I Like the Pick and Roll/I Like the Give and Go

Beer #97 Honkers Ale / Goose Island Beer Company, Chicago, IL

Great way to spend a Friday: blowing off work for the afternoon, hanging out with friends, drinking beer, and watching basketball.  The first day and a half of the tournament hasn't produced as much madness as I'd like, but that might be changing.  Norfolk State already took down Missouri, a #2 seed, and Lehigh (LEHIGH!) was battling Duke (DUKE!) on even terms through half the game.  As my alma mater isn't much of a basketball powerhouse, I typically go into this time of year praying for chaos.  I love a good Cinderella story and always root for the underdog, even if that means my bracket gets laid to waste.

And what goes better with basketball than beer?  Unlike the River Spirit Casino, you can find some decent craft beers at O'Hare Airport.  In my case, the Honkers Ale from Goose Island.  Another beer from the bottle, so not much to report on appearance or aroma, but the taste has good malt notes, with citrus, caramel, and hops.  It all combines nicely to make a good and flavorful yet still easy drinking English bitter.

I'm a bigger fan of Goose Island's Green Line Pale Ale, but you take what you can get in the airport, I suppose.  It's also important to note that beer giant InBev, owner of Anheuser Busch, bought up Goose Island last spring.  So far, that seems like a way for InBev to collect the profits from craft beer and reduce their own distribution costs in the state of Illinois, more so than a plot to drive Goose Island to use cheap ingredients and make crappy beer.  We'll continue to watch that one.

Thing to Think About Today:
I was thinking of suggesting we all think about some of the great NCAA basketball tourney upsets, but there are too many amazing finishes to try and pick just one.  It's a Friday and the beers are flowing, so let's think about basketball, but mix in some awesome 80's music:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_shxzlTRK44&ob=av2e 

'cause it's basketball with Mr. Kurtis Blow!

Beer 97: Bøgedal No. 133

Yesterday on the drive home, Gary reminded me that we missed Flash's birthday.  So this one's for you, Flash.  Happy 15 years and 4 days!! You are an evil, evil genius and continue to astound me with your cunning and flair for destruction.



No. 2 and No. 3 praying for levitating steak



Steak prep





We celebrated with sirloin tip steak -- or at least the Army of Dachshunds had steak.  The people had poached eggs over green beans dressed with Parmesan and olive oil.

 



The Old Man being nonchalant



Mmm...tasty!









Photographing Flash chowing down was difficult!



In celebration of such a unique dog, I'm drinking a unique beer.  Bøgedal No. 133 out of Denmark. 

From the Bøgedal website:  Bøgedal is an atypical brewery in that it is Scandinavia’s only all gravity brewery.  The beer runs from cask to cask by means of pulleys and flows from level to level without the use of pumps.  The wort is cooked over an open fire. Because of the delicate methods in use, Bøgedal can produce a nearly clear beer without filtration, thereby retaining many of the important flavours and aromas.  The brews are never identical, even when the same recipe is followed.  Low technology without temperature control allows the beer to live its own life and develop naturally.  Bøgedal brews the so-called "goodbeer", going back to the preindustrial age.  This is a strong, very rich beer with many of the natural sugars still intact.

No. 133 is a Belgian dark ale.  It poured a deep, dark chocolate brown with a thick tan head.  It left significant lacing.  It smelled a bit sour with dark fruit aromas.  The flavor starts off reminding me of milk chocolate covered cherries and turns to a tongue squeezing tartness.  Overall it is excellent.  And guess where I had this one on draught?  The Farmer's Cabinet, of course!

Cheers!

Happy 15th (and three days) birthday, Flash!

Beer #96 Harvest Ale / JW Lees Brewery, Middleton, England

It's been a long day in a long week that isn't over yet, so I'm keeping this short and sweet.  Tonight's beer is an English barleywine from JW Lees.... and that's about the best thing I can say about this one.  I suppose I should say a bit more about it than that.  Aged in sherry casks, this beer pours an amber color in the glass, and you're greeted with the aroma of alcohol and sweet honey.  There's a malty, smoky taste that just doesn't appeal to me.  This beer checks in at 11.5% ABV, and you can tell.  Maybe we have a bad bottle, maybe we should have aged it longer, maybe.... this just wasn't a winner.  Sorry, folks.

Note to self: I probably don't like sherry

Thing to Think About Today:
Lost in the shuffle of travel this week was our dog, Flash, turning 15 years old on Monday!

