Top 5 Over-Hyped Beers of 2010

Beer Hype is real people....it's right next to you, it's on a number of beer websites, maybe your friends subscribe to it.  Beer Hype is a baddd bad thing, but often drives the market and the demand of some of the largest bottle releases of the year.

Top 5 Over-Hyped Beers of 2010

5.  Brooklyn Dark Matter

4.  New Belgium Fat Tire

3.  Sweetwater 420

2.  Sam Adams Infinium

1.  BA Sexual Chocolate / BA IST

OK, now this is just my opinion and I understand that some of my readers and beer friends will disagree with a lot of the choices above....ohh well.  The beers above were built up to be some of the best and they just fell flat on their face.  Either they weren't anything special at all, or their non-barrel-aged versions were better.

What is your over hyped beer of the year?!?!

Top 5 Guest Bloggers of 2010

Yep you had to guess it was coming the Top 5 Guest Bloggers of 2010.  It's going to get ugly below....feelings will be hurt and egos will be crushed.  To be fair I have researched the popularity of the weeks through Google Analytics.  The below top five was voted by you the readers without even knowing you were voting.

Top 5 Guest Bloggers of 2010

5.  Miguel

4.  The Cerveza Chica

3. *tie*  Dos & The Crazy Cat Lady *tie*

2.  Evil Twin

1.   El Guapo

Wow, I didn't guess or see that ranking coming.  What I do know is that all the bloggers that were guests on the blog this year were a blast to drink and review with.  Several of them enjoyed their time here so much they broke off and started their own personal blogs.

While the tie for 3rd place was shockingly close, I have a feeling the reason was due to the video blogs with both of those guests.

Click the names above to brush up with some of the previous guest blogger's reviews.

Top 5 Beer-prises of 2010

Here I go again making up my own words, and grammatical rules (you all thought that I just had spelling errors all year....wrong, I make up my own material!).  What is a Beer-prise?  Well that would be a Beer Surprise.

Top 5 Beer-prises of 2010

5.  Brewmasters

4. City of Tampa vs Cigar City

3.  The Wild World of Wild Ales

2.  Dos leaves Dos Beerigos

1.  Stouts

Not a huge surprise but Brewmasters, the Discovery TV Show covering the crew at Dogfish Head Brewery, is a hit!  The network has changed the airing time several times, and every time it is to a better time slot.  Hell there is even a drinking game for the show.

Why would the city of Tampa want to close one of the best up and coming breweries in the state of Florida?  Well I still don't really understand it, but for the time being it doesn't appear we have to worry about the Cigar City tasting room closing their doors.  This was a crazy story from the first post. The amazing thing about this story was how the beer community reacted in such large numbers.

Lets drink an infected beer, one with lots of bacteria, and that is super sour.  Sounds crazy and a year ago I would laugh at you and call you crazy.  Now, well, I would love to share that bottle with you.  Sour Beer and Wild Ales have been a beer style that in the past year I have grown to appreciate and love.

This probably should be number one on this list.  Dos, a dear friend and co-creator of this blog ended up taking a job promotion across the state of Florida.  The blog came close to ending before it ever got off the ground.  While Dos is now in Tampa we still get together as much as possible and work on the blog.

Stouts....YUCK! Yep that's right I said it, and believed it back in the beginning of this blog.  I despised this style of beer with everything in me.  One year later, I am shocked those thoughts ever came out of my mouth.  This is proof that things we like change over time.  While I am still a huge Hop-Head, there is nothing I rather have then a nice Imperial Stout to close the day out.  When was the turning point I am not 100% sure but I am glad that I continued to try a style of beer that I really disliked for a long time.

Top 5 Beer Events of 2010

OK, so yesterday I did not clarify, I am going to attempt to make several top 5 lists of things that I either attended/covered/or both within 2010.  This will keep things relative with the blog.

Top 5 Beer Events of 2010

5.  Jupiter Craft Beer Festival

4.  Meetings of the Minds #1 (South Florida Social Media Beer Meetup)

3.  The Funky Buddha Brewery Grand Opening

2.  (tie) Dark Lord Day 2010 / Hunahpu Release

1.  Great American Beer Festival

This past year was filled with all kinds of amazing events in the beer community.  Above are just my top 5, ok 6, of the year.

I began the list with one of the first and last events that Dos and I covered in 2010.  Jupiter Craft Beer Festival is one event that I look froward to every year.  This is without a doubt the best beer festival in the state of Florida.

The "Meeting of the Minds" was something that I honestly didn't know how I, a new beer blogger, got invited to.  Ed Roberts has a knack for talent I guess.  This meeting was the first time that I brushed shoulders with a number of people that I built some amazing friendships with over the past year.  We spoke about the local beer community, and really was one of the places that the idea of something like #FlaBrew was thought up.

The most exciting local event of the year for me was the Grand Opening of The Funky Buddha Brewery.  Why? Well the fact that I can drive a very short distance to a damn good brewery makes me happy.  The fact that this small brewery in Boca Raton is getting some national hype makes me even more happy.

