I just spent a few minutes reading over some past blogs and saw that Day 14 (Week 2), I was already gaining some key insights. For instance I wrote "I can see a time down the road where I elect not to try certain beer styles because I know I won’t like them." Can anyone say IPA?
I also wondered at times if I would make it to the end. The first time was Day 21. I could see then, having eliminated IPAs and other bitter beer styles, that it would be a challenge. At yet, here I am, Day 236, at 381 beers tasted. Hitting 400 is a guarantee.
That doesn't mean I'm cocky, that 524 is in the bag. 124 beers is still a lot of beers. I have some contingencies, of course, some backup plans, but I need to be careful not to use them too soon, like a street racer hitting the nitrogen a quarter mile before the finish line. Let's just say I'm optimistic. Let's just say that I am already envisioning the finish line even though I am not positive I'll make it.
It's called momentum.
It's not easy finding 12 new beers every week. I take my list with me every week to the store and I still sometimes pick up something I've already tasted. And yet, I'm 40 beers ahead of schedule, 4 weeks ahead of schedule, the same place I was at Week 12 at Week 33. With 19 weeks to go, that's pretty damn good, even though it is far too soon to declare victory.
Momentum.
So let's check out a few stats, courtesy of my friends at ratebeer.com
Most sampled: Amber ale, pale ale, wheat beer.
Favorite stye: Stout & German Hefeweizen (3.44), Brown Ale (3.25), White Beer (3.24)
Least favorite style: IPA(0.95); surprised?
Most tried by country: US (258); next closest: Germany (35) (not even close)
Most tried by state: California (57) and Colorado (50); no one else even close
Best liked by state: Massachusetts (3.19), Colorado and Maryland (3.11)
Best liked by country: Belgium and England (big surprise)
Most sampled by brewer: Boston Beer Company (16) and New Belgium (10); coincidentally, they also happen to be among my favorite brewers
And finally, I am #1549 out of 3468 of the top raters with at least 100 ratings, putting me in the 45th percentile. In other words the upper half of raters. Is that cool or what?
Life is good and so is beer.
"Sagliginiza" which is Turkish for "To your health."
Goal...............524.....365
Progress.........381.....236
Remaining......143.....129
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Day 221 – The Power of Madison Avenue
I'm sure we all know that the purpose of marketing is to get us to buy crap, literally and figuratively. Figuratively I'm okay with. If I don't know a product is out there, how will I know about it and how will I know I want to buy it? Literally, I have more of a problem with.
Take beer, for example. I'm not sure why I chose beer, but let's go with that, shall we?
I have rated more than 360 beers in the last 7 months. Before I began this quest, I admit that I had never heard of New Belgium, Left Hand, and Lost Coast Breweries, among others. Yet they have beers that are at the top of my list.
What beers do we see advertised on TV? Besides Bud, Coors, and Miller, I mean? Let's see...Beck's...Heineken...Corona...Stella Artois...Dos Equis. Yeah, right, the Most Fascinating Man in the World, the hispanic dude who says he doesn't drink beer often, but when he does, it is Dos Equis. Well, duh! Of course he doesn't drink beer often. What he drinks is crap! I wouldn't drink beer often if that is all I drank. Kind of makes you rethink the Most Fascinating Man in the World title, doesn't it?
Becks? Crap. Heineken? Crap. Corona? Crap. Stella? Crap.
Sam Adams and Guinness are the only brews nationally advertised that appear in my Top 100. The rest in the upper crust are relative unknowns for the most part. The ones that appear in my Bottom 100? More often than not, nationally advertised brands.
So the moral of the story (blog?) is that Madison Avenue is a one big prostitute. They will take money to promote crap while the really good stuff remains obscure. The second moral of the story? Most beers advertised on TV are crap.
Want a good beer? Try something you've never heard of. Odds are, you can't do any worse than what you're already drinking and you might just find something better.
Life is good and so is beer.
"Salametlikingiz ucun" which is Uyghur for "For your health." What? You don't know who speaks Uyghur? You must be a Bud drinker. It's spoken by a Turkic ethnic group that lives in Eastern and Central Asia. Any sophisticated beer drinker knows that.
Goal...............524.....365
Progress.........361.....221
Remaining......163.....144
Take beer, for example. I'm not sure why I chose beer, but let's go with that, shall we?
