The Session #15: Seeing The Light

For this month's version of The Session, we were asked to write about when we knew we were hooked on beer. I know the exact night it happened. It's not an incredibly exciting story but here it is.

I was visiting one of my college roommates at his parent's place in Wilmington, Delaware. We were preparing for an evening in the basement, shooting pool, watching baseball and drinking beer. We were heading out for a beer run and Tom suggested we go to Total Beverage because they had this great feature where you could "create your own six-pack". This was the early 90's and while I had started drinking "better beer", I really hadn't explored that much. This new concept of a mixed sixer would allow me to do just that.

We went to Total Beverage. I got two mixed sixers. I still remember the beers.

Anchor Steam

Anchor Liberty Ale

Anchor Porter

Sam Adams Boston Lager

Sam Adams Cream Stout

Sam Adams Honey Porter

Orkney Skullsplitter

Rhino Chasers Amber Ale

Rhino Chasers American Ale

Sierra Nevada Stout

Pete's Wicked Ale

Guinness Extra Stout

I had no idea what I was buying. I was just making selections based on what were my favorite beers at the time (Sam Adams Boston Lager and Guinness Draft) and how cool the labels looked. but I lucked into a few really good ones and somewhere in the middle of all those beer that night, I knew I was hooked. It solidified my new found love of stouts and porters, gave me my first tastes of an IPA and introduced me to a whole new style of beer (Wee Heavy).

Outside of Pete's Wicked and Rhino Chasers American Ale, all of those beers became regulars in my drinking rotation and set the stage nicely for the beer journey to come.

All thanks to Tom, a huge corporate beverage entity and Wilmington, DE (one of the ugliest cities you've ever seen).

More entries for The Session can be found here on Boak and Bailey's UK Beer Blog.

Out of the Cellar: Orkney Skullsplitter

Brewer: Orkney Brewing, Orkney Scotland

Added to the Cellar: October 2004

Poured: May 2007

ABV%: 8.5%

I wish I could give you an in-depth and detailed analysis of how this beer has held up over the past (nearly) three years but there's not much to report. It's horribly oxidized and tastes of so much wet cardboard that little else can be detected. There's a faint fruitiness but even that tastes a bit sour and rotten. I can't finish this beer.

Orkney Skullsplitter is one of my favorite beers so I have experimented with it just to see what some age will do to it. My conclusion is that the beer holds up well for up to a year and half but never actually improves over that time. Drink it fresh.

Orkney Brewery