Brew by John Curran

Devassa- Tropical Dark, Is a Dark ale. The beer has a dark, very dark body, and deep off white foam. 

Devassa is similar to that of a john Harvard in that it has several restaurants with-in brazil and is based around its restaurants, while they have a golden pilsner I find the tropical dark much more appealing to my taste spuds. Devassa tropical Dark is is very carbonated witch makes it almost like drinking soda. Like most Brazilian beers it's pretty watery especially for a dark beer. but the fruity malts and slight berry taste makes it one of the better darker beers ive had since being here in brazil. and is way better then the golden pilsner Devassa. Since first trying this beer its been in my fridge quit often. and the fruity malty flavors kinda make it more enjoyable and complex then black princess, cheaper too ! Out of the major brews in brazil like itiapava,brahma, Antarctica and skol. devassa tropical dark has the edge on all of them so if your ever in brazil looking for a cheap beer that is readily available devassa dark is your best bet. While this beer probably wouldn't be on a beer snobs list of good beers I find this beer probably one of the best mass distributed beer's ive ever tasted. 

Mac Queens- Nessie, Whisky Malt Red beer. has a copper tone body and a white foam that settles quick. 

Mac Queens is  Brewery form Austria that I picked up out of interest of calling its self a whisky Malt red beer. When first opening the beer, the sent gives you the impression that you are about to drink a pretty heavy beer cause of the Scottish Highland whisky malts, witch are very prevalent in the taste, but ends up not hitting hard at all. At 5.0% abv, I think this beer would be much better with a higher alcohol content cause of its whisky malts maybe 6.5 or 7 would be really nice. It also claims to have a very smokey aftertaste witch it really doesn't, it more like very mild smokey aftertaste. Nessie is a good beer but the label the whisky of beers couldn't be any further from the truth. While not the worst red I've ever had its surely not the best. Its a very interesting beer and is 100 times better then say killians or michelobs red, but pales in comparison to that of a maudite or something similar. 

Flensburger- Frühlingsbock, Golden body with frothy white foam 

This beer comes from Germany and is one of the last independent breweries in Germany that is not partly or completely owned by a larger brewery and dates back to 1888. One of the interesting points of this beer itself is the old style swing stopper cap witch is really cool. Frühlingsbock is seasonal dark bock that has 7 % abv content, the beer itself is not bitter but has a lemony vest to it and and is lightly carbonated witch is traditional of a German style bock beer. This is a good beer and I would put it right behind franziskaner or spaten on the best beers Germany has to offer that ive tried. 

Murphy's Irish Stout- Black body Thick frothy foam

Murphy's Irish stout is your traditional Irish  brewery dating back to 1856 Cork county. Its known as the lighter beer in Ireland's arsenal of stout beers, Its deprived of any carbonation and is much more sweeter and dry then its counter parts, and has hints of caramel. It contains the nitrogen widget witch is suppose to give it the similar taste and features as if it were on tap. The brewery  was taken over by Heineken after over a century of local brewing. In my opinion this does not top Irelands classic Guinness stout, but is a must for any fan of Irish stouts.

Blue Point Toxic Sludge Black IPA

Seeing how its almost Thanksgiving and I have a small break from school, I decided to hit up a few beverage centers in order to get my drink on and write a few reviews. I went to the Port Jeff Beverage Center and picked up a brew called Paulaner Oktoberfest Wiesn. I’ve seen this brew a few times before and decided it was time to give it a taste. I talked to the dude behind the counter for a bit about Port Jeff Brewing Company (which is located down the road from Port Jeff Beverage). He was also an avid beer drinker like myself and had great knowledge on their brews because he goes there almost every week (like myself). I asked him about the Paulaner Oktoberfest Wiesn, I was picking up and he said “dude….that’s some good shit.” I bought the brew and was on my way home until I passed another beverage center in Mt. Sinai. I figured what the hell, maybe I can find another new brew to drink. I walked to the back by the fridge's and saw Blue Point Toxic Sludge and thought to myself “NO FUCKING WAY.” I had to get it because I haven’t had it since last year. This IPA hits you like a brick in the face! After one you're done. I drank two the last time I got it, went to a party, pissed in a sink and got kicked out. I was so gone I could barely recall the night, all I remembered was this juice head in an Ed Hardey shirt (that obviously had way too many Smirnoff’s) wanting to fight me. I woke up the next day with a splitting headache thinking to myself “Damn, that really was some Toxic Sludge.” After just drinking one of these right now I feel tipsy and need to piss! This is an extremely dark IPA with an awesome kick to it. I’d recommend it to anyone who likes dark brews. Not only does it taste good, it does the job and donates all the proceeds to the tri-state Bird Rescue & Research’s “Spreading Our Wings” campaign. So if you’re a brew lover and an animal lover, this is the brew for you! Blue Point also states “In times of crisis (like this) we figure you can either hibernate or participate.” This IPA came out after the BP oil spill that left many birds and wild life covered in TOXIC SLUDGE. I think its great that I can enjoy a brew and know that the money spent on it is going to a good cause.

