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    Petrus Aged Pale

    September 15, 2011
    / Beer Review /
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    Name – Petrus Aged Pale
    Country – Belgium
    Type – Flanders Oud Bruin

    Happy days, happy days.  My Phillies have become the first team this year to clinch a playoff berth with yesterday’s win over the Astros.  It is the earliest they have ever done this.  And now their magic number for their 5th straight NL east title is at 4.  Good job guys, I knew you could do it.  So to celebrate I wanted to have a special beer and luckily enough I found one just the other day.

    I’ve had Petrus Aged Pale before but it was up north in the state and I could never find it down here despite the brewer making Wittekerke, which is quite easy to find down here.  Well low and behold I finally found it in my local store the other day and just had to pick it up.  It’s classified as a Flanders Oud Bruin and said to be a slightly paler version of the standard Petrus Oud Bruin.

    I popped the cap and poured it into my Cigar City snifter and it arrives a very clear orange color.  It has a thin bubbly white head on top but that quickly dissipates into the liquid.

    The nose hits you with apple cider vinegar right up front.  There are hints of oak in there as well.

    The taste has a nice ACV bite up front that then goes tart.  Sour apples and maybe even a little lemon in there.  It finishes dry and crisp.

    Personally I think this is a great sour beer.  The first time I had it I took a bottle over to a friend’s house to share and they seemed like it wasn’t all that great.  Ah what do they know!  This should be a favorite of every sourhead.  But then again I absolutely didn’t like Duchesse and that is a seemingly perfect beer to many sour fans.  Oh well.

    So in short if you are a fan of traditional Belgian sours and you can get this, do it.  I can almost guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

    Grade – A-

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    Oktoberfish

    September 14, 2011
    / Beer Review /
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    Name – Oktoberfish
    Country – United States
    Type – Marzen

    For most fall is in full swing.  Us here in South Florida are still dealing with days hitting the 90s.  But at least the fall beers are coming out to which I can pretend that we have any sort of normal autumn right?

    In the past I’ve made no secret of my love for Marzens.  These slightly sweet sessionable beers just seem to fit the season.  And I’m kicking off my fall with a new Marzen to our area and that is Oktoberfish from Flying Fish.  I really like the blue and white diamond patterns makes it look almost truly authentic on the bottle’s label.  But does it taste authentic?

    I pour it into a nonic pint glass and it arrives a clear copper color with a nice sized off white head.

    The nose is typical for the style.  There is a definitely presence of caramel and toasted malts.  Nice bready nose to it.

    The taste is really a lot of the same.  You know I hate saying that but will if I absolutely have to.  Body is on the lighter side and real easy to drink.

    Overall I enjoyed it.  I drank two rather easily while I was visiting my parents last night.  And I’m not going to drink two of anything I don’t like, especially all that quickly.

    When it comes to Marzens I would say Oktoberfish is a little above middle of the road.  It’s not as robust as I feel most of the German ones are but definitely in the upper tier of the American breweries that I have had doing this style.  If you like most of the American offerings of Marzens then I would say go out and try this if you can.

    Grade – B

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    The Porch

    September 13, 2011
    / Bar Review /
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    The Porch was the first place all my friends told me I needed to check out when going to Key West.  And who am I to not take their advice?  Oh yeah, MikeLovesBeer!  That’s right!  So after a busy late morning into early afternoon Melinda and I headed over to the corner of Duval and Caroline and see the big plantation style house sitting on the corner.  It’s quite an awesome looking building if I do say so myself.  Walk up the path to the steps leading to the porch (the literal one on the front of the building) and through the front door.  In the hallway just turn to your left and go through door #2 and you have arrived.

    We sat at the bar and took a look at their chalkboard lists.  About 12 beers on tap and a helluva lot of bottles.  Some cool things graced the taps including Cigar City Marshal Zhukov, Tequesta Oaked Wee Heavy and Dogfish Head Chateau Jiahu.  I went for the Oaked Wee Heavy while Melinda had the Chateau Jiahu.

    We enjoyed sitting at the bar with a few locals and another couple that was visiting.  A lot of cool artwork on the walls including many Star Wars centric pieces (big plus in my book).  Then we spotted something on the chalkboard called an Angry Munchkin.  We inquired with the bartender as to what it was and she informed us it is a shot of sake dropped into Magic Hat #9.  Melinda being slightly more daring than I decided to try it.  In her words it was “interesting.”

    We had a couple more before heading out to get some food.  They don’t server food but allow you to bring in your own food or order delivery from any local establishments.  We saw someone eating a massive burrito and asked where it was from.  So we went to Amigos to enjoy a burrito.

    Their pricing was on point for the most part.  A couple things were more expensive than normal but they did put some beers in pint glasses that normally aren’t in them.  So you got more of it.  So in that case I can understand the tad extra.

    We enjoyed it enough to go back the following afternoon as well and enjoy a few more.  I would have to say it was my favorite beer spot of the vacation.  Great setting, laid back atmosphere and good beers on tap.  A must see in Key West.

    The Porch
    429 Caroline Street
    Key West, FL 33040
    http://www.theporchkw.com/

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