie Mays of beers, arguably the greatest of all-time.

BeerGraphs

I've started writing recently for a new site on the interwebs called BeerGraphs. A spinoff of the fantastic baseball statistics site FanGraphs, BeerGraphs is dedicated to the analytics of beer.

But, although the impetus of the site was Beers Above Replacement, BeerGraphs' proprietary style-indexed measure of a beer's quality, it's not all about bringing statistics to beer. In fact, the BarelyBeer blog is more about experiences around beer that ultimately lead to a review of a particular brew.

While I may write an analytical piece here and there, BarelyBeer is where I'll focus more of my efforts. Here are the two posts I've written for the site so far:

The Real McCoy is a recap of a Father's Day visit to Pawtucket's McCoy Field, being pleased to find one decent craft selection there, and a review of Wachusett's Green Monsta IPA.

Drinking for Charity is about my first tasting of Trillium's OneBoston IPA, a great beer for a great cause.

The Flagrant Fan: Portland Sea Dogs and New Friends

The family and I road-tripped it to Portland, Maine this past weekend to take in a Sea Dogs game, but also to meet up with a couple friends from the baseball blogging community.

Normally, I would write a brief post about such an adventure, but my pal William Tasker of The Flagrant Fan did a pretty darn good job of writing about it himself. So, I'll just link to his post here and add a few of my own comments:

The Flagrant Fan: Portland Sea Dogs and new friends

I'll reiterate William's sentiment that Bryan O'Connor, of The Replacement Level Baseball Blog, and his wife were excellent hosts, as were their two kids, who played well with Little Chuck.

Unbeknownst to me prior to the trip, Bryan's sister works for Maine Beer Company, so the visit included my first tastings of Lunch and MO, and both were excellent.

Lunch is their IPA, which is my favorite style, but I actually liked MO, a pale ale, a little better. The upfront citrusy aroma of MO was more dominant, which is actually a quality I love in my favorite IPAs. In fact, I'm prepared to put MO in a category with Dale's as my two favorite pale ales. For now, I'm just throwing Lunch in a category with many other very good IPAs, but not one of my absolute favorites.

Lastly, I want to share a little discussion the three of us had—in one of the rare moments we had to talk baseball rather than chase toddlers—regarding our perspectives as fans of rival teams. Bryan is a Red Sox fan. William and I are Yankees fans.

Bryan talked about why—although he has softened a bit—he can't seem to shake the attitude which is typical of most Red Sox fans towards the Yankees.

When the Yankees were in the midst of their run of three consecutive World Series victories—and four out of five—in the late '90s and early '00s, despite the fact there were plenty of stars on those teams, it was always a Jose Vizcaino or a Luis Sojo (I'll add Jim Leyritz and Chad Curtis) who came up with the big hits.

Fast forward to the Yankees' current season of imminent demise, and it's washed-up players like Vernon Wells and Lyle Overbay who seemed to save their season in the early going. Bryan's point—if I'm interpreting it correctly—is it gives fans of other teams the feeling that, no matter how the Yankees' roster is constructed, they somehow find a way to always be successful.

I can understand how that would be frustrating, even ominous. On the other hand, William commented that this year's Yankees team is one of his least favorite in recent memory to follow. I wondered why, since to me, this season has offered Yankees fans the unique feeling of getting to root for a team that's kind of an underdog. William's response was to point out that he knew it was only a matter of time before the shoe would drop, so to speak.

He was right, of course, but I failed to see it that way. On the other hand, my opinion also points to the fact I went into this season with a somewhat indifferent attitude toward this year's team, in that I knew I wouldn't be terribly upset with an outcome that didn't live up to typical Yankee standards.

I suppose, perhaps, these perspectives provide a little insight that Bryan is on the emotional end of the fan spectrum, William is on the pragmatic end, and I'm somewhere in the middle. Which is just an observation, of course, although it may have something to do with where the three of us fall on the age spectrum as well.

Anyway, I had a fantastic time meeting up with my fellow bloggers this weekend, and I look forward to future occasions of a similar nature.

Boston Beer Weekend

On Friday, in an effort to do my small part to support the city of Boston, I declared it Boston Beer Weekend. That is, I decided to only drink beers brewed in and around Boston for the entire weekend.

Of course, I was well aware I could make little difference on my own. At least not anymore. Those folks who organized the Last Half Mile Bar Crawl—while supporting Boston breweries was hardly their point—probably consumed more Sam Adams and Harpoon IPA in their first 15 minutes than the quantity of beer I put down the entire weekend.

But, it's the thought that counts. Right? I suppose it's possible (i.e. doubtful) others followed my lead, but that didn't matter to me. The point is I made an effort.

Of course, there are only three breweries within the actual city limits of Boston and two of them are Samuel Adams and Harpoon. So, I knew right from the start I was going to have to stretch my definition of what constitutes the Boston area a bit.

I kicked off my efforts on Friday with a 25-ounce bottle of Oasis IPA, from Everett's Night Shift Brewing. A Belgian IPA brewed with coriander and cardamom, as well as Cascade hops, it was the combination of coriander and Cascade that intrigued me. Although the spices really dominated this one, and there was minimal evidence of the glorious citrusy nature of my favorite type of hops, both KJ and I really enjoyed it. I gave it 4 stars (out of 5) on untappd, although I still think the idea has 4.5-5 star potential.

On Saturday night, I headed to the Red Sox-Astros game at Fenway with my pal DJ, whom I hadn't seen in about two years. Somewhat coincidentally, that was almost as long as the time since my last major league game.

DJ and I met up at Kenmore Square's Lower Depths prior to the game. I got started with a 14-ounce draft of Slumbrew's Rising Sun. Untappd characterizes it as a dampfbier, a Bavarian style I'll admit I've never heard of. Literally translated as "steam beer," the style is quite similar to the California common, to my knowledge the only indigenous American beer style in existence. The main difference between the two styles being the German version is brewed with ale yeast fermented at warm temperatures, while the American version—which would be called steam beer if Anchor Brewing Company hadn't trademarked their flagship brand, Anchor Steam years ago—is fermented with lager yeast at room temperature.

Rising Sun was solid (3.5 stars), although a little on the sweet (but not cloying) side, and my taste leans more towards better balanced brews. Still, I'd call it a fine alternative to wheats and Belgian whites as spring attempts to transition to summer. My next choice, however, was a bit disappointing.

On cask, they had Ipswich IPA dry hopped with Zythos. I've had plenty of Ipswich IPA and have always been a fan of the brewery, so the prospect of a slight variation, and on cask no less, intrigued me. What I got was nothing like what I expected. Up front, it tastes like hard liquor and there's very little evidence of hops in the after-taste. In hindsight, I probably should have asked if I was served the wrong beer, but it was the only one they had on cask and I saw my server pour it. I rated it 2.5 stars, but probably would've gone lower if it didn't grow on me a little by the bottom of the pint.

I stopped after those two, which means I didn't "take advantage" of any of Fenway's newish $9 craft offerings. Fenway probably has a better selection than Yankee Stadium—at least they don't have a stand called a "beer mixology destination"—but both are among the worst in all of MLB.

