our drinking problem

new blog

2006-06-09T21:52:00.000-05:00

I have moved over full time to the newly purchased and consolidated JennyJenny. The tags should get you only beverage related works, if that is what you are interested in!

Bomba

2006-05-20T13:33:00.000-05:00

We totally scooped BoingBoing on Bomba, man!

drink nirvana

2006-05-18T19:15:00.000-05:00

I will come back later to fill you in on the best drink ever, and also the Karma Ale and Peach Beer I recently drank, but for now I have carpal tunnel. My main life's ambitions of computery things and food preparation (chopping) have come to haunt me.

Jupina! (Cawy)

2006-05-08T19:54:00.000-05:00

A short Google search has taught me that Cawy is like the South American Coca Cola. Also that Jupina is one of the sweetest drinks in the world. A taste of this soda could tell you the latter. This has sugar AND corn syrup. It's regular American super sweet, blended with sugar sweet, and somehow, after you swallow, it tastes like Splenda. I have no idea how.

It tastes like fake pineapple and there is a little bit of vanilla/coconut (sun tan lotion) there at the end. This website suggests you drink it with something salty or fatty. As those are two of my favorite food groups, I thought I would like this, but alas, it was still way too sweet, though I ate it with homemade (read salt and oil) tofu croutons. Yeah, they're my experiment, but they were awesome, but they left me parched. Jupina is the OPPOSITE of refreshing. It's like syrup. Bleh. I am pouring this one out before bees attack me.

In other news, I am excited about the new Imbibe Magazine from Portland, OR! I am looking forward to a review of New Deal Vodka which is also from Portland, but I can't get my hands on any!

Solo Orange Soda

2006-05-01T22:34:00.000-05:00

I got this Norwegian soda in St. Louis. It's halfway between orange soda and orangina. I would say there is actual juice in it, but I can't figure that out, since I don't read Norweigan. I got it in a can, but it was pretty tasty.

Old Jamaican Ginger Beer

2006-04-28T11:15:00.000-05:00

So it turns out that Ting has a sibling and it's Old Jamaican Ginger Beer. Real sugar! That was pretty much the hallmark of this soda. Sweet, and very clearly sugary aftertaste. It's very gingery and a little hot, but pretty unoffensive. Very natural ginger flavor. Good.

The thing that was odd about this soda is its confused heritage. It's called Old Jamaica, and that made me assume the COUNTRY of Jamaica. Especially since Ting also claims Jamaican heritage. But the bottle says Jamaica, WI. Wisconsin? I am pretty sure Jamaica, WI has NO grapefruits, which is essential to Ting. Then I realized it meant Jamaica, West Indies. Ahhhh that makes more sense. But then, in large letters, PRODUCT OF CANADA! Huh?

It also proudly non-alcoholic. I guess with the whole "beer" thing they had to clear it up.

I do enjoy on their website that they have a beverage called Mauby Fizzz. I want to drink something with many zzzzzzzs.

Avery Maharaja Imperial IPA

2006-04-27T22:54:00.000-05:00

Avery Maharaja Imperial IPA

is great.

so good.

I am at a loss for words.

It comes in a large bottle and is only available in the summer, supposedly, but I got it a couple of months ago. It was on the recommendation of the guy at my local liquor store who ran the tasting. I have been awaiting some righteous occasion to drink it, yet it was the only beer left in my fridge, which I felt was pretty righteous an event.

It's very thick and creamy. Big creamy head. I assumed this would be super hoppy, but it isn't. It does have the sweetness of a Dogfish 90 Min. Pretty bitter aftertaste. Wondiferous. It's almost a very hoppy creamy red.

It even inspired this man to want to marry the Avery brewery.

It's 9.9% alcohol and you feel it RIGHT AWAY. It's part of the Avery dictator series, which I have not tried much of.

Also, note, Avery has numbers in the titles of the web pages for its beers. The number being 303.440.4324. I first thought this might be a Dewey Decimal Classification as I could only read 303.44 in my browser window. I think on second thought it is not, but 303 is the number for social processes including some revolution, which only makes me love Avery more!

Ting!

2006-04-27T20:11:00.000-05:00

Ting! It's such a great name! It's also pretty good. It claims to be "A little island sunshine in a bottle!" Well it is. It's 6% Jamaican grapefruit juice. I didn't even know Jamaica had grapefruits. But it's tasty. It's like fresca but sweeter (as it isn't diet) and also tastes more like real juice.

TING!

I bought it at an international foods store in St. Louis. TING!

Steaz excitement

2006-04-26T10:59:00.000-05:00

Root beer is a soda flavor before we found ACTUALLY good flavors to make soda out of. Bleh. I mean what other root flavored things do we drink people?! What is this Sub Saharan Africa?!

I am lodging an official complaint about how unfair it is that all through the period that Eric and I lived in the same place Eric would always get root beer and I unthinkingly would take a sip of his beverage thinking he had good taste and then freak out because it would be root beer, the foulest beverage on earth. But now? Oh now he agrees root beer=evil in a can. No fair.

I have seen Steaz, but the name was weird and it never occurred to me that it was soda and tea. I believe it is shelved near the super foul cranberry soda, so I have been conditioned not to buy it. It sounds awesome though. I love fake green tea beverages, and the ginger ale one sounds scrumptious. Perhaps we will have to get one of the other beverage bloggers to "take one for the team" on the root beer. Or a guest blogger. Anyone want a root beer Steaz?

Green Tea which is neither tea, nor green.

2006-04-25T21:41:00.000-05:00

I had the opportunity to try Steaz Green Tea flavored cola this weekend, and I was pleasantly surprised. I'm not a big fan of things that taste like green tea but aren't a cup of hot tea. I think green tea ice cream is pretty gross, and I find the green tea available in bottles at the store pretty unexciting. Nevertheless, I gave The Healthy Beverage Company the benefit of the doubt and gave their cola a try. Steaz beverages come in several varieties, including fruit flavors, a ginger ale, and a root beer, all made with Ceylon green tea. The thought of a tea-flavored root beer really turns my stomach, as I'm sure Jenny's stomach is turning at the thought of a root beer, period. The cola flavor was mild, the green tea flavor strong enough, and the carbonation pretty weak. It was a very refreshing beverage, though it was very sweet, and alarmingly brown. Seriously, I've never seen a soda as deeply colored as this one. The label says it's made from all organic ingredients though, so I figure it can't be that bad for me. Soda + teaz = steaz. Eric + Steaz = happy. Unless it's the root beer. Ick.

Canada Part Deux

2006-04-13T21:48:00.000-05:00

The long awaited sequel to Canada Beer tasting is sadly, not happy....due to my aforementioned beer "issues" caused by bad Canadian beer. I meant to write this up with incredible flourish, but you sadly get only the field notes. Most of these beers were okay, but I haven't run into anything outstanding lately. And I have been very much lied to by labels advertising an IPA which is really not. Also, all Canadian beer seems musty.

Phillips IPA
rated the best ipa in canada. i agree so far. there was a warning not to try it unless you really like ipas, and i could see why. it's very bitter, but doesn't have the sweetness that usually comes from a lot of hops in ipas. kind of like the dogfish ipa without the aforementioned sweetness

cutthroat pale ale tree brewery
bitter, but a weird aftertaste of oolong tea. a little bit sweet at the beginning. good.

Paddywhack IPA
darker than a usual ipa, more ambery. but hoppy and meteoker

tree brewing hophead
smells like raw hops, and a little musty, but does not taste that way. bitter, and hoppy. good.

alexander keith's IPA
uh, more like lager. are there even hops IN THIS? Okay I am exagerating, but this is an okay lager. their slogan is those who like it, like it a lot. well i do not like it, and i do not like it a lot.

Sopalali punch
I had this at a First Peoples Restaurant. Sopalali is a bitter berry. The punch was Sopalali juice, cranberry and ginger ale. I LOVED it. However I had the Sopalali dessert and it was not very good. It was made well, but the Sopalali was just too bitter! The mixed punch though was great.

C Plus
This is the Canadian Orange Crush. Good, not as sweet. Seemed a little medicinal.

beacon ipa
This tasted like a legit ipa mixed with old milwaukee. Okay, but WHY?

Granville Island English Bay Pale Ale
Again, like a pale ale and Old Milwaukee. Far more lagery. Does pale ale mean lager in Canada?

Old Yale brewing Company's Sergeant's IPA
This was a bit better. More hoppy, a little more bitter and maybe mixed with Miller Highlife (ie very carbonated).

And that is finito with Canada. Good riddance! They come over here illegally and take our JOBS!
And their beer isn't even very good! (With the exception of Steamworks)

Open Letter to Beer

2006-04-13T21:23:00.000-05:00

I don't mean to alarm you, Beer but you're just not doing it for me recently.

It is with a heavy heart I disclose this. Beer, I'd like to say it's you and not me, but it's really you. And a little bit of me. But mainly you.

Sure, we've both been busy at the office, but it is times like then that I think of you most. But what do I come home to, but more disgusting Elmwood Pale Ales in the fridge? And when we go out? You embarrass me with the liked of the Hitachino Nest Red Rice Ale. Sure you SAY RED and ALE, but you were really like a lambic the whole time. Sure you aren't a lambic in so many words, but everyone knows it. My friends even turned up their noses at you. My god YOU EMBARASSED ME BEER! We haven't had these sorts of problems. I mean when you've embarrassed me before, it's pretty much been equally my fault. Now, I think this is squarely you.

And then there was Canada. Known for beerdrinking! I thought it would be like a second honeymoon! Don't get me wrong--it started out great, but your true nature soon revealed itself ONCE again.

And now I am going to Missouri tomorrow. And we all know that doesn't bode well in general, but Beer, you have always been a shining beacon of hope in MO. I really hope you won't let me down.

Now I am not saying this is an untimatum. Beer, we're in it for the long haul. But I just can't consistently work up the enthusiasm I once had for you. I know this is a rough patch and we'll make it through. But Beer, can I get a little reciprocal lovin?

Once you've had BlaK, you never go BacK.

2006-04-12T21:49:00.000-05:00

I picked up a 4-pack of Coca-Cola BlaK this weekend, and it's pretty good stuff. The beverage, for sale in a cute little 8 oz bottle, purports to be a "fusion of Coke effervescence and coffee essence." Yeah, it is, pretty much. I remember when Pepsi Kona came out, when I was in, like, middle school, and I recall having enjoyed it. While pulling all-nighters in college, I would occasionally try to re-generate the flavor with a Pepsi and a cup of cold coffee, with gut-puckering results. This stuff is pretty good though. Light carbonation, decent coffee flavor, a hint of caramel, though it is perhaps too sweet. On the whole though, it gets my approval. I bet this stuff would be awesome in a float with some vanilla ice cream.

Diesel Sweeties

2006-04-07T12:37:00.000-05:00

It seems my sweettalking to beverages is also in play at Diesel Sweeties:

Yes, I blog about beverages

2006-04-06T19:49:00.000-05:00

Today I opened my fridge and babytalked to a beer. A squeal and babytalked. To an inanimate object. In my fridge. Have I lived alone too long?

I don't like animals or children, so I guess I must defer my babytalk to beer.

In my defense, it was an Edmund Fitzgerald Porter which I did not realize I had. The exact beer I said I wanted to a coworker earlier.

Perhaps this short post has told you more about my drinking than 10 posts.

