Wassailing with "Imperial Russian Stout"

Rasputin was a bad ass dude...

From a Russian website dedicated to the man we learn: Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin was born a peasant in the small village of Pokrovskoye, in Siberia. The myths surrounding Rasputin portray him as having supernatural powers throughout his childhood. Rasputin held considerable personal and political influence over the Russian Royal Family up to 1917 when Russia fell to the hands of the Communists who then ruled Russia for more than 70 years as the Soviet Union. Rasputin's influence over the royal family during the First World War eventually was used against him as in the end he was poisoned, shot four times, badly beaten and thrown into a river where he finally died of hypothermia.  There are many stories and myths about Rasputin.  On the other hand there are no myths about the "Imperial" type stout made at Fort Bragg, California in his name.

Old Rasputin Russian Imperial is a bad ass Stout

From Wikipedia (which knows everything) Imperial stout, also known as "Russian imperial stout" or
"Imperial Russian stout," is a strong dark beer or stout in the style that was brewed in the 18th
century by Thrale's brewery in London, England for export to the court of Catherine II of Russia.
In 1781 the brewery changed hands and the beer became known as Barclay Perkins Imperial Brown Stout. When the brewery was taken over by Courage the beer was renamed Courage Imperial Russian Stout. It has a high alcohol content, usually over 9% abv.  I have yet to visit to Ireland never mind Dublin but you can bet I have a date with the Guinness brewery, yes I do.  My good friend Ron of many years has lived on the Emerald Isle.... and he's a fan of the Stout... and beer... and ale... and Pubs... and one would expect from a Yankee who retired to Ireland.  I cannot in all honestly say the road the taste of Guinness (the king of stouts) goes down is one I would have followed.  Yes, there are many who swear by Guinness as much as there are many who swear after hours.

I am fairly certain Rasputin never Wassailed

Unbeknownst to American's... in general... this is the time of year in the UK where folks are out
Wassailing... in various degrees for some take the ceremony seriously whilst others use it as an
excuse to go Pubbing... For many years I thought the art of the Wassail was that of singing and
drinking, as an excuse you see, to celebrate ancient traditions... to include drinking ancient
Traditional Cask Aged Ales in the pub where we find them on offer...and it is... so is a Wassail a
tradition to Hustle a drink?  We all know in a pub once past 22:00 hrs everyone starts looking
pleasing (the opposite sex) to the eye, the men the women and the Landlord Lord forbid!  And we
know why... the Ale, the beer, the bitters, the stout... so although I am a stranger to Stout and for
no reason other than no one bothered to get me into the groove drinking the stuff, I thought as I
eyed the packaging... "Is it time?"  By the way, Wassailing means "to wish health to" one's apple
trees, in the hope that they will bear well. 

But this is a perfect brew to Wassail...

Today, at our local Supermarket just down the street lucky me... while the weather outside is
getting snowy in these parts, wouldn't this would be a great time to throw down $10 bucks and get
a four pack of "Old Rasputin."  A four pack, not a six pack as a six pack might be a bit spendy, so
Old Rasputin is packaged for the holidays "Trendy" style a cute little 4 pack.  Also it might just
be the stuff is so walloping strong that it is sold in a four pack because it's nearly 10%
alcohol and 6 bottles at 10 % would knock the average 3.2% American beer drinker between the
eyes... one might succumb to an alcoholic coma, which would be an example of undesirable behavior
during the Holidays?

Keep the faith baby... Wassail !

I believe the ancient tradition of Wassailing on the other hand is sacred to the Druid crowd and New Ager's... and who am I to argue with that, Hell I'm an American, you can trust me... OK, you Wassail all you want for it's out of my lane and with that said, this Rasputin Stout, whew, hold on to your bar stool!   One thing that has always been a concern of mine in recent years was if I was getting enough flavonoids. This all started in Hungary back in 1998 when my friends Gary and Carl and I would get together after a long day at the job, and down some Leffee Brune.. which is a Trappist style beer and very much in the taste category of this Rasputin stuff.  Carl being the wiser of we three would praise the consumption f the art of the flavanoid and was at the time quite concerned we were not getting enough.  I can assure you, the flavonoids are with the Old Rasputin. So let me wrap this posting up, there are no words that can describe taste for me other than good or bad, this beers good.  It is a strong flavoured beer, not at all disagreeable to my pallet, it is smokey... and it is expensive.  I recall some beer reviewer trying to explain hue and "notes."  I parted with a $10 note for four of these babies...tasty and pricey.

