Beer of the Week Blast from the Past: Berghoff Original Lager

Beer score: 4.7

This one went through quite a few different breweries and more than one name change over the years, but the headline for this post uses the name I knew this beer under when I took these notes more than a decade ago.

When I tried it, it was being craft brewed by the Joseph Huber Brewing Co.

Poured a cloudy, light yellow cover. Gave off smells of malt liquor or some other cheap beer, but I've had worse.

The taste is bready with some corn.

Strong but too sweet for me. Nothing special but not awful.

Beer of the Week: Miller High Life

Beer score: 3.8

Company: Miller
ABV: 4.9
IBU: 7

Not a great beer, but a decent one for the end of a hard day's work. Better than many a cheap beer on the market.

As can be expected from a premium American brew, this one pours a pale golden color. It smells sweet with maybe a hint of orange.

The taste is sweet on top but with a touch of bitterness on the way down, and possibly another hint of that citrus.

Basically, this one is weak and wet, but there's hardly any fizz and it goes down smooth.

Beer of the Week Blast from the Past: Killarney's Red Lager

Beer score: 3.8

This liquid refreshment was Anheuser-Busch's very late attempt to market a red beer in 2001 several years after the red-beer craze had pretty much died out.

Anyway, this one poured a light red color and gave off smells of weak, sweet maltiness

It was a little sweet at first and wet, kind of like a brown ale.

Non-beer snobs probably thought this one was something different. It wasn't. Which is why it's still not around.

However, I've had worse beers. This one just didn't excite me.

Beer of the Week Blast from the Past: Bert Grant's Scottish Ale

Beer score: 6.9

No new beers to try this week, but as always I have notes from beers I tasted years ago.

This one hits especially hard because the Bert Grant's brand had some awesome beers.

It poured a reddish brown color with a slightly sweet, orange smell.

This one had a sweet taste in the beginning that turned into a strong bitter flavor on the way down. Very little fizz. Wet to the point of being almost like tea. Was probably too rough for beginning beer snobs.

Books read in 2026: No. 8 -- Space Battle

by Jamie Lendino

Started: June 14

Finished: June 18

Notes: Anyone old enough to remember the home video game market of the late 1970s and early 1980s will know the Atari system was king, but second was obviously the Intellivision system. I had both and enjoyed both for different reasons. Here I'm taking a nostalgic trip down memory lane with this book which covers the history of the Intellivision.

Mini review: This one was a fun read and also informative without becoming bogged down. Still, sometimes it got a little tedious reading section after section about the details of various video games of the era, though not enough to keep me from reading. Many of the games for the Intellivision are covered here, and no small number of those not covered in depth still receive mention, and there's also a fair amount about the history of the console itself, most of which I knew though there were still a few surprises. Fans of 1980s video games will want to read this. Fans of the Intellivision definitely should read this.

Beer of the Week: Old Milwaukee Beer

Beer score: 2.1

Company: Pabst Brewing Company
ABV: 4.6
IBU: 12

Yesterday was my birthday, and this is what I get.

Before I even have a taste of this stuff, it looks green and smells nasty.

Okay, after that sip, the verdict is weak, watery, a little sweet. Thank goodness it doesn't taste as bad as it smells.

This beer would go good with a meal at any restaurant that serves battery acid.

Books read in 2026: No. 7 -- Dungeon Crawler Carl

by Matt Dinniman

Started: May 24

Finished: June 14

Notes: The girlfriend has been reading this series, which has become quite popular, and she suggested it to me, so I thought I'd give it a go, at least the first book in the series.

Mini review: Fans of silly fantasy and LitRPG, and those who like their D&D or video game RPGs on the funny side, should like this one. It was a fun read, but it didn't really fit my mood of late, though I don't blame that on the book or the author.