Beer Review: Captain Lawrence Hops n' Roses

On a recent trip down to Westchester County, New York, north of the city, I was able to stop into the Captain Lawrence Brewery in Elmsford, NY.  Had a short chat with the guy manning the bar/growler filling station.  I didn't see any of the beers on tap that I needed a full growler of, but I was intrigued by the little 12 oz bottle with the cool label on the shelf behind him.  He gave me a quick run down of the beer and I was sold.  The price tag was a little bit of sticker shock at $15, and I thought about how I might be better off with something from Drie Fonteinen, but whatever, I had made a lot of money that day!

Got around to drinking it the other day, and it was the only beer of the night.  I cut up some cheeses that I had lying around to cleanse the palate between sips.  I was extremely impressed with the artwork on the bottle as you can see its very psychedelic and colorful.

The beer pours out looking like a kriek, which is odd.  I was a little surprised, albeit pleasantly, because of how pretty the tangeriney/red beer looked.  Minimal head and lacing, looks very well carbonated.

I much prefered the smell of this beer to the taste, although that does seem to be the standard response at online beer review site: BeerAdvocate. The fruit/flowery smell was absolutely fantastic, and I could send the barnyard funk present.  I enjoyed the taste of the beer, but it was definitely closer to a wild than a sour.  There was certainly a bit of a sour tinge, but not enough to satisfy my cravings for a really sour beer.  I did get a bit of the "Roses" portion of the beer although the "Hops" left something to be desired.  I am not a fan of Guns n' Roses, but Hops n' Roses, definitely delivered.

B+

AFC Conference Championships: Baltimore Ravens @ New England Patriots

I have been missing for quite awhile.  Last post was the day before New Years Eve.  I had a great time visiting with my wife's sister and brother in law.  We spent a great extended weekend in New York City.  Visited New Haven and Boston twice.  We drank a lot of great beers, the new Sierra Nevada Ruthless Rye is excellent.  We took an informal tour at New England Brewing in New Haven, and I picked up 2 four packs of their 668: Neighbor of the Beast.  We also visited Berkshire Brewing in South Deerfield, MA.  The tour was great, the tour guide was funny and informative, and I sampled both the Imperial Stout and their "Goodbye Irene" beer brewed to help support the local community that was ravaged by the early October storm.  Through all this we watched the NBA season get into swing, and my Celtics, are performing far below expectations.  More on that later.  In the NFL, the Patriots have been rolling and with the Saints and Packers eliminated, the two best teams in the NFL are gone from the playoff "tournament."

The AFC conference championship pits the #2 seed Baltimore Ravens in Foxboro against my #1 seed New England Patriots.  The betting line is Patriots -7, which I think is a bit high, considering the Ravens impressive defense, Ray Rice, and the Patriots defense more full of holes than swiss cheese.  I think the line is elevated by the Patriots destruction of Timothy Tebow.  I think the game will be pretty great and I really hope that Tom Brady and the three headed monster of Gronkowski, Hernandez and Welker will be too much for Baltimore to overcome. The game is at 3pm and if things go well for the Pats they will be in Indy in 2 weeks!

The other game is the red hot New York Giants against the impressive San Francisco 49ers.  No one expected this to be the matchup in the NFC, with the Saints and Packers representing probably 80% of football fans #1 most likely Super Bowl victors.  Hoping for a Giants v Patriots Super Bowl rematch, but I think the 49ers will roll and they are favored by 2.5, and I think theres some value on the Niners at home.

11/6/2011 Giants v Patriots

Yesterday was a pretty intense day of football, Miami stunned the red hot Chiefs and halted their 4 game win streak.  Tim Tebow once again made miracles and defeated the Raiders.  The reigning Super Bowl Champ Packers hold off the Chargers who nearly were able to recover from two pick-6s in the first half.  The Sunday Night game came down to the last play, with Flacco connecting to Torrey Smith for a last second TD and a win for the slumping Ravens. 

2008 Super Bowl catch by Tyree

This brings me to my big game of the week, my New England Patriots against the New York Giants.  In a repeat of the traumatic 2008 Super Bowl, the Patriots were nearly double digit point favorites against NY's hometown team.  Injuries to the Giants top RB and WR, Ahmad Bradshaw and Hakeem Nicks respectively, made for a pretty fortunate matchup against the Patriots who had not lost at home in years and were coming of a heartbreaking loss in Pittsburgh.  I did not think the Pats would cover, but I would have wagered at 4:1 that the Patriots would get a W. 

Unfortunately, that was not to be for my Patriots.  The first half was scoreless, ending with Gostowski missing a makeable field goal.  I can understand missing a 40+ footer, but come on bro!  Both defenses were playing pretty well, but everyone knew there would be some scoring in the second half.  The Pats looked good, until the last drive of the game, where Eli connected with a receiver for an insane pass for a big game keeping their hopes alive.  The Pats were up 3 with a 3rd and goal on the 2 yard line and just needed a stop, but a play action pass for the Giants resulted in a short TD and the ultimate win.  Very dissapointing, although a ton of fun and drama for spectators to enjoy!

Sixpoint Autumnation Review

Sixpoint is an awesome brewery based in New York City.  I had tasted their stuff several years ago when I was in the city, since they were draft only at the time.  This past year they began to start selling their beer outside of the home NYC market.  I am lucky enough to live in one of the regions where they began distributing, and I have tasted all of their beers so far.  One of the things I like about the brewery is that they sell all their beer in 16oz cans in 4pks.  I like this better than a 12oz bottle 6pk by a significant margin.  I sometimes feel like 12oz is too little and 22oz is too much, and 16oz is perfect.  Cans are far superior to bottles, praying this continues to catch on. 

This beer is extremely unique.  It is a wet-hopped pumpkin beer.  I barely detected pumpkin, although there is a good amount of ginger and spices.  These all take a back seat to the glorious hops.  The beer is grassy, green, and delicious, using freshly harvested hops added directly to the boil.  The result is a "Fall IPA" beer that is incredibly "fresh" taking and drinkable.  I do think this beer is polarizing, and there will be people who either like it, or strongly dislike it, not much in between.   Available for only a short time, due to limited availability of the hops.  I am looking forward to their next release, Diesel, and apparently a Saison is in future developments.