Introducing – the first annual Beer Babe ACBW Challenge:

I challenge you, my readers, to go out and try a local beer that you’ve never had. Pick something from your own state or immediate area and taste away. By doing this you’ll be supporting your local brewers who work so hard to make tasty beverages for us all. After you’ve tasted that new beer, tell me about it!

Fill out this super-short survey (or leave a comment) telling me about the brew you tried, your experience, or anything else you want to say about ACBW. Your comments might be featured in a wrap-up post at the end of the week.

So from the Beer Babe – Cheers – and Happy American Craft Beer Week!

Honestly, I hadn’t thought much about it until the other day. I got an email asking me to boycott Bud and Stella for the Superbowl because, since Anheuser-Busch has been bought by In-Bev, they’ve had to cut a few thousand jobs. While I think this effort might be a bit misguided, it got me thinking. The big guys make millions and millions at Superbowl time. Everyone buys lots of canned beer, and drinks it en masse. Or, at least, that’s the perception. 

Here’s a picture of my boyfriend Mike holding Guinness – in this picture she’s only 4 months old, and has a lot of growing left to do. She’s going to be BIG.

This isn’t uncommon, as there are a lot of brews that feature dogs as mascots, labels or names. Like Smuttynose’s Old Brown Dog, BluePaw Blueberry, Flying Dog, etc. So why shouldn’t the reverse be true?

So on my way home from Long Island I decided to think up other good beer-based names to name a dog. Suggestions are welcome!

-Guinness
-Stella
-Chimnay
-Rogue
-Hops
-Beamish
-Lambic
-Sam (for Sam Adams)
-Pennichuck
-Harpoon
-Weiss
-Bock
-Hoptimus Prime

Naming your dog after your favorite beer is in my opinion cute and creative, especially if the name is of your favorite craft beer or brewer. I’ve met a few people in my lifetime who’ve named their dog after their favorite brew and I think it’s neat. Dogs come in various colors of brown, so its fitting that they’d go well with beer names.

In regards to the the question in a relationship as to whether “size” matters to a woman, my typical response is as follows:

“It’s not the size of the ship, it’s the motion of the ocean …but you can’t get to England in a rowboat.”

However, I was proven wrong tonight. I was looking up historical things that happened on August 1^st and I came across the story of George Samuelson and Frank Harbo, who, in 1894, went from New York City to England – a 3,000 mile journey – in a rowboat. No one has ever repeated the feat of using only an oared vessel to cross the Atlantic. Tonight is the anniversary of their landing in England.

So I’ve been forever proven wrong. You can get to England in a rowboat.

To toast to George and Frank’s incredible journey (can you imagine having to talk to the same person within your boat for 55 days straight?) I open for my readers tonight, a Unibroue 16, their 16^th anniversary bottle.

I poured out the beer and found that my first glass had a thick head, I had to wait for it to settle before I could break it in. The smell coming off it was delightfully citrusy, almost orange in nature. The color was a dark copper and the head lingered for quite a while, the carbonation featured big, soda like bubbles.

Officially this is a ‘Belgian Pale Strong Ale” (sounds like an oxymoron, eh?). The taste seemed to me similar to Terrible, but a little bit more complex. It reminds me of a good dubbel, and it has a high alcohol content, but you can’t taste the sting from the alcohol at all – a definite plus. The taste is lovely and spicy, and some of that orange citrus warms in your mouth as you drink it. Its smooth and very pleasant. Worth seeking out, in my opinion, as this is a once-only brewing, and they’ve already come out with the 17th anniversary version.

The beauty of this beer is in its character, and Unibroue is one of my favorite breweries because of the quality of what comes out of their bottles. And, for me, drinking something you may never have again is something to cherish, or perhaps share, which is a great reason to drink one for an anniversary.