 This is a dry-hopped BLACK IPA (Indian Pale Ale). It’s a smooth as water off a duck’s back. So everytime you drink one, please let out a proud squak in honor of our beautiful, beaked bretheren. We hope you can dig deep in your hearts (and pockets) to help support the effort. –Blue Point Brewing Co.

For more information on the bird rescue, visit www.tristatebird.org

Also visit www.bluepointbrewing.com for more info on the beer itself. The dude at the beverage center also said Blue Point might change the name of this IPA in the future.

I hope you have a good Thanksgiving and keep drinking. Cheers! -Matt

Rolling Rock

I like to think there might be some kind of poetry to be found in those all-too-many nights where I find myself sipping shit beer like champagne. Ignorance would be bliss if I did not know any better it seems. But that there, is just the problem, getting a decent beer for cheap is a seemingly impossible task now-a-days. A 6 of something good and tasteful for under 10 dollars is hard to find, but as of late I have taken to checking out the deals at the local Associated Market in my neighborhood of Bushwick, Brooklyn and much to my surprise and pleasure they have been stocking both 6 packs of pint sized Rolling Rock for 6 dollars, as well as 12 packs of your standard 12oz cans for 8 dollars. I was at first skeptical as they seemed to be marketed similarly in the local bodegas just as the cheap malt liquor that sat beside it on the shelf, the cobras, the steelys, the colts and olde English, that I knew too well and sure as hell were not about to become reacquainted with. I instead opted often for pbr 12 packs, running at a dollar more, along with the ticate 12s. After switching though to Rolling Rock I find the though, a bit watery, easy drinking bright and smooth in comparison to similarly priced, while oft a dollar or two cheaper, to be pleasantly better than others. Being of a paler taste that most lagers, I find this beer to be closer on the spectrum to my actual beer tastes which tend to favor the more vibrant ales.
Rolling Rock got it’s start in 1939 as a local beer company out of Pennsilvania, although now brewed in New Jersey and bought out by Anheuser-Busch in 2006. 33 is interestingly printed on the bottles, signifying the 33 words in their original pledge to quality, although an interesting correlation can be made to the end of prohibition in 1933. ...Some poetry to be found after all, so it may seem.






A little nip
From the glass line tanks of
Old Latrobe
We tender this package as a
Premium beer for your delight
And economical use
It comes:
‘from the mountainsprings
to you’
“33”


Hell of a first post for myself as a contributor to the brew blog eh? Needless to say though, sometimes money gets tight and you find yourself suckling some savory sewage on a night-to-night basis, after rolling the rock eternally up the mountain, day-in-day-out. And at this point I feel to say for myself, this is becoming a time-tested suggestion for myself as I have gone through more than a couple 6s and 12s of these with little complaint. If nothing more than a break from another value brew of your choosing I do suggest Rolling Rock to accompany to your late night broke blues. -Patrick

