UNLOADING THE NOTEPAD RATINGS

I’ve got what must be a totally bewildering habit to anyone who’s witnessed it in public; when I’ve finished a new beer for the first time, I reach for my cell phone and go into its “notepad” section and quickly score the beer for the purposes of this blog. In other words, as soon as I’m done, I rate the thing by pecking into my phone. It looks really cool, I'm sure you'll agree, and the ladies love it. Anyway, the list is getting full so I need to clear some out by throwing up some quick reviews.....here goes.....well, top honors this week go to my heroes at MOYLAN’S and their WHITE CHRISTMAS BELGIAN-STYLE WIT. Fantastic beer, darker than any other witbier I’ve ever had, and just bursting with juicy flavors like vanilla and orange. I’m not surprised, because just about everything these guys touch turns to gold, but 8.5/10 means go drink one now.....At my company’s holiday party the choices were pretty limited, so I reached for my first PILSNER URQUEL in many years. I couldn’t finish it; just tasted like a slightly smoother macrobrew than, say, BUD LIGHT, and pretty bitter at that. 4/10 – not too good for what some (marketers) call “the greatest beer in the world”....I also wasn’t too bowled over by DRAKE’S BLONDE ALE (5.5/10) nor by 21ST AMENDMENT BREWING’s WATERMELON WHEAT (6/10), both tried within the past couple weeks. Both just barely scratched the surface of moderate drinkability, with the former, a kolsch beer, being too syrupy & not refreshing enough, and the latter just being a strange, only vagulely satisfying concoction that felt light on both watermelon and wheat.

While I was at the 21ST AMENDMENT BREWING CO. yet again last week, I gave a third try to their HOLIDAY SPICED ALE, this time on tap just like a couple weeks ago, and what do you know, it was terrific again, maybe the best holiday ale of the season, quite frankly. With the three different tastes I've had of it, I'd reckon it comes out to an 8.5/10 overall.....Finally, as part of this SAM ADAMS holiday 12-pack I bought, I braved the SAMUEL ADAMS WINTER LAGER and was glad I did. This rich, toffee-flavored malt-heavy bock warmed the cockles of my liver and tasted like they were really trying to brew up something special. I gave it a 7/10, but there's another one waiting in the fridge that might just have to be consumed this eveing. That's it - I think we're caught up, and now I can clean out the cell phone's memory!