O Canada Part I

2006-04-04T20:07:00.000-05:00

I had an unforgiving cold after a lot of travel, which made it so I could not taste many of the wonderful beers in Austin, TX. However, I tried to make up for that when visiting Vancouver, BC. I also brought three beers back, So there will be more on the way.

First, it seems that good beers come in the can more often in Canada. I liked that, especially as a traveler since I could throw them in my luggage and worry less than I would with a bottle. Even the microbreweries I visited all had cans. I know some microbrews here are trying it out, so that's exciting.

Also, Molson does not give tours. I did get this hasty image from outside the gate though:

Another distinctive Vancouverian beer observation is that cream ales are HUGE there. It didn't sound good to me and when I read this and saw "Low hop bittering" I didn't look any further.

My favorite part was that at least at the liquor stores *I* went to, you could mix and match a six pack. Oh happy day--an entire six-pack of different IPAs!

While in Vancouver I visited the Granville Island Brewery and Steamworks Brewing. Granville Island Brewery was closing for an event when I got there so sadly, the tour was cancelled.

There's no beer for you here at the inn, little girl!

They do have a cool website on which you can see which one of their beers you are. I am sure it is no surprise to loyal readers (ha!) that I am the English Bay Pale Ale, although I totally did not fix that. You'll have to wait to see if that is a good or bad thing, as I have a can of it in the fridge awaiting tasting. They also can change your name into a beer name. I got a chance to walk through their store, which sells a hammer that has a bottle opener instead of a nail puller. Which I loved.

I did eat a meal at Steamworks (excellent fish and chips) and they have enclosed the brewing equipment in glass, which was neat. They had so many pale ales I was at a loss! I had their seasonal, the Northwest pale ale. It was hoppy, but more citrusy than anything. Good. But their Empress IPA was amazing. My half tipsy note about it said "Brilliant!" It had a very
espresso-y tinge to it, which I have only seen in porters, but in the IPA it was GREAT!

The next night I was at a work function and at the mercy of the few beer options served. This was the day to try out Canada's larger breweries, I guess. I had Kokanee which, from the packaging looks like Hamm's or Busch.

Drink me only in emergencies

This is truly one of the worst cheap beers I have ever drank. Not tasteless like most, but actively bad. And this from someone who finds PBR drinkable, at least. From their website it appears they put the beer in a centrifuge, take out the yeast and reuse it. That seems odd and gross, so I am going to chalk up the bad Kokanee to that.

I then jumped at the chance for the Okanagan Extra Special Pale Ale. This can looked most like....MGD.

I misread the can and thought it was an Extra Pale Ale, which got me very excited. The website says it's the number one craft brew in Canada. Wow, Canadians must have very different beer interests than me. It claims to be hoppy, but it actually was extra weissy. It was bad. Musty! After all this I actually turned down more of the free actively bad beer. Canadian cheap beer is not so much unimpressive as actively, aggressively bad tasting.

In Part II I will review much better beers (IPAs!) and some traditional First Peoples' beverages. ODP--your source for international and multicultural beer reviews. Which Canadian IPA will reign supreme? Is it possible that *I* could hate a bar in a library as much as I did? Find out in the NEXT STUNNING INSTALLMENT!

flickr soda

2006-04-04T18:18:00.000-05:00

Kurt pointed out this photo on flickr:

which got me thinking to do some searches on flickr in different drinks. Perhaps this is the librarian in me, but I was interested to find that the clusters around "soda" are:

SODA
The Coke Cluster: pop, coke, drink, cocacola, cola, can, red, bottle, glass, macro
The Jones Soda Cluster
The Dr. Pepper Cluster
The Mt. Dew Cluster

While Coke is the reigning champeen of soda, I was surprised to see no Pepsi. Also, while Dew and Jones have cult followings, who knew Dr. Pepper was so photogenic?

BEVERAGE
A beverage search divides things into two groups:

Group 1: drink, coffee, food, glass, alcohol, soda, red, cup, beer, tea
and
Group 2: Coke

I know how much Coke influences the drink market, especially worldwide, but I thought, at least with the artsy/techy peeps on Flickr it would not be THIS dominant.

Beer, however, brought up the BEST clusters.

BEER
2 which are predictable but oddly seperate:
Cluster 1: bar, pub, drink, glass, bottle, alcohol, pint, guinness, london, nyc
Cluster 2: party, friends, drinking, drunk, fun, people, night, booze, girls, girl

2 physical locations (Japan?):
Japan cluster: japan, food, tokyo, dinner, asahi, restaurant
Germany cluster: germany, munich, bier, deutschland, oktoberfest, europe

and one conference I have personally attended:
SXSW Cluster: austin, texas, sxsw

This might make it a hard sell to people trying to convince their boss to give 'em the cash! But we've learned people from the big city, especially abroad, who love emerging technologies and music LOVE beer.

COFFEE

Group 1: cup, cafe, food, mug, breakfast, espresso, drink, latte, table, tea
Group 2: starbucks, cameraphone, japan, tokyo, moblog, mocha, seattle
Group 3: nyc, newyork, newyorkcity, manhattan

All pretty understandable. Then this:

Group 4: mac, apple
and
Group 5: girl, woman

So women who use Apple products love coffee? Hmmm. All of the beverage generalizations resemble me. I fit in! Or at least that counterculture hipster thing Starbucks is selling is working WAY too well.

Soda Kills

2006-04-03T14:45:00.000-05:00

Recent developments show that some sodas have benzene in them. Which can kill you in the long run. I don't think you should change your soda drinking habits, unless you drink really odd sodas (like Diet Orange Crush? or Diet Slice?) by the case. A good summary is available here.

Now don't say the beverage blog doesn't care about your health!

Guinness and Travel Update

2006-03-29T02:04:00.000-06:00

Hey look, I'm a Guinness!

Guinness

(66% dark & bitter, 100% working class, 66% genuine)

Okay, we all know Guinness is the best possible score on any "What Kind Of Beer Are You" test, so you can just go on and pat yourself on the back now. Like the world's most famous brew, you're genuine, you've got good taste, and you're sophisticated. What else can I say, except congratulations?

If your friends didn't score the same way, get ready for them to say: Guinness is too heavy; it's an acquired taste; it's too serious--and they probably think those things about you at times. But just brush 'em off. Everybody knows Guinness is the best. Cheers.

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 50% on dark
You scored higher than 84% on workingclass
You scored higher than 34% on genuine

Link: The If You Were A Beer Test written by gwendolynbooks on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

I am in Canada until tomorrow morning and the liquor store by my hotel allowed a mixed six-pack, so MANY IPA reviews are on the way!

Frozen Pomegranate Sangria

2006-03-18T18:04:00.000-06:00

Frozen Pomegranate Sangria
Originally uploaded by jennybento.

I was in Austin last week, and had the opportunity to try Chango's frozen pomegranate sangria. A little to red winey for me, and not enough pomegranate, but still VERY tasty. What a concept. I love slushy liquor.

I also had the traditional Shiner Bock, which was quite tasty. I attempted to take a photo of myself at SXSW wearing our Drinking Problem stickers, however, the lighting was weird and I was too busy drinking (for the blog, of course) to be able to do this well.

I also had a good kind of Pale Ale at Austin's Club Deville, and a great slushy Top Shelf Margarita at Iron Cactus. But mainly I stuck to Shiner Bock. When in Rome, and all!

Austin does have an excellent seeming beerpub, but I was sick, so I didn't get a chance to drink too much. Sad. Oh well, I will try to make it up in Vancouver, BC, where I am heading next week.

McDonald's New Premium Roast Coffee

2006-03-08T12:59:00.000-06:00

I am a sucker. Just last week I posted an entry regarding the frivouous use of the word 'premium' in the advertising world. Today, I went out to buy a cup of coffee at McDonald's, primarily becasue it was new, but also becasue it was advertized as being 'premium'. Sigh. The advertising for this coffee promised me not only a better coffee, fresh brewed from 'premium' roasted beans, but also a special creamer and a neat-o space-age sippy-cup top. I got none of these things. The coffee is just as acrid, metallic, and burnt-tasting as before; it is certainly no more robust than the brown water they've served in the past, and I got mine with the usual punch-out style lid and I had to use the standard creamer (McD's: news flash: just becasue it coats the inside of my mouth with an oily film does not mean it is plesantly creamy). All in all, this coffee is not noticeably different than the regular stuff they were serving before, it just costs a whole dollar now.

Wow, after re-reading this post, I sound like a whiney bitch. Sorry folks. I know it's just McDonald's coffee, and I should have expected as much.

Saranac 12 Beers of Winter

2006-03-06T11:48:00.000-06:00

In lieu of a comprehensive post detailing the finer points of each of the 12 beers in the winter case from the Matt Brewing Company, I'll take this opportunity to detail the best and the worst of the box.
The best:

The Caramel Porter
I like apples, and I like caramel, but the two of them together in the form of the caramel-apple available at the county fair is a better treat than either of the two. I don't know how they did it, but Saranac has made a tasty treat of a beer in the form of a caramel porter. I was a little drunk when I first tasted this beer, but I could still tell that it was a very good beer. It's got the deep, full body of a porter, but the bitterness is cut with the sweet, sweet flavor of caramel. This is not a particularly sweet beer, it's just very tasty.

The worst:

The Oatmeal Stout
Stouts get their flavor from the long roasting of the malted grain and the huge amount of hops added for brewing. The bitterness is usually cut with something palatizing, like a sugar, a fruit, or, in this case, oatmeal. I've had some pretty good oatmeal stouts in my time, and this was pretty bad. The oatmeal does a poor job of compensating for the bitterness, and there's a sour, almost vinnegary flavor that pervades each swallow. All in all, a rather unpleasant beer.

Warsteiner Premium Dunkel

2006-03-02T10:00:00.000-06:00

In the commerce of everyday life, there is a propensity for those who are peddling their wares to use a few descriptors in the sales pitch which make the good sound better than it really is. I have no gripe with this--it is the nature of advertising itself to raise the interest of the buyer for one item above that for other, similar items. My complaint is that marketing execs all use the same goddamn words to describe their product, rendering the words that they do use totally meaningless. In the absence of their intended meaning, the words take on a rather differed role, that of the red flag. Premium is one of those words. The red flag is: We couldn't think up anything better to say about this swill, so we'll call it premium and charge twice what it's worth.

Think about places you get 'premium' goods: Chicken sandwiches at McDonald's, larger mailboxes on free email sites, 'whiter' paper at the copy shop. Come on. It's the same shit, just with the word 'premium' on it.

I can imagine what the people at the venerable Warsteiner brewery must have been thinking when the first vat of Dunkel was ready for tasting:

Brewer #1: So, what do you think?
Brewer #2: Meh, it's a bit malty.
Marketing Guy: 'A Bit Malty' isn't going to sell beer. We need to make it sound exciting!
Brewer #2: It's really not that good.
Brewer #1: It's just kind of mediocre. It's not bad, but...
Marketing Guy: It's Premium! That's it! Premium always works!
Brewer #2: So, uh, you guys wanna go get a beer?

So, ornery as this post is, the beer is not too bad. It's not great. It's mediocre, and it's not worth what I paid.

