Today is Junkyard Day

Beer #212 Diablo Rojo / Boneyard Beer, Bend, OR 

First day of school/new job went well today, thanks for asking.  Very glad to finally get started after knowing about this for over a month now.  Still trying to wrap my arms around what I'll be doing, but so far I think I'm going to like it very much.

To celebrate, how about a beer review?  Today's beer is another vacation beer, the Diablo Rojo from Boneyard Beers.  Had this one on draft at Henry's Tavern, and it poured a dark amber color with a malty aroma.  You pick up flavors of caramel, malt, and biscuit, with some hops sprinkled in.  Quite tasty.  In my notes, I wrote "sessionable?", which is shorthand for "perhaps you can drink a number of these beers in one sitting?" At 7% ABV you may want to think twice about that strategy.

Red Devil, indeed.

The phrase boneyard is slang for a junkyard, and that's exactly where this brewery picked up its name - Boneyard was started with salvaged vats and brewing tools from other breweries.  They stick with more of a skulls and bones and demons theme on their website, leveraging the graveyard aspect of the boneyard name.  Personally, I was hoping for more of a Fred Sanford motif if they're tracing their roots back to the junkyard.

Lamont, you big dummy!

Thing to Think About Today:
After finishing my write-up with a Redd Foxx reference, do you think there was any chance this wasn't going to be your thing to think about today?  Armed with possibly the greatest theme song ever in the form of Quincy Jones' The Streetbeater, 70's sitcom Sanford and Sons told the legendary tale of Fred Sanford and his son, Lamont, and their salvage business.  Classic, classic tv here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhRwfhxco7A

Beer 206: Of Baltimore, Of Love & Regret, and More West Coast Beer

There is a scene in The Wire where the reporters at a fictious Baltimore Sun learn that they'll be writing on the homeless problem all summer.  I feel like one of them -- just writing on west coast beer all summer. Perhaps I'll score a freelance writing gig when it's all over.  I don't think I'm in the Pulitzer Prize league like the guys at the paper.

We're headed off to Baltimore shortly on a mission. First to check out the American Visionary Art Museum (AVAM) and then we're off to Of Love & Regret for beer and snacks.  AVAM is an awesome and incredibly cool museum that features works of art that are funky, weird and thought-provoking.  After having spent yesterday afternoon at the Barnes Foundation, today's art excursion could not be more polar opposite.   Today is all glitter, glass, decorated cars and bizarre sculpture.  The antithesis of yesterday's Renoirs, Matisses and Modiglianis.

Of Love & Regret is the relatively new bar belonging to the gypsy brewer behind Stillwater Ales (Brian Strumke).  You may recall my love of Stillwater Ales. Evidence may be found here and here.  To say I'm excited about this part of my day is an understatement.

So let's get on to today's review so that I can get on the road.

The Boneyard Brewing Company's Diablo Rojo is described perfectly on the brewer's website:  A malty red ale with a subtle hop profile.  It poured a deep amber with a thick off-white head. The scent was very light -- general beer, grains.  It tasted nutty and malty.  Very easy to drink...


Cheers!