Filed under: General
Went through my first experience with beer trading this weekend!
Something I always thought about but never really put into action. Then Mark and I found ourselves with a bunch of Lost Abbey/Cuvee de Tomme which we weren’t all that ecstatic about so we decided to jump in.
Posted on Beer Advocate and recieved an overwhelming amount of responses. This beer was even more in demand that I thought! We got something like 30 offers.
We ended up choosing 4 or so for trade. All of the members have been helpful and trusting, 2 of them even agreed to ship their packages first, which takes a huge leap of faith on their part. I mean I could just as easily make off with their beer.
Anyways most of the trading is in progress, I did complete a trade already with some guy who did free overnight shipping (which is incredible since 3 day shipping costs like $40!). We are expecting some Dark Lord, some great locals, and even some Westy (the number one beer on Beer advocate).
So far its been a great experience and I can feel myself get pulled deeper and deeper into this obsession…
Filed under: General | Tags: Cuvee de Tomme, Judgement Day, Lost Abbey, Port Brewing, Serpent Stout, Stone
I have been meaning to write this up for a while, too bad studying eats every living second of my time!
On May 3rd we took a trip down to San Diego for the Lost Abbey 2nd Anniversary. They were releasing three new beers there, one of which, Cuvee de Tomme, was only going to be for sale on that one day. While we were there we made plans to head down to other establishments in the craft beer mecca of San Diego.
First stop was Port Brewing aka The Lost Abbey. The quick storybehind this company goes as follows. Pizza Port (the restaurant) head brewer Tomme Arthur opens a production facility to brew comercial releases of Pizza Port beers as well as his own hobby beers. The former is called Port Brewing, the latter, The Lost Abbey.
Headed down to the Lost Abbey 2nd Anniversary party tomorrow morning with Mark.
I am pretty excited about this because A. I love LA beer, and they will be having tastings and other deliciousness including Cuvee de Tomme for sale and B. San Diego is awesome.
I think we will go early in the morning to make sure we can get our allocation of Cuvee de Tomme. Then head into the party for some food and tasting. Hopefully I won’t be too plastered, and we can go to Stone, or Holiday Wine or the Pizza Port bottle shop to pick up some rare stuff. On the way back do we dare go to Naja’s??
The possibilities are endless! San Diego is really the heaven of craft beer lovers, so many great places with so many great beers. So many great breweries as well. I’m lucky to have one good beer store, but trust me, I’ll be going all out tomorrow!
Last night I was rifling through my fridge, looking for a tasty beverage when I dawned on me how great Stone is.
Since stone IRS 2007 was released, I have been trying to save as many as I can. After all, it is one of my favorite beers. I’ve got a case of the ’07 and ’08 cellared away, but I also have a couple bombers of the ’08 earmarked for a special occasion.
By the time I finished looking at my inventory, I realized that the Stone IRS, one of my favorite beers of all time, also happens to be the cheapest beer in my collection! At just $5 a bottle, it really is a fantastic deal. This beer is as good, if not better, than everything else in my fridge (which costs $10+).
Seeing as the ’08′s are still available, I think I will make it a point to drink as many of these as I can until the supplies dry up. Stone, I don’t know why you only charge $5 for something you could charge double for (or release in tiny quantities and charge triple), but I love you for it!
As far as the beer goes, this ’08 seemed much more drinkable than the last time I had it (about a month ago). The ’08s have a strong alcoholic character and something else which I can’t put my finger on (perhaps an anise flavor?), which makes the drink-ability challenging. The one I had last night seemed to have mellowed out a bit which is very encouraging. Give it another 6 months to a year and they will be fantastic. I don’t think these are at their optimum yet, but I think with enough age they could be better than the ’07′s.
The body of this beer is so freaking good! I love you Stone.
Filed under: General | Tags: Damnation, Delerium Tremens, Fathers Office, Hennepin, La Fin Du Monde, Ommegang, Restaurant, Russian River, Unibroue
Just visited Fathers Office 2 in Culver City. For those that don’t know, this place has somewhat of a cult following for its great beer and great food. It is also considered somewhat quirky in that they don’t allow substitutions, changes, or ketchup in their restaurant.
I visited the original a few months back and had not complaints. The food and beer was pretty expensive, but a decent value for what you get. I manged to get a pint of RR Pliny the Elder so no complaints. Their famous burger was also quite good. Nothing mind blowing, but they did cook the burger the way I wanted it (every other place may ask you how you want it, but always cook it well done). The only downside with this place was that it was always packed as the place was so tiny.
In FO2, they had definitely upgraded to a bigger space, with double taps, outdoor patio seating, and more floor space in general. The thing that hasn’t changed is the menu or the beer selection. To me, everything looked exactly the same as it did in FO1. They probably just took the menus right from the original location. I can see how this uniformity is a good thing to a certain extent, but I think it would be a good idea to have a bit of variation between the restaurants, even if its a few rotating taps or specials. Of course the place just opened so all could instantly change leaving me with the bitter taste of crow.
Filed under: General
I wanted to take a quick second to muse on different kinds of beer glasses and their uses.
Personally, I have always felt that selecting the proper vehicle for anything (crab fork anyone?) is tantamount to snobbery. I mean look at all the wine snobs out there with their fancy stemware, who cares! Just drink the damn thing.
However, due to my slowly increasing awareness of beer (and subsequent snobbery) I have noticed that a proper beer class can really add to the look, feel, and smell of a beer. Drinking a Belgian in a proper Belgian glass tastes a lot better than a plastic cup. Looking at the opacity of a stout through a clear glass does wonders for the overall beer experience compared to drinking from a bottle.
After lunch edition:
Food: Spicy salmon salad
Beer: Stone Brewing/IPA
The crisp and clean taste of the IPA would be a great complement to this cold and spicy salad. This IPA would work well because it is citrusy but not sweet. The body is also not too syrupy. Most importantly, the cold beer and aggressive hops would do a great job of cleaning the palate and contrast a bit of the lingering spiciness of the salmon. Too bad we can’t drink at work (as I type with a mouthful of tepid tap water…sigh).
Filed under: General
“Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” – Ben Franklin
I was looking over my credit card bill today and was surprised to see I spent $145 over the past month on beer. That only includes beer I purchased from the store, not beers I purchased at bars (which would probably raise the total by another $100 or so).
At this point I don’t really know if that’s a lot or not. I know people who sail as a hobby spend much more than $150/month (although they also make a lot more). How much does it take to support a crochet addiction? Whats a scrapbooker put back every month?
Granted, I did pick up an entire case of one of the all time greats: Stone/Imperial Russian Stout, and did have alot of great beers over the past month, but when does a hobby turn into an obsession? Does the fact that I justify my purchase by citing the very thing that I purchased raise some flags??
Filed under: General
The first post of a new blog should be like the first sip of a fresh beer, clean, palatable, complex and delicious. Actually they are nothing alike. Beer is refreshing and inspiring, first posts are stale and awkward. This blog will be dedicated to my two favorite topics; beer and beer snobbery. Both are so focused and interesting in their own way! Cheers!
