Breweries "Visited"

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Call of the Wild (Beer)

Beer #239 Wild Undressed / Picobrouwerij Alvinne, Heule, Belgium

It's been a good weekend, filled with beer, bike rides, and some well earned rest.  But there's a storm moving in (literally), so I'm going to hustle along and get this post written before I need to go batten down the hatches.

To close out the weekend, I'm reviewing Alvinne, a wild ale from Picobrouwerij Alvinne.  This one came on draft at The Farmer's Cabinet, and if you haven't been there, you need to go and see their amazing and ever changing beer list.  They manage to put some really unique and sometimes hard to find beers on their list.  Anyway, back to the beer - in the glass, it's the color of a ripe plum, and you are greeted with the aromas of sour cherry and vinegar.  The taste is clean, tart, and dry, with prominent notes of vinegar, cherry, with a tiny bit of sweetness.  An excellent wild ale for those who like their beers a bit more unusual.

Another awesome camera phone pic!

In the ancient world of Belgian brewing, Alvinne is a just a puppy, as they've been brewing since 2002.

Thing to Think About Today:
Yesterday, we were glued to the tv at Round Guys Brewery watching the tightly contested 10,000m (roughly six miles) finals, which would eventually be won by Great Britain's Mo Farah.  Close behind in second place was Galen Rupp, only the third American ever to earn a medal in this race, which was dominated by Finland in the early Olympic years, and by a number of African countries in more recent years.  So, there's Rupp, Lewis Tewanima's silver medal in 1912, and your thing to think about today: the incredible gold medal run by Billy Mills in 1964.

Mills was a virtual unknown at the time, and wasn't remotely considered a medal threat at the Tokyo Olympics.  In fact, his qualifying time at the US Olympic Trials was almost a minute slower than the winner's.  However, on the last lap with the two race favorites jockeying for position, it's Mills blazing past in a blur to break the tape and win gold.  The race official didn't even know Mills' name, and had to ask him who he was after the race ended.  No matter, as Mills managed to beat his personal best by a whopping 46 seconds, and set a new Olympic record.  He would also compete in the marathon, finishing in 14th place, although by that point everyone most certainly knew his name.

 

"Look at Mills!  Look at Mills!!!"

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