I’ll Drink To That

There was a time I never drank any beer. That was around when I was 21 or 22 years old. Never really saw the excitement of it. Most of my friends who drank did it till they passed out or threw up in my car. Thank God for 24 car washes. But also financially not
buying any beer saves you a TON of money especially here in New York City. If you have been anywhere you know how pricey it can be. All of you have probably been to a club and ordered a Corona or whatever generic beer they had and came back to you asking $10 for a beer. You could buy a six pack of that same beer for that price. Even a “cheap” beer is costing you $5. And buying a beer will add an easy 20% to any meal you order one at.

                
I can pinpoint the time my attitude about beer changed. It was in 2006 on a trip to Toronto. My brother, cousins, and I stopped at Niagara Falls on the way there. It was around 10 at night and we found the one restaurant that was open on the Canadian side which was a Tony Roma’s. And when we sit down our waitress ask us if we want anything to drink and for whatever reason I look at the beer menu and pick what is now my favorite trash beer. That being Labatt Blue.

                
Now if you have never had a Labatt Blue know that it is what is known as a skunky beer. In other words it doesn’t smell all that great. Aroma-wise it isn’t going to get you to come back if you just base it on the smell. Also in terms of beer in Canada it would be like the Coors to Molson’s (which is the other major Canadian beer company) Budweiser.  So it’s pretty much water with a little hops in it. So flavor-wise you should not be expecting this amazing, refreshing beer. It’s strictly the beer you buy in an 18 pack cause you cannot afford a fancier, better tasting beer. Having said all that for whatever reason when the beer hit my tongue I felt like I tasted the nectar of the Gods. It just had this flavor that I just really enjoyed. I enjoyed so much I pounded that Labatt, and then quickly ordered two more (I wasn’t driving so I indulged a bit). And to this day it has remained one of my favorite beers. In a pinch I always have a couple chilling in the fridge.

                
The other moment was more recent. If you don’t know Youtube has a thriving beer review community. One day for whatever reason I stumbled upon a review by a gentleman named elharlock who reviewed a beer named TenFidy Imperial Stout by the Oskar Blues Company based in Colorado. You can check out the video below but this man would go on over the next ten minutes to say that it was one of the best beers he has ever had. His enthusiasm hooked me and I had to find this beer. It took a lot of digging on the internet to find any beer store that might carry it. Eventually I found a place in Glen Cove that carried it so of course I had to drag the Chef on my beer search for this elusive beer. But I got it and let me just say this is a really good beer. Let me just say that this is not a regular beer. First of all its alcohol content is 10% with average beers only clock in at 4%. It’s not even like similar stouts like Guinness which is the most well known of the stouts. This is a very powerful beer. It was strong enough that I got a buzz just from drinking one and I am no alcohol newbie. You should not have this if you just drink beer. This is for people who really enjoy beer and you are experienced in higher alcohol beers.

Since the TenFidy I have been trying many different beers and my palate has become more refined when it comes to tasting different flavors in the beers. For example you can have a beer like Young’s Double Chocolate stout which tastes exactly like it sounds like. I started out not liking stouts but have come to enjoy their rich flavors of chocolate and coffee notes. Yes I used to hate Guinness but now when I go out it’s usually my beer of choice.

                
When I first started drinking beers more regularly I was like everyone else and got the well known beers. Things like Corona, or Heineken are staples of many restaurants and bars. But once you have come to appreciate the different types of beers you find those no longer have any flavor at all. They are mostly water with some hops added to them. The only trash beer I am into is Coors and that has to do with my interest in the game of beer pong. I never played it much but when I began to play it somewhat regularly a couple of years ago (always I would play with my friends before a UFC event on PPV) Coors was always the beer of choice. For two reasons, one it was cheap and two it wasn’t Budweiser.

                
Recently I have gotten into Lagers of which Heiniken would be the most well known varieties of. In particular I have been having this lager called Batch #19 which you can get at your local Buffalo Wild Wings. It has a crisp flavor that never fails. Other beers you might enjoy are things like anything Samuel Adams produces. Samuel Adams is considered one of the best microbreweries out there and are highly rated by most beer ratings sites.

