I didn’t get the chance to sniff this one after popping the top because I experienced a foam episode. 

You know … the dreaded foam episode.  Followed by paper towels and the changing of a shirt.  And that spot on the rug that’s now going to smell of stale beer for a few weeks.

Speaking of smelling, I now finally give the post-foam bottle a few sniffs, but this brew doesn’t have much of a scent – it’s very subtle, just a mild aroma of hops and a tiny hint of light maltiness.  But the taste – wow!  Very different.

The first thing I noticed was that it’s tangy, followed by an odd, wet bitterness, subdued but still prominent.  That settles while the hops take over, but it’s not just hops … I suppose it’s the chipotle I’m tasting.  It must be. 

I’m at a disadvantage because I’m not really sure what chipotle tastes like.  I’ve never stuffed any in my mouth all by itself.  (Why does that bring to mind a horse standing there, chewing on a mouth full of hay?  Chomp, chomp, chomp – that would be me with a mouth stuffed with chipotle.)

MMMmmm, chipotle, put some in my ale.

Actually it seems to go very well with ale.  Also, in reading the bottle, I’ve discovered it contains smoked jalapeno peppers.  Interesting!  So that’s what chipotle is … I didn’t know that.

There’s also a dedication:

“Dedicated to Spanish author Juan de la Cueva, who, in 1575, wrote of a Mexican dish that combined seedless chipotles with ale.

“This ale is deep amber in color with a rich malty aroma, and delicately spiced with smoked Jalapeno Peppers to give it that extra bite!”

It definitely has that!  This beer has a wonderful bite to it, but it’s not, you know, hot – not like you’re drinking Tabasco sauce, or something like that – it’s actually very refreshing as in that it’s different, but yet still very good.

I’m going to proclaim this as a groovy brew, but not a holy beer contender.  What it is really good for, I think, is to shock you out of a slump when you’ve started getting jaded in your brew tasting adventures.  I don’t think I’d drink this every day, and I don’t think I’d drink one after another — just one every so often.  I can see that being a good thing.

And very groovy.

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“You can’t be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline – it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer."

- Frank Zappa

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Rest your eyes.

You can listen to this review.

It’s the first ever GroovyBrew podcast!

Brought to you by Lagunitas Brewing and the Firesign Theater, not to mention the Zoom H2 Recorder, and featuring music by TranceVision.

Just for the record, this is one wildly groovy brew, and also a solid Holy Beer contender.

It rates a 7.77 on the Holy Grail Scale.

It’s most definitely a groovy brew.

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It’s funny. When I was young, I considered Heineken a premium beer. Now it’s just barely acceptable.

- Live from Wrigley Field
- Posted via iPhone

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This beer is called “Delirium Tremens” as opposed to “Delirium Tremors” – which is what I thought it was when I picked it up.  It turns out (and please excuse my ignorance, all you out there who already knew this) is the formal term for the DTs: a physical condition, caused by drinking too much alcohol over a long period, in which someone shakes uncontrollably and sees imaginary things.

This beer came highly recommended by my good friend Dan, and so I promised I’d review it here.

Sadly, this is not going to be a good review.

After popping the top, it doesn’t smell very good; it gives off a sour yeasty scent.  Or maybe a yeasty scent over sour malt.  Either way, it’s not appetizing.

So I take the first sip, and am not impressed.

Highly carbonated.  Muted barley taste over old hops, rye bread notes, and all that fades to a dull bitterness.

It’s rather … yuck.  I guess I’m just not that into Belgian ales anymore.

Also, maybe I got a bad bottle.  I don’t know.  It’s pure stubbornness that forces me to finish the whole bottle – otherwise I’d pour it out.  Sorry Dan, I don’t like it.  If the brewery or distributer would like to send me a fresh sample of it I’ll be more than willing to try again, but until that happens, I have to let this review stand.

Delirium Tremens:  not groovy.

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Party on.

Created by Bar Stools

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UPDATE: This is my current favorite.  Of. All. Time.

I am pretty sure I saw this Polish beer when I was in Helsinki earlier this year, but I didn’t try it.

Now here I am in Chicagoland and, well, I can’t resist a good Porter.  I just hope this is a good Porter.

Smells good.  Deep, dark, sweet, slightly yeasty.

First sip:  Delicious.

There’s a smooth, umber richness that is hard to pin down.  It’s sweet and malty, not much if any hops, and the carbonation disappeared almost immediately.  There’s a citrus edge that mellows into a walnut taste, riding over that Porter sweetness that is like beer candy.  It’s not really chocolaty as much as it is a kind of roasted caramel.

I love this stuff.  I think I’ve finally decided that Porters, especially a Baltic Porter like this one, is my favorite type of beer.

I’m going to proclaim Okocim a Holy Beer Contender, and give it a extremely high 9.8 on the Holy Grail Scale. I am really, truly close to just calling this the Holy Beer.  But, no.  I have other groovy brews to try.  Best not to be over enthusiastic, and to give it more time.  But at the moment this is definitely my favorite beer.

