There are several beer releases each year (and this number continues to grow year after year) that I get stupidly excited about. Parabola from Firestone Walker is an example of this and is coming to L.A. this month. This is usually my typical day until I find this beer: Wakeup. (My brain does not seem to work for at least one hour after I wake up so this is the only time of the day I am not ridiculously excited about beer). Go to work. Realize that Parabola is comingto L.A. soon. Immediately check websites for news on local stores carrying beer. Work for 10 minutes. Double check websites to make sure that I didn’t miss any stores that might have the beer. Work for 10 minutes. Make promise to myself to stop by liquor stores on my way home even though it is not on any sites yet. Work for 15 minutes. Read reviews about Parabola. Work for 10 minutes. Stop to think about how many bottles I need to buy this year. Work for 10 minutes….. and so on and so forth. Not much changes when I get home from work other than I don’t feel as guilty thinking about Parabola so much. God, I need to get this beer soon.

Beer: Zoetzuur Flemish Ale

Brewery: De Proefbrouwerij

ABV: 7%

Style: Flanders Red Ale

Place of Purchase: BevMo

Cost: Around $10.00 (Lost the receipt)

Color is a dark, lightly hazy brown with a two finger head that leaves great lacing. Head stays with the beer nicely. Aroma is a combination of lightly funky bretts and some light cherry character. There is a very earthy quality to this beer. Flavor is predominantly cherry. More sweet than sour (too nice to be mean).There is a smooth middle that is dry and mildly tart with hints of vinegar. This is not as tart as some of the other American Wild Ales I have tried. This has high drinkability for a wild ale. A great example of this style that is not too tart and could be highly enjoyed by a wide diversity of beer drinkers.

I think I need at least 5 bottles of Parabola.

Last night I spent some time drinking at Father’s Office in Culver City. I ordered a Supplication, 2010 Cuvee De Tomme, and a Santa’s Little Helper. It was a fantastic night of beer nerdiness. This in turn led me to realize that I do not pay much attention any more to the cost of beer until the end of the evening. My excitement about tasty beers seems to erase my ability to logically interpret prices associated with delicious booze. Thanks to this excursion and some suggestions from friends I am incorporating a few new items into my reviews: Location of Purchase and Cost of beer. This is probably not going to make me overly excited once I start totaling this up.

Beer: Alt-Bier

Brewery: Hangar 24 Brewery

ABV: 6%

Style: Altbier

Place of Purchase: BevMo

Cost: $9.39 plus tax (per six pack)

The color of this beer is a dark amber with a single finger (3/4 inch) head that leaves little lacing and settles quickly. The aroma is dominant on the malty side with a bready/caramel quality. Trace amounts of citrusy hops can be detected as well. There is nothing overly pungent in the scent, but this is true to style. The flavor starts sweet with a good amount of caramel coming through. There are no strong flavors to start, making this a great multi-beer possibility. Lightly creamy for a bottom fermenting beer. The carbonation level is medium to medium-high. The finish has a nice hop profile that to me is more floral than citrusy and balanced nicely with the sweet start. This beer has great drinkability and is very clean to the palate.

I would definitely suggest trying this one. I am still working on putting together some sort of rating system still so I won’t assign any value to this yet. Truth be told, my experience with altbiers is fairly limited. I suggest trying a Uerige Doppelsticke if you enjoy this one.

3 days post Cinco De Mayo… I feel like I can again talk about alcohol. Did you know your body does not require any food for 36 hours after minor alcohol poisoning? Here are a few other life lessons I cam apply thanks to this holiday:

1) The tops of your feet are apparently just as sensitive as the rest of your body when it comes to the unforgiving force of the sun. I will apply sunscreen to my feet every time I go to the beach so that I can wear shoes the following days.

2) I will never give anyone a piggy back ride again, ever. I am way too uncoordinated and apparently have no balance at all. That is just the nice way of telling myself that I should probably work out sometime.

3) From now on prior to taking shots of tequila I will spend 30 seconds picturing myself apologizing for all of the stupid things that I will be getting myself into and determine if I am making a sound decision.

I swear that one day I will have the drinking maturity of a person my age. I think I have a long way to go though. Ok, on that note, back to beer.