I have rated more than 360 beers in the last 7 months. Before I began this quest, I admit that I had never heard of New Belgium, Left Hand, and Lost Coast Breweries, among others. Yet they have beers that are at the top of my list.
What beers do we see advertised on TV? Besides Bud, Coors, and Miller, I mean? Let's see...Beck's...Heineken...Corona...Stella Artois...Dos Equis. Yeah, right, the Most Fascinating Man in the World, the hispanic dude who says he doesn't drink beer often, but when he does, it is Dos Equis. Well, duh! Of course he doesn't drink beer often. What he drinks is crap! I wouldn't drink beer often if that is all I drank. Kind of makes you rethink the Most Fascinating Man in the World title, doesn't it?
Becks? Crap. Heineken? Crap. Corona? Crap. Stella? Crap.
Sam Adams and Guinness are the only brews nationally advertised that appear in my Top 100. The rest in the upper crust are relative unknowns for the most part. The ones that appear in my Bottom 100? More often than not, nationally advertised brands.
So the moral of the story (blog?) is that Madison Avenue is a one big prostitute. They will take money to promote crap while the really good stuff remains obscure. The second moral of the story? Most beers advertised on TV are crap.
Want a good beer? Try something you've never heard of. Odds are, you can't do any worse than what you're already drinking and you might just find something better.
Life is good and so is beer.
"Salametlikingiz ucun" which is Uyghur for "For your health." What? You don't know who speaks Uyghur? You must be a Bud drinker. It's spoken by a Turkic ethnic group that lives in Eastern and Central Asia. Any sophisticated beer drinker knows that.
Goal...............524.....365
Progress.........361.....221
Remaining......163.....144
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Day 208 – What a Week I Think I'm Going to Have!
Have you ever had a Sunday evening where you dreaded the coming week? Sure, we all have. Right?
Well, I have one of those coming up and I just have two things to say - I hope I'm overreacting and I can't wait for next Friday evening.
I have an overnight trip coming up where I fly east, give a one-hour presentation to a group of clients, and fly right back home. The presentation won't be bad, but two days away from work for a one-hour presentation means that I have long days coming up, not just the Tuesday and Wednesday when I travel, but the Monday and Thursday as well. Monday is like any Monday, but I also have to get ready to leave for my trip. Thursday morning is the monthly executive meeting where I know one particular part (the last part) will not be a walk in the park. Fun, fun, fun.
It's a good thing I drink.
Speaking of which, a pretty good week. I'm at 343 and going strong, so the four hundred mark is looking pretty good right now. If I was running a marathon, I'd be past the 16-mile marker. Not exactly home free, but getting close enough to think I might just make the finish line after all.
By the way, Abita Pecan Harvest Ale...if you find it, buy it. Excellent ale.
When I first began this quest, it was sort of like the week I think I'm going to have. I questioned whether I would make it to the end or not. And yet, look where I'm at. You have to have faith that things are going to work out. You have to believe that you will make it to the finish line.
Right now, the finish line is Friday evening. It's a good thing I drink.
Life is good and so is beer.
Unfortunately, they don't know that in Qatar where alcohol is forbidden. Bummer. And I thought my week is going to be crappy.
Goal...............524.....365
Progress.........343.....208
Remaining......181.....157
Well, I have one of those coming up and I just have two things to say - I hope I'm overreacting and I can't wait for next Friday evening.
I have an overnight trip coming up where I fly east, give a one-hour presentation to a group of clients, and fly right back home. The presentation won't be bad, but two days away from work for a one-hour presentation means that I have long days coming up, not just the Tuesday and Wednesday when I travel, but the Monday and Thursday as well. Monday is like any Monday, but I also have to get ready to leave for my trip. Thursday morning is the monthly executive meeting where I know one particular part (the last part) will not be a walk in the park. Fun, fun, fun.
It's a good thing I drink.
Speaking of which, a pretty good week. I'm at 343 and going strong, so the four hundred mark is looking pretty good right now. If I was running a marathon, I'd be past the 16-mile marker. Not exactly home free, but getting close enough to think I might just make the finish line after all.
By the way, Abita Pecan Harvest Ale...if you find it, buy it. Excellent ale.
