Kaylee Crawls!

Some of the biggest thrills of having a child (I’m told) are their first word, their first step and even when they first start crawling. Each of these milestones is just further evidence that, even though you were not prepared in the least to take on such a momentous challenge as parenthood, you are still succeeding. Kaylee is the daughter of good friends of ours and was born September 26th. We’ve really loved getting to know her and not even three months old she’s already crawling. Okay, not on hands and knees, but pub crawling! By definition, a pub crawl is described as the visiting of a smattering of pubs throughout the course of a day or evening... or both! Although today was neither, our intentions were good. Kaylee’s mom and my wife made appointments together for an afternoon at the spa. So the guys made plans to hit a couple of pubs since we’d be in the beer friendly Selby-Dale neighborhood.
We started out at W.A. Frost since it’s right across the street from the spa. No, not exactly a beer bar, but neither of us had been for a while and because of the snow, it was quite convenient. My parents were joining us too, before rushing off to their holiday party, because they hadn’t met Kaylee yet. Well, the snow kept coming down harder and harder and the bar at Frost kept feeling more and more comfortable. Needless to say, we didn’t crawl anywhere that afternoon and instead spent the next couple of hours at Frost. But anyway… about the beers.
We kicked the night off with a couple of Surly Coffee Benders. I’m always looking to try something different, but I can’t get enough of this stuff. So, whenever I find it on tap I take advantage of it. As usual, I enjoyed every drop of malty java goodness. At $8 a glass tho, I think I’ll stop at one. Sheesh! On to the next. I saw something on the bottles list that I have been wanting to try for quite sometime – Flying Dog’s Gonzo Imperial Porter. Normally I will order off the tap list, but boy was I glad I went this route. The nose was really hoppy. I know big beers need a lot of hops to balance them out, but this smelled to be dry hopped even. Being a hop head myself, this was quite alright with me. The flavor was exceptional as well. Malty sweetness with some subtle smokiness to it. And for a big beer there was even some powerful hop bitterness in addition to the coffee and chocolate. I’d certainly have another, but not this afternoon.
Although I didn’t know this when ordering, my last beer of the evening was a Flat Earth Winter Warlock. This was another beer I had always wanted to try. I had heard little about it, but what I heard was encouraging. For some reason I was expecting something dark and toasty, but what I got was quite different. I enjoyed it for the most part. It had a hint of spiciness to it, but not the big Belgian kind I have gotten accustomed to from Flat Earth. It was very easy to drink, no heat like I would have expected from 9% abv. I have not had many barleywines to this point so I haven’t much to compare to, but this isn’t like any of the others I’ve had. The alcohol hit me later so I know it was there, but that could have had something to do with the rate in which we consumed them. About halfway through we got a call from the ladies saying they were done. They added that they were in sandals and we needed to pick them up. Who wears sandals in the middle of a snowstorm?!?! Turns out it had to do with toe nail polish or something.
Sadly this was the conclusion to what could have been a great evening. It was decided that due to the weather we would just head home instead of heading to another pub. I was supposed to meet some BeerAdvocates at Stub and Herbs later tonight as well and that won’t be happening either. Oh well, I have not been home much lately so staying in won’t be all that bad. Being such a big fan of all things Christmas I was even a little excited to go home and enjoy the lights, the season, the merriment and the kegerator. Tonight would be the Indulgences Chocolate Porter. This beer is probably my favorite of all my homebrews. A little bit sweet and a whole lot of chocolaty, this great brew pours like tar but drinks like silk! Looking back, the Winter Warlock was a very appropriate selection. Taken directly from the brewery’s website… “Enjoy this beer with someone special [they don’t come more special than friends and family] on a cold winters night [twenty below wind chill cold enough?], a roaring fire [how about a handful of fireplaces?] and time to reflect on how each beer is as unique as a snowflake [try six inches of snowflakes]”. It’s as if it were calling our name, I just wish I could have enjoyed it more. Oh well, best not argue with Mother Nature.

Many Reasons to Give Thanks!

Being married to someone who works at a liquor store certainly has its perks. Ya know what the greatest of these is? I’ll give you three guesses and the first two don’t count. That’s right, employee discount! As the cost of beer continues to rise and the size of my 401K continues to fall, it’s nice to be able to get some good beers at a discount from time to time. While the selection of fine craft beers at this simple little municipal often falls short there are a few gems that I’ve come to enjoy. For example one of my all time favorites, Surly Furious is almost always available. And, being one of those beers that pushes the limits of both hops and malt, the sticker shock can often cause paralysis. Speaking of hops, I’ve really been drinking the crap out of a perennial favorite lately. Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale, what a fantastic beer! Even as a seasonal, this beer is often voted among the tops in “Best IPA” category in online polls. You’ll get no arguments from this guy, and fortunately you can also find this seasonal at my wife’s store.
Of course there are many great beers out there that you can’t find at this muni so I found myself venturing out to my favorite beer store, the Four Firkins to stock up for Thanksgiving. The drive is short for me, the service always pleasant and you never have to trip over mountains of macros to find what you came for. In the evening you will often find open bottles from which to sample something new. Quite an ingenious concept if you ask me. It keeps people in the store longer and I’ve found myself more than once picking up that little something extra because of it. While it is in every store owner’s interest to make a profit, it’s obvious this store makes it a priority to spread the good word of craft beer and promote local brewers and educate us on all things beer. For the annual family Thanksgiving feast I picked up a kaleidoscope of fine beers from Alvey and the good folks at Four Firkins.
First, I cracked open Victory’s annual homage to the hop harvest “Hop Wallop”. This beer is just as it suggests; a wallop of hops that hits you right in the kisser - Kapow! At 8.5% this proved to be a good beer to kick off the annual festivus. I followed that up with some of Tyranena’s “The Devil Made Me Do It” from their highly regarded Brewers Gone Wild series. If you think the name is a mouthful, wait 'til you get the real thing in there. I should have had this thing for breakfast… Oatmeal, coffee, delish! Finally, I finished off Thanksgiving Day dinner with a bottle of Sierra Nevada’s “Chico Estate Harvest Ale”. I was not surprised to find myself enjoying this one as well. It’s very much like their Original Harvest Ale, this one also wet hopped, but this time using fresh hops grown at their brewery. I tried the Original Harvest Ale around Halloween this year and was introduced to a different hop experience than I’d ever had. Being wet hopped, I kinda expected a difference, I just didn’t know what that would be. Well, not as bitter as other hoppy beers, but a lot of hop flavor. And not citrusy but more “earthy” as they say. Seems to be an appropriate way to describe it. It was very pleasant and I look forward to trying more. The Chico Estates release was very similar and I enjoyed it just the same.
I realize it is nearly Christmas but I just had to get on and share my long overdue Thanksgiving Day experience. We have been having Thanksgiving at my parent’s house for as long as I can remember. It’s always a great time getting together with grandpa and grandma, aunts and uncles and many cousins and this year was no exception. My mother’s fantastic cooking was complimented with a solid variety of brewed adventures. In this day and age when the news always seems so full of gloom and doom we’re reminded that we all have so much to be thankful for. For when you have nothing better to do than get online and talk beer, life is certainly good indeed.