While I was unable to travel to Dark Lord Day, I did some extensive covering this year, and even leaked some information about the event.  The Hunahpu release was one of my favorite events of the year, it was really one of my first events as an active blogger.  I met some great people from all over the country, and had some amazing beer!

What could beat Great American Beer Festival?  Seriously?  This was the Grand-Daddy of beer festivals.  I had the opportunity to try some amazing beer, meet some amazing people in and out of the industry, and travel all over Colorado with great friends.  This is a trip that everyone that loves beer should do at least one time!

5 - Top 5 of 2010

Alright readers, I have been a bit under the weather lately and the taste buds just aren't holding up the same way.  I have attempted to do several reviews but it seems my taste buds are shot.

So this week to close out 2010, I will review 5 different Top 5's of the year in the beer community.  I will make sure to cover stuff outside of the blog to keep things fresh.

Cheers! and Enjoy the week!

~Ferm

Merry Christmas Beer Style

Well, I know it has been quite some time since I last spoke with everyone.  The holidays are and have been quite crazy!

I wanted to take this time to wish all my readers from all over the globe a Very Merry Christmas!

I hope that all of you are enjoying this day regardless if you celebrate it or not.  I hope everyone is blessed with Good Friends, Family, and Great Beer!

Merry Christmas!

The BrewMasters Drinking Game

Don't act so surprised....you had to know it was coming!

Well lets dig into the rules, enjoy this one tomorrow night at 8pm on the Discovery Channel.

You Drink When:
Sam Drinks
You Hear "Off Centered"
Sam Gives Someone a High-Five
The show refers to "Wort, or Young Beer"

Everyone Drinks (Social):
When you see the Red Truck

-The first person to see and point out the bottling line first can appoint someone to drink
-The first person to see the Ralph Waldo Emerson quote on the wall and read it aloud can appoint someone to drink

As always please enjoy the game, but also be responsible while playing it!

Enjoy!

Year In Review

What were you doing a year ago to this date?

Well myself and a close friend of mine decided we wanted to being logging our thoughts on beers and the adventure we were taking to find the best beer ever!

That is right December 15th 2009, DosBeerigos.com was started.

Our first post was a new drinking game, and I plan on releasing a new drinking game today. Keep your eyes peeled to Twitter, Facebook, and here of course for the next installment of DosBeerigos Drinking Games!

Thank you to everyone that has visited the site in the past year. I have made some great friends within the past year. I have met a good number of readers locally and throughout my beer travels. It means a lot to me that people enjoy this blog that was simply created to have fun with beer!

CHEERS!

Left Hand Fade To Black Volume #2

Fade To Black Volume 2 - Smoked Baltic Porter
Left Hand Brewing Company
Longmont, Colorado
ABV 7.80
Style: Smoked Baltic Porter

C: Appears clear on the edge of the glass
H: Dark Brown
N: Smoked Grain/Meat/Wood, Salt, and Charcoal

The Ferm: Well just like "The Unforgiven 2" or hell the entire ReLoad album from Metallica this beer just falls flat on it's face. I know that Volume 1 was a different beer....I reviewed it here ---> Volume 1

I am finding out that I am not a huge fan of Porters especially the smoke-y ones. There seems to be a place for this beer, and that would be at a BBQ, or maybe a marinade.

The beer has a strong roasted malt forward flavor and lingers with a salty bitterness. This almost tastes like a dry oyster stout.

Well I think I will just leave this one on the shelf as I am not a fan.

Score: 2.89

Brewing with the Buddha; Sex Panther Black IPA

'Tis the season of giving, right?

Well Saturday I felt in the giving mood so I decided to lend my gifted brewing skills and help out my buddies over at The Funky Buddha. Let me tell you how happy they were to see me!

I showed up and they were standing in front of their 40 gallon fermenters with their shirts over their heads and singing some crazy song. Apparently, they pray to the brewing Gods before every batch?!? As soon as they saw me, The Ferm, they began rejoicing and showering me in gifts! I was a gift from the brewing Gods!

Well then I woke up.....it was a nice dream though.

In all seriousness I went over to the Buddha Saturday and helped brew (or clean the brewing equipment) for a new beer that will be released quite shortly. SEX PANTHER will be a Black IPA that is both hop forward and roast-y.

I won't bore you with all the boring things that went on during the brew session, but I will tell you that these guys have their brew days down to a science! There was no time for standing around!

As Ryan, one of the owners of the Buddha stated, "We don't just make beer, We Discover It".

5 hours later there was 40 lbs of Sex Panther caged in the fermenter, a good amount of cleaned kegs, 3 gourmet burgers devoured, and some good beers sampled.

Keep your eyes open for SEX PANTHER coming soon to The Funky Buddha, after all this is beer your mother would be proud of you drinking!

Three Floyds Dark Lord Vertical Notes 2005 -2010

Well I promised you "THE LOYAL READERS" a review of the EPIC tasting that went on last Friday night and then close the week out with my thoughts regarding vertical beer tastings.

Without any further waiting let's dig into some small thoughts about BIG BEERS!

