I met GEB the other night at the Ginger Man in Plano for a few beers, some idle chit chat, and some darts. No pictures* in this post because I left my camera at home. GEB knows I am a beer dork, having seen this blog, but I decided to play it somewhat cool and not take photos of every damn beer I drank, hold the glass up to the light to gauge the color, and stick my schnozz deep into the pint to catch the aroma, all the while scribbling notes. We will have to see whether that was the smart play.
I had never had any beers from Austin’s (512) Brewing Company, so I was pumped to see a couple of their brews on the menu. I tried their IPA first, and it was quite nice, not too assertively hopped, but with enough flowery hops and sweet malts to make this a balanced and easy drinking beer, with enough orange peel and grapefruit in the aftertaste to make it interesting. This is one I could drink all night long, 7.5/10.
The (512) Pecan Porter was a nice enough porter, with plenty of coffee in the nose and on the tongue, nice creamy mouthfeel, and a touch of smokiness, but I could not find any pecan flavor in it at all. It was good, just not what I had expected, 6/10.
I had never even heard of Live Oak Brewing Company, another Austin based brewery, so I jumped on their Liberation IPA. It was sort of mellow on the bitterness, and had some nice toffee undertones, with a sticky mouthfeel. Another one that I could knock back all night, 7.5/10.
I also tried the cask conditioned Saint Arnold‘s Weedwhacker, their version of a Kolsch style beer, but fermented with hefeweizen yeast. It poured a hazy yellowish orange, with some mild spiciness and banana flavors. It was light and refreshing, and yes, I know it is the end of October, but Texas is still damn hot, so light and refreshing is ok. The Weedwhacker is a good one, 7.5/10.
*Did I say “no pictures”? No pictures of beer, but here is a photo of a spider I took recently. Texas is the home of some funky big-ass spiders. This creature, tentatively identified as a Banana Spider, was the size of my hand.
Here is a photo of the coolest car I have seen since I don’t know when:
Want to see his gear shift? Of course you do:
Yep, that is a Bud Light Tap Handle. While I do not approve of the owner’s choice in beers, I do appreciate his mindset.
I would not have minded had you taken notes are smelled the beer…as a matter of fact I think I was smelling one…who knew you were thinking of reviewing beer and blogging about it???
I wouldn’t have minded had to mentioned my mad dart playing skills.
But you’d draw the line at pictures, right?
I wouldn’t have minded if you had taken pictures. Beer is serious. I understand fully.
even I know that is too dorky
You know I still want to trade for some Texas shit. ESPECIALLY Live Oak hefeweizen!
Haven’t seen that one yet. I just saw a tweet from St. Arnold that they are bottling the new Divine Reserve (not sure what it is) and Real Ale has a special beer coming out as well.
I thought that spider was fake. Unreal.