Happy Camper IPA

Being an alcohol connoisseur and having access to really good, local, micro-brewed beer is like being a little kind living near Santa's workshop at the North Pole. Hop flower fairys and candied dark malts dance with joy seven days a week. Boundless variates and quirky experimental beers keep things interesting and fun. Whenever you want, you can saunter on over and enjoy something special seemingly made just for you. Lucky for me New Mexico has been bestowed with multiple gifted micro-breweries. One of the best is the Santa Fe Brewing Co. of Santa Fe, NM.

Santa Fe Brewing Co. makes some primo suds. Interestingly enough, four of which come in cans. (Yah I'm on a can kick so what you wanna fight about it?) A nice clean pilsner for the summer months, a humongous Java stout that should be sold at Starbucks, one of the absolute best Oktoberfests you'll find this side of the pond, and an IPA that's a real kick in the pants. Being a self diagnosed hop-head, I decided to jump right into the IPA first.

 
Happy Camper IPA is unmistakable. The can's design is the the state flag of New Mexico. Emblazoned with a red Zia symbol, the bright yellow can is hard to miss. Upon pouring the amber liquid a very strong hop aroma hits you. A deep, sappy, almost spicy, pine resin jumps from the can. The taste follows your nose. Very bitter, semi dry hop that has an almost smokey character. Mild fruit flavors dance under the pine dominance. The malt takes a very cool turn in an attempt to balance the nearly out of control bitter. It uses the sweet natural flavor of the malt for balance, not the calculable amount. The light sweet malt enhances the fruity release of this powerful IPA. The bitter will linger a bit but it's a savory and enjoyable taste.

I approximate 8 out of 4 pine cones would be generated if this fell in the forest. This is one of the best portable beers available. This would make for some very happy burgers and dogs but a good spicy sausage with some onions and peppers would be perfect. Fire, meat, lake/river (what ever floats your boat!), and this beer is a combo that is tough to beat. The sound of a crackling fire and some gentle water will guarantee smiles.

cheers   

Captain Morgan Original

Having humble expectations for inexpensive booze will not only improve your chances for enjoyment but may also broaden your horizons. Remember, it's just as important to know the negative characteristics of alcohol you don't like as to the positives you do like. Now don't get me wrong, I firmly believe that alcohol snobbery has its place. When your making cocktails, shopping for a $30 plus bottle of wine, appreciating a fine spirit, or searching for that perfectly balanced craft ale, you will need to occasionally flash your snob badge. I am also fully aware that there is a tolerable level of bad and some booze is undeniably undrinkable. However, if you find yourself laughing loudly with friends next to a homemade wood burning stove in Wisconsin during an epic winter, some $10 blended whiskey might be just what the doctor ordered. No, it's not artisanal and yes, you will notice flaws but if your mindful of this beforehand it wont be offensive and you might actually enjoy yourself.

Just so its crystal clear, Captain Morgan Original is not a sensational rum. It's massively overproduced, way over marketed, uses artificial flavors, and is cheaply distilled. It's also not trying to hide any of that information from you. Captain Morgan is a simple drink that knows it's place on the shelf. If are looking for a deep,complex, flavorful rum that can be sipped neat look elsewhere.

Rum is supposed to be sweet, it is after all distilled from sugar cane. Spiced rum is supposed to add a bit of vibrancy to that sweet of the natural spirit. Captain Morgan Original does succeed at this. Neat, the sweet molasses is very present with vanilla dominating the spice. Some caramel, nutmeg, and cinnamon, are also present. Unfortunately the vanilla has a funky artificial tinge and the odor of cheap alcohol kind of ruin the nose. Upon sipping, the smooth nature of the rum is present in the mouth feel with not too much oak and at only 70 proof not a lot of burn. Sadly, after gulping it down, that damn fake vanilla pops its clown face back up and overtakes much of the rest of the spice. The finish  gives a little pepper with a push of cheap alcohol. It's not undrinkable neat, but not all that enjoyable.  In order to get the Captain to truly swash-buckle, throw some rocks in your glass or some lime and Coke. It sure helped me.

With 3 ice cubes in my glass I now had a decent drink. The cold made the questionable distillation disappear and the water from the melting ice toned down the vanilla to allow the other flavors some elbow room. I don't know if I would order one in a bar but I wouldn't turn down a free Captain on the rocks. Throw some Coke in the mix with a lime wedge and you've got a simple cocktail. Nothing fancy and at $12 a bottle it does what it needs to. I'll say 3 arrr maties out of 2 1/2. Best with large groups, get your self some kettle corn and have some fun.

