So Saturday it was super nice outside. Like absolutely gorgeous. Sunny AND temperate. You get maybe one or two of those weekends a year out here. So despite the fact I still had one more exam to go on Monday, I had to get out and about and do my outdoor drinking thing. First stop, Common Wealth out in Park Slope. Not be confused with Washington Commons in Prospect Heights, Common Wealth is a sort of beer bar out in South Slope. I say sort of because they have your run of non-macro macros, such as Newcastle, Smithwicks, et al, but they also had one or two actual micros. I had myself a nice Sixpoint Bengali IPA. Sixpoint is starting to enter the rarified territory of Brooklyn Brewery. Although I'm going to say something controversial to absolutely no one, I'm not a big fan of their Sweet Action, which is almost as omnipresent in NYC as Brooklyn Lager. Also, Common Wealth: kind of expensive. The outdoor area there is ok, but for those prices, I doubt I'll be making the trek out to South Slope for that bar again.
After that we went to, you guessed it, the Gate! We got there around 4:00, the warmest part of the afternoon and I had a beer dilemma. Gate had a slew of rare Stone Brewery beers on tap as part of some Stone event. However, these were all things like Imperial This and Double That. Super heavy, thick, sweet beers. Normally I would jump all over those, but it was warm outside! I wanted a nice refreshing beer like a saison or something. So, do I go with the refreshing beer or the Stone rarity? Well, I split difference and got a Stone Levitation Ale, a nice amber/red ale. It was a nice, full malty beer, but it was sort of low on the APV scale, so it was plenty drinkable. I followed that up with a Rogue Collaborator. This beer was awesome but I can't find anything about it on the internet. Everything I find online says this a Helles Lager that is also called Rogue Markus Brau. Well let me tell you, what I had poured was nothing like that. It poured a dark, ruby red and was incredibly sour. It sort of tasted like Rodenbach and if I had to guess I would have said it was a double Flemish Sour Ale, but I also think I just made up that category of beer. So if you clever internet sleuths can find anything about, please, let me know. Finally, at the Gate, I had a Stone Cali-Belgique IPA, which is Stone's IPA but brewed with a Belgian strain of yeast. Pretty good!
After the Gate, we traversed on over to the Bell House for a quick beer. I had a Blue Point Rastafar-Rye. Blue Point is sort of like a better version of Saranac, so while the Rye Ale was good, it could have been better. Much like some movie example I can't think of now! Anyway, five beers was it for me that day. I was asleep by about 10. Outdoor day drinking will do that to you. Then on Sunday, in another fit of responsibility, I had exactly zero beers. It was still gorgeous outside, but I had to pay the piper and stay in. And here's a kick in the pants: I'm done with finals, the Suns first game against the Lakers is tonight and.....I'm getting sick. I need to be healthy this week for bachelor partying and wedding partying and going to Arizona partying, but man, I just had five intentionally beerless days. Don't do this to me now body! Anyways, I'm on the fence about having any beer tonight. I will leave you with that cliff hanger!
Total Beers: 378
Where I Should Be: 372.602
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