The game was interesting enough considering the Astros were involved. Here are a few highlights and observations from my perspective:

• I recognized only four players in Houston's starting lineup: Jose Altuve, Brandon Laird, Chris Carter, Ronnie Cedeno. Both Carlos Pena and Rick Ankiel came off the bench to pinch hit, though.
• I could swear Stephen Drew's walk-up song was the musical intro to Steve Earle's "Copperhead Road." Later I figured it was probably either a cover of the song or a total ripoff.
• The Astros are so bad that, although they trailed by only a 5-2 margin in the 7th, I was convinced they had no chance of winning.
• Daniel Bard made an 8th inning appearance, walking two batters on 9 or 10 pitches and was subsequently pulled.

Finally, during the game DJ asked for my top-five all-time Astros. I couldn't exactly rank them from memory, although the names I rattled off included the first four below, as well as Jose Cruz and Jim Wynn, and a requisite mention of Nolan Ryan and Joe Morgan:

1. Jeff Bagwell
2. Craig Biggio
3. Roy Oswalt
4. Cesar Cedeno
5. Lance Berkman

Other suggestions I received when I shared this list on Twitter: Derek Bell and Ken Caminiti. I'm assuming those folks weren't serious.

Top Ten States for Craft Brewing

USA Today recently ran an article ranking the ten "best" craft brew states in America. As it turns out, it was really just a list, in descending order, of the states with the most craft breweries.

While I hardly consider myself fully qualified to evaluate all 50 states in the union—although with a little more time and money, I'd be happy to take on the challenge—I do have some of my own opinions on the subject.

So, this will be a quickly produced list of my top ten craft brewing states which, admittedly, will be heavily influenced by where I live, what's available here, and where I've traveled. So, if you happen to be an advocate of North Carolina's or or Texas's craft brewing scenes, I apologize that those states, among others, didn't really get fairly evaluated.

As I like to do with these things, the list is presented in countdown format:

10. (tie) Washington/Michigan - I'm awarding 10th place to the two states most known for craft beer among those whose offerings I have less experience with than the nine listed below. While Washington's breweries are mostly on the smaller side, Michigan's Bell's Brewery is the 7th largest craft brewer in the nation, but unfortunately they don't distribute to New England.
Personal favorites: Yakima (WA), Founders (MI).

9. Maine - I appreciate the brewing scene in New England's largest state area-wise, but the mediocrity of a few of its more well-known brewers (Shipyard, Geary's, Gritty McDuff's) drags it down a bit. Still, I know there's at least one highly regarded brewer whose beers I've never tried (Maine Beer Co.) and I'm sure there are a few other hidden gems as well.
Personal favorites: Baxter, Allagash.

8. Maryland - If only Maryland and Delaware could join forces, they'd probably make the top five on the strength of Dogfish alone, not that Maryland doesn't also pull its weight.
Personal favorites: Stillwater, Flying Dog.

7. Massachusetts - It wasn't long ago that I was pretty critical of the dearth of good craft breweries in the state where I've resided for over 15 years now. But, oh my how things have changed since the days when there wasn't much beyond Samuel Adams and Harpoon. There are many newer, smaller breweries I haven't checked out yet, but Massachusetts has made some serious progress.
Personal favorites: Pretty Things, Clown Shoes.

6. Vermont - The best brewing state in New England also holds the distinction as the state with the most breweries per capita. In what is already becoming a common theme, there are a few breweries I'm aching to visit, namely Hill Farmstead and The Alchemist. Unfortunately for me, both are in the northern half of the state.
Personal favorites: Rock Art, McNeill's.

5. Pennsylvania - I'm sure there are microbreweries in the western half of the state—no, Iron City doesn't count—but my knowledge of this state's great brewers is entirely from the east.
Personal favorites: Victory, Stoudt's, Tröegs.

4. New York - My home state easily beats out my current state of residence, at least for now. Ithaca Beer Company is another upstate New York brewer I need to explore further.
Personal favorites: Southern Tier, Ommegang, Sixpoint.

3. Colorado - It says a lot about Colorado's brewing scene that I've spent a total of only two or three nights there and it still ranks this highly. What this also tells me is I need to spend more time in Colorado.
Personal favorites: Oskar Blues, Great Divide, Boulder.

2. Oregon - Despite living in New York for six post-college years and Massachusetts for almost 16, and spending a grand total of about five weeks in Oregon, I'm pretty sure I've been to more Oregon breweries than those two states combined. Enough said.
Personal favorites: Ninkasi, Lompoc, Rogue, Amnesia

1. California - With more than twice as many breweries as any other state, California has an obvious size advantage, but it's my pick as the best craft brewing state based on quality not quantity.
Personal favorites: Lagunitas, 21st Amendment, Stone, Anderson Valley

21st Century Schizoid Ale (2013)

This past weekend, AfroDan set out to brew the fourth batch of 21st Century Schizoid Ale since we conceived of it almost five years ago. As the first three batches were all within the first two years, it had been just a few months short of three years since we last brewed our signature beer.

It just so happened, I had one bomber left from that last batch, so it made for the perfect accompaniment to the start of the process. (We moved on to a couple less remarkable, if i do say so myself, after that.) I feel it's a style that might benefit from a little aging and, while I can't necessarily say it's improved with age, it's certainly held up.

Drinking that last one definitely reinforced my previously held belief it's the best beer we've produced so far, so our expectations were fairly high. In keeping with tradition, and with the fact we're sometimes at the mercy of what ingredients are available at our local home brew store, we had to make a few adjustments to our recipe.

1 lb. crystal malt - 60 L (steeped 20 mins.)
1 lb. crystal malt - 20 L (steeped 20 mins.)
9.9 lbs. light malt extract (boiled 75 mins.) - 4 L
3.3 lbs. amber malt extract (boiled 75 mins.) - 10 L
3 oz. Sorachi Ace hops - 15.1% alpha (boiled 75 mins.)
2 oz. Cascade hops - 8.3% alpha (boiled 30 mins.)
2 oz. Cascade hops - 8.3% alpha (boiled 15 mins.)
0.5 tsp. Irish moss (boiled 15 mins.)
2 vials super high gravity ale yeast (WLP009)

We decided to try and make it a little hoppier, as an extreme hop profile is one quality that has been lacking in our previous high-octane results. We also wanted to maintain an alcohol content equal to our last batch's 10.9%, and maybe even increase it a little by using a double dose of super high gravity yeast rather than by adding more fermentable ingredients. As it turns out, due to a couple things which didn't go quite as planned, we may have achieved the first goal, but not necessarily the latter.

I'm not going to get into all the nitty gritty details, but our initial gravity reading was a little lower than last time (1.091 versus 1.092), meaning the yeast are going to have to really feed their asses off for this one to reach 11% ABV. It's not out of the question, though, but since it took a low final gravity to almost get there last time, we're going to need the double dose of yeast to really pay off.

It should be ready to drink by mid-to-late April, so stay tuned.

Portland: Take Five

This past week, I made my fifth trip to KJ's hometown of Portland, Oregon, and it was our second involving Little Chuck. Considering the latter part of that sentence, these trips are no longer the brewery tours I originally envisioned them to be, but I still managed to visit three new (to me) brewpubs this time.

Prior to my first trip to Portland in the summer of 2009, I fantasized about a city where every other tavern brewed their own beer. In reality, the greater Portland area is a strange hybrid of charming urban neighborhoods and modern-city suburban sprawl. But, honestly, the more happening areas aren't that far from my romanticized ideal. I still vividly remember, on more than one occasion, driving past several brewpubs I'd never heard of on our way to our ultimate destination.

