Category Archives: Drinks

Beer, soda, and other fun fluids you put in your mouth.

February 26, 2014 · 12:40 pm

Dubbel Fisted (beer)

Vista, California’s Iron Fist Brewing Company presents Dubbel Fisted, a Belgian Style Dubbel. This is a pretty hefty craft beer, rich in flavor and aroma, and with a relatively high 8.10% alcohol content. It pours a cloudy, dark amber with a thin tan head. It smells of plums, chocolate, caramel, nuts, and malt, maybe a little spice as well. It tastes great, malty and rich with brown sugar. I also get hints of plum, caramel, chocolate, molasses, and spice. It’s the first beer I’ve tried from Iron Fist, and it made a great first impression. I can’t wait to try their other offerings. It’s always awesome discovering a new brewery making amazing libations. Try Dubbel Fisted if you get the chance.
Critically Rated at 14/17
Written, Rated, and Reviewed by Brendan H. Young

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February 24, 2014 · 12:07 pm

Filtering a Beer

I had to filter a beer the other night. By filtering a beer, I mean that the bottleneck broke when I was trying to open it and pieces of glass fell inside the bottle. I’ve never had that happen before. I drink beer all the time. I’m pretty good at opening bottles. At least I thought I was. Anyway, I tried to open a beer, failed, and small shards of glass got into the beer. It was a Hop Stoopid from Lagunitas, so I didn’t want to waste it. This was a real beer, not a fucking Budweiser. I made a makeshift filter out of paper towels. I would have used a coffee filter, but I don’t have any in the house right now. I placed a paper towel over a big beer mug and slowly poured the beer into the paper towel. It formed a shallow puddle that slowly dripped and drained its way through the paper towel into the mug. I replaced the paper towel every few minutes. Yes, this took more than a few minutes. It probably took about ten to fifteen minutes and four paper towels to filter the 22 ounces of liquid gold. It took a while but it worked and I didn’t have to worry about swallowing glass and shredding my stomach lining. I don’t mind wasting time, but I’ll never waste beer.

Critically Rated at 9/17

Written, Rated, and Reviewed by Brendan H. Young

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February 24, 2014 · 11:59 am

Vimto (soda)

I made another trip to the corner store with obscure food items and found another British soda that I’ve never heard of. This one is called Vimto. It’s a Fizzy mixed fruit juice drink made with the delicious secret Vimto flavour. To get into specifics, the fruit juices include grape, blackcurrant, and raspberry and the Vimto flavouring includes natural extracts of fruits, herbs, barley malt, and spices. That seems like an interesting medley for a carbonated soft drink. It has a purple colour and a good amount of fizzy bubbles, and it looks like a fun soda. It tastes like a fun soda too. It’s crisp, fruity, light, and refreshing. I think it’s my favourite of the three British sodas I’ve tried in the past week or so. I might even cross the pond to get it again.

Critically Rated at 15/17

Written, Rated, and Reviewed by Brendan H. Young

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February 22, 2014 · 1:21 am

Leninade (soda)

Leninade is a surprisingly satisfying simple Soviet style soda but it’s made by California’s Real Sodas in Real Bottles, Ltd. It’s a lemonade-style soda, but it’s more sweet than it is sour. The novelty factor of the soda makes Leninade better than it really is. They really went all out with the fake Russian propaganda. The soda is even bright red. The bottle invites you to Join The Party! and to Get Hammered & Sickled! and to Drink Comrade! Drink! It’s This Or The Gulag! It’s really not A Taste Worth Standing In Line For! but it’s worth buying and trying just so you can send a picture of it to your Russian friends on VK. VK is like the Russian version of Facebook. The Cold War is over. Celebrate with a cold bottle of Leninade.