A Bundle of Beers--Reds and Great Lakes

2006-03-01T19:34:00.000-06:00

I went to a red beer tasting at my most local liquor store. Here was my breakdown of the beers I tasted there:

Okay
Mendocino County Red Tail--nothing special, like most Mendocinos, for me

North Coast Red Seal--Not bad, but more of a brown

Great Lakes Conway's Irish Ale--Eh okay.
Saint Rogue Red--This was okay, but I was kind of down on Rogue after that Chipotle incident.

Amazing
Founder's Red Rye--Always one of my favorites.

Avery Redpoint--Although I have always liked the Avery beers I have tried, this was AMAZING. The
tasting guy recommended the Avery Maharajah as well, which I bought but have not tried. The taster man agreed with me about these two being the best.

In addition, I have had these beers this week, in order of worst to best:

Elmwood Pale Ale--This kept foaming mysteriously out of the bottle. It was a little vinegary. I wonder if this had gone bad. It was gross.

Elmwood Nut Brown--Also not great. Apparently Central Illinois' only brewery is bad.

Monty Python Holy Grail Ale--I know this is totally a gimmick, but I tried it anyways. It wasn't good. Getting through it wasn't super fun.

Great Lakes Elliot Ness Amber--Amber's not my favorite variety, but this was good. I am starting to love Great Lakes.

Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold Lager--Lager is even less my favorite, but this was great! I almost never taste lager, but this was flavorful and refreshing!

Goose Island 312--I love this beer, and I have had it before, but it's a great hefeweisen!

Great Lakes Burning River--I love Great Lakes and they make a great Pale Ale!

This is 12 kinds of beer in 4 days. That's a tad excessive--but I didn't drink a whole beer of all of them!

I also tried Diet Code Red--awesome. Sadly I can only find it at the lunch truck near my work.

Label label label

2006-03-01T16:40:00.000-06:00

Reader Vanessa mentioned that Eric's beer bottle illustration comes from this Bosch painting:

Still, why is it on the beer bottle?

Tilburg's Dutch Ale

2006-02-27T11:33:00.001-06:00

I've always been told that I shouldn't judge a book by it's cover. While there is some truth to that aphorism, I must also admit that more often than not, books with exceedingly bizarre covers contain some very interesting content. So it is with this beer. I picked up a six of Tilburg's Dutch Brown Ale at the store just becasue it had a picture of a man being devoured by a bird-headed monster while other birds are flying out of his butt. No, really. Here's the image:

I was plesantly surprised by the flavor of this beer. This is a trappist ale through and through, and is just as sweet. But this seems to have a really full body, and is lacking the vaguely metallic flavor common to other sweet ales I've tried. If you don't like dark beers, or have spent your drinking career getting to know the subtile differences between coors lite and bud lite, and you are interested in expanding your tastes in beer, give this one a try. You will be plesantly surpirsed as well.

Soup at Hand New England Clam Chowder

2006-02-25T14:30:00.000-06:00

Now, some readers may hesitate. "Soup is not a drinkable thing!" you say. Well, nothing will convince you of this MORE than Soup-at-Hand. However, it claims it is "sippable" and insists you drink it. It comes in a bottle with a sippy top, like a coffee drink at Starbucks.

You heat the drink for a few minutes and then drink. Here are the flavors:

Blended Vegetable Medley
Chicken & Stars
Chicken with Mini Noodles
Classic Tomato
Cream of Broccoli
Creamy Chicken
Creamy Mushroom
Creamy Tomato
Mexican Style Fiesta
New England Clam Chowder
Pizza
Vegetable Beef
Velvety Potato

Okay how happy am I that I did not choose PIZZA?! Pizza should not be drinkable. That is disgusting. They seem to be heavily relying on cream soups, which I think is the opposite of the direction they should be going. Velvety potato? I don't like food compared to fabric. Mexican style Fiesta? That's not a flavor of soup, that's a type of PARTY.

So you might ask why I would try a Soup-at-Hand, I was starving, and I had just had dental work. So I could not chew. Thus, the Soup at Hand.

On the Soup at Hand website there's even a place to become a "Soup at Hand Ambassador." It's for "Serious Soup at Hand Fans Only!"

Well perhaps they have put all the engineering into the cups, because SOUP AT HAND IS AWFUL! This is not shocking, I know. But it is particularly awful. I thought since they are marketing it as a drink, it would not be chunky. But it is. Little chunks/grit. Chewing bitty beverages=not good. It didn't taste so bad, but the consistency is totally gross.

Second, this beverage made me physically ill. I had stomach cramps for hours afterwards. It's not particularly greasy or fatty (all SAHs are less than 100 calories), but it made me feel mildly food poisoned.

So mediocre taste + bad consistency + mild food poisoning=ONE BAD DRINK

Stay away from Soup at Hand, a bad food, and a worse beverage.

Beer Gift

2006-02-23T22:33:00.000-06:00

Beer Gift
Originally uploaded by jennybento.

Well friends week is extended because Heidi sent me this excellent handmade Bell's beer charm of a corset! What an excellent gift. Sadly, I think booze related gifts for her baby shower might be inappropriate. I always feel like someone (namely me) should give the mom an adult gift at the baby shower, because as great as it is to get all this baby stuff, who doesn't like gifts for themselves?

And Friends Week has to also be extended because of Heidi's homemade grape juice. I have been saving it for the dead of winter, but thankfully it has not been too cold yet. So that will be up next! Thanks Heidi!

My blog has few readers, but they are big gift givers, so that's fine by me!

Stone IPA

2006-02-23T20:49:00.000-06:00

Wow since everyone had bragged to me about Stone beers, I was excited to try them. As I said previously, I was not impressed by their flagship Pale Ale. The IPA was also nothing special, though it was strong and bitter, without being very complex. It seems they pride themselves on how eXXXXtrEEEEEEMe their beer is. Eh.

Rogue Chipotle Ale

2006-02-22T23:18:00.000-06:00

Rogue Chipotle Ale is awful. Seriously. Don't touch it with a ten foot pole. Rogue describes it as such:

"Chipotle Ale is based on Rogue's Oregon Golden Ale, but delicately spiced with smoked chipotle chile peppers. Deep golden in color with a tight head, rich malty aroma, delicately smooth and crisp flavor, and subtle chipotle chili finish."

1. the beginning of the beer IS good. It is very tricky.

2. DELICATELY SPICED?! No. VERY strongly spiced. Not spicy like peppers, but smoky like liquid smoke/bbq.

3. The head was huge, not tight.

4. SUBTLE? I have personally been described, by a stranger on a streetcar in these terms:
"There's nothing subtle about you, is there honey?"
While I think this assessment was strangely right on, a little subtlety goes a long way for me. There is NOTHING subtle about this beer, honey. It's like barbeque in a bottle. In fact, this resembles the Jones Soda Smoked Salmon Soda more than Chipotle.

This may be my least favorite beer ever. I am throwing it down the sink.

LA Beverages, Rogue, and a tea!

2006-02-22T21:42:00.000-06:00

Bubble Up
Originally uploaded by jennybento.

Rogue Santa's Private Reserve
Something I heard made me run out and get this, but it wasn't great. Just eh. Bitter.

I also bought some "Blue Eyes" cornflower tea, loose. Oh man, it was amazing.

In LA I had the following:

Stone Pale Ale
I went to a foofy wine store and bought this and it was highly recommended by the seller. It was just so so though. I also bought a Stone IPA, but have not tried it yet.

Bear Republic IPA
I looove Bear Republic. Their Red Rocket Ale may be my favorite red ale. This was great and full and creamy and bitter and awesome.

Pyramid Hefeweisen
A good standard Hefe.

Bubble Up
Wow, Bubble Up in the bottle--with pure cane sugar! A little lemon, a little lime, way superior than 7up/Sprite. Also the bottle said it was "totally recyclable" which was hilariously valley girl!

jekel vineyards reisling monterey
I had this riesling in the hotel. It was quite good and sweet.

Pyramid Snow Cap

2006-02-07T22:12:00.000-06:00

Pyramid Snow Cap
Originally uploaded by jennybento.

dark and creamy. more porter-y than aley. pretty good.

He'Brew Messiah Gold

2006-02-06T23:06:00.000-06:00

Kurt brought me some He'Brew Messiah Gold (It's the beer you've been waiting for!), the chosen beer:

Let me point out that their website is awesome, particularly the commercials here and here. They claim to be the "first ever extreme high holiday beer." Was extreme needed there? And it's the only beer whose website ASKS you to steal their photos, a policy I endorse. Those chosen people, always sharing. And it's Kosher!

Now there is a lot of schtick with this beer, and I have to say I am a total sucker for it. It's pretty hilarious. But it's also pretty good. Way better than decent. I was going to save it until I finished the new, super-Jewtastic Phillip Roth book, buuuuuut that's a long book. So L'Chaim!

Friends Week-- Ale-8-One

2006-02-05T20:43:00.000-06:00

So as I previously posted, Lisa and J are friends who live in KY. They sent me the traditonal KY beverage, Ale-8-1 (get it? A Late One!) or just ale-8 if you prefer. It turns out there is a lot of Ale-8 lore, legend and argument. First, the Ale-8 in bottles is rumored to be better, and not the same as canned ale-8. It seems that "local tradition" frowns upon Ale-8 in cans. Bust since only some parts of KY, OH, and IN get Ale-8, I wonder who is actually drinking the cans? What impresses me more is that there are still Ale-8 bottle machines, like this one, where my Ale-8 was purchased:

One of the first happy things that I noticed about Ale-8 is that it is made with real sugar, not corn syrup. This makes it way tastier, and you don't get that weird film over your teeth like when you drink corn syrup drinks. From wikipedia I learned that "Ale-8 traditionalists...have gone as far as to develop their own method of holding their drink, called "The Green Dragon." This method involves gripping the glass bottle only at the very top (where no liquid touches when full) with only one's index finger and thumb. The remaining fingers are forced to flail out in a "dragon-like" manner. This method of holding an Ale-8 is used to keep the drink cold as long as possible by not warming it with body heat."

Well, I don't believe in doing things halfway. Actually, that's a complete lie: I totally believe in doing things halfway. But the green dragon sounded pretty awesome, so here is my recreation:

I totally felt like a ninja master drinking the green dragon way. I also dislike when beverages get warm, so maybe I will adapt the green dragon for other beverages. And I look so zen and confident doing the green dragon here.

So, as a big ginger ale fan, I did like Ale-8. At first I just thought "hey this is just ginger ale." A spicy but very sweet ginger ale. The ginger is like real fresh ginger, not fakey ginger ale. But then I did detect the slight fruit flavor. At first i was unaware of what fruit this may be, but I realized it was a fruit. I think it may be some lemon-limey citrus thing. I was hoping for mango since my previous mango ginger ale experience was good. However, Ale-8 is SWEEEEET. Like, "ow my molars hurt" sweet. It didn't make it any less enjoyable, but I can't see drinking this that often. Now Diet Ale-8, maybe.

Also, the wikipedia mentioned that this was invented to be drunk at night to settle the stomach. Ale-8 did make me burp copiously, so I guess that's working. However, since it has the caffeine of a Coca-Cola, I don't think I will immediately be sleeping. I can see though how the ginger could be seen as medicinal!

You can get Ale-8 shipped to you, and if you are in KY you can go on a tour of their plant or rent out their special event truck! How great is that!?

Non-friends items

2006-02-04T16:57:00.000-06:00

Here's a quick roundup of the beers I have had out of the house. Although half were beers I brought to a friend's house, and the other half were drunk with friends, so we'll count it! :)

Wychwood Hobgoblin (draft)
good, bitter, just eh,

Founder's Red Rye in the bottle.
good as always. I think Founder's beers might be more intense in the bottle.