Of course, not being from the area, there were bound to be places I'd never heard of. But, you'll have to believe me when I tell you I'd done enough research to be familiar with the majority of the city's brewing operations.

On that first trip, I tasted close to 40 different local beers in a 10-day span. This time around, although the trip was a little shorter, the list paled (not a reference to the beer style) in comparison:

Eager Beaver IPA (4th Street Brewing Co.)
Black Hearted Ale (Migration Brewing)
Black Rabbit Porter (McMenamins)
Sunflower IPA (McMenamins)
Sahalie (The Ale Apothecary)
India Session Ale (10 Barrel Brewing Co.)
Shocks of Sheba IPA (Fire on the Mountain)
Red Headed Stranger (Fire on the Mountain)
Lunatic Fringe (The Rock Wood Fired Pizza & Spirits)

Yup, that's it. 1-2 beers per day is all I can handle at this point. Well, when I say handle, I'm really talking about what I'm able to consume and still feel comfortable with my parenting ability. But, like I said, three additional brewpubs (4th Street, Fire on the Mountain, The Rock) visited brings my Portland total to 17, if my count is correct. I'm not sure if I'll ever reach the "goal" of eventually making it to every one in the metro area—there are around 40 according to beermapping.com, but I know of at least two that aren't on that list, so I suspect the total is maybe 50 or more—but I sure as heck will enjoy trying.

The real highlight of the trip was a bottle of Sahalie a friend and I shared during a brunch get-together of KJ's crew. It's brewed at a small operation called The Ale Apothecary in Bend, Oregon.

When our friend purchased it at a local beer store called Belmont Station—which he raves about—he was told it smells like bubble gum, but tastes like a horse smells. This might sound a little peculiar to you, as it does to me, but he honestly meant that to be a good thing.

I'll admit my sense of smell isn't the keenest, but I didn't pick up any bubble gum in the aroma, so it's possible my friend misunderstood the description. In fact, I thought its creamy head imparted a faint, but funky, scent (of horse manure?) into my nose.

Despite this, it tasted fantastic. Described as an American Wild Ale, it's not a style I would necessarily consider my thing, but its combination of fruitiness and tartness, and slightly woody champagne-like essence went down easy, despite being around 10% ABV. I suppose it didn't hurt that I drank most of it on an empty stomach, giving me my first pre-noon buzz in I don't know how long.

Best of 2012

I missed posting a Best of 2011 last year. Not best music, of course, but best of everything else. I guess that's because there was one best-of moment in 2011 that trumped them all, and that was the birth of my son.

So, I thought I'd resurrect this annual thing by offering my best of 2012 awards. Of course, all of these awards pertain to something that I've talked about here at some point this year.

Best Concert
I went to two shows last year. That might be an all-time low, or at least the fewest number of concerts I've seen since 1980, when Cheap Trick's Dream Police Tour got it all started for me. It's definitely the least since I moved to the Boston area 15 years ago.

I'm not going to rehash the reasons why. You already know, and if you don't, the first paragraph of this post provides a pretty good clue. What goes hand-in-hand with being out of the concert-going loop is that the crowds are even more difficult for me to deal with than they once were.

So, I'll admit that the Scud Mountain Boys' Brighton Music Hall show gets an added bonus in that it was at a small, fairly uncrowded venue. Not that the Paradise is huge, as that's where the other show took place (Jay Farrar/Will Johnson/Anders Parker/Yim Yames). That was a great performance in its own right, but it was definitely one of those tightly-packed-like-a-chicken-coup events.

The overriding reason I chose the Scuds show is probably nostalgia. (In case you haven't noticed, nostalgia usually trumps everything in my book.) I hadn't heard these songs played live since the first time I heard them played live, 15 years ago. Plus, I attended the show with the friend I've attended more concerts with than probably everyone else combined, including a few that came shortly after the aforementioned Cheap Trick concert and the first Scud Mountain Boys show.

Best Ballpark
I didn't make it to a major league game for the first year since I don't know when, but we did make it to two minor league games. As with most of the other awards here, the idea is really to recognize things new to me. That distinction only applies to one of the two, but Portland, Maine's Hadlock Field is worthy of the honor regardless. Besides, it was my son's first ballgame ever. Hard to top that.

Best Beer
I drank 176 different beers in 2012, many of them for the first time. To be honest, there's not one that really stood out as the best, but there were many I considered great among those new to me. So, the ones in bold on my Beers of 2012 page share the award this year.

Best Brewery
When we visited Oregon in June, our friends there had a brew pub they wanted to take us to that they were sure I'd never been. You see, it's pretty well known among KJ's crew that my quest is to eventually visit every brew pub in the greater Portland area. (Actually, I just made that up, but I think it's now one of my new goals.)

Anyway, Burnside Brewing was/is fantastic. They feature some interesting experimental brews that aren't completely over the top, and use ingredients that don't always float my boat when it comes to beer, but in subtle ways. Plus, they brew an excellent IPA, an absolute requirement, as far as I'm concerned.

Best Trip
Looking back on 2012, I realized we did pretty well in the travel department, taking LC on two weekend trips to Maine and one to Vermont, as well as flying with him across country to Oregon and on a shorter trip to Baltimore. There were also several trips to visit my family in New York mixed in as well.

While our favorite trip is a tough call, I'm going with our long weekend in Baltimore in October. We got to really appreciate what I now consider an under-rated city (especially the inner harbor area), spend a lot of quality time with KJ's core group of friends, and I got in some quality time exploring the neighborhood with just me and LC, including taking him to a brew pub.

Streets of Baltimore

When KJ, LC and I headed to Baltimore for a wedding last weekend, I had a few objectives in mind:

1. Enjoy quality time with KJ's core group of friends from college, whom I've been getting to know over the last few years, despite living 3000 miles away from most of them.
2. Get a taste of the local flavor by trying at least a few Baltimore-brewed beers. Yeah, yeah, yeah...what else is new? I know.
3. Wear my St. Louis Browns cap whenever appropriate (not to the wedding, obviously) and take mental notes of the reactions I receive.
4. Walk around town with the Gram and Emmylou version of "Streets of Baltimore" in my head the entire weekend, occasionally switching it out for the Jayhawks' "Baltimore Sun."

I was mostly successful:

1. Nice wedding and all around great weekend, but you're not really interested in that part.
2. See below.
3. Only one stranger talked to me about baseball, and it wasn't actually in reference to the hat, although it certainly was inspired by it. A guy on the elevator in my hotel asked what the current status of the NLCS was (Cardinals 3-2, at that point), obviously not understanding the significance of the orange STL logo on the brown hat. I'm not holding this against Baltimorans, though. Most likely, since that encounter occurred in a hotel, the gentleman in question was an out-of-towner. Additionally, since we were staying in the inner harbor area, it's fairly likely most of the folks I crossed paths with weren't natives either. Still, I was a little disappointed.
4. That one was easy.

Now about that beer. I used to think New England was the top eastern region for craft brewing, but with the emergence of breweries like Delaware's Dogfish and Pennsylvania's Victory, I've since realized the mid-Atlantic is the east coast's best answer to the Pacific Northwest.

