One of my favorite parts of the arrival of spring, is the similar change in beer styles that become available. Don't get me wrong, I love a good stout, but after a long winter with plenty of chocolaty, creamy stout (OK I kind of want one now, damn it) it's nice to start turning to the citrus smelling perky IPAs that come with spring. I was at the favorite watering hole with some buds, kickin' back with some beers and testing each other with trivia quizzes we had made for each other. All of my questions had to do with sports, Seinfeld, or Arrested Development seeing that those three things with beer are all I need in life, it was a pretty damn good night. Then came the beer selection of Hop Monkey. My goodness, did I make one hell of a choice.
The fine folks up at Laurelwood Brewery up in Portland blessed me with this beer, and I can't thank them enough for it. It's color was of a lighter yellow, not quite lager yellow, but a couple of shades above. The head was pure white as to be expected, and the smell was simply fantastic. A very citrusy, alive smell that had me giddy to begin drinking the beer. The taste, oh the taste, was quite possibly the best balanced IPA taste I've had in a long time. A quick punch of hoppy bitterness, with a slight twinge of malt, and then finishes concisely with one last burst of hop goodness. This beer was so crisp, I feel like I could drink this beer after a marathon and quench my thirst. I could not put this beer down, I drank it so damn fast I went and got another one just to experience it all over again.
Beermigos Rating: Pondering the Meaning of Life with your Beermigos Brew.
I absolutely love this beer. From the first sip to the last gulp, the Hop Monkey is in my top 5 beers of all time. I would highly suggest it if you come across it. It is so crisp, complex, and finishes so clean it is perfect for getting one in the mood for good weather.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Friday, April 10, 2009
Fun Fact Friday!
Good Friday to you readers (literally) hope all is well. My bad about two FFFs in a row, I've been meaning to review this fantastic IPA I had the other day, but haven't got around to finishing the review. Anyway seeing that it is Good Friday, making Sunday Easter, I figured I would drop some knowledge about a mythical creature that seems to have very little to do with the actual holiday. I am speaking of the Easter Bunny.
While the early Christians were trying to spread their religion through out Europe, their biggest opponents were the Pagans. In efforts to ease the transition from Paganism to Christianity, many Pagan holiday dates were kept around the same time, but were given different Christian meanings. The Pagans would celebrate natures re-birth with a festival that appreciated the Goddess of fertility and spring, known as Eostre or Eastre. Two prominent symbols of fertility were the egg and the hare. The first documented appearance of an Easter Bunny like character was in Germany around the 1600's, when the character Oschter Hawes would deliver colored eggs to well behaving children. Eventually when settlers came to the US, so did the Easter Bunny.
Interestingly enough, the Easter Bunny isn't as popular in every Christian state as it is in the US. Australia didn't have any rabbits in their natural habitat, so when they were brought from Europe, they destroyed many crops and other wildlife making them a complete pest. So instead the Aussies have the Easter Bilby, which is an indigenous marsupial.
Enjoy the weekend,
PROST
While the early Christians were trying to spread their religion through out Europe, their biggest opponents were the Pagans. In efforts to ease the transition from Paganism to Christianity, many Pagan holiday dates were kept around the same time, but were given different Christian meanings. The Pagans would celebrate natures re-birth with a festival that appreciated the Goddess of fertility and spring, known as Eostre or Eastre. Two prominent symbols of fertility were the egg and the hare. The first documented appearance of an Easter Bunny like character was in Germany around the 1600's, when the character Oschter Hawes would deliver colored eggs to well behaving children. Eventually when settlers came to the US, so did the Easter Bunny.
Interestingly enough, the Easter Bunny isn't as popular in every Christian state as it is in the US. Australia didn't have any rabbits in their natural habitat, so when they were brought from Europe, they destroyed many crops and other wildlife making them a complete pest. So instead the Aussies have the Easter Bilby, which is an indigenous marsupial.
Enjoy the weekend,
PROST
Friday, April 3, 2009
Fun Fact Friday!
Happy early April to everyone, we're getting closer day by day to warm weather full of hikes, swimming and bike rides and I'm sure you're all as excited as I am. Anyone in the US, and in many other countries, over the age of five will know that the beginning of April is a fun day for those merry pranksters inhabiting the world. This particular April Fool's day I was neither duked, nor did I play any sort of prank. It's a big stepping stone in my maturity level, NOT. I figured I would search the interwebs to find a good prank that is worthy of special mentioning. There were plenty of good ones from the BBC doing a special report on Swiss Spaghetti trees, to finding the corpse of the Loch Ness monster, and the left-handed Whopper Burger King was releasing for their customers. But being a blog about beer, I decided that this story was best:
In 1998 the good folks at Guinness issued a statement that they were going to be the official sponsor of the Old Royal Observatory's Millenium celebration. The Observatory is located in Greenwich, London, and had agreed to change England's name of time from the Greenwich Mean Time to the Guinness Mean Time. The Observatory would recognize this change, start counting seconds in "pint drips," and it would all go back to normal at the end of 1999. Apparently The Financial Times didn't find that appropriate, and criticized the beer makers, until they realized it was a joke and retracted their statement in the next issue. Oh those wacky beer makers, you just never know with those guys.