Beer: Single Hop Series Ahtanum Hops

Brewery: Hermitage Brewing Company

ABV: 7%

Style: American IPA

Color is a dark amber with a nice inch and a half (two finger) head that leaves some nice lacing on the glass. The aroma is fairly simplistic. There are hints of both piney and floral hops and a lightly bready maltyness. Since this is an IPA the hops certainly dominate the aroma profile. Flavor is hop-centric. The malt character is light and the mouth feel is almost watery. This beer’s redeeming character is in the bitter finish. I am not very fluent in describing what a certain hop tastes like, but I think after drinking this I have a much better idea of what Ahtanum hops taste and smell like. The bitterness is not overly assertive or astringent giving this a good amount of drinkability.

Overall, this is not my favorite IPA of all time, but Hermitage Brewing Company has me intrigued. I was very worried that this beer would be similar to the quality of the Flemish sour ale I sampled from them. It exceeded my expectations. This is a good starter to familiarize you with hop flavors.

So the beer I am reviewing today is an Oud Bruin. I have had a few of these and they are among the same lines as a Flanders Red Ale or a Lambic except maltier and less sour. If you haven’t tried any tart/sour beers it may be hard to wrap your head around this flavor. These are some of my favorite types of beers when done correctly. These also are rather disgusting when they aren’t. Basically bacteria help to give this its tart/sour flavor. I could nerd out here and discuss the difference between brettanomyces, lactobacillus, and saccharomyces but I am not sure that I am ready to go to that level of ridiculousness yet.

Beer: 1 Door Flemish Style Sour Ale

Brewery: Hermitage Brewing Company

ABV: 7%

Style: Oud Bruin (Flanders Brown Ale)

Color is dark brown with a decent amount of red coloration. There is a single finger head that fades quickly with not lacing. Aroma is funky. This is rather earthy with some mild malty sweetness that resembles dark fruits (maybe some cherry and raisins?). The flavor is rather earthy as well. This transitions into a very light tart flavor that is common to the Flanders family. There is a high mineral flavor that I can’t quite place but doesn’t seem to fit in very well with the character of the beer. The finish is oddly bitter and astringent. I am going to stop here on this one.

So, after careful review of this beer I highly recommend you trying La Folie from the New Belgium Lips of Faith series. It is a very tasty example of this style. I would suggest trying Hermitage’s version once you have braved some other examples of this style first. There, I have successfully been very PC about this beer.

After months of talking, hours of deliberation about topics, days of questioning myself, and years of drinking, I give you the first post of BeerManBlog.com.

We will start with the basics today and get into the beer later this week. I figure we should start with the general questions: who, what, where, when, and why.

Who: My name is Chris. I can never truly be the original “Beerman”. Unfortunately this name has already been taken by a serial killer from Mumbai, India who was known to leave beer bottles next to each of his victims. This website was purchased prior to extensive research into the name Beerman. On a side note, Wikipedia did not reveal the name of the beer favored by the Beerman.

Let’s see, what else should I include? I have been an avid beer consumer for the past decade searching out new beers whenever I can find them. It has been the only hobby that has kept my attention for an extended period of time. I am not a connoisseur or a beer snob. I still enjoy lite lagers and will not yell at someone for having a different opinion than my own. I am also not a novice and certainly can keep up a conversation with the beer elite. I am safely in the category of beer nerd. Perhaps this should have been called Beernerdblog instead. Oh well.

What: This site is about beer. I have discussed this with a lot of people and realize that I am not good at making final decisions regarding the format of this blog. Instead, I am just going to start writing every day I can and see where it takes me. I promise the following: to write about beer. You now know what you are in for.

Where: I live in the sprawling metropolis of Los Angeles. Most of my initial reviews will probably primarily be California based beers, but I am hoping to establish some trade connections with the rest of the US (or world, why limit myself here). But every beer is fair game.

When: Right now.

Why: Because beer makes me happy. Talking about beer is one of my favorite things ever. Drinking beer is even better than talking about it. And getting people to try new varieties and styles makes me feel like I am making the world a better place. Also, I am trying to selfishly increase my beer knowledge as well. This is my site, I can do what I want!

There you have it. Let’s see where this goes. I have no idea what I am getting myself into.