Collaborations, Romantic Comedies, and Yusuf Islam

Beer # 63 Our Side / Mikkeller, Copenhagen, Denmark
Another day, another trip into the city for dinner.  Some friends are in town for the night, so we're hitting Jose Pistola's for dinner.  Will give a full rundown on the experience tomorrow, as the beer list looks inviting.

With dinner on deck for the evening, that leaves us with a cold, snowy afternoon.  Clearly, that = drinking.  After previously drinking a Mikkeller/De Struise collaboration, it's time to officially and formally cross Mikkeller off the list.  Mikkeller is one of the biggest "names" in craft brewing of late, as he's one of the gypsy brewers who spends time traveling and collaborating with other brewers and breweries to create really unique offerings.  I chose the Our Side, a project starring Mikkeller and Stillwater.  Fairly interesting story - two gypsy brewers meet at a beer festival in Europe and find that they both named their beer Stateside.  So, they settle their beef over naming rights old school style, with dueling pistols at 15 paces.  BLAM.

Or, at least that's how I would have thrown down.  Apparently, these guys figured instead of filing intellectual property lawsuits over the name (and instead of shooting each other), they'd just create a beer together, basically blending the two versions of Stateside into a new beer called Our Side.  Definitely an unusual way to form a partnership.  If one of these guys were a girl, Hollywood would have already wrapped production on the zany romantic-comedy starring Katherine Heigl. It would be called "I Brew, I Do!" or something asinine that would make women in the 25-40 demographic want to pony up money and drag their boyfriends to the theaters and then torture them about why they aren't married yet.

"You brew a beer called Stateside?  So do I!
Let's fall in love and have preposterous and infrequently funny things happen!"

Enough on the back story and Hollywood's obsession with romantic comedies.  Let's talk about the beer.  There's a mellow hop aroma with citrus and yeast, and the taste is earthy with some pine, and there's a distinct tartness with a peppery finish.  Just the right amount of bitterness.  Excellent beer, really top notch.  This beer would probably earn a seat in the Top 25, but the pepper bite is just a little overpowering.  I mean, I'm being obscenely picky here; this beer is straight up delicious. A manageable 7.5% ABV, too.

Things to Think About Today:
We've come to another Saturday night.  So, why don't we all think about Cat Stevens and his thoughts on Saturday nights:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLeWB3C2cLo

Another Saturday night and he ain't got nobody?   Clearly, he and his girlfriend must have had a fight over whether or not to see "I Brew, I Do!"