                
But one of my favorite things to do is to go to the beer distributor and just look and buy a random beer I’ve never had before. It is the easiest way you can expand your beer palate this side of going to a bar and buying a beer you’re not sure of. I found Young’s Double Chocolate stout at a local supermarket and bought it on a whim.

                
The other way to find different beers is to go to any number of bars available and check what might be on tap. The bars in the city often carry dozens of different beers and often include a great collection of local brews which you can try local flavors. This is how I wound up at Cask ‘n Flagon near Fenway Park before a Red Sox game. I stopped in and ordered a blueberry beer from a local brewery that was one of the many random beers written on the wall. Turned out to be a great beer with actual blueberry in it. I don’t know the name of the brewery but that is one of the great things about going to a bar and picking something off the wall. Sometimes you get a find that surprises you.

                
But other times it could blow up in your face. Not all beers are created equal. Sometimes you get real crappy beers. It just happens. One time I got this beer from the Magic Hat Company called Wacko. It was purple and the reason was it is made with ground up beets. And it tastes like beer with beets in it. It was probably a combination they should have stayed away from. It was awful. Probably the most horrible tasting beer I’ve had recently was from the Stone Brewing Company called Double Bastard Ale. I don’t even know how to describe the flavor except that it tasted like a really, really ugly gulp of dirty air. It was just brutally horrible. All I can say is if you are going to break up with someone and you want to punish them on that last break-up date you should feed this to them and really teach them a lesson.

                
But to end this blog on a stereotypical fashion all this talking has made me thirsty so I’m going to did a Labatt’s out of the fridge and enjoy some beery goodness. Cheers!

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I hated beer. HATED. Never liked it. Cringed when it was offered to me. And would order a ginger ale if there was nothing else to drink except beer and soda. It eventually got to a point where I would begrudgingly order a Corona if I really had to order something.

New Years Eve 2009 (2008 going into 2009), my cousin had invited me over to chill with her and her friends. But, I had received a very last minute invite by my (then) Bed Buddy to go out to some bar with him and his friends, and then stay over after. What do you think I chose? In the way of social media, Monday morning rolled around and there I was in the background of the Bed Buddy's photos, at the bar, with a Corona in my hand. (I had made up some excuse that I was probably staying home that night when I declined my cousin's invite.)

My cousin eventually calls me out on it, good naturedly. "You know, I can forgive that fact that you lied about what you were doing that night, but, Jesus Christ, I don't think I can get over the fact that you were drinking a fucking Corona!"

My cousin Lilia is a beer guru. She is MY beer guru. She knows her beer the way a somelier knows their wine. Her judgement is flawless, and she makes some of the best suggestions to people just starting to dip their toe into the pool of hops and barely.

Knowing my beer knowledge was limited to piss water with lime in it, we went to Croxeley's one weekend for 10 Cent Wing Sunday, and she suggested I try a Lindeman's Framboise. It came back to the table in a tall, thin glass, shining in all its scarlet glory. It looked like fruit punch, and tasted like fruit punch, too. I was hooked! I couldn't believe this was beer! (It was a Lambic, my cousin explained.) And it was a nice, safe, girly beer to get people like me to start to open their minds to Craft Beers. I mean, it doesn't taste like a beer at all.

From there, I had learned to love Stouts. Dark, rich, creamy, sweet Stouts. I liked how thick and filling they were. I could get away with just having one or two for the entire night, and feeling as though I had been drinking like everyone else who had 4 or 5. Young's Chocolate Stout was one of my favorite go-to's when I saw it on the menu of various bars. 

These were my two beers of choice. A Lambic or a Stout. Once the Bed Buddy became my Other, he opened my eyes to a different side of beer. He was a lover of good, quality craft beers, as well. And he had his favorites. I will forever think of him whenever I see the pink elephants of Delirium. I preferred the winter seasonal "Noel", and he liked the Tremens. He often tried a different variety of beer, letting me sample his various finds. Three Philosophers was another favorite of his, and I found that one to be just as tasty, although I still had my Lambic on hand for a Friday night of pizza and movies. I think one of the best things you can get out of a relationship is the exposure to things you normally wouldn't find yourself experiencing. That year was my year of "Firsts". I never liked beer, but I was out to prove to myself that I could be open to new experiences and I would embrace them no matter what. Lucky for me, I was with someone who liked a large variety of beer and knew what he was talking about. I could sample his drinks, without having to order an entire one for myself, which means I could taste a whole lot of new stuff without the stress of having to finish an entire glass. I can't pack away a ton of alcohol at once, and that was a serious perk dating someone else who could.

