Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Recitation of Facts

*THERE ARE A MILLION TYPOS AND THINGS THAT DON'T MAKE SENSE IN THIS POST, BUT THEN AGAIN WHAT ELSE IS NEW?  I WOULD NORMALLY FIX THEM BUT I DO NOT CARE RIGHT NOW.  ENJOY AN UNCENSORED, UNEDITED LOOK AT A RARE, RAW POST.  YOU'VE ENJOYED THE SAUSAGE THAT IS THIS BLOG.  NOW ENJOY LEARNING HOW ITS MADE.  BY TYPING, STREAM OF CONSCIOUS, AND APPARENTLY NOW IN ALL CAPS.*

Wellity, wellity, wellity.  D.C.  Check.  Virginia.  Check.  Drinking back stage with rockstars check.  So I went on down to the the ol' D.C. Metro Area to visit my friends that I visited in Korea that I haven't seen since...Korea.  Normally this would involve a ton of shenanigans.  However, Greg came back from over seas with not one, but two broken arms, rendering him slightly incapable of nonsense.  So while other trips around the country have been beer-centric, this one was hanging-out-centric, which was perfectly find by me.  We started Friday night in D.C.  Our senior year of college, Greg and I lived in the greatest apartment ever known to man with four other doods.  Here's how cool we were.  We started calling ourselves and our apartment the Cool Guys Club.  Ok, so that's not that cool, but here's the cool...it stuck.  Other people started calling our place the Cool Guys Club, which then became the CGC.  People, who weren't us, would legitimately say things to other people, who also weren't us, "Hey, you going to the party tonight at the CGC?"  It was sort of like anti-frat house.  This is all to say that two of those roommates are now members of pretty well known indie rock band.  Their band happened to be playing a show in D.C. that Friday night that Greg, Britney, Liz and I went to.  Had a Brooklyn Lager back stage at the venue while catching up with the guys and then a Victory Hop Devil while watching them play.  Hey, did you know its hard to drink beer without any arms?  Well, according to Greg, it is.

Saturday we milled about Old Town Arlington which is very nice and pleasant to an almost absurd degree.  Had a Harpoon IPA with lunch.  Greg drank his beer through a straw.  Saturday night we hung out at Britney's place and drank a fair amount while playing board games.  If I remember correctly, which of course I do, I had 2 Josephbrau (the Trader Joes brand) Kolsches, 1 Josephbrau Oatmeal Stout, and 1 Ommegang Abbey Ale.  Ok, so it wasn't a ton of drinking.  But did you know that if you've broken both arms and have been living on pain meds for a week, your drinking tolerance goes down?  Who knew?

Sunday we bid Greg and Britney adieu, but not before having a Bells Two Hearted Ale (casked!) at a pretty awesome pizza/beer place.  Then jumped on a bus and went home.  At home I had a Great Divide Porter, a Great Divide Scotch Ale, and a Long Trail Ale.

Monday I had a Great Divide Samauri and a Great Divide Titan IPA.

Tuesday I had nothing!

Look, I had a job interview today for one of those jobs that pays you to do stuff on a full time basis.  What're they called?  Actual jobs.  Right.  Anyway, I can't tell you how much energy I sinked into this thing.  All my charm and creative juices are gone, man, gone.  I thought about delaying this, but it is what it is.  I'm going to go to Pub Quiz now and post an announcement and, hopefully, an accompanying itinerary tomorrow.

Hugs and kisses,
This Guy

Numbers: Tomorrow

Friday, September 24, 2010

Outsourcing

Always with the house keeping.  I didn't drink any beers last night, so we can all calm down about that.  I'm posting because I'm off to Fairfax, VA/Washington D.C. tonight and thought I would give you heads up about the lack of posts this weekend.  When I get back, I will have drank a beer in the following states this year: New York, Arizona, Michigan, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and D.C., so that's pretty cool.  I'm going to try and sneak in at least one or two more states there before the year ends.

Also, as of this moment (ok, not this moment, but more like in 6 or so hours) My 1000 Beer Year is sending someone to Germany to report on Oktoberfest.  Ok, that's not entirely true.  Friend of the Blog (FOB) Eric is heading to Oktoberfest and just to rub it in my face that he's going and I'm not has offered to write something up for this ol' blog when he gets back.  I'm pretty excited about it.  Also, I'm pretty excited that the best written/most interesting thing that will probably ever go up on this blog won't be written by me.  You guys should get AMPED.

