The First New IBN

Having finally caught up with all of our past IBNs, it is now time to blog about our most recent IBN. I have to admit that I did not realize that I was caught up until I sat down today to write the next blog. I thought there were two more to go but I stand corrected and am pleased to bring you the results of the first IBN taking place during the Summer of 2009. I am a little upset with myself for my blogging. It has been two weeks since the first IBN of the season and I am just now writing about it. I am also dissappointed in the fact that we have had only one IBN thus far. However, now that the Founding Father has returned from our nation's capital and the other members of IBN has settled into summer mode, we can begin our weekly ritual and start finding all the hidden beer treasures the world has to offer. It brings me great pleasure to present to you our most recent findings:

1. Quilmes -Argentina 7.31

• - Whoa!
• - "It's a party in my mouth and everyone is invited" -Knight of IBN
• - This was both light and refreshing to drink.

2. Imperial -Costa Rica 6.65

• - A great beer to drink when it has warmed.
• - Definitely something you would order at a bar.
• - A slight nutty flavor.
• - This beer was the epitome of okay.

3. Cristal -Peru 6.56

• - Leaves a tingling feeling on your tongue.
• - Very highly carbonated.
• - Not alot of flavor to it.

4. Goldstar -Israel 6.13

• - Very full bodied.
• - Not that this makes sense but it was too kosher (You can feel the rabbi's blessing)
• - Slight fruitiness in its aftertaste.

5. Gosser -Austria 4.74

• - A dry beer that follows the green bottle rule.
• - Bad aftertaste.
• - Seemed to be flat and was too filling.

6. Karlovacko -Croatia 4.11

• - Immediately terrible.
• - It became easier to stomach as we drank it.

Ths night was a success in the sense that we achieved the initial goal of IBN; We had a beer from six new countries that we have never had before. The count is now up to 31 countries through 19 IBNs. I hope that we can up that number at the 20th IBN. A notable quote for the night contributed by Max is: "My top three concerns in life are money, sex, and transportation; in that order." -Obviously Max, being the laziest of our group feels the need that he must always have a quick and easy way of getting from A to B. Cheers!

Back to the Beginning

I failed in my quest to finish updating all the old IBNs before the new ones began. There are four more IBNs that needed updating before we held the first IBN of this summer last Tuesday. However it is necessary for me to complete the final posts before sharing the infinite knowledge that was gained at the first IBN of 2009. Here are the results from one of our earlier IBNs first:

1. Bass -England 8.48

• - It was full of flavor.
• - Definitely a beer you would enjoy while you are eating.
• - A lighter version of Guinness but still not a beer you can drink all night.

2. Yuengling -America 7.68

• - It was full of flavor
• - Not to thick and again only 3 beer maximum on the night.

3. Spaten -Germany

• - A better version of Becks.
• - Not very malted.
• - A beer you would only drink once and never again.

4. Pilsner Urquell -Czech Republic 4.31

• - A very poor aftertaste accompanies this beer.
• - A terrible scented beer that you would not want twice.

5. Becks -Germany 4.19

• - A very bad smalling beer with a bad aftertaste.
• - Not smooth at all.

6. Sapporo -Japan

• - A one time drink.
• - Very thick.

Bass became our leading favorite. Almost all beers were based off what we remember from Bass. However as you have seen from previous posts, there became a new favorite and as we IBN drinkers view it, a new pinnacle that no beer as been able to overcome. That pinnacle is Tona. Now for a special IBN. It was the first IBN and of course is held very dear to our hearts. It was just the Founding Father and Kevin. We have not regretted a single moment since. And now without much further ado, I present the first IBN:

1. Brahma -Brazil 8.14

• - A smooth beer with no real aftertaste.
• - A beer that you will enjoy from the first sip until the last.
• - You can drink this all night and want to drink on multiple occasions.

2. Foster's -Australia

• - You can drink this beer all night.
• - A very "beery" lager.
• - No bite whatsoever.
• - Australian for Great.

3. Molson Canadian -Canada 7.17

• - A very consistent light lager.
• - A very slight bite.

4. Stella Artois -Belgium 6.29

• - First few sips and last few sips are weak and have too much of a lager flavor.
• - The middle is very light and smooth.
• - Definitely not an all night beer.
• - Has alot of bite.

