Abs Of Beer TV » Brian

E011 – Terrapin and Left Hand

Brian — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:57:52 +0000

Join Brian Smith and John Jansen as they sample the collaborative efforts of Terrapin Beer Co and Left Hand Brewing’s delicious Espresso Milk Stout called Depth Charge. As an added bonus, we were able to catch up with Dustin Watts of Terrapin and Chris Lennert of Left Hand to hear them talk about how the Midnight Projects all came about.

You can check out more from:
Terrapin Beer Co. in Athens, GA.

Left Hand Brewing Company in Longmont, CO.

Cheers!

Brian and John

E010 – Flight of the Radish

Brian — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 21:20:36 +0000

Flight of the Radish? Flight of Beers at the Weeping Radish! Watch what an incredible time Brian and John had with Uli Bennewitz at the Weeping Radish Farm Brewery in Jarvisburg, North Carlolina. They tried five fantastic beers while Uli shared his stories of past and present.

Look! We got Sophie in a picture afterall!

Brian Smith, Uli Bennewitz, Sophie Bennewitz and John Jansen

Beers in the Flight:

Radler – A Radler is a mixture of lemonade and beer. Weeping Radish uses Real Lemonade sweetened with the Stevia plant and Weeping Radish Kolsch beer. ABV? Low. Perfect for a hot day.
Corolla Gold – A German lager style. If you are a lager drinker, this is a must try… Light (but not a “lite” beer) and not filling. I’m feeling a session coming on! ABV – 5.0
Weitzen – German wheat style beer… Brewed with 100% German wheat, banana on the nose and taste. Very drinkable weitzen! ABV – 4.7%
Black Radish – This spectacular German Schwartzbier is listed as “One of the 50 Beers before you die!” This one was slipped into the show by Uli and we’re so glad he did! ABV – 4.6%
Christmas Bier – And the crowd goes wild!! The seasonal Dopplebock Christmas Bier was certainly the reason for the season this year. What an amazing beer… Dopplebocks are definately one of Brian’s favorites. They won’t say how many Christmas Bier’s they brought back from North Carolina or how many lasted through the weekend! ABV – 8.2%

You MUST visit the Weeping Radish Farm Brewery when you can:

6810 Caratoke Hwy
Jarvisburg, NC 27947
(252) 491-5205
Located on 24 acres in Jarvisburg, NC on Highway 168/158 between Norfolk, Virginia & Outer Banks, NC

Take advantage of the beer (of course) and the fantastic local meets prepared by a German Master Butcher. Or, order some beer from their website http://www.WeepingRadish.com unless, of course, you’re in Texas in which case you’ll have better luck getting an uzi.

Weeping Radish Fire Truck

Visit us on the web at http://www.AbsOfBeerTV.com

Cheers!
Brian and John

E009 – Christmas at the Bier Garden

Brian — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 03:11:32 +0000

Their Home away from Home! This time, Brian and John are at the Bier Garden in Portsmouth, Virginia. In this special show, they team up with Lee McMillan to taste a variety of winter and Christmas beers… four beers in all.

Watch and learn about these special beers! Ever asked yourself, “I wonder if Schloss Eggenberg’s Samichlaus Beer would be a good session beer?” Click play and find the answer!

Direct Download
HD | SD | WMV

In this show, our hereos are tasting:

Samuel Smith – Winter Welcome 6% ABV
St. Bernardus – Christmas Ale 10% ABV
Dubuisson Scaldis – Noel 12%
Schloss Eggenberg – Samichlaus a festive 14% ABV plus some change…

and…

You have to drop by the Bier Garden!

The Bier Garden

438 High Street
Portsmouth, Virginia

If these beers don’t leave you festive, we don’t know what will!

Merry Christmas and..

Cheers!
Brian and John

E008 – Christmas Elves

Brian — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 01:32:14 +0000

In this episode, Brian and John get into the Christmas Spirit with some Ridgeway Brewing beers. These beers progress from Bad Elf to Criminally Bad Elf plus the special Santa’s Butt!

Direct Download
HD | SD | WMV

Ridgeway Brewing

We tasted:

Bad Elf – 6% ABV
Very Bad Elf – 7.5% ABV
Seriously Bad Elf – 9% ABV
Criminally Bad Elf – 10.5% ABV
Santa’s Butt – 6% ABV

Hope you are having a great holiday season…

Cheers!
Brian and John

E007 – Oskar Blues with Sekshun 8

Brian — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:11:31 +0000

In this episode, See Brian and John do what they do best… hang out and enjoy some great beer with great friends. This time, it’s with national recording artist Sekshun 8 from Portsmouth, Virginia! They were gracious enough not only to let us use their music in our shows but invited us to one of their practices. Here we listen to what the guys are normally ordering up when they have a beer and then we share some beers we think they will like. Their reactions surprised us! Maybe they will surprise you too!

