Angry Boy Brown Ale
Beer No: 92
Page No: 43
Category: Amber
Day 14 of the World Cup - it really doesn't get much better than this. Needing a win over Slovakia to advance, most thought Italy would be making it to the knock-out round (myself included), but instead, they come out, play with no intensity until the last 15 minutes and end up losing to Slovakia as Paraguay advances with the Slovaks. Meanwhile, the Netherlands have had a strangle-hold on Group E from the start and they came out today and beat Cameroon to take the group with 9 points. All Denmark needed to do was tie Japan, a feat most thought they could accomplish, but instead, like Italy, they come out with lazy play, allow Japan to score on two free kicks, and lose 3-1, allowing Japan to advance with the Netherlands. A crazy day for sure.
We've got one more day of round-robin play to go as groups G & H need to be sorted out tomorrow and then on Saturday, the knock-out round begins. The United States plays Ghana in the afternoon match while Uruguay and South Korea play in the early game. I just can't wait for the weekend to get here...
As for my predictions, I predicted Netherlands & Denmark (by a hair) and Paraguay & Italy. So just 2/4 today. But after being 8/8 the previous two days, I'm still a nice 10/12. For my World Cup Beer Challenge, I'm now 5-6-3 with the beers that correspond with the teams playing. Two wins in a row now with England yesterday and Japan today. Tomorrow we finish up the round-robin round with a beer from Spain as they play Chile. And tomorrow I'll try and post my schedule for the next round. Saturday will definitely be an American beer and then on Sunday I can go with a German or English beer. Monday and Tuesday will be much harder though, so I have to see how the games turn out tomorrow to see if I even have any exotic beers remaining to choose from.
Unfortunately, while Japan had a great showing on the field today, I was not impressed with their beer. The Angry Boy Brown from Baird Brewing showed some promise at the start with a nice frothy pour and a sweet aroma, but the taste just let me down. Way too much in the way of alcohol flavors with an almost watered-down feeling to it. This is my last brew in the book from Baird Brewing and I had hoped they'd put forth a better showing. Their Rising Sun Pale is just ok, certainly nothing special, and I think if I have to pick a favorite brewer from Japan right now, it'd have to be Kiuchi (brewers of Hitachino).
My review, cross-posted at RateBeer.com:
Baird Angry Boy Brown Ale by Baird Brewing Co.
Aroma: 7/10
Appearance: 3/5
Taste: 6/10
Palate: 3/5
Overall: 9/20
Rating: 2.8 / 5.0
Had from 12 oz. bottle from Hi Time Wines. Pours hazy amber brown with huge three finger head. Head dissipates slowly leaving behind slight lacing and bubbly film. Aroma is very malty with hints of nuts and alcohol. Taste is stronger alcohol than in aroma with mostly malts, caramel, and nuts rounding out the taste. Somewhat dry finish, just too much alcohol flavorings and a little bit watered down for me.
