Propeller Skies

My friends Deezy and The Tree Hugging Hippie have both raved about Full Sail India Pale Ale (IPA). Being an IPA aficionado, I filed their praises of Full Sail in the back of my mind. A few weeks ago, I found one six pack of Full Sail IPA at Ansley Wine Merchants while picking up booze for Thanksgiving.

Bright was my initial impression of Full Sail IPA. The brew finishes with a nice piney aftertaste. However, there is not as much grapefruit goodness in the middle as I like, but overall, the IPA is pretty good.

Full Sail stacks up well against Smoove D reference IPA Loose Cannon, but will not displace it in heavy rotation. I like Full Sail’s IPA and it will occupy a spot in my fridge on occasion.

On a previous tour of Southern Tier Brewing, Phin poured us a taste of a new imperial India Pale Ale (IPA). While I enjoyed the sample, I like the finished product - Unearthly IPA - much better.

The flavor of Southern Tier’s Unearthly IPA is thick with a multitude of complex notes, like the 10,000 Maniacs. Balance is excellent, the citrus of the hops combines with plenty of big pine flavor. The sting of alcohol is muted and almost hidden in the mix. Southern Tier Unearthly IPA is highly recommended.

Goes well with Phish, The Who, and pre-Icky Thump White Stripes.

The Hockey Player brought some tasty bombers from Three Floyds Brewing the last time he was in town. Three Floyds products are unobtainable here in the Dirty South, to the point that I had never heard of them. Based on the beers I have sampled and what the internet says, Three Floyds Brewing is totally tubular. How The Hockey Player figured this out is beyond me, as that mofo drinks shit like Jeppson’s Malort.

Alert readers will recall I hate wheat beer, but recently have had two positive experiences. I might reconsider my position on wheat beer, but Gumball Head is no ordinary wheat beer. This is wheat beer hopped out the ass and I like that a fuckton.

Gumball Head reminds me of Campari - the hops come on strong and bitter and then fade to an aftertaste reminiscent of grapefruit. While imbibing this delicious brew, dreams of nubile midwestern blondes kissed by the midsummer sun danced through my head. Three Floyd’s Gumball Head is highly fucking recommended. Thanks to The Hockey Player for hooking a cracka up.

Alert Prizzo Skeezy readers will recall Terrapin Rye Pale Ale has been mentioned a few times up in this bitch. Terrapin also makes a few other beers, so I picked up a variety pack on the way to The Beaver’s flat to chill.

golden ale

The Golden Ale was the second beer I drank from the variety pack. I was expecting a conservatively hopped ale. What I got was flat out disgusting. The smell and initial taste were fine, but then a nasty flavor I could not quite taste took over. Terrapin Golden Ale is about as drinkable as a golden shower. I struggled to finish the bottle.

india style brown ale

While I was anticipating an explosion of conflicting flavors from the seven kinds of malt and five different hop varieties used to construct the India Style Brown Ale, I was pleasantly surprised. While I consider that many ingredients severe overkill, the brewers at Terrapin balanced them nicely and produced a unique brown ale. Terrapin India Style Brown Ale is recommended.

rye pale ale

Terrapin Rye Pale Ale is highly recommended. I like pale ales and this one is an excellent example. I lost my notes, so try one to see how it tastes.

sunray wheat beer

I have documented in the past that I hate wheat beers. Like is too strong a word for how I feel about Terrapin’s Sunray Wheat, but this is a decent brew. The first impression is rather bland, as it tastes like wheat beer with honey. However, I particularly enjoy the citrus finish. For those who are into wheat beers, Terrapin Sunray Wheat is recommended.

Alert Propeller Skies readers* will recall I cooked up a batch of beer and dumped it in my shiny new Mr. Beer fermenter about a month ago. The beer finished fermenting a week ago and I bottled it.

After bottling, the beer takes a week to carbonate. However, letting the bottles condition for longer lets the yeast do something, but I forget what. The important part is the brew is supposed to taste better after it sits for at least three weeks, hence the waiting.

However, I have the patience of a three year old. With a bad fucking case of attention deficit disorder. So after a week, I put a bottle in the fridge for consumer product safety testing. Allegedly, this was to make sure the beer came out all right before I invite a bunch of homies over for a tasting, but I really just wanted to try a bottle. Since I am opposed to sharing, the tasting may never actually happen.

