Thursday!

My friend Dave came home from Germany for a few weeks, so Thursday night, being from Buffalo and all, a group of us decided to go out for some chicken wings and (what turned out to be a ton of) beers.

Despite what you may have heard, the Anchor Bar fucking sucks. The hands down best place for chicken wings in Western New York is Dwyer’s Irish Pub, which just so happens to be the staple hangout for my group of friends. You can get a ridiculous variety of wings there, from chili lime to raspberry barbecue to Jameson. You can’t really beat a $2 Pabst Blue Ribbon pint and 25 cent wings, so if you’re in the Buffalo area, make sure you make a stop at Dwyer’s.

Anyways, when I was ordering my first drink, I noticed a sign with the day’s beer specials and one in particular caught my eye. Southern Tier Brewery, located in Lakewood, New York, has a great selection of brews, some of the best being the Raspberry Wheat Beer (4.6% ABV, golden wheat beer brewed with raspberries) and the Unearthly Imperial IPA (9.8% ABV, amazing hop taste). In the other night’s case, I sampled a pint of a ST brew I’ve never even heard of before- Eurotrash Pilz.

An incredibly tasty 5.3% ABV pilsner, this beer was light on color but heavy on taste. Southern Tier describes the beer:

This beer may have a cheeky name, but don’t be fooled; it is modeled after fine European pilsners to be light and crisp. Aromatic Noble hop varieties, 2-row malted barley and European style pilsner malt contribute to this pale beer’s smooth character.

A summer seasonal from ST, I would compare this to the Samuel Adam’s seasonal take, Noble Pils. It has a clear, crisp taste to it, very hoppy upfront but it isn’t overpowering. A great hoppy/floral smell accompanies this beer and all-in-all I was happy I was able to try it out.

Dave got to pick the next beer, and man was it good. Spending time in Europe, particularly Germany, got him hooked on German beers, so naturally he selected one of the only such brews on tap: Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse.

This great beer, brewed by Spaten-Franziskaner-Brau in Germany, is a 5% ABV hefeweizen that has a fantastic cloudy-golden color and amazing smell and taste. A sweet, citrusy aroma with hints of clove, banana and caramel comes with this hefeweizen, which has a creamy texture and sugary taste to it. It’s not bitter, but it certainly has tartness to it that I personally enjoyed. The taste was exactly like the smell, and I can honestly say that this is one wheat beer I would recommend to any booze hound.

I just want to make a point real quick: this was an all out drinking night; these are not the only beers we drank. In between these great beers, we were chugging Pabst Blue Ribbon and Coors Light. They might not taste all that good, but they sure do the trick.

So after the German brew, I decided (in my drunken mind, that is) to go back to Southern Teir and give their summer wheat beer, Hop Sun, a taste.

ST, whose motto for this particular beer is "summer good, summer better" is actually pretty accurate. This is a great summer-style American wheat ale. A great light golden color fills the glass and the smell is fantastic. A bit hoppy, the sweet malt and citrus (lemon) smell is what overpowers this brew. The taste is great, simply what a summer wheat should taste like- a bit bitter due to the hops, but sweet and zesty overall. Give this light bodied, smooth tasting 4.9% ABV ale a shot if given the chance; you won't be disappointed.

The last pint I tried on Thursday is one of my favorites- Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA. While it might have a funny name, this beer is no joke; it very well could be the best tasting IPA I've ever had, although the 90 Minute and 120 Minute are just as good.

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, located in the fine state of Delaware, has given us some pretty epic beers. From the 60 Minute IPA to the 120 Minute (18% ABV and HOLY SHIT is it hoppy), to the Aprihop (7% ABV with strong citrus and hop tones) seasonal and the rough Indian Brown Ale (7.2% ABV with coffee, ginger and chocolate tones), this is one brewery that knows what it's doing. Dogfish describes the 60 Minute:
 
Our 60 Minute IPA is continuously hopped - more than 60 hop additions over a 60 minutes boil (getting a vibe yet of where the name came from?). 60 Minute is a session India Pale Ale brewed with a slew of great NorthWest hops. A powerful, but balanced East Coast I.P.A. with a lot of citrusy hop character. The session beer for hardcore beer enthusiasts!

This 6% ABV IPA is out of this world. A golden amber color, the floral hop smell is mixed with citrus to make one great aroma. The first taste is very sweet, but the hops kick in almost immediately. You're left with a great hoppy aftertaste, kind of like grapefruit meets a lemon. Of course there is bitterness to it, but this is an IPA for fuck sake! I couldn't say enough good things about this brew.

Wrapping things up, what kind of drinking night could it be without some shots? In our case, we were lucky enough to get some free samples of the new Three Olives Purple, the vodka distilleries newest take on grape booze. The purple colored vodka, I must say, is pretty appealing. I'm a fan of Three Olives Grape, so I was excited to try this one out.

The shot we had was actually pretty good. It came in a bomb-shot glass, with the purple colored vodka in the middle glass and lemonade surrounding it in the outer shot. The vodka wenches also gave us some Pop Rocks to complete the deal. The process was: 1.) Pop Rocks on the tongue, 2) Pound the shot, 3.) Enjoy.

It tasted pretty great, grape vodka with lemonade is a fun combination and was very tasty. The booze itself was pretty smooth and I definitely wouldn't mind picking up a bottle one of these days.

Stay tuned for more beer reviews and drinking stories!

Eurotrash 7/10
Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse 8/10
Hop Sun 7.5/10
60 Minute IPA 10/10
Three-O Grape 7/10