Laurelwood Porter

For some reason last night, I was really feeling like a darker beer. I think it may have had to do with the weather, it was a little colder than usual, so I needed a little more substance to help keep me warm. Sounds like a good excuse. I enjoyed this brew at a weekly occasion that I haven't been to in a while, Sam Bonds free Bingo. This was a big event for us beermigos, week in and week out. So much so that Douglas and I went on Tom and Scott's (the hosts of Bingo) yearly trip to the Enchanted Forrest.

The porter was pretty standard in looks and smell; very dark, non-transparent, light brown head. The first sip was quite heavy in a pure coffee taste, but it diminished as I drank the rest of the pint. What I found most surprising however, was that the beer was quite crisp and not heavy at all. Very well done by the folks at Laurelwood up in Portland.

As much as I enjoyed my beer, the night of bingo was possibly, for a lack of better terms, the biggest cock tease ever. I was one space away four different games, twice it was O 72 and both times they called O 73! And then, to top it all off, I guessed a can of Spam for "What's in the Nut?" and Scott claimed he didn't here me, and some jerk off yelled spam and won. BLASPHEMY! Oh well, I guess it is just spam.

Chimay White Trappist

Once again a Belgian brew and brewing historz factoid. Trappist brews are fairly well known as a style. However, there are only 6 breweries in the world that can claim they concoct a true Trappist brew (Trappist with 2 P's) and they all heil from Belgium. They are all Trappist monastaries where the monks have been brewing for hundreds of years and still do to this day. All of these are typically 7 to 12% ABV so get ready for a beer that packs a punch.
On this fateful night in Bruges I chose to drink a Chimay White Trappist, which is a mere 7% ABV. As I sat at my hostel window looking at the church across the street I was warmed by every sip. It's hard to drink in Europe without some religous reminder nearby. This beer was a peach colored citrusy brew that was very bitter. My one general complaint for citrusy beers was absent from this one. It did not with an overwhelmingly citrus aftertaste (the sign of a good citrus beer). This was probably helped by the high ABV% but regardless, it had a bitter aftertaste with minor citrus notes. It was definitely not a smooth finish though. It was rough and kinda hit you all at once. It was a bit acquired but I liked it more and more with each sip. And this one isn|t even considered the best of the trappist breweries. Go Belgian beer. Next stop, Germany.

Lindemans Kriek, Lambic

Lambic is a different kind of beer. In fact, many would say it doesn't even taste like a beer at all. But make no mistake, a lambic is simply a creative and fruity take on a beer. A true lambic is brewed along the Senne River in Brussels, Belgium. This is why I felt so compelled to try a lambic. I was recently in Belgium and wanted to try the brews in the area. Thanks to my beer guide book I was able to learn about the rich history of brewing in Belgium (which rivals that of wine in France).
Kriek means brewed with cherries and that's exactly what this tasted like. It was a dark cherry flavor with a sour aftertaste, which is characterisitic of a young lambic. Part of the reason that these lambics taste so sweet is not just that they are brewed with fruit but they are also stored in old wine barrels for long periods of time. Make no mistake though, this is a beer and a dessert beer at that. At 3.5% you're not drinking this to get drunk. Something so sweet and fruity you'd think is just like a Smirnoff Ice or a wine cooler. This was nothing like that. What makes those drinks so sweet is the sugar that's been added, which is very apparent in the taste. Lindemans Kriek tastes fresher and better quality it's brewed with the actual sweetness of the cherries. It is very hoppy and finishes with a very bitter sour taste. Like I said before, you should have this as a dessert but not just because of the sweetness. By the time I finished this I was very settled. I highly recommend trying this, but be warned...you can probably only handle one of these bad boys.

Fun Fact Friday!

This week's Fun Fact comes from our old buds across the pond in France. The place is known as Rennes-le-Chateau (there should be a little cap on the first "a" but I don't know how to do that) which is located in the South-West corner of France. The chateau is on top of a hill in a very small town that draws thousands of tourists every year because of the chateau. The chateau draws thousands every year because of rumors, and beliefs that it holds secrets to the truth about some of Christianity's biggest secrets.

