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.