Baltimore's scene isn't good enough to be considered the region's capital, but I was still fairly impressed. One particular brewery I'd never heard of prior to the trip dominated my weekend's consumption, but I also found the time for an afternoon stop-off at a more familiar place.

Let's discuss the latter first. The wedding was Sunday, so on Saturday morning the girls had a pedicure appointment. Which, of course, meant a few hours of boy time with me and Little Chuck exploring the city's streets.

Not surprisingly, an hour-plus of strolling around town turned into a short nap for the little guy. In fact, I first noticed he was asleep as I came upon this landmark:

Canal Street Malt House

Now a condo complex, the Canal Street Malt House was originally built in 1866 to store malt for the city's growing brewing industry.

Just across the street was the Heavy Seas Ale House, the brewery I was previously familiar with, having tried a few of their beers prior. Their brew pub was also a little off the beaten path and not as crowded as some of the inner harbor joints, so it seemed like a reasonable place to take my 11-month old son.

I waited a half-hour, though, because I needed to keep moving so as not to risk interrupting the nap that had just begun. Once inside, a pint of their cask-conditioned Loose Cannon Hop³ Ale seemed appropriate. When traveling, it just makes sense to drink beer you can't get elsewhere, and while this brand is distributed to my neck of the woods, the cask obviously is not.

It was a solid IPA, but not the best of the weekend, and it had the result that a good first beer usually does. It made me want a second, an urge my parental responsibilities forced me to resist.

The brewer I was introduced to on this trip was Stillwater Artisanal Ales. Similar to Massachusetts' Pretty Things, Stillwater doesn't have any of their own brewing facilities. Instead, they rent out space from and/or collaborate with other breweries for each of their offerings.

Friday night, all of KJ's friends who were in town for the weekend, including the then-future bride and groom, met up for dinner at a great little beer bar called Of Love and Regret, which happens to be co-owned by the head of Stillwater.

Their beer selection, of course, includes at least ten of Stillwater's creations on draft. The first one that jumped off the menu at me was a Belgian IPA called Why Can't IBU, my new choice for the best beer name ever.

Both KJ and I had the same initial impression of this one. It's a really nice IPA. As insipid as that sounds, I think it's meaningful. The beer doesn't knock you over with typical IPA characteristics, but it draws you in with subtle but distinctive elements: a mildly piney and citrusy aroma, crisp and dry up front, with a nice (there's that word again) hop finish.

For my second beer of that first night, I enjoyed an Existent, Stillwater's answer to your inner crisis of character. A smooth and dry dark ale, it's also nicely hopped and well balanced. 

Sunday night was the big event, and here's where I admit I finally broke my new beers resolution. At the time, I rationalized that I wasn't, but there's really no denying it.

Before I explain, let me first say I already decided my home brew would be the allowable exception. I wasn't about to brew a 5-gallon batch of my own recipe and limit myself to one 12-oz. or 22 oz. serving. So, I guess the loophole was to say the resolution only applies to commercially-brewed beer. Fair enough, right?

Well, at Sunday night's reception, the beer options were a keg of Stillwater Cellar Door—awesome choice, by the way: a session beer appropriate for both summer and fall and one that should definitely appeal to the masses—in addition to Bud Light and Natural Light. So, basically there was only one choice. If one of the lesser alternatives was National Bohemian, I may have gone for it, but instead I decided a wedding celebration was a good enough excuse to bend my rules a bit. Actually, I tried to tell myself a keg was just one big beer I was sharing with a bunch of other people, but the same would apply to a keg at a bar, so that rationalization fell flat when I reconsidered it later.

I still plan to finish out the year by drinking only beers I haven't yet consumed in 2012 (current count: 149) and to make next year's goal to drink more distinct beers than this year. But, there's no mistaking I didn't make it through the entire year without drinking the same beer twice. Oh well.

Fanfare for the Uncommon Man Stout

For those of you who haven't been able to keep up with the goings-on of AfroDan Progressive Brewers, my family's move from the very-urban to the less-urban suburbs of Boston two years ago resulted in the need to annex our operations.

Last year, we opened the first of our two new facilities, AfroDan North. It took longer than expected, but last month the Emerson, Lake & Palmer-inspired Fanfare for the Uncommon Man Stout marked the inaugural brewing effort of our AfroDan South operation.

Actually, our new brew's namesake song "Fanfare for the Common Man" is an Aaron Copeland original, but as ELP was known to do, they took the classical composition and made it their own.

There was a time when I thought ELP's version was the theme song for ABC's Wide World of Sports. But, this myth was dispelled a few years ago. It may have briefly (or occasionally) been used as the theme, but the show's primary intro music was a Charles Ira Fox number.

But, those ideas about "Fanfare for the Common Man" were apparently not completely unfounded:



This beer was influenced by a recipe of mine from 17 years ago which I called Mr. Pither's Imperial Stout. But, several factors resulted in its evolution to this particular creation bearing a different name.

First, not all of the original ingredients were available at our local home brew store. A minor change to the recipe is one thing, but a few changes makes giving this one the original name feel a little wrong to me.

Second, we've been partial to naming our beers after prog-rock songs ever since we formed this brewing partnership in late 2007. Mr. Pither's was named after the main character in the Monty Python's Flying Circus classic episode "The Cycling Tour." While that's equally nerdy as prog-rock, it still strays from our mission.

Lastly, it didn't really turn out worthy of being considered an imperial stout. Despite using enough malt and fermentable adjuncts to reach upwards of 9%, it came in at 5.6% by our calculations. We thought we had solved the mystery of projected high octane brews not quite fermenting to their potential by using super high gravity yeast, but this brew's original gravity reading was mysteriously too low to come anywhere near the ABV we were expecting. Hopefully further research will be able to reveal the reason for that shortcoming.

This past weekend was the unveiling of our latest endeavor and we're quite pleased with the results. In fact, this one might be technically our best, even if it's not necessarily our favorite. What I mean by this is we love our 21st Century Schizoid Ale, and the 2010 edition is the consensus pick as our best brew to date, but it's extremely high alcohol content makes it not so easy on certain palettes. On the other hand, a lot of people—the wife included—aren't really big fans of stout, so who knows.

Anyway, we look forward to maybe sharing a Fanfare for the Uncommon Man Stout with some of you in the near future. If you're not one of those beer drinkers who hold certain prejudices against dark beers, I'm sure you won't be disappointed. You might not appreciate having to listen to a steady stream of Emerson, Lake & Palmer in the process—just like stouts, they're not for everyone either, I realize—but sometimes we have to make sacrifices in life.

Finally, here's the recipe for a five-gallon batch:

1/2 lb. roasted barley (steeped 20 mins.)
1/2 lb. chocolate malt (steeped 20 mins.)
1/2 lb. Belgian de-bittered black malt (steeped 20 mins.)
9.9 lbs. amber malt extract (boiled 75 mins.)
1 lb. dark brown sugar (boiled 75 mins.)
3 oz. Chinook hops - 13% alpha (boiled 75 mins.)
1 oz. Warrior hops - 13.7% alpha (boiled 75 mins.)
3 tsp. pure vanilla extract (boiled 30 mins.)
1.6 oz. Cascade hops (boiled 10 mins.)
1 1/2 oz. WLP099 (super high gravity ale yeast)

Wish You Were Here

As you probably know if you read here with any regularity, a group of my high school friends and I have a longstanding annual tradition of meeting up in Cooperstown for the weekend of the Hall of Fame inductions. Beyond our mutual baseball history fanaticism, this particular weekend has always represented the idea that, no matter how busy our lives are now or become in the future, we'll always be assured of seeing each other at least once a year.