5. Hoegaarden -Belgium 5.86

• - Needs an orange.
• - Easy to drink very quickly

6. Grolsch -Holland 4.49

• - A one time drink.
• - Not very smooth.
• - A heavy beer with a big bite.
• - Like having a bad meal out of a bottle.

After having our first beer, which was Grolsch, were became, no surprisingly, less excited about IBN but we have not at all let any bad beer discourage us from keeping up this great weekly tradition. We learned quickly that there are good beers and bad beers out there. We made a pact that no matter what it tastes like, we must finish every beer. That pact has taught us to appreciate those great beers out there even more. Cheers

Almost Caught Up

As I turn through the notebook where every IBN is recorded and I see that I am almost back to the front of the book after so many times of turning backwards, I can not help but to get excited. Let alone the fact that we will be resuming new IBNs in one week's time. There is so little that I can say about these remaining IBNs since they took place almost two years ago that all I can only give you the results:

1. Murphy's -Ireland 8.24

• - A burnt aftertaste.
• - A creamy beer that is easy to drink.

2. Guinness -Ireland 7.74

• - Heavy but flavorful.
• - A non-toasted stout.
• - Good aftertaste.

3. Newcastle Brown Ale -England

• - Unique flavored beer.
• - Claims to be "The One and Only" and truly is.

4. Red Stripe -Jamiaca 7.08

• - Smooth and light.
• - Very flavorful.
• - A watered-down lager.

5. Magner's Cider -Ireland 5.64

• - Easy to drink
• - Very sweet and smells very deceiving.

6. Modelo -Mexico 3.27

• - Very hard to drink.
• - Extremely light and worse version of Corona.

The one interesting thing that was said this night (which I can only recall because it was recorded in the IBN book) is when Kevin claimed, "Get the f*** out [Buddha] doesn't exist." I sadly cannot remember when or in what context this outrageous claim was made but I'm sure if he had ben in the Orient, he would have offended quite a few people. I am guessing that we were in a sour mood in the two weeks when these IBNs took place because during the previous IBN, Max claimed, "I do not believe in lesbians." Sorry Max but I'm pretty sure even Kevin has a better chance at proving his claim than you do. As for the beers that we were drinking while Max made his equally ridiculous claim, here they are:

1. Tecate -Mexico 7.03

• - Flavorless but drinkable.

2. Baltika 5 -Russia 6.16

• - Easy to drink.
• - Fusion between Miller and Corona.

3. St. Pauli Girl -Germany 5.46

• - A smooth lager.

4. Steinlager -New Zealand 5.31

• - Heavy.
• - Similar to German beer in the name and the taste.

5. Peroni -Italy 4.85

• - This beer gets continually worse as you drink it.
• - Has a poor aftertaste.

6. Kronenbourg -France 4.55

• - A light lager.
• - A progressing beer that gets slightly better each sip.

This night was not great in terms of having excellent beers but we did accomplish the goal of IBN; we had beers from 6 different countries. Hopefully I will finish updating the later IBNs before the new ones begin. Cheers!

Return of the Blogging

For all you faithful followers (pretty much just Curtis), I must apologize for my for-lack-of-a-better-word lackadaisical upkeep of what is a promising blog. The IBN blog is something that should be respected and thoroughly updated. I did have technical difficulties in the past few months but none of which should have prevented me from catching up with the previous IBNs. So as not to waste any time in trying to explain my failures, I will immediately continue where I first left off in the Working Backwards series. On the following night we had a dominant showing by our neighbors to the North (and mine to the right, whom we have to thank for our number 2 beer of the night). Here we go:

1. Blue Moon -Canada 7.25 - A smooth common beer. - Without the necessary partnership of the orange, this beer lacks flavor. - Although it is a wheat beer in the Belgian style, Canada could not master the wheatiness of a beer.
2. Sleeman Light -Canada 7.07 -A wheaty light beer. - Definitely heavier than the typical light beer with more of a bite.
3. Sol -Mexico 6.91 - Mexico's Finest. - No fruit needed.
4. Harp -Ireland 5.94 - A bad cross between a Budweiser and a Guinness. - A light lager that lacked smoothness.
5. Carlsberg -Denmark 4.67* - Piss poor beer with no bite.

