Features By the Pint

I recently visited San Francisco on a business trip and made it a point to stop at a few of craft brew pubs I'd heard a lot of good things about. Luckily, the conference I was in town for was held at the Moscone Center in downtown San Francisco.
Earlier this week I attended an interesting event in Waldo... Waldo Pizza hosted a tapping partying for the 2009 Schlafly Imperial Stout. In addition to your pint of bourbon barrel aged Imperial Stout fresh from the keg, Gary from Schlafly was...
Last night I was lucky enough to get an invite to the release party for Boulevard's newest Smokestack Series beer, the Imperial Pilsner. This beer is a collaboration between Steven Pauwels of Boulevard and Jean-Marie Rock of Orval. The style is...



ByThePint.com serves as a repository for my personal beer notes and musings. I don't have any fancy algorithms or science behind my ratings or reviews, I just judge beers based on how much I liked them at the time. As a way to better my understanding of beer, I've set up the reviews section of this site to match the format of the Beer Judge Certification Program. This was done less as a way to lend any sort of legitimacy to my rankings, but rather as a way to get myself to think more analytically about beer when I drink it. Was that a good idea? Will it prove to be too daunting to keep up with? We'll see...

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the site. Be sure to comment on any item you see as exceptional or objectionable.
Cheers!

Recent Reviews

Mischief

I really enjoy going to a new liquor store and finding bottles of beer I'd never heard of before. This bottle of The Bruery Mischief came from a liquor store in Maryland I visited over the weekend. I've had a couple beers from The Bruery before but I've never seen this one on a menu or at a liquor store. The label says the Mischief is a Belgian-style Ale, golden & hoppy. Sounds good to me. I haven't had a bad beer from The Bruery yet, but they have all been, more-or-less, Saison style ales. I'm hoping this Mischief will be something a little different.

Unibroue Quelque Chose

I don't bring many Unibroue beers home with me. In fact, I've only written about one other Unibroue beer and that was over two years ago. I hold Unibroue is pretty high regard and often order a Unibroue when I'm out at a restaurant with a decent selection. For some reason though I tend to glance over the Quebec section when I'm at the liquor store. This bottle of Quelque Chose caught my eye yesterday, probably because it looked unfamiliar. I don't think I've ever heard of this beer before and the bottle text convinced me it was worth taking home. The Quelque Chose is a Dark Ale and Brown Ale blend brewed with cherries.

Heavy Seas Siren Noire

Heavy Seas is an interesting brand. I haven't bothered to do my research into why Clipper City markets these beers as a brand apart from their namesake Clipper City beers... This bottle of Siren Noire seemed particularly interesting because it's not only labeled with the Clipper City name and the Heavy Seas name but it's also part of the "Mutiny Fleet" ...whatever that means. As far as I can tell, that just means it's a bomber rather than a 12 oz bottle, possibily a limited release. Either way, the text on the label that sold me on this beer was the part where it says "Imperial Chocolate Stout".

Blues' Golden Ale

16 Mile is a tiny brewery in Georgetown, Delaware. It's a brewery I'd never heard of from a place I'd never heard of until I moved to Delaware about a month ago. I'd only heard a few mentions of 16 Mile in passing and the reviews were decidedly mixed, so I figured I'd give them a shot and see for myself. The first thing worth mentioning about 16 Mile is that their beers are pretty easy to spot. They come in big 22oz aluminum bottles and are priced about two or three dollars a bottles. It's pretty cheap, which is actually a downside because most liquor stores have these bottles right next to the macro tall boys where they can get lost toward the bottom of the case.

Brooklyn Local 2

I'm starting to appreciate living in an area where Brooklyn beers are available. I may have only had a few but they've been pretty good. My favorite so far has to be the Local 1 I had a couple weeks ago. It was a beer I've wanted to try for quite a while and it surpassed my expectations, it was really great. What I didn't know is that there is another Local big bottle out there, the obviously named Local 2. Local 1 was a light sort-of Tripel/Golden Ale, while Local 2 is a Strong Dark Ale with lots of Belgian flavor. I didn't hesitate to pick up Local 2 when I saw it at the liquor store last weekend.