Mould's Beer Blog

I've had some really great and interesting beers over the last week.  In this new post series, I'm going to highlight my favorite beers from the last week or so.  Hope you enjoy reading!  Suggestions and comments are always welcome! Mission St 2013 Anniversary Ale (Trader Joe's) Steinhaus Brewing Co. (brewed at Firestone Walker in Cali) 8.5% ABV I wasn't really sure what to expect from this beer, but it took me by surprise.  They say it is is blend of three different brews, and when it all comes together the final product is an imperial brown ale.  There was lots of malt, a little roast, and a full, creamy body.  I was surprised how fast I made it through the whole bottle.  There wasn't the slightest hint of the 8.5% ABV.  If more brown ales tasted like this, I would probably drink them more often. Mission St. 2013 Anniversary Ale from Trader Joe's Hitachino Nest XH Kiuchi Brewery 7% ABV Kiuchi Brewery's Hitachino Nes...

This is the first article in a new series of posts, where I will periodically choose a section from the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) style guidelines , write about the style, and then drink and publish my tasting notes from some of the commercial examples given by the BJCP.  Now, I'm not sure if I will ever actually take the exam to become a beer judge, but I think this will be a fun exercise to learn more about beer! Fair warning, I will not be doing the sections of the BJCP style guidelines in any sort of order.  Whichever kinds of beer I am craving is what I will be writing about! Strong Scotch Ales (also known as Wee Heavy) comprise sub-category 9E in the BJCP style guidelines.  They range between 6.5% and 10.0% ABV, and have a light copper to dark brown appearance.  Obviously, strong scotch ales are all about showcasing the malt.  While studying this style, I found it quite interesting that the brewers ferment out the wort at cooler temp...

Evening everyone!  I hope you all got to have a relaxing weekend.  There were lots of beer festivals in and around NJ over the weekend.  If you attended any, let me know how they were, either in my comments below or any of the different social media outlets.  For myself, I didn't attend any.  I never seem to catch wind of them with enough time to plan the day out.  I need to work on that!  Kerry and I did attend a small beer tasting near Princeton at McCaffrey's Wine and Spirits, where we got to try several different stouts (including Brooklyn Black Ops), which were all poured by Jym, the @brew_thusiast.  Check him out on Twitter! Stone Brewing OAKED Arrogant Bastard Ale Tonight I am popping open Stone Brewing Company's OAKED Arrogant Bastard Ale.  It is loosely defined as an American Strong Ale, and has been aged a bit on wood chips.  One thing to note on this one, it is date-stamped by Stone to be best by 11/01/12, so it is ...

It was almost the middle of August, and I found myself just feeling really lazy and disappointed with myself that I had let the summer go by without upping my fitness game into gear.  I decided it was time to do something about it.  Being a sucker for GPS tracking and fitness statistics, I decided to give Runkeeper (www.runkeeper.com) a try.  I have an old smartphone, an HTC Eris, which can really slow down trying to run a lot of newer apps.  The Runkeeper app works great on the Eris.  Very simple to use, didn't slow down my phone, and it's helped keep me active, the most important thing! In August, I jogged/walked/cycled a total of 22.4 miles.  Since I only began on August 13, that's really more for half a month.  Most of my runs were for little more than a mile, but I was happy with my results.  I just tell myself that it's going to be slow going, and not to lose motivation!  If you're interested in following my Runkeeper, just go to th...