Speaking of Beer

Some beers to find between binge eating and binge spending:

Samuel Smith’s Winter Welcome 2006 - 2007 [alternatives: a malty "winter warmer" like Red Hook's Winter Hook or Young's Winter Warmer]

and

Anchor Christmas Ale (AKA “Our Special Ale”) 2006 [alternatives: a spicy dark beer like....Full Sail Wassail, maybe? This one's tough...]

‘Tis the season to watch animatronic caribou look from side-to-side in your neighbor’s yard. Let’s drink like it!

This week’s beer quest is a little more complicated than usual. First up, there’s

Samuel Smith’s Organically Produced Ale. [alternatives: Butte Creek Organic Ale, Samuel Smith's Old Brewery Pale Ale, Bass Pale Ale]

Beer #2 is actually TWO beers:

North Coast Brewing’s Old Plowshare Stout (available through Whole Foods) and/or Old No. 38 stout. Ideally, both stouts are the way to go, though the Old Old Plowshare is the “official” beer #2.[alternatives: Three Floyds Black Sun Stout, Shipyard's Blue Fin Stout, and--if you insist--Guinness]

I won’t be coy, the theme is organic beers. So if a local brewery does an organic pale ale and/or an organic stout, that’s plan A.

Next week, Speaking of Beer’s going dark:

Xingu Black Beer [alternatives: Sam Adam's Black Lager, Saranac Black Forest, New Belgium's 1554]

and

The Czar, from Avery Brewing Company. [alternatives: Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout, Victory Storm King Stout, Samuel Smith's Imperial Stout]

Fans of black beers, rejoice! The rest of you…well what the heck’s wrong with you?

OK, things aren’t exactly going to be easy next week. I’m guessing about 5 % of drink-alongers will be able to scare up both of these brews, so get creative with the alternatives if you can’t find the Show Beers. Or, alternatively, get something completely different that you really enjoy drinking and just have that while you listen.

Enough apologizing, here are the beers:

Fraoch Heather Ale from the Williams Brothers Brewing Company [alternatives: if any local brewery produces a "heather ale", and you can't find Fraoch, go for it!]

Adam from the Hair of the Dog brewing company [alternatives: maybe a good doppelbock like Ayinger's Celebrator, or a nice barleywine like Young's Old Nick or Flying Dog's Horn Dog]

If you’re playing “guess the theme”, I’ll give you one hint: I’m a big fan of zombie movies.

OK kids, dust off that lederhosen and scare up these two beers:

Hacker-Pschorr Original Oktoberfest [alternatives: Spaten Oktoberfest Ur-Marzen, Ayinger Oktoberfest Marzen, Paulaner Oktoberfest]

and

Widmer’s OktÅ? Festival Ale [alternatives: Red Rocket Ale, Bell's Amber Ale, Full Sail Amber]

Warm up the oompah band and start pounding the schnitzel. If I haven’t offended you yet, you’ve probably gotten the theme…

Next week’s beers are:

Unibroue’s Éphémère (Apple) [alternatives: New Glarus Apple Ale, ...maybe Lienenkugel's Apple Spice. I suppose in pinch a hard apple cider will do, though you should really look for an apple beer]

and

Lindeman’s Framboise [alternatives: Celis Raspberry, Liefman's Frambozenbier, any "raspberry" or "framboise"]

Guess the theme? (I should hope so…)

OK, when I said I’d take a break from west-coast beers, I kinda lied. Still, at least on the next show I’m spreading the love a little. The beers are:

Shipyard IPA [alternatives: Samuel Smith's India Ale, Fuller's India Pale Ale, Summit India Pale Ale]

and

Lagunitas IPA [alternatives: Stone IPA, AleSmith IPA, Bell's Two Hearted Ale]

The theme is probably apparent, but hey, it’s a good one!

More North American West Coast micros (I’ll really try to take a break from this theme next time, promise!).

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale [alternatives: Anchor Liberty Ale, Stone Pale Ale, Alpha King Pale Ale, Bell's Pale Ale]

Bridgeport IPA [alternatives: Victory Hop Devil Ale, Snake Dog IPA, Saranac India Pale Ale, Samuel Smith's India Pale Ale]

Hopheads out there, this is a good week for you!

This week, things should be relatively easy for the North American crowd, and hopefully not too tough for everyone else either. The beers are:

Redhook ESB [alternatives: Fuller's ESB, Victory ESB, Bridgeport ESB, or any other "ESB"]

and

Red Tail Ale from the Mendocino Brewing Co. [alternatives: Full Sail Amber, Bell's Amber, Fat Tire, or anything called "amber"]

Both beers are generally “ambers,” but the Redhook alternate should be a little less full-bodied than the Red Tail.

Hey all you drink-alongers…I’ve got some bad news. Show #10 is going to change things up a little, and while there are going to be two beers tasted, they aren’t available…well, pretty much anywhere. However, one is an Imperial Stout (relatively common), and the other a Belgian IPA (relatively rare), so perhaps with a little digging you can unearth examples of one or both styles just to “get into it.”

Not that anybody is fretting, but if you are, stop. This is a temporary shake-up, and we’ll settle back into the old format with Show #11.