The Regal Beagle.  But a Dachshund

We got him back in college when he was a pup, and he's been both my best friend and a pain in my ass ever since.  This lovable, loyal, stubborn dog merits an entire blog to document his travels and the trouble he's created, not just a footnote in a post.  However, we'll leave that for another day.  Until then, we'll let this puppet (and sort of Flash-looking dachshund!) wish us all a happy birthday!!

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

Beer 96: J.W. Lees Harvest or Wow, That Tastes Like Ass

The label of J.W. Lees Harvest promised an ale matured in sherry casks.  This one was bottled in 2010 and being a fan of quite a few beers that tend to age well, I gave it a go.  I should of got up and went.

It poured a slightly cloudy copper color with a thin tan head.  It smelled of booze but the kind of booze that I don’t like.  A little too sweet in the nose.  I also noticed some honey and molasses.  The taste is where it absolutely south for me.

This is the 96th review I’ve written and I think the 100th beer I’ve drank since starting this adventure.  This is the first beer that I refuse to finish.  90% of this beer is going straight down the drain.  And I don’t care…that’s how much I dislike it.

The taste is all sherry and has a pronounced alcohol bite.  There’s honey and hop but it also tastes like ashes -- kind of like how I would think old cigarettes taste.  Smoked isn’t a bad thing in my world.  In fact, I have a rauchbier hanging in the fridge that I’m super excited about.

So on that note, I’m going to open up something I know I like -- Blue Sunday Sour -- and relax with a couple episodes of The Wire.

Oh, indeed.

p.s.  Microsoft Word keeps autocorrecting rauchbier to be raunchier.  Oh autocorrect, you entertain me so!

Beer 95: de Molen London Porter

I picked de Molen’s London Porter because of the description:  historic recipe developed with the help of the renowned beer historian Ron Pattinson; a one-of-a-kind example of a genuine porter.  I’m a fan of porters so how could I resist drinking a historically accurate porter?

Sorry about the background...

This beer was brewed in an extremely limited quantity.  It’s from a recipe discovered by Pattinson that dates to August 1, 1914.  This is the beer you would have ordered in pre-WWI London.  Pretty crazy if you think about it.  I had it on draught at The Farmer’s Cabinet.  I know I always sing the praises of Teresa’s Next Door, but if you’re in Philadelphia, go to The Farmer’s Cabinet.  You’re a fool if you don’t.

It poured a deep, dark brown in my glass.  It had a coffee aroma that carried through to the flavor.  I found it to be have some spice to it.  It was also a bit nutty.  I’m struggling to describe the way it drank.  To say it wasn’t  smooth makes it sound bad.  But it wasn’t smooth.  It had body.  It also finished dry.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I really want to put it in my Top 25 but I hesitate because in nine months from now, I’m probably not going to find anymore.

p.s.  Someone please tell Google that it is not smarter than I am -- at least on this occasion.  I most certainly did not want to look up Rob Pattinson.  His pale, pouty man-boy image was most certainly not what I meant.

Shiner: Beer or Bruise.... or Both?

Beer #95 Shiner Bock / Spoetzl Brewery, Shiner, TX

I'm fortunate to live in a part of the country where craft brewing is revered, and restaurants and bars are expected to carry multiple varieties of great beer from around the globe.  This being said, I recently found myself in the River Spirit Casino in Tulsa, OK (don't ask) for a few hours.  I was intrigued when someone asked our waiter what beers were on draft, and the eager young man replied, "every beer you can think of!"

EVERY BEER?  My mind immediately raced with the possibility of crossing some great or hard to find breweries off the list.  Just as fast as my mind took off, those dreams crashed and burned when I realized he was probably 18 years old and every beer HE could think of consisted of Bud, Bud Light, Miller Lite, Coors, Coors Light, and Corona.  Ooof.  I did manage to find Shiner Bock, a popular beer out of Texas from the Spoetzl Brewery, so all was not lost.  Drank this one out of the bottle, so I can't really describe the color or aroma, but the taste had notes of malt and caramel.  At 4.4% ABV, this is an easy drinking beer compared to other, more complex bocks.  I was hoping I'd get to cross Choc Brewery from Oklahoma off my list, but perhaps another time.

