(in photo order)
Moylan’s IPA
Celebrator Dopplebock (with plastic ram)
Stirrings Simple Apple Martini
Tito’s Vodka
Jackson Triggs Vidal Ice Wine
Bear Republic Red Rocket Ale
Wells Banana Bread Beer

I also like other spirits besides beer and they will sometime find their way into my monthly process as was the case today. Below you will see a photo of today’s purchases followed by details of my choices.

Wine – Dahlia Pinot Noir 2005 – $14.99
I’m always on the lookout for highly rated wines that are reasonable and on sale. Today I came across this one which came in at 91 points and was on sale from its normal price of $19.99. Seemed like a good deal.

Beer – Moylan’s Kilt Lifter Scotch Ale – $3.99
This beer has one of the best names ever and timely since I watched Braveheart the other night. I’ve made it a point to seek out scotch ales lately. I had my first ever scotch  ale at a Karl Strauss brewery a few months ago and loved it. This one got a 91 point rating so I’m hoping it’s good.

Beer – Samuel Adams Triple Bock – $4.69
I always see this beer on my trips and every time I say that I need to try it. Well today was the day. I’m a Sam Adams fan and I look forward to trying this high end version of their brew.

Sake – SakeOne G Joy – $16.99
A friend of mine turned me on to this great sake. You drink this stuff cold people. Cold sake is the best. I had finished a bottle of this a while back and liked it so much I decided to restock it. This isn’t your average Sake because it is produced in the the U.S. (Oregon to be exact). In any case, I found this to be really good and am happy to have it once again.

Sake – Zipang Sparkling – $5.99
In the last episode of Diggnation, Alex and Kevin started out the show drinking this stuff and raving about how good it is, so I had to try it. I have some chillin in the fridge right now and plan on drinking it tonight. I’ll post my thoughts in an update.

5/14 Update on Zipang
So unless I got a bad batch, I have no clue what Alex & Kevin like about this stuff. I have tasted quite a few different Sake’s and this has to rank as one of the worst. I think the problem is the novelty of it. The sake itself didn’t have much of a taste to it, and the sparkling side of it tasted flat to me. So perhaps they cancel each other out, but it fails on both counts. But you know what the worst part was? I didn’t even get a little buzz from drinking the whole bottle. I recommend staying away from this stuff. And if you haven’t tried it, go get some unfiltered Sake. That’s my favorite.

I recently was interested in joining a monthly beer club but then realized it’s a pretty simple task to create your own. In this era of “do it yourself” I decided to come up with my own method. Just visit a good local beverage house that carries a wide array of your not so average spirits and pick up a few I’ve never had before once a month. It’s a pretty simple concept actually. Also, this way I can control the varietals to my liking as well as save a little cash.

In the process of researching beer clubs I did come across the beer of the month club from Clubs of America which seemed like a pretty good one and is even the club selected by the Diggnation guys. So it should be a decent choice if you want to join one.

So now that you have the history behind my motivation, it’s time to get on with the first review.

In this first month of my newly created club I ventured out to my second favorite store to visit…Bevmo (Fry’s Electronics is my first). I excitedly began picking out my first batch of beers for the month. I decided that I needed to create some sort of guideline to help me determine which beers I would be selecting. In the case of Bevmo, they list the scores of their Bevmo Beer Amabassadors rating system on the beers in the store. So the first guideline was that a beer needs to score at least 90 points to qualify. If I run out of Bevmo’s top rated beers then I can move on to Beer Advocate and draw from their top beers list. My second qualification will merely consist of either a novelty factor which could include either a fruit infused beer, fancy label, or other strange criteria that perhaps will trigger the purchase.

Now that I have my beers in hand it’s time to unveil the first entrant. I will try to keep a fairly simple and fun system for these that will resemble the stats on a sports card. Below is the results of the first one.

Beer: Anderson Valley Poleeko Gold Pale Ale (22 ouncer)
Bevmo Rating: 95 Points
Brewery: Anderson Valley Brewing Company . Check out the website which appears to be stuck in the 90s, but I guess that’s pretty futuristic considering their theme is more Greatful Dead circa 70s. They do have some coolness though by having deployed solar powered system.
Cool Brewery Bonus: 18 hole Disc Golf on the premises!
Varietal: Pale Ale (get used to this varietal. It’s my favorite)
Food Pairing: Orville Redenbacher’s Smart Pop Kettle Corn. The sweet yet salty taste created the perfect palette cleansing and trigger to pull another long sip from the bottle.
Description: Right after savoring that first sip the taste left behind was as if I just took a big bite out of a celery stalk. This is a good thing as I like celery. It was a lighter Pale than I’m used to and I found it to be very smooth.
My Score: 3.5 out of 5. I happen to like a bolder taste with my Pales, but that’s not to say this isn’t a good beer. If you’re looking for a lighter taste this is a good choice.