1001 Beers: Session Lager

Beer Number 80: Full Sail Session Lager

You would think that living in Washington State, I would have had this beer more times than I have had. This is my first experience. But I always thought they had cool looking bottles. So unique. There are breweries like Sierra Nevada that have short bottles but not like the ones Full Sail has.

Full Sail Brewing set out to revive pre-prohibition lager when it released Session. It is an all-malt lager that is availableonly in squat 11-ounce (330-ml) bottles known as stubbies. "A bunch of us in the brewery always talked about how much we like the look of the stubbies, and how you just didn't see them anymore,"

So, this beer as well as the bottles had a little place in history.



This beer reminded me exactly of all the lagers that have came before it. Granted, I have never had a pre-prohibition lager before. I tried to brew one before, but that was my first or second brew and it ended badly! So, I really have no idea what to expect.

A deep golden straw color with a very light, white head. The nose had that characteristic malt sweetness of a lager. My first sips reminded me of the classic beer qualities that people refer to. Smooth, crisp, clean, and probably refreshing after a long hard day. Almost BMC-esque, but you do not get any of that green apple taste or anything. I did not care for this beer at all though.

I wonder how it compares to other pre-prohibiton lagers... or what others ones there are out there. I cannot name any off the top of my head but there have to be some. I did not even know this was one originally. The quest continues.

921 Bottles Of Beer To Go!

Cheers!

1001 Beers: Black Gold Bourbon Imperial Stout

Beer Number 67: Full Sail Black Gold Bourbon Imperial Stout

Since I am going back home to The Great Pacific North West very soon... in a couple of days, I thought it would be appropriate to drink a few beers from there. Luckily there are two, that I currently have in my cellar, from back home... Well, 2 hours South. They are both from Oregon but that is not going to prevent me from trying them. I have a few Washington beers I am going to knock off while I am there, too.

Black Gold Imperial Stout is released every year, but the barrel-aged version is only available every other year, after it has spent about ten months in bourbon barrels. Full Sail's brewers began experimenting with aging beer in barrels when they put two beers in bourbon ones back in 1997.

The text goes on to say that they originally released this beer aged in a barrel and in stainless to let people taste the differences and they now release a barrel aged beer every year, this one and Top Sail Porter. Alternating, of course.



This beer seemed to have poured pretty thin. I guess that was just an optical illusion though. It carries on a very nice, and balanced full body with just a trace of foam around the glass where you expect the head. It appeared a bit more on the pour, rather big and fluffy but quickly dissipated. You get straight bourbon on the nose but it is a little sweet and it is questionable whether I am getting oak or not. I feel like it should be there but I am trying to convince myself to see it.

In the taste... not a lot, in my opinion. Mostly bourbon. Pretty malty and maybe a little bit of almond. Very smooth and finishes dry. Not a lot going on but it is nice. I think too much else would be overpowering on top of the bourbon but I do wish this beer carried a little more on it. It is good but very plain and simple. Then again, that is one of the things that beer should be. Full Sail did a great job.

934 Bottles Of Beer To Go!

Cheers!

Beth's Cafe

Let me start off by saying that I am crazy and I have eaten the 12 Egg Ham & Cheese Omelette 4 times, and succeeded 3 times... The 4th, I finished everything but the Hash Browns and toast. One night I was watching a Man vs Food Marathon and he gave me good ideas about places that I want to eat as well as grossed me out a few times with his "accomplishments".

Speaking of which, Chunkys Four Horseman Burger is exactly what I will be eating once I get some privileges in San Antonio... Look it up, they don't really have a website, at least I cannot find one. But imagine an insanely hot burger with Ghost Chili Peppers among others... I want! Apparently only 3 People have succeeded in this challenge. I plan to suffer through it :D

So, the thing that annoyed me about one particular episode is that he was in my back yard and failed at something I have done time and time again. I had to step up and beat him at his own game.

Another side note, I noticed that the host of the show was getting fatter and fatter as the show progressed. In the marathon, the earlier episodes, he was a pretty clean cut guy. Not big, but not small and had this pretty kick ass leather jacket. As the show went on, his jacket got smaller on him and he seemed to stop taking care of himself... and turned into a fat man HAH!



So here it is. The Southwestern Exposure. 12 delicious eggs, filled with chili, steak, salsa, sour cream, cheddar cheese, hashbrowns, on top of a bed of hashbrowns, and topped with toast... Sounds like an orgasm #INMYMOUTH

I started off pretty strong and it reminded me of the times I have done this before. This one was way bigger than before but I was pretty confident I could do it. Bite after bite went down and I was powering my way through it. My strategy was to eat fast, otherwise I would get full.



