Dixie Blackened Voodoo Lager

To celebrate my recent trip back home to The Big Easy, let's tip our hat to the tasty dark majesty of New Orleans' own Dixie Blackened Voodoo Lager.  This is a really easy beer to drink, a great transition brew for those of you weening yourselves off of the more traditional big three (Bud, Miller, Coors, ya ya ya).  It's kind of  light-tasting, with hints of toasted malt, some caramel, and some sweet dark fruits, perfect for putting out the fire caused by all that spicy gumbo, or cooling off after working outside all day.

The brewery was pretty much destroyed in 2005 thanks to Hurricane Katrina and the looting that ensued thereafter, but other breweries around the country are still pumping out the jams so to speak though different contracts, and God bless them for that.

Bounty Shmounty.

Guinness Black Lager

I may be a day late, but in honor of St. Patrick's Day (and since this was the free beer du jour at the SXSW day party i went to on Friday), bring on the Guinness Black Lager.  The beer is crisp and pretty tasty, much better than the majority of your more traditional lagers.  In a lot of ways, it almost feels like a lite version of a thicker dark beer, like a porter or a bock or something.  At any rate, these went down very smoothly on a warm day outside in the sun.  Keep it in mind on your next picnic.

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Weedwacker

Very similar to the Fancy Lawnmower, Saint Arnold Brewing Company's Weedwacker is a great crisp beer for the spring time.  The brew is basically modeled after a Bavarian hefeweizen, but tastes a tad fruitier.  There's definitely a hint of banana in there which makes the beer all the more refreshing.  The Weedwacker is easy to drink, probably even for the non-beer drinkers out there, the perfect choice for some weekend day drinking or a back yard cook out.  Way to be Houston.

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Milk Stout Nitro

I know i already wrote about Left Hand Brewing Co.'s awesome and delicious Milk Stout, but they've now upped the ante with their Milk Stout Nitro.  It's every bit as tasty as its predecessor, but the addition of the "nitro" ingredient, or bottle, or whatever keeps the head from getting out of control.  Creamy, sweet, and bitter, it's just great.  And here's a video on how to pour the perfect glass.  Pour hard.



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Black Metal Imperial Stout

Black Metal Imperial Stout from Austin's own Jester King Craft Brewery is just the thing to kick start an evening, or wind the night down to.  The 750 ml. bottle of pure happiness has the all the things you would expect from a great stout:  the dark black color, the mix of subtle chocolate and pepper flavors, and the 9% alcohol by volume content.  The head on this beer looks like a dessert, and you can taste the dark chocolate flavors in the foam.  Awesome.  So, pour yourself a big glass and sip away.  If anything, the bottle artwork alone is a reason to try this beer.  And on a side note, they use harvested rain water from the hill country in all their brews, and that's pretty cool.

Visit the brewery:  Jester King Craft Brewery

(I swear i will try something from outside of Texas next week.  I've already got friends giving me suggestions.  Let me know if you have one too.)

Iron Thistle Scotch Ale

The boys and girls over at Fort Worth's Rahr & Sons Brewery have gifted something truly great to the world:  Iron Thistle Scotch Ale.  The brew is a perfect mix of hops and malts, with hints of chocolate and caramel in a smooth, smooth Scotch style ale.  It goes down so smooth in fact, that you don't realize that the beer's 8% alcohol by volume until you get up...and have to steady yourself for a minute.  Try it with a good brie.  I recommend this to anyone and everyone.  At last Fort Worth can be known for something great (besides a TCU drug scandal).

Visit the brewery:  Rahr & Sons Brewery

Mesquite Smoked Porter

And now for something completely different.  The brewers at Ranger Creek in San Antonio decided that pairing a beer with food was a pain in the ass.  So, why not just combine the two?  That is essentially what you get with their Mesquite Smoked Porter.  All the regular porter flavors are there...the hint of chocolate or coffee or whatnot, and the hop spices, but you'll also detected a smokey flavor in the back of your palette that tastes just like Bar-B-Que.  It's like you've been grilling on a charcoal grill using some mesquite to smoke the meat.  That spicy taste you get in the back of your throat and in your nostrils from the smoke is basically the aftertaste of this brew.  The first pint is awesome because it's different, though i'd probably stop after that and move on.  But, it's definitely worth a try.

Check the brewer's website.