Crossing Off Three

There was a plan going into the visit to Celebration Town Tavern last week as to what beers I would drink, but we quickly decided on much better options to choose the brews for the day.  Since I have only two beers crossed off the list and Bill started a fresh card on that day we were able to go with much more random methods of picking numbers from the 99 available.  I think there will still be some very creative options as the amount of remaining beers becomes smaller.

Be sure to say hello if you see some guy writing while drinking.

Bill’s Wife Dawn selected number 92 as the first beer for the afternoon, which made me quite happy when I found out that Skullsplitter (Orkney Brewery) was the winner.  Just check out the video that The Wife got with our (still) camera capturing the moment of realization.

Sure, I didn’t jump up and down with excitement, but trust me; I was very pleased with the choice.  Oh and don’t worry, the faces of the other players, including The Wife, Bill, Dawn, and a large number of the staff will be appearing soon.  They can only stay faceless names for so long!

A bit dark, though good enough to pick from a lineup.

On to the actual beer now that I have hyped it so much.  It presented a full malty, sweet aroma even through the smells of food surrounding us.  The color is deep amber with some red tones and likely would have some trail or legs with the higher alcohol content (a chilled glass tends to kill that).  The flavor falls in line with the aroma, being very malty and smooth with some warmth and a slight sharpness.

That is better

This beer lands at about a 4.5 for me, which makes sense after looking back at what I gave it while reviewing at home with a different grading scale.  Since Bill gave it a solid 4, it is safe to say that it is a pretty good one, especially if you are looking to have just one or two beers.  I think its heavy maltiness would stand up well when paired with a burger topped with blue cheese (or other stronger flavored cheese) or a steak or maybe ribs.  It would probably dominate most seafood dishes, so I would suggest sticking to red meat with this one.

The Wife picked 28 as the next beer of the evening.  Actually she initially picked 17, but we thought that it wouldn’t be right to step all the way down to Bud Select from Skullsplitter.  With 28 we ended up with Great White (witbier) from Lost Coast Brewery.  Maybe that was not a good beer to follow with either, but not many beers on the list would have the strength of our first beer.  That’s the fun of the random lottery system!

Shark tested and approved.

The beer pours a very light golden color and is mostly clear, but with some suspended particulates that make it a bit hazy.  It has a spicy/herby nose with a somewhat citrusy character.  There is a good amount of coriander flavor up front with a heavy citrus (lemon) profile as well.  The spice component lingers a little at what I said at the time was a “Lysol-like” finish.  Much of that had to do with the heavy amount of lemony character

A pad of paper has many uses.

The beer ends up with a solid two for me and Bill gave it a slightly higher 2.5, though still below the median of 3.  It is probably a bit surprising that I gave the beer as high as a 2 considering that I used Lysol in the description of flavor, but it did have some nice qualities as well.  The whole did not work well for my palate though and it definitely is not on the “drink again” side of my grading scale.  With that said I do think that its lighter profile can work well with some grilled chicken or fish as well as any salad that does not have an overpowering dressing.

For the final number and our third beer on that visit to CTT, The Wife reached out to the Twitter universe, simply asking to pick a number between 1 and 99.  The first answer back in was number 53, leaving us with a Mickey’s (Fine Malt Liquor) to cap our evening.  Certain friends of mine responded with a bit of shock and horror after seeing pictures of me posing with the Mickey’s bottle, but it is on the list and had to be done.  Sorry Emily!

A little green grenade

As expected, this one poured super clear with a light yellow to golden color.  The aroma was very light overall with a bit of maltiness, but otherwise just clean.  The flavor was much the same with a light malt profile and a bit of sharpness to it.  There is really nothing spectacular about it, but nothing bad either.

Take your time . . .

Still working on the puzzle, aren't you?

Bill and I agreed on a 3 for this one.  Part of that mark from me was that it was just OK (see above) and the other part was that I looked at the Beer Club list and this one has good value for the cost, especially compared to some of the other 3-dollar offerings.  This one should work pretty well with spicier foods like chicken wings or anything with say a Cajun style seasoning on it.

Now there are 3 more off the list, leaving me with a total of 5 down and 94 to go.

Stay tuned!