getting started

Little. Green. Delicious.

Got the weekend started on a great note, yesterday.  Went to a friend’s house for a cookout and brought this little gem along.  I have spoken at length about how good Flat Tail beers are and this one is a real find.  It was really light-bodied, but in a great way.  4.2% ABV made it pleasantly sessionable, which made me wish I had bought 2 or 3 bottles of it when I had the chance.  The hops were delightfully up-front without being overwhelming and the saison yeast flavors were just noticeable beneath it all.  I could not have asked for a better start to my weekend.  If anyone out there has had something tasty this weekend, regale us in comments with tales of what we’re missing out on.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

 Whether you are celebrating the landing of cupid’s arrow or the feast of a mysterious saint or whether you prefer to observe Galentine’s Day, I hope you are doing so with a beer. Nothing better than raising a pint of lovely craft beer to toast your friends, your mom, your partner, your daughter’s birthday, your own awesomeness…you name it.

For such a special occasion, you may want to consider a 22oz bottle of Block 15’s Super Nebula.  We just enjoyed the 2011 Vintage and it is just God Damn Beautiful!

Oregon summer series: beer #6

Cheap and tasty. Who could ask for anything more?

I had the pleasure of attending a 3 year old’s birthday party yesterday.  Pleasure because I was hanging with one of my best friends and our kids are pretty much inseparable when they get together.  Works the insanity and energy right out of both of them.  He even bought one of those inflatable bouncy castle-things for the kids.  Needless to say, mine passed out the minute we got home last night.

Who wants a ride?

So the wife is in Boston, and I am home with the little one all week, which means that I will be drinking a beer almost every night.  I gotta cope, right?  People just don’t understand what a 3 year old can do to your psyche after a couple of days…sounds like a good time for a mustache ride, don’t it?

More like Mustache Rye’d Red Ale from Flat Tail Brewing in Corvallis.  Even used the appropriate pint glass to drink it!  Ever since our Brewvana tour of this fine establishment, I have been trying to get my hands on whatever they are bottling.  Their whole ethos really struck a chord with me.  They are all about brewing and drinking really great, fresh beer.  Fresh being the key word here.  Beer is meant to be drank as soon as it’s ready, in their humble opinion.  “Ready” usually means within a few weeks of the beer being kegged/bottled.  And to be quite honest, I have slowly started to realize that I agree with them.  Don’t get me wrong…aged beers are wonderful (which Flat Tail also agrees with) and I have plenty of them in my fridge/garage, but there is something about beer that is fresh  Something beautiful.  It’s crisp.  It’s clean.  You make it, then you consume it.  Very much like cooking a meal, right?

Brewvana Mid-Valley Brewery tour. Third Stop: Les Caves and Block 15

When we first talked about taking the Brewvana/New School beer tour to Albany and Corvalis, there was some discussion about how the write-up would be handled.  I can say that at the time, I was thrilled to be doing the last leg of the tour.  That meant I could relax and enjoy the experience of going into the first couple of breweries and tasting their beer without worrying about getting it all straight in my notes.  Seems reasonable, right?  By the time we reached Les Caves, I was no longer thrilled at how it had all worked out…