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  [Beer]

You guessed it - I'm into Dogfish Head's beer line-up. Yesterday I picked up a case of their Punkin Ale. Pretty good stuff. Dogfish Head describes it as a "full-bodied brown ale with smooth hints of pumpkin and brown sugar".

And you have to love the packaging. Four packs instead of sixers - a good number for drinking beers away from home, because that way you don't end up leaving a hanger in your friend's fridge.

And to follow up my previous post - I did see cases of both the 90 minute and 120 minute IPAs. My wallet wasn't fat enough, so I had to pass. Of course, if I could find someone to go in with me on a case... hit me up!

In the meantime, I'll be watching today's PSU game and enjoying the Punkin Ale. Let's go State!!

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  [beer]

At the Brew Expo last week, I really enjoyed Dogfish Head's 90 minute IPA. Tonight, as a sort of follow-up to the expo, I picked up a case of Dogfish Head's 60 minute IPA. Also delicious! This time I began to ponder about the differences between the 60 versus 90 minute beers. Of course this would have something to do with the brewing process...

From what I've read, the 60/90/120 intervals represent the number of minutes the hops are brought to a boil while hops are added. The duration of this process is what makes the beer deliciously bitter.

Once again, I visited the Dogfish Head website to discover that a 120 minute IPA also exists! The final results were staggering (and so were the tasters):

• 60 minute IPA, 6% abv, 60 ibu
• 90 minute IPA, 9% abv, 90 ibu
• 120 minute IPA, 20% abv, 120 ibu

According to BeerAdvocate.com "ibu" stands for "International Bitterness Units", and indicates the amount of bitterness in the beer. With that said, the 120 minute IPA certainly looks worth the taste. According to the Dogfish Head website, there are three limited releases scheduled for 2006, two of which are in September and October. Keep your beer sensors turned on...

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  [Beer]

I've been in State College for alomst 4 years now, and have finally attended my first State College Brew Expo. I must say that I will be attending again next year.

In a four hour period, it was impossible to make it around to all of the tables. The microbrews beers tend to be filling, and usually have generous amounts of alochol. Of the flavors I tasted, my favorites were Dogfish Head's 90 minute IPA, Stone Brewing Company's Smoked Porter, and Liberty Ale from Anchor Brewing.

Below is a list of some of the beers I sampled:

• 90 Minute IPA (Dogfish Head)
• Arrogant Bastard (Stone Brewing Co.)
• Double Chocolate Stout (Young's)
• Double IPA (Stoudt's Brewing Co.)
• La Fin du Monde (Unibroue)
• Liberty Ale (Anchor Brewing)
• Mountain Lager (Appalachian Brewing Co.)
• Penn Dark (Penn Brewery)
• Red Seal Ale (Northcoast Brewing Co.)
• Smoked Porter (Stone Brewing Co.)

The $35 cover price included four hours of brew sampling and an all you can eat buffet provided by the Penn Stater hotel. About 95% of the brewers were microbreweries while the other tiny handful were from the "market leaders" (Heineken, Yeungling). Fortunately, I don't think I could count them on one hand. I'll admit that it was amusing watching the empty Heineken line.

Next year I will make sure to get my ticket early, as I was presented with a plastic cup when I purchased my ticket at the door. Luckily, I was able to trade in the cup for a Brew Expo glass towards the end of the evening for my final sample.

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  [Beer]

I've been drinking more selective beer these days. Some of my recent choices have been Dogfish Head's Shelter Pale Ale, Rogue's Hazelnut Brown Nectar, and Weyerbacher's Merry Monks. All have been delicious, filling, and full of flavor (especially the hazelnut brown!). I've found that a case of these delicious beers (when available), is the best way to become familiar with the different aspects of a single flavor.

This week, I grabbed an old favorite - Genesee Cream Ale. I was so thrilled to crack one open, but when it hit my mouth, it was like water. Not to insult, but I'm barely able to recognize the flavor in this thing. At one point, Genny Cream was my favorite among the handful of large scale breweries. But these days my mouth has made it's mind - it wants the good micro brews.

I have a sip or two left of my first not-so-tasty bottle of beer in a while. I'll sit here and finish my beer, but there's a whole case left. If you see me next weekend, you can bet that I'll be enjoying a beer with more color and flavor. In the meantime, get your ass over hear and help me finish these.

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