Direct Downloads
HD | SD | WMV

The Oskar factor:

First off, we’d like to point out that there was a couple “pauses” in the show… Ahhh! The magic of ad-lib! So, if you haven’t heard us say this before, we’ll simply say now that we love beer… and the beer drinking culture. You probably won’t hear many negative comments from us about any beer other than it may not be something we drink on a normal basis. We try to concentrate on sharing craft beers / micro brews because we feel like these are the beers some of the beer drinking community may be missing out on. Although we have Macro beers and Macro Micro beers from time to time, you probably won’t see us covering too many of them on our shows.. but that certainly doesn’t mean we have anything bad to say about any beer.

Now… here are some additional facts about the beers we chose to share with Sekshun8.

Oskar Blues – The Little Brewery that Cans! (We think that’s funny!)
The Brewery is located at:
1800 Pike Road, Unit B
Longmont, Colorado 80501

Oskar Blues brewery opened in 1997 and, lucky for us, also opened a brewpub in 1999 which is located in Lyons, Colorado. They opened their canning operation in the fall of 2002 with a hand-canning line in the 60-year-old barn next door to the pub. Now for some stats on the beers you saw (or will see)!

Dale’s Pale Ale – Somewhere between an American Pale Ale and India Pale Ale, 6.5% ABV, 65 IBU
Gordon – Somewhere between an Imperial Red and a Double IPA, 8.7% ABV, 85 IBU
Mama’s Little Yella Pils – Czechoslovakian style Pilsner, 5.3% ABV, 35 IBU
Old Chub – Scottish strong ale, 8% ABV and both an AbsOfBeerTV and Sekshun 8 favorite

…and what Sekshun 8 shared with us!

Shipyard Brewing
Located at:
86 Newbury St.
Portland, Maine 04101

We tasted the Pumpkinhead Ale – 4.5% ABV.. Great pumpkin and holiday spice flavors, smooth, very drinkable ale. They kept some aside for almost 3 weeks before we could get together. Thank you for saving us some Sekshun 8!

And oh, by the way…. Check out more Sekshun 8 music by picking up their latest CD Black Wing Butterfly and/or listen to some streaming tracks online from their myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/Sekshun

Finally, since this show was edited on this Veterans Day, all of us here at AbsOfBeerTV would like to thank everyone in our Arms Forces for your services!

Cheers,
Brian and John

E006 – Halloween Special

Brian — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:07:08 +0000

Happy Halloween Everyone!

In this episode, Brian and John focus on 5 special pumpkin beers. See which beers they picked as their favorites and be prepared for a couple wizard pranks…

Direct Download
HD | SD | WMV

Beers we tasted:

Weyerbacher – Imperial Pumpkin Ale
Williamsburg Alewerks – Pumpkin Ale
Terrapin – Side Project Pumpkinfest
Dogfish Head – Punkin Ale
Southern Tier – Pumpking
… and special guest… Shmaltz Brewing Company – Coney Island Freaktoberfest

We are already thinking about Thanksgiving and some wonderful Turkey Beers!

The Freaktoberfest Factor:

John was so “freaked” out by his disappearance he couldn’t gather himself up to relay any freaky info about our freaky beer so here goes! ( I’m sure it was probably giving you freaky nightmares not knowing the freaky details!)

Shmaltz Brewing Company

Coney Island Freaktoberfest
Blood Red lager
6 Malts6 Hops
6.66% ABV (that’s pretty freaky right there..)
Indulge Your Inner FREAK!

AbsOfBeerTV, Out!

Beer Drinkers – Raul & Meg

Brian — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 01:43:45 +0000

Raul & Meg say:

“Life drives us to drink; it’s the good life…. We want children and until that glorious day we drink a lot responsibly…. until we have to be responsible!”

Raul and Meg

Bartender – George

Brian — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 01:18:24 +0000

George from Red Light Red Light in Orlando

What I love about Bartending???

People I meet, great discussions… “Informed consumption” From “declaration of Beer independence” talking to folks about something I am passionate about … Talking to folks about something that I love. I get up in the morning and look forward to coming to work.. This is not a job… This is an endless beer Holiday!

What frustrates me about Bartending???

It comes back to the informed consumption… It’s always the big boys that are used to chugging down the 6 “American Lagers” and now want to impress their dates and or their homies with their beer prowess and before you know it they are well… and since this is a family blog you can guess what they are doing with the porcelain god…..

“out to impress rather than appreciate” that frustrates me!

Trappist John at Orlando Brewing

Brian — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 01:16:20 +0000

Orlando Brewing

Orlando Brewing is Florida’s only certified organic brewery!!!!

Mmmm Beer!

The brewery is off the beaten path down a dimly lit street that was reminiscent of an older vacant industrial park or maybe a bad neighborhood at least at night. When I got out of the car I looked around at my surroundings and as I walked towards the front of the building. I heard bottles being kicked around and breaking…. Scared the Shyte out of me!

Is there a doctor in the Bier Garden?

It turned out to be a buzzed couple stumbling down the road. They rested in the Beer tent I think she twisted her ankle on the bottles or something. Ouch!!!!

Once inside the bar was nicely laid out the taps all in a row easy to look at and I was eager to get down to do some sampling.. They even had 3 guest taps as well. I never have a problem with guest taps: Lindemans Framboise Lambic, Sierra Nevada Big-foot & Chimay Cinq Cents…. What more can I type?

Nice Taps!

