On Friday night, Laura and I met Colleen and her new boyfriend, Taylor, at Mad Fox Brewing in Falls Church, VA. Despite my suspicions, traffic did no suck for our 5 PM meeting time. It was awesome to see Colleen and meet her boyfriend (he seems really cool). The beer, I thought, was worth the trip. They definitely did some things better than others, but that's typical of most brewers. The restaurant makes everything they serve (from local ingredients too) - with the lone exceptions being the mayo and ice cream. If you combine all of that with great people, little traffic, and a good conversation, it would be hard to create a better night.
I took a fair amount of ribbing for trailing Colleen in the count for so long. I've actually been having a lot of repeats (for several reasons), but this sparked me to try a lot more beers in the near future. Colleen and I both had samplers (4 beers at 4 oz a piece), plus we each tried two other beers a piece. We effectively prevented the other from getting a lead on the night; however, I am sure she has tried several more this weekend. Fortunately, I anticipated this and made two custom six packs at Total Wine - expect updates on those beers to come post haste. For now though, here are my reviews of Mad Fox's beers - expect Colleen to review some of these as well.
Mad Fox Oatmeal Stout: This was the first one I tried from the sampler, since I was told this was one of their best beers. The oatmeal stout was casked as opposed to kegged, which generally means less carbonation. I thought it was a nice, heavy oatmeal stout. I picked up the chocolate malt in the flavor.
Mad Fox Porter: Stouts and porters are closely related. Stouts tend to be heavier and have more malts, and porters tend to have a little more hop to them. To most people this would be splitting hairs, so you'll have to bear with me. That said, I thought this was a decent porter, but I liked the oatmeal stout more.
Mad Fox American Pale Ale: In Pale Ales, hops influence the flavor of the beer more than the malts. However, the balance isn't tipped as far as an IPA, for instance. When picking my four beers, I wanted two dark beers, a middle beer, and a light beer. This was my middle beer. I thought it was pretty pleasant. The hops came out more than the malts, but they weren't overwhelming.
Mad Fox Kolsch: I don't like Kolsch as a style. I often find them to be too light in color and taste. This beer pretty much fit it's style rather well. If Kolsch is your thing, it's mediocre. Otherwise, it does a pretty good job of clearing your palette before your next beer.
Mad Fox Wee Heavy: This beer is categorized as a Scotch Ale. Colleen thought it was sweet/sugary. I agreed there was a sweetness to the beer, but it didn't seem overly prevalent. The beer was served in a brandy sniffer. There was a slight fruit taste to it as well. It probably wouldn't be a bad dessert beer - if such a thing exists.
Mad Fox Alt: This beer was medium bodied and overall very forgettable. I seem to remember that neither Colleen or I were very impressed with this selection. There was very little hop flavor, and only a slight malt characteristic. Unfortunately, it came as an entire pint. In retrospect, I would have much preferred to have a pint of the oatmeal stout and a 4 oz of this.
I have some other beer reviews lying around (if I can find them all). I'll post them up later. I'd rather let a fun Friday night stand alone though.
The scorecard:
Colleen - 319 (expect at least another six since she matched me)
Paul - 306
Cheers,
Paul
Showing posts with label kölsch. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kölsch. Show all posts
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Saturday, August 7, 2010
It's been how long?
Note: I have reason to believe that certain parts of this site, i.e. the blogger navigation bar above, have been hacked. Please do not click on them until I manage to find a solution. Thanks.
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
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
Sunday, July 11, 2010
The Stuff Legends Are Made Of?
If one of my English teachers saw the title of this blog post, they'd kill me because I ended it with a preposition. Oh well, I needed a title and since I've tried a bunch of Legend beers, I thought I was being clever. Since I had another three of their beers (bringing that total to four), I can make a judgment on their quality. My impression is that they make mediocre beer, that while is not bad, I wouldn't go out of my way to find.
