Beamish...finally.

I was in a local store the other day, trying to recover from my anger at Best Buy for being completely incompetent, and I found one of the most elusive beers that I've ever run across. I went to the store to find some new whiskey glasses and decided to check out the beer isle. There I found many cans of a beer that I thought was a myth, Beamish Stout.

My bar of choice in my hometown sported something like 300 different beers. Part of my graduate school education was to try every beer on the list. My methodology for this research was to pick a country on the list and try each of the beers from that country and then move on. It's a lot like how some yuppies take a summer and back pack around Europe, except without the hostels and no showers thing. Before moving to Arizona, I finished every country except for Germany.

In the Ireland section there were only a few beers, all of which I had had at some other point in my life. But one always stood out, Beamish. I think I asked for Beamish at least 20 times during my various visits to Dunderbak's and never once did they have it. They claimed that one particular customer would come in and buy all of the Beamish as soon as they got a shipment. So I never once saw a can of the stuff.

When I finally saw the many cans of stout on the shelf at the World Market, I couldn't help but buy one. I have to say that it was a beer worth the wait.

Beamish Genuine Draught Irish Stout comes in a 14 oz can. I generally don't drink out of a can, but I make an exception if the can has a widget, which Beamish does. I've only had beer out of a widget filled can on two other occasions. Once when having a Guinness at a hockey game (something I will never do again) and once when drinking an Irish Cream Ale (an amazing experience).

Beamish stout does much, much better in a can than Guinness, though. It pours out very nicely, with just enough head to fill the top of my pint glass. There's also no waiting for the bubbles to subside like you would from a draught Guinness. It's a stout, opaque and almost black in color like all stouts. The taste is pure Irish stout goodness.

There is a faint hint of bitterness and a lot less of the bready taste that you get from many stouts. Beamish is much lighter than many stouts that I've had and very smooth to drink.

I really enjoyed my Beamish and would definitely not mind having another. The price was a bit steep, $1.50 for a single at World Market. I can only imagine that it would be even better from the tap.

I would definitely recommend Beamish for people who like Guinness and want to drink a good Irish stout from the comfort of their home. It's way cheaper than a St. Peter's (though St. Peter's is worth every cent) and Guinness out of a can is probably one of the worst things I've ever tasted. So go give Beamish a try...if you can find it.

The American Ale

The newest addition to the Budweiser line touts itself as a beer that "defines a new style of ale--the American Ale." It makes this claim right on the bottle in very old fashioned script. This kind of claim makes the social scientist in me giddy. After reading this, and even before I took my first sip, I knew that I would be drinking this in an attempt to discover just what exactly is so American about it.

I've had a lot of ales in my time. Ale is actually one of my favorite types of beer, just behind its cousins the stout and the porter. I love the sweetness that comes with a good ale. It has this old-world feel to it. I guess this is because its so different than your average domestic beer. The beers that most people start their beer drinking careers off with are Miller, Bud, Coors, Busch, etc. The standard forms of these beers are all basically the same. They are golden lagers, light, a little bitter, and very easy to drink.

So I picked up a 6 pack of Bud's American Ale while on a curious streak. I wanted to see what an Ale made by Bud tasted like. I wondered if maybe it was one of the few domestic gems that are on the market. Amber Bock by Michelob is the leader in this category. Not being a huge fan of the Budweiser brand, I wasn't optimistic, but I still decided to give it a chance.

Upon pouring, you realize that the American Ale is quite a bit darker than Bud Heavy. It has a dark amber color, but is still clear. The head is tan colored and a bit thicker than Bud, but still light enough to dissipate after a minute or two.

The taste is definitely reminiscent of Amber Bock. I have to declare this as Bud's attempt to snatch away a bit of the Amber Bock market. But despite being reactionary, I found American Ale to be enjoyable. It's slightly sweet, without a trace of bitterness, and a clean finish. You also get a hint of malt to match the color of the beer.

The weight of the beer is very similar to Bud Heavy, making it very drinkable without being overly watery.

I'm down to one left in the 6 pack and I have to say that I like the American Ale. It's not outstanding in any way, but its not bad either. I was still having trouble, though, figuring out how this particular beer set out to define itself as distinctly American, and therefore defining what American beer is as a whole.

I found nothing remarkable about American Ale. It was cheap. It was easy to drink. It tasted good. But there was nothing interesting about it. Well all of this was nothing shocking, it was, after all, an American beer. Herein I found my definition.

American beer is not about the beer. American beer is about drinking. We like to drink and we don't want an overly complex beer getting in the way of this. Could we really drink 6 Guinness (aside from St. Patrick's Day)? Could we down 10 pints of Franziskaner Wheat Beer? Well yeah, of course, but how comfortable would we be with that?

Drinking massive amounts of American Ale, though, would not be a problem, just as drinking the same amount of any standard domestic beer is nothing out of the ordinary.