When I first began this quest, it was sort of like the week I think I'm going to have. I questioned whether I would make it to the end or not. And yet, look where I'm at. You have to have faith that things are going to work out. You have to believe that you will make it to the finish line.
Right now, the finish line is Friday evening. It's a good thing I drink.
Life is good and so is beer.
Unfortunately, they don't know that in Qatar where alcohol is forbidden. Bummer. And I thought my week is going to be crappy.
Goal...............524.....365
Progress.........343.....208
Remaining......181.....157
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Day 194 – Hey! Maybe it's me.
From the very beginning I knew I was the odd man out. In comparison to other ratebeerians, my scoring differed vastly from theirs, as in polar opposites. What they raved about was unpalatable to my way of thinking. What I loved they thought was passable. Are we even drinking the same stuff, I wondered?
In my last blog I waxed unpoetically about the hopheads and the breweries that fed their passion. I claimed that it didn't take any skill to over-hop a beer any more than it would be to over-sweeten your coffee - just add a bunch more. I still believe that a true brewmaster knows how to add just enough hops to balance out the sweetness of the malt.
But hey! Maybe it's just me. After all, I'm not a brewmaster any more than I am a master chef. Do I criticize Emeril Lagasse for adding too much garlic? Certainly not. So why am I so hard on brewmasters for over-hopping their brews?
Before I answer the question, I wonder if brewmasters follow Emeril's lead by shouting "BAM!" as they throw another handful of hops into the wort. It's something to think about. Now back to the question.
I'm critical of brewmasters because, in my humble opinion, style is based on the malt and brewing technique. The hops are there merely to provide balance to the sweetness of the malt. Overdoing any element isn't difficult and, in most cases, ruins the taste.
Yet the other day I read an article about a beer tasting contest for IPAs, the bitterest of brews. Apparently IPAs are the fastest growing segment of microbrews in this country. Sad. Even sadder is that, according to this article, our palates are growing more sophisticated. (Really? Maybe they're just dying off due to the overhoppiness of beer.)
The saddest news of all is that IPA drinkers were compared to red wine drinkers as far as sophistication goes. Folks like me were compared to white wine drinkers. The message was that a "real" beer drinker appreciates the bitterness of an IPA whereas anyone who likes a beer that isn't overhopped hasn't fully developed the palate necessary to be included in the "expert" category.
Are you (insert crude variation of "fricking" here) serious?
I'm paraphrasing what the gentleman said, of course, but what a moronic thing to say. For one thing it is self-serving. If I bottled fermented donkey pee, what better way to get people to drink it than by criticizing them for not having a sophisticated enough palate.
It's a ridiculous statement. Sophistication has nothing to do with differences in styles. Sophistication has everything to do with differences in the same style. Can I detect the subtle nuances between amber ales? If not, if any amber ale will do, then I haven't developed my palate sufficiently. But to claim superiority of one style over another as a matter of sophistication is idiotic.
But hey! Maybe it's just me.
I made the argument last time (and still make it) that a pint of bitter in England is not bitter at all. It is more so than a pint of stout, but it is still delicious and pleasing to the palate. Now the English have been brewing beer for centuries, way longer than we have been a country. They invented the style, though not in the bitterest of examples. Apparently, however, those hicks haven't developed a sophisticated enough palate to know they are drinking the equivalent of white wine.
I'm sorry, but I don't understand the appeal of hops. It covers up the taste of the malt just like too much garlic masks the flavor of a dish (sorry, Emeril!). You need enough hops to balance the sweetness, but that is it. I don't get why people like hoppy beer.
So, yeah, it is me, I guess. I prefer a beer that is smooth and balanced and flavorful. If that is the equivalent of drinking white wine, then break out the chardonnay. I make no apologies for my preferences and I don't accept the argument that I'm unsophisticated as a beer drinker. Over the past forty years I have sampled more than four hundred different brands of beers of all styles. I may not be an expert, but I'm not exactly a newbie, either.
I'll get off my high horse now. You can have your IPAs and over-hopped pale ales and I'll stick to my hefeweizens and witbiers, my red and brown ales, and my porters and stouts. Life is too short to worry about the bittering of brews.
