Couple'a New Beers - One Great (Dogfish Head), One BAD (Miller)

I just finished drinking this Dogfish Head Punkin Ale, and while I readily admit a lot of their beers don't overly impress me (except that Indian Brown Ale, damn is that a great beer), this Punkin Ale was THE best pumpkin ale I've had to this date. Granted, I still have sitting in my fridge what most people consider the top pumpkin beer available- Southern Tier's Pumpking, but I think that might have a hard time beating Dogfish Head's Punkin.

Punkin is labeled as "A full-bodied brown ale brewed with real pumpkin, brown sugar, allspice, cinnamon & nutmeg." It delivers, for sure. The aroma has an abundance of the spice, but it doesn't smell like a cheap candle, it actually smells good. Well props to them for finding the right combination to do that. Then the taste lives up just as much. The body is nice and semi-sweet, and masks the spices until the end where they come though nicely... I mean they are the reason anyone drinks a pumpkin ale so you need to have them in the taste right.

The other beer I had last night with my enchiladas and rice was the highly acclaimed (I kid, I kid) Miller Genuine Draft 64. Trust me, I didn't pay for it but it was in the fridge nonetheless. Don't mind that finger in the background either. It's coming from a guy who actually enjoys that beer that's in the background, but I'm not a beer snob, and I digress. Good lord this thing was the definition of tasteless. If I closed my eyes there was no doubt I was drinking soda water. But, the interesting thing was as tasteless as it was I still drank it pretty fast and had no complaints. It wasn't offensive or anything. Will I have another one? No. Did I completely hate this experience? No. Now that Bud Light Lime... that's another story... yikes.

California's GABF Medals & Comments

Brewery	Beer	State	Medals	Category
AleSmith Brewing Co.	Vintage Speedway Stout	CA	Silver	Aged Beer
AleSmith Brewing Co.	AleSmith Old Numbskull	CA	Silver	Barley Wine-Style Ale
AleSmith Brewing Co.	AleSmith Decadence Old Ale	CA	Gold	Old Ale or Strong Ale
AleSmith Brewing Co.	AleSmith Wee Heavy	CA	Gold	Strong Scotch Ale
Anderson Valley Brewing Co.	Brother Davids Double	CA	Silver	Belgian-Style Strong Specialty Ale
Bear Republic Brewing Co.	El Oso	CA	Bronze	American-Style Amber Lager
Bear Republic Brewing Co.	Double Aught	CA	Bronze	Bohemian-Style Pilsener
BJ's Restaurant & Brewery - Chandler	BJ's Oktoberfest	CA	Gold	American-Style Amber Lager
BJ's Restaurant & Brewery - Chandler	I'm Half the Beer I Used to Be	CA	Gold	German-Style Wheat Ale
Drake's Brewing Co.	Drake's 1500 Pale	CA	Silver	American-Style Pale Ale
Elk Grove Brewery and Restaurant	Bad Dog Brown Ale	CA	Bronze	American-Style Brown Ale
Elk Grove Brewery and Restaurant	Bock Lager	CA	Silver	Bock
FiftyFifty Brewing Co.	FiftyFifty Imperial Stout	CA	Bronze	Other Strong Beer
FireHouse Grill & Brewery	FireHouse Porter	CA	Silver	Brown Porter
Firestone Walker Brewing Co.	Mission Street Pale	CA	Gold	American-Style Pale Ale
Firestone Walker Brewing Co.	Velvet Merkin	CA	Silver	Oatmeal Stout
Firestone Walker Brewing Co.	Oaktoberfest	CA	Silver	Vienna-Style Lager
Firestone Walker Brewing Co.	Nectar Pale	CA	Silver	American-Style Strong Pale Ale
Firestone Walker Brewing Co.	Firestone Pale 31	CA	Bronze	American-Style Pale Ale
Firestone Walker Brewing Co.	Union Jack IPA	CA	Gold	American-Style India Pale Ale
Hollister Brewing Co.	Hip Hop Double IPA	CA	Silver	Imperial or Double India Pale Ale
Mad River Brewing Co.	Steelhead Extra Pale Ale	CA	Gold	Golden or Blonde Ale
Main Street Brewery	Hop Daddy IPA	CA	Bronze	English-Style India Pale Ale
Main Street Brewery	Bishop's Tipple Trippel	CA	Gold	Belgian-Style Abbey Ale
Pizza Port Carlsbad	Night Rider Imperial Stout	CA	Silver	Imperial Stout
Pizza Port Carlsbad	Party Pants Pilsener	CA	Silver	German-Style Pilsener
Pizza Port Carlsbad	Cow Stout	CA	Bronze	Sweet Stout
Pizza Port Carlsbad	Port Truck Stout	CA	Bronze	Classic Irish-Style Dry Stout
Pizza Port Carlsbad	State Beach Blonde	CA	Bronze	Herb and Spice or Chocolate Beer
Pizza Port San Clemente	Way Heavy	CA	Silver	Strong Scotch Ale
Pizza Port Solana Beach	Big Wednesday	CA	Bronze	American-Belgo Style Ale
Port Brewing and The Lost Abbey	Hop 15	CA	Bronze	Imperial or Double India Pale Ale
Rock Bottom Brewery - La Jolla	Ragtop Red	CA	Silver	Irish-Style Red Ale
Russian River Brewing Co.	Blind Pig IPA	CA	Silver	American-Style India Pale Ale
Russian River Brewing Co.	Redemption	CA	Gold	Belgian- and French-Style Ale
San Diego Brewing Co.	Hopnotic 2X IPA	CA	Gold	Imperial or Double India Pale Ale
Schooner's Grille & Brewery	Oatmeal Stout	CA	Bronze	Oatmeal Stout
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.	Sierra Nevada Kolsch Style Ale	CA	Silver	German-Style Kölsch
Third Street Aleworks	Blarney Sisters Dry Irish Stout	CA	Gold	Classic Irish-Style Dry Stout

