Doctor Duvel

I'm like a sommelier, but for beer.

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Location: Upstate New York, United States

Favorite Beers: Orval, Samuel Smith, Duvel, Hennepin, Oude Gueze, Chimay, Dogfish Head, Anchor Steam, and anything made by Trappist monks.

Sunday, November 28, 2004

Is anyone surprised?




You're California!

In many ways, you are larger than life and almost defy description. You
certainly love to shake, rattle, and roll with the best of them. You have a generally
sunny disposition, but are capable of resorting to harsh extremes when pressed. You are
more likely than most to become rich, or famous, or perhaps both. While you have the
golden touch in so many regards, your respect for actors is a little over-zealous. This
endless faith in actors needs to be terminated.



Take the State Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Saturday, November 13, 2004


9. Posted by Hello


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This is the mess from bottling a small batch of beer. Posted by Hello

Tuesday, November 02, 2004

jittery escapism

So to soothe my jangled election nerves, I thought I'd do a side-by-side comparison: Smuttynose Shoals Pale Ale versus the Lebowski Brewery's Dry Run Pale Ale (a.k.a. my first beer). Visually they're quite similar: The Smutty is a tiny bit redder, mine a little more on the orange side. My beer is only slightly cloudier, as the Smutty is bottle-conditioned too. My beer also retains its head a tad better in the early going. In terms of bouquet: Smutty--herbal, tea leaves, very bright nose, not all that obtrusively hopped. Dry Run--much thicker, hoppier nose, a bit more perceptible alcohol (I'm guessing perhaps 1 percent higher), grapefruitier, herbal, a whiff of eucalyptus maybe. The difference is becoming slighter as they warm up--the Smutty is getting a little richer and creamier as this useless exercise proceeds. The Smutty has a wonderful palate--it strikes me as having a very pronounced tea-like quality that reminds me of Young's Dirty Dick Ale. Would be fair to say that this is a more English pale ale, mine more American (in style that is). So Shoals Pale Ale is a splendidly balanced, integrated beer from start to finish. My beer is a little rougher on the palate, but not coarse--it's pretty highly hopped and thus has a heavier body. Part of the moral of the story is undoubtedly that the Dry Run needs another couple weeks in bottle to really amalgamate itself. But despite being a little rougher on the palate and in the finish, it tastes fairly decent next to an acclaimed micro. Smuttynose is inevitably a more precisely articulated liquid statement, but I was worried my beer would taste like shit by comparison and it didn't. Woo-hoo.