Drake's 1500 Pale Ala

Brewer - Drake's - San Leandro, CA
Style - American Pale Ale
Alcohol By Volume (ABV) - 5.2% (12oz bottle)

At first glance:
"A Pint A Day Keeps Scurvy Away" Sounds like something I needed to check out, so I did. Dark bottle, couldn't gauge the color.

At first nose:
Hoppy, sweet & aromatic. Upon my pour, it showcased a beautiful medium-darkness orangey-red pale ale hue.

At first taste:
It did say it'd be smooth on the bottle, and at 5.2%, I should've known it would be light. The flavor is still good, but not as robust as I would've liked.

Aftertaste:
My tongue is happy, with just a small but of sweetness. Just what to expect from a very light pale ale.

Upon further inspection:
Nothing special. I don't think I'd buy this again, but it was worth the try. Drake's says that since this style was so well recepted, that they continued with the "special recipe" (my bottle was from their first run of the 1500 series, now they have a different label). I guess people wanted something softer, not me.

Other Notes:
Not about the brew: Sorry this has been the first post in far, far too long. I must get back into this with more effort.

D. Carnegie & Co. Argang 2004 Stark Porter

Brewer - D. Carnegie & Co. - Stockholm, Sweeden
Style - Baltic Porter
Alcohol By Volume (ABV) - 5.5% (1pt .9oz bottle)

At first glance:
Here's the story; this was another trip to Stuffed Sandwich (the #9 place to drink a beer in the US, as according to BeerAdvocate.com), as Chris said before, we could do and whole article just on the place, hell most of my reviews are going to come from here. Anyway, this beer is the beer that inspired this weblog, so please forgive anything I leave out as I didn't really have a structure to go by. So back to the beer, after ordering a delicious french dip, I asked Sam for a nice porter and this is what he gave me.

At first nose:
It had a smokey nose to it with hints of coffee and maybe chocolate. A nice complement to the sandwich.

At first taste:
I didn't bring a glass, which I need to remind myself to do from now on, so I drank it straight from the bottle. It was strong, a little bitter with a solid coffee taste. It's a little more of a coffee note than i like, but it did go down rather smoothly.

Aftertaste:
With as strong as the nose and taste was it had a surprisingly light aftertaste of coffee and a little chocolate, a very good complement to the sandwich.

Upon further inspection:
A bit on the pricey side, but well worth it. Next time though, I'm bringing a glass so I can see the color and the head instead of drinking straight out of the bottle.

Other Notes:
I googled what "Argang 2004," turns out "argang" is Sweedish for "vintage." Not bad for a six year old beer. I know that the picture is of a '97, but its the best one i could find online.

Check out Stuffed Sandwich, I guarantee you'll love it.