Beer in Brazil by John Curran

 While good beer in brazil is few and far between, they do have some quality stuff! but usually at a hefty price. Micro-brewing has not caught on like it has in the states. Wine and extremely sweet cocktails tend to be the trend in brazil's bars and night clubs. As for those day's on the beach with a couple of brew's. That tends to consist of your average pilsner-style brew like Brahma, Antarctica, or skol. Similar to that of an American Bud, Miller, or Coors light, all generic in taste and low quality. Beers including some of the micro brew's in brazil tend to be a little more watery then American beers lighter on the hops, and the malts, cause of the extreme heat (summer average is about 110 and can get to 120). And the water plays a big role in the brewing of beer,  Brazil has what is referred to as soft water witch doesn't make good for brewing darker beers such as stouts and other darker beers.  Most beer's are referred to as gold or dark and usually don't have the stout porter or ale names attached to them. And the darker beers tend to not pack the same punch as they do in the states. There are some generic's that aren't half bad witch is devassa and itipava, I haven't gotten around to trying the dark devassa, but the golden pilsner style isn't half bad and aren't expensive at around 2 reais for a 12 oz can. Devassa and itipava tend to be my drinks of choice when I know ill be drinking more then 2 or 3 beers in a night. 
  My first beer that I really love happens to be a dark American style lager from right hear in Rio, its has a taste that is very crisp and refreshing. witch believe me if you had some of the other so called dark beers down hear you would be blown away by this one. Most of the darker beers like petra tend to be not so refreshing and just skunky in taste. Black Princess however is refreshing on a hot day witch really isn't the point of dark style beer. At 4.8 % alcohol and about 6 reais  for 12 oz bottle, This Beer gives brazil its own unique tropical style take on a what would usually be considered a winter beer and is usually what is in the fridge at my house for casual drinking. 
  My second beer is estrada real IPA witch is a great  IPA and one of the better beers iv' e had, but at a price of about 20 reais (dollars) for a 20 oz bottle makes it not so worth it. This beer come's from the state of Minas Gerais to the west of Rio. While not very hopy, and light on the bitterness it has a nice citrus flavor to it. It does not really follow the standard IPA style/taste and to someone use to English and American style brewing would have a hard time believing this to be an IPA you have to understand that brewing beer of an IPA's nature in a tropical country is going to come out quit different then what you are use too, it does however have a nice 7.5 % alcohol volume and a nice copper color. It is interesting and very good,  But the price makes it certainly unreasonable to be a main-stay in my fridge and wont make it in there to often. 

It's beginning to taste a lot like christmas.

I know it's kinda early to be picking up the Magic Hat Winterland variety pack... but it did snow two days ago on Halloween for the first time in who knows how long? After work I decided to pick up some brew because I was in the mood to chill out and drink something nice before I had to go to sleep and wake up for school in the morning. When I got to the store I didn't really see anything that caught my eye except for the Brooklyn Variety pack, but I already had that before. After looking around and not finding anything, I noticed a green box hidden behind the Brooklyn Variety and I decided to check it out. When I reached for the box I realized it was another variety from Magic Hat Brewery. Seeing how Magic hat is one of my favorite breweries and i've had the Summer and Night of the Living Dead variety pack from them before, (which were both awesome) I decided to pick it up and didn't really care how much it cost (even though I'm in the middle of paying off my laptop). I never had the Black as night Lager or the Ravell from them before so I was really curious to see how they tasted. I did however have #9 plenty of times and it's one of my favorite beers (especially in the can) and Encore which is another good brew. I started the pack off by drinking a beer I know best and thats the #9, after that I decided to have one I never had before and that is the HOWL Black as Night Lager. After drinking The Black as Night, I can see where they got the name from. It's and extremely dark lager but a good one overall. Seeing how I just bought this pack and I have two of each brew, i'm going to finish them off and update this blog at a later time (probably saturday). Check back for an update and keep drinking!

Blue Point Toasted Lager

I usually like to mix it up when it comes to drinking beer but this week I’ve been on a Blue Point Toasted Lager binge. It all started when I picked up a 6 pack at a local 7-11. I just got out of work and figured I’d drink a couple of brews before I called it a night, but after that first sip I was hooked. The beer was 

well bodied and exploding with flavor. My original plan was to just drink two and save the rest for another night because I had class in the morning but two 
eventually became three and three became four and by the time it hit me, I realized that I drank more than I wanted too. I decided to save the last two brews for another time but the next day I went out and bought another 6 pack and did the exact same thing I did the night before. By the end of the week I was down to only one toasted lager sitting at the bottom of my fridge. I decided to set up my web-cam and give it a review because I loved the beer so much and felt that I needed to share it with all my beer blog readers. If I were to give Blue Points Toasted Lager an overall grade, I’d give it a solid B.

Home Brewing with Pete Carlson

Last night I went to my friend Pete's house to make a video on home brewing and to have a couple of beers. He's been home brewing for about two years now and is very good at it. He shows us how he makes it, tells us about some of his favorite beers and shows off his insane beer collection. 

Red Stripe, better in bottle or glass?