Capt'n & Coke

1. 3oz Captain Morgan Original
2. 7oz Coke
3. 1-2 Lime wedges

Pour Rum over lots of ice in pint glass. Pour Coke. Stir gently. Lime to taste.

cheers

Mighty Arrow

Seasonal beers can really showcase a breweries talents. In order to capture the essence of a single season and put it into a beer, a brewery must have high attention to detail. A good seasonal needs to enhance the various nuances of a specific time of year and highlight some of the accociated activities. Winter needs something robust and spicy to warm you up and cut through the rich holiday food. Summer needs a crisp, quenching brew that douses the heat and is light enough to keep you reasonably sober through 9 innings. Fall needs an earthen malty beer or a quirky fruit/vegetable beer that honors the harvest and embraces the slowly dropping temperatures. Spring needs a lively, flavorful beer that begs you to get outside, dust off that grill, and toss the Frisbee around. One of the best breweries to offer seasonals is New Belgium. Their best offering is their spring seasonal, Mighty Arrow. It has me looking forward to March each and every year.

This beer is the tribute to Arrow. New Belgium's founder's Border Collie mix that ran around the brewery  brightening everyones day. The last line on the bottle says "She never met a tummy rub she didn't like. Atta girl Arrow." With that, I didn't even need to open the bottle to know I was going to like it. It's an American Pale Ale that just like Arrow, will have you smiling all spring long.

A beautiful thick fluffy head bubbles to brim of your glass with even a modest pour. Nice bright hop aroma with a light malt in the background. Not IPA hop. Just a mellow hop forward pale ale. The flavor follows the nose. Amazing green herbal citrus hop with nice grainy malt balancing it out. This is like the inverse of Fat Tire. The Toasty malt takes a back seat to the hops. Outstandingly crisp and clean for an ale with 6%ABV. While the hops may be the flavor focus, it has a surprising amount of malt for such a light bodied beer. The finish is dry with nice hop bitter right at the end. If this beer doesn't inspire you to fire up that grill for some burgers and break out your ball cap, nothing will.

I giver her 42 wet noses out of 40. This is your picnic beer. Burgers, sandwiches, or even a good grilled flank of bold fish like salmon would be awesome. This is best served outside with your best friends. A relaxing spring evening outside patting your pups on the noggin is what this beer is all about. Atta girl indeed.

cheers
(woof)            

Lindemans Framboise

Beer is the chameleon of the alcohol world. It can lubricate uncomfortable gatherings and transform any meeting into a party. Turn an otherwise bland meal into something stupendous or blossom new flavors from an old favorite recipe. It can improve solitary introspection while making a quiet moment thunderous. There is a beer for everyone, every meal, and every occasion. There's even one that can simultaneously satiate two people that have opposite tastes in alcohol.

A beer's style is determined by the type of  yeast used to convert its sugars into alcohol. There are three different types of yeast: Top-fermenting warm temperature yeast, bottom-fermenting cool temperature yeast, and wild spontaneous fermenting yeast. Top/warm fermenting yeasts produce beers that tend to be darker, more aromatic, and fruitier called ales. Bottom/cool yeasts produce beers that tend to be dryer, cleaner, and lighter because the cool yeast ferments slower and consumes more of the sugar. These beers are called lagers. Both of these are painstakingly pure strains of very specific brewer's yeasts that have been cultivated in controlled environments for centuries. The third type of yeast, wild spontaneous fermenting yeast, is drastically different. So much so that the beer it produces, called lambic, can sometimes be misinterpreted a another type of alcohol.  

Lambic is produced with wild yeast from the countryside of the Senne Valley in Belgium where the breweries reside. The breweries literally open a series of doors and expose their wort to the fresh valley air causing yeast and bacteria to collect, causing fermentation. The use of wild yeast creates a very tart, lightly carbonated, acidic beer that is off-putting to many not familiar with the style. To help cut the tartness sweet fresh fruit is sometimes added to the fermentation process. The flavors of the fruit combine with the natural acidic tart of the lambic to create what I feel is two separate drinks in one solitary bottle. A fruit lambic.

Thanks to my wife and her friend I was able to discover this polished gem. Lindeman's Framboise (frun-buwaz) (raspberry) (razz-bery) Lambic. Looking more like a sparkling wine or champagne than a beer , the framboise was something fascinatingly different from the get-go. Huge juicy raspberries explode on nose when the cork is popped. The velvety deep maroon beer gives birth to a pinkish fizzy foam that laces the rim of the glass. The sweet, fresh raspberry takes the lead and dominates this one. No fake syrupy crap here! Tiny effervescent bubbles press the aromatics out and allow for a full taste of the juicy fruit. The tart of the lambic rolls over your tongue in perfect harmony with the raspberries and the sharp acidity of the lambic creates a beautiful clean release. This is the perfect balance between sweet and tart. A perfect sweet and bubbly treat for my wife and a mysterious tart delight for me. With no red card it gets 2 red shirts out of 1. I had this with waffles and syrup but any breakfasty type food is great. There has never been a better reason to serve breakfast for dinner (or booze with breakfast!).

cheers