Alpha King.
Bitter, stong wonderous! I had only had in in the bottle before, so on tap was a nice switch.

mendocino brewing

Red Tail Ale
i thought this would be red, but it was not, it's an amber. bitter, but not great. just okay. more like a paler ale than an amber.

Eye of the Hawk Select Ale
Also pale ale-y, but not awesome. Just okay, bitter, not significantly different from the red tail

Blue Heron Pale Ale
The best of the bunch as it was intended to be a pale ale and tastes like a pale.

Friends Week

2006-02-01T22:35:00.000-06:00

In honor of my friends' generosity, I have declared this FRIENDS WEEK! All the posts this week will be from drinks donated to the blog from blogfriends. Of course if I drink in bars, I'll post that too, unless blogfriends want to pick up the tab for me all week. :)

Friends Week actually commenced with the previous post as Jeff bought one of the holiday packs for the blog.

Second, I must discuss the drinks from Kurt.

You just can't shake a stick at a friend who comes to you house with a four-pack--half soda, half beer. Especially since the last time he brought beer it was some Steel Reserve 211 40 that I still have. But he also brought Schlitz Malt Liquor, the finest of malt liquors, in my opinion. yes you may think that totally disqualifies all I have to say regarding beer. Whatever. No Schlitz will be poured on the curb for you when you stop reading, homey.

SODAS:

First was Jones Crushed Melon:

This is one of Kurt's faves. I myself am generally not a melon person but I liked this, even though it was a little cantelopey! Sweet and a little tart. Mmmm.

Next was Blumers Blueberry Cream:

Now, I hate fake vanilla and cream sodas generally have it. So I was expecting to hate this. But it was great. Kurt was not so fond of it, but I drank a lot of it. The blueberry was pretty fake, but I liked it. And the cream soda was not so prevalent.

BEERS:

First Founders Centennial IPA.

Yay an IPA! Yay for Founders! Someone's reading the blog! I need to learn more about the dry hopping process and how it changes taste, but I can tell I like dry hopping! :) I had had this on tap but I think I might actually like it better in the bottle. It's waaaaaay maltier up front, almost like a malter milk ball. But it's very hoppy and bitter. I had some super sweet frosting right before this and the beer was a great compliment. Like all Founders items, it rocked. Go Kurt!

Kurt also got me a He'Brew which I will soon drink and report on!

Jones Holiday Packs 2005

2006-01-28T20:24:00.000-06:00

My brave friend Mary and I got into the Jones Holiday Packs finally. Oh man are they awful. X-entertainment does a good review of them here, but they did not go the extra mile and get the regional pack, so I did.

Here is the "traditional" Holiday Pack:

containing Turkey & Gravy, Cranberry Sauce, Pumpkin Pie, Brussels Sprout, and Wild Herb Stuffing.

and the regional pack:

containing Turkey and Gravy, Corn on the Cob, Smoked Salmon Pate, Broccoli Casserole, Pecan Pie.
Pecan Pie makes me think the reigon is "The South" however, who has Salmon Pate at a southern xmas? Is this the nod to the Jew who married into your family?

We started out with turkey. And turkey, like all of the other flavors, was really not terribly effervescent. This could be because we waited a while to open them, but I have never had this problem with any other Jones Soda going flat, so I think they just did not carbonate them much. Weird.

It tasted a lot like fake butter. Smells and tastes more like gravy and fat than turkey. Odd herb smell, maybe sage? Something like stuffing. I noticed a finish of cream soda. This is bad. I hate hate hate cream soda. It seems like the majority of these sodas have a cream soda base. Why, I have no idea. Turkey was bad, but completely dealable.

Next we went with Wild Herb Stuffing. Oh holy jesus this is bad. Weird cream soda. Plus herb. Yuck.

I completely forgot what broccoli tasted like, which I thought was a good sign. Oh no. I just smelled it. Holy god it smells like burnt breadcrumbs and broccoli. I gagged. I do not gag. I have hurled like, 10 times in my entire life. I seriously thought during this experiment that I might actually get near a dry heave. However, the taste of this one did nothing for me, but wasn;t that bad--the smell was worse.

Brussels Sprout? Huh? Isn't it Brussel Sprouts? Either way, this was the worst. We were doing fine until this one. I have never had Brussels Sprout. However Mary likes them. I cannot imagine why if they taste like this. Imagine you boiled all manner of greens. And then added that boiled water to cream soda. Oh yeah. That's it. This almost got a spit take from Mary. And we both involuntarily shuddered.

Corn on the Cob--I thought this would be great. This is one of the few that I think could be good sweet. But it didn't taste like corn at all--more fake butter and cream soda. Now, why not just make it taste like CORN? I do not know.

After all this we went with the savory one we thought we would like. Smoked Salmon Pate. To preface, I love salmon. Smoked salmon is my favorite food. I recently risked death in many ways by buying some smoked salmon from foreigners in a child molester van. So I have a committment.

Smoked Salmon soda tasted like liquid smoke and BBQ, but oddly, not like salmon at all. In order to truly test it, we made a salmon soda and cream cheese float. This was bad, but only because the soda was more bbq and bbq and cream cheese do not mix well. Still, I think had this been salmon flavored I would have liked it. Mary commented that it tasted like the fake bits of salmon in salmon flavored cream cheese. I took some photos of how pink the cream cheese was dyed, but it was way too gross. This soda was comparatively not bad though, just not what we expected.

Now we were down to the sodas that theoretically should be good--Pumpkin Pie, Pecan Pie, and Cranberry. All except Cranberry had the weird cream soda funk. Pumpkin tasted mainly like pie crust, not pumpkin. Pecan smelled nutty, but mainly tasted like cream soda. But Cranberry. Oh if only this were sold year round it would be among my favorites. it was sour but the right amount of sweet. We drank this one down quick, glad to have some of the other tastes our of our mouths.

Mary asked if I had a cigarette, not from enjoyment but to kill her taste buds.

We read some of the labels and realized that all but the cranberry had one ingredient in common which must be this awful cream soda flavor. yuck!

We had to leave to catch a movie, and when I got home, the aromas of these cups had comingled in a bad bad way.

So 1 for ten of these sodas is awesome. Sadly, I think they could have kept the novelty and still made these taste good! If only they could commit to a fully savory soda, and not a mix of savory and sweet, I think it could work!

Ocean Spray 100% Juice

2006-01-26T19:28:00.000-06:00

I got the "Cranberry and Pacific Raspberry."

Jesu Christo this is the best juice ever. Oh man. It is 100% juice. But so sweet! Yet tart! It's so good I cannot make sentences anymore! And I am rationing it!

It does come in about the most dificult to open bottle ever. It injured my hand. But I don't care. It's awesome!

I also bought Cran-Cherry which I assume will be equally awesome. i cannot take much more awesomeness.

Boulevard Pale Ale

2006-01-26T18:45:00.000-06:00

I associate my Missourian larger microbrewers with good times. I associate Missouri with dying.

My first Boulevard experience was in a bar in St. Louis after driving across the Western US on little sleep, often sleeping on the ground, with 2 people who, for this short period of time, hated each other. We were staying in a house with a PACK of dogs in what I was led to believe was a shady neighborhood. I am very dog allergic. I was being faced with the idea of staying the night by myself in a car in a shady neighborhood. Yeah. This made me think, like I have thought many time since "Fuck, I am going to die. I am going to die and I will be dying in the state of Missouri."*

Somehow, mystically, I was not badly allergic to these dogs, and I got some sleep inside. As well as a great experience at a bar where I drank Boulevard for the only time before now. And I have to say, the strangers I met in the St. Louis bar were the nicest bar people I have ever met. Kurt, is everyone in St. Louis bars friendly to strangers?

Anyways, I saw some Boulevard in a 6-pack at Schnuck's (also from St. Louis), and I have been very happy with this purchase. It's just a solid APA. Like it should taste. It's been making my week. I <3 you Boulevard.

*To my knowledge I have only thought this twice. But I think that's a lot for someone who has been to Missouri only a handful of times. And third time's the charm, so I hope to not test this. :)

Schell SnowStorm

2006-01-21T17:28:00.000-06:00

Schell SnowStorm
Originally uploaded by jennybento.

I had completely prepared for this to be a dark beer. In the bottle, it looked dark, and wintry themed beers are pretty much always dark. It was a Dusseldorf Alt Ale though. i am not terribly familiar with the style, but it was fairly light. A little maltier, hoppier, and darker than a pilsner. Thumbs up.

sand creek cranberry special ale

2006-01-12T21:32:00.000-06:00

If there's one beer I don't like, it's vinegary beer. I am also not partial to fruity beer--I usually think it's too sweet and not beery enough. But, in my non-beer life, I am a sucker for anything cranberry. So I tried this Sand Creek Cranberry Special Ale.

First the name of the company that makes it is almost illegible on the bottle. When I went to rate beer, it seems everyone hates this beer.

Everyone but me!

First, this is not sweet at all. I had it with some dark chocolate cake and it went very well. It is very sour at the beginning, but like cranberries, not like vinegar! It does sort of smell like a vinegary beer, and I am not saying I could drink a whole lot of it, but I think it's a great idea and I thoroughly enjoyed it. If you like cran or vinegary beers you might like this. But if you generally like the fruity stuff, I'd stay away!

Breckenridge Christmas Ale

2006-01-12T00:30:00.000-06:00

Breckenridge Christmas Ale
Originally uploaded by jennybento.

I have been a big fan of Breckenridge beers so far but this was unremarkable. Dark, strong, creamy. A good standard, but nothing special. Supposedly this is "choclatey" but I don't buy it. meh.

Dirrrrrrrty Bastard Scotch Ale

2006-01-11T23:10:00.000-06:00

Okay it is going to take all of my powers of restraint not to constantly talk about Ol Dirty Bastard in this review. For I drank the Founder's Dirty Bastard Scotch Ale.

This was a very very excellent red color. It was dark and one person at my table loved it and another thought it too "manly."

This is apparently Founder's flagship beer. i have tried their Red and Black Ryes both of which I have loved. Though I am not a big scotch ale fan, I got this on tap because of the Founder's name. While this is a good beer, it's a little to dark/brown for me. Meh. Good, but not as awesome as the red.

Basically the Founder's Dirty Bastard Scotch Ale acts like its pussy don't interrupt. But, I think of beers like the Old Dirty Bastard thinks of women:

"I dedicate this to all the pretty girls
All the pretty girls
Its on
All the pretty girls, in the world
And the ugly girls too
Cause to me your pretty anyways baby"

Ain't no such thing as a bad beer, in other words. All the good beers, it's on. And all the bad beers, it's on too, because all beer's good.

And you thought I was going to say beer was lying about having my baby.

Raspberry Wheat Ale + Snapple Plum a granate + beer redux

2006-01-11T23:02:00.000-06:00

Raspberry Wheat Ale
Originally uploaded by jennybento.

Sea Dog Raspberry Wheat Ale totally hit the spot. It was light and not too fruity and tasted like real fruit. It was also in the winter pack, which baffles me.

This image is fuzzy so here is what the insignia looks like:

I usually don't like fruity beers, though I do love raspberry. However the ratebeer people seemed to really hate this beer. Some even thought it was vinegary, which I find really weird, since I HATE vinegary beers with a passion, and would have noticed that.