 I had this Red Stripe sitting in my fridge for a couple of weeks now and I figured it was time to drink before it expires. I poured half the bottle in a glass so I could review how it taste from the glass and how it taste from the bottle. After drinking from both the glass and bottle I realized I like to drink Red Strip from the bottle. I don’t know what it is but I felt it had a slightly better taste and the sent was really good, almost smelt like freshly cut grass topped with spices. The beer its self had a light golden color with a light head, overall it’s a good beer but I wouldn’t say it’s a great beer. I never been to Jamaica but I have a friend from there who says Red Stripe taste better there because they brew it differently. I’m not sure if its true but I could definitely believe it because I’ve been to Ireland two years in a row and drank a ton of Guinness that tasted better there then here. It might be because the beer is fresher and i'm sure that when it’s shipped out to the states it undergoes different temperatures and sit around for a while; it also might get exposed to sunlight, which could extremely damage the beer. If I were to give Red Stripe an overall grade, I’d give it a C.

Brass Monkeys

 I first started drinking around 15 years old, when I 

was just a young punk kid who didn’t really care about the taste or quality of beer. I drank whatever was around and whatever was cheap and easy to get. High school parties always had the worst beer like Coors light and Bud light, but most of the people I hung out with drank Olde English, Colt 45, Stroh’s, Schafer, Pabst Blue Ribbon and Steel Reserve. Those were the cheapest beers at the time, but every year the price seems to go up a bit and the quality goes down. My favorite thing to do was drink Brass Monkeys, which was usually an Olde English 40 oz., mixed with orange juice. The way we made them was by drinking down to the top of the label and then adding orange juice. Once you added the orange juice, you seal the top back up and turn it upside down so it mixes well. Once you’re done mixing, open it back up and enjoy! Last week I went 

to a party and I figured I’d pick up something cheap and easy to drink. I decided to make brass monkeys but the only malt liquor in the store were 16 oz. Olde English cans. I never made brass monkey in the can before but i'm always down to try new things so I picked up a few and they were on sale for $1.19. The only thing I needed was some orange juice but luckily I had some with extra pulp at my house. I don’t think I ever had a brass monkey with extra pulp so I was pretty excited to see how it would taste. I cracked open a can and drank a little less than half the beer then added my orange juice. I mixed it up the best I could then took my first swig and it was delicious. That brass monkey brought back some memories and its always a good time drinking one of those. If you never had a brass monkey before, you should definitely give it a try. They’re cheap,easy to make and will make your boring party into a happening time! If I were to rate the brass monkey in the can with extra pulp, I’d give it a B. Another cool thing to do is pick up strawberry banana orange juice and mix that in a 40. It has a awesome pinkish color to it and taste amazing.

Drinking Schmidt's in Bed-Stuy

Last weekend I went to visit a good friend of mine who lives out in Bed-Sty, Brooklyn. One of my favorite things about going out there is the bodega’s on every corner and the wide selection of beers they have. I found a 12 pack of a beer call Schmidt’s, I never had a Schmidt before but the name sounded familiar and they had pictures of turkeys and fish on the cans, which was really cool and is one of the main reasons I picked it up. The beer came out to be $10 dollars which was kind of expensive for a 12 pack in the middle of the hood but I was looking to have a good time and didn’t mind spending a couple of extra bucks for beers with turkeys and fish on them. I cracked the first can open and took a sip, it tasted like a PBR or a Black Label which are both decent beers. There was really nothing special about this beer besides the packaging and logo. It’s a cool beer to get once in awhile but nothing to brag about. It was lightly colored and lightly flavored, with not much of a head on it. If I were to give this beer a grade I’d give it a C.

Jai Alai IPA

The other night my friend Pete gave me a Jai Alai IPA from Cigar City Brewery to try out and it had to be one of the best beers I ever had. The name Jai Alai comes from a sport involving  a ball bounced off a walled space. The beer had a nice orange color, citrus spice smell and flavor. Every sip had a kick and was overall a well bodied IPA. If I were to give this beer a grade it would be a solid A.

Port Jeff Brewing

Ever since the Port Jeff Brewery opened up down Port, I've been going there for the free delicious beer tastings and picking up a growler or two from time to time. Yesterday I got a chance to speak with the owner Mike and ask him a few questions about how he got started and what made him want to become a full time brewer. He was a really nice guy and brews up some awesome beers. If your ever in the Port Jeff area stop by after 2:00pm during the week for some tastings or go on a weekend and get the full tour.