Solid Beer Weekend 11.13.09 through 11.15.09

I went to BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse for a couple beers on Friday night. I had the BJ'S P.M. PORTER (American Porter, 5.7% ABV) first. It was yummy yummy. For some reason I felt like it'd be lame of me to take a picture of it at the time :[ Anyway it was black and had a creamy head that lasted a good bit of a while, with good lacing. The chocolate, malty, and molasses flavors were distinct and delicious. It was thick too and had nice creamy mouthfeel. I'd say it's time for me to start a rating system. I'll give this one an A-. I'm surprised to learn it was only 5.7% ABV 'cause a pint of it really got me as far as I needed to go.

After a couple drinks with some girlfriends, I had another beer. It was a Liberty Ale from Anchor Brewing Co. (American Pale Ale, 6.0%). I really liked it! I knew it was going to be distinctly hoppy, and it was nice to be able to isolate that I found the hops refreshing! I give it an A!

It was nice and foggy and had the normal banana, clove, spice flavors, not bitter, medium thickness. It was easy to drink for sure, but not particularly memorable.

Oh the glass on the right was my porter glass, so you can still see a bit of the lacing. I sneaked my camera out while the other two people I was with were away for a minute. I just didn't want to get into an explanation to the middle aged man we were with that I blog about the beers I drink.

Anyway, as always the service at BJ's was ridiculously slow, but at least they didn't mess anything up. Also, the man we were with picked up the bill, so yay!

Saturday night Cami, Yasmin, and a newly(ish) married Mormon couple Jack and Michelle, and I went to our Mellow Mushroom for yummy food and beer. It was dollar off drafts, so we forewent the samplers in favor the special. Cami got the tasty Sleepy Hollow again, and I got the Cigar City Cuban Espresso Beer (American Brown Ale, 5.5% ABV). This may be the Maduro Oatmeal Brown Ale-Espresso Aged because the descriptions sound like the beer I had. It was black and had a small creamy head that dissipated quickly. The espresso aroma was distinct, delightful and lasted all the way through. Unlike most coffee beers, the coffee/espresso taste just kept coming. At the very end it had that coffee astringency thing going on, but by that time I was pigging out on a mushroom laden hoagie and cared little. Oh, I almost forgot, the Espresso beer gets an A!

I may have a beer tonight, hard to say, I now have 4 beers in the cupboard. Mmm, :]