Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Sweet Action with True Blood

 Sweet Action refers to the beer not what's happening on screen

Sunday was the premiere of season 4 of True Blood.  While all the vamps, werewolves and other supernatural critters rose to the occasion I poured a Sixpoint Brewing Sweet Action and kicked back in my leather chair for the Sunday night freak fest. Both the show and the beer impressed.

Sweet Action is listed as a cream ale which means nothing to me as a style.  The only cream ale I've ever had is Genesee Cream Ale and that was at least 20 years ago.  Doing some research on Wikipedia and Beer Advocate quickly brought me up to speed. The descriptions are fairly vague but basically it's a top fermenting ale, sometimes finished with lager yeast.  Typically lower in hops, light in color and body. Thankfully Sweet Action breaks from those overly bland guidelines.

Sweet Action pours a hazy deep gold with a thin white head that quickly fades. Flavors of citrus, vanilla and mango all come out. However this seems like one of those beers that if a 100 different people tried it you'd get a 100 different flavor descriptions. The hops that show in the aroma stay fairly mellow in the taste. It's all very well balanced. This is a summer comfort beer in a good way. No hop assault here.  At 5.2% abv session purist will hate that I call this a session beer.  However as smooth and easy drinking as it is it's nothing but sessionable. Sweet Action delivers balanced flavors, a touch of sweet and enough bitter to let you know there is nothing macro about it. The 16 ounce can makes it great for around the pool or as the perfect accessory to the mower when working on the lawn.

As for True Blood if your unaware of the whole series you have a little catching up to do (click on the link above).  For those in the know the premiere offered a few surprises and laid the ground work for what should be a good season. There is no question what I'll be watching on Sunday night.


Monday, June 13, 2011

And that was Philly Beer Week


Another successful Philly Beer Week came to a close yesterday. I managed to make it out to several events, however falling well short of my goal.  A quick photo rundown of the week's activities is soon to follow.  Thanks again to everyone who made Philly Beer Week a huge success. Cheers!!!

A special thanks to Don Russell who gave me the opportunity to contribute to this years PBW guide. It's the article on West Philly/University City (page 33). If you haven't done so already check it out.

Monday, June 6, 2011

IAMBEERWISE.com is IAMBEERWISE.net for now

With Philly Beer Week in full swing and so much good happening in the world of beer I'm not looking to bring down the positive vibe with my personal domain battle.  There's plenty of time for that.  This post is just another attempt to get the word out about the current switch over. 

For those following the situation no new updates and for now IAMBEERWSE.net rolls on. 

Now time get back to PBW.....cheers!

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Domain Pain the Continuation

If you're reading this you have obviously managed to find the new/current home of IAMBEERWISE.  Unfortunately the former IAMBEERWISE.COM is no longer (for now).  Through a series of mishaps the domain I started with has slipped from my possession and into the hands of another.  Basically it's in domain name limbo. I'm currently going through steps to regain it but as I figured it's a slow and arduous process.  With Philly Beer Week upon us I need to move on with the blog and hope for the best.  Does using IAMBEERWISE.NET make a huge difference?  No.  I've never pretend this blog is anything more than what it is.  I'm not changing the world, hopefully just what goes in your glass. It's inconvenient and annoying more than anything.  Tons of broken links and searches and some readers who certainly think the site is dead.  Those who know me realize this stupid mishap would never deter my craft beer passion. So for now the switch is on to IAMBEERWISE.NET and we'll see if the .COM is meant to be again.

The saga continues...............

Night of the Bastards @ Craft Ale House



For any major event it's always good to prepare.  It's key for survival. With Philly Beer Week only a couple days away what better way to gear up than to shock the system with a few heavy hitting bastards?  Tonight (6/1) Craft Ale House in Limerick (or is it Royersford?) unleashes Night of the Bastards.  All things bastard from Stone Brewing and others. Let the prep work begin!  Start time is 6pm.

Draft List
Stone Arrogant Bastard

Stone Oaked Arrogant Bastard
Stone Lukcy Basartd (yes, that's how you spell it)
Stone Double Bastard

With a few special guest Bastards.

Founders Dirty Bastard
Founders Backwoods Bastard (yum)
Blue Point Old Howling Bastard

Get Bastardized!!!