Beers of Thailand & Philippines

I went on a recent adventure with my family recently to Thailand and Philippines that was an absolute blast! Besides all of the fun filled family gatherings, delicious foods and new cultural experiences, there was the B-E-E-R. Of course, I always pay attention to the beer. I am not trying to be a snob about craft beer, but I just share this chemical romance with it, preferably the obese hoppy ones.

The beer was not up to American craft beer standards in my opinion, but I was just glad it was readily available. Water is not safe to drink, most mixed drinks have ice in them, so that leaves you with beer, wine or liquor straight up. Thai/Philip beer was comparable to the macro types here in the states such as Coors Light, Heineken & PBR. Even the price was comparable, which I thought would be lower in Asia given the lower cost of living. The only difference in price was the currency: bahts in Thailand and pesos in Philippines.

My favorite beer during my vacation was the San Miguel Cerveza Negra from the Philippines. It is classifed as a Dark Lager on the label but I beg to differ. The roasted dark and nutty malts reminded me of a deep luscious porter with lots of body that had the drinkability of a light beer. I was drinking it straight out of the bottle, so my rating may be slightly even higher than a 8/10. My opinion may be slightly biased since this was the only non light beer I had during my trip, but I say that my review is not skewed at all.

This is a quite a random review, but I just felt like writing it and posting some pictures. Bottom line: give all ales and lagers a try, no matter where you are in the world or if you soley just drink one style. You'll be enlightened at what your sensory taste buds say.

Obama drinks Bud Light!

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124891169018991961.html

As a conservative, I will digress from the political comments. But I just wanted you to imagine how sweet it would be if our president was into micro brews! Example news headline: "Barry Obama looking like he was slapped in the face with a sack of hops after drinking a Dreadnaught IPA." Anyways, cheers fellow craft beer followers and have a handy dandy summer weekend.

I Swore I Would Never Do This, But...

I tweeted. I'm not one for getting sucked into stupid internet fad crap, but since everyone and their mother is on this Twitter thingie, we figured we might as well set one up for the blog. On the bright side, this could come in handy during beer fests and drunken excursions so you, the readers can get our up to the second thoughts on the glorious beer we are drinking. Also, it will help us remember shit, because we are pretty bad at that stuff. Tomorrow, Jimmy, Alex, and myself will be perusing through NYC's craft beer bars pretty much all day, so if you want updates on our thoughts or want to give us suggestions, head on over to our Twitter page. If you want to rebel against society you commie-pinko-nazi-fascist-baby killing bastard, you could always leave a comment here.

Kidding, you aren't a commie-pinko, nazi, or fascist.

Oh yea, I'll do a write up Sunday about the batch Jimmy and I made, I'm too tired to do it all tonight.

*Update* We added a gadget to the right that streams our Twitter page right onto the blog.

Man, We Are Getting Lazy

I know, we've been kind of slacking recently. We have some good stuff to write about, but we just haven't gotten to it. Coming up this week, Jimmy and I will tell you about bottling the first batch of beer I brewed a couple weeks ago, as well as the new batch we made last night, which we think has some promise. Also, I have a couple reviews waiting, Founders Cerise, an interesting cherry beer, and Brooklyn Local 2, a brew I've been waiting to try since I had visited the brewery this past winter. So thanks for the patience as we will hopefully return to more regular postings.

Lagunitas Hop Stoopid

I picked up a bomber of this at Ramsey Liquors in NJ. So did my brother, hence the two bottles below to celebrate Easter Sunday. Intense piney hops that make you smile like there is no tomorrow. No review yet, but a definite pick up if you like IPA/Imperial IPAs. Solid price at $4.69 too.

News & Notes

Sorry, no beer review tonight since I'm packing in preparation for House Party, although I am drinking a Green Flash Hop Head Red Ale. I will end up reviewing this next week because damn is it good! Some news and notes about the blog, the bloggers, and whatever I feel like rambling about.

• We are joining the 20th century by finally adding a contact email at the bottom of the page, so feel free to drop us a line with any comments/suggestions/death threats. Also, we are jumping into the 21st century by setting up some Twitter thing so you can see our tweets (twits? twats?) while we are at a beer fest or something. We'll add that link once my laziness goes away.

• You won't be hearing much from Hophead Alex for a while as his job has shipped him off to Guam this morning, unless he happens to review some filtered donkey piss he drank off of some dead hooker (kidding, sorta). We wish him well and hope he returns in one piece and STD free.
  

• Based on some inspirational comments from a friend, I might be doing a special review either Sunday night or sometime early next week. When you see it, you'll know why its special.

• Hophead Ryan was able to make it to one of the bars in Philly tonight for Dogfish Head 75 Minute IPA Simul-Cask. Initial reaction: "Dude, 75 minute is so fresh, its amazing!" Maybe he will write more about his experience later.

• American Craft Beer Festival is coming relatively soon (June 19-20) and we are getting plans together for another adventure to Boston. Let us know if you'll be in the area or attending.

• Lastly, we are starting to get everything ready for our homebrewing experience. We will probably do a little less beer reviewing then, but we will keep it updated with our brewing exploits. It should be a hoot.

Alright, that's enough for now, I'm getting tired and I still need to get my packing done. Have a good weekend.