It’s been a while since I’ve updated this. Don’t think that I haven’t been drinking beer though – in true Thirsty Thursday style, I’ve decided to dump the gigantic backlog of tasting notes I’ve collected on to the Internet for your pleasure. It’s been quite a tasty decade so far – I’ve done a little bit of traveling, and I don’t think I’ve had the same beer more than once. Now that’s beersurfing!
Keeping the skunk out of a growler
In keeping with what Beersurfing originally set out to do, I bring you a story that’s a bit dated but really just overdue. I recently found myself going home for the holidays – stuck for three days in the tiny city of Yuma, Arizona. Yuma is a nice place to relax and do a whole lot of nothing, but unfortunately for my taste buds, there are very few places to find any quirky beer. While I did bring some tasty research subjects with me, I managed to find a oasis of beer-flavored goodness in a town that’s flooded with macrobrews. If you find yourself stuck in Yuma for a night and are thirsty for some quirky brews, Burgers and Beer is the place for you! There’s enough of a selection here to tickle any beer connoisseur, and it’s great place to watch any game – there are TV’s at all of the tables and plenty of room to sit, plus you can feed anybody that doesn’t like beer margaritas for $3 a piece.
San Miguel Premium - namesake of the San Miguel Squirts
Accompanying me in my beer drinking adventures were my father and my sister, the latter of which stuck with a margarita and the former looking forward to the darkest beers he could scrape out of a glass; both were eager to watch Beersurfing happen. I started my evening with a San Miguel, a pale ale infamous to any member of the armed forces that has ever been stationed in the Phillipines. My father cringed when he heard the words “San Miguel” come out of my mouth, and spent the next few minutes enlightening me of a phenomena known as the San Miguel Squirts. Just use your imagination. I got straight to work and poured myself a glass of what appeared to be urine mixed with pale ale, closing my eyes while I tasted what had to be antiseptic, bare metal, and stale blood. It was thin, almost watery, and while did not impress me overall it was about what I expected. I definitely wouldn’t go out of my way to the Phillipines for this beer, though it did wonders to wash the taste of the Natural Light out of my mouth. The San Miguel was a pretty weak ale at 5% ABV, and cost $4 for a 12 ounce bottle.
The Three Philosophers
Next for me was the Ommegang Three Philosophers, a brewer which I had seen some chatter about on Twitter but was otherwise unfamiliar with. This wintery lager was blood red and frothy in the glass – it presented a very strange odor that was nearly impossible to pinpoint, although it smelled faintly of cloves and other spices. It has a very odd medicinal taste and numbs the tongue much like Samuel Adam’s Old Fezziwig and other winter lagers. It is very thick and foamy in your mouth, and the taste is overpowering if savored too slowly – I actually found it very difficult to drink an entire bottle of this. Overall, I was less than impressed with the 3P – at $10 for a 12 ounce bottle, it failed to completely dazzle me like many other beers at that price point could. The Three Philosophers is a pretty potent beer, and you won’t miss the alcohol by the time you reach the bottom of the bottle.
St. Pauli Girl's Special Dark - "dark beer for women"
Dad’s evening went a little better than mine – he started out with a Saint Pauli Girl Special Dark and finished up with a Samuel Smith’s Imperial Stout. A dark lager hailing from Germany, the Special Dark has a mahogany appearance and reeks of burnt cabbage. In Dad’s opinion, it was not dark enough – it was extra sugary, and way too sweet for the sort of beverage billing itself as a “special” dark beer. It was not thick, and really watery, neither of which Dad was expecting. Overall, he hated this drink, calling it a “woman’s dark beer” and vowing to never drink it again. Ouch! The next one fared better – as his first ever oatmeal stout, Dad was immediately elated to see the Samuel Smith Imperial Stout ooze into his glass pitch black. The smell, while very generic, was accompanied with a taste that reminded him of Guiness, burnt licorice, and “old times”. As a stout, it was exceptionally thick, creamy, and packed with flavor, all of which Dad loved about this beer. He would definitely drink it again and looks forward to checking out other oatmeal stouts. The stout was the clear winner for the evening. Samuel Smith has a fairly eclectic range of beers, and I look forward to trying more of them in the future.
Random Trivia - All of Samuel Smith's beers are vegan products.
We also had a third beer that evening, but since it was so delightful that my notes were a bit incoherent, I’ll save it for another evening. And such was the Beersurfing Christmas – short, tasty, and to the point. I hope everyone enjoyed any time off they received, and are having an exceptional new decade so far. Cheers!
