Around the world in 30 beers

We had a great time over the break – I had three weeks off, whoop! – we made the trek down to Florida shortly after Christmas. This year, (most of) the Miller clan decided to try the single-gift-exchange approach. We all put our names in a hat and we each picked one person for whom we’d buy one gift. It worked out nicely. Some highlights: we managed to get Dan a nice 4-channel RC helicopter, which we flew-and-crashed all day long until we were just about out of spare parts; and I got a buttload of beers from around the world (thanks Val!!). So I’ll try to document each one here, as I partake…

• Tucher: German, deliciously super-smooth, not a lot of bite but very thirst quenching – the cap said ‘333’ – the number of years they’ve been brewing! You could drink this stuff after working out, it’s so refreshing.
• Kirin Light: another super-smooth one.
• Shiner Bock: hailing from Tommy’s area in Texas, just a little bit of bite, good.
• Peroni: Italian, pretty clean, maybe my imagination but has a bit of a sparkling mineral water flavor to it!
• Peg Leg Imperial Stout from Clipper City Brewing Co (Baltimore): Holy smokes, I drink occasionally and for the taste, so I wasn’t prepared – at 8% alcohol this one got me drunk on one bottle! Yummy tho… yeasty and tasty… maybe one more… :>
• Road Dog Porter from Flying Dog Brewery (Denver): A little hopsy and bitter, the dog has a (tasty) bite.
• Orange Blossom Pilsner (OBP) (Greenville, SC): The orange soda of beers. It works!
• Oxford Hefeweizen (again from Clipper City Brewing): unfiltered, a bit of a metallic taste.
• Carib (“the preferred brew of Trinidad and Tobago”): refreshing, almost as light as Corona
• Hacker-Pschorr (Munich, Germany): another delicious beer from Deutchland, smooth yet tasty
• Carolina Winter Porter (from Carolina Brewery, right in Holly Springs, whoop!): had a draft at the local pub – bitterest beer I’ve ever had – this one was seasonal, Carolina has better stuff…
• Red Oak Amber: again from the local pub; very red, a bit of good flavor
• Stoudt’s Oktober fest (Stoudt’s Brewery, Carol Stoudt “the first lady of American brewing”): Oktoberfests are a nice blend of refreshing and tasty, this one followed suit
• Small Craft Warning (Clipper City Brewing): this is an “Über Pils”, malty goodness
• Santa’s Butt: a big beer (1pt9oz?) from the UK, good and tasty
• Warm Welcome Nut Brown Ale: another big beer from the UK, I love nut brown ales!
• Otter Creek Copper Ale: Another good one (I think! I have to be honest, I need to write right away or I forget!)
• Cold Hop: Good bite, good beer.
• Samuel Adams Black Lager: Delish, full of yummy maltiness.
• to be continued…