I'll be back on Sunday.  See you chumps then.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

100 Days Left of Beer Drinking

What the hell happened here.  I turn my back for like one second and I already have a huge backup in terms of drinking days.  I mean I posted seven thousand weeks ago, and then posted an African beer post, and that's it.  There has been a TON of beer drinking since then (well not a ton, but a significant amount).  I hate to do this, but it's time for another "Numbers only" post.  Regrettable, I know, but if I kid myself into thinking that I'm going to provide my usual array of insightful commentary then I will never post again.  So here we go!

Last Wednesday: The 3 Africa beers (3)
Last Thursday: 4 Sam Adams Octoberfests at the apartment (4)
Last Friday: 1 Sixpoint Brownstone at Hot Bird, 1 MGD High Life and 1 Red Stripe at Woodwork, 1 Ommegang Wit at the Branded Saloon (4)
Last Saturday: 2 Cigar City Jai Alai IPAs at the apartment (2)
Last Sunday: 1 Great Divide Samurai Rice Ale, 1 Great Divide Claymore Scotch Ale, 1 Great Divide St. Bridget's Port, 1 Long Trail Pale Ale, and 1 Long Trail Belgian Ale at the apartment while watching football for 12 hours (5)
Last Monday: 1 Six Point White Ale, 1 Ommegang Rare Vos, both at Franklin Park (2)
Last Tuesday: Nuthin!
Last Night: 1 Great Divide Titan IPA, 1 Cigar City Jai Alai IPA, both at the apartment (2)

That's a lot of beer drinking and I honestly do have quite a bit to say about a fair amount of it.  But, alas, I'm late for a meeting!*

But before I leave you, I'll put up some sweet Simpsons clips dealing with drinking, to, you know, keep the masses happy.








Total Beers: 755 (hey over 3/4 of the way done!)
Where I Should Be: 726.027 (Hey, yesterday marked day 265 of beer drinking, meaning only 100 more days to go!)

*Not really.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Making A Difference Through Beer

Negligence, thy name is Ryan.  In this case, the negligence is two fold.  First: about two months whole months ago, my Uncle Chris shipped me a second round of beers from Africa.  I did not drink them until last Wednesday.  As you may recall, I had an extended vacation in there and I didn't want to drink them until I could put up a decent post about them, so I had to wait until I finished updating about the vacation, which as you know took about a month.  Second: as you may have noticed, today is Tuesday.  I drank them almost a whole week ago and yet no post is up.  Well, as I rectified the first act of negligence, now shall I rectify the second.  Ryan Responsibility is..."The Rectifier," Tuesdays at 8 on TNT.

As an initial matter, the flavors of the following beers may or may not be altered by my sophisticated aging process.  I have no idea when exactly Chris purchased the beers, but I do know that he flew with them from Kenya to America.  Then sometime after he arrived in the States, he shipped them from Michigan, I believe.  Then they arrived at my apartment.  Then two months later I drank them.  So, it really could have been upwards of six months from purchase to consumption.  If I had a time machine, I would like to age a beer a year, go back in time that year and drink it side by side an un-aged version of that beer.  Oh sure, you can age a beer and then compare it to the brewery's fresh release of that beer, but it's not the same.  Like right now I'm aging a 2009 Bethlehem Brew Works Rude Elf which I intend on drinking side by side with a 2010 Bethlehem Brew Works Rude Elf.  But you know what would be spectacular?  If I could age a 2009 Rude Elf and taste it side by side with an un-aged 2009 Rude Elf.  Stupid linear nature of time and all of that.  So with that in mind, these beers had been slightly aged.