Happy Wassailing for now.

Old Rasputin: Click Here

Quaffability Brown... a home brewing Ale Tale... from "Christopher of the Forest of Arden"

This Guest Posting comes to us from the UK,  just a few miles from the Forest of Arden, home to my good friend Christopher who is a master home brewer.  We have been good friends more than 29 years... occasionally we get to see each other in person and in doing so we have for many years attempted to out do the other guy, that is to say who will get the other man tight first!  It's a childish prank sort of thing that really annoys the wives, of which I am proud...  I am certain you the reader would have no knowledge of doing such now would you?

Is that a pub I see?

Christopher, once he mastered the craft, would mix ingredients from basic, or as we Americans would say from, "Raw." He's a curious sort and after a few years sought out older recipes, hundreds of years old. Recipes that have survived the ages that did so because they tasted good.  This sort of Home Brewing is an iffy process and yet today in the Pacific Northwest... it's happening here as well.  For the last 20 years craft beer drinkers have engaged in the art of Home Brewing, and it is and art.  It's also a war against shitty tasting beer.   Save for Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, which to me is of the highest regular guy culture beer on offer at the supermarket there is not much else on offer worth paying for a 6 pack and by the way this is all my opinion. Yes,we find the product line from the Full Sail Brewing company out of Hood River Oregon offering promise as we do the beers and ales of New Belgium from Colorado.

She would have made a fine Alewife

If you are one who has a taste for the Malt, and not "Malt Liquor," which is neither real malt nor a liquor, then like me you seek out the less "Hoppy" flavoured beers and ales...  it is policy... avoid the "Over Hoppy" tasting brews!  Since the Pacific North West is home to one of the largest "Hops" producing regions in the world... here we find mostly "Hoppy" beers and ales on sale...

We find no answers at the bottom of a glass... we raise many questions...

For the malt man, the" Malter..." the guy like myself seeking that malty taste, there is nothing on this good Earth to me better tasting than a pint of Traditional Cask Aged "English" Ale.  You find these ales only in certain pubs (Public House) in the UK.  These days massive corporate buy-outs are "Shutting Down" these great hoses of tradition all over the UK, and this has been going on for more than a decade... brewing companies that have for hundereds of years brewed only small production runs of wonderful tasting beer and ales using a slower more labour intensive method of brewing, that is to say the way they were doing at back in the 1700's... or earlier... for one reason and one reason only... the taste.  

No better place to be on a rainy afternoon

Old recipes of bad tasting Ale simply haven't survived.  These old methods are again used today as hobbyists put in use the time proven techniques that can be incorporated to brew great tasting ales and beers.  

Just ask Nigel when you are not certain what you want next...

To a Coporation CEO busting his balls to make that end of the year bonus, that is to say a "Bottom Line" or Bottom Feeder" kind of big businessman... the taste of his beer or ale in your pint glass is of no concern, for making profit for him is what it is all about.  A formula invented by the "Bottom Liners," of which we know the other word for everyone's bottom do we not?  For these guys the method for making money is to employ a minimum investment that reaps a maximum profit, as if making lots of money was more important that sustaining culture.  So they are the enemy of tradition, tell me I am wrong. We know their intent... massive profit for minimum investment and they ain't these days investing in "Master Malters." 

Locally Brewed and mighty tasty

Those of us who ignore the corporate bullshit... make effort to seek out Real Traditional Cask Aged Ales... It's a quest, a game every time I visit the UK.  I am no stranger to the pub.  I often think, "Let us hope they haven't shut down that favorite pup serving Cask Aged Ales."  It's a sport like Sunday football.  And these pubs on occasion can be found.  I order from the landlord not just a mighty tasty Ale but more so a pint of British history; I am drinking dad's ale, Grandads Ale, Wellingtons Ale! 