Please also visit www.lutherpublichouse.com for more fun with beer.

A Quiet Evening at Brit's

December 16th 2008, my first blog. I figure this is as good a topic as any since Brit’s Pub was one of the first places that I really enjoyed beer drinking since moving to Minneapolis. Sure, there’s any number of places in town to find a happy hour and get a beer but Brit’s has that something extra special. I am English. Well, I am a lot English anyway. My Grandma was born and raised in Western England and moved to America with my Grandfather after WWII. I graduated college in 1998. College is where I really started to enjoy beer. I drank beer in high school because that is what everyone else drank (insert “if everybody jumped off a cliff” comment here) but I never really enjoyed it… at least not the taste. In college I rather enjoyed the taste and especially enjoyed the side effects. I moved to Minneapolis in 1999, but it was a trip to England in the summer of 2000 that I really started to appreciate beer. Sure, by 2000 the American craft beer scene had already taken off, but I hadn’t seen or heard about it. On that trip I saw beers in a whole new light… beers of a whole new color, new flavor (or should I say “colour and flavour”) and *gasp* new temperature! It’s no secret that real ales in England are served a little warmer than the colonials are used to, but it may be a secret that it’s actually enjoyed that way. It’s not the flat, warm, sitting out over night type that so many of us perceive. It’s slightly warmer at around 45-50 degrees. As I’ve learned more recently, warmer temperatures actually bring out more flavor in the beer. I imagine this had something to do with the “wow factor” I experienced on that fateful trip across the pond. Once I got back to the States, it was Brit’s Pub that I sought out more and more frequently to satisfy my longing for good English ale. The beer may be served at temperatures more conducive to the local crowd, but the atmosphere and fish and chips are just as good and the pints are proper Imperial style – 20oz.

Fast forward to 2008. I am a bit of a traditionalist. I often find myself choosing to do things I’ve enjoyed in the past rather than seek out something new. After almost 10 years of visiting Brit’s Pub, I think I now visit to reminisce about some of the other great times I’ve had there instead of going so that I can remember a trip to the homeland. Tonight I did just that. I found myself with a rare evening off and nothing but an empty house to return to. I am a big fan of Christmas beers but I am also a big fan of Christmas in general. I really enjoy downtown this time of year, and the cards seemed to be stacked in my favor. I had to work late so it was already dark out, the Christmas lights were lit, I had no where to be, it was lightly snowing and I was thirsty. I sauntered down to Brit’s and my luck continued. The Long Room was not reserved for a corporate holiday party and was open to the public. I ordered a Fuller’s ESB and settled into one of those deep leather chairs situated next to the fireplace. I took a deep breath, a long sip and watched the snow gently falling outside. I was happy. Don’t get me wrong, Brit’s isn’t always the greatest place in the world, but tonight it was perfect. There were no crowds. There were no suits and ties trying to look important, no groups of frat boys trying to impress a single maiden as her dejected friends watch. I was entertained by a small group in the corner playing musical cell phones – one would answer as another hung up. It seemed one of them was always on the phone. There’s just something about a Fuller’s ESB. That rich caramel maltiness, residual sweetness and subtle hop notes just soothe the throat and tease the mind. When the Fullers is gone, I order a Boddingtons Pub Ale. So many times have I heard beer snobs lambaste the nitro beers for its gimmicky appeal, but there would be none of that tonight. Just a smooth ale that drinks like a lager. Mmmmmm. At one point I caught Sportscenter on one of the few TV’s. It appeared to be an interview with Terrell Owens and for the first time in my life I’m glad there was no volume. As I finish I think about one more but decide against it. I was reminded of a quote from Martin Luther I had heard recently about drinking too much…
"It is possible to tolerate a little elevation, when a man takes a drink or two too much after working hard and when he is feeling low. This must be called a frolic. But to sit day and night, pouring it in and pouring it out again, is piggish...”
While I wasn’t nearing the piggish point I thought it best to hit the road and try and arrive home about the same time as my lovely wife. And thus concludes not only my first blog but also my perfect evening of solitude. A time to reflect, a time to imbibe and a time to enjoy the simple pleasures that is life. Brit’s pub, ahh the memories. Frolic on my friends…

Also, please visit http://www.lutherpublichouse.com/ for more fun with beer.