Critically Rated at 11/17

Written, Rated, and Reviewed by Brendan H. Young

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February 21, 2014 · 1:03 pm

Ben Shaws Dandelion & Burdock (soda)

I went to the corner store that carries obscure food items and a purple can caught my eye. It was a can of Ben Shaws Dandelion & Burdock soda. Ben Shaws is a British soda brand and Dandelion & Burdock is one of their flavors. Dandelion & Burdock has been popular in the British Isles since the Middle Ages. It was originally a type of mead, but it’s evolved into a non-alcoholic soft drink that British people like to drink at the beach. Ben Shaws Dandelion & Burdock is a very interesting soda. It’s a slightly lighter shade of brown than a typical cola, it’s carbonated and fizzy, and it has a sweet floral aroma. The taste is more subtle and muted than I thought it would be, but I didn’t really know what to expect. I can’t quite put my finger on what it tastes like. It reminds me of those fancy violet candies that your grandma would give you but you didn’t like with a little bit of a diet root beer aftertaste. It’s pretty meh. I was excited to try a flavor of soda that I’ve never heard of before, but the excitement went quickly and now I’m bored with it my half-empty can.

Critically Rated at 10/17

Written, Rated, and Reviewed by Brendan H. Young

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February 20, 2014 · 1:24 pm

Tizer (soda)

There are a few liquor/corner stores around my house, and one of them always has obscure stuff for sale. Like Tizer, “the Great British Pop.” I’ve never seen it before, I’ve never heard of it before, but it’s only 49 pence for 330ml or $1.29 for 11.1586oz. The can is mostly red with a few swirls of green and yellow. The soda itself is red, it looks kind of like a Shirley Temple. It doesn’t say what kind of soda it is and I can’t decide what it’s trying to taste like. The can says that it’s a sparkling mixed flavour soft drink with sugar & sweetener. It’s a pretty fitting description of it. There’s citrus, there’s a vague fruitiness, and it’s kind of sweet. It’s a soda and sodas are good.

Critically Rated at 13/17

Written, Rated, and Reviewed by Brendan H. Young

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February 16, 2014 · 12:04 pm

Board Meeting (beer)

Board Meeting is an American Brown Ale from Port Brewing Company in San Marcos, California. It’s a Malt Beverage With Coffee And Cocoa Nibs. If there’s one thing that every beer needs more of, it’s cocoa nibs. And this beer has cocoa nibs. It’s very dark for a brown ale, it’s pours almost like a porter. It has a great aroma of roasted coffee, chocolate, and toasted malts. It tastes like you would expect. It’s malty with chocolate and coffee flavors, and there’s a little hazelnut and caramel, maybe some vanilla. It’s delicious and has a much better flavor profile than a Newcastle. It’s 8.5% so I would suggest drinking it after work and not before work.

Critically Rated at 14/17

Written, Rated, and Reviewed by Brendan H. Young

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February 15, 2014 · 9:55 am

Virgil’s Black Cherry Cream Soda

When it comes to sodas, colas are king. But there are lots of different flavors and varieties of pop, and black cherry cream soda is one of them. It’s a pretty neglected flavor. You won’t find too many people asking for a black cherry cream soda when they order at a restaurant. I was lucky enough to spot this soda at my corner store, so I bought a few bottles. It was too intriguing not to. Virgil’s Black Cherry Cream Soda is a classic cream soda recipe made with naturally using the finest cherry flavor, vanilla beans and unrefined sugar cane. We searched the world for the perfect black cherry cream taste. We hope you will find this to be the best black cherry cream soda you have ever tasted. Well Virgil, you should be pleased to know that I agree with you, this is the best black cherry cream soda that I’ve ever tasted. Let me just take another sip to confirm that. Here we go. Mmmmm. Mmmmm mmmmmm mmmmm. Yup. Without a doubt, this is the best black cherry cream soda that I’ve ever tasted. Good job, Virgil.

