My good friend and co-worker Kat brought me back some great beers from her recent trip to Washington state, a requested barleywine from Alaskan Brewing Company, and a surprise bottle of Pliny the Elder from Russian River.
I'd had Pliny once before, and found it simply incredible, one of the best double IPAs I had ever had. But this bottle, while nonetheless great, didn't seem to be the glass o' heaven I had remembered it to be. Could it be the batch was a bit different? Or the fact that Minnesota is awash in wonderful DIPAs these days? Or maybe something I ate earlier (just pizza) threw my palate off? In any case, I imagine this beer would still be in heavy rotation in my fridge if it was available here, but it seems (like many highly sought-after beers) the mysticism of it has disappeared, and I'm left with *just* a really great double IPA.
I haven't brewed since September, probably the longest stretch in 5 years. To think a year ago, Tony and I were at it about 2 nights a week. I'm thinking of supplementing all grain brewing with a little extract here and there, just to keep the supply up. But until then, I'll be taking advantage of the legislative spring break and cooking up a Saison this week, which will be ready just in time for summer.
Seems like as good as a time as any to resume more regular blogging. Other social networking sites have diverted me from Capitol Brew-haha, but I'm back now. At least until some other distraction takes hold.
Winterfest this year moved from the Landmark Center to the History Center. I volunteered for a couple hours in exchange for entry into the fest, which also meant giving up an hour of the event. It was good though, as I was up early that day and had to be up early the next day. I still tried 24 beers, and only a couple were disappointing.
Schell'sHopfenmalz Schell's U Bier Barley Johns Winter Cold Spring Imperial Stout Fitgers El Diablo Fitgers Bourbon Imperial Stout Fitgers 07 barley wine Flat Earth 07 barley wine Great Waters Betelgeuse Lift Bridge barley wine Lift Bridge Imperial Stout McCanns Flame Rock Bottom tripelframboise Rock Bottom single hop IPAs with centennial, amarillo and simcoe Rock Bottom Hop Bomb Surly bourbon One Surly Two Surly Three Surly Darkness Town Hall barley wine Town Hall Chipotle wee heavy
My faves were the bourbon One and Rock Bottom triple framboise. Rock Bottom totally blew away my expectations. While the two levels of narrow hallways made it hard to not feel crowded, the quality beer and people made it well worth it.
What a end of the year it was...my sister and her family joined us for the holidays, filling our house with more kids, wonderful food, and lots of good beer. My bro-in-law Sean is nearly as big as a beer geek as me, and we spent some quality time bonding over those good beers. From Christmas night at the Muddy Pig sharing a Southern Tier Cuvee One oak aged strong ale to waiting in line at Surly to purchase some growlers of their double IPA 16 Grit--the last Surly growlers to be sold until the law is changed--to using a gift certificate to buy some sweet beers from the Four Firkins, it was a ton of fun.
Whew! Session is in the air. In case ya hadn't heard, Minnesota is facing a monumental deficit, meaning the next five (or six or seven or eight) months are going to SUCK. I try to remain hopeful that all the talk of making early care and education a priority will actually be realized, but actions speak louder than words. Facts and research have little value in the face of economic crisis.
Thankfully, there's beer.
Don has been a trading fool, racking up a serious supply of unavailable brews. Among them, three bottles of Westy 12, allegedly one of the best beers in the world. The fact that it can only be obtained at the brewery in Belgium and that they ask that you not re-sell it, makes it all the more desirable. It's a Belgian quadruple, coming in at 10% abv.
You may remember I myself got one of these in a trade, so Don and I decided to swap tastings, if you will. We would drink one of his bottles now, and then my bottle in a few years. In preparation, I familiarized myself with the style, trying a Rochefort 10 and a St. Bernardus 12, the latter apparently sharing a yeast strain with the Westy.
The style is very unique, pouring an auburn/maroon/caramel color with generally subtle dried dark fruit flavors, plum or raisin or prune, the port of beers if you will. But the Westy, when warmed to room temperature, is like all that ON CRACK. My heart actually raced as the beer was poured.
Man, you could drink it all night. I can't wait to drink one after some age.
I made one of the tougher beer-related decisions this week, and traded my second bottle of Darkness from some choice picks, leaving me five bottles to drink over the next decade or so. The first bottle went to a former college classmate of mine, with whom I reconnected via Facebook and realized we both loved great beer. After about 3 months of talking about doing a trade for a hard-to-get bottle of Westvleteren 12 for some Surly, I finally got off my arse and sent the bottle off.
The second was for a Stone Imperial Russian Stout, a Founder's Kentucky Breakfast Stout and an Abyss from Deschutes:
This has been a much different election cycle for me. It was the first presidential election I didn't give at least the last month to a campaign, and I've never doorknocked less leading up to the final days of an election. Dylan started kindergarten this year, Adrian started out-of-home care for the first time and Flo is student teaching this fall, all making it hard to get out and phone or knock on doors.
But I poured my heart into it the last 5 days, and probably knocked on more doors on election day than I ever have before. And not only that, but it was the first time I've not spent most of the day in St. Paul: my time was spent in Hugo, White Bear Lake and Maplewood. It certainly didn't have the meaningfulness (is that a word?) of getting out the vote in St. Paul; most folks I talked to had already voted.
Still, I like to think it clearly paid off. Obama won handily, and what a feeling it is.
Oh, I drank a Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale while watching the results come in. Perfect in so many ways.