*We believe that the Carlsberg was past its prime but tried to rate it according to what we had experienced at other times. Unfortunately, this night only had 5 beers. It would only of had 4 if it wasn't for the Founding Father's kind Canadian neighbors. All in all it was not a night to rave about. All I can remember was that this was the first IBN after the Founding Father returned from a family vacation to Ireland. As for the IBN that preceeded the Canadian dominated IBN we decided to have a theme night. We also decided that this theme would pay tribute to the United States. We can only hope that those brewers from Massachusetts would not let us down. That's right, it was Sam Adams night and here are the results:

1. Samuel Adams Pale Ale -America 6.85 - A smooth light beer that is a very laid back easy going beer. - You can't let this beer sit too long before you drink it.
2. Samuel Adams Hefeweizen -America 6.48 - An excellent wheat beer. - It is easy too drink and not dry as expected.
3. Samuel Adams Boston Ale -America 6.38 - Weak flavor with no aftertaste. - A heavy ale.
4. Samuel Adams Brown Ale -America 6.15 - Certainly not New Castle. - A heavy ale.
5. Samuel Adams Cream Stout -America 5.85 - Certainly has the aftertaste of a stout. - True beer texture. - The name is deceiving as it is not very creamy.
6. Samuel Adams Honey Porter -America 5.40 - No honey taste. - Stout-like burn taste.

Clearly from the scores you can see that we were neither very impressed with the Bay State Brewers nor were we extremely dissappointed. Instead of linking everyone of the beers individually, I simply linked the Sam Adams in the introduction to this IBN.

Cheers!

Down in Mexico

If you can guess from the title, this post has to do with Mexico. Thats because the Founding Father just returned from a 5-day 4-night trip to Cancun. And unbeknownst to him but apparently knownst to others, the beer that most people think of when they think of Mexico was not easily come across. That beer was Cancun. As a member of IBN, the Founding Father was on the lookout for new beers but was only able to come across one. the menu said that it was Ambar but it turned out to simply be Dos Equis Amber. It was a good beer but the dissappointment of not finding anything new in Cancun weighed heavily on the Founding Father's heart. Fittingly, Dos Equis (XX) was had during the IBN that will be posted now:

1. Czechvar -Czech Republic 6.83

• - This beer had alot of flavor and was very filling.
• - It was surprisingly enjoyable.
• - It was a true lager.

2. Dos Equis -Mexico 6.32

• - A typical Mexican beer with citrus infused flavor.

3. Singha -Thailand 6.28

• - This beer had a very deceiving smell.
• - A very watered down beer with little flavor.
• - It got better as we continued to drink it.

4. Carta Blanca -Mexico 6.26

• - A dusty flavored beer that left a tingle in the mouth afterwards.
• - It did not fit the typical Mexican beer mold.
• - Had a bite like a cider.

5. Bitburger -Germany 5.14

• - This beer had an oat-like flavor.
• - Really nothing exciting about it.

6. Skol -Turkey 4.77

• - We had a mixed review on this beer.
• - It had a lot of flavor that we could not put our finger on.

We titled this night, Surprise Night because we did not expect much from the beers that we picked out. It was an overall decent night but it is highlighted with possibly the best quote from IBN to date: Kevin said, "If there was a single moment in cinema history that people our age realized they were heterosexual, it was Cameron Diaz in The Mask." This comment was greeeted with outright enthusiasm and agreement.

The previous IBN gave us the most surprising and it also gave us the best beer any of us had ever had. This is what we found:

1. Tona -Nicaragua 9.45

• - "Like drinking Snapple" -Max
• - This was near perfection.
• - It smelt great and tasted great.
• - "This is like drinking Willy Wonka's 5-course meal gum" -Founding Father

2. Barons Lager -Australia 6.40

• - This was the definition of a lager.
• - It had a heavy lager aftertaste.

3. Old Peculiar -England 6.37

• - Had a distinct fruity aftertaste, like a fruity Guinness.
• - A heavy beer that is a one time drink.
• - Smelt like Guinness.

4. Grimbergen -Belgium 5.07

• - Had a cider-like taste that made it easy to drink.
• - Had a wine-like texture.