This past week, I went down to Williamsburg to visit Laura, as she is finishing up staffing a summer program at William and Mary. We spent the day hanging out, eating, and planning our upcoming road trip. We also made a visit to Williamsburg AleWerks, where I made some custom six packs for a barbecue that I will be attending soon. Later that evening, we met a college friend of mine, Amanda, who is living and working in the area, but will be moving shortly. I was very nice to catch up with her, as she makes the short list of people I want to keep in touch with after college. We met at Center Street Grill, and I had a very good time.
Legend Hefeweizen: You know how most Hefeweizens are see through? By that I mean, a lot of visible light manages to get through? This one was the normal yellowish in color, but not as much visible light got through. As I try to codify this, I realize that I sound like an idiot, but that was my visual impression. The taste got maked by the bartender putting the lemon in the beer, as opposed to the edge of the glass. That said, it was an alright Hefeweizen. A little heavier in body, which coincides with my initial visual impression.
Legend Pale Ale: Personally, I thought this was a very drinkable pale ale. In that sense, I mean it wasn't overwhelmingly hoppy. I didn't get Laura's take on it, but I doubt a real hop-head would love this beer. Then again, it should be more subdued in hop flavor, since it is a pale ale and not an india pale ale.
Legend Lager: This was easily the worst of the three, and it probably unfairly dragged down my impression of Legend brewing. My advice would be to try something other than this. Generally, I was disappointed in it as a lager. I think it might have been a little too malty for a lager.
Yesterday, I caught up with another friend from college and her fiance. They just moved into the area, and, in addition to getting married, are looking to buy a house. It was very nice to catch up with my friend and her fiance (whom I had yet to meet). We met at Gordon Biersch outside of Annapolis to catch up over a beer, and coincidentally I got to see the end of the Germany world cup game. Gordon Biersch is a national chain of brewpubs. It's not a bad place to check out once in a while, but it's certainly nothing to write home about - mediocre beer and borderline expensive food.
This past week, I went down to Williamsburg to visit Laura, as she is finishing up staffing a summer program at William and Mary. We spent the day hanging out, eating, and planning our upcoming road trip. We also made a visit to Williamsburg AleWerks, where I made some custom six packs for a barbecue that I will be attending soon. Later that evening, we met a college friend of mine, Amanda, who is living and working in the area, but will be moving shortly. I was very nice to catch up with her, as she makes the short list of people I want to keep in touch with after college. We met at Center Street Grill, and I had a very good time.
Legend Hefeweizen: You know how most Hefeweizens are see through? By that I mean, a lot of visible light manages to get through? This one was the normal yellowish in color, but not as much visible light got through. As I try to codify this, I realize that I sound like an idiot, but that was my visual impression. The taste got maked by the bartender putting the lemon in the beer, as opposed to the edge of the glass. That said, it was an alright Hefeweizen. A little heavier in body, which coincides with my initial visual impression.
Legend Pale Ale: Personally, I thought this was a very drinkable pale ale. In that sense, I mean it wasn't overwhelmingly hoppy. I didn't get Laura's take on it, but I doubt a real hop-head would love this beer. Then again, it should be more subdued in hop flavor, since it is a pale ale and not an india pale ale.
Legend Lager: This was easily the worst of the three, and it probably unfairly dragged down my impression of Legend brewing. My advice would be to try something other than this. Generally, I was disappointed in it as a lager. I think it might have been a little too malty for a lager.
Yesterday, I caught up with another friend from college and her fiance. They just moved into the area, and, in addition to getting married, are looking to buy a house. It was very nice to catch up with my friend and her fiance (whom I had yet to meet). We met at Gordon Biersch outside of Annapolis to catch up over a beer, and coincidentally I got to see the end of the Germany world cup game. Gordon Biersch is a national chain of brewpubs. It's not a bad place to check out once in a while, but it's certainly nothing to write home about - mediocre beer and borderline expensive food.
