PTU Snooty Beer of the Week Returns

I took a little break from the Snooty beer listing but am coming back this week with one that is a great way to get introduced to Snooty Beer: Captain Lawrence Liquid Gold. This is one of the best featured beers that were available at Hop Devil Grill during the Hater J birthday celebration.

This beer is a good one to introduce to your friends that seem to drink Miller Lite (sorry M@d Scientist) every time you go to a bar with real beer. While relatively strong (6% ABV), it has a light color and isn't as bitter as some of the more hoppy snooty beers like an IPA. You can start feeding your crappy beer drinking friend these and the light color and somewhat less bitter taste will lull them into a false sense of security until they realize this stuff is twice as strong as their normal light beer crap. Next thing you know they will be pre-gaming with Dogfish Head World Wide Stout.

If you want to read a more detailed technical analysis you can find that here, but otherwise just pick some up this summer.

PTU Snooty Beer of the Week: When Animals Attack

This week for the Snooty Beer of the Week I'm going with one of the first snooty beers I ever tried. It was at this hole in the wall with sticky floors that I first made the mistake of drinking a whole liter of this beer...click below to find out what the elephant is hiding...

PTU Non-Hip But Good Hall Of Fame #2

This week we are changing things up by allowing you to guess what the Non-Hip But Good spot of the week is.  Please study the picture above as it will provide a valuable clue to the answer. Check below to find the winner after the break...

Let Them Gamble!!

I'm not a gambler and I think my gambling addict friends are a little weird when they sit around and play 5 online tournaments at the same time. However, I think it is a complete waste of government time and money to shut down all the online poker sites in the U.S. and seize everyones money. I'm not sure why the government hasn't figured out that you can't legislate morality, but people are going to gamble regardless, and trying to stop them is a fruitless waste of money. How are my friends supposed to live without that annoying sound the computer makes when they shuffle the cards?

While we are at it, I'm going to make the case we should legalize most drugs and prostitution as well. People have been smoking rock, paying for yamming action, and gambling for thousands of years. Why fight nature? In today's economic environment, it seems like an even better idea to legalize, regulate, and tax the hell out of these three things.

People concerned that teenagers are going to start shooting heroin and banging prostitutes in increased numbers should realize that legalization and regulation would probably cut back on the availability of this stuff among minors. When I was at college and 17 years old, I had to walk a mile in the snow with a bad fake ID to get a six pack of Natty ice. The liquor store was even tougher to crack. But if I wanted a dime bag of weed I could make a phone call at any time and have it delivered to my room in ten minutes. The illegal stuff bypassed the system and was much easier to get.

A quick look at some rough numbers indicates that on an annual basis, the U.S. tax payer would save about 100 billion dollars if we legalized all three of these things. This includes the savings from getting rid of enforcement as well as the benefit of taxing these things at a rate similar to alcohol and tobacco.

What do you think, shouldn't we stop wasting time and money trying to repress human nature?

PTU Snooty Beer of the Week: Dogfish Head World Wide Stout

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Dogfish Head is one of my favorite snooty breweries. They consistently make great and creative beer, and for beer snobs the Dogfish Head World Wide is a special treat. I had the opportunity to visit the Dogfish head brewpub in Delaware a few years ago, and I had a great time until I blacked out and woke up hung over the next day. From what I remember both the beer I had and the chocolate vodka were excellent.

World Wide Stout is a very complex and heavy stout, brewed with a ton of barley. It is not for the faint of heart, as depending on which batch you get the ABV can be anywhere between 15 and 20%. If you enjoy stouts and don't mind a very dense high alcohol content beer, this is THE BEST.

Pittsburgh Police Try To Tase Some Sense Into Fan

The other night an unruly Pirates fan was tasered by police in Pittsburgh for 'using excessive foul language and disrupting others enjoyment of the game'. There are so many jokes here I don't even know where to begin. First of all the victim is wearing what looks like a Dream Team Jacket (circa 1992) or possibly a Starter Jacket. Can we really say that anyone enjoys living in Pittsburgh or would enjoy going to a Pirates game? They haven't been worth watching since Andy Van Slyke was roaming centerfield and Barry Bonds had the head size of a normal human being.

I give props to this guy. We don't really know what he actually did since the video starts too late but he sure can take shots from the cops. He barely seems to notice that he is getting whacked by clubs. The Pirates have a tough enough time getting people to come to the stadium as it is. The last thing they need is for the police to beat the sense into the few remaining fans.

This is the second incident this season after Dodger fans beat a Giant fan in the parking lot after the game on opening day. I read that the guy in the latest incident was very drunk, which make sense when you see the video. This begs the question.....Should stadiums put tighter limits on drinking at games? I, for one, completely disagree. These people that are drunk and cause problems are the small minority and they should not ruin it for everyone else that wants to drink. There should be tougher penalties by law enforcement for people who become violent at games. Or maybe beer companies should lower the alcohol content (even more than they already do) on the beer they sell at stadiums. What do you think?