I am drinking the Ale my Uncle Ron drank during the war...

It is not unreasonable on a damp wet afternoon in an obscure part of England to find myself sitting in the dark corners of an ancient British pub with my nephew Ryan who drives me about... for me to ponder... "did Henry the Eight quaff this brew?"  What conquering Saxon drank an Ale similar to the ones I love before he and his ilk ruined everything... for it was he, the German... who brought to England his Hops?  

The Fleece, we find no finer pub

It's a damp wet morning here in the American West as winter is approaching I write this.  I received the below contribution to the "Ale Trail" from my good friend Christopher of the Forest of Arden last Spring, written in similar weather, and then as he went to photograph his creation, the sun came out.  Home brewers know, that is to say master home brewers know that if you can't find it, you have to make it, and in the UK they have kits, how civilized and ready made, just add water.... in other words those time proven techniques have been modernized; you now can find them prepackaged as such with "John Thompson's Strong XXX Bitter."

"Christopher of the Forest of Arden" writes:

"The British summer this year has been one of the wettest in memory with downpours a constant threat since April. When the sun does shine what better way to celebrate than with a pint of English ale. The contentment is that much more when you really savour the beer  knowing that you have brewed it yourself.

."John Thompsons Strong XXX Bitter" fermenting

In these recessionary times home brewing has an added attraction when you can make a pint from kits for less than 50p. Even the White House is brewing. It was recently revealed that President Barack Obama enjoys a honey ale where the honey ingredient comes from the First Lady's garden beehive. I've been brewing since the early 70s and as you can imagine tried many home brews. So I hope you believe me when I say that I have recently come across a home brew that is one of the best I've ever tasted . . and that is . . ."John Thompsons Strong XXX Bitter". It's a kit with a difference. It actually makes the beer that is available at the John Thompson Inn, Ingleby, Derbyshire. This public house rests in the timeless solitude of the Derbyshire landscape in the beautiful Trent Valley beside the banks of the river. 

It is time to bring back the taste of Beers and Ales long forgotten

It is one of only 66 pubs throughout the UK to have been listed as a Main Entry in all 25 annual editions of The Good Pub Guide. The beer originates from the longest established micro brewery in England which started in 1977 by brewing a beer to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of HM Queen Elizabeth II. This home brew is very quaffable, around 4.5% strength, copper in colour with a unique rich flavour. It has been readily drunk by friends and received the highest compliment that: "it hasn't got that home brew taste!"


Cheers,   

Christopher of the Forrest of Arden



John Thompsons Home Brewing Kits in the UK:  Click Here

The Good Pub Guide:Click Here

Full Sail Brewing Company out of Hood River Oregon: Click Here

New Belgium Brewing Company: Click Here  

Pabst

Photo by E. Ford, Jetmore, Kansas, "all rights reserved"

American president Dwight D. Eisenhower, on October 17, 1960 said, "the American working man can own his own comfortable home and a car and send his children to well-equipped elementary and high schools and to colleges as well. He is not the downtrodden, impoverished vassal of whom Karl Marx wrote. He is a self-sustaining, thriving individual, living in dignity and in freedom."

The way it once was and we miss it !

Self-discipline, hard work, responsibility, self-restraint, and loyalty are the essence of our character. Baseball or Football is our favorite game.  Ordinary moments and simple pleasures are what make us unique amongst the world’s populations.  The last few years have been hard for the American working man and woman.  Between 2009 and 2010, the US unemployment rate has hovered around 10%.  Through it all there has been Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer, to me Pabst is the epitome of the American working man’s beer, yes there are other lagers, and then there is PBR.