Gordon Biersch Sommerbrau: This was their summer seasonal, which is a German Kolsch. For a lighter beer such as a Kolsch it wasn't that bad, but I am not a big fan of the Kolsch style. Don't get me wrong, I won't turn down a beer - especially a new one. That said, I think I'll try different beer of theirs the next time I'm there.
Continuing the college friend binge, I met with my friends Tim and Heather for dinner in Annapolis. We had dinner at the Boatyard, which is a local place off the beaten path of downtown Annapolis. The food is generally pretty good, but some of our entrees were disappointing. It was very nice to catch up with them. I held back on my alcohol, since Heather is expecting.
Flying Dog "Doggie Style" Pale Ale: I love Flying Dog, if for nothing else, they have the most interesting names attached to their beer. Seriously, how can you not expect me to pick that off a menu? I thought this was a pretty good pale ale. As a comparision, I would rate it better than its counterpart by Legend (see above). The beer snobs at ratebeer.com do not agree with me, but that's not the point.
I probably have about three to four weeks left to catch up to and pass Colleen. One would expect she'll have about six new beers in the first ten days after contract. I know she is going to Africa later in the summer, but I figure that I need to get to about 280 in the next three to four weeks to offset her initial tastings before Africa. In light of my new count, that is very doable.
The scorecard:
Colleen - 270
Paul - 259
Cheers,
Paul
Continuing the college friend binge, I met with my friends Tim and Heather for dinner in Annapolis. We had dinner at the Boatyard, which is a local place off the beaten path of downtown Annapolis. The food is generally pretty good, but some of our entrees were disappointing. It was very nice to catch up with them. I held back on my alcohol, since Heather is expecting.
Flying Dog "Doggie Style" Pale Ale: I love Flying Dog, if for nothing else, they have the most interesting names attached to their beer. Seriously, how can you not expect me to pick that off a menu? I thought this was a pretty good pale ale. As a comparision, I would rate it better than its counterpart by Legend (see above). The beer snobs at ratebeer.com do not agree with me, but that's not the point.
I probably have about three to four weeks left to catch up to and pass Colleen. One would expect she'll have about six new beers in the first ten days after contract. I know she is going to Africa later in the summer, but I figure that I need to get to about 280 in the next three to four weeks to offset her initial tastings before Africa. In light of my new count, that is very doable.
The scorecard:
Colleen - 270
Paul - 259
Cheers,
Paul
Saturday, February 13, 2010
toasting the Olympics
I love the Olympics!
There are so many many reasons why. The sports. The geography. The people. (Visa has been sharing some classic stories in their current ad campaign, which you can see here. I don't work for them, I just really like the stories!) I love that so many countries can ignore their differences and just play together nicely for a few weeks. And, in the case of these Olympics, I LOVE CANADA!
My friend Amanda took this lovely picture in Sunset Beach Park in Vancouver at the end of our roadtrip across Canada in summer 2008. This excitement has been a long time coming!
A few weeks ago, my friend Cheryl and I realized our mutual excitement for the Winter Games, and decided to have a party to celebrate the opening ceremonies. It was great! We had multicultural foods-- rice and beans, spanakopita, cous cous, harira, Tim Tams, maple cookies, spring rolls, cheese blintzes, Irish creme puffs, etc. etc. We also served a somewhat multi-cultural themed punch discovered by Gurzo (including vodka, Cointreau, Galliano, Midori and champagne, with other fruit juices and fruits... yeah, I didn't know what most of those were, either. Which brings me to the beer that this post is leading to...)
I got myself a Dogfish Head World Wide Stout to sip at while helping set up and prepare the party. I had really built this up in my mind. This really seemed like a beer made for me. I mean, the title is geography-themed (making it perfect for an Olympics opening ceremony party). The word "ridiculous" is in its description (really)! Did it live up to my expectations?
