Beer: Sapporo Premium

Brewery: Sapporo Breweries, Ltd. Tokyo, Japan (Brewed in Ontario, Canada)

Overview: Sapporo is Japan's oldest beer, and now has a worldwide brewing and distribution network.

Aroma: Strong malty flavor, very little hop aroma.

Appearance: Crystal clear, pale gold. Has a white head and shows moderate carbonation in the rising bubbles.

Flavor: This lager is a very malty beverage.  Some hop bitterness.

Overall Impression: To be honest, Sapporo is not my favorite beer in a light style, perhaps because its full malt flavor is quite a meal in itself.  That said, though, Sapporo is an excellent sidecar to sushi and other light Japanese fare.  The malty flavor helps cut any heat from your wasabi and and is a great example of the Japanese lager interpretations.

Vitals:
Style Japanese Lager (perhaps German Pils?)
Price $7.99/six-pack
Found In Grocery Store Beer Aisle
Alcohol Content 4.9% by volume
Availability Year-round

Next Week Happy Hour Review: Delirium Tremens

Beer: Widmer Brothers Broken Halo IPA

Used with permission
Widmer Brothers Brewing Co.

Brewery: Widmer Brothers Portland, Oregon

Overview: Broken Halo IPA is Widmer's standard India Pale Ale offering (as opposed to the Imperial Deadlift IPA).

Aroma: Very clean hops aroma, smells heavily of citrus hops.  Very little malt smell, though a little malty sweet smell does cut through.

Appearance: The beer is a clear, golden color.  It has a white head that quickly dissipates.

Flavor: The nice citrus hops impression from the aroma carries over to the flavor, bringing a grapefruit-like flavor to the beer which tends to hide any additional flavor profile.

Overall Impression: This beer comes across as a drinkable IPA, aimed at bringing the hoppiness to a more mass-marketable brew.  I do enjoy it as a whole, but it really lacks much towards being a standout in the IPA world.  Hopheads will try this out and think it lacks any bitterness whatsoever.  A nice attempt, but not a shining example of what I would want to drink as an IPA.  Rather, this would make a good post-lawnmowing beer, or just one for sitting around the house.  Good introductory beer, though, as an IPA to those that don't normally drink lots of craft brews.

Vitals:
Style India Pale Ale
Price $7.99/six-pack
Found In Grocery Store Beer Aisle
Alcohol Content 6.0% by volume
Availability Year-round
Bitterness 45 IBU

Next Week Happy Hour Review: Sapporo Premium

Site Updates

Just a quick site update - I've reformatted the default beer review template, and the wine review template and I've started to edit existing posts to conform.  Might take me a while to find all the information, but hopefully it will make it easy to read and a quick comparison between them.  I've also removed "ratings" because they're mostly just numbers that are made up, and the words speak to the beverage better.  Beers and wines that I particularly recommend will be listed somehow in an applet of sorts.  Finally, I will be soon trying to schedule regular content (once a week for happy hour, perhaps?) and reformat the blog into a better template.  Oh, and I'll be putting together some pages (eventually).  No promises on when any of that will happen.

Wine: 337 Cabernet

Vineyard: Clay Station Vineyard Monteca, California

Bouquet: Need re-taste to note

Appearance: Ruby coloring

Flavor: Need re-taste to note

Overall Impression: Really good - should purchase this one again. First glass had a weird sweetness on the finish, but after breathing, it got extremely good and had very full and complex flavors.


Vitals:
Vintage: 2007
Varietal Cabernet Sauvignon

Price $12.99
Found In Grocery Store Wine Aisle

Wine: 2005 Chateau Graves Du Privera Medoc Cru Artisan

Vineyard: Château Graves Du Privera
Wine: Médoc
Vintage: 2005
Comments: Not a very heavily flavored wine, this has hints of black cherry, strawberry, and blackberry in the bouquet. The strawberry is missing on the tongue, replaced with a slight dryness. Very weak finish, but easy to drink. Opaque and deep reddish purple in color.
Cameron's Rating: 83
Meredith's Rating: 82
Overall: Might buy again for personal consumption, but not a heavily flavorful wine nor a completely easy-drinking wine. Would not seek out as a favorite wine to drink.

Wine: 2005 Due Mari Montepulciano D'Abruzzo

Vineyard: Due Mari
Wine: Montepulciano D'Abruzzo
Vintage: 2004
Comments: Somewhat acidic and dry to the mouth, a somewhat lighter wine. Could not detect heavy flavors in the bouquet. Ruby color, somewhat translucent. Nice easy drinking wine.
Cameron's Rating: 86
Meredith's Rating: 85
Overall: Would buy again - nice easy drinking wine.

Beer: St. Arnold Texas Wheat

Used with permission
St. Arnold Brewing Company

Brewery: Saint Arnold Brewing Company Houston, Texas

Overview: So it is appropriate that the first beer reviewed be both a microbrew and a Texas beer. I had thought for quite some time since starting this that I would have nearly an impossible time selecting the perfect first beer to review. After all, I had to pick a beer that I loved, and give it ridiculously high marks so that no other beer could compare. In addition, I had to pick something that would give credibility to my selection of beer, avoiding American Lite Lagers in favor of some unique Belgian or otherwise.

As it so happens, I decided it was time to review a beer, and so I selected the beer that I happened to be drinking at the time, which happened to be a St. Arnold Texas Wheat. I'm particularly pleased to select this beer first as St. Arnold brewery was a sponsor of the first beer competition that I placed in.

Aroma: The aroma has almost a light apricot or other fleshy fruit to it, but there is no predominant stone fruit flavors in the beer itself, which is a plus. I have been known to enjoy fruit beers, but for a wheat beer, you would not want any overwhelming syrupy flavors, while a light fruity taste does smooth out the beer for quick and easy drinking.

Appearance: Color is light and clear.

Flavor: Formerly St. Arnold Kristall Weizen, this is a very easy drinking beer that is refreshing for a summertime beverage. Overall, it is a light flavored beer, with a slight fruity element to it. Carbonation is moderate to high, I could barely hold it in my mouth without a good bit of foam building up, but it does not interfere with the enjoyability of this beverage. There is a slight floral hoppiness to the beer, but it does not persist.

Overall Impression: Overall this is a very light and easy drinking wheat beer that I would happily down a six pack of on the back patio anytime from March to September here in Texas.

Vitals:
Style American Wheat Beer
Price $8.99/six-pack
Found In Local Liquor Store
Alcohol Content 4.9% by volume
Availability Year-round
Bitterness 18 IBU