By the way, I have less than 200 beers to go. In the beginning, I had to drink 1.43 beers per day. Now I only have to drink 1.19 beers a day. Piece of cake.
Life is good and so is (balanced) beer.
"Kassutta" which is Greenlandic for "Let our glasses meet."
Goal...............524.....365
Progress.........329.....201
Remaining......195.....164
In my last blog I waxed unpoetically about the hopheads and the breweries that fed their passion. I claimed that it didn't take any skill to over-hop a beer any more than it would be to over-sweeten your coffee - just add a bunch more. I still believe that a true brewmaster knows how to add just enough hops to balance out the sweetness of the malt.
But hey! Maybe it's just me. After all, I'm not a brewmaster any more than I am a master chef. Do I criticize Emeril Lagasse for adding too much garlic? Certainly not. So why am I so hard on brewmasters for over-hopping their brews?
Before I answer the question, I wonder if brewmasters follow Emeril's lead by shouting "BAM!" as they throw another handful of hops into the wort. It's something to think about. Now back to the question.
I'm critical of brewmasters because, in my humble opinion, style is based on the malt and brewing technique. The hops are there merely to provide balance to the sweetness of the malt. Overdoing any element isn't difficult and, in most cases, ruins the taste.
Yet the other day I read an article about a beer tasting contest for IPAs, the bitterest of brews. Apparently IPAs are the fastest growing segment of microbrews in this country. Sad. Even sadder is that, according to this article, our palates are growing more sophisticated. (Really? Maybe they're just dying off due to the overhoppiness of beer.)
The saddest news of all is that IPA drinkers were compared to red wine drinkers as far as sophistication goes. Folks like me were compared to white wine drinkers. The message was that a "real" beer drinker appreciates the bitterness of an IPA whereas anyone who likes a beer that isn't overhopped hasn't fully developed the palate necessary to be included in the "expert" category.
Are you (insert crude variation of "fricking" here) serious?
I'm paraphrasing what the gentleman said, of course, but what a moronic thing to say. For one thing it is self-serving. If I bottled fermented donkey pee, what better way to get people to drink it than by criticizing them for not having a sophisticated enough palate.
It's a ridiculous statement. Sophistication has nothing to do with differences in styles. Sophistication has everything to do with differences in the same style. Can I detect the subtle nuances between amber ales? If not, if any amber ale will do, then I haven't developed my palate sufficiently. But to claim superiority of one style over another as a matter of sophistication is idiotic.
But hey! Maybe it's just me.
I made the argument last time (and still make it) that a pint of bitter in England is not bitter at all. It is more so than a pint of stout, but it is still delicious and pleasing to the palate. Now the English have been brewing beer for centuries, way longer than we have been a country. They invented the style, though not in the bitterest of examples. Apparently, however, those hicks haven't developed a sophisticated enough palate to know they are drinking the equivalent of white wine.
I'm sorry, but I don't understand the appeal of hops. It covers up the taste of the malt just like too much garlic masks the flavor of a dish (sorry, Emeril!). You need enough hops to balance the sweetness, but that is it. I don't get why people like hoppy beer.
So, yeah, it is me, I guess. I prefer a beer that is smooth and balanced and flavorful. If that is the equivalent of drinking white wine, then break out the chardonnay. I make no apologies for my preferences and I don't accept the argument that I'm unsophisticated as a beer drinker. Over the past forty years I have sampled more than four hundred different brands of beers of all styles. I may not be an expert, but I'm not exactly a newbie, either.
I'll get off my high horse now. You can have your IPAs and over-hopped pale ales and I'll stick to my hefeweizens and witbiers, my red and brown ales, and my porters and stouts. Life is too short to worry about the bittering of brews.
By the way, I have less than 200 beers to go. In the beginning, I had to drink 1.43 beers per day. Now I only have to drink 1.19 beers a day. Piece of cake.
Life is good and so is (balanced) beer.
"Kassutta" which is Greenlandic for "Let our glasses meet."
Goal...............524.....365
Progress.........329.....201
Remaining......195.....164
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Day 194 – The Power of PI and Hops
Well, I hit another milestone...sort of. 314 different beers.
For math geeks, 314 are the first three digits of PI. So Ratebeer serenaded me with a music video of some women singing the digits of PI. It lasted about a minute and a half, which was about 80 seconds longer than it needed to be. Truly, after the first ten seconds, I'd gotten the joke and was ready to move on.