Yes. A thousand times yes. This stout is really, really, ridiculously strong. I bought a 2008, which was 18% ABV. (I'm willing to bet I wouldn't be able to tell apart the 2008 from any other year, but aparently the alcohol content varies from year to year.) Definitely got some coffee aftertaste, definitely drank this one slowly. Cannot see through it at all. It really wasn't sweet, just strong. And awesome. This is a good beer if you're just planning on sipping one slowly all night.
Of course, I was over at Cheryl and Gurzo's house for quite a while enjoying the opening ceremonies and the good company, and started that one early and took a big break afterward. Several hours later, I tried another beer we had bought for the occasion, Tyskie, a Polish lager. Gurzo has a theory about having somewhat standard, crowd-pleasing beers at a party, but from brewers that no one's heard of. Tyskie is owned by SABMiller, the same group who brews Pilsner Urquell and Miller beers. More importantly, it matched our multicultural theme. This was a nice lager, very straightforward, very drinkable. I'd serve this to others again.
Toward the end of the night, I tried Otter Creek Spring Ale, a Kölsch style beer. This was a little bit hoppy, but in a strangely sweet and fresh kind of way. I liked it. It was very crisp, without a strong aftertaste. It tasted light and springy. I thought it was funny that I transitioned to increasingly light beers all evening.
Colleen 203, Paul 192. Happy Olympics, everyone!
There are so many many reasons why. The sports. The geography. The people. (Visa has been sharing some classic stories in their current ad campaign, which you can see here. I don't work for them, I just really like the stories!) I love that so many countries can ignore their differences and just play together nicely for a few weeks. And, in the case of these Olympics, I LOVE CANADA!
My friend Amanda took this lovely picture in Sunset Beach Park in Vancouver at the end of our roadtrip across Canada in summer 2008. This excitement has been a long time coming!
A few weeks ago, my friend Cheryl and I realized our mutual excitement for the Winter Games, and decided to have a party to celebrate the opening ceremonies. It was great! We had multicultural foods-- rice and beans, spanakopita, cous cous, harira, Tim Tams, maple cookies, spring rolls, cheese blintzes, Irish creme puffs, etc. etc. We also served a somewhat multi-cultural themed punch discovered by Gurzo (including vodka, Cointreau, Galliano, Midori and champagne, with other fruit juices and fruits... yeah, I didn't know what most of those were, either. Which brings me to the beer that this post is leading to...)
I got myself a Dogfish Head World Wide Stout to sip at while helping set up and prepare the party. I had really built this up in my mind. This really seemed like a beer made for me. I mean, the title is geography-themed (making it perfect for an Olympics opening ceremony party). The word "ridiculous" is in its description (really)! Did it live up to my expectations?
Yes. A thousand times yes. This stout is really, really, ridiculously strong. I bought a 2008, which was 18% ABV. (I'm willing to bet I wouldn't be able to tell apart the 2008 from any other year, but aparently the alcohol content varies from year to year.) Definitely got some coffee aftertaste, definitely drank this one slowly. Cannot see through it at all. It really wasn't sweet, just strong. And awesome. This is a good beer if you're just planning on sipping one slowly all night.
Of course, I was over at Cheryl and Gurzo's house for quite a while enjoying the opening ceremonies and the good company, and started that one early and took a big break afterward. Several hours later, I tried another beer we had bought for the occasion, Tyskie, a Polish lager. Gurzo has a theory about having somewhat standard, crowd-pleasing beers at a party, but from brewers that no one's heard of. Tyskie is owned by SABMiller, the same group who brews Pilsner Urquell and Miller beers. More importantly, it matched our multicultural theme. This was a nice lager, very straightforward, very drinkable. I'd serve this to others again.
Toward the end of the night, I tried Otter Creek Spring Ale, a Kölsch style beer. This was a little bit hoppy, but in a strangely sweet and fresh kind of way. I liked it. It was very crisp, without a strong aftertaste. It tasted light and springy. I thought it was funny that I transitioned to increasingly light beers all evening.
Colleen 203, Paul 192. Happy Olympics, everyone!
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