Beer Blog

[Will]

Arrogant Bastard is definitely delicious!  I've had it on draft a couple of times, and I definitely recommend that.  Stone Brewing has great stuff in general, even if their IPA tastes like straight up hops hopped full of hoppy hops.  I love hops, but hot damn. ::)

[Paradox]

Arrogant Bastard is definitely delicious!  I've had it on draft a couple of times, and I definitely recommend that.  Stone Brewing has great stuff in general, even if their IPA tastes like straight up hops hopped full of hoppy hops.  I love hops, but hot damn. ::)

Everything by Stone is chock full of hops! It's the American way these days-- "take traditional beer recipe, increase barley concentration to provide more backbone to balance hops, add shit-ton of hops pre-boil, boil, post-boil".

Just wanted to say I really, really like this blog. :D

I'm not quite the connoisseur of beers and ales and lagers, like some of you ... but I've been known to enjoy some good ones. And have enough taste (I hope!) to avoid donkey piss like Coors Lite and the other shit that most bars and taverns near me cheerfully serve. ::)

My current favorites are Arrogant Bastard, Hobgoblin and King Goblin (would love to get your opinions on those!) and a (relatively) local brew called Medusa IPA. But I've been slowly trying some of what's been reviewed here as well, and in general, I concur with the excellent opinions offered. ;)

Anyway, my thanks to you all, for expanding my horizons regarding tasty beverages. :)

Thanks for coming in, Zillah! A friend of mine is going to New York this weekend, so I will tell him to keep an eye out for Medusa. Hobgoblin is fairly common around here, but I'm ashamed to admit that I've never sampled it. That will be rectified shortly :P

[Paradox]

April 7th is National Beer Day in America! Everyone raise a glass to celebrate.

A glass with something in it, of course.

Preferably beer.

Naturally.

Tonight, I'm attending the Chocolate and Stout tasting with the 2007 Beer Drinker of the Year. It's going to be awesome.

[Will]

Wow, I had no idea!  I have a Duvel I might crack open, and a few Saint Arnold Spring Bocks.  It's a local brand in Texas; it's far and away the best I've found here so far.  I dunno how far they distribute, though.

Enjoy your tasting!

[Paradox]

Yeah, I wasn't aware either until recently. You'd think something as significant as the end of prohibition would be more widely recognized considering how much alcohol our country consumes. What did you end up having?

After the tasting, I drank way too much one of the best beers in the world. I'm still too bleary this morning to make any commentary other than "holy shit", so holy shit.

[Blitzy]

>_> How was the chocolate?

[Paradox]

Really good! There was white chocolate with pistachio paste inside. There was one that tasted like peanut butter and jelly. The darker chocolates were the best though-- take a piece of dark chocolate and chew it as you drink an Old Rasputin. Mmmmmmm.

[Oniya]

Oh - chocolate and stout.  I once had the experience of finding out that 'chocolate stout' - isn't.  Well, maybe it refers to the color, but it was not the best way to get a chocolate lover to try something.  >_>

[Paradox]

Heh, yeah. However, a lot of coffee stouts actually use coffee beans, if you're into that kind of taste. Some are deeeelicious.

[Ramster]

Para, I now realise I need to be in America next April 7th!

[Paradox]

Brewdog, the Scottish brewing company that has become infamous for both its extreme beers and extreme eccentricity, may have finally found a solution for the age-old plague upon drinkers known colloquially as "drunk dick". For millennia, this problem has afflicted lushes whose blood ran hot with both lust and liquor. Even Jesus himself complained of this problem in the famous quote "the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matthew 26:41 KJV).

Luckily for us, Scottish ingenuity has triumphed once again. Brewdog's previous creations include a 55% beer that was bottled in taxidermied squirrels and Tactical Nuclear Penguin, a 32% beer that is frozen for 3 weeks at an ice cream factory resulting in one of the world's strongest beers. Now comes "Royal Virility Performance", brewed with Viagra and other aphrodisiacs including horny goat weed and chocolate. The addition of chocolate to an India Pale Ale sounds rather dubious, but this is Brewdog-- traditional brewing is hardly their forte. Drinking three of the 7.5% ABV beers is apparently the equivalent of taking 1 standard dosage of Viagra, the drug from Pfizer that for thirteen years has been used to treat erectile dysfunction in men.

The strange name of this new beer stems from the fact it is intended to celebrate* the impending royal marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton on April 29th, 2011.  A bottle has already been sent to Prince William for him to crack open on his wedding night, leaving only 999 from the initial batch. More will be made for mass-market distribution if the beer proves to be a success. All proceeds from the initial batch will be donated to Centrepoint, a Prince William-support charity that helps provide assistance to young homeless people in the United Kingdom. Apparently, even  the outlandish drunkards at Brewdog have a heart.

*James Watt, "Head of Stuff" at Brewdog, has been quoted as saying "this about consummation, not commemoration, so we hope he gets it". As for what Watt meant by "it", readers will have to use their own discretion. Unnamed sources at Brewdog have also claimed that each bottle will be fitted into a sheepskin bottle cozy with an extra strength reservoir tip to handle any premature overcarbonation. As of press time, only the bottle sent to Prince William was confirmed to be outfitted as such.

Bottles of Royal Virility Performance can currently be purchased from Brewdog's website for 10 euros each (about 14.4 dollars). The specific page can be found here.

Paradox General's Warning: If you have an erection for over four hours while fantasizing about this beer, please contact your doctor and/or significant other.