It's been how long?

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I've ignored this place too long. Actually, ignored is a bad word. Life has gotten in the way for too long. All the while, I've been collecting little notes on backs of receipts in my wallet and keeping a master list of beers I've tried on my phone. All of these efforts have been with the intention of updating my count before Colleen ends her contract. I know, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

I have been doing some traveling. Laura and I went 2,100 miles in four days from Northern Virginia to Southwest Colorado. Along the way, we stopped at some ruins for a 12th Century Native American City in Illinois, saw the St. Louis Arch, drank at a micro-brewery in St. Louis (notice the lack of a certain macro-brewer), visited some cousins of mine in Kansas, and a lot of other stuff. You can read her blog entry on our trip here.

Harpoon Summer: This one has been lying in the fridge for a while. I'd say I've been getting really tired of summer style, specifically Kolsch beers, but we have so many reviews to go before the end. It was average as far as the Kolsch style goes, and by that I mean perfect on a hot summer day.

Budweiser: If you drink beer, you know this one....unfortunately. Bud-heavy, as it may be known, is sometimes a foreigner's impression of American Beer. I cry at night when I think of this. It isn't that bad, but there is just so much more to American Brewing than this staple. I'd lambaste this beer more, but among few of my reasons not to bash it further is they have hilarious commercials.

Miller Lite: I had this beer when out with my cousins in Georgetown. We were on a boat outside of Tony and Joe's along the water. Remember my review of Budweiser? Of course, you do - it was my last review. This beer was fine on a hot summer day, other than that avoid it. Don't let all those alleged world beer cup awards in the commercials fool you (more on this later).

Rebel: This is a Czech beer that I had while having dinner at Laura's parent's house (I'm not sure if that statement is grammatically correct, but you'll live with it). This is a Pilsner from the Czech Republic. For those of you scoring at home, this is where the Pilsner style was invented. As far as Pilsner's go, this was a quality beer. However, even reviewing pilsners, kolschs, and lagers is starting to wear on me.

Trader Joe's Bohemian Lager: Damn it, another Lager. This was another one that was graciously handed to my while at Laura's parent's house. I thought the beer was a little heavy bodied for a lager. I drank it from the bottle, so I didn't get a good read on the color of the beer. It just seemed a little too malty and full bodied for a Lager. Nonetheless, I am still thankful for this beer and the aforementioned one.

Laura tells me that I need to add more stories to this blog. However, I always try to weigh them with my own privacy, her privacy, and the privacy of our friends. It's not a perfect system, after all I have a blog, but it's something I weigh in my mind. For example, I tend to not specify the exact dates of my immediate travel plans, and I prefer to write about them after the fact. I'm not perfect at it, but I try.

When Laura and I visited St. Louis on our road trip, we stopped at Morgan Street Brewery. The brewery is about two blocks from the Mississippi River, and about 3/4 mile North of the Gateway Arch. After stopping by the Arch, we walked over to the brew-pub. As I said earlier, take a mental note of the other brewery options we could have visited. The food was pretty good. The sandwiches came with coniques, which I think were fried mashed potatoes.

Morgan Street Brewery Golden Pilsner: This beer is advertised as award winning, so I decided I should try it. I'm starting to wonder who these judges are exactly (Note to Colleen, figure out how we can be on the panel). For a Pilsner, I thought it was a bit malty. Other than that, it went down pretty smooth. After a long two days of travel, it hit the spot. Besides that, incorporate every other buzz word I've mentioned about summer beers.

Morgan Street Brewery Honey Wheat: Before we left, I asked the waitress if I weren't to be in the area again (which is reasonable to assume), which beer I should try. She mentioned that this beer was their most popular by far. As I think now, the popularity of their beers are probably determined mostly by St. Louis Cardinals fans who walk the few blocks there before or after a game. The lager was somewhere between filtered and unfiltered, and had a slight sweet taste to it - hence the honey.

The next day, we drove out to central Kansas to visit some cousin's of mine and stay the night. They were quite gracious hosts. They took us to a Mexican restaurant in town, their county fair, and their farm. It was quite a good time, and we both really appreciated their kind hospitality. When we went out for Mexican, and I had completed a drive of 450 miles behind the wheel. To say I needed a beer was an understatement.

Corona Extra: I had it with the Lime. It went well after a long drive and with my enchiladas. I wouldn't recommend it unless it's with Mexican food, you want to be polite, or it's one of my often referenced "hot summer days."

Upon arriving in Durango, CO after some bare knuckle driving the last 30 miles through the mountain pass during torrential rain, I decided I was too tired to get beer. In my defense, it had been over 2,000 miles, it was 8 PM (local, 10PM to me), and I had driven the final part of the day. Rest assured, I will man-up and find one of their brew-pubs in October when I go to travel back with Laura!

However, during my layover in the Denver airport I did manage to find a place with Colorado micro-brews. I've already had Fat Tire so I decided to try something else.

New Belgium Skinny Dip: Apparently, this is their low calorie, summer seasonal. As far as light beers go, it had a pretty good body to it. I'd say that was its greatest distinguishing factor from all the other summer beers. As an aside, I cannot wait for fall - just to have new styles of beer!

Odell 90 Shilling: This was a Scottish Ale. I was told it would be somewhat like New Castle. I thought it had a fuller body, and more taste to it. I don't have much experience with Scottish Ales, nor does Colleen since neither of us have "tagged" the term. Upon some further research, it does go with the style. It had a full-bodied malt taste, with little or no hop characteristic.

Just today I went out with my cousins for a birthday celebration at P.F. Chang's. It was my first time there, but I am more than familiar with Chinese Food. I thought the food was pretty good, and I still can't use chopsticks. I thought the next best thing was to get one of their beers, and a Japanese beer that was a repeat.

Tsingtao: The first words out of my mouth were, "That's not as awful as I expected." In my defense, the Chinese aren't really known for their beer. I thought it was no different than a Bud Light, Miller Lite, Coors Lite, etc. I'll give it more points though since it's harder to come across. It also went well with the food.

Kirin Ichiban: Hankering for another beer, and wanting to review another for the blog, I ordered this Japanese beer. I've already had it, so it doesn't count on my list. This is a light styled Lager, and it's certainly not any better than the American macro-brews that I have already mentioned. Again, it was yet another summer beer.

In the time I have written this, Colleen has decided to break our little, albeit temporary, tie. Congrats to her on that achievement. Also, best wishes on your trip and I hope this mess with the antibiotics can be over soon! By the way, I am jealous of your winter style beer - very jealous.

The scorecard:
Colleen - 271
Paul - 270 (no, not pounds)

I am sure that I will have more beers soon. However, my pace will be slowed by travel (as I've already mentioned) and a crazy schedule at work until the end of September.

Cheers,
Paul