While the lack of beer choices was a disappointment, the trip was not without it's moments.  People watching at a casino on an Indian Reservation is an orgy for the eyes.  Prime example was the woman wearing boots and cut-off white jeans shorts, which just happened to be giving her... shall we say... front wedgie, which she was eagerly digging out when she walked by.  Interesting enough, but it gets better.  She proceeds to hop up on a bar stool at a table on a platform elevated about 8" or so off the floor.  And in the process of trying to (still) adjust her short shorts, she manages to lose her balance and tumble backwards off the chair and down to the floor like a hefty sack of drunk and oddly attired potatoes.

<pause>

Here's something you need to know about me: I am well educated, kind, and thoughtful.  This being said, I find shows like America's Funniest Videos hilarious beyond belief.  Watching people fall down in awkward and unusual ways is comedy gold to me.  Guaranteed to make me near pee my pants laughing.

<resume>

I immediately dropped down and hid behind the bar so that she wouldn't see me crack up, and started laughing so hard my contact lens rolled out of my eye.  By the time I caught my breath and composed myself long enough to see if she was okay, she had managed to get back up on her chair and resume her evening.  I mean, wouldn't this be a sign that maybe it's time to close up shop and head home?   Guess not!

Proof she exists!  Or is that Bigfoot?  

Thing to Think About Today:
If laughter is truly the best medicine, I suppose we'll use this space today to heal our injuries from falling off bar stools.  Enjoy this montage of people falling off of swings, courtesy of America's Funniest Videos.  Now why didn't I have my camera ready?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRS0TXUXUf8 

Until next time, River Spirit.  Sadly my 20 cent claim ticket is invalid after TWO DAYS!

Beer 94: Brasserie Grain d’Orge Belzebuth or I Ramble When Tired Even When Writing

When I say blond ale, do you think 13% ABV?  Nope.  Neither do I.  And yet that’s what I find myself drinking after a long afternoon of overeating and too much wine.

Sidebar:  Next time I complain about my job, remind me that I spent three hours eating and drinking today.  And got paid to do it.  And it was GOOD.

So here I sit out on the deck.  T-shirt, bare feet and one helluva beer.  It’s March 13 for god’s sake.  I realize it’s not politically correct, but I LOVE GLOBAL WARMING if this is global warming.

Brasserie Grain d’Orge promotes the Belzebuth as the most unique ale in the world on the bottle.  On their website, it’s billed as the strongest beer in the world.  LIARS.  I just saw an announcement about something coming in at 17% ABV but who am I to quibble.  OK.  I love to quibble.  But that’s an entirely different post.

It pours a nice copper color into my Miller Lite pint glass.  Oh yeah…this glass is so old the colors are starting to fade.  In a household that loves to break glasses (I’m looking at you, Gary), I’m surprised this one has made it to the fading ink stage.

Belzebuth is quite bubbly and had a small whitish head.  For being a big, bad ass beer, the flavors were very even.  Good balance of malt and hops.  There was definite grainy sweetness.  The alcohol gets you in the nose as you swallow…akin to sipping on good bourbon.  The carbonation isn’t overpowering, just nice and refreshing.  Is it the best in the world?  That is a subjective question.  Do I like it?  Why, yes, I do.

p.s.  The bottle is less than 9 oz.

p.p.s.  Go outside immediately and enjoy the close approach of Venus and Jupiter.  Despite being gazillions (a highly technical and utterly scientific measurement) of miles apart, they appear to be sitting an easy commute apart in the west-southwest sky.  Venus is notably brighter.  Bam.  Knowledge dropped.

p.p.p.s.  The highlight of my evening commute:  Blaring Jay-Z.  Windows down. Sunroof open.  Possibly being a spectacle in the Mini.  I look over to my left and the most classic example of Main Line lady is sitting in the passenger seat of a Mercedes with her window down.  I wish I had a photo of the disdainful face she made it me.  I may or may not have giggled delightedly.  She rolled up her window.

Bird, Bird, Bird.... Bird is the Word

Beer #94 Surly Bird / de Proef Brouwerij, Lochristi, Belgium

Keeping my hustle going, so we're back to diving in without much fanfare.  Besides, 80% of the reason you come here is for the beer updates, 20% for the fanfare.  So, think of this post as my 20% off sale - every penny counts in these challenging economic times, folks.

