Tonight I sampled Sam Smith Oatmeal Stout. This has to be one of the best Oatmeal Stouts out on the market today. It clocks in at 5.0% abv which isn't too bad for a stout. It is obviously almost black in color. Very smooth, velvety and mellow with chocolately and malt notes. Very lightly carbonated. It has a unique bitterness to it. I give this 5 out of 5 beer chips. Gotta get your hands on one of these. Costs about $56.00 a case and worth every penny! Damn, those English in Tadcaster know how to make a good stout!

Ahhhh....Hop Nirvana straight from the tap....

Finally everything is ready to go...just need to adjust fridge temp and co2 pressure. I am trying to keep my keg temp between the recommended temperatures of 36-38 degrees, and a c02 pressure between 12-14 psi.

See...I told you I put it on the side ha ha, second handle coming soon....
I opted to go for a side mounted spout instead of the door due to the fact that my wife and I still use the freezer. If I had done the door the tap handle would probably interfere with opening and closing of the freezer door, so the side it is!

Hole drilled, everything hooked up ready to...just need a co2 tank and of course...my 1/6 keg of Troeg's Nugget Nectar which was featured earlier in this blog.

Shelves out...rest of beer on the door

Da fridge.....

So I just opened up the conversion kit for my fridge. mmm...draft beer....

This is the Dreamweaver wheat at 4.8% abv. Nice and cloudy the way it should be. This beer has a yeasty yet fruity taste to it. Can't pin down the fruit but man does this go down good! A perfect summer beer for sure. Has almost a spicy taste to it....pepper? I dunno but this beer is worth a try at 3 out of 5 beer chips!

Oooh this is the Rugged Trail Nut Brown Ale! I got a keg of this for my wedding. This beer went over with the crowd very well! At 4.4% abv I knew my guests would not be getting out of hand ha ha. This beer is very dark colored yet not as heavy as it looks. Definitely a good session beer with it's smooth taste and hints of chocolate notes. More on the sweet side than bitter which is just ok with me! 4 out of 5 beer chips!

Next up is the Hopback Amber. Delicious!! What can I say...an amber colored full hopped brew worthy of the Hop Gods. Well balanced. Nice malty yet very hoppy taste. Very floral/hoppy aroma. Damn...this is truly a great brew. (6% abv) 5 out of 5 beer chips!

First was the Troeg's Pale Ale. (5.4% abv) This brew is copper colored with a medium body. Good amount of hops in this which creates a very floral aroma and citrus taste. mmm 4 beer chips out of 5!

Tonight (Monday Feb. 23rd) I am trying out a variety pack from Troeg's Brewing Company. Since Steve is in Pittsburgh for a couple days I went at this alone.

Uno's

My wife Kim (on the left) and her friend Amanda aka Red. Red hasn't been to Alcatraz yet but close! ha ha

Here is Steve, always up for an adventure.

Ahh...one of my standby beers. If I can't decide on anything I usually will go to this...I'm such a hophead! haha Anyway, this beer has a full body to it with a deep amber color. At 5.6% abv, this classic is one of Sierra Nevada's flagship beers. Complex in character, you can tell that generous amounts of hops were poured into this beer as the fragrant aroma and spicy taste warms the taste buds!

Saturday Feb. 21, Unos....We decided to come to Uno's because they normally have a great selection of taps (and bottles hidden along a wall that I think nobody knows even though there is glass that you can see through). Plus all of the bartenders are very cool! Today I decided to go with the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

Friday Feb. 20th we had decided to go to a bar in Altoona called Fatty's Pub to see my friends The Wasp and Red Fury play. Wicked....except for that funny blonde chick that was hammered dancing around aimlessly. All in all a good night! They play at Fatty's every Friday night from 9pm-?? Come check them out!

After the Pens won...and I finished my brown ale, I decided to have a victory beer. What better beer to choose than the classic pale ale! Marzoni's Patchway Pale Ale has a medium body with a wonderful hop aroma. It is very nicely hopped up. Great Pale Ale. 4 out of 5 beer chips! Way to go Bill!

ps. Bill Kroft is the Brewmaster here at Marzoni's! I will later do a feature on him!

So the first thing I did was order their current "brewer's choice" which was a Brown Ale. mmm delicious!!! An excellent session beer to watch hockey games! Nice brown color with some excellent lacing on the glass. This beer has an excellent malty/caramel taste similar to most brown ales I have had. Definitely worth giving a try! 4 out of 5 beer chips!!

Let's go Pens!! (Pens eventually won 5-4!)

Thursday Feb. 19th I decided to meet Steve after work to finish watching the Penguins game against the Montreal Canadians at Marzoni's. Marzoni's is the local brew pub located in Duncansville, PA. They have 6 regular taps and usually 2 rotation seasonals. They normally are brewing a Locke Mountain Light (3.7% abv), Amber Lager (6.1% abv), Highway 22 Wheat (4.7% abv), Avalanche IPA (6.9% abv), Patchway Pale Ale (5.5% abv), and their Stone Mason Stout (6.1% abv).

Me enjoying the awesomeness of the Special Double Cream Stout!

Here is Steve enjoying his beer!

The next beer we are going to review is Bell's Special Double Cream Stout which is available at the Brew Zoo during the winter months. It runs about 6.1% abv. It is very, very smooth. It has a very mellow, robust notes and sweet taste. Excellent finish! We give this fine brew 5 beer chips out of 5!

Troeg's Nugget Nectar

Today we are trying 2 different beers...1 of course is what you see...the Troeg's Nugget Nectar which is a Feb.1 release which is available for about 2 months. This is an Imperial Amber Ale (more like an Imperial IPA by the taste of it). It is a very hoppy beer with a wonderful aroma that you can smell as soon as you pop the cap off. The ibu's are around 93ish which we pleasantly surprised with. Very hoppy yet not as bitter tasting as one would expect. Well balanced for sure. Definitely one of the best beers I have ever had. Runs about $37.95 plus tax for a case. We used the Troeg's 12oz. glassware bought from Troegs.com. We give this beer 5 beer chips out of 5!

Partner in crime!

This is my partner in crime Steve Harker...he will be going on many tasting adventures with me!

Brew Zoo

Here is the Brew Zoo......a beer lover's paradise!

A little bit about me...

First you should know a little about me! I am the Manager at Cassidy's Brew Zoo. We have the largest selection of beer between Pittsburgh and Harrisburg. Over 600 different kinds of beer come and go through our store over the course of a year. We sell brand named macro beers such as Miller, Bud, Coors, etc.... as well as a huge selection of Craft beers and Imports. I have tried over 1200 different kinds of beer in my short lifetime. I am orginally from Hollidaysburg, but have travelled around the country taking up residence in Scottsdale, Arizona and Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. I have also played on a travelling roller hockey team that went to NY, NJ, OH, etc... During all of this time I consider myself lucky to be able to tasted many different beers. So here I am blogging about it so maybe I can teach something to somebody out there about beer! I am an advocate of beer, not a beer snob! There is no such thing as a bad beer, it's just there are some that taste better than others! Enjoy!

My first blog!

Hello everyone! After years of contemplating doing this I finally said what the hell and decided to get the ball rolling. This is my first blog and basically what is going to happen is I am going to take you with me on my adventures with beer. I will be traveling, tasting, rating, and writing about beer! So let the adventures begin!