In other news, Snapple Plum-a-Granate Iced Tea is the best beverage in the world. Very sweet, but good. It's what Archer Farms Pom Water might be if it were a real beverage and not "water."

In other experimentation, when you are very dehydrated from scientifically "retesting" the Great Divide Hercules (even better the second time, sweeter, different glass), and the Rogue Brutal Bitter (also more bitter and darker seeming than the first time. i can actually believe this might belong in an ESB category), the Cherry 7-UP Plus tastes like manna from heaven, mainly as it is sweet, liquid and placed next to one's bed. Wow that's about the worst run on paragraph in history.

Sioux CIty Ginger Beer and Cherry 7-Up Plus

2006-01-09T20:59:00.000-06:00

Sioux City Ginger Beer is spicy. Painfully so. At one point I thought I might breathe fire and had to put it down. i coughed a few times. It probably didn't help that it totally looks like a beer and I was walking around outside drinking it, getting funny looks.

I also finally cracked my 2-liter of Cherry 7-Up Plus. First, it's very very sweet, although it's splenda. It doesn't taste like cherry 7-Up, but rather, 7-Up that has cherry syrup in it. I know this is a weird minute difference, but the exact taste of 7-Up with syrup just put in it is uncanny. It seems more syrupy than 7-Up as well. Put it has calcium, mmm mmm. Although I do love cherry drinks, I bet I won't drink this much as it's way too sweet for me.

Also, while I was looking like a drunk in the post office in the morning, I picked up what must be the best packed package I ever received. First there was a box, taped top and bottom and labeled fragile. Then, it was filled with wonderous every color and type of packing peanut. In that was a kleenex box filled with only one sort of packing peanut. in that was a bubblewrapped package. In that was a soda in a baggie. What was so important? ALE-8! The official drink of Eastern KY! Thanks to Lisa and J for being the first drink submitters to the beverage blog. I am putting it in the fridge straight away, and then I will have to do some Ale-8 research and post on it! More info is available in the wiki if you're interested. The Ale-8 appears to have a long and sordid history, including being an ingredient in something called the "Tender Lovin'."

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y night!

2006-01-09T20:32:00.000-06:00

So Saturday I got to drink some excellent beer on tap. First was the Great Divide Hercules Double IPA. It was very good and if you look there you can see how highly acclaimed it is. It is VERY BITTER. It has the bitterness of something like a Dogfish 90 or 120 Minute IPA, but without the sweetness. I liked it, but I wasn't expecting it to be that bitter. I liked it, but not as much as I thought I would. I will have to try it again.

After that, I bravely went forth to the Rogue Brutal Bitter.

Huh? This wasn't very bitter at all! :) But I had another later and I think my Hercules had my bitter standards out of whack. This is supposed to be an ESB but it's clearly a pale ale. It's good, but again, kinda tasteless in comparison.

I also have a cask Bell's Kalamazoo Stout.

It was sweet and very coffee flavored. Pretty thick, creamy stuff. Good!

Czechvar/Budweiser Budvar

2006-01-05T23:20:00.000-06:00

Czechvar
Originally uploaded by jennybento.

Apparently this is the original Budweiser. I am not a big lager fan, but this was not as "tasteless" as most. Still it smelled very yeasty, and a little bitter. Generally, although the beginning of the taste was regular lager-y, the end was very strong. I really didn't like it much. Online, many people have said this is really "smooth," however I disagree.

While yes, when compared with OUR Budweiser, this is amazing beer, so are most beers! That doesn't say a whole lot.

This was included in my "winter beers" pack, and I have NO idea why. It doesn't seem terribly wintry, but I guess it is if you normally drink macrobrew lager.

When looking up info on this beer, I found this odd photo of the urinals at the Czech Budweiser brewery. Apparently there's a website where people take pictures of urinals. I realize as a beverage blogger, I should not malign no one else's blog subject, especially one that is the result of my blog subject. Still though, urinals? I bet that's odd cocktail party talk.

Well apparently people love this beer enough to fight the American Budweiser to get it imported to America. Hmmm. I don't get it.

Flying Dog K-9

2006-01-04T22:00:00.000-06:00

Flying Dog K-9
Originally uploaded by jennybento.

Meh. It's beers like this that made me think I hated stouts. Very strong alcohol taste. It is a pretty red color. Thick oily consistency that I did NOT like. Sad because I generally really like Flying Dog. First beer of the year is disappointing!

Year End Roundup

2005-12-31T01:31:00.000-06:00

Since July, I have drunk AT LEAST 48 different kinds of beer. There are 48 recorded/reviewed here, but I didn't count things I had had a ton of times before (ie Red Stripe, PBR, Schlitz). Yes, even though I am a beer dork I still drink these from time to time. I like to think this is what seperates beer dorks and beer snobs. Beer dorks like to know a lot about beer and try a bunch of different kinds, but beer snobs are elitist and will not drink things that are not up to their standard. I like all beer (other than sour ones. bleck.), and although, yes, I'd love a Rogue over a Hamm's, if Hamm's is all you got, I will probably try it anyways.

This drinking many kinds of beer has been a smashing success. Several years ago, I vowed to drink new kinds of beer all the time. Although it took time to get the ball rolling (I was poor and often was only around some PBR or Henry Weinhards), I think it has become quite a successful mission. I think at first it's hard to stray from your favorites, but it has been quite rewarding. I now like many more kinds and styles of beer than I used to. And I am far more conversant about how beer is made, what it tastes like, etc. Yay for new kinds of beer!

If you were going to get me a 2005 sampler six pack, you would be most highly rewarded by making it:
Left Hand Brewing Company JuJu Ginger Ale
Hazed and Confused APA
2 Brothers Heavy Handed
Founder's Red Rye
Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald
Avery Brewing IPA

The top 6!

Happy new year! I doubt I will have any new beers tomorrow, so we'll start the new year off fresh!

Cheers!

Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale

2005-12-31T01:15:00.000-06:00

I had this on tap. It was sooooo good. I highly recommend it. It is quite bitter. I chose it only because it was the only beer on tap that I had not tried but it has been called the “…best beer ever made in America.” by Stan Sessor, San Francisco Chronicle. Wowie. I took a break from it, but I drank three of them, so I really liked this beer. It is dry-hopped and that is another thing I have not been noticing the differences between (dry and not dry hopped), so perhaps another resolution?

Breckenridge IPA?

2005-12-31T01:14:00.000-06:00

Watch out, Dogfish, Breckenridge is beginning to become one of my favorite breweries. Although I guess 2 Brothers is also warming my heart. This beer was billed as an IPA, but is, in fact, an APA. So I was a little confused. But it was still great. I would not say it was the best ever, but it was pretty consistently good. More bitter than hoppy, and although I love the bitter, I missed the hoppy. When I went to their website, it made me want to pay more attention to hop varieties. So perhaps that's a resolution!

Dixie Crimson Voodoo Ale

2005-12-31T01:12:00.000-06:00

This was drinkable, but too sour/vinegary. I have not known non-Flemish reds to be so sour. And boy am I against vinegary beers.

I drank this from a bottle in a bar in LaGrange with an exciting beer list. One I had drunk over 50 beers on, so I was a fan!

Butte Creek Organic Ale

2005-12-31T01:10:00.001-06:00

Butte Creek Organic Ale
Originally uploaded by jennybento.

You know, Butte Creek always disappoints me. Maybe it's my distrust of organic beer. This beer is confused as to what kind of ale it is. It's almost an IPA, but sort of brown. It was okay. Nothing special. I think I will give up on Butte Creek.

Heavy Handed IPA

2005-12-31T01:10:00.000-06:00

Heavy Handed IPA
Originally uploaded by jennybento.

This might even be better in the bottle. It seemed darker and even more bitter bottled. Yummyyummyyummy.

breckenridge oatmeal stout

2005-12-18T22:50:00.000-06:00

IMG_0033
Originally uploaded by jennybento.

It IS tall, dark and dreamy like the bottle says. Maybe the cold weather has me warming up to stouts, or maybe I have been getting some good ones. This is tasty. Very creamy, a lot of coffee taste especially at the finish. Thick consistency. Not to be paired with spicy curry (I happened to be eating curry chips and this went poorly with them, and may have made them more spicy.). Plus I love the label.

red tea!

2005-12-17T14:05:00.000-06:00

My new drink of choice is red tea. Red teas come in several varieties but all seem to somehow be derived from hibiscus. I had some hibiscus iced tea several times at a restaurant called Big Bowl in Schaumburg, IL. I have always loved it, but I bought some hibiscus leaves, and they did not make a very good tea.

In the meantime, not knowing that the Celestial Seasonings red teas were hibiscus derived, I have always enjoyed them. I don't really think they taste like hibiscus but i like them nonetheless. There's the old standard RED ZINGER

but also the cranberry apple red zinger

This smells a lot like potpourri, sorta apple cinammony. I wish this were just cran-zinger, but the apple is okay.

However, my new favorite is Hibiscus Rosehip. My friend Tomasz showed this to me, and it's apparently mainly sold in Eastern European stores. Tomasz had tried several versions, but he was most into the Pompadour version:

It's the yummiest.

This may just be a continuous obsession with all things red. I have previously reviewed cherry limeade, pomegranate water, and cape cods. What can I say, I am a sucker for red beverages.

founder's black rye, rogue oyster stout, left hand juju ginger, glogg

2005-12-12T10:08:00.000-06:00

Founder's Black Rye (in bottle)

Similar to the red rye, very tasty.

Glogg
I love swedes, but I hate red wine. Yucky. Like drinking potpourri.

Rogue Oyster Stout (tap)
I loooove the Rogue Oyster Stout. It is super creamy and viscous and not crazy filling. Get one today! Along with the Edmund FItzgerald, my favorite stout.

Left Hand Brewing Company JuJu Ginger Ale in bottle

Ginger and ale? What a fabulous idea. It doesn't have a strong ginger flavor) I would have like d a stronger one) but these are 2 great tastes that taste great together. It's like an IPA with slight ginger notes. But come on, what are the 2 things I review most? IPAs and ginger beers. I liked it a LOT. I do not know why the label is "rasta."

Carmen Gewurtz

2005-12-07T21:40:00.000-06:00

Now generally, I am the opposite of a wine snob. I am a wine cheapass. I enjoy the Fetzer gewurtz more than any other I have tasted (see Sept. 12 posting here, sorry backlinks will not work no matter how hard I try.)

But I thought, "Hmmm maybe this is because all of the Gewurtz I buy is under 7 bucks!" So I went with the Carmen Gewurtz. It's from 2003--look how cultured I am, I am drinking aged wine! It's from Chile! That's not New Jersey, or wherever the hell Fetzer is located. They speak Spanish--oh boy that's romantic! On the back it does note a hint of lychee, which I am generally not a fan of, but I was psyched to drink my (relatively) expensive wine.

But oh boy, once again Fetzer is still way ahead of the pack. First, this tastes nothing like Gewurtz. If this was served somewhere, I would assume it was some other white wine. I am not the biggest wine fan, so there are only a narrow sliver of wines I can tolerate (whites) and an even narrower sliver (Gewurtz, Reisling) that I really enjoy frequently. So, when something is not like those very specific things, I am terribly sensitive to it.

