The Dedly Blog

Beer In Review: An Introduction

I'm planning on reviewing beer for the blog so I think that it would help if you knew where my tastebuds stand. Obviously, one's preference is all a matter of taste. I can't deny that the swill the top 3 breweries are funneling down the throats of Americans (and giving us a bad name abroad) are immensely popular, but I blame it on ignorance.

I think that I had my first taste of beer when I was 8. I hated it. I think some time later, when I was 10 or 11, I started liking it. At this point in my life, my father supervised my beer consumption. Our familiy camped out at the beach on Fire Island with other families. As all of the adults broke out their cases of beer, they would let the kids have one if they wanted it. I remember them drinking Schmidt's, Ballantine India Pale Ale, and Schaeffer's.

As the 70's gave way to the 80's, Molson Golden, Heineken, and St. Pauli Girl made their appearence. While in college Busch and Milwaukee's Best ("The Beast") joined the cheap beer scene. $7/case for canned Beast could not be beat on my meager budget. Molson Golden was joined by Canadian and Export Ale. "Molson Night" at Chuck's was a taste of the good life with $1 bottles all night.

During our senior year, my friends, Jim & Paul, journeyed with me to Faegan's, the Irish bar down in the M-Street area to see what "Guinness" was all about. I thought it was nasty. "Coffee beer" is what I called it. I mention this because it's interesting to see how my palate has changed over the years.

In the early to mid-90's I was living in Atlanta and Moosehead was my beer of day. While out at a show at The Masquerade, I caught sight of this large 22 oz brown bottle with the name "Pete's Wicked Ale". I bought it, drank it, and was instantly hooked. I couldn't believe the taste. Ever since then, I've been drinking microbrews. And two years after that I was drinking Guinness and loving it. My wife and I even spent our honeymoon in Ireland so that we could visit the brewery.

In 1997, I started brewing my own beer.

My taste these days runs the course of stouts, porters, brown ales, english ales and some pale ales and wheats. Fruit-flavored beers are usually light-bodied and good for the summer. There are other beer styles where I'll like only a brand or two. I rarely do pilseners. Some lagers are ok but I shy away from them, especially the German ones, but the dark ones are drinkable. I find Belgian Ales too fruity, must be the esters.

So now you know where I stand with beer at the moment. I plan to review some varieties here soon. There's a brewfest coming up on the 20th that I plan on attending. Hopefully I'll take some good notes and share them here. I'll also review what I bring home from the store.

posted by DED at 9:21 PM