Presenting… the Winners of Beerfest Contests!

Joshua won the Guess What’s in My Pint Contest rewarding him with CDs by UUVVWWZ and The Rural Alberta Advantage.

ginacuce and BBBellezza won the ReTweet Contest.

ginacuce won a copy of the Strictly Background soundtrack.

BBBellezza won a copy of The Young Werewolves CD.

and…

our final contest, the Beer Quiz, was won by NJ native Patti Bright with a score of 7 correct answers. Her prize is a Killian’s bottle opener keychain, a bottle of Apollo, and CDs by Paulson and LA Symphony.

Here are the correct answers to the quiz (questions can be found here):

1. Hamm’s

John Cusack routinely drinks decent beer in his films. Nothing high end, but never piss, either… often local or small-ish breweries.

2. Git-R-Done

I’m sure this isn’t very good, but it’s fun nonetheless.

3. Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Holy Grail Ale

Unfortunately the beer is not nearly as entertaining as the movie, which itself is quite overrated actually.

4. Goldings

Mentioned in the previous contest post… used in most English ales.

5. Fuller’s

The only British brewery allowed call it’s bitter an ESB is Fuller’s. Many American breweries have bitters called ESB’s, but in Britain the name is a trademark

6. 1987

While Yuengling is the oldest active American brewery, the beer that put them on the map is the same age as my little sister.

7. Ballantine

Now Ballantine is a malt liquor consumed by college kids and drunks, however it was once a highly regarded pale ale.

8. Death Penalty

In some texts it is noted, specifically, that offenders were to be drowned in the swill they had created by watering down the valued beverage.

9. Miller Lite

While it cannot be denied that Miller Lite is crap, it can also be noted that the Philadelphia eagles will be the cream of the crop in the NFC in 2009, relegating the Giants to #2 in the East and displacing the Cards as the NFC champs.

10. Charlie

Charlie was a great one off brew by Weyerbacher… so great in fact that they gave it a permanent name and a place on the seasonal brewing list.

All prizes will be shipped by Wednesday. I hope everyone enjoyed TPM Beerfest. The final post for this week long extravaganza is actually being featured on my wife’s blog, an excerpt is below but the full piece can be found here.

As a beer geek, I enjoy craft brews, almost exclusively. One thing that many geeks like me try to do is buy local. Supporting local brewers supports your local economy and provides you with fresher beer. It’s the best way to do it.

Luckily, I reside in Pennsylvania, home of MANY great breweries. On my webpage, thepaintedman.com, I intend to feature a semi-regular column on my favorite PA craft breweries. I figured, I will share my first of such columns with the readership of this fine website, as well.

Today, I the Chubby Hubby, want to highlight my favorite three PA breweries, Weyerbacher (Easton), Stoudt’s (Adamstown), and Yards (Philadelphia).

I had intended on getting a few things up today, but a busy day of cleaning the house followed by a date with the Missus kept me from getting it all done.

Therefore… I am going to postpone the results until Monday morning and extend Beerfest through Tuesday. Honey Lager review and PA craft brewery piece on 3 of my faves (Weyebacher, Stoudt’s, and Yards) are still coming by Tuesday AM.

The site will then return to it’s regularly scheduled program… including reviews of Harry Potter, the new Rootbeer EP, JustMe, and more.

Since no one visits the site over the weekend anyway, I’m taking tomorrow off… well, not really… I’ll be cleaning the house more and spending time with the in-laws. For now, enjoy this:

To Brawl… definitely!

Yards describes Brawler as follows:

Boasting superior taste and champion flavor, the Brawler is crafted in the style of English session ales. This malt-forward, ruby colored ale is great for when you want to go a few rounds.

While I’m not so sure I’d call it “ruby” colored, I would agree that it is a malt-forward beer of superior taste and flavor. I poured my bottle (chilled for over a week in my fridge) into a regular pint glass. This was not my first taste of Brawler, but it was the first I had stopped to take notes on. Here are the tasting notes from my Beer Journal:

Appearance:
thepaintedman rates this:

The translucent dark amber/brown color is beautiful. I know this is my type of beer from the start. No sentiment, pours with a small head that it maintains throughout.

Aroma:
thepaintedman rates this:

The beer lacks in this department. While there is nothing to deter one from wanting a sip, nothing wows me either. Mild aroma, slight sweetness, no hints of diacetyl that I could tell.

Flavor:
thepaintedman rates this:

This is by no means a big beer, full of big flavor. However, the flavor has a beautiful and simple overall quality. Smooth throughout, very malt-forward, but not overpoweringly so.

Palate/Mouthfeel:
thepaintedman rates this:

This is what my Aunt Debbie calls a chewing beer, but I wouldn’t class it as such. It’s a tad chewy, but heavy or stout-like at all. It has great body and, as noted above, is very smooth. It does have an ever so slight aftertaste that isn’t entirely desirable. It’s not really noticeable until later into the pint.

Overall Rating:
thepaintedman rates this:

Overall, an excellent session beer that makes me wish I was sitting at an English pub chatting it up with a few old chaps. Definitely worth a drink or six!

Thanks for reading. Cheers!