The first is the classic – a Magic Hat #9
Magic Hat makes some classy stuff, and if you’ve got it in a bottle, like me, you get to read their witty little sayings under neath the caps. This one said : Wine me, Dine me, #9 me. A nice light beer with a very distinct sweet and apricoty smell. It is pale and yellow but has a lot of flavor. It isn’t overwhelmingly sweet, but definitely has an apricot finish and scent through all of it. This is a classic in the bars near me, but you have to watch what you pair it with. It is light and great for a hot day, and doesn’t fill you up or weigh you down. Apricot can be a finicky flavor, and its nice to have something that complements it. I had one today with a spinach-avacado salad with poppyseed dressing and it was fabulous. I cheated a little, though, because the bottle of poppyseed dressing says it would taste great with apricots. Hehe.

Number two is a little more local – Sea Dog Brewing Company’s Apricot Wheat Beer
This beer pours darker than the Magic Hat, and has an apricot smell that’s a little bit darker or more complicated somehow. It isn’t light and breezy but smells a bit more… mature? On tasting the sweetness that I expected was trumped a little by almost a savory end of the apricots and wheat interacting. It’s a bit drier too, and not quite as refreshing. But I think that this one would go over better with a meal. It’s also a summer beer but hits a little heavier, has a little bit more complexity of flavor. This one is a have-it-with-dinner apricot beer, instead of a have-it-outside in summer beer. I like it, it still conveys that kind of summery taste without being overly sweet.

And onto number three – Dogfish Head’s Aprihop
Now, Dogfish Head’s brewing usually puts into mind the most extreme version of whatever beer style they take on. But, like the wheat beer, this is a different style brewed with apricot flavors. The smell is far less apricot-like than its previous fruity brethren, though it is there and you can pick it out if you’re aware or expecting it. The taste is hoppy and sweet, sharp and fades fast. But it’s also the least sweet of the three, but has a stronger flavor overall. As part of the aftertaste there’s a little bit of metallic taste that hangs on, but as I got down a little further in the glass that disappeared. This one is tricky too, and a bit stronger than last year’s version if I remember. The Dogfish head crew have I think, missed the mark a little on letting the apricot have center stage, but haven’t missed in terms of making this beer such an enjoyable drink.

So, that about wraps it up for these spring apricot dreams. If anyone knows of more apricot brews that are out there, send me a review or your two cents. Just thought it would be fun to do a field survey of springy drinks on this beautiful spring day.

P.S. I have now added the word “hoppy” into my spell check, because I have grown weary of it reminding me that it isn’t really a world.

1.) Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA – to anyone used to Budweiser and Miller Light, this will be a total shock to the senses, but a welcome one. Flavor anyone? Very hoppy and flowery, you can also be a know-it-all by checking out Dogfish Head Brewery’s website and learning why its called a 60 Minute IPA. This is also the most common selection that can be found from Dogfish Head – the 90 and 120 minute and other offerings are a lot less common. See if you can find it by checking out some local specialty beverage centers near you.

2.) Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale or Brooklyn Brewery’s Post Road Pumpkin - what Thanksgiving isn’t complete without plenty of pumpkin flavor? You’ll be surprised how wonderfully a pumpkin beer can go with a warm meal. I’ll warn you though, if all you can find is the Jack’s Pumpkin Spice beer made by Annheuiser Busch, skip it!

3.) Blue Moon Belgian Wheat Ale – the cool thing about this beer is that its unfiltered, cloudy and has a lot of taste, but is found really commonly in supermarkets, etc. The key to this one is not to forget the oranges. Get an orange, put a slice in a bottle similar to how you would treat a Corona, and look like a beer connoisseur!

4.) Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout - here’s a carmel-flavored wonderful dark beer to contrast with some of the sweet flavors of dessert. In a clear bottle, its easy to see how dark it is, and most people will appreciate the chocolaty and rich taste. Also, the bottles are different looking so it is something fun to open.

5.) Samuel Adam’s Cranberry Lambic - first, a warning. There are some people who will like this beer, and there are some who will NOT like it at all. It makes for good conversation, but here’s some things you need to know. A slight musty smell and flavor in a Lambic normal and shouldn’t be thought of as a sign that the beer’s gone bad. Secondly, you can only find this within the Holiday Mix Pack that Sam Adams puts out. So it might be a great thing for those who don’t like the Cranberry Lambic to try the others. All great beers, in my opinion.

Well, that’s the list. Hope you have a happy Thanksgiving.

-The Beer Babe