News: InBev bids $46 billion of AB

Yes, that's billion with a b.

According to MSNBC

Now on Tap: Chambly Noir

Style: Black Ale Brewer:Unibroue, Chambly, Quebec Web Alcohol: 6.2%

This past Saturday night, for the first time in almost seven years, I sat down with my own bottle of an Unibroue beer. Lately, anytime I popped open one of my familial company's beers I would be sharing with someone else, or I would have one of those single-serve bottles from those little four packs. But I'm the only one in my house that drinks beer, so the large, corked, bottle was all up to me.

This was the first time I have seen Chambly Noir, out since 2005. The first thing I noticed about the drink is the familiar Unibroue bouquet; at this point I could recognize the smell blindfolded from a mile away. There were flavors of coffee beans and the slightest hint of peppering. Like most of the beers from this company, there is very little hoppiness. In fact, the Noir is pretty sweet, but not overbearingly so, like a fruit beer. This trait paired especially well with the perschutto as each worked to heighten the sweetness of the other. (All I needed to make the meal complete was some cheese and a chopping block.)

Rating: 8.1
Recommended with: cold, smoked meats

Review: Wailua Wheat

Style: wheat ale/fruit beer
Brewer: Kona Brewing Co. Location: Kailua-Kona, HI
Web
Alcohol: 5.4%

A "Limited Release" offering from my favorite brewery to visit, Wailua is billed as a "Wheat Ale brewed with Passion Fruit." This time of year it seems that every mircobrewer attempts to mix some sort of regional fruit into at least one of their beers.

This one pours into the glass with a bright yellow color, and it's most dominant flavor characteristic is its tartiness. It's a little overbearing, in fact. For my second bottle, I forgot about the glass and just tipped it. Much better. Drinking out of the pint pretty much eliminates all aroma and flavor of passion fruit, but taken straight from the bottle, it's a much more enjoyable drink.

Rating: 6.1
Recommended with: ice-cold sushi rolls, heavy on the avocado

New: Samuel Adams Summer Mix Pack

Last year I took a sip of Saranac's 12 Beer of Summer. Not to be outdone, Samuel Adams has been releasing seasonal-based mix packages, and while less adventurous than Saranac's it's still a nice little collection they've got for themselves this summer.

There are six beers in the pack: Boston Lager, Boston Ale, Cherry Wheat, Pale Ale, Summer Ale and Hefeweizen. I don't want to give any of them a full judging yet; Samuel Adams beers never taste good in Texas. Perhaps it's the shipping. Maybe they save all the good batches up north for themselves and send all the duds down here they way Texas does with [comment removed by HEB].

Now on Tap: Old Rasputin

Summer has all but arrived, and you know what that means - more time to write and drink about it. This past weekend I made a short trip to Austin, and as usual, I've got some nice brews to show for it.

* * * * * *

Style: Russian Imperial Stout
Brewer: North Coast Brewing Company
Location: Fort Bragg, CA
Web
Alcohol: 9%

Old Rasputin is the Mark Spitz of the beer world: more gold medals than knows what to do with, but 99.9% of the public couldn't pick him out of a crowd (and less than 50% probably even know the name). Given the amount of praise heaped upon this drink (see above link for some examples, or check out Barley Vine, a Houston-based beer blog), it's high time I gave it a try. Before this past Saturday, I had yet been able to find the beer in-store.

The beer itself is extremely dark - among the darker I have ever seen, looking quite like an espresso. There is some great flavor complexity here, and they are that which you'd expect from a stout: mainly, coffee and chocolate. Neither is overpowering, though, instead the roasted flavor is the one that carries throughout most of this smooth drink. And let's not forget the "imperial" tag, which carries with the high alcohol content that makes the drink rather unsuitable for dessert accompaniment. Instead, Old Rasputin is an apertief in and of itself.

All of that is to say that this beer is pretty spectacular, worthy of the lot of accolades.

Rating: 9.6

Gol!

Sorry about the dry spell. Fill up on the 2008 World Beer Cup Winners until I can post something meaningful (or at least something new).

We're number 14!

Thanks to the wonderful folks at Wikipedia (That's you!), here is a list of countries of the world, ranked by per capita beer consumption.

I've always kind assumed it, but I never realized to the extent of the matter: I drink a lot more beer than the average American.

[Thanks, also, to Deadspin and Dave Barry]