It's how I really feel

I remember during my early beer years... Evangelist Billy Graham inspired Americans to publicly express faith and patriotism and wage battle against "godless communism."  Did those commies too... love lager beer?  I doubted it only to find myself years later during the Cold War, walking the streets of East Berlin with an E6 friend of mine who spoke fluent German... well here we were the two of us sitting down at one of those fake for Westerners Beer Gardens which you know were loaded with hidden microphones and every one of the staff was a graduate of the Hungarian Western languages schools for spies, probably here to practice their English before stepping out of a submarine one moonless night off the shores of the United States to illegally assume residence in a coastal town, take a job us as a house painter or car mechanic and wait for orders certain to come one day from the Kremlin.  Did he drink Pabst Blue Ribbon beer so to fit in with the regular guys at the local tavern or Sportsman's Club? You just can't be certain about these things... anyway back at the Beer garden were sitting near my friend and I... a bunch of East German Army NCO's, E 5's and E 6's... they kept staring at us.  I was thankful for the beer but had tasted better, and the stuff I was drinking wouldn't have held up to the taste of a Pabst... trust me!

Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer is something to sing about

Perhaps like me you lived in one of those nondescript, working-class neighborhoods situated on Poverty Street. Where we suffered in agony pizza parlors, corner gas stations, hair dressing salons and discount liquor stores frequented by those no longer able to resist in an America where Pabst was king.  A world where the minimum wage was $1.25 an hour, a gallon of milk was 95 cents and a first class postage stamp cost 5 cents.  Gas (petrol) was 31 cents a gallon... that's 3 gallons of gas for $1.03... A ticket to a major movie was also a dollar and on special days as low as 25 cents.  I saw the opening of The Beatles "A Hard Day's Night" for 25 cents, popcorn cost the same.  A six pack of Pabst Blue Ribbon then was 95 cents... a little less than an hours wage.

You won't find a more patriotic color scheme... and it won a ribbon once !

I grew into my beer drinking years in a nine-to-five world (hasn’t that all changed?), where men (working a blue-collar job) supported their wives and children at home where jobs usually involved hard physical labor. At the end of the day the traditional male breadwinner had a lager beer. We are better educated than our parents were but they held on traditions we later inherited and are still important to my generation today, lager beer being one of them.  I love traveling the UK from pub to pub in search of and then imbibing Traditionally Aged in Cask... Malt Ales...there is no experience like it anywhere else on Earth  But here back in the states I very much enjoy lighter fare, specifically the non-complexity of a Pabst Blue Ribbon beer.  Yes, I do micro brews; yes I love chewy dark malty Porters and equally as well quaffing down the occasional modern Trappist experiment coming out of Canada.  But at the end of the day, trendy or not... there is much to say about a suburban taste for PBR.  Pabst will run you for a 24 pack about $12.00 at COSTCO.  One bottle of a Trappist clone or for that matter the Belgian King of them all... imported... "CHIMAY" will on average here in the states cost you the same... taking about $12.99 out of your wallet to own one bottle.  Yes I will go out and do $6 pint of Pacific Northwest specialty brews with the best of them, and I am not one to turn down a Sam Adams (except for the Rauschen or Pumpkin flavored), but when it's two for one special time... the first will be a micro and the second will be a Pabst.

Title:  "I have got a crush on you," by Tor Alden

Pabst is experiencing record sales today and has for the past few years as it has been adopted by the "Trendy Types."  Rest assured the foundation of sales is steadfast because of the loyal American working man's taste for a cold beer.  Uncomplicated, familiar to the pallet, a quality beer for the suburbs... that still means Pabst Blue Ribbon served really cold.  There are those who prefer Pabst on tap, others are satisfied with a bottle and for me...gimmie a can as I connot forget humble beginnings. Established in Milwaukee in 1844 Pabst was once one of America's most popular beers right from the start... it has been available in a can since 1935. Today Miller-Coors brews and bottles Pabst Brewing Company brands.

The Pabst Brewing Company actually owns lots of beer brands including Old Milwaukee, Colt 45, Schlitz. Blast, Lone Star, Heileman’s Old Style Traditional Lager, Rainier Beer, National Bohemian, Olympia, “Primo” Hawaii’s original beer, Stroh’s, Stag Beer, Blatz, Pearl, Schmidt’s Premium Beer, Shaffer, McSorley’s Black Lager and Irish pale Ale, Special Export by Heileman, Champale, St. Ides Malt Liquor, Schlitz Malt Liquor, and Ballantine Ale... Pabst Blue Ribbon is the company's flagship brand generating 30% of total sales... Miller - Coor's brews Pabst for us... Miller - Coors... waddayagonnado ?  Look at it this way, in keeping with the Honorable former Speaker of the House, Tip O'Neil who said "all politics is local..."  Pabst is keeping alive all these local brands, imagine a Texan without his Lone Star?

