Friday, December 30, 2005
It was a beer-tastic Christmas in Boston. I don't miss the place, but I do miss the brews.
Friday, we met some people for lunch at Cambridge Brewing Company. The food was more mediocre than I remembered, but the beers (the one I remember as Big Man Ale, and the Pale) were as good as I remembered. I seem to recall that Cambridge Brewco didn't used to be this good, but magically, when we returned from Germany in 2002, it was. Turns out one of the friends we were with knows the guy who did the beer stained glass.
Later, we had the time wrong for dinner at friends', so we killed time in Inman Square for a while. The new location of Bukowski's is qutie elegant, probably not what Bukowski himself would have wanted. We found it a bit frou-frou, and recoiled at their $5+ pint prices, but the Brooklyn Brown was good. Apparently they have some killer specials so it's all about timing.
We still had some time to kill so we went to an old favorite Irish pub we never got to visit often, The Druid. There, the pints were a more reasonable $4.25, and came with cheerful regulars and a chatty bartender. I wish I still had a local pub this good in my LA neighborhood.
We finished the night in Allston, first at the Sunset, where the beers can get truly wildly expensive but at that point, it's something rare/strong enough to be worth it. I had three beers: Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA (I think), Hoeegarden (hey, I was trying to slow down), and something at 9.0% ABV that, unsurprisingly, I don't remember. The after-drinking at 2am -- Allagash? something Belgian-esque and delicious, and the amusingly named Hooker brews -- at Robert's house didn't help! Good, good times. A little too good, as evinced by me waking up the next morning honestly wondering if I'd eaten my own brain. (It would have accounted for feeling both retarded and nauseous...)
Next entry, I'll strongly hint at which major food chain waters down its beer.
Friday, we met some people for lunch at Cambridge Brewing Company. The food was more mediocre than I remembered, but the beers (the one I remember as Big Man Ale, and the Pale) were as good as I remembered. I seem to recall that Cambridge Brewco didn't used to be this good, but magically, when we returned from Germany in 2002, it was. Turns out one of the friends we were with knows the guy who did the beer stained glass.
Later, we had the time wrong for dinner at friends', so we killed time in Inman Square for a while. The new location of Bukowski's is qutie elegant, probably not what Bukowski himself would have wanted. We found it a bit frou-frou, and recoiled at their $5+ pint prices, but the Brooklyn Brown was good. Apparently they have some killer specials so it's all about timing.
We still had some time to kill so we went to an old favorite Irish pub we never got to visit often, The Druid. There, the pints were a more reasonable $4.25, and came with cheerful regulars and a chatty bartender. I wish I still had a local pub this good in my LA neighborhood.
We finished the night in Allston, first at the Sunset, where the beers can get truly wildly expensive but at that point, it's something rare/strong enough to be worth it. I had three beers: Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA (I think), Hoeegarden (hey, I was trying to slow down), and something at 9.0% ABV that, unsurprisingly, I don't remember. The after-drinking at 2am -- Allagash? something Belgian-esque and delicious, and the amusingly named Hooker brews -- at Robert's house didn't help! Good, good times. A little too good, as evinced by me waking up the next morning honestly wondering if I'd eaten my own brain. (It would have accounted for feeling both retarded and nauseous...)
Next entry, I'll strongly hint at which major food chain waters down its beer.
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
99 bottles of beer on the wall
The kegerator is getting jealous, and the neighborhood homeless must be enjoying all the bottles in the alley. I am rendering the title of this blog false, because I've been good and drunk several times since my semester ended on Thursday (kids, if you think the teachers aren't getting as messed up as you are at the end of the year...)
It's a not-so-well-kept secret around here that Trader Joes brand beers are Gordon Biersch, which has never been spectacular beer but has also never been bad. For a few weeks now, we've been grooving on the cheap, yummy, and strong TJ/GB Winterfest bock. Yahoo! If I still lived somewhere cold, I'd be able to better justify the levels of buzz we've been laying on (keepin' warm in the winter, ya know...)
I also recently discovered some TJ's brew in a Belgian-type bottle. It said it was made in Canada...could it be? Yep, it's Unibroue, for a mere $4.99. Not the best Unibroue ever, but well worth it at that price. (Not worth buying a case of, as the cashier suggested when I returned and bought $20 worth, but still.)
A buddy from the homebrew club brought over some MacTarnahan's IPA, a classic British beer now brewed in Portland (mmm...Portland). It was later joined by a 12-pack of Dos Equis, nervously proffered by the half dozen college-aged Boyle Heights artists one of my former coworkers brought over. I assured them that it was up to my standards of drinkability, as was the Sierra Nevada they (not the driver) had rolled out of the big white party van already drinking. Good times, LA style.
I bought some more weird stuff today, and will report back. *burp*
The kegerator is getting jealous, and the neighborhood homeless must be enjoying all the bottles in the alley. I am rendering the title of this blog false, because I've been good and drunk several times since my semester ended on Thursday (kids, if you think the teachers aren't getting as messed up as you are at the end of the year...)
It's a not-so-well-kept secret around here that Trader Joes brand beers are Gordon Biersch, which has never been spectacular beer but has also never been bad. For a few weeks now, we've been grooving on the cheap, yummy, and strong TJ/GB Winterfest bock. Yahoo! If I still lived somewhere cold, I'd be able to better justify the levels of buzz we've been laying on (keepin' warm in the winter, ya know...)
I also recently discovered some TJ's brew in a Belgian-type bottle. It said it was made in Canada...could it be? Yep, it's Unibroue, for a mere $4.99. Not the best Unibroue ever, but well worth it at that price. (Not worth buying a case of, as the cashier suggested when I returned and bought $20 worth, but still.)
A buddy from the homebrew club brought over some MacTarnahan's IPA, a classic British beer now brewed in Portland (mmm...Portland). It was later joined by a 12-pack of Dos Equis, nervously proffered by the half dozen college-aged Boyle Heights artists one of my former coworkers brought over. I assured them that it was up to my standards of drinkability, as was the Sierra Nevada they (not the driver) had rolled out of the big white party van already drinking. Good times, LA style.
I bought some more weird stuff today, and will report back. *burp*
Thursday, December 01, 2005
Survey question for female beer drinkers (and the men who love them, I suppose)
I'm writing an article for the Southwest Brew News -- assigned to me by a female beer-loving editor, I might add -- about whether hops are a guy thing. In her experience, most hop lovers are men. (In my experience, most beer lovers are men, but that's another story).
So, if you're a chick who loves beer, or you know one, or you have some kind of semi-informed opinion:
1) Is it your experience that it's mostly guys who drink very hoppy beers?
2) If so, why do you think this might be?
Let me know whether you're willing to be quoted. Email (my three-letter first name)@brewingnews.com
I'm writing an article for the Southwest Brew News -- assigned to me by a female beer-loving editor, I might add -- about whether hops are a guy thing. In her experience, most hop lovers are men. (In my experience, most beer lovers are men, but that's another story).
So, if you're a chick who loves beer, or you know one, or you have some kind of semi-informed opinion:
1) Is it your experience that it's mostly guys who drink very hoppy beers?
2) If so, why do you think this might be?
Let me know whether you're willing to be quoted. Email (my three-letter first name)@brewingnews.com