First, it's not sweet at all. It's pretty sour and bitter and has a STRONG aftertaste of alcohol. The alcohol is very very apparent when drinking this. It doesn't taste really like lychee or rose petals as the bottle claims. It tastes like acid reflux. That's a huge problem with this, it's SO acidic! But it;s like digested acidic. I can't take it.

I think I will cook with the remainder of the bottle. So sad, as the aim was to drink a lot this evening. All my hopes, DASHED by silly Chilean wine!

On top of that, their website is a trail of dead links, in both English and Spanish (see I am CULTURED!), but I did get a boring photo:

don't buy me!

ArcherFarms Pomegranate Fortified Water Beverage

2005-12-03T23:10:00.000-06:00

IMG_0016
Originally uploaded by jennybento.

Archer Farms (Target) makes a lot of odd beverages that I always want to try. When I have tried them, they are generally bad. But I tried this one because it was both pomegranate (something I love) and PINK. I am not exactly sure what a "water beverage" is (isn't water ITSELF a beverage?) but I expected it to be lightly flavored water. Wrong-O. It is more beverage than water.

First among the odd non-water tendencies is its texture. This is a very thick, milk-like beverage. The brilliant color is supplied by "fruit and vegetable juices for color" as listed in the ingredients. However, the label says it has 0% juice. Confusing. It tastes very fruity and pomegranatey. Even my friend Matt who is generally pro-pomegranate and anti-fake fruit enjoyed it. I would drink it often, even though the texture is a tad off-putting. The only ingredient that could cause this is the "crystalline fructose," but still...eerie.

Winter Brews!

2005-12-03T23:02:00.000-06:00

IMG_0011
Originally uploaded by jennybento.

The Cost Plus World Market Winter Brews sampler's out, and I bought it. Generally I find it not worth it, but the Cranberry Ale, Flying Dog, Breckenridge, and IPA selections made me unable to pass it up! I look forward to it keeping me warm all winter. :)

Milligan's Island Newport Ginger Beer

2005-12-03T23:00:00.000-06:00

IMG_0041
Originally uploaded by jennybento.

This ginger beer again suggests mixers. I would particularly approve of the mango rum. This supposedly tastes like mango, but I didn't pick up that much mango, though there is a sweet tanginess different from your average ginger ale. It's quite great. It isn't so dry, but it is pretty sweet.

Jones Holiday Pack

2005-12-03T22:57:00.000-06:00

IMG_0042
Originally uploaded by jennybento.

The Jones Holiday Pack without the salmon soda has been secured. The other is hopefully also being secured by a friend in Oakbrook, IL.

Goya Cola Champagne

2005-12-03T17:15:00.000-06:00

For my debut post to this delightful little blog I thought I'd try a nice chilled bottle of Goya's Cola Champagne. Don't be misled by the name, it tastes like neither cola nor champagne but instead like cream soda, with a hint of something citrus-y that I can't quite place (maybe the generic "citric acid" that's listed in the ingredients). It's not particularly carbonated either, and in fact poured pretty flat. It has it's charms and I'm sure it'd be great with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, but I wouldn't go out of my way to seek it out.

new things!

2005-11-29T20:22:00.000-06:00

Well firstly, for those of you who actually visit blogs instead of rssing them, we have a new background.

Secondly, the Salmon Pate Soda has NOT been secured. I have the other Jones Soda Holiday Pack, and will be looking to try it with interested parties. I went to Speedway but they had never heard of Jones soda. I just called Cost Plus and they said the only Cost Plus they knew of that had it was one in Mississippi. This is bad!

I have gotten a crapload of Tampico to try. I do love the original, so we shall see.

Finally, I am linking my reading blog to the site. If you're really interested in what I have read this year, it's all here. I had it on a work server and I decided to make it easier to personally update.

orange alert!

2005-11-21T16:48:00.000-06:00

This:

must be secured.

It is part of the Jones Soda 2005 Regional Pack which is different from the holiday pack.

I will be on the lookout for both. Both are available at stores in town, Speedway oddly being one of them. There is also ONE Walgreen's in the entire state that has them. Why the one, I wonder?

And yes, the photo had to be that big for the magnificence of this event. You see, I am obsessed with salmon.

Lingonberry Soda, Covey Run Gewurtz

2005-11-17T17:46:00.000-06:00

Last weekend I went to IKEA and ate at their cafeteria. In the soda machine they have a lingonberry soda that is the national soda of Sweden or something. They sell the syrup which you can mix into soda at home, but personally I never like such syrup since i can never mix it properly. So I had a couple of glasses. The first was far too weak, but the second (from a different tap) was quite good. Sweet and tart, it was sort of cranberry-esque.

I also had some Covey Run Gewurtz. Eh, it wasn't that sweet or spicy. It had a bitter aftertaste and just wasn't terribly distinctive. If anything, I would say it tasted more like a different kind of white wine.

Natural Brew Outrageous Ginger Ale

2005-11-09T22:32:00.000-06:00

Natural Brew's Outrageous Ginger Ale proudly proclaims a mix of Chinese ginger root and Jamaican ginger. Well, the beginning of this drink definitely reminds me of some weird Chinese medicine concoction. In fact, at first taste, this does not taste like ginger ale. The finish is excellently gingery, spicy, and peppery, and lingers for a long time. The sour yet sugary bland beginning is gross tho, so I will not drink this again.

When I bought this I apparently forgot my "organic and natural beverages generally blow" rule.

soda AND mentos

2005-11-09T15:51:00.000-06:00

soda + mentos = spectacular awesome explosion

Frostie Concord Grape Soda

2005-11-05T22:29:00.000-06:00

MMM....real sugar soda! Such a texture difference. Not syrupy. It is fake-o grape, but also with some real grape taste. It's a good combo. It's like a less syrupy non-alcoholic Manischewitz! And I should know as I drank some last night.

Apparently Frostie has been around since 1939. I think they've done pretty well.

New Holland Paleooza

2005-11-03T21:23:00.000-06:00

This was good but no great shakes. It's a little musty, and didn't smell great, but it had a good bitter finish. I would not order it again, but if it was this or Bud, of course I would take this!

Sprecher Ginger Ale

2005-11-03T21:10:00.000-06:00

Oh man, do not drink this:

Run far away! Now first, any ginger ale would pale in comparison to yesterday's amazing Cock N Bull. But this is just awful. The Sprecher website describes the ginger ale as "Our ginger ale is a sophisticated soda, pale in color and reminiscent of a light, sparkling chardonnay. Its complex flavor is very dry on the palate, combining the bite of ginger ale with a surprising hint of oak. A truly unique taste experience. Nothing like the ginger ale you are used to!"

Okay, chardonnay is good. This is not. This resembles an overly sweet faqke vanilla creme soda. There is some ginger and it burns near the end. If only that was the soda, this would be okay. I find oak in my soda not only to be surprising, but not welcome. This comes in a 16 oz. bottle. Why so much bad soda? The bottle emphasizes how spicy it is, but it really isn't that spicy--again more sweet and vanilla. It points out that it is "icy cool and spicy hot." I think this icy cool is somewhat apt, since the soda tastes like bad witergreen gum at the beginning.

BLEH! This is going down the drain.

Cock N Bull Ginger Beer

2005-11-02T23:26:00.000-06:00

Cock 'N' Bull Ginger Beer from Hopkins, MN is the best ginger ale I have ever drunk. I love it. it also comes with a Moscow Mule recipe ON THE BOTTLE! With drawings!! Way to one up those other companies who have them on the website. Cock 'n' Bull is the drunkard's friend! And it's named Cock 'n' Bull! It's an EXTRA ginger soft drink. I love it. Love it love it love it. Can I marry Cock n Bull Soda? Lalalalalala I love you CNB! Spicy spicy spicy hot. Oh you're so cute CNB! Look at you! I love you!

For future reference, all gentleman callers are more than encouraged to bring a case of Cock N Bull instead of flowers. Though I might spend hours just cooing at the bottles.

baumeister cherry, 2 Brothers Heavy Handed, Great Lakes, Dogfish

2005-10-28T13:10:00.000-05:00

I have drunk a lot this week!

first, Baumeister Cherry soda:

I liked it okay, it wasn't too sweet, but I would not drink it again, since it has an intense vanilla/cream soda side to it. It took me a really long time to finish it, as I hate vanilla, it was somewhat fakey cherry with a little real cherry in there. It is bright red!

2 Brothers Heavy Handed:

I was lucky enough to drink this from a cask. Oh boy is it tasty. Very hoppy, Bitter to the point of turning some people at the table away, but good good good.

Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald

This was a porter, and I was really in the mood for bitter IPAs this night, but it totally changed my mind. It was great. Very burnt coffee taste. Creamy, but not as filling as something like a Guiness. I will definitely have it again, and I don't drink porters that often.

Great Lakes Nosferatu:

is a stock ale, which apparently means it can last a long time. It's a red, which is one of my favorites usually, but I did not like it really. It was drinkable but it smelled REALLY bad. Like bad yeast and vinegar. The beer itself was not too sour, and it did not smell like the beer tasted. In fact, I thought this beer tasted better in the bottle, where you could not smell it. In the bottle it tasted like any average red, but it was more bitter and yeasty in the glass.

Dogfish India Brown Ale (IBA):

I was excited about trying this, as I love Dogfish, I love IPAs and I like experiments. I had heard this talked up a lot on the Craft Beer Podcast, so I was excited. Browns usually leave me cold, as I think "alright, it's not light, it should have some flavor" but it always just seems like a stronger version of pilsner. It's always lacking any hoppiness, and so I get all excited that it's going to be tasty and then nothing. Not bad, but just nothing. So the IBA should be perfect right? To me it just tasted a little better than a regular brown. Maybe I'll try it again.

High Energy Concentrated Water?

2005-10-25T11:09:00.000-05:00

Concentrated Water? Just add water to make...water?

I love this "science":
"Ordinary drinking water can't effectively hydrate because it contains many large clusters of H20 molecules that don't get inside your cells. Today's water supply has lost most of the beneficial "energetic properties" that assist cellular hydration. This is due to widespread pollution, unnatural water treatment and other man-made factors."

Rogue Brown and Founder's Red Rye

2005-10-24T15:53:00.000-05:00

Hazelnut Brown Ale

Generally, I think brown ales are not flavorful enough. This was bitter and very nutty, but still brown, which I am not terribly excited about.

Founder's Red Rye

Good! Very bitter esp. for a Red! As per my tastes in beer, it was great! I had it on tap, but I have read in the bottle the yeast settles.

I had a couple of others, but both of these are over 7% so, I think a fair assessment is impossible! :)

Barritts Pineapple Bermuda Stone Ginger Beer

2005-10-19T22:48:00.000-05:00

It may appear that I only try beverages with long, long names. But this turned out well. First, Barritts is another specialty beverage that encourages its usage with alcoholic beverages. So much so, they have many recipes on their website. They also include many thoughts on the Moscow Mule which is one of my favorite drinks. Not only that, they have a blog about their beverage! Who doesn't love that!?

All of this has little to do with the beverage though. As previously stated, I love spicy ginger ale. This one is not too spicy, but more peppery than "ow my tongue." When I first tasted it I honestly tasted no pineapple. The drink was still good just not pineappley. If anything, I would say it's just sweeter than your average ginger ale. But then, 1/3 of the way through the bottle, I could distinctly taste the pineapple. It was quite good. I have some of their regular ginger ale which I hope to try soon. The back of the bottle states that the drink is "Unerstated British elegance coupled with the exotic island flavor of Bermuda." Wow, classy. As opposed to many of the untasty beverages we have all been drinking recently, this is recommended!

taisun peach juice

2005-10-15T19:55:00.000-05:00

do not be fooled. this is not peach juice. it is peach juice DRINK. with a lot of fructose and sugar. the combo of super sugary fake drink and real peach go really poorly together. BLECH!

