Santos Black Kolsch by Saint Arnold Brewery

Well, the Super Bowl is underway, but I couldn’t tell you anything about the game. While countless millions have huddled around televisions, I have been doing taxes and planning with my wife an excursion to Austin later in the month with part of our expected tax returns. Of course I also found time to fit in time to write two posts for this blog, and upload them earlier this morning, and even play a few games of hockey on my PS3.

To continue my day of semi-productive leisure I have worked in a moment to pop a top or two while my wife prepares dinner, specifically the Texas emblazed caps off of bottles of Saint Arnold Brewery’s Santo, a beer that is described by the brewery as a dark kolsch, which, to quote their website, “technically doesn’t exist as a style, but this is as close as [they] can come to describing it.”

Being a hue that I would call a true dark umber, this beer is one of the darkest, yet somewhat still marginally translucent, beer I’ve had.  Although it starts with a semi aggressive decant, and a head about the thickness of half a finger’s form, the drinker is left with about a dime’s width in a few moments of pouring.

Taking a whiff off the head, a yeast aroma is most prominent, mixed with hints of malt and caramel.

The first brush of beverage across the palate offers the drinker a medium light bodied caramel flavor with a warm nuttiness. Bitterness is almost nonexistent, making the drink a little monotone on the back of dark malt. Combining the flavor with a moderate alcohol content at 4.7% and dry finish, this beer is good for session drinking, or enjoying in the warm Texas Springs and Summers.

Not the most complex or unique beer, but definitely worth the try.

Prost!

CAO OSA Sol Lot 58

Hola, smokers of the leaf.

It’s Super Bowl Sunday for most people, but for myself, it’s just Sunday. Instead of obsessing over grown men chasing and jumping atop the carrier of a ball, I would rather see men chase a small piece of rubber while ice skating and, in frustration, pummel bodies against bodies, and fists against faces. It’s not that football can’t be exciting; it’s just not my brand of obsession. (Ironically, I have a fair amount of obsession regarding old NFL films summarizing past Super Bowls.)

I can’t imagine anyone cares about this obsession, or at least most Americans.

Without a need to hold out for a celebratory cigar, I am smoking my ration of tobacco with my morning coffee, and listening to John Coltrane via Pandora as the rest of the family sleeps.  

This morning I have decided to pull a CAO OSA Sol Lot 58.

OSA stands for Olancho San Agustin, a location in Honduras where the wrapper leaf was harvested, and is rolled with a Connecticut broadleaf wrapper, with Honduran and Nicaraguan filler.  The 58 by 6.5 cigar is hefty and firm between my fingers, and the light brown wrapper feels moderately oily against my skin.

The initial light is full of robust pepper and generic spice, accented by some leather and very slight coffee notes.  This full bodied beginning quickly tempers within the first inch of the cigar, and drastically mellows out the peppery introduction into a medium bodied symphony of the same described flavor notes, bringing out more of the leather essence than any other taste in the smoke’s profile.

Throughout the cigar’s progression, the spice notes continue to dissipate and become more and more subtle. By the last half a wonderful roasted nut flavor takes hold and continues to develop till the cigar has to be put down to avoid charring my mustache.

Overall, this is another example of CAO’s superb blending, and a testament to their dedication to providing quality tobacco products to their customers., and is a beyond doubt “must try.”

Four Fantastic Things #5: Four wonderful Texas beers (2011)

Hello,

I hope that 2011 was a good year for everyone. For myself, it brought a lot of changes, including some for the better, and others not so much.

In celebration of change, and of my home state, I felt it would be interesting to look back at the new and unique beers that my relocation offered over the past year, and list some of my favorite Lone Star brews (which ironically does not include any beer from Lone Star Brewery).

For those unfamiliar with this series of posts, this is not a “best of,” but just a list of recommended consumables, and is not arranged in a particular order relative to my opinion of quality.

#1 Sailing Santa by Saint Arnold’s Brewery (Houston, TX)

This seasonal bomber from the “first Texas craft brewer” is probably a bit difficult, if not all together impossible, to obtain as I write this review in early February. Combining their also delicious Elisa IPA with their regular Christmas seasonal offering, St. Arnold has created a wonderful example of a complex hoppy beer without overpowering the beverage with hop bitterness.

I thought that I had previously reviewed this beer formally, but it appears I was mistaken. Perhaps, with a little luck, I will be able to get another bomber as 2012 comes to a close.

