Friday, November 21, 2008

Fun Fact Friday!

GGGGGGOOOOOOOODDDDDDDDDDD afternoon my beermigos, hope everything is going well in your lives along with setting up plans to get some massive grub for Thanksgiving in 6 days. I stumbled upon this interesting morsel of info while reading an article in the Wall Street Journal about the Dogfish Head Brewery. There was a specific brew that seems to be escaping me at the moment, that is fermented in a specific wood that's grown only in Central America. This wood is known for it's toughness and constant aroma. Before this article, I had no idea as to how we measured the toughness of wood, but now I do. It's called the Janka scale, or the Janka hardness test. How it measures the wood's toughness is by the amount of force that is required to lodge a 11.28 millimeter steel ball half way through the diameter of the wood. Crazy huh? Depending on where you live it can mean different amounts due to the measurement of force your country uses. For example, the US uses pounds-force whereas in Australia they would use Newtons or Kilonewtons. A commonly seen tree in my neck of the woods is the Douglas-Fir, it has a Janka ranking of 660, where as the toughest the Lignum Vitae,has a ranking of 4500.

Hopefully I'll actually post some sort of review of a beer before Thanksgiving, but there are no promises. PROUST!

Friday, November 14, 2008

Fun Fact Friday!

This week's fun fact is more of an advertisement, an advertisement without pay so you know that this site is incredibly awesome because I'm mentioning it out of the goodness of my heart. www.mentalfloss.com. It has all kinds of trivia, random facts, even quizzes. I actually just took the Troy McClure film or actual crappy film quiz and scored 60% on it. I was chuckling the entire time thinking of what Phil Hartman would have sounded like saying the film titles. Some of the other quizzes I've taken have been a Bill Nye the Science Guy, The Office, Super Nintendo, and regular Nintendo quiz, all of them being incredibly entertaining. So if you've got time to kill, and feel like getting nostalgic up in your B-I-itch, check it out.

Have an awesome weekend everybody, be safe, go Ducks, and PROUST!

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Muddy Puppy Nose Ale

Last thursday, my family and the city of Eugene lost a great friend in Randy Pape. Randy was an amazing man in so many different ways. He was the work-a-holic type that made time for his family. The way he lived his life, with optimism and love, is something we should all strive for. My guess, by the way he worked not only in his family's business, but on other boards and committees around the city and the time he spent with his family, I would guess he slept maybe two hours a night. Just a constant go go go type, Randy sure knew how to light up the room with his positivity and enthusiasm.

In his honor, the Big Guy and I decided to pop our first bottle of Muddy Puppy Nose Ale and toast to Randy. The first bottle was a little flat, but the meaning of it was possibly the most sentimental brew I've had. Other bottles of my first batch of home brew ended up being a lot better than that first bottle. It's a very light brown color and very cloudy (I'll have to use the Irish Moss next time). It's got quite the hoppy, malt entangled scent while it's taste is predominately the malt. All in all, pretty damn good for the first home brew batch if I must say so myself.

Naturally, I'd like to sent a big ol' PROUST to Randy and his family. We'll miss you big guy, the world needs more people like you.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Budweiser/Budvar

Let's start with some facts here. Budweiser is not as American as we may think. We are aware of the recent purchase of Budweiser by a Belgian brewing super giant but there's more. Budweiser actually started out as a Czechoslovakian brew. Then, the Budweiser that we know in the states came in and stole the Czechoslovakian recipe making a cheap knock off of the original Budweiser recipe. These two companies have had a lawsuit going back and forth for a long time now. The region of Czechoslovakia is now in the Czech Republic and they still lovingly call this beer Budvar.

