Beer, Bikes and Butts

A Tribute to Beer, Motorcycles and Cigars

Samuel Adams Infinium

For the past couple of years, the Boston Beer Company and Germany’s Weihenstephan Brewery have joined forces to create what they characterized as an entirely new style of beer, a champagne-like ale called Infinium. Infinium comes in a 750 ml champagne bottle, complete with foil, wire and cork.

The beer (champagne?) poured a medium amber with a small, lacy head. There was no significant nose, only a very slight dry, citrus smell.

The mouthfeel was very light like champagne, and dry to the point that you feel your teeth touching. The taste is very interesting, with a definite impression of a beer/champagne combination. The sense of grapes is there to be sure (even though there are no grapes in the process), but you also sense the hops and taste the malt.

Infinium is quite unique, and I really liked it. I seldom drink champagne, and I can’t imagine ever going to the fridge to pull out a bottle of champagne to enjoy with a cigar on the Lido Deck. But I can see pulling one of these out if I wanted something really light that wouldn’t compete with a mild cigar.

It’s hard to stack this up against anything else since it is so different, but for the taste and unique drinking experience, I’ll give it a 93 on The Morris Scale.

From the Samuel Adams website:

Our brewers worked for two years with the world’s oldest brewery, Germany’s Weihenstephan, to create this unique new beer style. A groundbreaking brew, made with only the four traditional ingredients: malted barley, hops, water and yeast, Infinium™ is a crisp champagne-like beer with fine bubbles and a fruity, spicy aroma. The crisp clean malt character and delicate fruit notes in this beer are complemented by a slight citrus flavor from dry hopping with Bavarian Noble hops. Bottle conditioning adds another layer of complexity and light spice notes.

Flavor: Light and dry with a crisp clean malt character, and delicate fruit and spice notes
Color: Pale golden with a sparkling effervescence, 8 SRM
Original Gravity: 20.5° Plato
Alcohol by Vol/Wt: 10.3%ABV – 8.1%ABW
Calories/12 oz.: 278
IBUs: 10
Malt Varieties: Custom blend of two-row malted barley, malted spring white wheat, and malted oats
Hop Varieties: Hallertau Mittlefrueh, Spalt Spalter, Tettnang Tettnanger and Hersbrucker Noble Hops
Yeast Strain: Samuel Adams ale yeast, Belgian yeast

CAO OSA Sol

The OSA Sol is available in three sizes, the Lot 50 (5×50), Lot 54 (6×54), and Lot 58 (6 ½ x 58). I decided to pick a cigar at random from my humidor, and came out with the monster 58 ring size.

The cigar had a nice look with good construction. The cut with a guillotine was a little ragged, but with a little picking at the filler I was able to make things right. The burn was perfect for the life of the cigar.

My initial impression as to taste was that the cigar was a little harsh with no complexity. As the cigar progressed, the harshness disappeared but the taste never surfaced. There’s really nothing else to say. There was just never any there there. I’ve had some great CAO cigars, but this isn’t one of them. A sad 71 on The Morris Scale.

From the Cigars International website:

The secret between CAO OSA Sol is the wrapper. This exquisite leaf is grown in Olancho, San Agustin, a fertile valley of Honduras surrounded by tree covered mountains. This field is hugged by a crystal clear river, feeding the sun-nurtured tobaccos with pure spring waters and producing a uniquely robust and earth wrapper leaf. A sun-grown leaf, hence CAO OSA Sol.

CAO OSA Sol marks the first use of this rare, proprietary tobacco variety. A glorious presentation to see and burn, each cigar contains a flavorful OSA sun-grown wrapper chock full of Nicaraguan and Honduran long-fillers inside a hearty Connecticut Broadleaf binder. Medium in body, CAO OSA Sol gushes with rustic tobacco flavors enhanced by earthy undertones, subtle spices, and a touch of leather. Aromatic is an understatement, as each OSA Sol fills the air above with thick clouds of smoke and a lovely, rich, earthy scent.

Yeah, not so much.

Posted on February 5th, 2012 by Aaron Morris
Filed under: Beer, Beer Facts, Cigar Facts, Cigars, Reviews | No Comments »

Jubel 2010 Once a Decade Ale

This waxed beauty from Bend, Oregon’s Deschutes Brewery has been sitting in my fridge since, well, 2010. It’s about a $13 bottle of beer so I suppose I kept putting it off for a special occasion. Tonight I felt like drinking it, and that was special occasion enough.

The beer poured like a thick, dark cola, forming a tan head about two fingers high. The nose was impressive, smelling strongly of caramel and coffee.

The mouthfeel was medium thick and creamy, with medium to low carbonation. The taste was very good, with some citrus, malt and coffee. A nice presence of hops and a pleasant aftertaste. Ten percent alcohol with 55 IBUs.

It’s a pretty heavy beer, so in terms of drinkability, you probably wouldn’t have more than one of these 22-ouncers in a single setting, but you’ll certainly enjoy that one. The 2010 scored a 92 on The Morris Scale.

