Beercation

Could I drink 365 beers in one week? No. But I could drink 26.

Green Flash tasting list...
and check out those prices!

An alternate title to this blog could have easily been "Sick 2: Sinusitis", and after a heavily medicated and painful series of flights to southern California, my cold was threatening to put a damper on my beer plans. If anything was going to salvage Beercation it would be a trip to one of happiest places on earth, Green Flash Brewing Co. Every weekend, Green Flash clears out some space on their bottling floor, serves some cheese and crackers on an old ironing board, and pours some really awesome beer for very little money. I was pretty excited to have regained my sense of smell in time to fully experience it. The full tasting consists of pours of ten different beers, and ended with a special serving of their strong dark Belgian, Grand Cru, on cask. But the pours are only two ounces each, so while it was an awesome experience, I have to follow my own rules and not count a one of the ten towards the yearly total.

Back to my mom's home in Riverside, I was free to have my choice of the beers Charlie has been collecting in anticipation of my visit (he's so supportive!) and Full Sail Pale Ale became the first official beer of vacation. Stone Levitation, one of the best beers out there with under 5% ABV, was an excellent second choice. The next day being the nicest weather of the trip, I moved my box of tissues poolside and sought brews appropriate for soaking up some precious rays of sun. Pyramid Haywire Hefeweizen didn't quite deliver, but Karl Strauss Woodie Gold was pretty good (for a pilsner). That evening we enjoyed some homemade sushi, sake, and Dogfish Head Pangaea. I'm a nut for anything ginger, so it's as if this beer was brewed just for me. With it's big sweet flavors and 18% APV, Dogfish Head Word Wide Stout is one of the best beers I've ever had, and the perfect way to end any day.

Day three of Beercation brought a trip to Death Valley. After driving four hours through the desert, I really wanted a drink. The best beer available when we arrived at the resort was - and you'll have to trust me on this one - Budweiser. The bar we went to for dinner had a slightly better selection, but some of the scariest nachos I've ever encountered. Indian Wells Badwater Ale, brewed exclusively for the resort, kind of tasted like bad water, but New Belgium Fat Tire Ale was more palatable. Eventually we gave up on the bar, raided the general store and retreated to the comfort of the hotel room, where ate some cheese and crackers, played some Bananagrams, and drank some delicious Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA. Apparently the desert isn't the place to go for beer or food. Now we know.

My sinus infection was really peaking my the time we returned from the desert, so I can't speak with great authority about the next few beers, but I'm pretty sure Lagunitas Hop Stoopid IPA needed more hops. I don't remember much about Allagash High Malone Ale, Green Flash Barleywine, and  Victory Storm King Stout. It might be that these four beers were pretty solid, but unremarkable. It's more likely that my palate was severely compromised by my malfunctioning sinuses. I spent most of the day resting, blowing my nose, and banking on the curative properties of water (totally legitimate source here).

Awwww!

It worked! Next stop was Escondido. After a big day of awwing over baby elephants at the San Diego Wild Animal Park, we headed to the nearby Stone Brewery for dinner. This was my third trip to Stone and it's never disappointed. Stone Double Bastard Dry Hopped and Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous were both awesome beers and paired nicely with some awesome appetizers and soup. I even bought myself an awesome sweatshirt in their gift shop. (Awesome!) They had another local beer, Black Market Rye IPA, on cask. I thought the beer itself was pretty average, and lacking in rye, but the temperature and carbonation of the pour was perfect.

Before I knew it it was Friday, my last day in California, and Beercation was winding down. I decided to throw all caution to the wind and enjoy as many beers as possible. I had big expectations for this trip and some catching up to do. So we gathered together the beer we'd been collecting in our journeys, and then bought some more, to loosely pair with food and end the trip with a beer dinner. We got off to an incredible start with a solid three beer cheese course. The super complex and dynamic Unibroue La Fin due Monde would pair well with anything and everything (or nothing), and Stone Cali-Belgique IPA does Belgian IPA right. Samuel Smith Nut Brown Ale Stone, thought a bit sweet for my taste, pairs brilliantly with sharp cheddar cheese. 

Lukcy Basartd Ale, a blend of Arrogant Bastard, Oaked Arrogant Bastard, and Double Bastard (and tasted like, well, Arrogant Bastard), paired with itself for the dinner-isn't-ready-yet-but-let's-keep-drinking-beer course. The main course consisted of a grilled leg of lamb, spinach salad, and roasted squash and potatoes paired with three more beers. First was Trappistes Rochefort (proclaimed by the liquor store man to be the "best beer ever", and it was really good), second was the aforementioned Green Flash Grand Cru, and third was Highway 78 Scotch Ale, a collaboration between the Southern California powerhouses Stone, Green Flash, and Pizza Port. Maybe these folks should stick to the hops, because this beer was weak. Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence provided a subtley chocolately and smooth end to the dinner, and to Beercation.

Or so I thought. When our flight into Salt Lake City arrived a half an hour early, it only seemed right to get in one more beer in while still technically on vacation. And so Squatters Full Suspension Pale Ale officially brought Beercation to a close.

The aftermath.

Beers Down: 82
Beers To Go: 283

Sick

I'm sick. I haven't had a new beer in five days, so you know it's bad. The blog is suffering.

