PM Porter - BJ's Brewhouse

A few weeks ago my town got a BJ's Brewhouse, a restaurant chain who's big draw is their line of craft beers, burgers, and BBQ. Having an evening out to myself I decided to give them a shot, after all either it would be a great success, or a resounding failure. I'm of the opinion that variety is the spice of life, and living in suburban central florida, my choices are often pretty narrow for decent craft beer.

I miss you baby

So with modest expectations, I ventured out of the parking lot and into the dining room of BJ's. It was littered with your usual crowd of people loitering around on a saturday night: Couples on dates, college kids looking for a night on the town,  single guys trying to catch the game. But even though buisness was brisk they whisked me away to a table quickly. After peruising the menu for a moment, I settled on a Porter and a Black and Bleu burger, a safe combination or so I thought. After some fussing about my out-of-state ID, my beer (and burger) were brought quickly to my table.

The porter seemed to be your standard affair. A dark black fellow with little head and jet black color served in a pint glass. My burger came on a nice thick bun, with blue cheese dripping down the side. Not super impressed with either of them, but the meal was cheap, and quick, and the server seemed nice, if not very knowlegable about beer (The porter? Yeah it's a dark beer).

The porter had a nice fruity smell, with a hint of rich roasted malt. So after taking a bite of my burger (Greasy) I decided to dive into the Porter. Wow, so first off this is not what I think of when I think porter. It's incredibly sweet, with lots of caramel, and I quickly realized it was on a nitro tap. Thick, creamy and rich, it dripped off the tongue. Definantly more of a milkstout taste then a porter.

So what's the verdict? The PM Porter is pretty good, and worth a try. But keep in mind that it's a sweet drink, not the rich, smokey taste you get with most porters. All in all I'd give BJ's a shot. The foods not much better then applebees, but the beer is top notch. 

Brewer: BJ's Brewhouse 

Style: Porter 

6.4% ABV 

Price: $3.00 a pint

Rating: 7 out of 10

Rum Aged - Innis & Gunn

Innis and gunn are a scottish brewery out of Edinburgh that have been around since 2003. They typically divide craft-beer fans who claim they are Faux-craft, due to their clear bottles and their outsourcing their brewing to another company. But the only question that matters to me is does the drink hold up on it's own?

Innis and Gunn's entire line centers around Wood-aged beers, and today I'm going to focus on Rum Aged. Rum aged is a Scotch ale that was originally a limited selection, but is now part of their regular lineup. Aged over oak heartwood and infused with Rum spices, it's pedigree talks a good game. And it looks the part, pouring a nice amber red that any true Scotsman would feel proud of, with a nice beige head that fades to almost nothing. No lacing to speak of, but it looks pretty tasty all the same.


And whoa, what an incredibly robust smelling Ale; lots of Caramel and rum with a nice bit of malt to it. Most excitingly, there's also a lot of Spiced rum smell to it. It reminds me a lot of christmas, which is a nice thought as it's hot enough to melt asphalt in central Florida in the summer.


But there's only one thing that truly matters at the end of the day and that's the taste. Hope you like sweetness, because this little Scotch Ale has it in droves. All that Caramel and and Spiced rum just floods over the palate, and mixes with strong Vanilla, and Toffenut. I'm looking over my notes I use when I taste something for the first (or third) time and the only thing I have written in notes column is "SO GOOD!"


So is this beer a winner? I'd say yes. It's incredibly sweet, and can be a little bit heavy to have more then one at a time, but it's so dammed good you're doing yourself a disservice by not trying it. Remember, beer drinking like every other worthy endeavor is a matter of taste, so ultimately don't be persuaded by anyone but yourself. Try it and make up your own mind!

• Brewer: Innis & Gunn 
• Style: IPA 
• 6.8% ABV 
• Price: $6.00\4 
• Rating: 9 out of 10

Best songs about drinking

So many songs have been written about heartache, and even more about being addicted to the bottle, and even a handful where one led to the other. So I thought I'd offer a change of material and share some of my favorites this week.

Roadhouse Blues - The Doors

There's two eras of The Doors- The lizard King, which was pure 60's avant garde freak out, and Bearded Bard, which is 70's blues wrapped in cheap beer. And the beer doesn't get much cheaper (or blues encrusted) then Roadhouse Blues. Morrisons voice strains like he had just drank every Milwaukee's best in a 100 mile radius and you feel it in every bone in your body.

