In preparation for Tina’s NYE Party, I needed to buy some beverages for the evening. Though I could have gone with one of my stand-bys such as Newcastle or Killian’s, I decided to do some research on great beers.

I went no farther than RateBeer.com, a fabulously extensive site of beer ratings. Specifically, I checked their Top Accessbile Beers list. In contrast to a literal Top Beers list, the beers listed among their Top Accessible Beers need to have a certain minimum of reviews — in other words, they may not be micro-micro brews, but beers you’d actually have a chance of finding.

I copy-n-pasted the list into my Palm Vx and made my way to Central Market. I’ll be honest — accessible or otherwise — I hadn’t even heard of any of the beers in the top 10. Nonetheless, one of my goals was to find a top-10 beer for the evening.

Central Market actually had an even better selection than I remembered. They had Fullers (both Fullers London Porter and Fullers ESB), Samuel Smiths Oatmeal Stout, and Duvel. However, my eyes widened when I discovered that they had Ayinger Celebrator Doppelbock.

Ayinger Celebrator Doppelbock is no ordinary beer — it’s rated #1 on the list. According to RateBeer, it’s in the 99.6^th percentile of beers and was priced as such ($14 per 6-pack). Some excerpts from the reviews:

Excellent brew. Very complex flavoring, with layers revealing themselves long after you've taken a swig. Medium body, not too dark, and very tasty (a little sweet, malty with some molasses and fruitiness) without overwhelming the palate. Very easy drinking, this is an absolute classic and is a must-have for my friends and family now at ANY celebration. […]

The aroma permeates the nose with raisins, vanilla, roastiness, coffee, chocolate and numerous other small things come to mind. The Celebrator pours a beautiful dark dark brown with slight hints of dark ruby seen in the light...and it head was minimal at most, though mildly creamy for the first sip or two. The carbonation is the true key here and Ayinger has captured the magic of little bubbles tickling the tongue in just the right manner. The taste is of major roastiness...coffee and mocha are apparent, but definitely something fruity and lambic like...extremely complex and thats why im digging it so much as i drink and write this. It has a nice acidic, dry ending with those subtle hops doing their part leaving a sweet malty aftertone and an extremely happy palate. […]

Dark,dark,mahogany with a creamy, pillowy head. Strong, rich, aromas of raisins, german malts, fruit. Silky,somewhat spritzy mouthfeel. Perfect carbonation. Fruity,sweet,toastiness in the mouth. Such a subtle hop/smokey finish. Vinous, smoke also appear in the aroma, after breathing. Dark fruit flavors and strong malt take over the mouth and some strong malt presence in the finish develops as well. For the strength and richness this go down easy as can be. The best doppelbock I have had. […]

At the party, I made sure to pour the Celebrator into a mug so that I could fully appreciate its color — which turned out to closely resemble coffee. There was a nice fluffy head to to it, but the beverage itself was amazing. It had a somewhat malty flavor and strong presence, while not one to overpower the palette. It remained very drinkable, and I could have sipped it all evening (which I did, in this case).

Considering its price, I probably won’t be buying Celebrator Doppelbock in the near future. However, I would consider it among my Top 5 favorite beers and I won’t hesitate in buying some for another special occasion.

PS Sorry Tina, I just had to write about this one ;). (at the party, she had been kidding me about writing a blog entry on the Celebrator Doppelbock)

Last night, I went to the Slashdot Meetup for Dallas. It was held at the Dave & Buster’s just down Walnut Hill (not the one near Walnut Hill and 75).

The plan, from e-mail discussions with people from the last Slashdot Meetup was to meet at Dave & Buster’s, but then to go somewhere (cheaper) from there.

It was scheduled to start at 7pm, and I actually got there around 7:07pm (oops). I was concerned that maybe the group had left for the new-restaurant without me, but they hadn’t. Oddly enough, instead of the about-ten people from last time, there were just three people this time around (myself included).

We waited in the entrance-area just in case there were any more late-comers. By around 7:30pm, I suggested that we head-out to the new-restaurant. For some reason, one guy (Dave, I think his name was) was reluctant to do so. I believe his words were “I’d be real hesitant to leave, in case anyone were to still show up”.

Firstly, I thought it was a bit odd that he thought more people may be showing up, even though it was 7:30pm at that point. Secondly, though, I thought it was especially odd that he used the phrasing “real hesitant” instead of the more straight-forward “I would prefer…”.

The three of us had no interest in the arcades, but agreed that some food would be good. So, we found a table for ourselves. Chad (the non-Dave guy of the three) had some chicken nuggets before coming to the Meetup, so he just ordered a Bass. As it turned out, Dave and I also ordered a Bass each.