Today's beer is Surly Bird, a Flemish wild ale from de Proef.  This one was on tap at Teresa's Next Door in Wayne, and had a golden honey hue in the glass.  The aroma gave off the scent of yeast, sour citrus, and spice.  So far so good.  I noticed grapefruit, yeast and malt, and honey with sour and tart notes throughout.  In my notes, I wrote down "Very Good!", which is usually shorthand for a beer I find to be very good.  Definitely be on the lookout for this one.

I took a picture, but my occasionally not-that-smart phone didn't save it somehow.  Apologies.

Thing to Think About Today:
I guess if I was a bird, I might be a little surly.  What with all of the flying and the living outside and what not.  To make it easy for you, I'll go ahead and rank some additional surly birds besides tonight's beer, from least surly to most surly.  Now, you'll have a reference available should you need to judge the surliness of any birds you meet.

5. Surfin' Bird

4.  The San Diego Chicken

3. "The Birdman" Koko B. Ware

2.  It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's Birds of War

1. The nesting hawks at The Franklin Institute


Stream videos at Ustream

For the past four years, this pair of red-tailed hawk have returned to a nest on a third floor ledge.  Their spot is right outside the window of the board room, and TFI staff have put up cameras so you can watch the birds lay eggs, bring home dinner, fluff up the nest, and feed their young.  Hence, your thing to think about today: Science in action.  Oh, but why do I categorize them surly, you ask?  Just wait until you see what happens to the rodents and pigeons they bring back into the nest, and you'll understand that these birds of prey are bad, bad mofos.

Beer 93: Ichtegem’s Flemish Red Ale (Grand Cru)

I have iPad 3 envy.  It has a better camera (with a flash!) than my iPad and that is the one thing that bothers me about my version.  This is coming from the same person who swore off upgrading any of her technology following the last Blackberry upgrade and purchase of the iPad 2.  There was also a three day stretch when I was afraid of our new copier/printer/fax/atomic missile launcher at work.  Oh they don’t promote the missile launching capabilities, but I know it’s in there someone.  You just need to find the correct sub-menu.

So there you have it.  I am mysterious like that.

***

Tonight’s beer comes from the Belgium’s Brouwerij Strubbe -- Ichtegem's Grand Cru Flemish Red Ale.

It poured dark brown with hints of red and was relatively still.  The head, which was practically nonexistent, left a thin ring of off white foam around the edges of the glass.

The scent was light balsamic vinegar.  It drank with a muted sourness and I noted some hop character.  The tartness in the flavor was also reminiscent of balsamic vinegar.   I also noted some raspberry, which was interesting.  It finished with an oak flavor and was dry.  Overall pretty good, but not among the best I’ve had.

Cheers!

p.s.  Check that totally awesome Petrus glass.  Guess who bought so much beer at The Foodery in Philly that they gave me a free glass?  Oh yeah...I'm a winner.

Once It Hits Your Lips, It's So Good!

Beer #93 Sans Culottes / Brasserie La Choulette, Hordain, France

I'm getting my hustle on today, so we're jumping right into the good stuff and leaving the fluff behind.  The beer and brewery for today are Sans Culottes, a 7% ABV biere de garde from Brasserie La Choulette in France.  It pours a hazy gold and gives off a lemony, tart aroma.  You notice flavors of yeast and grapefruit, with some light malt and a clean finish.  There's a sweetness mixed in with some sour.  Very good beer, well worth a try.  Marci has also sampled this beer in her travels.

Let us now call some attention to the fact this beer name translates to "without pants" in English.  While I'm sure if you drink enough of this stuff, you may end up not wearing any pants.  However, the beer is named for the lower class supporters of the French Revolution, who wore trousers (or pantaloons) instead of the fancier culottes (silk breeches) of the ruling class.  The imagery from these revolutionaries remains with us today - we frequently see politicians rolling up their sleeves or wearing casual clothes to prove they're "one of the people," despite their exorbitant wealth relative to the actual common man.  Bet you didn't expect to learn something about the French Revolution today, but yet here we are.

Thing to Think About Today:

If we're going sans culottes, let's all think about... sans culottes Old School style.  Which of course means WE'RE GOING STREAKING!  As you can guess, it's not cool to play this video at work, unless your employer is cool with profanity and, let's face it, man ass.  That's a risk you take when you run sans culottes through the streets, people.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20g3QIUnOgY 

Little known fact unless you live in my house:  Marci despises Will Ferrell with every fiber of her being.  Her hatred burns with the heat of a thousand suns.  This video clip pretty much epitomizes her hatred.