Anchor Summer Beer

Pictures like this remind me that I need to start serving beers in the appropriate glassware. I guess a big wine glass like this isn't necessarily bad though. This beer is nice for a hot summer day (obviously) but it's nothing all that special. And BA users seem to agree. But down by Atlantic City where my parents live, the selection is pretty poor. Finding something like Anchor is almost a eureka moment.

NY3 Collaboration Coming!

This. Sounds. Good.

To kick off NY Craft Beer Week, on 9/11 three bars in the city will be simultaneously tapping the brand-new NY3 from firkins. This beer will be a collaborative beer between Ithaca Beer Company, Southern Tier Brewing Company and Captain Lawrence Brewing Co. No word yet on the style, but it will be the OFFICIAL beer of NY Craft Beer Week. Here's the official word:

Please join us as a cask of NY3, the official beer of NY Craft Beer Week 2009, is tapped at 6pm at all three bars to officially open the Week. Servings of this beer will be limited to Passport holders only, who will each be presented with a complimentary 8 oz pour. Servings are first come, first serve and available as long as the firkin lasts.

Figures that I'll be out of town for this, but here's to hoping I can still somehow get some upon my return.

Blue Point Hoptical Illusion

American IPA - 6.80% ABV

This is one of those beers that's virtually everywhere in Manhattan and Brooklyn, with the brewery being a mere LIRR train-ride away. But because of its frequency at my local supermarkets, I tend to overlook it. But some recent discussion on a message board that I frequent stuck in my brain upon a trip to the liquor store before heading down to the beach for the weekend, and I picked up a 6 pack. The BeerAdvocate average is a B+, and I would have to agree. This one leans more on the malty side, whereas I generally prefer a lighter, citrusy hopped kind of IPA. The major bitterness seems to come thru the nose as the malt takes over the taste upon first sip. Still, not bad at all to have within a short walk of work or home.

That's A Lot of Pliny

And it could never be enough. As I noted a few weeks ago, a certain bar in NYC was able to hook me up with an entire growler (that's 64oz) of Russian River's Pliny the Elder. The very same beer that Zymurgy Magazine and the American Homebrewer's Assocation recently voted the #1 beer in the world. I think this could honestly be my desert island beer.

I had previously traded one of my precious few Founder's Kentucky Breakfast Stouts for a single 500ml bottle of this, so this was a nice treat as I figured it'd be years before I'd get my hands on Pliny again. A beer truly deserving of all accolades.

You Should Visit Iceland

This is not beer-related (although I did blog about Icelandic Craft Beer not that long ago), but I've been distracted for the last week or so Iby editing this short video of footage we shot in Iceland a few months ago. I recommend going to youtube and watching in full HD instead of tiny as it is below!