Balancing Act

This weekend seemed to become all about balancing the responsibilities that I understand should come with adulthood while doing things that are actually fun. I did productive adult things like go to the bank, do yoga, and watch Aaron file our taxes. I also did awesome things like watch football, shoot aliens with rocket launchers, and drink twelve new beers.

Friday I got promoted at work. Yay! I wrangled up a ragtag group of about a dozen coworkers and their partners for beers and half price food (because I do still work at a non-profit after all) at Grendel's Den. I tried to mix it up and drink a variety of beer styles, and ended up with four pretty solid brews. First and best beer of the night was the supper hopped and super tasty Avery DuganA IPA. Paulaner Hefe-Weisbier Naturtub and Left Hand Milk Stout followed and the cleverly named Blue Point Hoptical Illusion finished out the evening.

Breakfast of champions.

The next morning, feeling pretty proud of myself for finally committing to opening a joint bank account with my husband of nearly three years, I decided brunch was deserved. What followed is probably what my last meal would look like. I had biscuits and gravy with two fried eggs, paired with a Jolly Pumpkin Maracaibo Especial. Described on the menu as a "Belgian style dark ale brewed with wild yeast, cacao beans, cinnamon and orange peel," this beer was tart, spicy and kind of funky (in the good way). A good choice for brunch.

I want to be these guys
when I grow up.

The rest of the weekend brought not one, but two of my most favorite local beers. But first it brought a Widmer Drifter Pale Ale, easily the most fruity pale ale I've ever tasted. Is it supposed to taste like grapefruit? Oh well. Most favorite local beer number one was Smuttynose IPA. Aside from being a world-class IPA that happens to be brewed in my home state, this beer has the distinction of having my all time favorite bottle design. Sunday I bought myself a six-pack of most favorite local beer number two, Ipswich Original Ale. This beer is everything that an ale should be. Period.

Aaron scored a mixed 12-pack of Peak Organic beers for only $9.99, so Peak Organic Summer Session, Nut Brown Ale, Pale Ale, and IPA became beer numbers 36 through 39. The hippie in me really wants to love an organic beer, but everything I've had from Peak has been wholly underwhelming. I'm sure it didn't help that the awesomely priced beer was three months past the best by date. So much for that fiscally responsible decision.

Beers Down: 39
Beers To Go: 326

Taco Night

Photo shamelessly stolen
from BA's twitter feed.

Just got home from attending my first ever BeerAdvocate event, Todd's Taco Night at Green Street in Central Square. This was not your mother's taco night. This taco night paired a tamarind braised pork belly taco with pickled jalapenos and carrots with Founders Nemesis 2009 for just $3.99. It doesn't get any better than that. The taco was tasty enough but the beer was really interesting. It's a 12% wheat wine (my first beer in this style) aged in oak bourbon barrels that had previously been used in making maple syrup. The end result is as you might expect: big, sweet and boozy. It was a sipper and I was happy to stop at just one (although I may have worked up the nerve to talk to the BeerAdvocate guys if I hadn't).

Working backwards, yesterday I drank an Anderson Valley Poleeko Gold Pale Ale, a very solid and drinkable ale with just enough hop character to hold its own against the gigantic bowl of extra spicy pho that was my dinner.

Dead Guy!

The week was kicked off Monday at Grendel's Den in Harvard Square, which automatically became my new favorite place by virtue of offering half-off all food from 5-7:30pm every day. I ordered a Great Divide Titan IPA, took my first sip and tasted... apricot? Definitely apricot. This was unmistakably Magic Hat #9 making a surprise appearance as the 24th beer on my list. I drank it, partly because I'm painfully non confrontational and partly because I actually don't hate this beer, even though I know I should.

Not really wanting another surprise, I stuck to the bottle list for my next pick, and went with a Rogue Dead Guy Ale. This was one of the first beers I ever ordered, mostly because I liked the name, and it's still a favorite (plus I still like the name).

We moseyed across the square to Finale for dessert, where I ordered a glass of port and realized I was drinking my first non-beer alcoholic beverage of the year. It was tasty. Maybe I should take some good advice and blog about discovering wine next year.

Beers Down: 27
Beers To Go: 338

By the way, I'm currently on pace for 518 1/2 beers this year. I could be done with this thing by September...

Snow Daze

The snow came down, and that apparently made for plenty of opportunities to drink. It's been a big week, with ten new beers to the list in five days. I'm not yet sure how I'm going to tackle writing about all of them, so when in doubt, start from the beginning.

The anticipation of snow and a day off from work suddenly freed up my Tuesday night for beer drinking. We made a trip to Plough and Stars in Central Square, Cambridge I drank two beers here, Butternuts Pork Slap Ale and Cisco Whale's Tale Pale Ale. Previously, the selling point of these beers had been that they're both sold in cans at my local liquor store. I guess they just lost some of the appeal on draft. 

On the way home from the bar, I swung by the closest liquor store and picked up a six pack of beer with a mermaid on it, Cisco Grey Lady Ale, for the next day. I'm not sure why this is called an ale when it's obviously a Witbeer. It would have probably been better suited for a day at the beach than a snow day, but I guess that's what I get for picking beer based on its bottle art.

