Day 37, Two beers: American Pale Ale 17 and Belgian White 4

So I have not been posting anything for a while now, and the reason is I have been tired of this. Not necessarily drinking beer, although it's just not the same when I have to do it, but mostly it's been this chore of writing about it. So here is a two-a-day post. By the way, happy birthday to me today! I am twenty-six and a few days ago found our that the little one brewing inside my wife's belly is a girl. I am excited to be a little girls daddy soon.

Before we go on talking about the beers, I want to take a short time and share some news in regards to my home brew stuff. I got a keg for $25 on craigslist and as i write this it is at Larry's Brewing Supply getting all fixed up into a nice boil kettle. By the way $25 is an amazing score, people are selling them for like $75. Today I scrubbed and cleaned 4 glass carboys and put two of them on craigslist, I recently decided to go with the plastic since I don't want to get cut up with shards of glass if one of these things brakes on me. Also today I am finally soaking some 85 self-capping (Grolsch-style) bottles that I bought for $40, that's less than 50 cents a bottle! They sell for like $2 each. I am very happy with how things are coming along, at this point my biggest purchases left are a chiller and a stove.

 

Ok now on to the beer.

The first one is the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Probably one of the widest distributed Pale Ales and it sure deserves it's popularity. This beer is tasty. I have already tried a Sierra Nevada beer for this blog, and in fact have had this particular beer before, but I still wanted to use it here. This is a very hoppy smelling beer and has a good hoppy bite. To be honest this is a strange Pale Ale, it is more amber in color and has the hops to pass for an IPA, but what ever you call it it is a good beer. I have realized this recently, and perhaps it's because of this tasting thing that I am doing, that style only goes so far in making a beer, but it is ok to miss the style as long as the beer turns out great.

On a 0-3 scale: 3! (for rating info see first tasting)

Would I buy it again: Yes often (:

Would I recommend to a friend: Yes, I can't think of anyone who wouldn't love it
What would I do different: Nothing, it's perfect, but I have yet to try it on tap

Beer two:

Issaquah Brewery White Frog Ale. This is a Belgian Wheat beer style and I got it for a deal at the Rogue Garage sale at the Issaquah Brew House which is owned by Rogue. Here are the ingredients listed on the bottle, tell me that doesn't sound delicious: Sterling Hops, Pilsen Malt, Wheat, Flaked Oats, Flaked Rye, Coriander, Sweet Orange Peal, Chamomile, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Ginger, Mountain Water and Belgian Witbier Yeast. Sounds like some delicious cake (:

This has a good head probably because of the wheat, and is yellow in color and cloudy. All those spices accumulate in to this amazing indescribable aroma. Just wanted to keep smelling it. This had a light drinkability, a good summer ale. Well balanced but there was just a little bit of a chemical aftertaste, I wonder how old this beer is as I did buy it at a garage sale (:

I have 8 more of those big bottles left of this stuff so if anyone want's to drop by for a tasting let me know. The cat wanted some, but she is only six months, so she couldn't have any.

On a 0-3 scale: 2 (for rating info see first tasting)

Would I buy it again: I think it is officially retired

Would I recommend to a friend: Yes, come try mine
What would I do different: I would like to try it fresh to see if that chemical taste is still there