Brass Monkey- Beastie Boys

#RIPMCA

Let's get real though, no list about drinking is complete without some vintage Beastie boys. From those fat sax and bass hits, this song is like opening a window into underage drinking. Who doesn't remember the first Brass monkey they drank?

One Bourbon One Scotch One Beer - George Thorogood

This song is actually a little two for one action. The first half of it is a blues standard called "House-rent blues", a tale of woe about a guy who loses his job and pisses off his old lady. Of course the next logical progression is to end up at the bar. Interesting trivia about Thorogood, he's actually a Teetotaler who doesn't like to drink.

 Family Tradition - Hank Williams Jr.

Oh Junior, you are such a card. Yeah, you've kinda unveiled yourself to be an unrepentant piece of shit, but so is Ted Nugent and Stranglehold is still a good jam. I digress, I had to pick this because aside from being a true tale of the legend of the Williams family boozing (We're talking about the son of the guy who got so drunk they kicked him out of the grand ol opry), it's also deeply sentimental. My mom would often pplay this song in an attempt to explain our long standing history of dysfunction. So I guess in my own way, I too am just following those family traditions.

Where everyone knows your name - Gary Portnoy

Listen to those first few notes and tell me you don't feel your heartstrings being pulled. You know deep down inside we all just want to walk down to someplace where everyone knows your name, even if that place only exists in our hearts...

Plus it has young Woody Harrelson in it. 

NORM!

Theme from Cheers - Titus Andronicus

But let's get real, Cheers is just a show, and this alt-country alcoholism-fueled ballad probably a more accurate portrait of someone who's known by name at a bar. Only a concept album about the civil war could really paint the real pain of someone who has to drink just to get through the day.

"And the walk home is going to be a real shit show--
I'll be picking up half-smoked cigarette butts all up and down Rock Road
and then throw up in the warm glow of the traffic light.
But I'm gonna put the devil inside me to sleep if it takes all night."

Bartender (Nashville Version) - Rehab

Now I'm not one for Radio-edits, but c'mon, this is so good. A tale of white-trash woe, a regular trailer-park opera, fueled by a drunken outburst. It's like "What made Milwaukee famous" without any regrets.  Plus anyone has ever been at dive bar in the southeast, you've heard this song at least two dozen times. Might as well cop to the fact that we all love it.

Too drunk to Dream - Magnetic Fields

Many a beautiful song has been written about needing the bottle, and many a beautiful song has been penned about a broken heart, but nothing speaks more universally then mending a broken heart with the bottle.

"I gotta get too drunk to dream

'Cause dreaming only makes me blue

I gotta get too drunk to dream

Because I only dream of you"

And finally, saving the best for last, I give you...

Tik Tok - Ke$ha

Ok so i'm not  a proponent of Ke$ha, but this song does make me want to drink, so there is that. Plus this video pretty much always makes me happy. I have a weakness for drunk Shatner.

We multi-media now!

Coming to a Cat-video broadcasting machine near you!

Aprihop - Dogfish Head Brewery

Aprihop is a season beer by Dogfish Head Brewery. It advertises a hopped up experience, an IPA infused with apricot flavors. Which is pretty much the same draw of a #9 by Magic Hat.  Is it as good as that old stand-by?

The old saying goes that you drink with your eyes first, and that's very true with Aprihop. It looks very inviting in my footed Pilsner glass. The beer pours a very nice amber color, almost Autumn colored, but with almost three fingers worth of cloudlike foam resting on the top and clinging to the side. The scent is hoppy, kinda spicy. but with a hint of the fruit that is promised on the label. Promising stuff here folks!

But for all the hype I give Dogfish, it's actually a pretty refreshing beer! Not a game changer by any means, but fairly decent. Crisp hoppiness, a nice amount of carbonation, and a side serving of fruity goodness including the aforementioned Apricot mixing with your usual Grapefruit citrus tastes from the hops before subsiding into almost a fruity maltiness. Like I said earlier, it's fairly similar to #9, but while it's not distinct in almost anyway, it's very good.

