The Spring Beer Tourey: # 3 SA Noble Pils vs Lagunitas Hairy Eyeball

      From the Farms, Hops and Reds Region we have two of the hops. # 3 seed  Sam Adam's Noble Pils against the # 6 seed Lagunitas Hairy Eyeball.  Pils pours out a clear gold with a citrus, herb, floral hop nose with a touch of caramel.  Hairy pours out a reddish brown with prune, floral mocha and caramel.  As I thought last year Noble Pils is a perfect beer to teach people about hop flavors.  You can distinctly taste citrus, herb , floral and other hop notes.  That being said the hop notes are about it besides some background caramels.  And it's a tad bitter on the finish.  Hairy has way more IBU's than Pils, but much less hop dominance.  This has big rich flavors of dried fruit, mocha, caramel, jam and a bit of smoky tang.  I'm not sure what it is but it's good. Noble Pils is a good fresh citrus herb refreshing beer, nice.  But not as nice as The Hairy Eyeball.  Hairy is a big winner her and worth a try.  Drink it up ,Yum.

The Spring Beer Tourney: # 4 Vinyl vs # 5 Pandoras Bock

      The # 4 seed is Magic Hat's Vinyl, which has a stupid name and a bizarre bottle, but I liked it last year.  The # 5 seed is Breckenridge Pandora's Bock, which has a great name and a lovely bottle.  Both pour out a light brown amber.  Vinyl has a rich caramel, mocha and citrus nose.  Pandora has a slightly sour caramel and herb nose, kind of weak.  Vinyl has quite a bit of mocha to its caramel, with some tingly citrus herb.  It's good, but I remember it being better.  Pandora has caramel, mocha, honey and a nice rich mouth feel.  There's some hop tingle it's nice and creamy and very good.  The Vinyl seems to improve a bit it has some body and it's flavorful.  But Pandora has a full body and  big complex flavors.  I'll try some sip for sip action.  The Vinyl can't hold up here, Pandora is to strong.  Pandora's Bock moves on easily to the Elite Eight.

The Spring Beer Tourney: On to the Second Round

      Well the first round is over and we have 16 beers left, and 8 have gone home.  There are some intriguing match-ups in the second round, and I think the tops seeds are big time in trouble.  The ten seeds, farmer's tan and Mardi Gras bock, are both pretty damn good.  But, I was wrong so many times last year.  Throwing in the scabs kind off changed the equation. Because all those beers, DT, Nugget Nectar, Blue moon Spring and Shiner would have been destroyed in the next round.  So the seeding is screwed, but at least I don't have to drink that crap again. Well here are the match ups for round two.

      Farm, Hops and Reds                           Bocks  Plus

# 1  Garde Dog  vs                                  # 1  Anchor Bock  vs                  
# 10 Framers Tan                                    # 10 Abita Bock    

# 3  Noble Pils  vs                                   # 3  GB Maibock  vs
# 6  Hairy Eyeball                                    # 6  Yuengling Bock

# 2  Sam Adam's Red  vs                        # 2  Big Thaw  vs
# 9  Dundee Red                                     # 9  Mendocino Bock

# 4  harpoon Red vs                                # 4  Vinyl
# 5  Red Hook  Mudslinger                     # 5  Pandoras Bock

     This looks like some fine drinking for me.  Follow along at home by opening and pounding two beers at once.It's your duty.

The Spring Beer Scabs: # 8 Aprihop vs # 9 Mendocino Bock

      After the dreadful Blue moon and Shirner I'm pretty excited about these scabs.  We have Dogfish Head's Aprihop and Mendocino Spring Bock.  Aprihop was good last year and was in the final eight, Mendocino made quite a good Winter Beer, so this should be good.  They both are an identical amber.  Aprihop, of course, has a big apricot, caramel and herb nose.  Mendo Bock has nice caramels and lots of citrus.  Aprihop is big on the herb, real big, I get the apricot a bit , but the herb is a bit much.  We'll see if it calms down a bit.  Mendo Bock is really big with caramel, fruit, honey and citrus.  A nice bock indeed.  Aprihop does get better as the massive herb subsides and the fruits and caramels come out.  Still the Mendo is a very complete beer, I don't know that Aprihop can compete.  I drink them down to the last sip and Mendo is the clear winner.  But, Aprihop is an interesting beer worth a try if you like your apricots.  That brings the first round to an end, next we set up the brackets for the exciting second round.

The Spring Beer Tourney: # 8 Blue Moon Spring vs # 9 Shiner Dortmunder

      Blue Moon made a pretty good Spring Beer last year, but this sounds terrible, Spring Blonde Wheat Ale.  Shiner Dortmunder could be good although I can't figure out exactly what it is.  Blue moon is light gold with some caramel, citrus and biscuit.  Dortmunder is gold with dull caramel and citrus.  Moon is fizzy and crisp with almost no flavor, at least there's no bad flavor.  Dort is sour caramel and barnyard, like an awful farmhouse ale.  I can't believe how lame these are, no flavor vs bad flavors.  these are dogs, get them the fuck out of here I can't stand the thought of having to drink either one of these again.  Since I used replacements in the other region, I'm doing the same here.  Next, the scabs.

The Spring Beer Tourney: # 8 Saranac Red vs # 9 Dundee Red

      This brings us two off your standard reds, Saranac Irish Red and Dundee Red.  First off, they are both red.  Saranac has caramel, light mocha and citrus herb on the nose, while dundee is a bit more on the citrus.  Saranac is a classic red and is just what I thought caramel citrus herb with a hint of mocha.  It's a little too damn fizzy.  But the Dundee is so fizzy it caused to burp almost immediately, annoying.  Dundee Red has really the same flavor profile just maybe weaker, although its hard to tell through the fizz.  Once the carbonation calms down, and it took a while, neither of these is very exciting.  They are decent reds, but I would not buy either one of them.  Oh well, Dundee is the winner here, as soon as I could extract the flavor from the fizz.  Just a bit better.

The Spring Beer Scabs: # 7 HS Aarsh vs ST Farmers Tan

      Since the #7 and #10 seeds from the Farm, Hops and Reds Region were so F-ing bad, they have been replaced.  So we bring in two big beers to replace them.  Heavy Seas Aarsh Imperial Red Ale will take the # 7 seed. While Southern Tier's Farmer's Tan Imperial Farmhouse Ale takes over the # 10 seed.  Two imperials head to head.  Aarsh pours out a light red with big caramel, citrus and a touch of yeast on the nose.  Tan pours out a slightly cloudy straw with a strong honey,caramel, and citrus herb nose.  The Aarsh has big yummy flavors here with mocha caramel,and citrus hop throughout, that's good.  Wow Farmer's tan is very impressive as well with nice crisp citrus herb, honey, and caramel.  The Aarsh has a nice body with a pleasant 7 % ABV.  But Farmers Tan has a nicer 9 % ABV, point Farmers.  I really like these both and Aaarsh is the best red I have ever had by a long shot.  This is as close as it gets, but Farmer's Tan pulls away at the end to win this one.  I would recommend both these beers unreservedly.  Again now we have a very good 10 seed, oh well.  Better than me having to drink crappy beer.  Oh yeah, fuck those losers I threw out, those beers sucked.