12 Days of Christmas – Santa’s Little Helper
December 24, 2010 by justin · Leave a Comment
On the eleventh day of Christmas…
One of my favorite beers of all time is Santa’s Little Helper. Port Brewery kicks ass and this is the best of the best. I needed Santa’s Helper to paint my kitchen. This Bourbon Barrel-aged Imperial Stout is rich, deep solid, just seriously amazing. There is so much going on here that it blows your mind. Last year I got wasted on this on a Sunday morning with my mom at the brewery. It was a total hoot and a half.
I would love to drink this all day long all year long. If I could function I would 
Do you like my grey paint in the background?
Hop15
I have been so excited about this beer! I just love Hop 15 from Port Brewing Company in San Diego. I brought it with me the other night but we ended up having that impromptu beer tasting. At the end of our beer tasting a friend asked if I wanted to crack Hop 15 open. I laughed, it is 10% ABV double IPA! It needs to be consumed on its own. Saturday was Hop 15′s night and I shared with no one.
Hop 15, as it’s name implies, is very hoppy. I was at a BBQ so I didn’t have the correct glassware, as you can see from the photo. Filling up my plastic cocktail glass I could smell the floral and slightly citrus bouquet over the smell of the yummy chicken on the grill. My nose was getting more and more excited as the beer flowed into the glass. The beautiful slightly yellow head crowned this beautiful golden ale. The lacing on this beer is beautiful, all the way down the glass. Now you might be like, “dude, you were drinking out of plastic” Yes, I was but my friends were too and their beer didn’t look like this.
Every sip is a dream. This is a very hoppy, resiny, slightly viscus beer not for the faint of heart. It is one of the most beautiful West Coast Style IPA’s, IMHO.
Why is it named Hop 15? Well, because according to their website, Hop 15 has 15 different hop varieties added to the beer every 15 minutes of course. Duh.
BTW… if you have not tried this beer bottled in the past couple years please give it another go. I have heard that people used to have a hit or miss with Port’s bottled ales. This has clearly been straightened out and is not the case anymore. Some older reviews of this beer are not anything close to what I tasted.
Also, CONGRATS to Dr. SHAY WELCH!!!
Port Brewery Midnight Sessions
April 9, 2010 by justin · 2 Comments
It’s not often that a beautiful day in April comes along. In fact weather like we had Thursday in April is about as rare as, “a great swell coincides with a full moon. But when they collide, nature affords us a rare opportunity to paddle out long after everyone has called it a day.” Yes, I grew up surfing so the analogy on the bottle works perfectly for me. And, it is true. The Port Brewery Midnight Sessions dark lager is a perfect balance of hearty warmth and crisp refreshingness.
Port Brewery Midnight Sessions was perfect for a fine dining style BBQ with some friends. My friends like their stake rare (as you can see) and the Midnight Sessions went well with the moo-ing stake. Someone on Beers,Beers,Beers said that, “it’s made from the second runnings of Lost Abbey Serpent Stout” I’m not sure if that is true but based on the flavour it is a good comparison.
The aroma is malty, smokey, and a medium coffee smell. This beer is more sweet than bitter but the slight hopping balances it out to make it fairly dry. There are some hints of caramel in here as well. Not too heavy and it is crisp and refreshing.
Beautiful lager. Beautiful friends. Beautiful day.
Not quite midnight but beautiful footage here:
2nd Anniversary Double IPA
After yesterday’s beer failure. My friend came over for a drink and I broke out the good stuff. Port Brewery’s 2nd Anniversary Double IPA is a very nice double IPA. Port also brews Lost Abbey in San Marcos, California (in San Diego County)
Over Christmas I went to Port/Lost Abbey with my mom one Sunday afternoon and drank my way through the Port lineup. We had a blast and their strong ales knocked me off my keg (their stools are kegs with barley bags on top).
The 2nd Anniversary Double IPA pours a golden/wheat colour with a thick medium size head. This was a beautiful glass of beer. The aroma is very tropical. Kinda like pineapples and guava. In fact, now that I think about it, it smelled like the P.O.G. I had for lunch (Pineapple Orange Guava). With this tropical aroma there are some malt and hops strongly present as well.
This double is very viscus. The hops are strong, as they should be in a double, and complex. Throughout the bottle you can taste various hops and they dance on your tongue. Good thing I shared this one with a friend. It is a high ABV (I am reading 9.5% but seriously felt higher to both of us) and brought cheer to my afternoon, which before the beer really was fairly sucky.
This was a very limited release, only brewed once. The fact that it made it out here to Massachusetts a year and a half later is amazing. People on Rate Beer give it an overall 97 rating, I agree. This is a great double.
Santa’s Little Helper
March 4, 2010 by justin · Leave a Comment
Codeine and beer, what a combo! Well, its official, I have bronchitis. There are two good things about this:
- The antibiotic should kick it and I will be back to my self in no time
- I got to (actually my doctor kinda insisted) cancel all of my meetings and stay home. (note to all of you I was supposed to meet with, sorry)
So what beer do I choose when I’m high on codeine to begin with? Port Brewings Santa’s Little Helper. Mother, you will remember that this is the last one I tried when we visited Port Brewing over Christmas. Funny enough, I was about as buzzed then as I am now (last time it was all the beer samples, a lot more fun than cherry cough syrup).
Anyway, this is one of my favorite stouts. It is thick and of an oil like consistency and colour, beautiful. Some viscus beers just kinda roll down your throat like cough syrup, not this one, it isn’t bad thick, it is good thick. It dances with flavour in your mouth and though it is chocolaty and has oat undertones it is beer first and foremost, remember the raspberry fiasco last night? Though I am not big on hangovers, or over-imbibing for that matter, I can see how this beer has earned the nickname, “Satan’s Little Hangover“. 9.5% ABV I’m just going to slowly sip this one.
Oh, and don’t worry, I planned ahead and had the cough syrup MUCH earlier in the day.