All in all, American Ale is not a bad beer. I scorn not its simplicity. I would probably recommend it to Bud people who are looking to try something a little different, though I still think that Amber Bock is a better beer for the same price. American Ale is definitely worth trying if you are in the mood for something American, but want a beer with a little more taste than your average American fare.

Imperial Pilsner

Sam Adams has a great reputation for making some very high quality beers. I'd have to say that they are my favorite of the big American companies. Their Cherry Wheat is definitely one of my favorite beers.

I read about a rather rare brand of Sam Adams on the internet a few months ago. They call it the Imperial Pilsner and advertise it as a "celebration of hops." Anyone who has seen a Sammy Adams commercial probably remembers them showing the owner of the company walking in the fields of Bavaria, huffing what look like little green flowers. It's no doubt that he might be a little eccentric, but it's the good kind of eccentric. Anything that translates into great beer is OK by me.

I walked to my neighborhood beer and wine store yesterday. I was surprised to find a pretty nice selection of beers. This development will definitely aid me in my quest to review quality beers...

Anyway, they had a few different varieties of Sam Adams and I spotted the Imperial Pilsner among them. I couldn't help but buy a bottle, despite its price.

They were selling a 4 pack for 12 dollars. This goes against one of the my cardinals rules of beer buying (passed down to me from a wise friend). I try to not buy a six pack that costs more than a dollar a bottle. The high prices of alcohol in AZ don't really work well for this rule, though. Even the cheapest of beers out here goes for about $6.99 a 6 pack. Very annoying, yes, but one of the hazards of living in the desert, I guess.

OK back to the Emperor's Pilsner. The first thing that you'll notice about the Imperial Pilsner, if you've had more traditional pilsners, is the color and appearance. Most people are used to beers of this style like Miller Lite and Bud Lite. Those with more beer experience have probably had Pilsner Urquell from the Czech Republic or Bitburger from Germany. All of these beers are what we Americans think of when we think beer. They are clear, golden, not too bubbly, crisp, and refreshing.

In contrast, the Imperial Pilsner is reddish in color and opaque. The head is very stiff and even creates some Belgian lace on your glass. It, in fact, does look like a Belgian beer. This similarity does not stop at appearance, though. The Imperial Pilsner even tastes Belgian!

The first taste to hit your tongue is a profound sweetness, followed by Belgian spices. The beer finishes with a distinct, palette cleansing bitterness. This is definitely a quality beer.

Having said that, I have to also say that this is not a beer that I would pay for again. First of all, its pricey. I bought my single bottle for $2.25. Secondly, though the beer definitely had a lot of work go into and uses quality ingredients, its taste just didn't work for me. It was good for the first half of the glass as I ate some pizza with it, but drinking the second half was more of a chore than anything.

All in all, this is definitely not a beer for beginners. If you're a hardcore Sam Adams fan, you'll probably like it, considering it features the much esteemed Hallertau hops in huge quantities. It's also a little more alcoholic than the average American, weighing in at 8.8% ABV.

It's definitely an adventurous beer, but if the way I described it appeals to you, I'd recommend something Belgian. Chimay, Triple Karmeliet, and Delirium Tremens come to mind.

Maiden Voyage

Well if you've found this blog, you're either someone who knows me or were somehow misguided in your search for pictures of Antonio Banderas. But however you got here, you hopefully share my passion for the topic of this blog: beer.

I'll come clean. I'm starting this thing up because I'm bored and spend too much time in front of the computer. Though I think that anyone who claims to blog for any other reasons is probably fibbing. I also found out that you can actually make money from blabbing about nothing and posting it in cyberspace, and that got my attention.

I decided to write a blog about beer because I recently checked for beer reviewing websites and was surprised to find out that there are no good ones. It seemed to me that all the people reviewing were focusing on the wrong beers. There were tons of American beers reviewed, but not many European. I have nothing against American beers, but in my experience you need to taste the European originals before you can appreciate the American versions of these. This blog will focus on both American and European brews and try to give a fair review to everything that I drink.

I've drank many beers in my time. I earned a Master's in beer while attending USF and simultaneously getting my M.A. in History. The best thing about USF is that there's a little German restaurant in the mall across the street called Dunderbak's. Dunderbak's bosts a huge beer lists of brews from all over the world. I had the pleasure of drinking 4/5 of the some 500 various bottles and draft beers.

I now live in Arizona (hence the Desperado moniker) and have a job that does not take up nearly enough of my time. This is the first post in what I hope becomes a place for people who are beer lovers like me to come and discuss different styles and brands. More than that, though, I hope that people find this site when they are thinking about stepping out of the small fenced in yard that is the American macro-brew scene (these are people that claim Bud or Corona to be their favorite beers, but dream of something more). There is a world outside of gas station brands that is really worth trying and will probably change your opinion what beer really is.

So welcome. The first review will be coming within a few days and will most likely feature what's in my fridge right now. That is, the last remnants of the Sam Adams Winter Pack that I bought last month.

See you there.