2010 Dark Lord - Green Wax - Well.....if you did not read the review from Sunday.....well READ IT!

2009 Dark Lord - White Wax - This was the let down of the night and it was the second beer of the tasting! IT WAS ALMOST ALL SLUDGE...Yep it looked like a Yeast Cake on the bottom of my Carboy. I have had this beer before and the only thing I remembered from it was the extreme amount of Soy Sauce I got off the flavor of the beer.

2008 Dark Lord - Black Wax - Well thank goodness this bottle was not all sludge like the '09. This actually seems to be a beer at prime. There are still some subtle sweet notes of dark fruit, a hint of coffee, and a twist of soy sauce. Overall pretty good.

2007 Dark Lord - Silver Wax - Out of all the bottles I collected I expected this to be oxidized, just from the look of the cap. Luckily I was wrong. This beer again tasted similar to the '08 but had a hint more soy sauce in the taste. The body held up well and there was still a good amount of carbonation. Almost no sludge on the bottom of this bottle!

2006 Dark Lord - Gold Wax - Honestly my highlight of the night for a single year. The flavors REALLY blended well here. While it was hard to pick out individual flavors on this one, you could see them all working in harmony together. Nothing stood out big, but just a tasty beer.

2005 Dark Lord - Orange Wax - Over the Hill? Nope Not Yet! Getting there though. Unlike the '06, '05 had more soy sauce notes which stuck out a bit. Although all in all it was a very good beer. Highlight of this beer was that there was almost not fruity qualities just a very dry dark stout.

BLEND THEM ALL?!?

SURE! Why Not!

Well the original idea was to blend them all in two cups. Drink one and then make beer ice-cream with the other. Well thanks to 2009 the 2nd cup was sludge and someone dumped it....LAME!
I was able to salvage one wine glass of every year tried. Equal pours too! This was the true highlight of the evening. These beers were made for this. Each one balances out the others flaws. THIS WAS HEAVENLY DARK LORD!!!

Is this worth it?!

Yes, but only if you can come across the bottles easily.  DO NOT BUY THE BEERS FROM EBAY!  It is not worth $1,000 in my opinion.  That said, I was once told from a very close beer friend that when a brewer rleases a bottle of beer it is "ready to drink".  I agree, and say enjoy the beer you have.  If you can afford to put a bottle away and save it for a year or two then do it.  But enjoy some good fresh beers!

Where is the Ferm?

Yeah I know....I promise this amazing week of reviews of Dark Lord from 05-10 and then poof! No Post for 2 days......WTF?!?

No I am not playing "Black Ops", I don't even know what that is....it is a beer the last time I checked.

No I am not stuck to my computer playing the expansion pack for World of Warcraft.....once again I don't know the difference between an Ogre and and a Troll.

But I have been addicted to a new website and mobile application that is pretty much amazing!

Pintly.com

WHAT?!?

Yep Pintly.com, it is like Pandora for Beer Dorks.....tell it what you like and it begins to learn what you like and what you don't like. Then suggests beers for you based on things the program thinks you will like. AMAZING?!? YESSS!

Also if you are like me, and not a fan of doing a BJCP tasting review of every beer you have tried then Pintly is amazing.....well don't take my word for it, check it out for yourself!

Cheers!
~the Ferm

ps Dark Lord reviews are coming!

Vertical Tastings: Worth the Effort?

Well assuming you listen to United We Drink, follow anyone using #FlaBrew on twitter, or simply keep tabs on the DosBeerigos Facebook Page; you are well aware that a vertical of Dark Lord took place the other night at my birthday gathering.

Yep 2005 - 2010 of this rare beer was sampled amongst some of my closest friends and family members.

This leads me to the week long question.....are vertical tastings worth it?

Assuming you collected all the bottles yourself, a 6 year vertical would take, well 6 years. That's a long time to wait to drink some beer, wine, hell anything. If you did not collect the bottles yourself then you would have to try to piece the vertical together (this was how I obtained my bottles).

Trading for the bottles can lead to almost a wild card of how the beers were aged for such a long time. Were the conditions ideal for cellaring (a dark cool place)?

This week we will take the adventure of the vertical one day at a time. I may have some fellow tasters chime in on their experience tasting the beers.

Let us start with 2010........well honestly my opinion on this one hasn't changed in the few months

Today is the Day: Cigar City vs City of Tampa

Well that's right today is the day that Joey and his crew go in front of the city for approval to keep the doors of the tasting room open.

The hearing is open to the public so head down if you can.

Date: Thursday December 2nd
Time: 10:30 AM
Location: 315 East Kennedy Boulevard (Downtown)
City Hall, 3rd Floor
Tampa, FL 33602

If you can't then you can always watch it online by clicking here: Watch CCB vs Tampa

I am staying optimistic about this all considering the voice that has been made in Tampa by all of the beer lovers around the United States! Thanks for your support in the matter!

Well with fingers crossed and a bottle of Jai Alai in my back pocket I will wait and listen for the final result.

GOOD LUCK CCB!