Things started with so much promise last week, when I drank a new personal favorite, Anderson Valley Hop Ottin' IPA and beer number fifty (milestone!), Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout. But things took a turn on Friday morning, when I woke up with the realization that I was definitely losing the fight to a cold that I'd felt coming on all week. But I wasn't worried about it. I would take care of myself. I would rest. I wouldn't drink beer.

Then Casey proposed Happy Hour. And she validated my idea that beer would make it better. And since this whole blogging about beer idea was stolen from inspired by her in the first place, it's clearly all her fault.

(Casey's beer blog can be found here, by the way. Somehow I wasn't equally inspired to start running marathons.)

So a group of work friends and I headed out to Cantina after work. In a conscious effort to expand my beer adventures and branch out from ales, I ordered a Delirium Tremens. The waitress asked if I wanted 13, 16, or 23 ounces (at 8.5% ABV - is she nuts?) and I longed to be at a real beer bar. I know this is supposed to be one of the best beers in the world, but I found it too light and sweet for my taste. Next up was BBC Holidale. Nicely balanced, smooth, and malty, but with none of the big alcohol flavor I expect of a barleywine, I wasn't sure what to make of this beer. Last beer at the bar, Ridgeway Bad Elf, tasted like hops and Christmas. I headed out and met up with Aaron, grabbed a bottle of Opa Opa Red Rock Ale, and immediately recognized it was a bad idea. I drank exactly half the bottle so that it would count toward the list before crawling home to bed. (Good thing I made those rules last post.)

Since then my life has consisted almost exclusively of coughing, sneezing, literally blowing through at least four boxes of tissues, staggering through the work week in an overly medicated haze, and not drinking beer. The only exception was Sunday, because not drinking beer during the Super Bowl would be nothing short of un-American. I managed to put back a Harpoon IPA and Harpoon Belgian Pale Ale while watching the game, reminiscing of Wisconsin, and wondering how I could get my hands on some New Glarus beers this year.

But there's hope for me yet! In three hours I'll be on a plane headed to Southern California, where its sunny and warm and beer will get a second chance to make it better.

Beers Down: 56
Beers To Go: 309

Ground Rules & Ski Weekend

I've been getting (and making up answers to) some questions about the rules of the blog. The truth is I hadn't really set any rules going into this thing. My intention was less about altering my drinking habits and more about documenting them. But it seems like a good idea to set some ground rules sooner rather than later, and it was a fairly uninspired week, beerwise, so now seems a good a time as any to lay down some basics. My three rules, for your consideration:

1) My goal is to drink 365 different beers in one year. Any beer counts - good or bad. This doesn't mean I will drink a new beer every day. There will be days when I don't drink any beer, and there will be many more days when I drink lots of beers.

2) Beer must contain malt, yeast and hops. Therefore, hard cider is not beer (but is delicious), mead is not beer (but is delicious), and fruity malt beverages like Zima and Mike's Hard Lemonade are both not beer and not delicious.

3) I must consume at least six ounces of any given beer for it to count toward the list. So brewery tastings, flights, and sips of others' drinks don't count. A half bottle or more does count.

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Now on to the week that was, in beer.

Wednesday (like most days this month) brought snow, and an after work trip to Sunset Cantina, a bar that becomes more appealing in bad weather based soley on its sheer proximity to work. I ordered 23 ounces of the very refreshing Troegs Dream Weaver Wheat. The waitress asked me if it was good, "like Blue Moon". I'll say it again, what is the deal with people and Blue Moon? Second beer on the night was the classic Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

Friday night Aaron and I headed up north to my dad's place near Gunstock for some skiing. After a four hour drive from Boston to Gilford, I needed a beer. Badly.

PBR in its natural habitat.

The fridge was stocked with remnants of last summer, so Pabst Blue Ribbon made a surprising early appearance as beer number forty on the year. This is my go-to cheap, canned, and highly drinkable beer for a lazy day on the lake, so I figured it would be at least July before PBR made it into the blog.

A girl can't live on PBR alone, and I wasn't about to touch the Leinenkugel's Sunset Wheat (Blech!) that was also in the fridge, so we made a run to the closest grocery store. Pickings were slim, but I decided a Redhook variety pack was our best bet for the weekend. After drinking another PBR while waiting for the new beer to chill, the frustratingly under hopped Redhook Long Hammer IPA became the next beer on the list.

We met up with my uncle and his family and hit the slopes first thing the next morning. After four hours of skiing, we stopped for lunch and I had a Shipyard Export Ale on draft at the Pistol Pub. After a few more hours, we broke again to the bar for a Samuel Adams Winter Lager before getting a few more runs in and calling it a day. Neither beer was particularly memorable, but the Shipyard was significantly more refreshing.

Back at the house I wondered why I was drinking a Redhook Mudslinger Spring Ale when there was two feet of snow on the ground. Then I knocked off a Redhook ESB (decent) and Redhook Blonde (boring) to finish off the variety pack. Five new beers in one day - a new blog record! (Note to my parents: The five beers were consumed over the course of eight hours. Please stop worrying.)

Beers Down: 48
Beers To Go: 317