For food, Dave ordered a Double-Double Cheesburger-Cheeseburger (or something equally cheesily named) which was described as having two beef patties and a slice of American cheese on each. I ordered their Cheese Buster Burger — esentially the single-patty version of Dave’s order. As written in the menu, it included American cheese, which I generally despise (I consider American cheese to be the Microsoft of cheeses).

I asked our waitress whether I could get a different cheese, and she confirmed that I could get jack, swiss, blue cheese, and a few others. I elected for the blue cheese (especially as it was crumbled blue cheese). I asked whether the burger came with fries and, sure enough, it did. I’m trying to reduce (though not eliminate) my carb intake, so I asked whether I could substitute the fries for something else; but all the alternatives were high-carb items as well (rice, baked potato, and so on). So, I just stuck with the fries with the compromise that I’d eat about half of them.

Our food arrived shortly, and my blue cheese was conveniently on-the-side in a small aluminum shot-sized cup. From there, I proceeded to dump all of it onto the patty, along with the tomato slice that was also on the side. With a dollop of ketchup, my burger was compete.

I wish I could say that it was a great burger, but it actually wasn’t. Unlike an ideal burger with loosely packed ground-beef, this burger was very dense. It was almost as if the chef-droid in the kitchen had been flattening and compressing my burger with his spatula at every opportunity. On top of that, the burger wasn’t all that hot either. A good burger should just be on the cusp of burning one’s mouth, but this one was merely extra-warm.

Don’t get me wrong — the burger was tasty enough such that I would accept it if someone were to buy one for me. However, I don’t think I’d order one again from Dave & Buster’s.

Through searching for more information on Michelob Ultra, I came across this page of the Best Macro Beers. That’s right — not the usual battle-of-the-micro-brews, but Macro Beers this time.

Not too surprisingly, Michelob Ultra isn’t anywhere on the list (though a few other Michelob brews are, which would explain the search-engine hit). In fact RateBeer’s reviews of Michelob Ultra are less than complimentary:

This was horrid. [&hellip]

would be good to drink while walking on a treadmill or at a health club […]

If you were to take 2.9 carbs worth of Michelob light [&hellip] then added 11 ounces of water, you would have Michelob ultra.

In addition to the Top Macro Beers list, RateBeer has several other useful top-lists:

• Top Accessible Beers: This is different from the Top Macro category — Top Macro is based on brewery-size, while Top Accessible is based on the general availability of the beer.
• Top American Beers: This list might be good to check out of curiosity’s sake, but good for little else. After all, why limit one’s self to only American beers?

Of the three (Top Macro, Top Accessible, and Top American), I think the most useful for everyday use would be Top Accessible. And, as is no surprise to me, Samuel Adams appears several times in that list :).

From a Slashdot article is mention of a new low-carb beer from Anheuser-Busch: Michelob Ultra:

Michelob Ultra is a smooth, refreshing lager with 96 calories, 4.1 percent alcohol by volume and 2.9 grams of carbohydrates per 12-oz. serving. The brand began test marketing in December in Denver, Colo., Tucson, Ariz., and Ft. Myers, Naples and Punta Gorda, Fla.

The press release goes on to say that “The brand will roll out nationally in September”. Being that Michelob Ultra is from Anheuser-Busch, I don’t have my hopes up ;). But, I’d be willing to try it once.

The DFWBlogs Cocktail Event for August was held at the Tipperary Inn on Live Oak St. It’s an Irish-style pub, and the interior bars were even made in Dublin and shipped over (!).

Being that it was a Wednesday evening, it wasn’t very crowded — which I thought was a good thing. With fewer people, it’s easiler to have conversations with other people. Still, the sound still easily reflected off the many flat surfaces such as all the polished wood. But, that was only a minor issue (especially comapred to sitting next to the large glass windows at The Hurricane Grill).

I ordered a bacon-cheddar burger and a Kelly’s Cider. The burger had a good amount of meat to it, probably 1/3 lb or more. Pleasantly, it also had that char-taste that comes from a properly flame-grilled burger (mmm). The burger was $8. And, it was very good. But, was it $8-good? I don’t know about that. Maybe $7-good ;).

The fries were “very warm” but not quite “hot”. And, they were crispy-style fries with almost a crunch to the outer skin. I don’t see that fry-style much these days, and it was a nice change of pace.

Before I ordered the burger, I selected my drink. When I asked our waitress what they had on tap, she rattled off an impressively long list of beverages. I heard “Newcastle” among them — definitely one of my favorites — but my ears perked up at the mention of “cider”. I didn’t even hear what brand of cider it was, but I knew that it was one that I hadn’t previously tried.