In the past week I've sampled 16 different beers, well above my average (what can I say? I'm an overachiever). Sadly, not many are worth writing about. Only one was truly bad, however. Pyramid's Juggernaut Red Ale was nearly as bitter as an IPA. If you like IPAs, then try this because you'll like it. Otherwise skip it. I wish I had. It's like that song from Janet Jackson. "Nasty...nasty beer!"
You know, I'm getting really tired of writing "with a bitter finish" in the tasting notes. 10 out of 16 had that characterization. What is it with breweries and their devotees who think hops are the answer? Eat a frickin' pine cone, if that's what you want!
Beer is made of two ingredients - malt and hops. Malt is sweet and hops are bitter. One balances the other. Ying and yang. I don't want sweet any more than I want bitter. I want beer taste that is balanced. As in not sweet OR bitter. That takes skill. It takes knowledge of how sweet the malt is and knowing just how much of a certain hop it takes to counter that. Any moron can throw a bunch of hops into the mix. It doesn't make them a brewmaster.
It has to be an American thing. I encounter bitterness far more often in American craft brews than I do in beers from other countries. Strong and flavorful doesn't mean bitter in spite of what Starbucks says. A pint of bitter in England is not bitter at all. Give me an Adnams any day. Beats the shit out of that Pyramid crap I had to choke down today.
It's not the style, either. Amber ale is well represented in my book by New Belgium's Fat Tire, Lost Coast's Alleycat, Oak Creek's Amber Ale, Eel River's Amber Ale, Bell's Amber Ale, Widmer's Drop Top Amber Ale, Sam Adams Boston Ale, and Prescott's Liquid Amber Ale. Hello? Anyone listening? There's a hop shortage because too many so-called breweries have adopted the philosophy that if some hops are good, a bunch are better. Isn't beer sometimes referred to as liquid bread? Hey! When grapefruit bread becomes popular, you let me know, okay?
Beer snob or voice of the people? Connoisseur or unsophisticate? Whichever, I definitely know what I like and dislike and bitter beer is in the latter category.
To paraphrase Warsteiner, life is too short to drink bitter beer.
"Pohjanmaan kautta " is either Finnish for "Bottoms up" or the noise one makes when drinking some of the horse pee that passes for beer in this country.
Not that I'm bitter, mind you.
Goal...............524.....365
Progress.........317.....194
Remaining......207.....171
For math geeks, 314 are the first three digits of PI. So Ratebeer serenaded me with a music video of some women singing the digits of PI. It lasted about a minute and a half, which was about 80 seconds longer than it needed to be. Truly, after the first ten seconds, I'd gotten the joke and was ready to move on.
In the past week I've sampled 16 different beers, well above my average (what can I say? I'm an overachiever). Sadly, not many are worth writing about. Only one was truly bad, however. Pyramid's Juggernaut Red Ale was nearly as bitter as an IPA. If you like IPAs, then try this because you'll like it. Otherwise skip it. I wish I had. It's like that song from Janet Jackson. "Nasty...nasty beer!"
You know, I'm getting really tired of writing "with a bitter finish" in the tasting notes. 10 out of 16 had that characterization. What is it with breweries and their devotees who think hops are the answer? Eat a frickin' pine cone, if that's what you want!
Beer is made of two ingredients - malt and hops. Malt is sweet and hops are bitter. One balances the other. Ying and yang. I don't want sweet any more than I want bitter. I want beer taste that is balanced. As in not sweet OR bitter. That takes skill. It takes knowledge of how sweet the malt is and knowing just how much of a certain hop it takes to counter that. Any moron can throw a bunch of hops into the mix. It doesn't make them a brewmaster.
It has to be an American thing. I encounter bitterness far more often in American craft brews than I do in beers from other countries. Strong and flavorful doesn't mean bitter in spite of what Starbucks says. A pint of bitter in England is not bitter at all. Give me an Adnams any day. Beats the shit out of that Pyramid crap I had to choke down today.