Although there are a few occasional participants, the tradition has evolved to the point today where it's really just two families who are annual attendees.

The two friends who started the tradition with me are now married, and 2012 marked their 26th consecutive year. I skipped 2000 to attend another friend's wedding in Kamloops, British Columbia. The logistics of attending both events in the same weekend didn't quite work out, so I've only been in Cooperstown for 25 of the past 26 Hall of Fame weekends.

In fact, my current streak of 12 straight only places me fourth on our list, as my friends' daughter just recorded her 18th in a row. Her older brother, however, had his run of 19 come to an end for no other reason than the fact he's a college age boy, leaving KJ's four years as the fifth longest current streak.

This year, of course, was Little Chuck's first. KJ and I have decided the weekend is much more enjoyable if we stay until Monday, rather than to have to deal with the post-inductions rush to get out of town on Sunday and make the 4 1/2 hour (longer when a baby's involved) trek back home late in the day. As many times as I've done this, I can tell you it's nice being among the minority of folks who remain on Sunday night.

So, we headed down early on Saturday morning instead of late on Friday, another decision influenced by the little guy. We made surprisingly great time and arrived in town just in time to take part in one of our traditions within the tradition: meeting up with our friends for lunch and beers at Cooley's, which, almost by default, has become our favorite downtown meeting place, despite the fact the service sucks.

I had three beers the entire weekend—all of them Ommegang offerings—including a draft Belgian Pale Ale at Cooley's. It was the second time I've had this beer—both times at this particular bar—and honestly I'm not that impressed. There's something about it being on the overly carbonated side and not full-bodied enough that grates on me, but it could just be I need to taste it from a different source. I guess that will have to wait until next year. You can read about how much I otherwise love this brewery here.

Of course, a lot of memorabilia seekers and idol worshipers descend on Cooperstown for this weekend. Honestly, it's probably not all that much different from a science fiction convention, except the closest the baseball fanatics come to dressing up like the characters they're fans of is donning a player jersey and cap. I'd say that's a far cry from wearing a Chewbacca costume, so I guess it's not quite as extreme.

None of that describes me, but I'm not knocking the folks who are into that sort of thing. To each their own, of course. But, I do enjoy the parade of Hall of Famers down Main Street—I didn't have as good a vantage point as in past years, but a few of my better photos are below—that has become Saturday night's main event these past few years, and, of course, the speeches at the induction ceremony itself.

Dave Winfield

Roberto Alomar

Carlton Fisk

While Barry Larkin did a solid job as the day's headliner, the true highlight of Sunday's induction ceremony was Vicki Santo's acceptance speech on behalf of her late husband, Ron. Prior to the ceremony I was telling KJ my favorite speeches are the ones that add a personal element, and Mrs. Santo hit it out of the park by that standard. Rather than talk extensively about Santo's career, she emphasized her husband's charitable work on behalf of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the fact he believed his purpose in life was to use the advantages provided by his God-given baseball ability to further that cause.

Most importantly, though, she stressed that the day was not a sad, but rather a happy occasion, although I couldn't help but wonder if she was really just reminding herself.

"This is not a sad day. This is a great day. Celebrate for Ron. Celebrate with us, and celebrate with him. I'm certain of few things, but I am certain that Ronnie is celebrating with us right now.

"Celebrate his journey. Celebrate his cause. Celebrate an amazing life. Celebrate Ron Santo's life. He truly had a wonderful life."

Until next year...

The Week(end) in Beer: 7/13-7/14

Last week, I lamented the difficulty of maintaining this new beers resolution because of the financial constraints involved. Then, on Friday I accidentally stumbled onto a solution to the problem.

There are two beer stores in the little downtown area of the neighborhood where I live. When we moved here, almost two years ago, I quickly decided which of the two has a better craft beer selection and patronized that store almost exclusively for at least the first year.

But, at some point this year, I decided to give the other store another chance. It was then I realized they have a better selection of more reasonably priced bombers—I could get into a discussion here about what is a reasonably priced bomber, but I'll resist the urge—which fit in well with my quest to not drink the same beer twice this year. So, for a while, that was my store of choice. They even have a small selection of beers you can make a mixed six-pack with, but the choices are pretty weak, so that was a one-and-done idea.

Which brings me to Friday. For the sake of convenience, I returned to my original favorite store and, while I was browsing the aisles, another patron asked if they do mixed six-packs. The store clerk reached into a box at the end of the aisle and handed her an empty six-pack carton.

I was delighted, but I wasn't sure what to expect the prices for single beers would be, since they weren't advertised. Actually, lack of prices on many products in beer stores is another pet peeve of mine, but I'll refrain from going off on that tangent.

The box of cartons only contained a bunch of four-packs anyway, so I went with one of those and added a $5.49 bomber of Clown Shoes Miracle IPA, for good measure.

$5.49 for a bomber is definitely what I consider reasonably priced, even though, at slightly less volume than two beers, this is comparable to paying more than $16.50 for a six-pack. But, other than the $4.49 I paid for a 22 oz. Berkshire Steel Rail last weekend, they don't come much cheaper. In fact, I'd say that $7 is the high end of my acceptable range. There are beers I'll make an exception for, of course, but considering we're talking about Massachusetts brewers here, I don't think I should have to pay more.

However, a bomber of Somerville Brewing Company's Slumbrew Happy Sol was $8.99 and a couple different selections from Backlash Beer Company were $8.99-9.99. I realize smaller brewers don't have the economies of scale advantage their larger counterparts do, and I want to support the local guys (as Clown Shoes and Berkshire are) but I can't help but feel these are more than a little overpriced. Maybe it's just the store. I don't know for sure.

Anyway, the prices per bottle for the four 12-ouncers I settled on and drank over the weekend were all reasonably in the $1.50-$2 range. I probably don't need to do the math for you, but that's $9-$12 for a six-pack, which is totally acceptable, hence the aforementioned solution to my frugality problem.

Summer Love (Victory Brewing Company)
There's a baseball on the label, so of course it's good. Seriously, it is, mainly because Victory knows how to inject a little hoppy enthusiasm into a Blonde Lager style that is usually a little boring.

Centennial IPA (Founders Brewing Company)
Not my favorite, but a really solid IPA: subtle floral hop aroma, full-bodied with just the right amount of hop bitterness.

Pamola Xtra Pale Ale (Baxter Brewing Company)
This Lewiston, Maine craft brewery is the first in New England to can its entire line of beers. I love Baxter's Stowaway IPA, which I discovered when I was on my canned beer kick (not that I'm necessarily off it, but the canned selection is still somewhat limited). Pamola is very good also, an extremely well-balanced offering that makes for a great session beer. It was the perfect accompaniment to my Saturday night grilling.

A Little Sumpin' Sumpin' Ale (Lagunitas Brewing Company)
This is not an IPA, but it has the fantastic citrusy aroma that many of my favorite IPAs have. As BeerAdvocate says "This one has it all figured out—an amazing ale." This was also my 100th of the year. I thought about saving my 100th for next weekend, but decided instead to share this one with KJ. She loves it too.