I'll discuss the beers in the order I drank them because it actually makes sense to do so this time.  First up, Sierra Amber.  Once again, this isn't to be mistaken for a Sierra Nevada beer.  It's the Amber from the fine people at the Nairobian (is that what you call people from Nairobi?) brewery Sierra.  I'd previously had their porter which was perfectly serviceable.  Chris had told me that the Porter was Sierra's best offering so when I got the Amber, I had expected a perfectly drinkable, but unspectacular, amber ale.  What I got was a legitimately delicious, really caramel-y, really sweet (but not in a sickly way) amber ale.  Seriously, this beer was great.  If I had to compare it to something you might have had (I don't have to but I'm going to anyways) I'd say it tastes a lot like Triple Carmelite, which is to say, amazing.  It doesn't quite have the alcohol content as a Triple Carmelite, but it does have that robust caramel taste.  Also, I hate myself a little for using the word robust here.  Unlike the porter, the amber was anything but thin.  I don't know if my "cellaring" the beer added to its greatness, but I'd sure like to find out.  Suffice it to say, I was surprised.  This beer isn't good for an African beer.  It's a good beer period.

The next beer I drank was a Nile Special Lager from Uganda.  This beer brings up an interesting juxtaposition between beer critics/reviewers and person-on-the-street beer drinkers.  If you google this beer, you'll find a couple of interesting things.  First, beer reviewers hate it.  All your beer review sites give it low grades.  If you scroll through the comments on beeradvocate, you'll find people saying its worse than your Buds and Coors.  Second, backpackers love it.  It has its own facebook fan page.  Every backpacker that has been through Africa raves about it as the best beer they've ever had.  They can't wait to get back to Uganda to drink another Nile Special.  I kid you not, it seems to generate the kind of adulation reserved for jam bands (although I suspect that the venn diagram of "Backpackers in Africa" and "Jam Band Enthusiasts" would be largely overlapping).  To force a metaphor, the debate over Nile Special Lager evokes a certain Congress v. Generals-on-the-ground debate over war policy/strategy.  Oh sure, Congress/Beer Reviewers, enjoy your view from those ivory towers but we're the ones that know the conditions on the ground.  Well sorry, Beer Critics, but beer drinking doesn't necessitate civilian oversight.  The drinkers have won out.  I'm here to report, this beer is good.  Honestly, truly, very good.  To put it in perspective, I liked it more than about half of Schmaltz's line (He-brew and Coney Island included), so I can imagine that if you're traveling through Africa and come across this gem of a beer, it's going to stand out.  It's one of those beers that makes you wish summer was longer because this really needs to be drank out doors on sunny summer afternoon.  Even more shocking, that's two for two so far on excellent beers from Africa.  Again, not even great contextually.  Just great.  Also, as you noticed if you clicked that link, their slogan is "Making a Difference Through Beer."  I like that.  A lot.

Speaking of sweet slogans, the third beer I had was the venerable White Bull Lager, which I documented at length in my previous African beers post.  Ok, so White Bull Lager doesn't stand up so well taste-wise to the prior two beers, but its ability to make me super sappy and emotional is off the charts.  You can't drink a White Bull Lager without stopping to think, "Holy shit, I am drinking a beer made in Southern Sudan."  It's phenomenal.  The bottle that my uncle sent me had the back label printed on upside down which makes me believe that one day the bottle will be worth more than those weird misprinted stamps or coins everyone (everyone?) is always going on about.  True to form, when I drank the White Bull Lager, I gathered everyone's (Liz's) attention and make a lengthy speech about the magnitude of the occasion and what it meant to be sitting in a cushy Brooklyn apartment drinking a quite drinkable beer from Southern Sudan.  We drank, of course, to Peace and Prosperity.  Well that's not exactly right.  You drink to something that has passed or has yet to be.  White Bull Lager celebrates peace and prosperity in its existing form.  So we celebrated Peace and Prosperity.  I'd like to have that attitude with every beer I drink because the fact that I'm able to drink a tasty brew means that there is at least some modicum of peace and prosperity happening in my life/in the world, and as White Bull Lager reminds me, I don't celebrate that enough.  My 1000 Celebrations of Peace and Prosperity Year.  If it rhymed, the title would already be changed.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Gotta Keep the Devil Way Down in the Hole

The beer drinking has been pretty light around here.  This is the round up: Monday I had a Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale at Soda with dinner (we tried to go to a new place out on Vanderbilt but turns out it's not too vegetarian friendly.  What else is new?)  Last night I had a 21st Amendment Back in Black on the couch.  Woo!  But here's what I want to talk about.  More like here's what I want to show you.