It's not the style, either. Amber ale is well represented in my book by New Belgium's Fat Tire, Lost Coast's Alleycat, Oak Creek's Amber Ale, Eel River's Amber Ale, Bell's Amber Ale, Widmer's Drop Top Amber Ale, Sam Adams Boston Ale, and Prescott's Liquid Amber Ale. Hello? Anyone listening? There's a hop shortage because too many so-called breweries have adopted the philosophy that if some hops are good, a bunch are better. Isn't beer sometimes referred to as liquid bread? Hey! When grapefruit bread becomes popular, you let me know, okay?
Beer snob or voice of the people? Connoisseur or unsophisticate? Whichever, I definitely know what I like and dislike and bitter beer is in the latter category.
To paraphrase Warsteiner, life is too short to drink bitter beer.
"Pohjanmaan kautta " is either Finnish for "Bottoms up" or the noise one makes when drinking some of the horse pee that passes for beer in this country.
Not that I'm bitter, mind you.
Goal...............524.....365
Progress.........317.....194
Remaining......207.....171
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Day 187 – Roll Out the Barrel!
Well, two more milestones bite the dust. I passed the halfway mark in days (182.5) and the 300 mark in beers tasted. When I achieved the latter today, I was rewarded with a video of a guy playing a medley of songs on an accordion that included Beer Barrel Polka and Roll Out the Barrel. Cute, cute, cute.
I have to admit that I'm glad I decided to record the beers I've tasted on Ratebeer.com instead of just in an Excel spreadsheet (I do both). Marking my progress against other raters and being rewarded with silly videos makes it pretty cool. The stats I get from the site are pretty neat as well.
Out of 3420 people who have rated 100 beers or more (uh, uh...99 or less doesn't count), I am 1765th on the list. I'm nearly in the upper half of the 100-beer club. Pretty cool, huh?
The most beer styles I have tasted are amber ales (27). My favorite styles, though, are German Hefeweizen (3.42), Brown Ale (3.29), and Belgian White (3.26). My least favorite are IPAs (0.95...yuck!), Low Alcohol (1.3), and Double IPA (1.6). Whoa, big surprise there, huh?
The most from one country was the US, naturally (127). Out of the US, the most from a single state was California (45) and Colorado (42). Massachusetts had the highest rated US beers at 3.17. I have also tasted more beers from Boston Beer Company (aka Sam Adams) than any other brewer. Belgium, however, had the highest rated beers of all at 3.37. The Netherlands was the worst at 1.77 (yuck!).
Since my last blog, some noteworthy brews you may want to try include Delirium Nocturnum (Belgian Strong Ale), Sam Adams Octoberfest (Marzen), Rogue HazelNut Brown Nectar (Brown Ale), St Peters Old Style Porter, and Bells Kalamazoo Stout.
Since my last blog, some beers to avoid even if you are dying of thirst in the desert include anything from Flensburger and Redemption Red Ale from Reaper Ales (as bitter as my ex-wife).
I'm still more than 3 weeks ahead of schedule and have lots of beer still to taste, so I'm feeling pretty good right now. I am confident I will make it all the way to the end, which is a good place to be at the halfway point. My marathon is still going smooth and well.
Life is good and so is beer!
"Sant Hilari, Sant Hilari, fill de puta qui no se l'acabi" which is Catalan for "Son of a bitch the one that does not finish the cup." Supposedly that is considered vulgar over there in Spain, but it sounds reasonable to me.
Goal...............524.....365
Progress.........301.....187
Remaining......223.....178
I have to admit that I'm glad I decided to record the beers I've tasted on Ratebeer.com instead of just in an Excel spreadsheet (I do both). Marking my progress against other raters and being rewarded with silly videos makes it pretty cool. The stats I get from the site are pretty neat as well.
Out of 3420 people who have rated 100 beers or more (uh, uh...99 or less doesn't count), I am 1765th on the list. I'm nearly in the upper half of the 100-beer club. Pretty cool, huh?
The most beer styles I have tasted are amber ales (27). My favorite styles, though, are German Hefeweizen (3.42), Brown Ale (3.29), and Belgian White (3.26). My least favorite are IPAs (0.95...yuck!), Low Alcohol (1.3), and Double IPA (1.6). Whoa, big surprise there, huh?