Next weekend, of course, I'll be hoisting a few in Cooperstown.

The Week(end) in Beer: 7/3-7/7

Wednesday was a holiday, so that provided me the rare opportunity to enjoy a beer (or two) on a weeknight. Tuesday night's very unpatriotic pre-July 4th selection was Troegenator Doublebock, a German style, although this one's brewed by Harrisburg, PA's Tröegs Brewing Company. Hey, at least they're not British.

Troegenator has the malty aroma and upfront feel of a Belgian abbey ale, which I love. This is offset by its ever-so-slightly cloying aftertaste, though. Still, I have to say I really enjoyed this one.

At 8.2%, I initially assumed it would be my only beer of the night, but as I've said many times before, sometimes the first beer talks me into a second. So, I double-checked my Beers of 2012 list and realized I had yet to drink one of my own I've Seen All Good Maple Bacon Porters this year.

There definitely was an over-carbonation issue with this batch, and this particular bottle proved no exception. Home brews are inconsistent, so I opened this one with the intention of evaluating it as if it was my first time drinking it.

Aroma-wise, I think we really nailed it. The maple and bacon gives off a sweet yet subtly smokey aroma. Taste-wise, it could be better. I definitely recognize the smokiness that the bacon imparts, but I don't get any discernible maple flavor. It may have been difficult to drink this one right after the higher alcohol and more full-bodied Troegenator, but I found myself less pleased with this creation than from previous tastings.

Friday night we were invited to our neighbor's yacht club for the evening. Now, I'm not sure what you think of when you hear yacht club, but until recently I would have assumed somewhat highbrow. That is, until I moved to a neighborhood that's within walking distance of two of them. This is not intended to be a knock, of course, but from the outside one of them reminds me of a VFW. The other seemed considerably nicer, but certainly not a place where I expected to be rubbing elbows with guys nicknamed Skip or who prefer to be referred to as "The Captain."

As it turned out, our neighbor is a member of the nicer one, and as anticipated, the club was decidedly New Englandy. We had a nice evening hanging out on the back deck overlooking where the boats dock, sipping a couple drinks and eating salads and chicken and steak cooked perfectly on the grill. It was like going to a barbecue, except the venue was suspended over the bay.

The only drawback of the club not being the least bit upscale was the beer selection. There are definitely some great beer bars in the Boston area, but for the majority of places, their idea of a good selection is the big three of Miller Lite, Coors Light and Bud Light. Honestly, some day I'd like to organize a taste test with these three beers and see if more than 33.3% actually select their "favorite" as the best.

Actually, most places around here add a couple mediocre craft and import selections to a long list of crappy macros, and the yacht club was no exception. So, my choices for the evening were a UFO White and a Bass Ale.

The UFO White is a little better than Blue Moon Belgian White, I'd say. It's been a while since I've had the latter, but I don't recall the coriander making its presence felt as it did with UFO's version of the style. There's no doubt this is no Allagash White, but it will do in a pinch.

Bass was one of the first beers that made me realize I preferred ales to lagers, but it just doesn't do it for me these days. That's probably more an indication flavorful ale choices have gotten much better over the years than a statement that the beer isn't as good as it once was.

There is one thing about Bass I didn't know until Friday. When I went to check in on untappd, I learned Bass Brewers is now owned by ABinBev. I know this doesn't necessarily mean Bass is now an Anheuser Busch product, but it's close enough for me. Besides, the bottle says it's brewed in Baldwinsville, NY. I know from my time living in Syracuse that there's a huge Anheuser Busch brewery in that small town. Enough said.

Saturday night was another night for grilling. I was out of unique beers, except for a couple I'm saving for later, so I swung by the liquor store and picked up a bomber of a western Massachusetts staple: Berkshire Brewing Company's Steel Rail Extra Pale Ale.

While quite different from Dale's—it's sweeter, a little less full-bodied and not quite as hoppy—Steel Rail is another one of my favorite pale ales. Definitely among the best beers brewed in this state, in my opinion.

Five more beers brings my unique total to 96 for the year.

I have to say sticking to this resolution is getting a bit more difficult. For the first time, I find myself really hankering for certain beers available only in six-packs and not really feeling like shelling out $10 or more to drink one and save five.

The variety packs have been a better option, but of course, that means drinking four and stashing eight. First World problems, I know.

Anyway, when I started this thing, I didn't really think I'd make it this far, but now I feel I've reached a point where I want to see it through to the end of the year. Wish me luck.

The Week(end) in Beer: 6/29-6/30

Trying something new here, a regular—well, we'll see about that—Monday series in which I offer a few thoughts about the beers I drank last week. Of course, this pretty much means it will be about the three or four I typically have over the weekend, as mid-week beers are a rarity for me these days. I'll also try to add a little context, when I feel it's appropriate.

Friday night, our plan was to grill, but since the little guy's bedtime is 7pm, we decided to eat after putting him down for the night rather than scrambling to finish up in just enough time to avoid a meltdown. So, after an evening walk along the beach—Did I mention we live 1/4 mile from the beach? Folks from the west coast might ask the question: You call that a beach? To which our reply would be: Yes, we do—I fired up the grill, while KJ fed Little Chuck for his final meal of the day.

It was pretty hot out, although the temperature wasn't quite as high as it would get over the weekend, so something on the lighter side seemed to make sense. I decided it was a good time to break out the Harpoon Bohemian Pilsner I had placed in the refrigerator last weekend.

I've had some luck with the concept of micro-brewed pilsner as summer beer. Victory Prima Pils comes to mind as one that really fits the bill in this regard.

Harpoon's offering gives off a distinct aroma that reminds me of lesser beers of the style, such as Pabst Blue Ribbon. What follows—i.e. it's initial introduction to my mouth—kind of reinforces that reminder. After that, it proves itself not worthy of being dragged down by such a comparison. It has a solid maltiness and subtle hops bite that the PBRs and Budweisers of the world can't boast. It's no Prima Pils, but overall it's a solid offering.

I noticed earlier in the night that my beer inventory is almost depleted, so my next choice was one I've been saving for a while. I bought a six-pack of Dale's Pale Ale a couple months ago, mainly for those infrequent-of-late occasions when KJ wants a beer, but also figuring I'd get around to drinking one eventually. Dale's has been one of my go-to beers for a while, but with the new beers resolution I made this year, I knew I should save it for when I really needed it. I'm not sure if this was really that occasion, but so be it.

Of course, it did not disappoint. Dale's may, in fact, be the perfect pale ale. IPA is my favorite style, but a lot of IPAs fall just on the hops side of the hops/malt balance equation. Of course, I don't have a problem with that, but sometimes I'm looking for something a little different. Despite the fact Dale's is hoppy and malty enough to call itself an IPA, it's clearly different from the aforementioned IPAs in that there's a slight emphasis on its malt profile while still maintaining a more than acceptable hops bite.

On Saturday night, I went the route of drinking only one high octane beer. It just so happens it was Deviant Dale's, the IPA version of Dale's. This one was an absolute thing of beauty (see photo) with several noses full of that wonderful grapefruity aroma that I love in an IPA.