Would I drink it again? Maybe when spring rolls around again. Like I said,  it's nothing special, and while I've never drank a bad beer from Dogfish, this one is at worst forgettable and at best an opportunity for someone to cut their teeth on Craft-beer. Maybe next years batch will give us something more, but only time will tell.

• Brewer: Dogfish Head 
• Style: IPA 
• 7% ABV 
• Price: $6.00\4 
• Rating: 7 out of 10

MACRO MONDAY WEEK THREE: Yuengling Black and Tan

Yuengling, yuengling, yuengling; you can do no wrong in my heart, I Swear baby. Now some of you out there in B-N-B land are crying foul, because I’ve already done a macro-monday on Yuengling -- to which I say, I don’t care. Who cares?

Anyways, the beer I’m reviewing (and I use that term loosely in the case of Macro-Monday) is Black & Tan. Black & Tan is a combination of delicious Porter mixed with “Premium Beer”, which I’m guessing is Yuengling Lager, which is good.

But wait, let’s pump the breaks for a second. Yuengling makes a Porter? Apparently so, even though I’ve never seen one in the wild Yuengling has been making Porter’s for many years. So long that they were often the only Porter game in town.

But I digress. You didn’t come here for a history lesson about Yuengling. Well maybe you did, in which case you came to the wrong blog, I apologize profusely. Maybe that’s a good idea for a future post, comment if you agree.

I digress again, lets move on to the matter at hand. Black and tan is a delicious little beverage. On the surface it’s got the typical Yuengling packaging. Poured from a nice longneck bottle into my favorite belgian tulip, Black and tan looks very...porterish for lack of a better term. It’s a nice midnight color with this thin beige head that dissipates to nothing. Fairly usual all thing considered.

The smell is equally predictable, it’s got this fairly hoppy smell, with a little bit of the porter-y goodness waiting in the wings. Yes I keep using Porter as an adjective, no I don’t care that it’s not really one.

The taste is what we all care about, no? And the black and tan actually holds up pretty well in this department. Just like the smell, it’s got all the hoppy goodness from what I can only assume is the premium beer, followed up by a mellow, if not serviceable porter flavor. Some nice roasted malts, maybe some coffee, and a hint of chocolate. It’s pretty refreshing

So the big question is, should I buy this? The answer, Yeah man-- you could do a lot worse then a Black and Tan. It’s dark enough to keep a veteran alcoholic happy, but also fairly drinkable from a lager perspective. It’s one of those rare beers that is both good to drink at a ballgame or have sitting down in your living room. So next time you’re grilling out, why not pick up a sixer? You could do a lot worse. Especially since finding Yuengling’s actual porter is like seeing a Unicorn romancing a Narwhal.

Panic Attack! - Holy Mackerel

Holy Mackerel is a brewery out of Ft Lauderdale Florida who is doing things different. Their whole ethos is based around small batch, craft beer, and boy does it show. Panic Attack, there Saison offering is a hell of a beer. Brewed with Canadian malted barley, golding hops, and belgian yeast, it is not a feeble beer, but a mighty broad river of flavors.

Sitting down at the bar at Cavallari Gourmet, I poured a bottle of the good stuff into a cup. Not a lot of head of lacing to speak of, but the beer itself is a beautiful golden brown color. You knows from the moment the beer hits the cup that this is going to be an undertaking, but in the best way possible.


The smell is very sweet, with a little bit of fruit and berries mixing in with a strong alcohol vapor on it. It comes off almost a little bit sickly sweet, but not in a candy or light way. Almost in a Licorice sort of way.

As for the taste, it’s definitely full flavored. This is no babies first beer, no sir. Panic attack works every bit of your palate, sitting as heavy as a ton of lead, but with a nice bit of fizziness to it. There’s the fruit, which honestly reminds me a lot of my all time favorite, Three philosophers. Then there’s a nice little slice of hoppiness before washing over a typhoon of maltiness, and then a bit of bitter anise mixing in with the strong alcohol taste.

Oh did I mention it’s 10%? Because panic attack is 10%. This is not a beer to have during a scorching day with your ham and cheese sandwich. this is a sit your fat ass down and savor it kind of beer. so in closing, I’m going to give Panic attack 7.5 out of 10. It does take some getting used to, but it’s a hell of a beer.

