A Light Beer from Iron City

Yes, my blog has been a bit quiet lately. As I have mentioned before, it is the holiday drinking season. Only a few days until it is completed. It feels like it was more of an endurance challenge than the Winking Lizard World Tour of Beer.

As I am rounding the bend to the finish line, I am taking time to go back and appreciate the beers I have enjoyed over the years. Last time, I reminisced about the Sierra Nevada Christmas Ale. Today, I am thinking about an old stand by IC Light from the good folks at Pittsburgh Brewing Company (also known as Iron City Brewing).

They do have a few other good selections such as Augustiner - it reminds me of Yuengling Lager.

Not only is IC Light one of my favorite light beers, it is amazing how innovative a company they are. Here is a list of a few I really like:

• inventors of aluminum beer bottles
• First Snap Top can, produced in conjunction with Alcoa, revolutionized the beer and soft drink industries 1962.
• First Twist Off Resealable cap, 1963.
• First brewery to print scenes honoring local sports teams and individuals.
• First draught beer available in a can, Iron City.
• First light beer, Mark V, made in 1976

Of course, I am from Pittsburgh, so there is a lot of hometown pride in there for me as well. That is amplified because I know the stories of close calls when the brewery almost shut down. If they need to sell more beer to keep brewing after 142 years, I think I can have a couple bottles to keep the production going.

Cheers!

The Long Forgotten Christmas Ale

Daily life seems to go by at a break neck pace, especially at the holidays. In the midst of this crazy pace, I have forgotten many things. Life is quite lovely in the way it reminds us of the things we have tucked away in our memories.

I attended my company holiday party on Friday. At the holiday party, there was Rouge Ale - Santa's Private Reserve and Anchor Steam Christmas Ale. Both were really good brews, maybe not as good as Great Lakes version. However, they stood up on their own.

With all of these Christmas ales hitting the market, I seem to have forgotten the first seasonal ale that started the tradition for me. As I was getting beer for my own holiday party, a lovely 12 pack of Celebration Ale was staring me down in the beer aisle. It has been a long time since I had the good stuff from the people at Sierra Nevada. How could I be so forgetful. I enjoy their Pale Ale all year long.

I even have a special connection from the days when I first graduated from college and was extremely poor. A good friend of my sisters introduced me to Sierra Nevada. She also had the good grace to bring along some Celebration Ale to a party my parents were hosting one year. (nothing better than the girls kicking the boys butts at Taboo and making them sing Christmas carols in front of the tree).

I fell in love with the Celebration ale. It was really expensive; and I didn't really have the resources to buy a case of it. I was more of a Rolling Rock for $10 a case type of girl back then. I guess people and their tastes grow up.

At any rate, I was doing some Christmas shopping at a local mall. As I walked in, I spotted a wad of cash on the floor. I picked it up and looked around. There wasn't anyone near me. I was tempted to take it to the mall concierge desk, but I was enough of a veteran of the mall to know it would never make it to its rightful owner.

I stopped for a minute. Maybe this was a small miracle - a gift. There was about $30 in the stack of cash. That was just about enough money to buy a case of Celebration Ale. In general, I didn't have this kind of money and it did happen to fall into my path.

Maybe I won't go to heaven for taking found money and buying a case of beer with it. I know I definitely enjoyed having those beer with my friends. Maybe I am OK with that when I think of these famous lines.

"In heaven, there is no beer. That is why we are drinking here."

Sierra Nevada Summer Time Sweetness

I happened to have an impromptu meeting with AneLyn on Sunday at the Winking Lizard. We happened to be meeting up on some top secret business we were doing.

First, it is important to note that she did add a beer to her world tour. She has also come up against the road block of the last dozen or so beers. There are beers that she has been avoiding throughout the tour - ones she has NO desire to drink. Well, the time has come. I suggested starting out with one or two really nasty ones at the start of each visit and just ending with her favorite beer - even if it is not on the tour.

Speaking of not on the tour, the beer of the month is Sierra Nevada's Summerfest. I had asked the waiter about the beer, and although he was very cute, he asked "Do you drink Miller Lite?" with a crappy little edge I didn't particularly like.

At any rate, I do drink Miller Lite. I also really like Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (one of my first forays into pale ale). To be honest, my favorite beer style besides Guinness (see below) is India Pale Ale. I like the kickiness of it.

I had faith that the folks at Sierra Nevada Brewing would not let me down. Besides, you got a companion pilsner glass with the purchase. I decided to go for it. It was a great beer. It has the nice easy quality of a light beer, with kickiness of a pale ale. Sierra Nevada got it right. It was a Sunday afternoon in the sun beer if I ever had one.

The moral of this story, drink the Summerfest, and don't let cute waiters deter you.

SEE BELOW
Guinness - now I know you are thinking it is not a beer style because Guinness is a stout and that is beer style. Let all of us be honest. If you have ever been to Ireland and had a Guinness, you know that it is a category to itself.

You might be saying that you have had Guinness and the place that serves it takes a lot of pride and they serve a lot of Guinness. I am glad you are drinking the good stuff. However, anyone who has set foot in the Emerald Isle (even the British bit that is attached in the North) and put a pint of the black stuff to their lips can tell you.

Anything that rolls too far from St. James's Gate - well it is just an immigrant to that country - not a native.