It turns out that the cider was Kelly’s Irish Hard Cider (an Irish brand, no surprise there). As I write this, I’m having difficulty putting into words the delicousness of Kelly’s Cider… It was full of distinct apple flavor, but not oversweetened, so it remained very dry and crisp. It was fantastically delicious and highly refreshing.

Though Savanna Dry (only available in South Africa, as far as I know) is still officially my favorite cider, Kelly’s now takes the crown as my favorite-cider-actually-available-in-North-America.

I went for drinks with some guys from the office, after work. I ordered a glass of Speckled Hen Ale (which was on special: $2 / 20oz). It was on the bitter side, as beers go, but not in a bad way. However, it didn’t have as much flavor as, say, a Newcastle might.

I’m not one to “drink for the sake of drinking” so, after the Speckled Hen, I hadn’t planned on necessarily ordering another. However, my boss was nice enough to buy a “snake bite” for me. He was previously aware of my penchant for cider and he assured me that I’d enjoy it ;).

A snake bite is 1/2 pint Lager and 1/2 pint Cider (sweet or dry). They’re layered in a glass much in the same way that a black & tan would be.

Anyhow, I tasted the snake bite, and it was delicious. It had the creaminess of the lager mixed with the sweetness of the cider. And, the bitterness of the lager just pokes through. Ooh, that was one tasty beverage. And, I may just have to order them from time to time :).

The Slashdot Meetup for Dallas is this evening. And, since I hadn’t had a chance to write about last month’s Slashdot Meetup, this may be a good time to do so.

Last month’s Meetup was scheduled for Jupiter Lanes. I wasn’t particularly looking forward to that location, as bowling isn’t very conducive to conversation (especially since this was the first Slashdot Meetup, and none of us had met before). But, I went anyhow. I figured — if nothing else — the Meetup may offer some opportunities to mention my portfolio to some of the local geeks.

I arrived there right on time, and found the other Meetup people. And, even though there are apparently 92 Slashdot Meetup people in Dallas, there were just five people there (including myself).

Some people enjoy large crowds… I am not one of those people. So, I was actually pleased that a small number of people made it. And, after a short discussion, we all agreed that bowling wasn’t the best idea for conversation. So, we drove in caravan to a Chili’s down the street. Many of the guys (yeah, it was all guys) hadn’t eaten dinner yet, anyway, so Chili’s was a welcome suggestion.

At the Chili’s, we looked over the drinks menu before deciding on our entrees. I remarked that, according to the menu, they only had Bud, Bud Light, and Coors Light on top. One guy was talking to another and didn’t hear my remark about the beer selection, so another fellow clarified:

“They don't have any beer on tap.”

[ puzzled look ]

“They only have Bud, Bud Light, and Coors Light on tap. Ergo, they have no beer on tap.”

We had a good chuckle about that ;). When the server came around, we asked him about what was on tap, just to be sure. He rattled off a few names, resulting in a beer-on-tap list much longer than the menu implied. In particular, Sam Adams caught my eye (“caught my ear”?), so I quickly decided on that. Most of us ordered a 22oz Sam Adams (or around that size, I can’t remember the exact volume), except for one poor guy that was under 21.

One guy ordered one of those fried-onion sea urchin things. Another had chicken tenders, and I can’t remember what the other two had. Of course, I had already eaten dinner before coming, so I just went straight for dessert. I decided on their “Chocolate Chip Paradise Pie”. Basically, it’s a warm walnut-based bar topped with ice cream and chocolate & caramel sauces. It was very delicious, and went strangely well with my Sam Adams; I wouldn’t hesitate in ordering one again.

There may be some stereotypes about the “Slashdot crowd”, but the people at the Slashdot Meetup didn’t fit into the typical nerd stereotype. Sure, one guy had a salt-n-pepper beard with long hair tied into a ponytail, but he managed to do so fashionably. Another guy had stylishly-short hair (with gel, even). And none of them were introverted, though one or two guys may have been on the borderline between introverted and extroverted.

The conversation was good, the food was good, and I had a great time. I look forward to the next one which, of course, happens to be tonight.

Preface: Before reading this entry, I'd recommend reading the one posted just before this one, on Rolling Rock.

So, in that last post, I waxed nostalgic about Rolling Rock beer. Now, it's not my absolute favourite of beers, though it may very well be in my Top 10. (Note to self: I could write an entry about my Top 10 favourite beers sometime).

There are so many good beers, that it's tough even to decide upon a Top 5. Let's see... Killian's would be in there, for sure, and Heineken would likely make an appearance, Bass has a good chance of making the cut as well.

