Otherwise known as the triumph of hope over adversity... or sumthin' like that:
That would be a State Pen Porter which, unlike that moose piss in a bottle from the Santa Fe brewery that was labeled as "hefeweizen," is quite good and very enjoyable. The folks at Beer Advocate agree with me, giving this beer a B+. It's at least that, if not a solid "A."
State pen is a tasty porter, displaying a nose with bits of coffee, strong sweet roasted malts and slight fruit notes. The taste is textured with hops that bitter the sweeter roasted malts, and some nice black coffee/dark chocolate type bitterness. As I sip this it becomes evident that it is heavier on the hops than other examples of the style, which may be positive or negative depending on your opinions of hop levels in American Porters. To me, this is a plus as the hops meld in nicely with the chocolate and roasted barley notes. Mouthfeel is on the lighter side with high carbonation (in part due to the lower temperature at which I am drinking this).Yeah... what he said! I take it back, Santa Fe. You may not know from hefeweizen but you brew an excellent porter. And it only took me two years to figger that out.
Conclusion: This is a very nice porter, and in my experience it scores in the top 20% easily. Great work Santa Fe! I wish there was more beer of this quality coming from New Mexico.
―:☺:―
We're a couple of ticks down, too and will probably hit three digits for the fourth day in a row. The local tv weather guy keeps commenting that temps have been running a little below average.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a beer drinker, I never got beyond saying I liked it or didn't like it. Before they were bought out by Pyramid Brewing, Thomas Kemper produced a couple of brews I really liked, particularly a Belgian White. Now they only produce some fairly decent soft drinks.
I don't have a whiskey hour here, but I do have a scoop of vanilla ice cream in some root beer. I think I need to go to detox soon.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't heard Michelle Torr in a long time, so I looked around on your tube of you, and good God, there she was at the tender age of 18 singing a stupid song, but with such a gusto I actually got into it.
She backed away from the camera a bit, and I finally figured out why she always wore pant suits in concert. Her legs looked like mine (and that's not a good thing).
Interestingly everyone is all dressed up. This was before the 1968 revolution, just three years away. After that, the music industry collapsed and this fruity music was banned by the youth.
Maybe you'll have dreams of your Paris youth :-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJTBa-x_nHA
"Buck up" Buck (been waiting to use that line..) cool ac is ALWAYS to be treasured out your way..
ReplyDeleteBTW, you're a better man than I. Were I solo hedonistic me would be in "Happy hour" mode 24/7/365--the sun is ALWAYS over the yard-arm SOMEWHERE on planet Earth...you've got rare discipline my man..'course at our age we're edging into that zone where we worry/wonder about who will find the body and when, lol.
Skip: Your reminiscences remind me that there was a time before the current craft beer revival when regional breweries flourished. It's too bad I wasn't a beer drinker back then... I only began to appreciate beer in 1980, when the AF sent me to Ol' Blighty.
ReplyDeleteRoot Beer: You best be careful... I hear root beer floats are VERY addictive. Re: Torr. Is it just me or did the audience seem less than enthused? They only came alive when the flashing signs off-camera said "clap!"
Virgil: I make it a point to not drink before noon. It's sometimes hard to stick with that rule. ;-)
As for the body? Well-hidden. Bleached bones, by now.
Yes, I had the same thought, the audience was completely dead, and here she was singing for her supper.
ReplyDeleteLooking at them, I was imagining if Jefferson Airplane or Cream was playing in front of them, that they probably would have ran back to the Church screaming :-)
RB: Heh. I like that thought.
ReplyDeleteAh, thank you, Buck.
ReplyDeleteI missed a lot of good writing on your part. I especially enjoyed the piece about the Bible (which I read on my scroll down here.) I going to scroll back up and read about the kitteh now.