5. Yanjing- China 4.60

• - It smelt like a put-out cigarette.
• - Not very enjoyable.

6. Moosehead Lager -Canada 4.36

• - Awful and possibly skunked.*

*When we come across a beer that we believe to be skunked we try to rate the beer according to what we think it would taste like. Obviously a skunked beer would be much lower than a 4.36.

Tona was an incredible beer. It was so enjoyable that the next night, the Founding Father picked up a six-pack for himself to bring to a friends house. Luckily the IBN members were there as well and we enjoyed Tona once again.

Cheers!

RJ is Coming to Town

If you are an avid follower of IBN than you can see by the title that the man present when the first thought of IBN entered the Founding Father's mind will be around today. He has not been around for any IBNs to date nor has he scheduled an attendance although it is a possibility in the future. However, in the present time (since this is still an addition the the "Working Backwards" series) RJ is coming to school to pay a visit and possibly share a few laughs and brews with me and the locals. Back to the more important function of this ever-so-popular blog, te boys of IBN would like to discuss with you the findings of a night that encountered 6 European beers, 5 from the mainland and 1 from those islands in the Northwest that we love so much. Here is what we found:

1. Tanner's Jack -England 7.85

• - Had a slight berry smell to it.
• - A very unique flavored beer.

2. Warsteiner -Germany 6.40

• - A bland "Budweisery" taste.
• - Had a smell that matched the taste of the beer.

3. Kisz Bier -Czech Republic 6.37

• - A hint of barbecue sauce was in this beer.
• - Definitely not as bad as we expected.

4. Heineken -Holland 5.75

• - A regular beer that had nothing exciting to it.
• - Kind of wheaty.

5. Lomza -Poland 5.08

• - A very light drink with a watered down flavor.

6. Jever -Germany 2.63

• - The worst smelling beer in IBN history.
• - A bad metallic taste came with each sip.

Clearly it was not a very successful night. Especially with the appearance of the worst beer that any of us had ever drank. I would like to apologize for the beer's that I could not find website's for now and in each of my posts.

In another episode of IBN, the boys were oddly discussing soething about a tomato. I do not remember what the conversation was but it was definitely an original question asked by Max and for some reason Kevin's reponse was, "Wait a tomato taking a poop, or you pooping a tomato?" Please do not ask me what transpired on this night but for some reason I have that quote written down in the sacred IBN notebook. I have not mentioned the IBN notebook before but it is a very special thing. All the logs of each IBN have been kept in the book since the beginning. It is hidden in a secret place and is only accessed by the Founding Father and other members of IBN who formally wish to seek knowledge from the great book. What you are seeing on this blog is only but a taste of our infinite beer knowledge. We boys of IBN have deemed it necessary to enlighten the world as to what we have fathomed about beer. The following is just a taste of another night of our sacred ritual:

1. Smithwick's -Ireland 7.37

• - This beer is the definition of an Irish drink.
• - It shows the dominance of Ireland over other countries' brewing capacities.

2. Warka -Poland 6.80

• - A chochlatey beer with little carbonation.
• - This beer's smoothness complimented it's strength.

3. Leffe -Belgium 6.25

• - This beer had a nice smell and a wheaty aftertaste.
• - It got better as it went along but it was not a beer that you would drink the last sip of.

4. Presidente -Dominican Republic 5.71

• - This light beer tasted like there was nothing there.
• - A perfect beer for the beach.

5. Hollandia -Holland 5.19

• - This was a watery Grolsch.*
• - There was nothing special to it.

6. Lowenbrau -Germany 4.98

• - Not as bad as we expected.**
• - A heavy beer that had very little flavor.

*We described it as a watery Grolsch on this night because we had already had Grolsch. Grolsch was actually the first beer that we had in IBN history. I realize that those of you that have not had the Grolsch experience or will not understand where we are coming from with this description but in due time I will catch up with the present IBNs.

**This description was given because Lowenbrau was a beer that was tasted by the Founding Father on the night IBN was born. It was before his tastebuds had matured to appreciate the flavor of all beers and therefore he had a poor memory of it. However, it was still not a good beer.