If you don't catch the humor... Google the story...

Billionaire C. Dean Metropoulos purchased the company for about $250 million dollars in 2010, he then moved the Pabst Brewing Company headquarters from a Chicago suburb to Los Angles, supposedly for the convenience of his two sons, Daren and Evan, who live in Los Angles and are attributed to now be running the company... along with their father, who lives back on the East Coast in Greenwich, Conn.  There's all sort's of negative to mildly interesting folk lore about the sons and their life style and what impact they may have on the brand... you can find all you want about that aspect of the story from Google... I find it boring as the whole meaning of this post is to say Pabst was cool before Pabst was cool and I do not care about trends, hipsters, and all that flash in the pan meaninglessness that comes along with popular fads, I don't care if PBR is trendy... I'm not.

Uncomplicated Pleasure...

Yes, I love Pacific Northwest micro-brews.  Yes, I love traditional Cask Aged British Malt Ales.  Yes, I will chew on a cigar with the best of them while sipping another Courvoisier under the stars.  For all this I have not abandoned my taste for a Pabst, nor the myth's associated with the traditions that accompany the lore of Pabst that go back 150 years of American History.  Pabst is like no other American lager with a German history.  It's strictly from working class, it's "regular guy" beer, best on tap but when ya gotta do what cha' gotta do... a can will do.

Sunday 16:04, 26 August 2012

Stockyard Oatmeal Stout...5.00% AVB... $ 6 Bucks a sixpack

Is it just a craft beer at a mass-produced domestic price?

Missouri Mike is a retired broadcast journalist who lives on the Kansas side of the Mississippi river... he graciously submitts this "Guest Blogging".

Here is a shot of one of my favorite brews which I accidentally came across in "Trader Joe's" the last time we were there.  See... over on the MO side because KS, being a staunch right-wing Republican WASP's state... it does not allow alcohol to be sold in grocery stores which is stronger than 3.2% beer.  The State Liquor stores are only allowed to open after 1200 on Sundays... this cramps my beer drinking style!

Now one would NORMALLY ask themselves, what do that lot in San Jose, CA know about brewing......since their favorite beer is probably "Corona," or anything "Lite," (which in MY mind is nothing other than piss-flavored club soda). (1.)  HOWEVER, this little company has come up with a winner.  Slightly sweet, very nutty, and none of the sometimes mouth-puckering bitterness one finds in Guinness (which is my THIRD favorite beer that I can acquire here in the USA... "Boddington's" being the FIRST).

Anyway, if you can find it, give it a try.  Sorry for the poor taste in showing this lovely brew in a "Mojito" glass, but the glass is about a pint and a half size, and my Guinness glass is only a pint... and I prefer to pour it all at once, since I am a lazy-arsed glutton, rather that getting out of my comfortable chair to pour the last quarter of a bottle.

Love to your lovely bride,

Missouri Mike

PS: "Why is the average American beer served cold? "

Answer: "So you can tell it from urine."  David Moulton 

(1.) Editors note:  My Happy Eye has no idea what piss-flavored club soda taste's like and assumes in good faith our Missouri Mike is unfamiliar as well; hopefully the comparison was used as a figure of speech...  that and "Trader Joe's" craft beers and ales are an in house product sold exclusively at "Trader Joe's" stores nationwide.

Boddingtons Click Here 

Vicious Tweets tonight: 3 Barrels Brandy !

Looks just like 3 Barrels to me...

Well of all things wonderful to happen, I found Three Barrels Brandy for sale in the good old USA. No, it's not labeled Three Barrels... it's labeled "Raynal" for some stupid reason, but like you should not judge a book by it's cover, you should not judge "Raynal" by it's stupid name. Pretend it say's "Three Barrels" and we shall all be the better for it. The Three Barrels VSOP ("Very Special Old Pale") brandy recipe is said to stretch back to 1814. They use a base of white grape eau-de-vie from Burgundy, Bordeaux, and Champagne aged in French Oak. The final blend is made from 20 different aged eau-de-vie. They regard it as one of the top-selling brandies in France.