After being about halfway through, I knew I was screwed... I felt like I did after finishing 9 eggs of the other omelette. I then pulled out a full 6oz chunk that one would normally order alone at any other restaurant. That pretty much sucked. I haven't touched my toast yet at this point but I was just about finished. I ate that steak and kept attacking the eggs. It was sooooooooo gooooooood, but so painful hahah! Everyone there told me that since I made it this far I had to keep going but it was hard. I powered through just over half of what I had left and then pulled out another steak chunk...



It was at this time that I was done. Out for the count. After seeing that I almost puked in my mouth a little bit... I didn't though, I just accepted defeat and asked for my box... not that I really wanted to take it home either though. Nikkee drew this awesome picture of my failure and added the final words to it that showed the world how much I sucked :p



There seems to have only been like 3 eggs left... and 2 pounds of all the stuffing... I can't believe that I wanted a beer after this. One of my old college friends wanted to go next door to this Australian bar and I wanted to drink so Australian beer so this worked out perfectly. I don't know why I thought this was a good idea though... not that it ended well but it took me over an hour to finish the ONLY Australian beer that they had in the whole bar... and it was not even on tap... I think they should revoke the license on this place...



It was just a BMC bar that had some good beer, i.e. Full Sail, but I came there to drink Australian beer. I only had one and left. Oh, well. I do not think my body could have held anything else. Coopers Sparkling Ale was not that good... 2/5 at best. I just went home and lounged out since I was stuffed as hell after this. YAY ME!

Deschutes & Hair Of The Dog

I wish I could have made it to Bend and check out the brewery there but I did not really want to make the 5/6 hour drive vs the 2 hour drive. Parking was ridiculous but who cares at this point. I had another Beergasm as we drove by the place.



It was really hard picking out what I wanted to drink. I ordered 2 taster trays since they did not have a preset taster menu and each came with 6 beers. They had about 20 on tap at the time. What made it really hard is I wanted to taste all of my favorites at the source, but they had so many limited and special brews that are only available at the brewpub too... I don't even think I looked at the food menu. I just ordered the special that my server told me about.

He was a really funny guy and was confused as hell when it took me about 15-20 minutes to decide on 12 beers. I decided to break it down by Malty and Hoppy Brews... sort of.





They had a weird beer with lemonade in it and I was not a fan HAHA! but I am so happy that I finally got to try Conflux 2. I wish I could have had one but 2 was great. It was very mellow and flavorful without being overpowering for an IPA. I loved it, again.

I really hate Deschutes for releasing Black Butte XXIII. I am sure all the previous years were amazing as well, but this was the first one I had. It totally ruined Black Butte for me. Not saying Black Butte is not good, it is actually one of my favorite Porters but after having XXIII, it is just not the same. The flavor profile seems out of this world. I wish it was a year round release but I understand why it is not.

Again, I ran into another brewery that did not have any growlers :( this made me very sad because I was so looking forward to getting one from here. You know, being it is one of my all time favorite breweries. I will make it out to the Bend Pub one day though and do the tour and get a Growler! To make up for my misfortune though, I bought a Bottle of Black Butte XXIII and the pint glass :D It will suffice for now...

My next stop was Full Sail Brewing. I have never had any of their beers but decided why not go there. There are so many breweries in the area and I could have gone to anywhere and I did not do enough research to just move on. Not that I thought Full Sail would have been a bad choice.

We got to the location and guess what I found out... I WAS AT THE RIGHT PLACE!!! but they do not have a tasting room at their MAIN brewery... sucks... I am so glad I did not pay for parking even though I drove around for like 10 minutes trying to find a spot... Since we were just in Portland for the day I figured that we would just head home (and later that night I found out that people were heading into town for BBC11... Beer Bloggers Conference... ugh, if I knew that I would have planned this trip so differently. Oh, well... there is always next year right?

Traffic was out of control so instead of staying on the Highway, we got off and headed to Hair of The Dog because it was right off of the exit. I recognized their labels but have never had any of their beer. I ordered their whole collection of Beers, aka Walk The Dog and The Little Dogs Too.



I heard some great stories about their beers and their brewing schedule, (5 brews in one day to fill the fermenter) but the beers did not really stand out to me. Some of them had this taste that I had before in the Hermitage Brewing Beers that I cannot stand. They were a lot more minor in these brews. I have to figure out what it is... I have not had it often though.

I paired the beers with their Chuck Norris Duck Wings. I was told they were supposed to be really hot but meh, they were nothing really. They had some good flavor though. I think the description said something about kicking me in the mouth and punching my throat.

I thought these small samples were very doable but I do not think I could have a whole pint of any of these beers... that being said... I asked for a Growler :p they were out of glass as well, but I did take home one of their glasses. Again, another trophy for my collection.