• Brewer: Holy Mackerel 
• Style: Belgian Strong Ale 
• 10 ABV 
• Price: $12.00 
• Rating: 7.5 out of 10

MACRO MONDAY WEEK TWO: Pabst Blue Ribbon

Pabst Blue Ribbon is a beer that conjures up all kinds of images. A decade ago, that image would most likely be your average working man: the construction worker who considered budweiser too fruity to keep in his icebox. Today mention Pabst and the image is undoubtedly a trend-seeking, bearing wearing, vintage denim sporting hipster. But is it a good beer? Beyond all the hype, is it worth drinking?

Pabst Blue Ribbon is the namesake of Pabst Brewing company. Pabst, through a variety of acquisitions now brings us all sorts of beers, from Lone Star to Schlitz. But since its inception, Pabst Blue Ribbon has been there No.1 Beer. Reportedly named Blue Ribbon after winning an award at the World's fair, but more then likely because Pabst used to put silk little blue ribbons on every bottle.

But whether the ribbon in question is figurative or literal in this case, I intend to get to the bottom of whether it's a half decent Adjunct Lager. I cracked open a can that had been cooling in the back of my refrigerator for some time, and poured it into a nice and clean Pilsner Glass. The beers a nice yellow color, with plenty of head that fizzles away to nothing. No lacing, looks pretty light. All in all a pretty unassuming Lager.

The taste is pretty good though. Your usual adjunct lager flavors, corn, bit of malt, slight taste of hops, and just a touch of citrus. Very light, very bubbly. I once heard a Redditor on /r/Atlanta wax poetically about PBR because it was the ultimate palate cleanser, totally inoffensive and fine with anything. In that way, PBR excels fantastically. It's definitely crisp and refreshing, and would be as good grilling a burger as it would at a concert.

So all in all, PBR is a pretty-ok Beer. It's better then Natty Ice, and a good beer to share with friends on a lazy weekend, but that's about it. And that's ok! We need beers like that, and Pabst isn't putting on any aires, we are. So enjoy a PBR, it's not a Yuengling, but it'll do!

Turbodog - Abita

Turbodog is considered by many to be the best that Abita has to offer. I’ll make no mention to hide the fact that I’ve avoided Abita at every chance, considering their short, red stripe sized bottles to be the ranks of posier beer. And I have somewhat of a good reason to believe this, as every time I’ve seen someone drink Abita, it’s been Purple Haze, and it’s usually a 23 year old white woman trying to be edgy. Nothing against that demographic, but it’s just not my scene. To put it another way, Abita would seem right at home next to a sixer of Shocktop.

 But holy jesus was I wrong about Turbodog, and I was wrong about Abita in general. This English brown ale poured a domineering dark black with shadows of red on the edges. The head was a beautiful fluffy affair, khaki colored and three fingers at first pour before settling down to two. Nice bit of lacing clinging to the side of the glass too.  The smell is even more inviting than the dark richness of it in a glass. Caramel, Dark chocolate, stings of coffee mixed with Toffee. Not a lot of sweetness upfront but a decent amount of toasted malts.

But I truly knew this beer was a winner when I had my first sip. Rich, roasted malted flavors, incredible dark chocolate, Toffee, and hints of smooth coffee danced over my palate. And to be such a full-flavored beer, it tasted so light! Incredibly smooth and easy drinking.. On the whole, I’d describe it as being very Neal Degrasse Tyson-esque: Dark, smooth and complex.

So should you pull the trigger on a sixer of Turbodog? At $10.00 for a six-pack at the local grocer (neither the local liquor store nor the local gourmet grocery carries it), it’s a pretty pricey beer. But it also happens to be incredibly worth it. This English Ale is strong, rich, delicious, complex, and most importantly drinkable. The only thing that would go better with a Turbodog is another Turbodog.

• Brewer: Abita 
• Style: English Ale
• 5.6 ABV 
• Price: $10.00\6 
• Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Sorry everyone!

Post by Baucom on Beer.