Just as Dale's could rightfully be called an IPA, at 8% ABV Deviant Dale's could just as easily be considered an imperial IPA. The hops' bark is much stronger than its bite, however, as this is a very well-balanced offering, with tons of caramel malty sweetness and, as with regular Dale's, just the right amount of hop bitterness.

Now that we've reached the mid-point of 2012, this brings my unique beer count on the year to 91, with the new beers resolution still intact. I believe I'll have to find a special brew to mark my 100th.

LC's West Coast Adventure, Part 2

OK, so I'll admit that a west coast trip with an infant wasn't as easy as I made it sound in part one. I only touched on his problems adjusting on the night we arrived. Well, there were a few more instances of the effect of jet lag, but for the most part he was a trooper and handled the change in his schedule pretty well.

But, as KJ has reminded me on several occasions, it's the return trip back east that's the real challenge. So, since we've been back home, the boy is really experiencing some jet lag. All the more reason I should have gotten started on part two while I was still on vacation.

Anyway, where did I leave off? When we stopped off for the growlers at Migration, the idea was to have an empty one (or two) on hand at the in-laws' place so we could fill it (or them) with fresh beer from various breweries during this and future visits. I was pretty sure, but not 100% certain, that any area brewpub would fill any growler, no matter where it came from.

I'm not really sure why I ever doubted that would be the case. I haven't purchased too many growlers in recent years, mainly because most of the brewpubs in and around Boston are nothing special, but also because I don't often find myself in the situation where drinking (or even sharing) a gallon of beer in one sitting is realistic, believe it or not. I suppose my brewing pal and I could handle it without much problem, but we're usually drinking our own beer while "working."

While it's certainly possible that some New England brewpubs would frown on the idea of filling a container with a competitor's label on it, Portland breweries were happy to fill any growler, of course. In fact, on Monday, after an outing to the Portland Zoo*, we attempted another brewpub drive-by (so to speak) only to find out Coalition Brewing is closed on Mondays. But, as it turns out, the sole employee (brewer? owner?) working that day was more than happy to fill my growler, after offering me a couple quick samples.

*I'm really looking forward to when LC appreciates this sort of thing, and so is KJ, especially since she's expressed on several occasions her desire to take him to Disney World. In fact, we've had numerous conversations about how we're really looking forward to living vicariously through our son by taking him to places we have fond memories of via our own childhoods.

The beer I opted for was Coalition's Apollo Creed CDA. CDA stands for Circadian Dark Ale, but I was told it's basically a black IPA. It was good, but I'd rate Migration's offerings a little higher, especially their signature brew, MPA (Migration Pale Ale).

As expected, this trip wasn't the usual brewpub crawl that previous outings to Portland were. Actually, the first one was, with subsequent visits being progressively less beer-centric.** This is probably a good thing, although to me the ultimate vacation involves lunch brews at the expense of nighttime drinking.

**The afternoon spent at the Oregon Brewers Festival being the exception.

We did make it to four new (to me) brewpubs in all, with the fourth being Rogue Ales' Northwest Portland location for a late lunch on Thursday. My choice of their XS Imperial IPA was a good one, except it made me a little more tired than I wanted to be on a day LC needed a little extra attention. My bad, of course. Another good choice was a bomber to-go of Rogue's Maple Bacon Voodoo, which survived the flight home—despite our luggage being temporarily lost and finally delivered to our home about 30 hours after we returned—to be shared with my brewing partner, and compared to our I've Seen All Good Maple Bacon Porter, of course.

The flight home went as well as the trip west, as far as LC was concerned. I fully expected KJ and I would split the duties of being a pillow for the little guy, but my better half stepped up on both occasions, allowing him to continue to sleep undisturbed in the position he fell asleep in. This meant she barely moved for the duration of each 5 1/2 to 6-hour flight and, of course, is part of the reason she's one of the two best moms ever, in my not-even-slightly biased opinion.

LC's West Coast Adventure, Part 1

Little Chuck's first real travel adventure got off to a good start Wednesday night. A six-hour cross-country flight with an infant is a tenuous situation. KJ and I knew, going in, it would either go really well or really badly. Well, I suppose there was the potential for some middle ground, but it turns out the former was the case.

LC slept for the entire Boston-to-Portland flight, proving the naythinkers wrong. Of course, the "naythinkers" may have been a figment of my/our imagination, but it was hard not to think everyone sitting near us on the plane was dreading their luck when they saw us board.

There is one kind of funny story regarding that. The gentleman sitting in the aisle seat in our row was offered and accepted the chance to switch seats once it was determined how many empty ones there were. I can't say I blame him, but it turns out, he should have stayed put, as his new spot had him in the row in front of a two-year old who didn't travel as well as LC.

Some of the credit goes to LC's parents—OK, his mother—for the successful strategy of choosing a flight that departed right around his bedtime. You can probably do the math, though, and realize six hours is not a full night's sleep for an infant. Given that his sleep was interrupted, it probably comes as little surprise the remainder of the night was not as easy as the flight.

Another obvious side effect of traveling to Portland with a baby was to make it more difficult than usual to take advantage of one of my favorite aspects of the city. So, my first beer of the trip was a Ninkasi Total Domination IPA I had left in my in-laws' refrigerator the last time we visited.

Speaking of side effects, an unintended and unnoticed (until now) result of my new beers resolution is that I'm drinking less. For instance, after the Total Domination, I was offered a Fat Tire by my brother-in-law. I declined, partly due to parental responsibilities, but also because I knew my father-in-law's refrigerator is always well-stocked with Fat Tires and I needed to save that one for later.

On Friday night we met up with a bunch of KJ's friends and ended up at Burnside Brewing Company, another new brewpub to me. I was planning on grabbing just a pint, but there were so many interesting sounding selections on the menu (many of which I wouldn't risk my only pint of the night on) that I decided to go with the sampler: 4-oz. tastes of all nine beers currently on the menu.

I like that all of their lighter offerings are a little jazzed up, and although I'm not generally a fan of fruity beers, all three that fall into this category are subtly and well done. I particularly liked the Fruity Monk, a Belgian Ale aged on pineapple, mango and papaya, although at 5.9% ABV I probably shouldn't be calling it light. Hard to believe by the description, but the fruitiness, while recognizable, was not overpowering and added a distinct pleasantness to this one.

Of course, I was working my way up to the darker and/or hoppier beers, and I was equally impressed at that end of the spectrum. The Oatmeal Pale Ale had the most pleasing aroma of all, citrusy with subtle hints of its malty sweetness. Ultimately, though, Burnside's IPA and Alter Ego Imperial IPA were not disappointing in their roles as headline acts. Both were above average representations of the style and good enough to interest me in returning for proper pints of one or both. We'll see if I have the time for that.

But, would doing so break my new beers resolution? That is, do I consider each of the nine as my one and only for the year? I did, in fact, have a little help with the sampler, so I really only had 2-3 ounces of each. Therefore, I'm inclined to just count it as one beer in total and say it would be OK to have any of them again. It will probably turn out to be a moot point, as given all the great beer options in this town, I'll likely opt to keep exploring others rather than return.

On Saturday, we visited the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville. I share this not because I have any intention of describing the experience, but because I don't want you to think all I do in Oregon is drink.