Posted on February 5th, 2012 by Aaron Morris
Filed under: Beer, Beer Facts, Micro-Breweries, Reviews, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Wow.  I feel even better about being a beer drinker.  I was cruising Netflix for something to watch, and came across a Discovery Channel documentary called How Beer Saved the World.  If you haven’t seen it yet, it is well worth a look.

Anthropologists had long believed that the first agricultural crop raised by humans was barley, and that it was grown to make bread.  They were right that barley was the first crop, but now it is almost universally accepted that humans shifted from hunter-gatherers and entered the agricultural age in order to grow barley for beer, not bread. Clay vessels (interestingly in the approximate shape of today’s standard pilsner glass) have been found that contain beer residue, and they are 3000 years older than the earliest discovered proof of bread.

Once the hunter-gatherers gave up their nomadic ways to start barley farms, communities and societies formed.  Ways had to be devised to plot out farm land and keep track of beer production so math was created.  The earliest discovered forms of writing contain symbols for beer, so beer had a hand in the creation of the written word.

The documentary also sets the record straight on Louis Pasteur.  Most think of him in connection with pasteurized milk, but he began his research to determine why beer goes bad.  He discovered bacteria in the bad beer, and then wondered if bacteria could make beer go bad, could it do the same thing to humans?  Thus was born the germ theory of disease.

And so it goes.  Beer is responsible for the discovery of refrigeration, which has saved countless lives since food can now be preserved, and beer is responsible for the end of child labor.

So here’s to you, beer.

Posted on December 14th, 2011 by Aaron Morris
Filed under: Beer, Beer Facts, Beer History | No Comments »

My wife must have missed this little item on my Christmas list, so keep it in mind for my upcoming birthday.

Posted on November 29th, 2011 by Aaron Morris
Filed under: Beer, Funny Commercials | No Comments »

I’ve been to the Los Angeles Beer Festival at Union Station for the past two years, and it has proven to be very inconsistent.

Last year it was nearly perfect.  The festival is held at Union Station in Los Angeles, and therefore takes driving out of the equation.  Jump on a train to Los Angeles, take a few steps to the site of the festival (the courtyard of Union Station), sample craft beers to your heart’s content, and then get back on the train for home.  Last year the organization was good, and there was an outstanding turnout of vendors.

This year the event started on a bad note, although it had nothing to do with the event.  Metrolink decided it would be a good weekend to shut down all the trains.  I seldom have the opportunity to take public transportation, but I have to ask, how can public transportation ever become a viable alternative for the masses if riders can’t be certain it will be available?  Fortunately I found seats on Amtrak, so we were still able to take a train to the event.

The train was scheduled to arrive 15 minutes after the start of the event at 12:15.  I saw that as a feature, not a glitch, because that would provide sufficient time for everyone to get into the event and we would not need to wait in line.  However, when we arrived, there was still a substantial line.  No problem.  We went to a café in the train station and had a small nosh in order to kill some time.  Fifteen minutes later we returned to the line to find it running the entire length of the train station, down one side of the station, and around a corner into the parking garage.

I walked to the front of the line to see what was going on, and saw the problem.  In all, about 1500 people attended the festival.  There were a number of people assisting with the admission process, some handing out wristbands and other handing out the glasses (which were real glass this year), but there were just two women checking the tickets.  And as I watched, as each person approached with their ticket in hand (usually a self-printed ticket with a barcode that needed to be scanned), in every case I observed the two women had no idea how to deal with whatever it was they were facing.  As a result of this bottle neck, some people waited up to an hour and a half to get into the event.

The festival was supposed to go from noon to 4:00 p.m., but in the end the last of the line was not admitted until 1:30.  Two and a half hours was still plenty of time to sample all the beers, but that’s not the issue.  By then, two of the three seminars that were being held were already over.  Further, although many food trucks were promised, there were only three, and that lead to waits of another 30 minutes to get food.  So, if you went to the festival thinking you would sample beers for a little while, relax with some food and then sample some more beers, that was not really feasible.

I go into so much detail hoping that someone related to the festival will realize how badly they performed and do better next year.  It does not take an efficiency expert to understand that if you are going to be admitting 1500 people at the same time, you need a large number of people to quickly process them. I witnessed many people voicing their displeasure to the organizers, who attempted to blame it on a fire inspection.  They claimed that the fire inspector had delayed the start so that the grounds could be checked.  But that only begs the question, how did that happen?  And the delay and disorganization I witnessed had nothing to do with the Fire Marshal; there were just too few people assigned to ticket taking.

Click on this photo for a nice panoramic view of the courtyard (and look for the half a person — looks painful):

Once inside, the experience was good, aside from the lack of food trucks (and no bands!).  There was a large number of vendors, pouring some very tasty brew.  But there are many beer fests to be had, and because of the lack of organization, there is no reason to attend this one again.

For a much more favorable, behind the scenes review, check out Dale Conjurski’s review here.  He’ll put up with anything for beer.  (That’s him in the top photo, dutifully serving up some fine Steelhead beers.)