Critically Rated at 15/17

Written, Rated, and Reviewed by Brendan H. Young

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February 13, 2014 · 12:31 pm

Pliny the Younger (beer)

Pliny the Younger is a triple IPA brewed by the Russian River Brewing Company and it’s only available for two weeks every February. It’s not just a beer, it’s an event. People line up for hours for the chance to get a six-ounce glass of this liquid gold. It’s been consistently voted as one of the best beers in America and for good reason. It’s a perfectly balanced beer, hoppy and bitter with a good amount of hops. It has a spicy citrus scent that carries over into the flavor. I taste spice, honey, citrus, and piney hops. It’s also 11% alcohol, so your head will start to buzz pleasantly. There’s a lot of hype behind this beer so it’s easy to be unsatisfied. You won’t like it if you’re not a fan of IPAs. But everyone should try this beer just to say that you’ve tried it. You can’t say that you’re a beer aficionado if you haven’t had Pliny the Younger. I woke up early for it, I waited in line for hours for it, and I enjoyed every sip of it. I was actually sad when I finished it. Now I have to wait another year to get it again.

Critically Rated at 17/17

Written, Rated, and Reviewed by Brendan H. Young

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February 12, 2014 · 1:12 pm

Payback Porter

Payback Porter is an American Porter from San Francisco’s Speakeasy Ales & Lagers brewery. It’s a fairly typical porter: it’s very dark brown in appearance, almost black with a mild amount of carbonation. It has a rich malty aroma, with chocolate and coffee undertones. The taste is of roasted malt, chocolate, coffee, smoke, and piney hops. It’s very well rounded and has a pretty decent 7.5% alcohol content. If you’re a fan of porters and stouts than you’ll probably like this brew. If you like Budweiser, I wouldn’t recommend it. This is a beer for beer buffs, not for amateurs. You should try it, especially if you’re lucky enough to find it on tap somewhere.

Critically Rated at 13/17

Written, Rated, and Reviewed by Brendan H. Young

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February 11, 2014 · 11:53 am

Matt’s Burning Rosids

Matt’s Burning Rosids is a Saison/Farmhouse Ale from Stone Brewing Co. It’s called Matt’s Burning Rosids in honor of Matt Courtright, who worked at Stone Brewing who passed away in 2013. This beer is brewed in his memory and uses his recipe. They encourage you to drink it to celebrate life and laughter and good friends. I think I will take them up on that. This is a great craft beer, brewed with cherrywood-smoked malt, which lends it a slightly woody and sweet malty aroma with scents of banana, cloves, and spice. I can taste bitter hops, bananas, cloves, smoke, wood, citrus, pepper, and spice. It has a 10.5% ABV, which is pretty impressive because the beer doesn’t taste boozy. It’s not the best beer I’ve had, but it’s one of the most interesting beers I’ve had. It’s best enjoyed inside on a cold rainy day.

Critically Rated at 14/17

Written, Rated, and Reviewed by Brendan H. Young

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February 5, 2014 · 12:05 pm

Worthington’s Red Shield (beer)

One of the perks of being a beer guy is discovering a new beer. I went to my local liquor store the other day and the clerk told me to try a bottle of Worthington’s Red Shield. It’s an English Pale Ale/Blond Ale from England. It’s a nice golden color with a mild amount of carbonation. It has a bready malt aroma primarily with hints of grass, earth, caramel, and toffee. It tastes like it smells, it’s malty with some earth tones and a little bit of caramel and grains. It’s kind of bland, but in a crisp and refreshing way. It still has more flavor than Budweiser and other domestics. It only has an alcohol content of 4.2%, which makes it a great beer for day drinking. I would get this beer again, but I wouldn’t go to England to get it.

Critically Rated at 12/17

Written, Rated, and Reviewed by Brendan H. Young

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February 3, 2014 · 8:59 am

Arizona Grape Lime Rickey

Arizona Grape Lime Rickey is a sparkling grape and lime flavored beverage from Arizona Iced Tea. I don’t know who Rickey is or what he does, but I like his namesake beverage. It’s sweet, it’s crisp, and it makes an excellent mixer. I’m enjoying my Arizona Grape Lime Rickey with a little vodka in it. Actually let me be honest, I’m enjoying my vodka with a little Arizona Grape Lime Rickey in it. Either way, my head is buzzing and my taste buds are happy. I think that’s the sign of a good drink, right?

