New Beer Friday, One-Winged Gargoyle Edition (Oct 12)

Procured by dubious means

Preamble by Steve Siciliano

I got quite a start the other morning when I glanced in the mirror and saw the reflection of my late father. With each passing year I’m looking more like the elder version of Sam — the thinning hair, the high forehead, the drooping nose, the elongated ears, the tufts of hair growing out of that nose and those ears that would look a tad unsightly if my barber didn’t trim them back every three weeks.

While I’m beginning to look like Sam in his late sixties, my siblings frequently remind me that I take after my mother. I’m okay with that but it’s not entirely true. I may have Nita’s overall demeanor but she’s generally regarded as a saint and I can state with a high degree of certainty that saintliness is a virtue no one has or ever will be inclined to bestow on me.

The truth is I’m more like the old man that I’m given credit for. I don’t have his boisterous personality but I too like a good party and I make sure that visitors to our house and cottage have plenty to eat and drink. I love food and wine as much as he did and I’d like to think that I’m a pretty good cook.

The old man could also be a bit “mischievous.” When they were youngsters he and his brothers pilfered watermelons off produce trucks and one time they came home with a branch laden with sweet cherries that they sawed off a neighbor’s tree.  And I’m quite sure the "Dead End" sign he had nailed to a tree along the two-track leading to his property up north wasn't found laying on the side of the road.

There have been times when I was a bit mischievous too. I also swiped fruit from neighbors’ trees when I was a kid and when I was in college a coed talked me into helping her pinch a street sign that bore her Italian surname. And then there was the one-winged gargoyle affair.

I won’t delve too deep into the details but the one-winged cement gargoyle that has been perched in Siciliano's for the past twenty years was ill-gotten. I confess that a couple of pints of beer on the night of the caper relaxed my inhibitions. The beer was Two Hearted which should give the astute reader a clue as to where the incident took place. If measured on the Scoville Scale my remorse the next morning registered somewhere between a Scotch Bonnet and a Ghost Pepper. I sent the establishment an apologetic note and a fifty dollar bill, a price I deemed fair for a cement gargoyle that was missing a wing.

A couple of weeks ago I took the gargoyle down from its perch and placed it on the curling corner of an area rug next to a display case. A few minutes later a customer knocked it over and cracked off the other wing.

New and Returning Beer

• Decadent Ales Pacific Punch, $6.29/16oz - "DIPA featuring a blend of south pacific hops. Notes of citrus, freshly squeezed lemon, lime fresh peaches and apricot compliment the fruit-cup hop profile" (source).
• Decadent Ales Pog Nog, $6.29/16oz - "Brewed with pineapple, guava, & orange peel. Hopped with Citra & Mosaic" (source).
• Evil Twin/Blank Brewing The Check Please, $4.59/12oz - "A double dry-hopped black IPA" (source).
• Evil Twin Even More Pecan Pie Jesus, $4.59/16oz - "Imperial Stout brewed with Molasses and with Pecan Extract added" (source).
• Evil Twin F Is for Fruit Salad, $4.99/16oz - "Gose-style ale brewed with salt and blueberry, strawberry, blackberry, peach, and blood orange added" (source).
• Evil Twin Island Bliss, $5.49/16oz - "Malt beverage with natural flavors" (source).
• Fat Orange Cat All Cats are Grey in the Dark, $4.99/16oz - "A light colored stout with a hint of coffee and strong notes of both chocolate and vanilla" (source).
• Fat Orange Cat Living in Our Own Private Idaho, $6.29/16oz - "The Azzaca combination brings out an intense orange/grapefruit flavor with a classic Idaho 7 finish" (source).
• Stillwater People Power, $5.49/16oz - "Nitro Multigrain Pale Ale in support of the ACLU" (source).
• Stillwater Please Take a Number, $5.69/16oz - "New England style double india pale ale" (source).
• Rochester Mills Toasted Marshmallow Milkshake Stout, $2.59/16oz - "This stout is brewed with lactose (milk sugar) to impart a fuller body and sweeter palate. Flavored with toasted marshmallows" (source).
• Short's Pangalactic Gargle Blaster, $2.59/12oz - "Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster is a Belgian-style Double IPA brewed with Australian Galaxy hops. The nose is an impressive dank blend of citrus aromas reminiscent of guava and lemons, very green and fresh with subtle Belgian yeast esters. An intense clean bitterness dominates the flavor profile with little malt character to compete with. A slight, fruity yeast sweetness is noticeable in the finish alongside a resounding bitterness" (source).
• Great Lakes Ohio City Oatmeal Stout, $1.89/12oz - "Dark and roasty yet light and smooth as a fresh coat of snow, our Oatmeal Stout will kick your cabin fever and inspire you to toss another log on the fire" (source).
• Odd Side Caged Wisdom, $2.39/12oz - "A dry, hoppy, crisp and light Brut IPA" (source).
• Blackrocks Nordskye, $2.19/12oz - "Session IPA" (source).
• Griffin Claw Haze Force, $3.69/12oz - No commercial description.
• Lansing Brewery Velvet Villain, $1.99/12oz - "Formally known as Black Velvet... Imperial black ale meets oatmeal porter. Silky smooth chocolate dominates the palate throughout this beer. Have it for breakfast or have it for dessert, it doesn’t matter. This beer drinks very easy for an 8.2% ABV beer" (source).
• Lansing Brewery Peninsula Pils, $1.99/12oz - "Forget the watered down domestic pilsner beers. Peninsula Pils is a true to style pilsner with a distinct hop presence.This pilsner has two different hop varietals, Hallertau Blanc and Saaz. Together these hops give Peninsula Pils an herbal and delicate fruit note. We also dry hopped this sessional beer with Hallertau Blanc for your aromatic enjoyment. A perfect thirst quencher after a jog on the river trail" (source).
• Revolution Coffee Eugene, $3.09/12oz - "Our Eugene Porter was sent to a bright tank and aged for an additional week with whole bean coffee from Dark Matter Coffee. The cold-aging allows us to extract the aromatic oils from the coffee without extracting any additional bitterness that it may impart if we were to have added it to the near boiling wort in the kettle" (source).
• Revolution Citra-Hero, $2.39/12oz - "Citra-Hero is an elegant American IPA designed to showcase the Citra Hop variety. This IPA is exploding with citrusy flavors and aromas" (source).
• Saugatuck Oak Wizard, $1.89/12oz - "An Oak Aged Imperial Brown Ale with tons of oaky, woody flavors. The base brown malt profile provides a huge caramel, coffee and chocolate body with minimal hop bitterness matched perfectly with the complex flavor profile of the oak chips" (source).

Video of the Week | Lansing Brewing Co.

Now available at Siciliano's.

Cheers!