http://www.downtownwineandspirits.com/beer Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:09:14 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Yesterday brought with it two singular excitements: Tony and I undertook Boozy Milkshake Day Part II and George, an esteemed dT alum, popped over to my house for a bit. What with this being the beer blog and with the spirits blog being a whole separate blog, I'm going to ... http://www.downtownwineandspirits.com/beer/the-beer-blog/2009/07/01/not-knocking-things-off-pedestals/ We waited and we waited, but it’s finally arrived: Mad River’s Steelhead Double Dread Imperial Red. It’s the most recent entry in the brewery’s High Gravity series, an uber-limited series of full-throttle brews. For those of you just hopping on the dT blog-wagon, we’ve been waiting (sort of) patiently for its ... http://www.downtownwineandspirits.com/beer/the-beer-blog/2009/06/27/mad-river-the-gravity-gets-hi-i-i-gh/ By which I'm not joking; so many beers come out with these fancy titles talking about "double espresso" this and "blueberry pie" that and for the most part, while the referent beers are often outstanding, the flavor itself is accurate only in a sort of secondary sense. It tastes like ... http://www.downtownwineandspirits.com/beer/beer-reviews/2009/06/26/sourthern-tier-creme-brulee-drink-your-dessert/ Here’s what summer beer’s really all about: There’s an Australian in my house. A few years ago, my fiancé lived with her in Costa Rica, both of them working for a Peace-Corp-ish program, chopping down jungle pathways, dancing with locals, the like (you haven’t seen sexy until you’ve seen the picture ... http://www.downtownwineandspirits.com/beer/the-beer-blog/2009/06/18/what-summer-beers-all-about/ In a recent post, I wrote about a conversation I had with Tyler (of The Second Glass fame) re: the dearth of mom-and-pop breweries in Eastern MA. Wish I had a little more, uh, clarity at the time. I would have dropped Haverhill Brewery on him. 45 min. up 93, ... http://www.downtownwineandspirits.com/beer/beer-reviews/2009/06/06/haverhill-brewery-by-boston-for-boston/ At the Eastern Standard last weekend, I got in this conversation about local beer with Tyler (as in, Tyler "The Second Glass" Balliet - that's him, there on the left with the winning smile). The Standard might very well be the ultimate cocktail bar in the city, but their beer ... http://www.downtownwineandspirits.com/beer/the-beer-blog/2009/06/05/thoughts-on-why-beer-compels-us/ Pity the poor, poor stout drinker. It's the dawn of summer and the sunlight's shining, the world's warming. People are bouncing around, getting all public and friendly again, hey-how-ya-doin strangers, grinning like idiots. Witbiers and Summer styles are flying off the shelves. But your average stout drinker... he's already longing ... http://www.downtownwineandspirits.com/beer/beer-cocktails/2009/06/04/black-velvet/ You really should be pumped about this. As you may or may not recall , a few weeks back I wrote about Mad River (and I'm assuming you don't, you hopefully having better things to do than commit my posts to memory). The brewery came to town for the Craft ... http://www.downtownwineandspirits.com/beer/the-beer-blog/2009/06/03/by-the-way-about-mad-river/ I posted this originally during the Craft Beer Conference week, but, well... I had another glass of Orchard White last night and it's so gosh darned tasty and whatnot, I feel the need to move it up to the top of the blog. And so, without further ado... So, it's Craft ... http://www.downtownwineandspirits.com/beer/the-beer-blog/2009/06/03/the-bruery-orchard-white-biting-the-farm/ Yeah, I know IPAs not an American original or anything, but still. The stateside brewers pretty much hijacked the style, for better or worse, by sheer force of will. We sure do loves our beers BIG here, and the style's perfectly suited to BIGness, what with its natural hoppiness that ... http://www.downtownwineandspirits.com/beer/the-beer-blog/2009/05/30/gaspar-an-ipa-from-not-here/