Life is good.

Drink good brew.

Groovy.

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“Aaaaaaaaaaa?” the hard faced, white-haired lady said. “It says ‘Aaaaaaaaaaa.’”

“Yes ma’am,” he said.

“Your name is ‘Aaaaaaaaaaa?’”

“It’s pronounced ‘Bill.’”

“Bill?” She stared at him in outrage. “How do you get ‘Bill’ out of eleven A’s?”

“It’s a foreign spelling.”

“Well, that’s just ridiculous!”

“It’s on my birth certificate.” He proffered his wrinkled document.

“I’m not issuing a driver’s license to ‘Aaaaaaaaaaa.’”

“Bill,” he corrected.

“I don’t care how you pronounce it!” Her eyes scanned further down the paperwork. “And what’s this? Your last name is ‘Puffiboomboom?’”

“Yes…”

“Puffy … boom boom?”

“Well, it’s, um—”

“What, do you pronounce it, ‘Smith?’”

“Actually, it’s pronounced, ‘Ledbetter.’”

“Ledbetter?” Her wrinkles flushed crimson. “How do you get ‘Ledbetter’ from ‘Puffiboomboom?’” She held up her wiry hand. “Don’t tell me. Foreign spelling.”

“Yes.”

“How stupid do you think I am?” she said. “This has to be a prank!”

“No, ma’am.”

“I’m not buying this, not at all!”

“I have all the paperwork filled out—”

“Aaaaaaaaaaa Puffiboomboom is not getting a driver’s license. Not from me.”

“Ma’am, I didn’t choose this name. It’s something I’ve had to live with all my life.”

“Well, it’s time to choose something else!”

“I can’t.”

“Why not? If your name is ‘Bill Ledbetter’ then why don’t you just spell it that way?”

“Can we do that?”

“Well,” she said, “let’s see.” She typed angrily at her keyboard for long minutes, and then a machine whirred. She grabbed a stamp, smacked it down on his paperwork like a judge banging a gavel, and then slid the whole pile at him. “There, Aaaaaaaaaaa Puffiboomboom, it’s done.”

He stared at his brand new driver’s license. The picture was typically horrible, but the name was spelled “Bill Ledbetter.”

“Thank you,” he said to her.

She huffed, then looking past him at the long line, shouted, “Next!”

Bill gathered the papers and his new license and walked quickly outside to where his friends waited. He showed them the license, pointing at the birth date. Magically, he was now over 21 years old.

“Dude!” yelled one of his ecstatic friends. “Let’s go buy beer!”

From Flash Fiction By Jerry J. Davis

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When Two Brothers make a porter ale, it’s excellent.  I had one in a restaurant that featured local brews – a German place deep within Chicagoland suburbia – and that was the beer which set me down this porter rabbit hole I’ve been exploring.

So here I find a beautiful 1 pint 6 ounce bottle of Two Brothers COFFEE porter – a black ale brewed with coffee beans.  Coffee?  And porter ale?

It’s almost like they brewed it especially for me.

You can smell deep roasted dark malt but no coffee.  First sip, though – COFFEE.  Yes indeed, and lots of it.  Of all the coffee ales I’ve tasted, this one tastes the most like coffee.  Really strong black coffee.

Mixed with beer.

I like it but I wouldn’t say I love it – not like I loved their regular porter.  It’s not sweet enough for my sweet tooth, and its not hoppy enough to account for its bitterness.

It’s a good one-off novelty drink.  Fun at a party.  But it’s not an all-night swilling ale.  So…

I’ll call it groovy, not holy.  Good, but not over-the-top.  A fun experiment.

Worth trying.

Especially if you love strong black coffee.

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Hoppin’ Frog Brewing Company of Akron, Ohio dares to call this a smooth Porter.

It may technically be a Porter, and it is somewhat hoppy, but it’s not what I would call “silk” smooth.

I know I’m kind of jumping the gun here, but I’ve been drinking some extremely good Porters lately, and this isn’t one of them.  If it didn’t actually say “Porter” on the label I never would have guessed that is what it is supposed to be.

Being that Porters have a distinctive flavor, this doesn’t bode well for Hoppin’ Frog’s brews.  It’s the first one of theirs I’ve tried and it may well be the last.

To be fair: compared to most mortal beers, those mass produced in giant factories squeaking with mechanical parts and puffing with steam, this would by comparison blow them away.  It starts off with a mild but distinct hoppy bite, quickly subdued by toasted malts and then a swelling of muted caramel.  A final note of bitterness finishes the taste, which – again, by industrial brew standards, would be smooth – and then the palate is left somewhat clear, and ready for the next.

Were this a cheap beer (which it isn’t) I would cut it quite a bit of slack.  But since I paid a good chuck of cash for it, I won’t.

It’s good but not groovy, and definitely not a Holy Beer Contender.

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