The most from one country was the US, naturally (127). Out of the US, the most from a single state was California (45) and Colorado (42). Massachusetts had the highest rated US beers at 3.17. I have also tasted more beers from Boston Beer Company (aka Sam Adams) than any other brewer. Belgium, however, had the highest rated beers of all at 3.37. The Netherlands was the worst at 1.77 (yuck!).
Since my last blog, some noteworthy brews you may want to try include Delirium Nocturnum (Belgian Strong Ale), Sam Adams Octoberfest (Marzen), Rogue HazelNut Brown Nectar (Brown Ale), St Peters Old Style Porter, and Bells Kalamazoo Stout.
Since my last blog, some beers to avoid even if you are dying of thirst in the desert include anything from Flensburger and Redemption Red Ale from Reaper Ales (as bitter as my ex-wife).
I'm still more than 3 weeks ahead of schedule and have lots of beer still to taste, so I'm feeling pretty good right now. I am confident I will make it all the way to the end, which is a good place to be at the halfway point. My marathon is still going smooth and well.
Life is good and so is beer!
"Sant Hilari, Sant Hilari, fill de puta qui no se l'acabi" which is Catalan for "Son of a bitch the one that does not finish the cup." Supposedly that is considered vulgar over there in Spain, but it sounds reasonable to me.
Goal...............524.....365
Progress.........301.....187
Remaining......223.....178
Monday, September 6, 2010
Day 174 – You Know Who Your Friends Are When
My personal email account was hijacked yesterday by a Viagra spam program. Everyone on my contact list received an email from me with no text and a single hyperlink. Clicking on that took the person to a website where Viagra can be purchased.
My wife wondered if I was sending her another kind of message.
Really, honey, I told her. It wasn't me. Properly notified I sprang into action, sending out an email to my entire contact list to not open emails from me if they contained no text and a single hyperlink.
This is one of those situations where you find out who your friends really are. I'll give you a hint. They are NOT the ones who ask you to remove their name from your contact list.
Fine. I should have removed you a long time ago anyway.
For the second week in a row, I've exceeded my quota, opening up my cushion once again. I'm now three weeks ahead of schedule. Before then I had six straight weeks of subpar performance which took me from more than five weeks ahead down to two. It's good to see the needle move in the right direction.
So what's been good since the last blog? Lots. A hefeweizen from Stiegl, an amber lager from Abita, an oatmeal stout from Anderson Valley, and two Belgian Whites, one from la Caracole and another from St. Barnardus. All were given high marks.
What hasn't been good? The worst was New World Porter from Avery. If you like IPA's then this dark beer is for you because it is dry hopped. Porters are not supposed to be really bitter. This one was so bitter, I couldn't finish it.
Life is good and so is beer!
"Oogy wawa" which is Zulu for...well, heck, what else can it be? Say "oogy wawa" in a bar after taking a long pull on your first beer and everyone will understand what you're saying. No translation necessary. I guarantee it.
Goal...............524.....365
Progress.........280.....174
Remaining......244.....191
My wife wondered if I was sending her another kind of message.
Really, honey, I told her. It wasn't me. Properly notified I sprang into action, sending out an email to my entire contact list to not open emails from me if they contained no text and a single hyperlink.
This is one of those situations where you find out who your friends really are. I'll give you a hint. They are NOT the ones who ask you to remove their name from your contact list.
Fine. I should have removed you a long time ago anyway.
For the second week in a row, I've exceeded my quota, opening up my cushion once again. I'm now three weeks ahead of schedule. Before then I had six straight weeks of subpar performance which took me from more than five weeks ahead down to two. It's good to see the needle move in the right direction.
So what's been good since the last blog? Lots. A hefeweizen from Stiegl, an amber lager from Abita, an oatmeal stout from Anderson Valley, and two Belgian Whites, one from la Caracole and another from St. Barnardus. All were given high marks.
What hasn't been good? The worst was New World Porter from Avery. If you like IPA's then this dark beer is for you because it is dry hopped. Porters are not supposed to be really bitter. This one was so bitter, I couldn't finish it.
Life is good and so is beer!
"Oogy wawa" which is Zulu for...well, heck, what else can it be? Say "oogy wawa" in a bar after taking a long pull on your first beer and everyone will understand what you're saying. No translation necessary. I guarantee it.
Goal...............524.....365
Progress.........280.....174
Remaining......244.....191
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