The Bartender – Cat was a great girl with a big smile… Wouldn’t let me take a picture but we can’t hold that against her can we?

Bar Layout

Look at these samples!

Must be time to Sample? As we can see there were 11 on the Sampler tray so let’s get busy!

Blonde Ale:

Typical light Blonde; what can I say?? Clean, crisp, flavorful, not my style

ABV: 4.33%

Pale Ale:

Nice beer , An American adaptation of an English pale Ale, great Amber Gold color, Great taste, look and smell very drinkable!

ABV: 5.92%

Red Ale:

Not flavorful enough to follow the Pale

I know that is not a real review but hey, it had a great color! It was good for a Red Ale… Did I mention how good the Pale was??

ABV: 4.34%

Brown Ale:

1^st lets start out by saying I am not a Brown ale guy but…. (I never liked Indian food either) This one was very good… Hopefully the light came on. This was a pretty beer. Toasty, caramel, hoppy bitterness, strong flavored…. AOBTV was back in business!

ABV: 6.61%

European Pilz:

Nice Relaxed Pilsner easy drinking great beer to have on a hot day.

ABV: 5.2%

Olde Pelican Ale:

Copper Amber Hue, Malt upfront, Carmel, medium body, full flavored, prominent hops would love to have this as a “real ale” Great beer reminded me of Blackpool…. (tear in my eye)

ABV: 6.46%

Pompous Ass IPA:

Anything with a name like this I thought would have nailed me between the eyes with hops but at only 45 IBU that was not the case…. Another great beer I was on a roll at this point not for you hopheads per say but these beers are good… Look good great aroma easy drinkability

ABV: 6.2%

Miami Weiss:

I get it a play on words…. Hah! I love German Hefe’s and been to Germany. Here in VB we have a great Bier Garden… I wasn’t sure if this was an American wheat or a German wheat; it was light not remarkable…

ABV: ???

Octoberfest:

Another good beer, nice gold color, bready, fruity aroma true to the style not over whelming with hops, true to the Octoberfest style.

ABV: ????

Eagle Stout:

Sweet Oatmeal, Beautiful Midnight black, Full-bodied, roasted, faint nutty medium hops, great Oatmeal Stout.

ABV: 5.67%

Blackwater Dry Porter:

Dark Brown – you could tell right away the coffee like nose chocolate aroma’s another great looking beer. They call it the “Black lite.” This beer was surprisingly drinkable and since was the last beer I sampled was up to room temperatures so the flavors came on strong a great way to finish.

ABV: 5.13%

So there you have it!

A funny thing happened on the way out of the Tap-House… Sampling beers and writing blogs is not a race, it is a marathon. I did not finish every sample… I was on my way to another place. A couple guys at the bar joked me about it and one of them actually finished my samples????? WT???? All in all, I would recommend Orlando Brewing to any one heading to Orlando. There is no food Menu so this is a true Tap-House. This is a great place for a vacationed our parent that needs relief from overpriced tourist traps. The beers are a great value the folks that were there that night (Cat and Richard) were great people and true ambassadors for Orlando Brewing.

Ever seen this in a bathroom?

You can visit and reach them here!

Orlando Brewing
1301 Atlanta Avenue
Orlando, Florida 32806
407-872-1117

E005 – Grilling with Stone

Brian — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:31:05 +0000

In this episode, Brian and John are grilling and chilling with some fantastic Stone Brewing products! If combining Farmer-to-Fork meats with Stone IPA and Stone Ruination wasn’t enough, they also sample two of the Stone collaboration beers: BrewDog/Cambridge Brewing Co./Stone Brewing Co: Juxtaposition and Ken Schmidt/Maui Brewing Co./Stone Brewing Co.: Kona Coffee, Macadamia, Coconut Porter. Wow!!

The Stone Factor: Here are a few extra things regarding this episode. First, a correction from our previous episode which featured Stone Brewing Company beers. We said Stone was located in San Marcos, CA. but they have actually moved to Escondido, CA. Thank you Matt Steirnagle for helping us get the facts straight!

A few extra words about the Weeping Radish Farm and Brewery. The Weeping Radish is proud to introduce its “Farmer to Fork” food concept, also known as “Reinheitsgebot” food. The US food chain has consistently expanded and by now the average food travels over 2000 miles between the farm and your plate. A large amount of our food is even imported from other countries with little oversight and control. Every perishable commodity (which includes most food we eat) requires additives, chemicals and preservatives in order to “survive” this processing and distribution system.

For this reason they have built thier Eco Farm, Butchery and Smoke House in Jarvisburg, North Carolina. This allows them to purchase hormone-free beef and free-range pork from local farms, and supervise the butchering and smoking process. They are also a member of the Eastern Carolina Organics Co-op, and bring organic vegetables directly to their farm.

The Juxtaposition Black Pilsner! We were so involved with drinking and eating the only thing we could say was WOW to about everything that day… So some justice to the Black (Imperial) Pilsner – dark brown color with some nice deep amber highlights – GREAT HEAD – Stone Hoppy, roasted/coffee, malty, nice carbonation and nice ABV… Let’s give a big round of applause for 10%…

Cheers!
Brian and John