These two nights combined to give us nothing overly exciting except for the worst beer anyone has had. That really is nothing to boast about. I believe you will enjoy the next post especially for its revelations.

Cheers!

Still Working Backwards

On a very sad night in IBN, the crew was only able to find five beers around the neighborhood. A very dissappointing showing and and I would like to apologize for letting our followers down. This is what we found on a bad night:

1. Corona -Mexico 6.87

• - A pretty good beer by Mexican standards.
• - This beer is really nothing without a lime.

2. Labatt Blue -Canada 6.85

• - A very generic beer with noting special to offer.

3. Maudite -Canada 6.37

• - You can taste the extra alcohol in the beer.
• - Had an uncommonly smooth drinkability.
• - Had a sweet smokiness.

4. Tennet's -Scotland 6.22

• - A pretty plain beer.
• - There was no bad aftertaste.

5. Asahi -Japan 4.19

• - This beer gets worse and worse as you drink it.
• - Japan's #1 beer is weak.

After only 5 beers we called it a night. Not much to show for our efforts. The previous IBN wasn't a great showing either. Atleast we had the required 6 beers but it was six below average beers. It is not much but here is what we got:

1. Belhaven -Scotland 6.65

• - The best beer on a below average night.
• - A flavorful beer that you can drink alot of.

2. Killian's Irish Red -America 5.90

• - An over-toasted beer.
• - This was a poor American attempt to match the excellence of Irish beer.

3. Radeberger -Germany 5.83

• - A wheat flavored beer.
• - Did not taste like a typical pilsner.

4. Tsingtao -China 5.45

• - An average beer.
• - China finally got something right.
• - Consistent drinkability throughout.

5. Old Speckled Hen -England 4.94

• - A flat taste.
• - This beer tasted very malty.

6. Weihenstephaner -Germany 4.88

• - A super wheaty beer.
• - You have to drink this beer slowly.

A poor addition to the IBN tally but we have to drink everything. Every drop, of every beer, of every country. We always finish our beers no matter how bad they are and we always follow the instructions on the bottle (if there are any). If it says to pour it into a certain glass in a certain way, we do it. If it says add a fruit slice, we add a fruit slice. We follow the rules and drink the beers. We always start by reading the stories on the bottles and then cheers before each beer. A nice whiff of the beer is custom as well. If you are sharing some beers with some friends, a cheers is always the best way to show you appreciate there company.

So, Cheers!

Working Backwards Again

I am already running out of interesting titles for these reverse IBN reports. Therefore I decided that I am going to begin to combine past IBNs since the titles and stories are both running thin. On the second of these two nights (remember I am working backwards so for all you brainiacs out there, the first listing is the second night and the second listing is the first night. Deal with it. It's not rocket science.) Kevin was extremely pleased since we finally found a beer that he had been looking forward to trying since the first IBN. We also had a nice cameo by an old American beer which might be looked down upon by some but actually got its name by beating out the so-called King of Beers (I don't know thats what the History Channel told me). Another beer shared a name with a lipstick that was mentioned on one of the IBN crews favorite shows, Friends. Here is what we had to say about these brews:

1. Boddington's -England 8.09

• - An English version of Guinness but a little bit lighter.
• - This beer was smooth as hell.

2. Pacifico Clara -Mexico 7.30

• - This was a heavy Mexican beer.
• - It was reminiscient of a New Castle Brown Ale.

3. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale -America 6.43

• - This had lots of flavor.
• - It had a fruity flavor which we contributed to the carbonation level.

4. Pabst Blue Ribbon -America 5.98

• - This was better than what we expected.
• - A flavorful American beer.
• - Better that that sell-out Bud.*

5. Kirin Ichiban -Japan 4.61

• - A very bland typical Asian beer.

6. Staropramen -Czech Republic 3.70**

• - Had a crappy aftertaste.
• - A pilsner in disguise.

*Recently after the Anheuser-Busch Corporation sold the controlling stock of Budweiser to InBev.

**This one surprised me. It was clearly utterly forgettable but when I wrote this I remembered that this time we had it, it had been skunked so we decided to give it abother shot. See previous postings to see how much better it got.