Enjoy your weekend,
PROST
In 1998 the good folks at Guinness issued a statement that they were going to be the official sponsor of the Old Royal Observatory's Millenium celebration. The Observatory is located in Greenwich, London, and had agreed to change England's name of time from the Greenwich Mean Time to the Guinness Mean Time. The Observatory would recognize this change, start counting seconds in "pint drips," and it would all go back to normal at the end of 1999. Apparently The Financial Times didn't find that appropriate, and criticized the beer makers, until they realized it was a joke and retracted their statement in the next issue. Oh those wacky beer makers, you just never know with those guys.
Enjoy your weekend,
PROST
Monday, March 30, 2009
Raison D'Extra
Enjoying the company of the special lady friend for the first time in about five days, I felt I needed to run down to the best watering hole in all of Eugene, possibly Oregon, the Bierstein. It not only has eight or more beers on tap at a time, but three hundred different bottles in their refrigerator. A Beermigos' dream. I picked this brew from Dogfish Head because I was in an adventurous mood, and I know what you're thinking, picking a beer to be adventurous is semi-lame but give me a break, it's a monday night.
While the girls were watching their Gossip Girl, I needed something high in alcohol to make it through the pain that is that horrible TV show (I try not to be negative, but it's just sooooo bad). Well I definitely picked the right beer. According to their website, it's at 18 ABV thus only needing one of them to effectively block out the TV while playing Bubble Spinner. It was incredibly complex, as to be expected of a Dogfish Head creation. It's a fairly traditional brown ale with a slight nut taste, but then out of no where, an extreme sweetness takes the tongue hostage via the raisins they used in the wort. RAISINS? Are you kidding me? These guys can find a way to mix just about anything with malt, hops, and yeast.
While the raisin taste comes crashing in out of no where, it fades away very comfortably and leaves nothing nasty hanging. The only thing this brew left was a fantastic buzz from it's high ABV.
Beermigos rating: Onesy/Contemplating the Meaning of Life Brew: This one is so very unique that it can only be created by Dogfish Head. It really shocks you at first, but the taste becomes very comfortably sweet once you know what is coming. With the high ABV, you definitely don't want to be pounding these away, and could start some epic conversations because of it's complexity.
P.S. The Special Lady Friend didn't like it, but I did.
While the girls were watching their Gossip Girl, I needed something high in alcohol to make it through the pain that is that horrible TV show (I try not to be negative, but it's just sooooo bad). Well I definitely picked the right beer. According to their website, it's at 18 ABV thus only needing one of them to effectively block out the TV while playing Bubble Spinner. It was incredibly complex, as to be expected of a Dogfish Head creation. It's a fairly traditional brown ale with a slight nut taste, but then out of no where, an extreme sweetness takes the tongue hostage via the raisins they used in the wort. RAISINS? Are you kidding me? These guys can find a way to mix just about anything with malt, hops, and yeast.
While the raisin taste comes crashing in out of no where, it fades away very comfortably and leaves nothing nasty hanging. The only thing this brew left was a fantastic buzz from it's high ABV.
Beermigos rating: Onesy/Contemplating the Meaning of Life Brew: This one is so very unique that it can only be created by Dogfish Head. It really shocks you at first, but the taste becomes very comfortably sweet once you know what is coming. With the high ABV, you definitely don't want to be pounding these away, and could start some epic conversations because of it's complexity.
P.S. The Special Lady Friend didn't like it, but I did.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
SuperBock!
A few weeks ago I slept alone in the gymnasium of a portugese elementary school. It was kind of wierd, but I simply inquired at the local pharmacy and the lady there hooked it up with the key. It was saturday night and the place was emptier than the cooler after a good river kick-it. Because the water in this small town was slightly off-color (meaning it had colors in it) and because normally I boycott bottled water, I purchased a liter of SuperBock to help wash down the sandwitches I made for dinner.
Now, SuperBock (Sabor Autentico) is just about anything but super. It is slightly too bitter to really be enjoyable in a light beer, but it is slightly too heavy to really be refreshing. The flavor is crisp, but in the way that leaves your tongue feeling like a piece of aluminum foil. Of course, none of this matters if you are slamming them down in a beach bar with a boatload of Australians, dancing and fighting with your friend over the company of a woman without a sexy British accent. On the other hand, when you're hanging out by yourself in a place where children usually play, its just kind of creepy. However, the low price and high alcohol content (the only redeeming qualities of SuperBock) provide just enough of a buzz to bring a brother out to the playground on a warm winter night to do some swinging and look at the stars.