Try not to be distracted by how awesome our knife block is.

Back to the grind on Thursday, group of co-workers decided that feeling like it was a Monday and a Thursday was an event worth drinking to (can't argue with that logic), so we ventured The Lower Depths in Kenmore Square, where they specialize in beer, tater tots, hot dogs, and happiness. First beer up was Boulder Flashback Ale, a pretty solid brown ale with nice hop character. After lamenting over the beer list for far too long, I asked the waitress to surprise me and she brought Southern Tier Phin & Matt's Extraordinary Ale, which didn't live up to its name.

Friday brought three more beers, starting with two personal favorites: Stone Arrogant Bastard (because you are what you drink) and Ipswich IPA. Third beer of the night was Belhaven Scottish Ale, which I found to be borderline undrinkable. I knocked off four more beers on Saturday, starting by finally getting my Sierra Nevada Celebration. Next up was Otter Creek Alpine Black IPA, then a Samuel Adams Boston Lager. Last and very much least, beer number twenty three for the year was a Bud Light. It was only a matter of time before a light beer snuck its way into this blog.


Beers Down: 23
Beers To Go: 342

First Draft

Before we get on to the beer, I want to express my thanks to everyone who expressed their support after my first post. Your compliments and expectations of humor make me nervous, but I'm going to work through it.

Last Friday finally brought the opportunity to add some draft beer to this list with an after work trip to the Common Ground in L.A. (that's Lower Allston, for those fortunate enough to not be hip to the Boston college scene) with my dear friend and enabler Sam Charm. Sierra Nevada Celebration was on the draft list and I thought, "I'll celebrate the first draft of '11 with a Celebration; it'll be a great gimmick for the blog!"

Of course, they were out. But you still get an idea of how great it could have been.

First draft of 2011: Not a Celebration.

After unsuccessfully trying to solicit a recommendation from a bartender who told me that he chose every beer on the list himself and therefore they're all good (so what's Miller Lite doing here?), I started with a Port Brewing Wipeout IPA. This west coast style IPA is surprisingly drinkable. I would have happily had a few more of these if I weren't on a mission.

I remember thinking the second beer of the outing, Grand Teton Bitch Creek ESB, was pretty good, but sandwiched between two stronger beers, nothing about it sticks in my memory as particularly exceptional. Note to self: start recording notes to self when drinking multiple beers.

Old standby Allagash White rounded out the night.  There's not much to say about this beer that hasn't been said before. It's a classic.

No new brews over the weekend, but I have been finishing up six packs of beers previously mentioned (lest you think I wasn't drinking beer). Tentative plan is to hit the liquor store tomorrow in preparation for the impending nor'easter and hope to get snowed in.

Beers Down: 11
Beers To Go: 354

Happy New Year?

2011 isn't quite off with the bang I was hoping for. A sleepless week has made the most basic of life's tasks seem overwhelming and the normally overwhelming tasks impossible. So six days into the new year my motivation to start a blog seemed to be decreasing as rapidly as my desire to drink beer was increasing. But motivated by the knowledge that the more I drank, the longer that first blog post would have to be (and the less likely it was to ever happen), I decided it was time to get things going.

So here goes.

In an odd twist of fate, my year of beer began at the mercy of my grandmother's fridge. First beer of the year was Ballantine XXX Ale. Any excitement I had to start the year with a beer I hadn't tried before was immediately negated by intense skepticism of any beer that comes in a green bottle. While it was better than I expected, I was a little bit bummed that this was how I was going to start my year. That is, until my cousin made the connection between the Ballantine label and the symbols on Led Zeppelin's 4th album. Apparently Ballantine was John Bonham's beverage of choice. Cool. After a brief argument with my grandmother's husband about whether or not this is the best beer ever (I was in the "not the best beer ever" camp, if you were wondering),  I decided that this was on okay way to start my year after all, if only for story value.

Out of the same fridge, beers two and three were Stella Artois and Blue Moon Belgian White, two forgettable beers that people seem to love. (Why?)

Things got better the next day, with my own fridge at my disposal. Beer number four was a Great Divide Hibernation Ale. Big and malty with a nice balance of hops and tones of chocolate and coffee, this beer brings a lot of flavor. This was a stark contrast to when malts go wrong with next day's beer, Blue Moon Winter Abbey Ale, which was just overwhelmingly sweet. Seriously, who puts caramel AND toffee in a beer?

Still something was missing. I love hops and 2011 needed them. Badly. Three days into the new year, Bear Republic Racer 5 delivered. The next day, Dogfish Head Burton Baton Imperial IPA brought things to a new level with flavors of hops, citrus, oak... and 10% ABV. The folks at Dogfish are beer geniuses, and I expect this won't be the last we hear of them in this blog.

Today, Green Flash West Coast IPA brings us to beer number eight. This is one of my all time favorites. It's super hoppy and delicious, and just might have given me enough motivation to get this blog off the ground.

Beers Down: 8
Beers To Go: 357