The night and the situation I chose to have this beer in was simple. It was a Friday night in Prague, but I was not going out partying. The night before my friend Mariel and I had gone out to a pub crawl and we were quite hungover all day. Plus our Czech Koruns were running low and we were leaving the next day. We had a night in at the hostel where we made ourselves a broke man's version of mac & cheese. Pasta with cheese slices melted in. Delicious. We knew about Budvar and decided we wanted to try that before we left so we bought a 12 oz can each for 4.65 Korun, or somewhere around 30 cents U.S. As we sat in our hostel room and she told me some more about her family I reached over at a certain point and cracked that bad boy open. Let me tell you, definitely better than Budweiser. It wasn't amazing but it didn't taste like ass. It basically was a step up from Budweiser.

With this Lager you could taste the hops but there was much more of a noticeable malt influence. It didn't finish particularly smooth, didn't have an enjoyable aroma, didn't pair well with mac & cheese and was drank luke warm. It still did the trick though. I would recommend this as much as I would recommend a cold PBR. Mariel gives her approval as well. So we drank them down and in the middle of our talk we were interrupted by two Canadians walking into our shared room because they had just arrived. We talked with them for close to 30 minutes and then they left to get some food. We went to bed, woke up early, mobbed on some free breakfast, took one last walk through Prague and then I flew off to London (Typical Saturday for me really). That Budvar though, still has special spot in my memory.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Block 15 Nebula Stout

The lady friend and I made a trip up north to Corvallis to see our friends open for the most kick ass, two-man band, Hillstomp. Unfortunately, I happened to get the starting time wrong, and we got into C-town about three hours before anyone went on. To kill the time, Whitney and I frolicked around until we came to a restaurant that we had been to about a year and a half ago. Very good American style restaurant, had a bunch of different options that all looked amazing.

I decided to order this fine brew, that they actually make up there in Corvallis, and was pumped to see it because it came in a glass that resembled a Pilsner glass, but a little thicker. Typical looking Stout, very dark with a light brown head, smelled of mostly coffee. I was incredibly surprised at how smooth it was. I really felt like I was drinking water, that had a coffee taste that was most present and a hint of chocolate at the end. Even Whitney, who prefers Pinot Gris, enjoyed her sip and was equally surprised at it's smooth finish.

Stoked about my awesome brew, we went and checked out the McMinamens and rocked out to Green is For Go, and Hillstomp in the Bombs Away Cafe they played at. Really was an awesome night.

I'd also like to send a PROUST to our recently elect President. Barry, while I may not agree with all of your policies, I'm pulling for you bud you've got quite the task at hand.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Bit Burger Pils

It's been a little while since my last posting and I lost my notepad which had some beer notes/titles from my trips, so it's taken me a bit but here goes. Let me lay the groundwork here. I am writing about a pilsner and my God, this is the best Pilsner I've ever had. (Yes John, it is) Not only do I think so but the bartender/owner at a local pub/hostel in Heidelberg, Germany called this his favorite beer of all time. It is exactly what one would want from a pilsner. It has one of the best golden shimmers which is always nice to look at. Taste wise though, you get that hoppy taste but unlike what other pilsners sometimes do this one did not taste overly bitter at all. It is always good to taste the hops, but not too much. Bit Burger Pils has perfected the art. It also had a dry flowery scent which gave a nice aroma to the few evenings I sat around and enjoyed this brew. Smoooooooooth. Absolutely. This beer had one of the smoothest finishes I have ever tasted. It tasted like hop candy. Every time I took a sip or a gulp it went down the hatch with ease. It only wet my tongue and sparked my appetite for more, which I got plenty of. It didn't even fill me up. After 2 liters I felt light as a feather.

This beer was just what the doctor ordered for most situations. I enjoyed this 3 nights in a row while sitting at the bar at a local pub in Germany. I wasn't going crazy, just talking with some of the local people and other travelers at the hostel that would stop in for a drink. This was also a beer that could be enjoyed at a wild drinking festival, like say Oktoberfest. I wasn't fortunate enough to have this beer there but due to the lightness and deliciousness of this beer it could easily be enjoyed and be very appropriate for a wild drinking time.