It was strange to be so isolated, out there 22kms North of Porto, but to be so comfortable with it at the same time. It's not everyday you wake up in a country where you don't speak the language and cruise through it so easily and smoothly, watching the countryside slide by as the sun moves across the sky. And then, when night falls, and the stars come out and the moon is starting to peak up, its good to have nothing to do except sit out and watch, nursing a brew and pouring out a splash or two for the beermigos back home.
Rating: Throwback/meaning of life, the same, strange dual-rating of a Pabst 40, which is perfect party-fodder but also perfect for a good, in the park man-chat.
Now, SuperBock (Sabor Autentico) is just about anything but super. It is slightly too bitter to really be enjoyable in a light beer, but it is slightly too heavy to really be refreshing. The flavor is crisp, but in the way that leaves your tongue feeling like a piece of aluminum foil. Of course, none of this matters if you are slamming them down in a beach bar with a boatload of Australians, dancing and fighting with your friend over the company of a woman without a sexy British accent. On the other hand, when you're hanging out by yourself in a place where children usually play, its just kind of creepy. However, the low price and high alcohol content (the only redeeming qualities of SuperBock) provide just enough of a buzz to bring a brother out to the playground on a warm winter night to do some swinging and look at the stars.
It was strange to be so isolated, out there 22kms North of Porto, but to be so comfortable with it at the same time. It's not everyday you wake up in a country where you don't speak the language and cruise through it so easily and smoothly, watching the countryside slide by as the sun moves across the sky. And then, when night falls, and the stars come out and the moon is starting to peak up, its good to have nothing to do except sit out and watch, nursing a brew and pouring out a splash or two for the beermigos back home.
Rating: Throwback/meaning of life, the same, strange dual-rating of a Pabst 40, which is perfect party-fodder but also perfect for a good, in the park man-chat.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Fun Fact Friday!
Happy Friday to everyone, it's quite lovely outside today in the Big Eug and you know I will be taking advantage of that later. As for the Fun Fact for this week, I originally was going to inform the world on the beer drinker's Christmas, St. Patrick's Day, but after last night at the MSG I cannot contain my excitement of college basketball. In case you've never heard of a television set or the internet, you probably know that sports fest known as the NCAA National Championship tournament will be set this sunday. The tournament is affectionatly known as, "March Madness," but anyone who pays attention knows that the true "Madness" starts with the confrence championship tournaments. Regardless of size of school, student body, or arena if you are a division 1 school and you win your confrence tournament, you are automatically in the National Championship tournament. Thus, guys will play until their limbs melt off of their torso in attempts to be apart of the Big Dance. There is no better example than what was put on display at Madison Square Garden of what March Madness means to these teams. Syracuse and Conneticut played to a 127-117 decision that advanced Syracuse in their confrence tournament. High scoring NBA game right? Well it took SIX OVERTIMES for this game to be decided. The game started at 9:30 P.M. and ended at 1:22 A.M. Eight players fouled out, four for each team. Every player on each benched played some minutes. Overtimes are five minutes each, so that means an extra complete one half and a half (that makes no sense, two halves in a game each twenty minutes, an extra thirty minutes). Unbelievable.
Enjoy your weekend, hopefully you wont have to work half as hard this weekend as any of those guys did,
PROST
P.S. Just in, Coach Bellotti stepped down as head coach. He has had the highest amount of Pac-10 wins than any other Oregon coach, and really took the program to new heights. Thanks Coach B.
Enjoy your weekend, hopefully you wont have to work half as hard this weekend as any of those guys did,
PROST
P.S. Just in, Coach Bellotti stepped down as head coach. He has had the highest amount of Pac-10 wins than any other Oregon coach, and really took the program to new heights. Thanks Coach B.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Fun Fact Friday!
What's up my babies? That's right, I'm channeling my inner Conan for my intro today, got a problem with it? Didn't think so. This week's Fun Fact is going to be a quick one, there isn't much out there at the moment, and I've got a half an hour to research and write this. Anyway this day in 1899, the German company Bayer trademarked a little pill that they called aspirin. No Lloyd, the Germans are not A-holes (Ha Dumb and Dumber reference, Aspen, Aspirin. Oh the tangents I go on). I had no idea that aspirin has been around that long, but I do now. Have a great weekend, be safe, and as always...
PROST
P.S. since I feel like a lazy ass for such a short FFF, here's a link on how to become a Knight within Royal England. Kinda cool.
http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/23356
PROST
P.S. since I feel like a lazy ass for such a short FFF, here's a link on how to become a Knight within Royal England. Kinda cool.
http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/23356
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