Editors Note: Every week until I take the BJCP exam on Nov. 5, I will be posting reviews of the commercial examples of beer styles that my study group is required to taste. My scores will appear in normal font and the BJCP judge’s score will follow at the end in italics.
Name: Weihenstephaner Korbinian
Brewery: Staats Brauerei (Germany)
Style: Doppelbock
Price: $3.75 per 16 oz. bottle
ABV: 7.4%
Final Grade: B+
Score: 41
Judge’s Score: 40

Thank you, Plymouth, N.H. You have a nice little beer store there.

After being forced to skip two of the study group’s tastings because I couldn’t find the beer in my area, Chase Street Market in downtown Plymouth had both beers that I needed — Genesee Cream Ale and the Weihenstephaner Korbinian.

For months, a buddy of mine in Jersey City had been telling me about this “beer garden” that had opened a few blocks from his apartment.

Thursday was a complete loss, but it needed to happen. I was exhausted and just needed to get some sleep. But it made me all the more determined to make the most of my free time on Friday.

The Foodery was my objective for the afternoon lunch hour. This is Philly’s candy store for beer lovers. Craft beers from all over the world, in singles and they allow you to mix a 6-pack.

Determined not to drive (I’ve still got NYC impulses) I walked to the original location at 10th and Pine, only to discover that there were some power issues and that the store was closing just as I was about to pay for my sixer. Dang-on.

I could have flown the white flag. Instead, I braved Philly’s somewhat absurd subway system (I won’t get into it, but no transit system should require different forms of currency to switch trains, especially when you’re only traveling 3 stops.)

But I got there. That’s the important thing. I got there and, upon browsing that first cooler, instantly forgave the inconvenience and forgot the unfortunate oversights on my part that had me pass by the store twice before I found it.

Today was…um, how do you say? … Decadent.
There were the $2 coffees at Umplebys, a walk around Hanover in mid-60s temps, reading the paper in Norwich followed by a massage (a Valentine’s Day gift that I finally collected on) at noon. So why not buy a bottle of the most pretentious beer I could find?
I was killing time in Norwich Wine & Spirits and half-heartedly looking for a Saison to enjoy during the end of a streak of pleasant weather. On the bottom shelf, I saw something that looked like …

Recently, I’ve become part homebrewer, part bloodhound.

This has to be one of my greatest finds yet. I’m out yesterday evening with my wife, walking the dog, and then I pass by this abandoned house a few doors down from my home. I’ve seen this place a hundred times before, every morning and evening when I take the pooch out. But this time, I noticed the large green cones dangling from the electricity meter.
Turns out, they were all over.

I have no idea what varietal these are, but when I was doing …