M50 part IV plus the NYE beer tasteoff

Today, I promised Bob I'd let him know how my latest round of beer tasting, spread over NYE eve and NYE night, went, along with throwing in the latest M50 rundown- in fact, the penultimate chapter of the M50 countdown!  And there is another layer to the countdown I have been meaning to get to, which we will call the Laurie Seal Of Approval.  I had asked her in an early rundown if any really stood out to her, and she gave me 8 songs- two we've already done, one this post, and the other five in the ever-lovin' Top Ten coming up next time.  So let's start off with a couple of brewskis and go from there.


From bad to good:

Lagunitas Little Sumpin' Sumpin' Ale.  I know there are a ton of people I know on the webs that swear by this stuff.  And I have to let you know right now, hoppy beers don't do it for me.  Hops to me smell like armpit, and I found it funny that one of the reviews on BeerAdvocate misspelled it "hippy", because I imagine many hippies prolly did smell like this.  Before you send the hate mail, even Scrappy walked away from this.  Twice.  But for 7.5% ABV, I gave it the old college try.  Then, mercifully, the pizza arrived, I let half of it sit while eating, took one last sip, and "cleaned the kitchen drain" with the remainder.

I would have said someone was Messin' With Me, as Northern Faces said on their top dog that made #12 on the Fifty.  Perhaps I should have known better, but I was a newbie, full of...

...Innocence In Paradise, like Squeeze sang on their hit at #16.  And so I just did like Foxygen told me...

...and played Follow The Leader, their tune at # 19.


Before going back to the beers, Let me just say the LSOA (Laurie Seal Of Approval) songs last time were Rhyl Love at #23 and Two High at #25.


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Fieldhouse Wheat, made right down the road in Indy.  This was a touch hoppy for a wheat to me.  Not undrinkable, but not a favorite.

 UFO White Ale.  Advertised in reviews as having an "aggressive but not overbearing" spice taste and aroma, I had to say that MY bottle had no smell whatsoever, and very little taste.  Pretty much Coors Light, just cloudy.


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I would have to say that those three beers didn't send me to...

...Heaven, like the song from PVRIS at #20.  In fact, I might have suggested to the first two...

...Let's Get Lost, as the Pretenders ft Neil Tennant did on that song at # 13.  Nor would I have done as...

...Ducktails suggested on their song Light A Candle.  Nor would I have ordered one at the Cosmic Piano Bar while listening to...

...Dent May doing Picture On A Screen, which came in at #18.


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Now the next two are cheats, because I have had them before and I knew they were good!  The first is Paulaner Hefe-Weizen, my go-to Belgian witbier.  Cloudy, tasty, filling but light, it made peace with my stomach after the Fieldhouse Wheat.

Kentucky Bourbon-Barrel Ale.  This is a lot like a boilermaker without quite as much bite.  Not only really good, tasting much like the name implies, but a formidable 8.19 abv!  It was the high point of night two- not surprisingly when you consider it's competition was the UFO and the Lagunitas.


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Scrappy was dying for a taste of the KBB, but I told him it was mine...

...And Mine Alone, like the song by Kidsmoke that took the # 14 slot.  In fact, it would be a fine choice if I ever crossed the sea and hit a bar in...

...Monaco, listening to Public Access TV playing the song of the same name at # 17.

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Victory Golden Monkey:  The easy winner, this stuff was fantastic!  It opened with a spiced pear smell from the top- but if you brought the side of the glass to your nose, you got banana!  Similarly, the first 1/3 or so had a lot of the spice taste, the middle was like beer mixed with banana juice, then the end of it - well, at the end you knew why it was rated 9.5 abv!  I would definitely drink this again- though perhaps not more than two at a sitting, and quite slowly...


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And now, in case you thought the last song, and the LSOA song for this set, had passed you by...

... I give you Chicano Batman at #11 with Passed You By!


Next time, the Top Ten of 2017!