Last week was hectic, what with surprise yard sales, planning my mother's 50th birthday party and some retard shooting off a high powered multi-round rifle at 9am in the neighborhood. However, as promised, I have procured the beer for this week as well as next week.
I didn't think Bevmo had a great selection, and frankly it's sort of like a starbucks-esque chain. There's tons of them close to the house. However, I went here here to their website and found myself very surprised at the amount of selection. There's another place in Los Angeles which boasts and even MORE impressive selection of both import and domestic beers, called Beverage Warehouse. Prices between the two are roughly the same, the only difference is the amount of selection as well as the huge quantities of other things; e.g hard alcohol and wine. I emailed them to ask about other lesser known beers, which they failed to carry and Bevmo failed to have stocked at the moment, they ended up messaging me back with a ridiculous amount of distributors that would have it. Of the two, if you want incredible selection; beverage warehouse is a good bet. If you want prompt fulfillment of an online order, Bevmo.
I ended up ordering 3 stone 22oz's, 4 Baltika's, a 6 pack of Moose Drool, and a 6 pack of Bigfoot Barley style for around 45 bucks on the internet. Within 10 minutes I received an email confirming my order for pick up, pretty fantastic. You can also order by shipment, which isn't nearly as quick, but it helps if you don't exactly have a plethora of Bevmo's in your area. Now, the Moose drool and Stone were almost exactly the same price at the Warehouse, however, you cannot order from their online dealio--but you can have it delivered!
Onto the beer however...
Moose Drool is by Big Sky Brewing, a company based in Montana. It honestly reminded me so much of Newcastle that for a moment I wondered if I had been duped into buying it rebottled and repackaged. Frankly, with the price of a 12 pack of Newcastle versus a 6 pack of Moose Drool, you're better off buying the Newcastle price wise. Taste wise, it's pretty much Newcastle (then again Moose is also a brown ale) with the picture of a moose that my friend Ara and I believe has taken sick. If your into Moose puke, by all means, buy the beer for the label. If your a broke college student, I don't recommend spending 8.99 on a 6 pack anywhere. I was actually kind of disappointed to be perfectly honest, it's a good substitute in areas where you can't get Newcastle, but frankly it's sort of a waste of money really. Don't get me wrong, if offered it, I would accept and drink it quite readily--but as a party staple or a personal choice--no.
Stone Smoked Porter is by Stone Brewing which is LOCAL! Well, sort of. It's in San Diego/Escondido, you may also know them for their Arrogant Bastard beers as well. For roughly 3.99 a 22oz bottle, this stuff is amazingly good. It's a dark brown color (it looks black in the photo but I assure you, I had one today and it's dark brown, so don't be afraid) tastes sort of stouty but it doesn't kick your ass like stout might. It's good a sort of bready taste to me, like sourdough maybe, it reminds me of the Old Rasputin--only minus the creepy pedo lookin Russki on the label and without the long lasting stouty flavor. The taste is strong at first but it's not crazy overpowering, it's definitely worth a try if you don't know whether or not you'll like or enjoy Stout. I'd repeatedly buy this, not only for the price but for the taste. I mean it really blew me away. Now, my stepdad seemed to think it tasted like Newcastle as well, but he usually enjoys a N/A Beck. If you're a broke college student and you can't afford Old Rasputin 4 packs, pick up some of these babies, I'm tellin you, it's a good buy at a good price. One of these days I'll have to visit their brewery and sample their assortment of beer, bottles of it are similar but nothing beats what the brewery tap's up. Yes, tap beer is similar but different to it's bottled siblings, which is good if you can afford a keg or an afternoon in Escondido, if not--stick with the bottle and save the extra money for a trip down there. Good buy, glad I got to review it and plan on sharing it with some friends tonight.
Speaking of friends, I have had an interesting idea to sort of promote a more homey down to earth feel for this blog. You see, everyone's tastes are different--while I may not be a raving fan of the Moose drool, someone else might love it to death. So a few of my friends and I have decided that every 2 weeks, there will be in addition to the regular blog, a vlog or "video blog" (in case you are not familiar with the term) with some of my friends. After all, beer should be shared with everyone and not just enjoyed alone after work. You'll get to hear different opinions on 4 different beers every two weeks from average joe's like myself and like you.
If you have any suggestions on beer choices, places to go to in Los Angeles, or a brewery in your state you think people would like, leave me a comment.
Next Week!
Big Foot Barleywine
&
Out of St. Petersburg Russia, the Baltika No.9 Extra Lager
(btw, you can find numbers 1-9 at Bevmo for very cheap
See you all next week!
Looking forward to the Baltika for sure.
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