#2 (512) India Pale Ale (Austin, TX)

This was one of the first beers, upon my return to Texas, to really get me excited about the Texas Craft and Micro beer scene. First sampled at the Ft. Worth Gingerman, the beer is a wonder mélange of citrus hops with a nice, warm malt backend. Exhibiting a strong grapefruit body, it was love at first sip, and depressing to know I can’t find this in bottles as of yet.

#3 Pecker Wrecker by Rahr and Sons Brewery (Ft Worth, TX)

Although I feel that Rahr and Sons’ normal production line, while still quality beer, is not the most impressive to come out of the state, their big beers have been nothing but absolutely wonderful. Usually I bemoan spending 9 bucks on 22 ounces of beer, however Rahr’s offerings have always been worth the extra cost, and are examples of what joy and wonder can be created with excellent know how and quality ingredients.  Pecker Wrecker, an imperial pilsner, has been my favorite of these commitments to fine brewing.

You can read the full review of this hop forward beer here. 

#4 Real Ale Brewing Company’s Coffee Porter (Blanco, TX)

Diverging from the hop-forward beers of the previous three recommendations in this list, Real Ale Brewing Company’s collaborative effort with Katz Coffee Roasters produces a wonderfully complex and full bodied explosion of chocolate malts, coffee, and slight floral hop flavors on the palate.

This is another beer which, while I loved the hell out of it like the above-mentioned Sailing Santa, was consumed during a time that I was neck deep in a wading pool of my own self-doubt and loathing. Expect to see this beer reviewed in greater depth later in 2012. 

Shiner Wild Hare by Spoetzl Brewery

Hello readers,

Well, to quote the words of the immortal Ice Cube, today was a good day, with everything from the “breakfast with no hog” to the fact I didn’t have to shoot my A-K, and stopping just shy of seeing the Goodyear Blimp indicating that, in fact, I am a pimp.

Despite a short, and not very inspiring, job interview I had at noon, the rest of the day was filled with purchasing a nice selection of craft beer, eating some of the best Thai food I have ever had the pleasure of enjoying, and now I am enjoying a “Shiner Wild Hare Pale Ale,” the 103^rd beer from the Spoetzl Brewery, in Shiner, Texas.

The beer pours out a nice light amber hue with lots of active carbonation. Thanks to an aggressive pour, the thick and strong, off-white head formed.   Lacing was decent, and much more prominent than Shiner’s standard fare.

The smell of yeast is most outstanding from the freshly poured beverage, while a nice medium-bodied bouquet of floral hops augments the malt forwardness.

Just as the aroma of floral hops was not over powering, the bitterness and floral hop characteristics came off as medium-bodied in taste.  Combined with a mild malt backend and crisp finish, this beer is easily drinkable and enjoyable for, I assume, most beer friendly palates.

Wild Hare, in my humble opinion, is bringing Shiner’s offerings closer to the quality of a really good brewery. Currently I feel that the beers are only “okay” and only really preferred over the macro-produced beers they are pitted against in most Texas convince stores.

Prost!

Black Butte Porter by Deschutes Brewery

Hello boys and girls,

I know it’s been a while since I last published a review, but with Pope Crisco leading the National Hockey League in goals, assists, and in plus/minus ratings, he has little time to review beer. You might point out that these are just stats in EA Sports NHL 12, the leading hockey simulation game for the PS3 and Xbox, but I still feel like that’s progress in my life.  I guess that’s pretty sad, when you think about it in the terms of the highlight of a grown man’s life.

Perhaps if I told you that I bought a set of sweet ass Marvel Comics pint glasses that would make me seem more awesome?

No? Oh well.

Aside from video game hockey and super hero laden glassware, I do have an interview tomorrow with a law firm for a paralegal position, so with a little luck and even more charm, I will have a light out from the tunnel of the hell known as employment in a call center as a Customer Service Representative.

Tonight, as a precursor to pizza, more beer, and television watching with my wife, I am drinking Deschutes Brewery’s Black Butte Porter (and thanks to the image of Hulk on the glass, beer drinker The Thing is staying at bay).

The beer pours out a nice, dark, black hue, and easily forms a thick, tan head.  As impressively as the head forms, it quickly dissipates to a dimes width before drinking, and ultimately dies to a slight film while sipping away at the beverage.  Lacing is minimal at best.

The aroma of toffee is strong, with a warm, bready accent. As well slight chocolate note and floral hops are detected.

The first flavor to hit the palate is a sharp coffee like bitterness, but is quickly cut by sweet, malty, chocolate and toffee flavors, creating an easily drinkable, well-balanced beer.

For this style of beer, the only thing I think this brew lacks is body, which I would put on the thin side for a porter.

 Overall the beer is very decent, well balanced, and whets my appetite for more varietals from this brewery.

Prost!