Hennepin Saison - Brewery Ommegang

Louis Hennepin: Priest, Explorer, Beer namesake. Father Louis Hennepin is perhaps most famous for being the first european to discover (and write about) Niagara Falls. So it seems only natural that a man of his intrepid character would grace a beer that is adventurous, complex, and exciting. Hennepin is a Saison from Brewery Ommegang, available in both 4-pack and Euro-Bomber (750ml). As i’ve mentioned before, Ommegang is my favorite brewery, but would Hennepin be able to hold up to the hype? I’m not even much of a Saison guy (My previous experience with one being the Panic Attack Saison from Holy Mackerel, a story for another beer), but I pressed on, dear readers.

Dusting off my new Tulip glass, I popped the top off a bottle of Hennepin. I Opted for the 4-pack so on the off chance it was terrible I didn’t have to drink it all at once. The packaging is very nice, with a purple tinted illustration of Father Hennepin on a Canoe going over a waterfall. The label spoke of “Ale brewed with Grains of paradise, coriander, ginger, sweet orange peel”, an enticing new world of tastes awaiting my pour.

And what a pour it was! Three beautiful fingers worth of luxurious thick off-white head, topping off a light, almost blonde color. The head hangs around for a bit, but when it dissipates it leaves some very beautiful lacing, clinging to the glass like ivy up a brick wall. I really wish I had a camera ready when it was in the glass, because it truly was a thing of beauty. My mouth waters just remembering it.

Shoving my nose into the glass, I took in the bouquet of smells that hennepin had to offer. Sweet, fruity notes. Amazing balance, with not a hint of alcohol to be had. Impressive for a 6.8 beer. Truly Hennepin is a delight to look at, smell, but what of the taste?

With the first sip, it was true love. Such sweetness, how is that possible from a Saison? and yet, it’s incredible balanced, with a nice astringent quality to it. The fizzyness lifting the drink right off the palate, leaving hints of apricots, lemon, and a whole lot of grape. Could this be the beer that unseats Three Philosophers as my favorite offering from Ommegang? possibly, further research is merited, certainly.

So should you give Hennepin a try? Of course! You’d be doing a grave disservice to the spirit of Father Hennepin himself if you didn’t. His intrepid spirit flows through this beer just like water flowing over Niagara falls. And the great thing about Hennepin is that it’s down for whatever. Be it a drink on the porch after a hard days work, or combined with a blackened steak, Hennepin is ready to stand on its own or enhance anything else. Truly it is a wonderful Saison.

• Brewer: Brewery Ommegang 
• Style: Farmhouse Saison 
• 7.7 APV 
• Price: $12.00 
• Rating: 9.4 out of 10 

MACRO MONDAY WEEK ONE: Yuengling Lager

I'm very proud to debut a new weekly feature: Macro Monday! Not content to be your run of the mill beer snob, I'll run a write-up on one of the widely available Macro (as opposed to Micro) beers. All the pretension of a more expensive beer at a fraction of the cost. That's the Baucom On Beer way!

This week, we're starting off strong with Yuengling Lager! Yuengling is a very distinguished beer, having the honor of not only being the oldest established brewery in the United States, but also being one of the largest by volume. There Lager is so well known in the Tri-state area that it can be obtained just by asking for a lager at a bar. It's also the favorite beer of Obama, so ya know, take that how you will. 

I cracked open a bottle of Yuengling and poured it into my brand new Pilsner glass. Immediately I'm taken aback with what a nice color it is; a charming ruby red, fading to a nice amber. It strikes me as a very dark beer for a lager, full of mysterious deliciousness topped with a thin, off-white head.

Lagers are not a specialty of mine, but Yuengling has an impressive scent to it as well. Not watery or ricey like Budweiser, but very floral, sweet with hints of peaty moss type goodness. The old joke about American Lagers being like having sex in a canoe does not apply here, thank goodness.

The taste was likewise very lovely. Some light hoppiness, mixed with some nice sweetness reminiscent of spring grass, combined with a hint of lemon and a touch of malty smoothness on the way out. A pretty robust tasting beer, but still very drinkable. It sits very light on the tongue, and goes down nice and easy.

You gotta give it up for Yuengling's Amber Lager, it's got a lot going for it; It's unique but accessible, it's refined, but versatile, it has a lot of flavor without being overpowering, but most importantly it's dirt cheap and available anywhere. You could literally stumble into a 7\11 anywhere and pick up a sixer for 7 bucks. And it's just as good with a plate of wings as it is sitting on the porch in July or Tailgating in October.