But, without a doubt, I believe that Sam Adams would take the top spot, #1. Now, before I get angry comments from Germans or Belgians ;), I must make a disclaimer: Sam's Adams is my favourite beer, of the beers that I have a reasonable chance of finding in a given maket.

I can't even recall when I first tried Sam Adams. But, man, it's delicious. But, what sparked my interest in writing this entry is that Sam Adams Double Bock has won the Grand Champion trophy at the Australian International Beer Awards in Melbourne.

Samuel Adams Double Bock won the Grand Champion Trophy at the Australian International Beer Awards in Melbourne.

The 8.5% abv German-style lager from Boston Beer Co. won out over 421 other beers from 19 countries.

The Double Bock also won the trophy as best lager, while Rogue Imperial Stout brewed by Oregon's Rogue Ales won Champion Stout.

[...]

Ooh. “Sam Adams Double Bock” is now at the forefront of my must-buy-at-the-next-available-opportunity list of beers. And, if the DFW Mozilla-1.0 party ends up being this Saturday, I have my hopes up that the organizers may choose to hold it at the Flying Saucer (full name: Flying Saucer Draught Emporium). The Flying Saucer for those not aware is a “restaurant”, but only in the sense that it's a beer-paradise (over 100 beers on-tap!) that also happens to server food ;)

So, if we end up going to the Flying Saucer for the Mozilla-1.0 party, then I'll definitely try to snark some Sam Adams Double Bock there. Also on my list of beers-to-try: Sam Adams Triple Bock. Priced at $4.75 per 8.75 oz bottle, and at 17.5% APV, this is no ordinary beer. Hey, the Mozilla 1.0 release is probably one of the better celebrations I'll be having this year, so maybe I'll seek out both Sam Adams Double Bock and Sam Adams Triple Bock if we end up holding the festivities at the Flying Saucer.

Last night, I was going grocery shopping at Kroger. Though I hadn't originally intended it as such, it ended up being one of those “big shopping trips”. Mainly, it was about 30-40 of those fruit-on-the-bottom yogurts. As Jason and I eat those for lunch everyday, we go through them rather quickly.

I hadn't planned on buying beer at Kroger, primarily because beer is cheaper at Sam's Club. Besides, Sam's Club sells beer by the case, which is also convenient since we each drink a beer with dinner (because of health its health benefits but also, you know, because it's delicious). Back a couple of months ago, we had found some K Cider. Being a cider-fan myself, I really enjoyed, though I wasn't sure what Jason would think of it. As it turns out, he really enjoyed it as well. Aside: I was quite relieved that Jason and I had found true commonality in beer/cider, as he tends towards the see-through beers while I prefer the dark stuff.

So, we figured, "Hey, let's just get K Cider all the time!" (up until then, we were just rotating through various brands). So, next time we went to Sam's Club, we looked around, but it appeared that K Cider had been taken off of Sam's stock-list. So, we went back to the beer-rotation.

Still, I didn't give up. With Texas' sensibly low-regulation of alcohol stores (beer, wine, liquor), it sometimes seems like there's a beer/wine store on every corner. So, a couple weeks ago I realized that, though cider wasn't available at Sam's Club (K or otherwise), that I could still check the local beer/wine stores.

One by one, I checked. Generally, I was disappointed. Either, they were overpriced ($7-8 for a 6-pack?!), or they were ok-priced ($6 per 6-pack), but only available as a six pack (a case or half-case would have been a more convenient form factor since Jason and I go through the beer/cider at a steady rate).

Ok, back to the present day. So, I'm at Kroger and everything has been crossed off my shopping list one-by-one. I figured “Hey, let's just stop by the beer isle — maybe they'll have cider.”

Well, they didn't have cider. But, they did have Rolling Rock (on sale, no less!). In Pennsylvania, where I'm from, Rolling Rock is often affectionately known as “that crappy local beer”. Of course, that's all in jest — it's actually half-way decent.

At any rate, I bought two 12-packs at the not-too-shabby price of $8.99 each. And, as Sam's Club certainly didn't have Rolling Rock, I had quite a hankering for tasting it again (Sam's strategy appears to be really-good-prices with the trade-off of not-as-many-brands, for better or for worse).

And, having tried Rolling Rock again, after not having had any for (thinking back) probably over a year, it still holds up. It's a lighter beer, to be sure, but it functions well as an everyday-beer. After thinking about what it compares to, this evening, I've kinda come to think of it as a domestic version of Foster’s. Is that about right?

Up next: more beer commentary (I'm on a roll!)