three for me!

This weekend, I had the pleasure of seeing my friend's sketch comedy group in New York City. I went to college with one of the guys in the group, so it was really fun to see him perform and catch up a little bit, but it also resulted in attending the show with Megan, old friend who I worked at the summer camp with AND went to college with (crazy!), her man Nick (another camp person), a friend of theirs, and Alice, another friend of mine from camp, who I've shared good beer with before and invited to this show because she recently suggested we do that again.

Here is what ensued:
This show was Chester's anniversary show, and for a small entrance fee, they offered us free beer! I grabbed myself a Pabst Blue Ribbon (in college, many called it "People's Beer of Richmond"-- the college memory is probably what drove me to choose it over the Bud they also had) and sat to enjoy the show, thinking nothing of the plain old party beer I was consuming. However, upon updating this blog and my beer list right now, I discovered it wasn't listed!

After the show, we ended up at Phebe's in the East Village. I managed to find two on draft that weren't on my list:

Abita's Purple Haze: I'm almost positive I had this in college at a beerluck (everybody brings a wacky or fancy six pack, everybody enjoys random beers together), but that predates the list, so here it is now. Alice and I agreed, it tasted like graham crackers. I actually didn't get any particular raspberry flavor, which is odd since this is categorized as a fruit beer, or a wheat beer with fruit in it-- either way, suggestive of tasting like the raspberry puree mixed in with it toward the end of the brewing process. It wasn't bad though. Perhaps it would be good for breakfast?

Phebe's Ale: I actually had an argument with one of the bartenders about this beer. She was being really rude, kept watching TV every time Alice and I tried to talk to her after she asked what she could get for us... I asked for the house ale, which was apparently only available at the back bar in the place. This is fine. I asked her if she thought it was worth walking to the back. After she was done watching something on the TV for a few seconds, and asking me to repeat myself, she told me she didn't know, it was like dark or something like New Castle Brown Ale, to which I responded, "That's not dark!"

It actually was pretty dark, darker than New Castle for sure, but definitely still an ale (I could still see light through it). It tasted a little bit like black licorice and a little bit like flat Coca Cola. It actually was a bit flat, not that I'm crazy about carbonation (I am really not a soda drinker), but it needs a little to carry the flavor. It wasn't my favorite beer ever. However, I'd still recommend Phebe's for their awesome spinach artichoke dip, which they seemed to make from scratch, or at least had more fresh looking spinach in it than the average spinach artichoke dip out there. It was delicious.

Paul: 211
Colleen: 213