Saturday Brew Review: Thirteenth Hour

April 1st, 2012 by Rendar Frankenstein

When traveling through the galaxy, it’s of supreme importance to be on the lookout for liminal spaces. If you’re not paying attention while cruisin’ through hyperspace — maybe you’re rockin’ too hard to some Load-era Metallica or you’re caught up in a high-stakes game of Sabacc or perhaps you’ve fallen asleep at the wheel — you may very well hit a pocket of liminality. If this happens, chances’re that you’re going to be lost for awhile.

More innocuous than thinnies but less defined than wormholes, these cloudbursts of purple dark matter will warp the perceptions of everyone in your starcruiser. Sophomore slumps will sound like masterpieces. Cash-grabs will look like art. Dog food will taste like delectable cuisine. Hell, I’ve even heard tales of reckless space-pirates tongue-kissin’ their dogs and grabbin’ fat fistfuls of their sisters’ doughy fannies.

It ain’t pretty.

However, every now and then an individual that coasts through a violet gamma-shadow will be better for it. In these rare instances, the pilgrim does not incur the Wrath of In-Between, but is actually fortunate enough to go beyond the beyond. In this transcendent moment, possibilities are not only more apparent, but well within reach. Despite being in a tiny little vessel, hermetically sealed and layered beyond reason so as to ward off solar radiation, the exo-planetary commuter is capable of turning off mental inhibitors so as to live beyond life.

Tonight, my vessel has skidded right through an extradimensional fold. And I’m not mad or concerned. `Cause the fact of the matter is that I’m rockin’ in the Thirteenth Hour.

Read the rest of this entry »

Friday Brew Review – Harvest Pumpkin Ale

September 16th, 2011 by Rendar Frankenstein

[cue the music]

There’re moments   in life in which appreciation simply cannot be thwarted, try as Life might.

Today has been the Greater Boston area’s first real taste of fall, a forty-degree recess that seems to cool not just the sweltering landscape, but burning souls as well. That stack of work piling ever higher? Crack open the office window and laugh as the breeze pushes papers across your desk. Stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic, a nameless worker-bee in the mass exodus from the hive? Take a look beyond the overpass at the trees, all showing off their summer’s-end sunburns of red and yellow and orange. Finally home and having trouble sloughing off the day’s worth of stress?

Just crack open a Harvest Pumpkin Ale.

Autumnal awesomeness will follow.

Read the rest of this entry »

Wednesday Brew Review – Black Lager

February 10th, 2010 by Rendar Frankenstein

Black Lager

Welcome to a special mid-week edition of the Friday Brew Review! As a high school teacher, my life seems to include a number of regularly-scheduled compromises — meager wages, hours spent on projects for students who couldn’t care less, the frustration of not being allowed to swear for eight hours a day, etc. But every now and then, an occupational perk seems to hop out of the shadows and give me a hug.

Today’s embrace comes in the form of a snow day.

Which is actually quite amusing,  as it only started snowing an hour ago; about forty minutes after school would’ve ended. But hey, don’t think I’m complaining! With free time on my hands, I got to do stuff that I actually think is important, like reading some Palahniuk, writing a bit, planning a drum lesson, watching a DVD…

And of course, sippin’ on some beers.

The beverage of the day is Black Lager, as produced by Samuel Adams. I originally picked up a six pack of these Bad Larrys last weekend, never imagining that I’d review them. But with some spare time, I busted out a couple today and decided to go for it.

Black Lager is no misnomer. Pouring the beverage into my glass, I took note of its color — a black which instantly evokes thoughts of stouts. To be fair, it is not the absolute absence of color, as holding the glass to the light revealed more of a brown hue. Visually, this beer gave the impression that it would be syrupy in texture, perhaps flavorful but not especially suited rapid consumption.

I was wrong.

Ok, strike that last comment. To say I was wrong might suggest that Black Lager is an appropriate beer for funneling or pounding. While I think it can be done, it’s just  too delicious for that shit. This Samuel Adams product has a bit of a kick, with  a roasted taste and bitter notes  that are incredibly smooth. The back of my tongue and even the roof of my mouth soaked up the liquid, helping me remember it long after swallowing. So while this is undoubtedly a dark lager, with a   taste and aroma that linger, it is also markedly crisp.

Curious, I wanted to know what Sam Adams had to say about the brew. According to the brewery, Black Lager (which is part of their elite Brew Master’s Collection) is stylized after a traditional German Schwarzbier. In their words,

When one sees a beer with a darker complexion these days, more often than not it’s a Porter or Stout. However looks can be deceiving. There exists a style older than both and generally less well known; the Schwarzbier, which literally translated is “Black Beer.” Unlike its dark cousins which both hail from Britain and are highly hopped ales, Schwarzbier comes from Germany, is lightly hopped and is fermented using a bottom fermenting lager yeast.   Samuel Adams ® Black Lager is brewed in the tradition of the latter. A medium bodied beer brewed using several different roasts of malt to give the end product a smooth body and a depth of malt character that has to be tasted to be believed.

Yes, I’m a Samuel Adams fanboy and it’s been documented many times. So perhaps you should take this review of a grain of salt. Actually, you definitely should — any beer that I drink on a free day off from work is subject to scrutiny.

Black Lager: B+/A-