Beer 41: Duchesse de Bourgogne or Pitter-Pattery Nerd Heartbeats

Today I celebrated the 306th birthday of American statesman, printer, entrepreneur, author and inventor Benjamin Franklin.  Mind you, his birthday is actually January 17 and he's been dead for almost 215 years, but we celebrated nonetheless.  And if you follow me on Twitter (@TailgateNinja), I live-tweeted most of it!

The day started at 9:00 a.m. with a seminar entitled Franklin and Energy: Resources, Uses and Efficiencies.   Guest speakers included:

• President and CEO of PECO, Denis O'Brien
• Chief Astronomer of The Franklin Institute, Derrick Pitts
• Dean of The Pennsylvania State University's Graduate School, Henry Foley

I have the distinct pleasure of working with Denis and Derrick through our Board of Trustees and museum programming, respectively, but this was the first time I've encountered Henry Foley.  The morning was spent extolling the life and work of Benjamin Franklin, his contributions to invention and discovery of electricity, and the future of electricity and energy consumption.  I was truly in awe of these people and the vast resources of knowledge they harbored.

I'm not going to bore you with my stance on how coal and oil are bad and how alternative energies are good.  It is by no means such a black and white situation.  What I will say is that you should read up on the subject and use sources that are conservative, liberal and moderate.  You'd be surprised at the amount of agreement out there in the world - you just typically don't hear about it.

After leaving the seminar at the American Philosophical Society, it was time to process to Dr. Franklin's grave at Christ Church Burial Ground at Arch and 5th Streets in Philadelphia.  

Imagine my delight when I walked out to find a FIRE TRUCK for the parade!

Obviously any legitimate parade needs flags and banners.

Franklin Institute, represent!  Who brings the pennants?  We bring the pennants!

Christ Church Burial Ground: Here lie some old-ass dead people!

That's me!  I'm making like a tourist and tossing pennies on Ben's grave.  It's a tradition!

After processing, speechifying and some praying, we headed to lunch where the U.S. Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu was presented with the Franklin Founder Award.  Steven Chu was absolutely amazing.  I encourage you to pay more attention to his policy and efforts to identify, explore and make different alternative energies possible.

***

What better way to continue my celebration of Benjamin Franklin than with a Duchesse de Bourgogne Flanders red ale?  OK.  That's stretching it.  But that is what I drank tonight.  The best way I can explain a Flanders red ale is if an awesome oud bruin made babies with a lambic.  I poured the Duchesse into my trusty tulip glass and it was dark, dark brown with red highlights.  Gary took one look at it and gave it a "ooh, that's a dark beer."  I don't think he knew it was a Flanders red ale and one taste set him straight.  And he only got one sip because I immediately called dibs on it and attempted to bite his hand when he reached for the bottle.  (I'm only slightly exaggerating there.)

The scent was all tart cherries.  The taste was mild fruit, lots of cherry, tartness and a bit of sourness.  It was nicely carbonated and finished dry.  I'm trying to figure out how to describe the feel of the beer in my mouth.  If you can identify beers that drink with thinness or creaminess, then I would say this one has a round feel.  Hopefully that makes sense to someone other than me.

One of my favorite beers in this style is Rodenbach Grand Cru.  I think they compare favorably with the Duchesse having a bit more fruitiness.  Goddamn, another one for my top 25 consideration.  I'm off to save my last glass of the Duchesse de Bourgogne.

In honor of Ben and in celebration of our own curious minds, huzzah!