Looks even more like 3 Barrels to me...

How it all started, that is to say me and Three Barrels is that in the UK Brandies and Cognac can be quite spendy. Granted the taxes eventually find themselves in the National Heath system. This stuff, Three Barrels goes from about £ 12 to £ 16 pounds a bottle at Tesco, and well worth it my friend. I have spent many a fine night in the UK knocking back a glass or two with my brother in-laws, although I will state unequivocally, my sister in laws have shared a snifter or two with me as well, as well as my dear mother in law over the years.

From the English Website

Raynal and Cie is the parent company, my question being, if it's A-OK in the UK (no pun intended) to market the stuff at Tesco as Three Barrels... what's the scoop... tell me the poop... why it's called Raynal over here in the good old USA? That said, I knew by the colour, I could tell by the shape of the bottle... and let me tell you, for the money over here, which I paid $12.50 for a bottle ( I bought 3) and haven't regretted the investment although I will freely admit it is disappearing from my liquor closet as we speak.

Raynal... Schmaynal... They are going to shut down the operation

It has a floral bouquet to the taste. Smooth, very nice... it brings back memories of home made Brandies I have tasted in Belgium as far back as the 1980's. It's not strong to the taste as say a snifter of Courvoisier, yet I find it very sophisticated... it's not a trashy Brandy, nor a dull one, in fact I would have to say the people putting this all together back in France are going to lose their jobs.. and that's a sad thing... a spokesperson for the Scotland-based company William Grant who makes a Scotch blend "Grants"... said that, following a review of the French brandy operation, William Grant will close the Raynal & Cie site by the beginning of next year, citing "deteriorating market conditions" for the move. The facility produces the company's Three Barrels and Raynal brands. "The French brandy market has been tough of late," the spokesperson said. "The rising cost of eaux de vie is the type of cost that we can't pass on to the consumer, so we've had to consider other options."

Read the lable

I would venture to say the statement by Grants is bullshit. Three Barrels (or Raynor in the States) is a very affordable great tasting Brandy. I see a corporate bottom liner manager here, a dude who will get his end of the year bonus for saving the company money by putting dedicated workers out on the street. It's an act of meanness really for if you were to taste this Brandy you would be as big a fan as I, so my advice, you find a case of Three Barrels or Raynor, buy it.. buy two.

Have a good look

So to all you Three Barrels - Raynor brandy workers back there in France, thank you and I am so sorry t o learn the Scottish company that bought you out is shutting you down. There ought to be a law.

Moonraker Ale "6.5 AVB"

What I like the most about it, is the taste !

For all these years I have been on the Ale Trail I have always wondered what AVB meant.  I know, he's an American... "Hey my money's as good as the next tourist in this pub," I say!  Anyway, for Americans like me who did not know, now you do... AVB means: Alcohol By Volume (abbreviated as abv or ABV) it is a standard measure of how much alcohol (ethanol) is contained in an alcoholic beverage... that is to say what portion of the total volume of liquid in this bottle of Moonraker is alcohol.  In this case... Moonraker is loaded at 6.5% AVB.  Everclear on the other hand, a nasty evil drink... is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as "190-proof..." that's up there at levels higher than 95% pure alcohol.  Here's a bit of information about the name "Moonraker."  There was a time when smuggling was a significant industry in rural England.  The county of Wiltshire (see map below) is strategically located between the coastal counties of England and the capital city of London to the east and Bristol to the west and is home to major highways that lead to and from those cities... perfect for use as smuggling routes.

It is here in Wiltshire in the late 1700's did the story, now legend, of the Moonrakers take place.  In fact people who come from Wiltshire are refereed to as Moonrakers. For the American tourist traveling to the UK, many on their first trip will do central London, then head west to do Bristol - Bath and then head south east to Wiltshire, to Avebury, home of the Avebury Stones Circle and then on to nearby Silbury Hill.  Wiltshire is home to the city of Salisbury and it's beautiful cathedral.  Not far south... millions each year will travel to visit the ancient monument of Stonehenge situated on the Salisbury plain.  My uncle Ron lives in Warminster and is a hero to me for he fought in World War II with the Lancaster Rifles.  Ever hear of those mysterious Crop Circles popping up on English farm fields?