Critically Rated at 12/17

Written, Rated, and Reviewed by Brendan H. Young

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February 2, 2014 · 12:39 pm

Ordering a Cocktail But Not Knowing What’s In It

The vast majority of people in a bar order basic cocktails like margaritas, martinis, Long Islands, etc. But there is always some asshole that orders a drink that nobody has ever heard of before. Ordering a cocktail but not knowing what’s in it is a great way to piss off your bartender. There are hundreds if not thousands of cocktail names and recipes, so you should be prepared to help out your bartender if you order something obscure like a Skittle shot or a Vampire Juice or something. You should know more about the drink than just its name. You should know what liquors are in it, you should know what mixers to use, and you should know if it’s a shot or something you sip on. A lot of people will order a stupid drink because it sounds cool, but they don’t have the slightest idea what is in it. And that’s fucking retarded. You shouldn’t order something if you don’t know what’s in it. That’s just plain common sense.

Critically Rated at /17

Written, Rated, and Reviewed by Brendan H. Young

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January 29, 2014 · 12:14 pm

Pouring Beer Into a Glass

There’s a lot of debate over whether bottles or cans are better for beer. Cans are easier to transport, they take up less space, and they don’t let any light in so the beer won’t get skunky. Bottles are traditional, classier, and they make you feel like you’re getting your money’s worth. A bottle of craft beer has more credibility than a can of a cheap domestic. But it doesn’t matter if you’re a bottle guy or a can guy, because we can all agree that beer is good and that pouring beer into a glass makes it taste even better. Pouring beer into a glass wakes it up and revives it. When you pour a cold beer into a chilled glass, the beer gets bubbly and foamy, and ideally you’ll get a nice thick head. The head is an important part of the beer. It broadens the flavor and aromas of the beer, it opens up the flavor gates. It’s how you’re supposed to drink beer. If you buy a ten-dollar bottle of beer and chug it straight from the bottle, but that’s a waste of precious booze. If you don’t taste it and savor it, then you wasted it. So pour your beer into a glass, enjoy it and enjoy life. Head makes everything better (remember that, ladies).

Critically Rated at 15/17

Written, Rated, and Reviewed by Brendan H. Young

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January 24, 2014 · 9:58 am

Suicide (drink)

When I was a kid, my favorite soda was all the sodas mixed together. You get your cup, you go to the soda fountain, and you take a little bit of each soda until your cup is full. We used to call it a Suicide. Other people call it different things, but it’s still the same thing. A Suicide has no set recipe and it will taste different every single time. Sometimes it will taste horrible, sometimes it will taste great. It all depends which sodas they have on tap. Some sodas don’t mesh well with others. A diet soda will always taint the Suicide with a weird aftertaste, so you should avoid that. And Pepsi contaminates it immediately. Dr Pepper is one of the best sodas to use. Some people consider Dr Pepper to be a Suicide soda by itself because it already has 23 different flavors. Adding it to a Suicide will make your mouth happy. You should make a Suicide if you’ve never had one before. Have fun, experiment a little, and be creative.

Critically Rated at 12/17

Written, Rated, and Reviewed by Brendan H. Young

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January 21, 2014 · 7:54 pm

Reed’s Flying Cauldron Non-Alcoholic Butterscotch Beer

Reed’s Flying Cauldron Non-Alcoholic Butterscotch Beer is a butterscotch cream soda and a blatant rip-off of Harry Potter’s butterbeer. J.K. Rowling would sue the people at Reed’s but she already has too much money. It tastes like what you would expect. It’s sweet, slightly carbonated, and is actually healthier than most sodas. It’s gluten free and 100% natural. It’s made from purified carbonated water, cane sugar, vanilla extract, natural caramel, natural flavors, and stevia rebaudiana leaf extract. Somehow that shit all fits together to create a tasty beverage. The label doesn’t mention anything about caffeine so I assume that it’s caffeine free, but I would avoid drinking one before bed just to be safe. It’s not that good of a soda, but the novelty factor makes it worth checking out.

Critically Rated at 12/17

Written, Rated, and Reviewed by Brendan H. Young

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