The area is no stranger to religious controversy. The Languedoc region was known for being the home of the 13th century Cathars, who held a dualism belief since they felt that power and love were incompatible traits. But Rennes-le-Chateau is what this area is currently visited for, because it is believed, by some, that in the late 1800's Father Bérenger Saunière uncovered secrets that the Catholic church did not want in circulation. The reason for this belief is because Father Sauniere amassed a large wealth out of no where, renovated the church, and added certain relics to celebrate Mary Magdalene. While there was always debate amongst the small town how Father Sauniere came up with the money, it wasn't well known until a restaurant owner in the 1950's started spreading rumors in attempts to bring in more business. Plain and simple, the restaurant owner's plan worked. Rennes-le-Chateau is a center piece for the bloodline of Christ theory that has been documented in "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" and "The Da Vinci Code," to name a few. However the truth about the so-called secrets that Father Sauniere found are highly unlikely. The Priory of Sion, which in theory is an order that was made to protect the bloodline of Christ and also what some believe Father Sauniere found documents supporting their existence, is a complete farce. The Priory was made up in the middle 1900's and was admitted to be by those who wrote about it, to be a figment of Pierre Plantard's mind.

Well I'm going to have to stop there, I've got to go back to work (Poop). But have an amazing weekend, and hopefully the Pac-10 can do a little better this week. I take 100% of the blame due to my overboard, homer of a college football review about a month ago. Karma, you got me good.

Mac and Jacks African Amber Ale

Good afternoon to all of my beermigos out there, hope everyone's week is going splendid, and continues that way into the weekend. On Tuesday night I frequented good old Max's for trivia night. Pretty simple concept, grab some friends, grab a beer, make a team name (our's was "I got felt up five times on my way to the bar, but I liked it." because there was a poop-ton of people at Max's that night. However the best name of the night went to "If Sarah Palin becomes President, she'll be Baberham Lincoln), and get ready to use your noggin. I approached the bar and saw the Mac and Jacks, which I had sampled before when a certain Mrs. Lezlie Winsor got me a tid bit drunk one fine afternoon, and I wanted to get it again. I was partial to it because of the taste, but also because of the lion on the tap. I wanted to display my overall dominance, especially that of the mind, and what better way to do so then to get a beer with a freaking lion on the tap?

The Amber ale was quite strong and fantastic as I remembered. It's quite the hefty Amber ale, very cloudy dark maroon color, with a dark white head to go with it. The hops were the most obvious taste in the brew giving it a confident bitter bite while it went down the hatch, but had a subtle sweet finish.

I will let you know that I did feel quite dominating while drinking this fine brew, it unfortunately didn't carry over to trivia knowledge. The team did alright in the first couple of rounds, but teetered off at the end. However, I did come out a winner because the sweet lady taking the score cards gave me one bitchin' beer cozy that's made out of astro turf! To you beer cozy old timers, I know, I know, astro turf isn't right it plays too fast and almost single-handily ruined baseball. But I feel so apart of the game when using it. Wait, no, no I don't it's a freaking beer cozy, but still very cool.

PROUST!

Fun Fact Friday!

Well simply put, today is International Talk Like a Pirate day. YYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH


Enjoy the weekend!

Frog Wart Pale Ale/ Kells Irish Lager double header

My bad about the fun fact Friday! from last week, I got caught up in some buiz and didn't get a chance to drop some knowledge. I figured I'd make it up by doing a double posting. Last weekend was probably the second biggest hippy festival in Eugene, the Eugene Celebration. Basically it's a Saturday market, except it goes late into the night and lasts all weekend. My main reason for going to the Celebration was Hillstomp. These two righteous dudes can get a crowd going better than any other two dudes I've ever seen, hands down. They rock the old Blues stuff with their primary influence being R.L. Burnside. I cannot emphasize enough, if they play near your city, GO YOU WILL BE GLAD YOU DID. I've gone to a show of their's where they started at eleven and I kid you not, there was a man somewhere between the ages of 78-82 rockin' it.

I sipped on the Frog Wart Pale Ale while listening to Hillstomp, and dancing at the same time. The beer was good, it was a pretty standard Pale Ale by being a dark copper color with an off-white head. The malt in the beer dominated the taste, making it a pretty simple beer. However mixed with Hillstomp, I think I would enjoy drinking Ram's piss. There was a middle aged man in white pants, a Prince of Arabia vest on with no undershirt, and a Spanish conquistador facial hair style dancing, I'm telling you this band reaches all kinds of audiences.