A summer crop circle in Clatford, Wiltshire

Pretty much most of those crop circles have shown up in Wiltshire farm fields.  So it's a fairly interesting place that will have something for everyone.  For me I'm here for the Ale.  My brother in law Richard is a connoisseur of Malted Cask Aged British Ales brewed in the traditional method, served at about 57 degrees but certainly not refrigerated unless it happens to be a larger, and every time he gets a chance to show off another English Treasure of a Ale with me... he will.  Last time we were together his son Ryan who is my nephew with the expensive sports car brought over 12 bottles of Moonraker, I had a glass and then took advantage of so many bottles and set them up to photograph them for this article.

When you have more than one...

What's the deal with the Moonraker legend?  You can Google the question and find many answers as I did, let me save you some time.  During the late 1700's in rural Wiltshire on a highway to London were some Wiltshire-men trying to beat the taxman at his game.  A taxman found them one night out on the highway, and it looked to him like smuggling... but before he caught up to them they dumped their smuggled Barrels of brandy into a pond ( the Crammer, a pond at Southbroom, Devizes ).  Now this was on a night of the full moon.  The tax man caught up, found nothing and was soon on his way.  He turned around to sneak up on the smugglers and almost caught them in the act of pulling the barrels out of the pond with rakes.

ALC 7.5% Vol  (is this the same as 6.5% AVB?  I am confused... )

The smugglers heard the taxman coming and so they let go of the barrels just as he came upon them.  He asked what they were doing and they said they were raking cheese from the reflection of the full moon on the surface of the pond.   I know... weird story... then again this is from the late 1700's and who am I to argue with legend?  The taxman started laughing at the Wiltshire-men... I suppose thinking to himself they were idiots, country bumpkins or fools, which of course we all know they are not!... not then and not now... and since then Wiltshire-men have been called "Moonrakers."

all that AVB will soon have an effect on your mind, yes it will.

So Rich and Ryan... wicked Ale, thanks... and in another posting I will write about another treasure Richard introduced me to... "Ilse of Jura," the very best single malt Scotch I have ever tasted... and that was way back in the mid 1980's. 

Reblogging: a visit to the Harbour Inn @ Axmouth...

I started the Ale Trail on my "My Happy Eye" blog two years ago. I created this blog for those interested in reading exclusively about alcohol consumption, cigar smoking and the location of the "Pubs" for the purpose of drinking the Ales and beers yourself, should you have an interest in seeking them out... 

The Ale Trail:  a visit to the Harbour Inn in Axmouth...

for the rest of the original posting from Saturday 4, December 2010... (Click Here ).

Pere Jacques 2011

This one is the real thing

I was afforded the opportunity to live in Belgium amongst the Belgians of Wallonia.  They are mostly a short race of people who love chocolate and drink some of the finest Beers and Ales in the worlds, "Bar None!"  It's no secret "Trappist" (pronounced TRA-PEE-ST!) is Beer and Ale other brands of the world are judged by.  I am proud to say the first year I lived in Belgium I went from 180 pounds ( 81.8 kg) to 225 lbs (102.3 kg).  Chimay was the fault, not me!  As I traveled about the country, which is about the size of the state of Oregon and has 300 breweries, well as you may imagine I drank a lot of beer and ales, a lot!

Pere Jacques (Pear- scha-ah- kiz) is the best Abbey style beer I have tasted in the United States that was made in the United States, in Chicago.  Whom ever these people are, they got it right folks, they got it right.

This is the first edition on "The Ale Trail."   I decided to make it a separate blog in itself, I'm still producing "My Happy Eye the blog.  The Ale Trail is now all by itself and once I figure out how to move the previous "Ale Trail" editions off My Happy Eye, I will bring them all over here to be at home with the rest of my adventures in beer and ale.

Pere Jacques 2011: Click Here