Alesmith really took home some big prizes for bigbeers. As easy as they are for me to get, I've only previously had the Alesmith Old Numbskull barleywine which stood out over many of the other samples I had during a strong ale fest. I've had Speedway before but I wonder what they mean by Vintage? It's probably not one of their special release barrel aged Speedways, so it must just be a couple year old bottle of Speedway? I noticed that Alaskan won in that "Aged Beer" category for their 2006 Smoked Porter.

Big congrats to BJ's for bringing home yet more awards this year. Last year they won Gold with their Nit Wit witbier. That oktoberfest is surely tastey, I had a glass of this year's batch a couple weeks ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's kind of weird that they listed BJ's as a CA brewery since their Chandler location is in Arizona. Maybe it's because most BJ's are in CA? I know certain CA BJ's locations still brew (although I'm told they are brewing more at the Reno production facility and cutting down on the individual BJ's locations that actually brew, which sucks if true), and I think West Covina and Brea or Woodland Hills still brews their own beer.

Firestone cleaned up with 6 medals! Their two pales are absolutely fantastic when fresh. They are on the hoppier side of pale ales but the flavors come through so beautifully. Union Jack is one of the best IPA's in IPA-rich California. It probably gets overlooked a lot and sorta has a cult following of people who really back it.

Hollister, in Goleta next to the UCSB campus, is doing some great things. I just had the pleasure of stopping by there on a trip recently and they nailed quite a few beers of the 13 I sampled. I do remember the Hip Hop Double IPA which wasn't bad, but didn't stand out above a couple of their pale ales which were amazingly hopped.

Main Street Brewery??? Corona is about a 20 minute drive from me and I've never heard anyone say anything really great about this brewery. But TWO medals? Wow. Especially when one is in the Belgian-style category. Pretty impressive for what has to be a tiny brewery. That will definitely call for a stop next time I'm in that area.

Easily expected was the 8 medals from Pizza Port/Port Brewing. Those guys know how to make beer and what's great is they know how to make so many styles well.

Russian River I don't think really ever enters that many beers. I've seen Temptation win in the past, and maybe Blind Pig too, but Blind Pig getting a silver behind Union Jack isn't too surprising. Like I said, if you're not native to CA but happen to find yourself here- don't JUST go seeking the infamous Pig.... get some Union Jack too.

And how about Santa Rosa bringing home a Gold, but not by Russian River, by Third Street Aleworks which is literally about a 2 minute walk from the Russian River brewpub.

Tonight and Beer - or beer's cousin...

Ended up drinking beers best cousin tonight- Whiskey. In fact, Rye Whiskey. Old Fashioned with Rye Whiskey (see post a couple weeks ago). Of course I still hit the best malted beverage in the world quite a bit tonight. Started with a Saison Rue from The Brurey, followed by a Trade Winds Tripel, and then went to Hollingshead's Deli for a half liter of Blind Pig and Spaten Oktoberfest. Ended up walking out with a 6-pack of Pliny the Elder and the satisfaction of seeing the Dodgers go down 0-2 in the series. Pretty good night eh? Will be up around 5:30am tomorrow morning to head to the USC vs. Arizona State game at the Coliseum. I'll be starting the morning off with a Founders Breakfast Stout for... well... breakfast... then moving onto Pliny and then Ruination as ritual has it before game time. What happens in between all that is up in the air.