Beer related activities got an early start today, as I went with my uncle to Chip's,the bottle shop down here in the Outer Banks this afternoon. We went just to restock after last night’s shenanigans, only to discover they now have a tasting room with six beers on tap. It didn’t take much convincing for us each to order a flight of all six beers. We got samples of Dogfish Head Namaste (witbier brewed with lemongrass), Dogfish Head Sah’tea (brewed with chai tea and juniper berries), Ommegang BPA (Belgian Pale Ale), Terrapin Rye Pale Ale, Avery Maharaja double IPA, and Left Hand Milk Stout. The beers were uniformly very good, with none particularly standing out. The picture below should illustrate why it took us an extra minute or two to decide on our purchases afterwards...
Later on in the afternoon it was time for beers in the hot tub, as I ended up splitting a bottle of Namaste with my aunt and uncle and having a bottle of Brooklyn Brewery’s Summer Ale to myself. A couple of really easy drinking, tasty beers to enjoy while I was unwinding.
While dinner was cooking I had a Paulaner Hefe Weisse, which was a bit average to me. This one was well within its freshness date (January 2012), but still had a bit too much caramel sweetness to it. I’ve yet to find anything that really lives up to Weihenstephan or Schneider’s renditions of the classic German style.
I switched up to wine with dinner, because as much as I love beer, it's hard to say no to a nice cabernet with a steak dinner. Afterwards though, it was all about Bell's Porter, another beer that would have gone well with that steak. It had a typical coffee flavor, as well as a roasty flavor that at times became a little too acrid. There was also a certain sweetness that reminded me of a milk stout (a stout with lactose added to sweeten up the beer and fill out its body). All in all it's a beer I would probably come back to on occasion if Bell's was available in NJ
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