Beers That Keep You Warm (and put hair on your chest)

So, over the holidays, my brother and I tried some various seasonal/winter/christmas brews. I have always been a sucker for these kinds of beer because they remind me of all the things I love about Christmas plus Beer. I had a few that were good and some that were awful, the Abita one tasted rough, but overall it was not my favorite year for seasonal/winter/christmas brews.

Since I was a lazy beer drinker then and chose not to post my opinions of them, I decided to ask you dear reader what you favorites are. I want to know what your favorite christmas time beer is this year, last year, or year after year. Feel free to speak upon the bad ones too. And for the record, Highland Cold Mountain Winter Ale reminded me most of Christmas.
And here is the rest of it.

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Cold and Drunk in Richmond

I recently assisted my girlfriend on an excursion to Richmond.  We arrived around 9:30 at our hotel in downtown and found nothing to do in the building.  So what do you do when it is 20 degrees outside but nothing to do in your hotel?  Well, my most awesome girlfriend had already researched the nearest pub (she doesn't like beer, so she is extra awesome).  At only two and a half blocks away from the hotel, The Capital Ale House was a worthy excursion despite the temperature.

The Capital Ale House is pretty damn impressive.  Now, maybe I'm just saying this because in the land of banking that is Charlotte, NC (my hometown) there are not a lot of places to try a lot of beer.  In Charlotte we have the always wonderful Flying Saucer, but they built out by the university and the amount of driving to get there kills me.  Then there's Hotel Charlotte and Smokey Joe's, but I'm not sure if they reach the unseen variety that I found at the Capital Ale House.  You see, CAH (oh yeah, abbr.) has over 300 beers ranging from a healthy selection of Ales, Porters, Stouts, IPAs, cask beer, and pure awesomeness.  These are beer's I have never seen elsewhere, well maybe at the Brickstore Pub in Decatur, GA, but not in Charlotte.

So onto the beer menu.  What follows is not exactly reviews of the beers but just an idea of what I tried.

Tommy Knocker - Maple Nut Brown - Not bad for a starter ale but a little light for my taste.

Starr Hill - Jomo Lager - Described on the menu as an almost nonexistent hop presence.  B.S.  Good stuff but hoppy.  Also, not at all like an Oktoberfest which I tend to think of as a malty beer.  Lagers aren't malty like an Oktoberfest.  This was a little closer to a Pilsner in taste.

Beer #3 - I don't remember.

Victory - Storm King Cask Stout - My first foray into a cask beer.  I have had Storm King before but never on tap or like this.  The head was so much creamier, I assume this was due to the pumping of the beer.  Hell if I know but it was delicious.
So when in Richmond, Va. try this place.  They serve a hella good onion soup too!

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Mistaken Identity - McSorley's Ale Review (Sort of)

Back in the day, before I had graduated grade school, and before microbrews had taken over the American beer market, there were beers that had a case of mistaken identity. One, for example, was Killian's Irish Red. Everyone's favorite Irish beer other than Guinness, was known as a slightly smokey Irish Red Lager,not ale as the original recipe calls for, that you could always count on when you didn't want a German beer. But wait a second, Killian's was made in Ireland right? Wrong! Coors brewed it based on an old recipe.

So today, I see a beer that sounds interesting: McSorley's Ale, "brewed with the Irish Spirit." Okay, so I understand that this flat out means it ain't brewed there but come on. On the packaging, it says New York, USA. On the bottle it says Wilkes-Barre, PA. So what's going on here? Well... McSorley's is an Ale House that has been in business in Manhattan since 1854. It has a wonderful storied history that was chronicled in 1943 by New Yorker Magazine writer Joseph Mitchell. McSorley's Beer Ale has been made since the inception of the 'Old Ale House,' as far as I could tell. More after the jump!

Now, the bar (kind of a tourist trap) still serves the brew but you can't really classify it as an American classic. It is, but unlike Budweiser or any of the famous American blue collar beers still brewed today, this thing has switched so many hands that I don't know what to call it (it's now brewed by Pabst). The beer is less Irish than it thinks it is. The taste is like a hoppier version of a cream ale. Thankfully, it isn't as creamy as Genny Cream, but that still doesn't necessarily save it. It used to be manufactured as McSorley's Cream Stock Ale, but is now simply know as McSorley's. I'm not exactly sure how a beer can become famous and recognized when the name on it doesn't refer to the brewer but the only bar that ever served the stuff.

Is it good? You bet! It has a bit of the macrophlegm that you get from cheaply produced beers like High Life and PBR, but it has much more depth in flavor than those. But they are session beers and this isn't.

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Duvel: Belgium

For anyone who has only experienced American beers, here is a little intro into Belgian beer: For a country about the size for Connecticut, they have approximately 125 breweries. Can I get an 'Amen.'

Duvel is a Belgian Ale meant to be served in a fancy schmancy Duvel ale glass. However, seeing as I didn't have one and wasn't going to purchase one, I went with a stemless red wine glass from Crate & Barrel(I already owned one). This type of glass still allowed me to swirl the beer, smell it, and chug enjoy.

The first thing I noticed was the wonderful champagne-like head on the beer. Being an idiot, I'm sure this came from the bottle conditioning, but none the less, gave the beer a wonderful first sip. The aroma was much different than the taste. With a slightly hoppy and sweet aroma, I expected something along the lines of a Paulaner Munichen but was surprised. The taste was slightly sweet with notes of spice(cloves and such). It was also wonderfully crisp.

Rating 8.5/10

Enjoy!

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