I'm marginally convinced that Bunk from the Wire and Garrett Oliver, Brooklyn Brewery Brewmaster are the same person.  Here's an exchange involving one of them:

Guy A: You know what they call a guy that pays that much attention to his clothes don't you?
Guy B: A grown-up.

Guy B is either Garrett Oliver or Bunk.  You decide!

I don't really know where I was going with this.  I just wanted to put a bunch of pictures of Garrett Oliver and Bunk next to each other to see if it would be as weird as I'd imagine.  It is!  See you tomorrow with an African beer post!

Total Beers: 733
Where I Should Be: 704.109

Monday, September 13, 2010

Two Bad Neighbors

Sorry for the day between posts here.  But let's see where I last left you.  Saturday during the day, Liz and I took advantage of the weather and strolled on out to the Gate.  While there I had a Jolly Pumpkin Calabaza Blanca.  You might recall that I went to the Jolly Pumpkin brewery in Ann Arbor a short while ago.  This was the first time I had seen any Jolly Pumpkin outside of Michigan, so that was cool.  Their Calabaza Blanca was, you guessed it, kind of sour, but still super delicious and really, really refreshing.  This got me to thinking: why don't breweries have a signature taste?  I mean I know why, but bare with me for a moment.  I guess this isn't a normative thing, but there are very few breweries that you could blindly taste one of their beers and know it came from that specific brewery.  I mean if you had a super hoppy beer you could maybe guess Dogfish Head or if you had a super thin and water beer of any style you could guess Saranac.  I guess I just thought it would be cool if Jolly Pumpkin made a bunch of different styles of beer but purposefully made each beer nice and sour, or as their website says "refreshingly tart," so when you drank, let's say, a sour Imperial Stout, you'd know it was from Jolly Pumpkin.

Also at the Gate I had a Cigar City Humidor Gruit.  This is going to sound crazy, but that was my first Cigar City beer.  From what I gather, their Humidor Series is a line of their normal beers they age in cedar casks.  Gruit itself is pretty crazy.  It's made with no hops!  I'd go on about it, but just check out this article and inform yourselves!  Suffice it to say, it was also very good and very drinkable.  But then again, I think the weather made just about anything drinkable.  If I had a barleywine at the Gate that day I'd probably be talking about how I could session the eff out of it.  In other news, I like drinking beer outdoors in 72 degree sunny weather.


Then on Sunday I watched football, ate nachos (really!), and drank beer (also really!).  I had a Mother's Milk Stout and a 21st Amendment Back in Black.  Neither day was really a heavy drinking day, but the beer, weather, and football was quality (ok maybe not the football as I was watching the Bengal's game).  All in all, a good couple of days!

Total Beers: 731
Where I Should Be: 698.630

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Announcements!

Let's keep this gravy train rolling.  Yesterday I had a Brooklyn Lager at home on the couch.  Departed for the East Village.  Had a Bud (didn't buy it!) at Holiday Cocktail Lounge, one of the more infamous dives of NYC.  Let me explain for a second why I had a Bud.  First, this is a dive amongst dives so the selection is limited.  Second, a bottle of Heineken was 8 bucks!  8!  A shot of whiskey and a Bud (a "Holiday Happy Meal") was only 7.  That's simple math right there.  Afterwards we went over to the ol' standby Lunasa where I had three Brooklyn Lagers.  Suffice it to say, we did Fashion Night Out right.  And by that I mean not at all.  I would like to report (not really) that we spent the evening hobnobbing with Kanye at some boutique but I don't have any money and don't care about fashion!

I want to prep you all for a couple things real quick.  First, sometime between now and the end of October I will be doing a 5 Boroughs, 5 Beers, 1 Day tour, meaning I will attempt to drink a beer in every borough in NYC in the course of one day (which, let's be real, will be a 12 hour time span).  If you're interested in joining any part of it, I will keep you posted.  Second, I think I have a plan for my 1000th beer.  This is in no way set in stone, but I thought I would give everyone a heads up.  It's probably, if all goes to plan, will go down on December 19th at the Brooklyn Brewery.  Again, formal announcement to come soon, but if anyone cared to join me for this momentous occasion, I thought ample heads up would be appreciated.  It's not?  Well fine then.  Be that way.

Total Beers: 727
Where I Should Be: 693.150