That about wraps it up for the first installment of Macro-Monday. Let me know what you guys think about it in the comments section and be sure to check in next week for another review of some good-ole-fashion Macro Beers. 

Player 1 Bar and Arcade

On my 28th birthday my wife and I checked out a Bar & arcade called Player 1. Right outside the gates of Disney World nestled in a nondescript strip mall, Player 1 is a haven for retro-gamers with a taste for unique craft beers. Stepping past the front desk, you walk back in time into a world of blue neon paradise. Amazing cabinets from my childhood tucked away in every corner including X-men, TMNT: Turtles in Time, Frogger, Star-Wars, The Simpsons, Centipede, Pac-Man, Galaga, and Marvel Vs Capcom

All of the Machines are set on free-to-play and while some of the machines were in need of some maintenance (dead zones in joysticks, sticking buttons, CRT burn-in) for a $5.00 cover the value is second to none if you’re nostalgic for the golden age of the Arcade. And rest assure, for all the rough edges, these are the real mccoy, not sloppily done emulation driven hackjobs.

The bar set up is pretty phenomenal. A great lineup of Microbrews including everything from Arrogant Bastard to Nitro Vanilla Porter, clean glasses, nice and friendly bartenders, decent prices (5-8 bucks) combined with a laidback nerd-noir decoire. Plus they serve theater style popcorn and Gourmet root beer on tap for those of us who need to space out their good times. All they really are lacking is Pizza for that perfect nostalgia 3-play. A Chucky-Cheese for adults? C’mon, what’s not to love about that!

Most importantly, the Bar itself is very comfortable. True to its arcade routes, the place is dim but not dank. The bathrooms are clean, the crowd is nerdy but not neckbeardy, cool but not conceited. It’s very laid back environment without feeling clunky. Everything is geared toward enjoying a good beer with a good game, including nice deep cup holders on the side of every cabinet for your pint or bottle and cushy couches in the game lounge.

In short, if you’re in central Florida and are a nostalgia junky like myself, then you owe it to yourself to check out Player 1. Doubly so if you have a strong love for Craft Beer. It’s a fun, unique little piece of Arcade paradise in the Attractions district of Orlando. I’d even go so far as to say it’s the perfect diversion from the line waiting joy of Universal and Disney.

Laughing Skull Amber Ale - Red Brick Brewing

"Laugh, and the world laughs with you; weep, and you weep alone"

-Ella Wheeler Wilcox

The Vortex Bar and Grill is an institution in my beloved Atlanta. Some people mistakenly believe the quintessential Georgian burger is served at the Varsity, but those poor saps have never stepped through the skull-face into the Vortex to wolf down their famous Coronary Bypass burger. Unapologetic to the core, The Vortex caters to smokers, red meat lovers, motorcycle riders, scooter-pushers, rebels, rockers, punks, pretty-boys, cool kids, and your various PBR swilling hipsters. It’s one of the last bastions of true adult joy left in this world and I love every second of it.

With that being said, I am loathe to admit that I never tried The Vortex’s own line of beer, Laughing Skull. But finding myself with a little bit of free time and some Florida sunshine, I sought to rectify this immediately. Laughing Skull is brewed by Red Brick Brewing, formerly Atlanta Brewing Company, which is the oldest Craft Brewery operating in Atlanta (edging out competitor Sweetwater Brewing by three years). But will two plus decades of experience and a team of excellent driven brewers make a winning combination?

Laughing Skull pours a beautiful, rich ruby color that is murky bordering on opaque. It looks warm, but most importantly, utterly refreshing. A very light head to be had, totaling maybe half a finger worth of creamy white stuff, but there was some pretty good lacing to it. A good sign all around.

The aroma is very nice, very sweet, with hints of a little bit of hoppy goodness and freshly cut grass. The Aroma often tells half the story of a beer, and this one involves a lot of tasty things eaten on a hot summer day. I couldn’t help but think about how much I yearned for a Black and Bleu burger, medium well, and some french fries doused in ketchup. 

