Catsup

Ok , I'm a little behind.  I drink beers but don't write about them.  What the hell am I doing.  Oh, drinking beer.

So today I have several.  And I even tried out some dealcoholized wine.  Just for all one of you that read this.  That means I wrote it for you Jesse.  I wrote it for you.  Someone needs to try it.  just to know if it is good or not.  I mean, look, if it tastes as good as wine with out the alcohol, and it has the same health benefits, shouldn't we all just drink dealcoholized wine all the time?

So I'll start with that.

Ariel Blanc Dealcoholized wine. - San Jose, CA

Here's what the description says, "A delicate straw color, crisp acidity, and slightly sweet.  The floral aromas of lilacs and jasmin combined with peach , lavender and lychee make Ariel Blanc the ideal wine for afternoon quaffing."  Jesse's take, "Tastes like over processed grape juice."  In fact, read the bottle.  The wine actually has some wine, but is mostly reconstituted grape juice.  I'm not going to go too into it, just that it wasn't a real substitute for wine.  Even non-alcoholic 

beer at least tastes like beer.  This is just grape juice.  Anyways, 2 out of 5

Ok, back to beer.

Bass Pale Ale - Luton, England

Pretty traditional British pale ale.  I'd prefer a little more hops like an american pale ale.  This is slightly sweet which you need to be in the mood for.  I will say that I have had it on tap many times and it always tastes better than in a bottle.  The sweetness is overbearing in the bottle.   I just keep thinking.  "If is was first brewed in 1777, then what am I missing."  3 out of 5.

Czechvar Premium Lager - Czech Republic

Slight hops.  Dry Finish.  It has a little bit of a dirty taste.  It isn't bad, but the taste is not as clean as I generally like from a lager. 3 out of 5.

Grolsch Premium Lage - Enschede, Holland

Typical Dutch style lager.  It is not as sweet as Heineken, which means I do prefer Grolsch.  Still, it isn't as crisp as some.  Easy to drink and it is one of my friend Alan's favorite beers.  He's a Brit.  3 out of 5.

Becks Dark - Bremen, Germany

Perhaps the best German beer out there.  It is a bottom fermented lager but uses a roasted barley malt.  Nice nuttiness.  Not too sweet.  Great Balance.  I'd say one of the best ambers out there, but not an ale so it has a nice crispness too. 5 out of 5.

Becks Beer - Bremen, Germany

The standard lager pales in comparison to their Dark.  In my opinion.  It is crisp.  Not sweet.  Decent balance, slight hops.  Just a standard lager.  Nothing too special.  3 out of 5.

Last but not least.

Pacifico Clara - Mazatlan, Mexico

Unfortunately this is one of Jen's favorite beers.  Me?  I have trouble drinking it.  It is too sweet, not crisp, kinda flat taste, and single note.  So I just can't push it.  But Jen, you keep drinking it.  And I'll keep buying it.

Riesling and other stuff

Giesen.  My favorite winery in the world.  Ok, this is entirely based on their Sauvignon Blanc. Best white wine ever in my opinion.  I now have tried their Riesling.  Now I must say, there are better wines of this type out there.  Especially German or Washington State ones.  This one had a little too much acidity.  Descent citrus flavors.  A little honey.

Now, I first tasted it two days ago and after being open those two days, the acidity has mellowed a little.  But the crispness is just not fully there as I like in other rieslings.

So Giesen Riesling, 3 out of 5.  Just not special enough.  Especially when compared to their Sauv Blanc.

Beer Beginnings

I buy beer in order.  The order depends on the store.  I recently finished the beer order at our local Trader Joes.  It means I have tried every beer that Trader Joes has, bought in order.  It's not an easy thing to explain.  But it works for me.  And I get to try every beer.  Eventually.  I do this order with other things.  When I want to experience a lot of stuff. 

So I am buying beer in order at our local Armenian grocery store, Geffer Farms.  If I am buying, I might as well write down my thoughts.  And tonight I will write my thoughts on 3 beers.  2 bought tonight at the Farms.  And one bought by my brother a few nights ago at Trader Joes.  First the Geffer Farms.

Ochakovo Premium Lager from Moscow, Russia.  4.5% Alchohol.

This is an easy drinking, tasty beer.  It is a golden lager with a slight floral taste.  Minimally hopped, but nicely balanced.  Good Beer.  4 out of 5.

Khiguliovskoye Golden Beer from Moscow, Russia.  4.0% Alchohol.

Boring. Slightly Sweet.  But no real taste.  It was flat.  2 out of 5.

Carmel Wheat Beer (Hefeweizen) Ukiah, CA.

Pretty soft.  Not very wheaty.  It had a slight German hefeweizen style, but there wasn't much to work with.  I'd say it was just a beer.  Nothing good.  Nothing bad. 3 out of 5.

The blog begins.

So here I am.  Just like every man out there.  What do I like?  Beer, Video Games, Sports, Poker, Deep Frying, BBQ, Star Wars, Transformers (the originals, not the new movie), Air Guitar Solos, Automobiles (Thanks to the video game Forza Motosports), Iron Chef, The Blues, Dave Matthews Band, Women (i'm newly married if you need references), Sleeping, Large Scale Art Installations, Gadgets, Competition, Reality TV, Wine by the bottle, Led Zeppelin, Walt Disney World, New Zealand and it's wine, Bourbon, House Parties, 60's Jazz, Michael Jackson, The Spice Girls, you know, the usual. Did I mention Beer.

Ok, Ok, this is my first blog and I am not a specialist at anything.  Except my day job.  But i like to experience many things and maybe some other people do too.  I hope to share my life through this media outlet (hell, everyone else seems to have a blog).   

You know, I hate advertising.  The thing is, we're all normal.  And most people aren't.  At least most people think they aren't normal and everyone else is and they come up with shitty advertising focusing on "normal" people that they don't have anything in common with, yet if they just advertised to themselves, maybe they'd contribute something great to "normal" society.  i digress.

This blog will deal with the life of a person.  I was just going to write my thought on the various beers I drink.  But what's the point of that.  Beer is good.  Anyone who does read this should like it.  But the blog would be limited if it were limited to beer.  Limit the blog?  Hell no.  No limits!  Dogg.

We like Snoop.  He is a rapper.  He drinks 40s.  I drink 40s.  Sometimes of good beer, sometimes of bad.  I'll tell you what the good 40s are and what ones aren't.  But 40s aren't the way to drink beer.  I used to think it was cool.  But ya know what?  The beer gets warm.  Shit.  That's stupid.  Warm beer?  Only if it is a 40 of guiness.  So don't drink 40s.  Unless you're Snoop.  Then you have an obligation.

So this is a blog.  An everymans, everyday blog.  Let's see what this media can really do.