The Kells Irish Lager had me intrigued from the moment I saw it at the Eugene City Brewing Co (The restaurant is owned by Rogue, thus they sell all kinds of Rouge beers along with making some themselves). When I think Irish beer I'm thinking something so dark that if you were in a pool of it, you would be able to see your submerged body. Not surprisingly, the lager was a darker tint of yellow than your average lager. And while it had a typical wheat dominating taste, it had an amazing, quick bitter bite from some type of hops they put in there that really sets it apart from other lagers.

Until tomorrow my Beer-migos, I've got to redeem myself for a lack of FFF! from last week. Until then, PROST!

P.S. If you want to here how old Dougy-poo is doing, check out his Europe blog, http://www.new.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdougtravels2008.blogspot.com%2F&h=689ebe530f492c7fe9366802e7b0c426

Guinness Foreign Extra Stout

While touring the Guinness factory in Dublin, Ireland a new fact was brought to my attention. Guinness brews not 2 but 3 different brews. There is the original Guinness Draught which is distributed everywhere. The second is their Guinness Staught which is distributed to Canada, the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, and Europe. the third is their Guinness Foreign Extra Stout only distributed within Ireland and to Africa, South & Central America and the Carri beans. I bought a bottle for 2 Euros because I knew I had to try this.
The main difference, aside from the yellow label, is that the alcohol content (7.5%) is higher to balance the overpowering taste that makes you take your sweet time while drinking this brew. As i drank this brew in my hostel I found myself completely agreeing with their wisdom. It has that familiar Guinness taste but this is even hoppier and sweeter. It finishes smooth like a good Guinness always does and after each taste you want to gulp down another one right away. The dark brown color is there with that sweet beer smell coming from the foam at the top. In Ireland the Guinness is like a completely different beer. It tastes like a beer milkshake. This particular beer, which was had at room temperature and from a bottle, still fit that standard.
It is incredibly hard to stop at just one Guinness. I had a Kilkenny's as previously recommended but I have to respectfully disagree with my fellow beermigo. Kilkenny's is delicious but there's nothing quite like a properly poured pint of Guinness in Ireland. Foreign Extra Stout is a unique twist on a Guinness. It's even more flavorful and therefore more overpowering, but still absolutely delicious.

Love, Doug

Veille Provision, Saison DUPONT, Belgian Farmhouse Ale

To our regular readers, you've all probably heard of the Bier Stein at this point. A couple of months ago I was at the Bier Stein with the other beermigo Pat. We went there to have a couple of beers on a relaxing summer evening. While there we ran into a former professor of ours who insisted on buying us beer. Who were we to decline.
This professor was very knowledgeable of the intricate details that encompass beer. After the first beer he walked off to the cooler, came back and poured us each a pint of what he deemed as the best Belgian beer he had found while living there for a year. It was a citrusy ale, almost apple, but this was different. I find that citrus flavored beers tend to have too much of a fruity flavored after taste for my liking. However, this beer had the noticeable citrus flavors and a very crisp and clean after taste that wasn't very sweet at all. It was packed with flavor without being too filling (yes I know that's eerily similar to Miller Lite but it's true). The color was a nice dark yellow and even though an Uncle Fester type character made John Lysaker accidentally foam the beer a bit too much at the top by running into his arm it didn't ruin it at all. I'm in Ireland right now but I will be heading through Belgium soon and I fully intend on trying to find this beer there so I can enjoy it again.
Another note: This professor shared an interesting fact with me that I think is noteworthy. He said that when in Belgium all the beer is fantastic except for Pilsners. According to him they're not bad, they're just not up to the exceptional level of every other type of beer in Belgium. He said to wait until Germany to get a great Pilsner. i know John will appreciate that.

Peace out ladies and gents

Rogue Dead Guy

Rogue Dead Guy is a staple of the Northwest beers, and in my opinion, the quintessential amber ale. The Rogue company has been able to expand their line of products because of the popularity of this beer. If you ever get a chance to tour the brewery in Newport, there is one room full of boxes of Dead Guy waiting to please the taste palates of beer drinkers everywhere.

The Big Guy and I were enjoying dinner at one of Eugene's local hot spots, Turtles, when I decided to enjoy another Dead Guy. We were discussing football plans, and what we were attempting to accomplish during our game the next day; I couldn't have felt more manly. My Dead Guy's color was a nice copper with just the slightest hard shade of red with a nice, pure white head. As usual, my beer had the perfect combination of malts and hops that blended so well together that it puts an image of the malt and hops being BFFs, and giving each other hugs during the brewing process. Weird? Yes. But try picturing that while enjoying that fantastic brew and tell me that it doesn't put a smile on your face.

