I grabbed the latest edition last time I was at TJs. Like Peter, yet to try it.

Amazing how long a 36 pk of Coors Light lasts, but how quick good beer vanishes.

A large bottle of Rogue Shakespeare Stout made for a fantastic evening.

Well done, Dan! Good to hear from you again!

I'm enjoying a bottle of Unibroue Quatre Centieme this week. Yes, this week...

The Great Divide Fresh Hop Pale Ale is extremely smooth and rounded for a hoppy beer. The smell is amazingly hoppy/floral/citrus. The head is tight clustered bubbles with plenty of lacing. It feels amazing in the mouth, and the hop bitterness starts fat but dissipates to a small tinglecafter the swallow.

Very enjoyable and could even be a session beer. Too bad I only had one.

I hit the Oggi's pizza and brewery in Orange last night. While a great place to hang with my brother and my little boy, the beer was very under-whelming. Perhaps not as bad as my brother put it, "Everything sucks here," but not very good at all.

The scotch ale seemed pretty good until the food came - and then the beer finished with a strong, not real pleasant, mineral taste. Reminded me of some very hard tap water (which could have been what I was tasting). Tried a different beer - amber ale - and found that it finished the same way. Whether tap water or cleaning solvents - I don not like it Sam I Am.

This is the second brewery I've been to with the same problem. The first, Campus Creek or something like that, is now a goner.

Gotta pay attention to water quality, huh, Tom? Or am I tasting harsh tannins produced in a poorly executed mash?

LOL at the Dr. Seuss reference! We say that all the time at our house.

Could be a number of things - Dean might have some ideas also. Besides your observation about water quality (which is likely), other explanations could include the particular yeast strain used, bad sanitation practices or overly aggressive filtration. I certainly wouldn't rule out the notion that they tried to squeeze every iota of starch out of the mash by sparging it too long. Could easily be something as simple as them not doing anything to mitigate chlorinated water from the city supply.

On a basic level, I don't care as much as I used to WHY beers are yucky. It's enough to know that they are, and move on.

reckon you're right - no point deconstructing things when I am not brewing myself.

on the bright side, Jake and I enjoyed a nice porterhouse con pommes frites with this succulent $7.64 gem:

http://www.wine.com/V6/Lake-Sonoma-Dry-Creek-Valley-Zinfandel-2006/wine/98314/detail.aspx

actually, I hogged the wine.

Didja at least give him some grape juice?

Fry the potatoes in duck fat?

I love CA Zinfandel. Thanks for the tip!

The QC is pretty good, a light beer for once. Tasty, drinkable, not particularly complex. Not one of their better yearlies.