Cripple Creek Dream Lode Golden Ginger Ale

2005-10-11T19:58:00.000-05:00

Apparently today is wordy beverages day. Cripple Creek Dream Lode Golden Ginger Ale doesn't exactly roll off the tongue! The full name of the company is the "Cripple Creek Cow Mountain Gold Mining Company." Shecriminy! I am all for olde timey western stylee (it's olde, so it has an extra e on the end). The weird part about it is that it is from Warrenville, IL which the last time I checked was not the wild west. Although I have noted that 'round these IL parts people are really into the wild west. Like Colorado. I find that funny.

Anyway about the beverage.The website mentions that it uses real ginger and I would say that's what characterizes this drink. It's not that sweet, and it doesn't have that much spiciness. It's more ginger in some soy-ginger sauce than ginger in a gingersnap. It almost has a dirty root type taste. That makes this sound awful, but it's not bad.

However, I would pass this up for most any other ginger ale. Perhaps it's the fact that I have brainwashed by BigSoda, but I like more pungent ginger flavor which might possibly be fake.

Ol' Bob Miller's High Desert White Grape Soda Part Deux

2005-10-11T19:34:00.001-05:00

Earlier, Eric dissed Ol' Bob Miller's High Desert White Grape Soda.

I had a bottle myself and tried it last night. While I was saddened by the idea that it was not white grape flavored but regular grape flavored, I otherwise thought it was great. It is both "light in taste and clear in color" in the GOOD WAY.

Let me explain. I prefer sugar free soda. While I looooooove grape soda, it almost never comes in diet. So every time I get a grape soda craving, I have some and immediately I can feel a layer of sugar/corn syrup on my teeth. It sort of lessens the joy of the grape soda. This, although not diet, was not too sugary and didn't bring the teeth film. It was not cloying or too sweet but very refreshing.

And any soda that comes with alcoholic drink instructions is right by me.

blackberry izze

2005-10-05T22:27:00.000-05:00

We both tried this. It is the best of the Izzes, which makes it the world's tallest midget. There's still the annoying citric acid taste, but it's lesser. It's sweeter and tastes like actual fruit. And sort of like jam. In a good way. I would drink it again even. MAYBE.

Cherry Fresca and Island Fruit 7UP Plus

2005-10-05T22:14:00.000-05:00

black cherry fresca should be a great drink for me: I love diet, I love grapefruit sodas, and above all I love black cherry. I was excitable when Eric mentioned he had some of this for me. Perhaps it was this dramatic leadup which made it fall a little flat. Now don't get me wrong--I like this beverage. It could have just been so much more.

It's black cherry is more the flavor of "red" than cherry or black cherry. The grapefruit is unnoticeable. I did note it made me pee quicker than most sodas and it seemed more carbonated. This being said, there is also a peach version out that I can't wait to try.

I have also been nursing a bottle of 7UP Island Fruit:

I am also a big fan of juice and soda combos, but the original 7UP Plus left me cold, despite its promises to put the "Yum in Calcium." I do love the idea of "healthy" soda as well. So why have I been putting off reviewing this? Well number one, I think it's tasty but it reminds me of something and I can't tell what. First it is mangoriffic. It also has a photo of a pineapple on the container. It does have a bit of pineappley at the end. This, unlike the other 7UP Plus tastes like actual juice. I love it even though this shouldn't be my favorite of the bunch. I have cherry 7UP, but I haven't tried it yet. I expect big things.

Barritts' Ginger Beer

2005-10-03T09:54:00.000-05:00

This Ginger Beer was awesome! So many ginger beers I've had have been the beverage equivalent of an atomic fireball--a awful lot of heat and burning sensations in your mouth an throat, but a very simple flavor. In the case of atomic fireballs, that flavor is simple cinammon and the sensations are localized on your lips and tongue. In the case of gingerbeer, it is ginger, and the sensations are localized in your throat. In the Barritts version of ginger beer, the plesant tingling in my throat was accompanied by a strong ginger flavor, but enriched with all kinds of other tropical flavors. This beverage was totally refreshing, and I'm gonna buy a case if I get the chance.

Bum Wine!

2005-09-25T18:47:00.000-05:00

Bum Wine!
Originally uploaded by jennybento.

Post party bumwine roundup!

Bumwine Celebration and Tasting

2005-09-25T18:45:00.000-05:00

Fridge
Originally uploaded by jennybento.

Last night about ten people and I had a bumwine tasting. It was under the strictest of scientific conditions. This here is a photo of my fridge beforehand, filled with cookie dough and booze. We began with the lowest alcoholic content booze, Boone's Farm. We had Sun Peak Peach and Mango Grove at 5% alcohol. Everyone enjoyed these. They are quite tasty. I would drink them again, BY CHOICE.

Second up was Frutezia "Sunshine Blend" at 6% alcohol. According to the website, it's pronounced "Fruit-Easy-Ahhh" which is about the stupidest thing I have ever heard. The consensus was while this wine was good, it was not as great as the Boone's. At this point we were cocky and thought some of these wines would be "tolerable." We thought this wine tasted like peach skins.

Next up was the traditional Manischewitz at 11% alcohol. I had had it before and everyone thought it was tasty, though much sweeter than the other varieties. I saw on the website that they have blackberry and cherry, which I would definitely try. I had some Manischewitz sno-cone and it was pretty tasty.

Next, we made a grave error. Mistaking the percentages, I thought Thunderbird at 17.5% alcohol was next. So we tried it. I believe this is the worst beverage I have ever ever tried. Apparently, it turns your mouth and lips black but no one really drank enough of it to find out. Almost everyone found Thunderbird to be TRULY horrid except one person who thought it tasted much like cooking wine. While it did taste very very vaguely of marsala, I thought it was more like rubbing alcohol. Seriously that is not an understatement. If you need to clean metal or dress a wound, I would go for T-bird.

This brought some sadness to the crowd, especially since, due to packaging, someone posited the theory that Night Train is actually T-bird with food coloring. The troops were not interested in more Thunderbird. I theorized that Night Train was supposed to be served Very Cold whereas Thunderbird was just supposed to be served cold. Clearly, they could not be the same! :)

Thankfully they are NOT the same. While Night Train is by no means GOOD, it is vaguely related to a fruit product and has some flavor which covers up the rubbing alcohol. At this point several people mentioned that they were well on the way to making out and there was far more of everyone touching each other.

Next up, someone realized that we had skipped over the 13% MD 20/20. Ah back to the naive world of fruit flavors! During this exciting journey back to tasty beverages we had a smoke break. We entreated my neighbors to drink some Mad Dog with us, which no one really took us up on. At this point most people were pretty happy drunk. We got to this point pretty fast, and I was pouring much larger "samples" of the tastier wines. We started off with MD Red Banana. While I did not love the banana flavoring, it was pretty tasty. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, and it was the only bottle that was emptied. I think that means it officially wins.

The second MD was Peaches and Cream. I really liked it, and everyone else seemed to as well. Both of the MDs were sweet, thicker, and not cloying. The peach was very jolly rancher-esque. At this point, many people began to feel hungover. Many people complained of a headache.

Sadly, we had to forge ahead to the 18% alcohols. Everyone had high hopes for Cisco "Dessert" Wine. No one in their right mind would confuse this for dessert wine. The strawberry was like licking a Stawberry shortcake doll. Others seemed to enjoy it but complained of a "burning" sensation after drinking it. I did not feel the burning and quickly moved onto berry, as I felt it would taste better. It was more of the very sweet, extremely fake berry flavoring, but again, no burning. All Ciscos clearly have the rubbing alcoholy taste, and smelled like cough syrup. But I was unprepared for the blue raspberry. It was so foul. It was as if they chose to make a flavor reminiscent of fruit in general, but not any actual fruit in specific.

Cisco was a big letdown, since Bumwine.com had basically said it made people psychotic. It has "THIS IS NOT A WINE COOLER" listed on its packaging because people were dying because they drank it like a wine cooler. I do not know how anyone can confuse this with a wine cooler. I have had few wine coolers, but generally I feel like they taste more like soda than alcohol. Cisco is clearly alcohol, and maybe not the alcohol you are supposed to drink.

Finally was the Wild Irish Rose. White was Thunderbirdesque but a bit fake fruitier. Finally there was Wild Irish Rose Red which had more flavor (grapey) to cover up the Thunderbirdyness.

At this point everything began slowing down. No one was quick to action. It wasn't so much that they were drunk as paralyzed. I was expecting more rowdy violent drunkeness, but everythign after the MD made people lethargic. At this point 5 people ended up in my bed, but in a sleepy way, not a sexy one. Many plans to go places and do things were concocted but no one could really get up except the person who drank the majority of the Mad Dog.

No one seemed very drunk at this point, just tired. Basically bumwine seems to be potent, but if you can't drink much of it because it's so bad, that doesn't count for much. Most people probably drank about a half a bottle of wine (over 13 kinds of wine) over five hours, so by the end everyone was pretty much already hungover.

With liberal water drinking though, no one seems to be feeling badly this morning. There is some regret for lost time, a vague sense of sleepiness, but not much pain.

You can now begin your conspiracy theories about bumwine being a CIA plot to make the homeless docile.

Bottles from emptiest to fullest at the end of the party:
MD Red Banana
Manischewitz
Frutezia
Boone's Farm Peach
Boone's Farm Mango
Thunderbird (I guess people could not believe how awful it was)
Night Train
MD Peach
Cisco Strawberry
Wild Irish Rose Red
Wild Irish Rose White
Cisco Berry
Cisco Blue Raspberry.

My personal best to worst:
Boone's Peach
Boone's Mango
MD Peach
Manschewitz
Fruitezia
Night Train
Wild Irish Rose Red
Cisco Berry
Cisco Strawberry
Cisco Blue Raspberry
Wild Irish Rose White
Thunderbird

(although those last five are all so distasteful in different ways, it's had to say)

Basically, if you have three dollars, I would either go for 2 bottles of boone's or one bottle of MD. They will get you equally messed up and are quite tasty. Also probably good on ice cream and sno cones! The others would be good for catching fruit flies.

Cherry Limeade

2005-09-25T17:45:00.000-05:00

Cherry Limeade
Originally uploaded by jennybento.

And here you can see how ruly red the limeade is, and why I suspect it's claims as "natural."

Cherry Limeade

2005-09-25T17:43:00.000-05:00

Cherry Limeade
Originally uploaded by jennybento.

Here's the bottle closeup on the cherry limeade....and my skirt.

Hazed and Confused APA and Dogfish IPA 60

2005-09-24T17:43:00.000-05:00

Hazed and Confused was just how I like it--hoppy and bitter and creamy. Sadly I can't use that for a metaphor of how I like my men. I have had a few beers from this place (they have very distinctive bottles) but I can't find a photo of it. It's got a very creamy head. It's super great.

I also had a bottle of 60 minute Dogfish IPA. I love Dogfish IPA and it's pretty much one of my favorites. I think the 90-minute and 120-minute are much much better. They are hard to find though. I like 120-minute the best, but I do like 60 as well. I hope to try their other Pale Ales soon.