On the way back to the in-laws' place for dinner, we decided to pick up a growler of fresh beer. So, we pulled off the highway in Portland and I pulled up the Find Craft Beer app—which uses data from the Beer Mapping Project—on my iPhone and asked it to find the nearest brewpub. Just three-tenths of a mile away was Migration Brewing, so we Google-mapped it and headed there for a gallon-to-go of their MPA (Migration Pale Ale) and Luscious Lupulin IPA.

This, to me, was the ultimate use of a smart phone.

Take LC Out to the Ballgame

I've been to games at 30 major league parks, 19 of which are currently in use by big league clubs. I've also been to a whole lot of minor league parks, but I honestly don't know how many that is. I've tried to figure it out, but it's not as easy to jog your memory when there are so many minor league teams that have come and gone over the years.

In fact, I know I saw one game at Reading, Pennsylvania when I was in Lancaster on a work trip, but I can't remember if I also hit Harrisburg. I also once received a job offer—that I didn't accept—from the Williamsport Cubs, but I believe my only visit to that park was for the interview.

My rough count has it at around 30, including independent leagues, spring training sites and the inaugural home game of the Sun City Rays.* So, that's an approximate total of 60 professional baseball parks I've seen games at. Little Chuck has some serious catching up to do—but, we plan to give him every opportunity—as this past Saturday he got his first live taste of the sport that both his parents revere.

*In case you're wondering, the Rays were a team in the Senior Professional Baseball Association, a league for players 35 and older that began play in 1989 and folded halfway through their second season due to poor attendance.

KJ, LC and I went on a little overnight jaunt this past weekend to Portland, Maine—a two-hour drive up I-95 for us—as one of my birthday presents was to take our son to his first game.

Interestingly enough, Portland happens to be one of the ballparks I couldn't seem to recall whether I'd been there or not. I certainly spent a lot of time in that neck of the woods when, in my previous career, Poland Spring was my client. But, as it turns out, walking up to Hadlock Field was all the evidence I needed to realize it was my first time there.

The Portland Sea Dogs are the AA Eastern League affiliate of the Red Sox, so for some reason they thought it would be a good idea to turn their home into a bit of a replica of Fenway Park. The left field wall, dubbed the Maine Monster, is a wooden version of Fenway's Green Monster, complete with miniature Coke bottle, Citgo sign and WB Mason billboard. However, the scoreboard is electronic rather than manual, probably because there's nowhere for the scoreboard operator to hang out, or for Manny Ramirez to "take a break," had he ever played there while on rehab.

I have mixed emotions about the Maine Monster. I guess it's kind of a cool idea that some young fans might get a big kick out of, and I'm more appreciative of that angle these days. But, I can't help wondering if it was created for player development purposes, and this would seem like a silly idea to me.

Ultimately, there is only one Fenway and it should remain that way. Now, if they decided to tear down the original, then I'd be all for paying tribute to it elsewhere.

At least the amenities at Hadlock Field—most notably the relative spaciousness of the seats—made for a much more comfortable fan experience than at its major league counterpart.

The one important area where Hadlock was hands-down better than any major or minor league park I've visited is in beer selection.**

**I'm kind of embarrassed to say I don't remember what the selection was like at PGE Park, the former home of the Portland Beavers. You know, the superior Portland (no offense to Maine's, but Oregon's is a tough standard), also known as the craft beer capital of the United States.

The park has an entire stand dedicated to microbrews, with about a dozen selections from Maine brewers Geary's, Sebago, Shipyard, Sea Dog and Baxter, one of my new favorites. They also had Harpoon IPA, which I suppose is better than offering Bud Light, but I would have preferred it to be exclusively local beers.

In hindsight, I should have opted for one of the Baxter offerings that I've never tried, but I was in the mood for an IPA and they didn't have Baxter's Stowaway, which is excellent. So, I opted for a Sebago Frye's Leap IPA, which was good, but falls short of my favorites for the style because of its piney rather than citrusy hop characteristics.

There's also a Shipyard Grill concession stand, offering a wider selection of styles from one of Maine's weaker microbreweries—in my opinion—as well as a few interesting food options and...Bud Light. I guess you can't win 'em all.

We missed the first two innings of the game between feeding LC, taking turns in the rest room following a few hours on the road, and getting ourselves fed, but we knew this was par for the course when taking a baby to a ball game. After spending a few innings in our seats, it was fairly obvious the boy needed a respite from the sun, so we headed to the souvenir stand.

We had our sights set on an infant ball cap, which would be LC's first and would appropriately commemorate his first game. But, all they had in his size was a girl's cap. The Sea Dogs hat sized for a 2-4 year old was adorable, but I didn't see the point in buying his "first hat" if it wasn't going to fit. So, we purchased a cheap $8 Sea Dogs ball, which will be a decent souvenir we can hang onto until he loses it or decides he's not as nostalgic as we are. But still, we couldn't help feeling a little disappointed (even more so when I discovered the infant cap is not available online).

We weren't sure how long the little guy would last at the game, but our Baby Bjorn sure made it easier for his parents. The wife has more experience carrying him in it, but I quickly learned to make sure everything else I was holding was at least an LC arm's length away. So, in fact we did make it through nine innings, although LC did fall asleep briefly in the 8th, which is right about when all the fireworks were happening (literally).

The Sea Dogs led 1-0 until late in the game when both offenses came to life: the visiting Binghamton Mets scoring five runs in the top of the 8th, the home team answering with three of their own (on two homers) in the bottom of the frame, and one more to tie it up in the last of the 9th.

Portland's outburst introduced us to the lighthouse that rises behind the center field fence, accompanied by fireworks, after a home team player hits a home run. I liked this attribute of the ballpark much more than I did the Maine Monster.

Now is when I admit we left after the bottom of the 9th, and didn't stick around to see Binghamton win on a solo homer in the 10th. Normally, I'm not a fan of leaving early, but I think you'll cut us some slack considering the circumstances.

Our hotel was in South Portland, only a mile or so away from two brewpubs, or so I thought. My first choice for my birthday dinner was Sebago Brewing Company, but it turned out The Beer Mapping Project needs an update as that brewer's South Portland location is no more.

The other nearby option was Sea Dog Brewing Company. I made the mistake of telling KJ earlier my initial impression of this brewery wasn't a great one, so of course she felt bad we were settling. But, it was getting late, and being a beer snob is much further down my list of priorities than is being a parent. Besides, I didn't have a strong recollection as to why I was so non-plussed about Sea Dog, and I'm always willing to challenge such hazy impressions.

Turns out, my first impression was dead on. Their IPA was basically a Bass Ale clone passed off as brewed in the style of an English IPA. But, if you ask me, while Bass is worthy of being considered the predecessor to considerable improvements in the style, it really shouldn't be mentioned in the same breath as an IPA at all.

The food was nothing to write home about either. I broke a personal rule by ordering an ethnic dish—Chicken Mole—in a region not known for that particular ethnicity. It actually wasn't bad, but the portion was a little light, even after I questioned why it included only one filet and was brought a second. KJ, on the other hand, ordered something you'd think it reasonable to expect would be done well in Maine. But, her Fish 'n' Chips looked more like fish nuggets and were a little on the soggy side.

None of this, of course, detracted from a great little birthday road trip, one I'm sure will remain in the memory bank for however many more years or decades this world has in store for me. I took my only son to his first baseball game, after all. Short of watching him play in his first game (but, let's not rush things), it doesn't get much better than that.