At the previous IBN, the crew had the King of Beers. We also indulged in a two brews made on out very own island. Here is what we found:

1. Beamish -Ireland 7.08

• - This was a more burnt version of Guinness.
• - It was pretty good and flavorful.

2. Budweiser -America 6.94

• - Its a nice beer and you can drink a ton.
• - The term King doesn'y mean much.

3. Blue Point Toasted Lager -America 6.80

• - This was a toasted but smooth beer.
• - You can definitely drink these on multiple occasions and enjoy it everytime.

4. Brooklyn Lager -America 6.09

• - A very heavy beer that you can't drink too many of.
• - Had a very strong lager aftertaste.

5. Amstel Light -Holland 4.67

• - Not an enjoyable beer.
• - Just because its light doesn't make it better.

6. Dab -Germany 4.11

• - "Disgusting Ass Beer" -as described by Max.
• - It smelt worse than it tasted.
• - A very bland beer.

We had a decent showing from America but this IBN proved that the King was no longer in charge. Brooklyn and Long Island showed that they are not going to be left behind on the International scale.

Enjoy!

End of Summer '08

In another "Working Backwards" edition of IBN the boys would like to bring you back to the last IBN before yet another year of school. In true IBN spirit we managed to find six beers from six different countries, a goal that we hoped to achieve every IBN but quickly became a feat more difficult to achieve than originally imaginable. Here is what we found:

1. Mahou -Spain 7.44

• - This was the last beer we had on the night and was a fitting conclusion to a surprising night.
• - No bite to it.
• - Not a bad start or finish but needs some work in the middle.

2. Faxe -Denmark 6.87

• - A surprisingly pleasing beer.
• - It had a sweet flavor to it.

3. La Fin Du Monde -Canada 6.65

• - A very tingly fruit-like flavor.

4. Okocim -Poland 6.41

• - We highly underestimated this subtle beer.
• - Had a dark flavor but a light finish.

5. Bohemia -Mexico 6.30

• - A unique flavor that we couldn't put our fingers on.
• - The allure of this beer tailed off quickly.

6. Obolon -Ukraine 4.37

• - A wheaty beer that smelt worse than it tasted.

If anyone is wondering why there is no link at the end of each rating that is because I have figured out how to make the name of the beer the link of the beer's site. I am still learning how to use this thing and hope to be able to class this blog up to meet the classiness of our followers.

Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Break

Obviously from the title you can see that this particular IBN took place over our Thanksgiving break from our rigorous college course-load (not really though since the Founding Father and the Knight of IBN both wrote papers over the so-called break). Unfortunately since it took so long for us to start the blog in relation to when we began IBN, the recollection of each individual IBN has blended into one great fuzz of memories. Therefore I want to apologize in advance for my lack of witty comments for out-dated IBN reports. The following is one such report:

1. Estrella Damm -Spain 8.47

• - This was a very light lager.
• - The flavorful beer made the senses tingle.
• - http://www.estrelladammusa.com/

2. Amercan Ale -America 7.25

• - It had a slight cherry flavor to it.
• - This clean "American" beer is enjoyable but not one that you can enjoy all night long.
• - http://www.budamericanale.com/pub/american-ale.aspx#home

3. Schwelmer -Germany 7.02

• - Tasted like Redman Raisin Tobacco.
• - It was strong but enjoyable.
• - http://www.schwelmer.com/en/index.php

4. Vergina -Greece 6.65

• - Had a strong harsh taste that could only be distinguished as a beer.
• - Tasted better than what the name sounds like.
• - http://www.verginabeer.com/english/index2_en.html

5. Staropramen -Czech Republic 6.43

• - Had a very nice light level of carbonation.
• - Tasted like a typical Czech beer but with a better aftertaste.
• - http://www.staropramen.com/english/index.html

6. Hofbrau -Germany 5.17

• - A heavy beer with a strong aftertaste.
• - Varying drinkability and enjoyment.
• - http://www.hofbraeuhaus.de/en/index_en.html

Back to present times.... The Founding Father's computer has crashed! Awful news. Luckily, Lindsay has allowed him to use her computer so that he can keep our three faithful follwers up to date and on the edge of their seats. The boys of IBN would also like to give a shout out to the Swandad from The Diary of Third and Long blog. Thanks for the name drop and our first free promotion.

Enjoy!