Augsburger Oktoberfest + Berghoff Pilsner

2005-09-24T17:34:00.000-05:00

I went to a friend's house to watch the WWE and thought I should bring some beer. She generally drinks the Honey Brown so I was looking around and saw this Augsburger Oktoberfest. It was quite reasonably priced so I tried it. Oktoberfests are supposed to be darker than this was. It was more pilsner-lagery (official term). It was quite light. I have not drunk a pilsner on purpose in quite some time as the midwestern beer scene is pretty much all miller light and this has turned me off to lighter beers. But I was happily surprised. It was great.

I also had a Berghoff Pilsner. This was similarly tasty and light, however it was more watery than the Augsburger and just generally not as flavorful. Both made me reconsider the Pilsner!

Ol' Bob Miller's High Desert White Grape Soda

2005-09-22T18:34:00.000-05:00

The website advertises this particular offering from Ol' Bob Miller's Wild West Drinks as being "light in taste and clear in color." Well, they're right, it's just not in a good way. When purchasing this, I was expecting a flavor more like that of green grapes, after all, it's called white grape soda, and green grapes are also called white. Unfortunately, the term 'white' refers to the appearance of this soda, not the flavor. It is just plain ol' fake grape flavor, but dilute, and uncolored. Refreshing, yes. Novel, not really. Another disappointing beverage.

Musings in regards to the mixing of sodas

2005-09-20T23:17:00.002-05:00

This past weekend, I went to visit Jenny, and as you might expect, I took a lot of beverages along with me. We ate at a restaurant that had fountain beverages available, and I dispensed myself a big cup of Mountain Dew Code Red to thoroughly caffeinate myself for the long drive home. I must have moved my cup in an odd manner, because Jenny asked me if I was mixing sodas. I was not, but instantly wondered what a Mt Dew + Code Red combination would be like. I drank half the code red, and then Jenny filled the cup with Mountain Dew Standard Flavor.

In a turn of events that no one could have predicted, the combination turned out to be nearly tasteless. I found this odd. I can still remember when I was introduced to "the Suicide," the mixed drink that results from a squirt of soda from each nozzle on the fountain. It was a truly synergistic effect. Each soda on its own had its merit, coke, sprite, orange, root beer, etc. But, when combined, the mix tasted more like the platonic ideal of soda than each of the sodas individually. The suicide accesses a higher plane of existence, as far as sodas go. Thus my disappointment with the mix of Mt. Dews. Perhaps this is telling though. In trying to find the essence of mountain dew, I found merely sweet carbonated water.

Vitamin Water

2005-09-20T11:18:00.000-05:00

Glaceau's*** vitamin water is a real toss up for me. I do love the formula-50 and focus. The name "Vitamin Water" sounds like it would be bad, but in fact it is their OTHER line, "Fruit Water" which is really the loser. I totally buy into these little smart, snappy paragraphs they have on the side of the drink. I sometimes think that if more products would just put compelling writing on their container (like cereal) I would eat them too. Anyway, vitamin water comes in great bright colors and fruitwater is clear. And bad. So bad.

I got the peach. I love everything peach. This drink smelled great! I thought it was going to be awesome.

In fact, it tastes like water. I know you think I am an idiot right now, but if vitamin water is full of tasty flavor, you'd think FRUIT water would be bursting. I could have taken this drink were it just water. But in fact it tastes like very very very watered down sun tan lotion. It has a completely bizarre coconut flavor. The bottle and Glaceau website mention how "natural" and "unsweetened" this beverage is, which makes it all the more ironic that it tastes like an inedible beach product with fake flavoring.

***Heads up on the Glaceau website. There is nudity. Old woman nudity. Not work appropriate!

Hogue Gewurtz

2005-09-18T20:44:00.000-05:00

I love Hogue wineries. When I lived in Oregon, I bought Hogue table wine pretty much every week or so. It was the standard. So I was excited to try this one.

It was just eh. Not sweet enough to my liking, kinda spicy, but not really. Sorta bland. It did not move me. Eric did seem to like it though. More info on it here

It did come with a screw cap which I love because 1. you can close it easily and 2. I hate getting corks out and 3. it gives me an opportunity to school someone about CORK TAINT which is fun to say.

Market Pantry (Target Store Brand) Cherry Limeade

2005-09-18T20:27:00.000-05:00

Target's store brand is apparently "Market Pantry." We bought the "non-carbonated cherry limeade naturally flavored water beverage" at Target this weekend. And let me tell you, a long, long name always indicated quality. First, the beverage is flavored by only Splenda and Ace-K. Also, it mentions it is "naturally flavored" but in reality it is BRIGHT RED. This seems like, well, a bad lie. But I gave it a try. I have to say first off that this drink would be amazing if it WERE carbinated. It's lack of carbonation seems weird when you try it, as if it has gone flat. It is both a little too watery and a little too sweet. I don't think it tastes very "diet" drinky but I am a bad judge of this. It tasted more like real lime than real cherry. It tastes remarkable like Sonic cherry limeade.

Photos to come...

Izze is SO CRAP

2005-09-16T11:20:00.000-05:00

Now often, Eric and I do not agree on beverages. He loves vanilla and creme. I'd rather eat dirt. But he bought some Izzes and I was jealous. Mmmm fruit juice and soda--it's a combination I don't get so often now that I don't buy the majority of my soda from a cafeteria.

So last night, at dinner, I bought the Izze Pomegranate.

I know that pomegranate is the new black, or whatever, but I have always loved it. Pomegranates are a huge family tradition and I love them. So I was pretty excited.

This tasted more like cranberry. I love cranberry as well (see, Cape Cod!). I would say I am very very pro-sour, to the point where the people at the Chinese restaurant I frequent are suprised that I am American and love sour so much. This was sour bad. It did not help that the thing I ate it with was a Granny Smith apple, but it was still bad. I agree with Eric that it was also too sweet at the same time as being too sour. It did not really taste like real fruit at all. Maybe this is just all due to me being used to "fake cherry" and "fake orange" but not "fake pomegranate." This does not taste at all like pomegranate.

Izze Blueberry Sparkling Juice

2005-09-15T22:09:00.000-05:00

Izze Beverage Company

Well, this was disappointment in a bottle. Perhaps I was spoiled by the fresh-fruit flavors of the cherry and orange Hank's sodas, but when I see the word juice on a label, I expect a fruit flavor explosion. Izze was more of an acidic fizzle. Essentially, this stuff is assorted cheap base juices, like grape and apple, with a little blueberry flavoring, and apparently a whole lot of citric acid. Not much else to say. It's not that refreshing, it's simultaneously too sweet and too sour, and the flavor is not close enough to what is advertised. Blechy.

IPAs

2005-09-14T17:36:00.000-05:00

Well so far my posts have been all about my favorites. This is no exception. I have been on an IPA binge for months now. Last night I went to the Blind Pig (You should vote for them in this contest on my behalf. And yours if you are anywhere near CU). I had two IPAs which were quite strong in ABV. The first was the Titan IPA tap:

I liked it a lot, but I have little else to say about it, since I was mainly hanging out and less thinking about it. It is about 7% alcohol, so it got me a little snockered. It was a good basic IPA, and I know all the rate beer people are all over it, but I thought it was pretty basic. Very good, but pretty standard.

This did not prevent me from bravely moving on to another 7%er, the Three Floyds Alpha King:
. I have had this in the bottle and quite enjoyed it, but never had it on tap. I have to say that I liked it less on tap! It was too dark for an ipa--they're supposed to be pale, you know. Too much nutty, not enough hoppy!

Hank's Orange Cream Soda

2005-09-13T21:37:00.000-05:00

Hank's Beverages

Broad gave me a case of Hank's sodas for my birthday, and it contained three bottles each of Hank's Root Beer, Vanilla Cream, Black Cherry, and Orange Cream. Now that I've had a chance to sample each of the sodas, I have to say that the orange cream is amazing. Don't get me wrong, the other sodas are good. The root beer is pretty average, more toward the crisp, Barq's end of the spectrum than the cloying A&W end. The vanilla cream was good, but nothing special. The cherry was refreshing, sweet, and tasted more like real cherries (the fruit) than cherry flavoring (the flavor that always goes with FD&C Red #40). But the orange cream is where it's at. When you first sip, the orange flavor hits you. Like the cherry soda, it tastes more like the fruit than the artificial flavoring. This orange is a bit like the mandarin orange flavor. Goya markets a soda based on mandaring orange, but I digress. Then, as the soda fills your mouth, the gentle flavor of vanilla creeps up on you, mixing very well with the orange flavor. It seems that orange and vanilla just go well together. Upon swallowing, the light carbonation leaves a tingly sensation in your throat, not unlike the sensation of sucking on a real frozen creamsicle. Hank's has put creamsicle flavor in a bottle, and it is good.

Gewurtztraminer

2005-09-12T22:49:00.000-05:00

Eric (that other guy who "supposedly" writes on this blog) suggested that I try gewurtztraminer and he thought I would love it. In fact he is completely correct and now Gewurtz is my favoritest wine and pretty much all I buy. The first Gewurtz I ever had is still my favorite, the Fetzer "Valley Oaks" Gewurtz. I always thought of Fetzer as some sort of cheezy wine, and generally I never drink wine (I hate the red), but it was the only Gewurtz at the small liquor store I was at. it's really sweet--sweeter than most Gewurtzes I have tried (tho I have about 5 different bottles in the fridge right now to try). It is peachy and really really good with ginger/spicyness. I drink it with curries a lot, and I am drinking it with ginger candy now.

This evening it has also proven stunningly effective in fruit fly catching and extermination. Both drinking delight and entertainment. How can you pass that up?

Cape Cod

2005-09-10T20:59:00.000-05:00

It is decided, vodka cran (ne the cape cod) is my favorite mixed drink. i do not like that it is called the cape cod. i would like my favorite drink to have some cool name that really defined me, like one of my other favorite drinks, the moscow mule. I would like it to be racier like a sex on the beach or a slow comfortable screw or something. But there it is. I love the Cape Cod. I always feel shy about asking for a Cape Cod, because it conjures images of an old WASPy lady with a sweater over her shoulders. I usually say "vodka cran" but those rarely come with lime.

I have never been to Cape Cod, but I do enjoy their drink. My hometown of Chicago has a whole host of drinks I think I would hate, including the frozen chicago, Chicago Cocktail, and the Chicago Fizz. The most palatable drink I could find was the Chicago View. I find the Chicago drink selection much like actual Chicago-- the View is great, but the majority of life there is unpalatable.

So apparently I am a true East Coast Protestant, at least in my drink selection. All hail the Cape Cod.

Schlafly Raspberry Hefeweisen

2005-09-10T20:55:00.000-05:00

I don't usually like fruity beer, but I do love berries. My favorite berry beer is Leine's Berry Weiss. However, it tastes nothing like beer. This hefeweisen is quite the opposite. It tastes like a Berry Weiss and Hefeweisen together (Hey, why didn't I think of that?). I liked that, but then thought, "you know, i don't really want fruit in my beer, that's why I don't drink fruit beer." I will take my Berry Weiss which tastes nothing like beer when I want fruit and my hefeweisen when I want real beer. I did like this, and it's good. The problem is not with the Berry Hefeweisen. it's with me. I am hoping we could stay friends.