After he and I parted ways, I found myself in need of new beer companions. Not just ANY beer guzzlers. I wanted people who knew their beer, wouldn't mind educating my growing beer database, and were just fun people to drink with. Enter Steve from Craft Beers and Brews. There were two beer meetup groups I found on meetup, but Steve won me over with his over-the-top energetic personality and just the general fun vibe of his group.

After a tour of Breukelen Distilling in Sunset Park, our huge group walked over to Park Slope to a bar called Mission Delores. What an awesome spot!!! There, if not by the grace of the Gods, I discovered The Night Stalker by Goose Island. It was a Cask special, and it was served in a small bourbon glass. After one sip, I discovered why. Oh. My. Beer. Gods. It was heaven in my hand. So thick. So luscious. Drinking this cask brew was like sipping from the fountains of everlasting pleasure. If you have never experienced the Bourbon Stouts of Goose Island, no words I string together will ever describe them sufficiently. Night Stalker takes beer to an entirely new level of enjoyment. I have only had it one other time since Mission Delores. It was not from a cask. And it was served in a rather tall glass, and my ass was thoroughly spanked by this strong brew, but nothing beats the first taste...from a cask, no less! Night Stalker will forever have my heart in its pocket. 

Since my days of pushing a lime into my Corona bottle, I have found myself a tried and true beer snob. Even my cousin Lilia will guzzle cheap beer for the sake of a drinking game or beer pong, but I will not. I refuse to waste the calories or the stomach space on unrefined, unartistic, and unworthy brews. It's gotten to the point where I know Goose Island has been bought by AB, and I wonder how the quality will remain the same without the master brewer on staff any longer, and the production being hauled out of Illinois to upstate NY? I know that most people in my beer group (including my guru Steve) find Delirium over-hyped. I know now that if I walk in and order a Young's Chocolate Stout, I lose a couple of points as a craft beer connoisseur because I'm drinking dessert beer out of a bottle instead of a fresh, craft beer temporarily available from the tap. 

I seek out the specialties. I want what isn't normally available. I want the smaller breweries to win me over with some strange, unfamiliar taste on my tongue via hops and barely. The bitterness I often turned my nose up at before, is now the unique quality I try to find. I don't waste my time on blondes or pale brews, even if that's what people should drink during the summer. I want the dark, robust punch in the face that a heavy beer packs; even though it's out of season when the weather warms up. 

Don't get me wrong. I still love my sweet beers. On my first date with the gentleman I'm seeing now, I must have downed 4 or 5 raspberry Lambics that Burp Castle had on tap. It was a first date. I didn't want to get toasted, and a Lambic will leave my mouth sweet and fruity- ready for that first kiss. (Take notes, ladies!) When I want to eat something spicy like wings on 10 Cent Wing Night at Croxeley's, I've found myself ordering hard ciders. Who knew? 

When J and I re-kindled our friendship again a few years ago, I realized he was a kindred spirit when it came to the yeasty spirits. He has his own flavor profiles that he seeks out, and I have mine, but what fun we have trying to get the other one to enjoy what we're having. It's a mutual respect that we have for one another, even if we don't always see eye to eye on everything. And that always makes the trip to Croxeley's so much fun!

When my friends who are new to brews ask me what they should get, and I know they have a sweet tooth, I know where to point them towards, and 8 times out of 10, I haven't been wrong. I have come a LONG way since my "I'll just have a ginger ale, please" kinda days! I go out now, scan the menu, pick my brew, and I know I would do my cousin proud. My palate is happy, and I am satisfied that I have embraced something that my younger, ignorant self never would have thought I could love.

Corona? HA! Never again!!!! (Unless I needed something light to hydrate a dry chili!)