Dark...light...they're all good

Last Sunday I made my way to Union Jack's Inn on the Manatawny with the family.  We had 2 sleepers and 1 wide awake.  I went in with the 1 wide awake while my wife waited patiently in the car with the sleepers.  The day before Union Jack's was having their Back In Black event with a lot of very good dark beers.  I knew they would have leftovers and I was happy to help them finish them.  I have always considered Founder's Breakfast Stout the best Stout I have ever had.  I was told that they have a version that is also aged in Bourbon barrels called Kentucky Breakfast Stout.  That is what I ordered.  Clearly this beer is not the Breakfast Stout aged in Bourbon barrels.  It strikes me as thinner (mouthfeel) than the Breakfast Stout and even disregarding the barrel flavors you know this is not the Breakfast Stout.  That is not to say it isn't a great Stout.  It is.  But I still favor the Breakfast Stout.  For whatever reason, I went lighter on my next beer.  I ordered a Hop 15 from Port Brewing Company.  As always, this too was an excellent beer.  Altogether it was a fantastic trip to Union Jack's. 

Monday was a vacation day and my wife and I went shopping.  Somehow we ended up at the Victory Brewing Company in Downingtown for lunch.  I started with a Yakima Glory which is a very dark IPA although I wouldn't call it a Black IPA.  It is a very good beer.  I finished with a cask-conditioned Storm King Imperial Stout.  Storm King is always good but it is so much better from the hand pump.  It occurred to me that the lowest alcohol beer I had in the last 2 days is the Yakima Glory at a mere 8.7% abv.  I am looking forward to this winter season.  Bring it on.

On Wednesday I was back at the Victory in Downingtown to return a keg and pick up a fresh one.  That Yakima Glory I had the other day was pretty good so that is what I got.  While there, I went to the bar for a quick one.  I had a pint of the Pursuit Of Pale Ale (El Dorado).  It was OK.  I guess if this was some other brewer I would have said it was great but fairly or not, I hold Victory to higher standards.

Postscript - A quick search of my blog shows that I have already had the Pursuit Of Pale Ale and had the same opinion the first time.  Not very memorable.

Great Saturday Out

With daytime temperatures in the teens it was a good day to stay inside.  It was a Saturday full of good beer.  I visited the Bethlehem Brew Works where I sampled all 6 of their seasonals. (1) ACH-47 is a pretty nice Double American Pale Ale.  (2) Hop Monster Double IPA was not that great.  It was OK if all you really need is the alcohol which is 10% abv.  (3) Big Red is a good Doppelbock and that is not a style I usually go for.  (4) Elongator Doppelbock was very good.  It may be that these Doppelbocks were appealing to me because they go well with the French Dip sandwich I was having.  (5) Black Forest Dark Wheat Lager was an interesting beer.  There was kind of a smokey flavor I wasn't expecting.  (6) War Hammer Baltic Porter was a really good porter.  Nice coffee and chocolate tastes.

Next stop was Tap and Table  in Emmaus where I had a Cherry Stout from Bell's Brewery.  Did I mention it was from a firkin?  Wow.  This is a complex beer.  Luckily for me the cherry taste was subtle but the tartness was not.  This was a fantastic beer.  I really wanted to stay and have another couple of beers but my wife and kids were in the car and I was limited to one.

Last stop was Craft Ale House in Limerick.  I started with Hop 15 from Port Brewing Company.  I have already gone on and on about this beer in previous posts.  Fantastic.  Next up was Centennial IPA from Founders Brewing Company.  This is a really nice IPA.  Yeah, I should have had this one before the Hop 15 and I might have been able to taste it better.  I ended with a Dead Reckoning from Troegs Brewing Company.  This is a nice porter...no surprises.

Who Says Life is Too Short to Drink Cheap Beer?

I couldn't resist going to TJ's Restaurant and Drinkery in Paoli this evening after work.  They have a "Keg Kicker" happy hour from 4 to 6 pm Monday through Friday.  They pick a couple of draught beers (presumably those they would like to kick) and offer them to you for $3.  If you were not familiar with TJ's you might think they would offer something pedestrian like Yuengling or Blue Moon but you would be wrong.  Today for example, one of those Keg Kicker beers was Port Brewing Company's Hop 15.  This is an awesome DIPA as I have mentioned before and for $3 (regularly $5.50) how could I resist.  I am usually happy to pay $5.50 for a Hop 15 but it tastes even better when you are only paying $3.

TJ's For Lunch - Great

My wife called with a really great idea this morning.  "Take me over to pick up my car at the shop and we can have lunch together...at TJ's".  It was a great idea because I love TJ's Restaurant and Drinkery in Paoli and because she and I don't have lunch together nearly often enough.  We both had the Cajun Chicken sandwich (my usual) and it was great.  I had a Bear Republic Racer 5 from the cask.  It too was great.  In fact the only thing that kept "great" from being "excellent" was that I had to pick up the tab.  Small price to pay for a great lunch, great beer and great company.

P.S.  I just looked at TJ's website and I see that the Racer 5 has been replaced by Port Brewing Hop 15.  If you haven't had this DIPA you owe it to yourself to get one.  See list of my favorite IPAs at the top of this blog.

Halloween Treats

The kids fell asleep in the car Saturday afternoon and I found my way over to the Craft Ale House in Limerick.  With the wife and kids on the parking lot I didn't waste any time.  I tried the Terrapin Pumpkinfest.  This was an average pumpkin beer.  Not great but nothing wrong with it either.  At least the pumpkin wasn't overdone.  I couldn't resist ordering a Port Brewing Company Hop 15.  This is an excellent IPA.  I didn't have time to savor it but I still enjoyed the 10 minutes I had with this beer.  On the way out I grabbed a bottle of Coronado Islander IPA.  This was a nice IPA.  I will look for it on draught in the future to see if it is better than just "nice".