a linktastic entry for you

Paul said he was just waiting for me to pull out ten beers to add to the list. It's been a bit of a busy week for me so far, so no, not ten, but four, putting me back in the lead (barely).

Before this week went wild and crazy, I did have a lovely weekend, wrapping up my spring break. As a result of a minor procedure* late in the week, I spent most of it lying on a couch being pathetic. However, on Saturday, I was fortunate enough to be called upon to babysit seven of the world's most well behaved children (they turned off the tv and put themselves to bed!) with the help one of my favorite people in the universe, Becky, who recently returned from a three or so year stint in Peace Corps and other world travels. Since this was up at the aforementioned camp, I also got to see the aforementioned Lauren and share the aforementioned Rogue Shakespeare Oatmeal Stout.

Um, DELICIOUS. I love stouts. I occasionally mention my ongoing search for an oatmeal stout as bangin' as the one I had at the microbrewery in Charleston, S.C. while attending a geography nerd conference that one time. Well, I think I finally found it. This was smooth and delicious. No weird aftertaste. Just awesome. Actually, what I wrote in my beer spreadsheet is, "SO GOOD! Smooth, tasty, not too sweet, not too bland, plain delicious perfecto stout" so yeah. Winner winner chicken dinner! Except I'm a vegetarian. Whatever, it's just fun to say. And I found a winning oatmeal stout.

Now onto my regularly scheduled Monday evening antics at Stuff Yer Face.

Corsendonk Abbey Pale Ale: I would highly recommend this one to the person who sort of likes pale ales but tends to be scared off by hops. Actually, I would recommend this one to just about anyone who likes good beer, because it's just plain good. It's actually a tripel. I would use words like "refreshing" and "delightful" to describe this very nice pale ale. It's not too sweet, and there's no real hops punching you in the face type experience to be had. It's just very nice and very good.

Rogue's Captain Sig's Northwestern Ale: While I've had a few Rogue brews now that I have really, REALLY enjoyed (um, did you read the beginning of this entry?), this was not a good experience. Hop hop hop away! No one around me really enjoyed it, either. I drank enough for it to count. Begrudgingly. The brewer describes it saying something about malts and other stuff besides hops... but I didn't get that part. It was just really bitter. If you're into hoppy beer, you'll like this!

and... don't judge...
Heineken: Once upon a time when I didn't really drink beer, I seem to recall liking this? I think it had more to do with the company I was keeping at that time in my life (said company being a big fan of said Heineken). Someone (and I forget who) judged me in a negative light over this and I hadn't had it since, till last night, when I had it just for the sake of getting it on the list officially. Well, I was annoyed at the person for judging me at the time, but I guess I owe them a thanks, whoever they were, because this isn't nearly as tolerable as my memory suggested. In fact, whoever you are, if you're reading this, please remind me that you once judged me, so I can properly thank you. When searching for a non-descript lager (I list these as "whatever lager" on my beer list), I would definitely go for a "Mexican lager" or the Earp Family Standard Issue over this. Eesh.

And so. Paul: 209, Colleen: 210. So I guess Paul's statement about ten beers sort of counts, in that I'm now ten beers past 200 beers.

*Bonus link if you aren't easy skeeved out by medical things: this is an x ray of my spine with a big needle next to it when I had the same procedure done a few years ago.