Posted on October 29th, 2011 by Aaron Morris
Filed under: Beer, Beer Facts, Micro-Breweries, News, Reviews | No Comments »

I’ve published a few articles here about the health benefits of beer. It’s a good idea to have that arrow in your quiver of rebuttals when someone comes across with attitude about drinking beer. But I never thought I’d be able to write about the health benefits of cigar smoking.

Believe it or not, there are some health benefits to tobacco use, as set forth in an article published today on Cigar Advisor.  Incredibly, tobacco use can be healthy for your heart.

Read the article for some context. A pack a day smoker is going to suffer far more health detriment than improvement. But limited infusion of tobacco, say like you get from an occasional cigar, can improve your health.

So, the next time you light up and get grief from someone in the area about the smoke, just say, “Sorry, Doctor’s orders.”

Posted on July 23rd, 2011 by Aaron Morris
Filed under: Cigar Facts | No Comments »

Come 2018, you (and Larry Bird) won’t be able to enjoy a cigar at any cigar lounge in Boston or likely anywhere else in Massachusetts. Governor Deval Patrick vetoed a second attempt by legislators to preserve cigar bars in communities of more than 150,000 residents.

The debate followed the typical government methodology for infringing on the rights of citizens. Unless our government has become completely paternalistic, then no one can seriously argue that citizens should not be free to gather and enjoy their cigars. So in these cases, the government looks for an innocent third party that allegedly will be harmed by the activity. In order to eliminate cigarettes in restaurants, they pointed to the poor patrons who will be subjected to the second-hand smoke of others. That argument was fallacious because the free market takes care of that problem. Don’t want to be subjected to secondhand smoke? There will be a thriving selection of smoke free restaurants who want to cater to you. But, okay, an argument can be made that you are possibly depriving nonsmoking citizens of the ability to go to their favorite pizza hangout if you allow the owner to decide whether it is a smoking establishment.

However, even that weak argument fails in the case of a cigar bar. The only people that go there are people that want to be surrounded by smokers. So how do we demonize a cigar lounge? Who is the innocent victim?

The employees. You see, the employees of a cigar lounge had no choice but to work anywhere other than that cigar lounge. Thus, you are forcing the employees to sacrifice their health in order to work, or so the argument goes.

I don’t need to explain to you that this is a ridiculous argument on many levels. The most obvious is that this is not the only job the employees could have, and if it is, you are dooming them to a life of unemployment if you do away with the cigar lounge. Similarly, let’s assume that working in a cigar lounge is a really undesirable job because of the smoke, and that only 1 out of 10,000 workers would even consider working there. Well, you’ve just created a job that will enable people that might be having difficulty finding work to find a job because there is far less competition, just like, I would imagine, coal miners, crab fishers, and public defenders.

Here are some sample quotes from the government boneheads, taken from an article on Boston.com.

“Anybody working in a bar of any kind shouldn’t have to breathe in secondhand smoke in order to make a living,’’ said Michael Siegel, a tobacco control specialist at Boston University School of Public Health.

Patrons can choose to smoke, but employees, who may have only taken a cigar bar job because they had no other options, should not be subjected to secondhand smoke, said Marc Hymovitz, director of government relations at the New England division of the American Cancer Society. Cigar smoke is as or more dangerous than cigarette smoke, he said.

“It comes down to we shouldn’t make people choose between their health and a job,’’ said Hymovitz, adding that state governments should not be able to preemptively set local health standards. “This was not the Worcester City Council saying, hey, we want to allow cigar bars. This was the state saying you have to allow cigar bars, whether you want to or not.’’

Posted on July 13th, 2011 by Aaron Morris
Filed under: Cigar Facts, Cigar Lounge | No Comments »

* Given the right circumstances (i.e., at hot day at the ball park and that’s all the beer hawker has to offer), I have been known to drink Coors.

Posted on June 30th, 2011 by Aaron Morris
Filed under: Beer, Beer Facts, Micro-Breweries, Reviews | No Comments »

Ride the Coast 2011 did not disappoint. A great ride with perfect weather, finishing at Irvine Lake and a fantastic Blues Festival. Being an influential member of the media (that, and I paid an extra fifty bucks), I received a VIP pass that provided a place in the shade to hang out, discounted beer, an amazing lunch and, perhaps most important of all, high-end porta-potties with no lines!

Last year also concluded at Irvine Lake and the Blues Festival, and I don’t know if it was because of the shade or the bands were just better, but I really enjoyed the music much more this year. They were all impressive, but I especially liked Mama Pearl, Shari Puorto, and 2000 Pounds of Blues.

The ride was about 60 miles total this year, all police escorted with no stops. I never get tired of blowing through all the red lights on Pacific Coast Highway, while enjoying the view of the ocean.

I mounted a camcorder just above my headlight to capture the ride. Here is the entire 60-mile ride, compressed down to about three minutes:

Posted on June 28th, 2011 by Aaron Morris
Filed under: Beer, Motorcycles, News, Reviews, Rides | No Comments »

Good to see that Tiger is regaining some sponsors.

Posted on June 27th, 2011 by Aaron Morris
Filed under: Beer, Funny Commercials | No Comments »