PTU Snooty Beer of the Week: April 6, 2011

A little bit late in the season, but I didn't want to wait until Halloween to mention Fisherman's Pumpkin Stout from Cape Anne Brewery in Gloucester MA. While many posts here at PTU may bash Boston sports teams, we'll still take some good beer no matter where it's from.

This beer is unusual in that most pumpkin beers are ales, so the fact this is a stout is unique. It's kind of like a Guinness with homemade pumpkin pie mixed in. Except for maybe the Dogfish Head Punkin Ale, this is by far my favorite seasonal pumpkin beer.

We actually discovered this beer about 5 years ago at a beer festival in NYC. We went to the Cape Anne booth and they suggested we try this pumpkin stout that was an "accident". They didn't think anyone would like it, but it turned out to be their most popular beer at the show. The following year we were happy to see that it is now available each fall. Worth trying if you still see one sitting on the shelf from late last year.

Taco Tuesday Recap: A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

It has been a long night this taco Tuesday. Despite a valiant effort by M@d Scientist, 25 tacos were not consumed by one man. When all was said and done, a new unofficial record was set of 18 tacos, all beef, all crunchy (and this time we are not exaggerating). The only thing that helped with the aftermath was a shot of some mysterious Italian liquor made with vegetables and sugar designed to help the digestion. In any case, I'm sure our fake Mike Lupica will fill in all the sappy details tomorrow, but in the meantime, the pictures you will find after the jump tell a magnificent story....it all culminates with the 18 taco achievement being posted on the Hop Devil Grill chalkboard, although the photo we have is blurry (at best).

Special thanks to our waitress Ciera from SF who used to work at Red Lobster (so be nice to her!).

PTU Keeping it Real Hall of Fame Nominee: Crazy Horse 40's

While writing about the Snooty beer of the week, I got nostalgic about some of the keeping it real beer I used to enjoy prior to high class beverages like Ommegang. One stands out as being the king of keeping it real beer: the Crazy Horse 40 ounce.

Crazy Horse was that special type of 40 that would put even heavy hitters like OE to shame. Sure you had Big Bear as the cheapest 40 and Colt 45 as the classic standby, but NOTHING got the job done like Crazy Horse. We used to notice that no two bottles of Crazy Horse were ever the same, and you could tell how good one would taste by seeing how much white residue was settled at the bottom of the bottle. Although the alcohol content was similar to other 40's, there was something special about Crazy Horse that would really get you twasted.

Unfortunately, much like the St. Johns Redmen, political correctness caught up with Crazy Horse, eventually leading to it's demise. Nice piece of trivia according to "Modern Drunkard Magazine":

“In compensation for this insult and defamation to the spirit of Crazy Horse, G. Heileman Brewing Company, one of the early brewers of Crazy Horse, settled a lawsuit with a group of Native Americans by apologizing and compensating them with seven race horses, 32 Pendleton blankets, braids of tobacco and sweet grass."


Guess this wasn't enough to save the most keeping it real 40 of all time.....RIP CRAZY HORSE 40's.

PTU Snooty Beer of the Week: Inaugural Edition

For the inaugural edition of Snooty beer of the week I'm going with one of my all time favorites, Three Philosophers from Ommegang. Keep in mind that for this PTU award, the beer should fall into a snooty category, so we will leave out some beers that might do well in a "keeping it real" beer category.

When I first graduated from drinking Labatt Ice during college, Ommegang was one of the first breweries that got my attention with some great snooty Belgian style beers. I believe the first time I came across this beer (and lots of others) was at this hole in the wall on Bleecker Street.

You can go to the Ommegang website here if you want to read all the technical brewing details, but here are the basics: It is basically a strong Belgian style ale mixed with some cherry lambic for a little sweetness. It will also knock you on your ass while you are drinking  it due to it's 9.8% ABV content. If you really want to step it up, this beer is also available in a limited edition cave aged edition as well. If you like beer with flavor but a little bit of sweetness to counter the bitterness (and also like to get drunk), this beer is for you.

This Day in PTU History

March 22nd is a day that should be recognized for its' importance to all American citizens. On this date in 1933, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt legalized beer and wine, forever changing the lives of man, woman and child for the better (in December of that year, the ban on all alcohol was lifted). Sure, we all could have found a way to get blasted before booze was legal (and it looks like everyone's having a fun time on Boardwalk Empire) but imagine going to a baseball game without having a cold beer with your 8 dollar hot dog, or (God forbid) a baby shower with a bunch of tight ass law-abiders who wouldn't want to risk that creepy FBI guy raiding their awful little party, that was completely dry! No Heinekens or cheap bottles of red wine to escape the mind-numbing gift-opening? Horrible. I say we make today a national holiday and bump off Valentine's day or Christmas or some other less important day from the calendar. Twasted Day!

FDR might be most conservative's least favorite person next to Michael Moore, but I think regardless of political preference, we can all agree that a life without legal alcohol would be hell. A toast to FDR for making March 22nd a special day in PTU history.