Once again the fellas at Rogue continue to produce fantastic adult beverages, supplementing their reputation for being one of the best breweries in Oregon, one of the best beer making places in the world. Is that bias? Yes. But do it, malts and hops giving each other hugs? That's just hilarious.

Philosophy Class

Stumbled upon this very, very true joke/story on the trusty Internet:

A philosophy professor stood before his class and had some items in front of him.
When the class began, wordlessly he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks, rocks about 2" in diameter.
He then asked the students if the jar was full? They agreed that it was.
So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks.
He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.
The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else.
He then asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous - yes.
The professor then produced two cans of beer from under the table and proceeded to pour their entire contents into the jar - effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.
"Now," said the professor, as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The rocks are the important things - your family, your partner, your health, and your children - Things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.
The pebbles are the other things that matter, like your job, your house, and your car.
The sand is everything else. The small stuff."
"If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the rocks. The same goes for your life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out dancing. There will always be time to go to work, give a dinner party and fix the disposal.
"Take care of the rocks first, the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."
One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the beer represented.
The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of beers."

siempre perfecta

I asked my new roomie about styles of beer in Spain and he gave me this inquisitive look, thought about it for a minute and asked me to repeat the question. This is no NorthWest folks; Ive been spoiled.

We did, however, go to the store and buy some beers which he deemed muy bueno. These, and all beers like them, are called las claras, un estilo de birra que incluye limon. Its like the spanish version of a Hefewisen, if the lemon came included in the can. I don´t want to compare it to the MGD with lemon, or the Coors with lemon, which are marketed in American supermarkets across the nation, simply because im not in America and this is new to me. Instead, i sipped the cold, refeshing birra, and agree with the clarity, succinct flavor and the crisp deliciousness of the first cool drink all day.

Apparently, you can get a glass of la clara, a style not the brand, at any bar and its only like €1,50 tops which is not bad in my book. i dig it and i´ll drink it again, but its no widmer hef, oh god, how am i going to do this?

Fun Fact Friday!

I've got the early morning edition of your weekly fun fact today! As I hinted to last week, today's fun facts will be political convention themed. Both parties have had their convention, and our next event to look forward to is the first debate, where they will both spew out their ideologies that they'll never get done. Damnit, I told myself I wouldn't be pessimistic.



So the first convention for the Democratic party was way back in 1832 in Baltimore Maryland, who they nominated I have no freaking clue. The first televised convention goes to the Republicans, in 1940 when it was located in Phila-illa-delph-e a. The city that has hosted the most political conventions is Chicago with a total of 25, 11 for the Dems 14 for the Repubs. Length wise the Dems have the old Elephants beat, with the appointing of James Davis in 1924 after 17 days.


Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend, enjoy the last days of summer and go outside for the love of Prefontaine. Ok that was really bad, showing my intense Eugene-ness, but I could think of anything else.

Juniper Pale Ale

Guess what? I had another Pale Ale! Shocking, I know, but I just can't stay away from them and I feel no guilt because why stay away from stuff you love? Especially when it's as phenomenal as Pale Ale. Anyway, I was lucky enough to enjoy this fine craft at the Mecca that is the Bierstein. The Bierstein is on 11h and High here in Eugene, they make amazing sandwiches at 8.95 each, that includes a side. Oh, and did I forget to mention they have over 300 different bottled beers from around the world, and 10 different beers on tap? If I could spend five hours a day there, I definitely would, just imagine all of the Beermigos entry.

Now that you have an understanding of this beer haven, this night was really wonderful. The pretty lady friend and I moved some stuff to her new place, that happens to be right behind the Bierstein (HALLELUJAH!). So we went to the Mecca, and I got an incredible turkey sandwich with red onions, avocado, lettuce, and cream cheese. Sitting with the love, eating a sandwich that massaged the taste buds, and Billie Holliday playing in the background, it didn't even need the beer to make the night wonderful.

The Juniper was made by the infamous Rogue, which was light bronze in color while a little cloudy, which lead me to believe it would be jam packed with flavor. Surprisingly though, it's taste was very light. There was hardly any after taste, and in all reality all I could taste was almost a snow like taste. I found this really shocking considering it was made by Rogue, but at the same time I'm questioning how on their game my taste buds were.

The night finished with Whitney and I discussing future plans of visiting Ireland, which is probably the best place to talk about visiting while drinking beer. Ask Pat about it, I think he would agree.