Finally, I could hold back no more and dove right in. The first sip of this sanguine beauty and I knew it was truly summer. Crisp hoppiness with light sweetness, a bit of citrus peel, and just the right amount of smoothness at the end to bring it all back home. But where did those floral, grassy notes go? I smacked my lips a few times and took a few dozen more sips, savoring that light and smooth mouthfeel around, but it took half the glass before I could finally taste them, so very delicate, so very light.

And that, my friends, is the sign of an excellent product. Something that is unique, while staying true to its intentions. Something that is bold where it needs to be, but not brass. While not as coarse as a trip to the Vortex, Laughing Skull Amber Ale is a worthy standard bearer for the Vortex name. You’d be hard pressed to find a more refreshing summer beer to chase those summertime blues away.

• Brewer: Red Brick Brewing
• Style: Amber Ale
• 5.7 APV
• Price: $8.99\6
• Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Fire and Blood Red Ale - Brewery Ommegang

“And I will take what is mine, with fire and blood, I will take it!”

-Daenerys Targaryen

Daenerys Stormborn of the House Targaryen, the First of Her Name, the Unburnt, Queen of Meereen, Queen of the Andals, the First Men and the Rhynoar, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains and Mother of Dragons. Love her or hate here, one cannot deny that the lady has some classy titles working for her. So naturally it makes sense of the mother of dragoons to lend her house motto to this incredible Red ale, Fire and Blood.

It’s important to note that Brewery Ommegang is not some novelty Brewery cranking out swill and riding on the coattails on the Pop-Culture lightning rod that Game of Thrones has become. On the contrary, they are one of the premier micro-brew producers in the nation, specializing in Belgian-style craft beers. Their love for beer is very evident in the care they take, not only in crafting unique and notable brews, but also in the fine presentation and craftsmanship in the packaging.

In this regard, Fire and Blood matches the excellence of other Brewery Ommegang beers. The beer is offered in a thick 750ml glass bottle, and topped off with a rather large cork letting you know from the moment you lay eyes on it that this is no ordinary drink. The label is very well done, complete with an artistic representation of one of Daenerys dragons . It’s a very subtle thing; Matte Black printing, with subtle metallic ink outlining the bottle, seems true to the mythos of the Game of Thrones series, while still being more at home on the shelf of a classy bar, not just something to slosh into a Solo Cup at a Dragon*Con hotel party (Not that there’s anything wrong with that).

After uncorking it and pouring it “slowly, to not disturb yeast sediment but with vigor to make a luxurious head and to unleash the bouquet” per the instructions on the bottle, the first thing to notice is it pours a beautiful, deep fiery red with a thick and lovely head. I’ve always worried I’m not pouring a beer perfectly, but after looking at this mysterious and exotic Red Ale, I knew I wouldn’t need to worry this time.

The scent is marvelous: not too strong, not too sweet. I had recently dabbled in a local High-Gravity beer the week before that overwhelmed the scent of the beverage with thick ethanol scent. But at 6.8%, Fire and blood is just right. I couldn’t quite pick out the hints of Chili promised on the label, but there were little peaks of spicy hops mingling with the strains of Belgian yeast, giving it a sweet, slightly fruity but luxurious smell to match its deep and mysterious color.

And finally, it came time to taste it. I had high expectations of this Beer, as Ommegang is one of my favorite breweries and Game of Thrones is one of my favorite shows, but I shouldn’t have given it a thought. It was amazing. Love at first sip, truly. As it washed over my mouth, I couldn’t help but delight in its balanced but bold flavors. American microbreweries often have an affinity for overloading beers with Hops, aspiring to add character, but Fire and Blood stands on its own without the need for this. The first few smooth, delicious sips were almost hard to pin down. The malty smoothness of it all contrasts with just the right amount of carbonation, with a pleasant, spicy and almost fruity end.

Unfortunately, much like summer, this beer will not be around forever, which is a shame as this beer is really a pleaser. It’s perfect for sipping on after a long day, or to compliment the perfect meal (I chose Blackened Salmon, and grilled Kabobs). If you can find a bottle, I’d highly recommend picking it up. Even if you’re not a fan of A Game of Thrones, this is a beer worthy of paying the iron price.

• Brewer: Brewery Ommegang
• Style: Red Ale
• 6.8 APV
• Price: $12.00
• Rating: 9 out of 10