I poured a glass prior to calling AT&T Premier to exchange my craptastic Blackberry Bold. Happily the yeast cooperated and farted out plenty of carbon dioxide - the beer had a nice foamy head. Even better, the beer tasted like a lager, exactly as it was supposed to. The beer was definitely better than an average macrobrew and leads me to believe there might be something to lagers. Overall, this was a tasty beer and I am excited about my first homebrewing effort.

I am looking forward to ordering some West Coast Pale Ale and American Devil India Pale Ale kits, as well as extra hops, and getting my brew on. [Smoove accomplished this before actually finishing this post, so the shipment should be in by the time this is live and uncut on the internet - Ed.]

Alert Propeller Skies readers will recall I discovered Magic Hat beers at a bar in Pittsburgh about a year ago. Until sometime this summer, Magic Hat’s delicious products were unavailable in Atlanta - Strip City™ and The Republican was too lazy to bring me back any when she drove to New England, so I was thrilled to find a variety pack at Green’s.

While consuming the myriad brews in the variety show, I recorded my impressions to share the joy of Magic Hat with Prizzo Skeezy readers. Unfortunately, I was heavily into my research when I did that and my notes are rather unclear, so some errors or omissions may occur.

#9

Magic Hat #9 is billed as an almost pale ale. That is not inaccurate, as the beer does not explode with hoppy zest like Smoove D reference pale ales Sierra Nevada and Phinn and Matt’s. Nevertheless, this is a fine brew with hints of apple and raspberry. Although Magic Hat #9 is not in my regular pale ale rotation, I do enjoy it and will pick up a six pack every now and again.

circus boy

I hate hefeweizen. When I get some as part of a variety pack, I sample it, confirm I dislike it, and then unload the rest on unsuspecting homeless people, of which my neighborhood has plenty. Much to my surprise, I enjoyed Magic Hat’s Circus Boy. The hefeweizen was savory, with a stinging hint of citrus. I suspect I liked it because it was a fairly minimalist example of the style - Magic Hat did not overdo the beer with an excess of competing flavors.

hocus pocus

Hocus Pocus is a seasonal ale produced by Magic Hat. I found it crisp, with a taste of copper. There is a nice, but not overwhelming, hop bitterness to the beer. Hocus Pocus is nicely balanced and reminds me of unnaturally blue sky and open fields.

notion (summer 2008)

I have no idea what the fuck this beer was, but I liked it. In contrast to the previous three brews, this is a fairly dark beer. The flavor was caramel with plenty of malty goodness and an unexpected finish with hints of lemon.

Several months ago, Deezy offered The Photographer and I some brews he made with a Mr. Beer Home Beer Kit. I was skeptical, but the beer tasted perfectly fine.

About a week ago, The Photographer hooked a cracka up with a Mr. Beer Home Beer Kit. I cooked up a batch, and while I have not sampled any yet, I expect decent results based on Deezy’s beers.

ease of use

As a beginner, a key advantage of the Mr. Beer Home Beer Kit is simplicity. The tedious work is already completed - all I had to do was boil water, dissolve the Booster, and add hopped malt extract. While the pre-made hopped malt extract limits flexibility compared to all grain brewing, the final flavor of the beer can be modified with additional hops, or by adding honey, brown sugar, or molasses to increase alcohol content and subtly change the flavor.

mr. beer home beer kit initial impressions

Mr. Beer is extremely easy to use. I only needed an hour to sanitize everything, cook the wort, fill the keg, and pitch the yeast. I plan on brewing a few of the ingredient kits to get a feel for the process and then experiment a bit.

If all goes well, I see an upgrade to a more hard core setup in the future. However, Mr. Beer provides enough avenues for customization to keep me occupied for at least the next year.

Alert readers have probably figured out by now that I love India Pale Ales (IPA) like Michael Vick loves dog fighting. Recurring readers have also probably figured out I like Southern Tier Brewing products. Therefore, alert and recurring Prizzo Skeezy readers would be right to conclude I should like Southern Tier’s IPA.

Southern Tier’s IPA is bigger than The Beatles. The scent reminds me of caramel and the taste is large fruity hops. Setting it all off is a subtle grapefruit flavor. Generally, I prefer the citrus notes in an IPA to kick my ass and take my name like my favorite dominatrix. However, the balance displayed in the Southern Tier IPA trumps that predilection.

Southern Tier India Pale Ale is smoove as hell and, obviously, highly recommended.