Today was boring.
And rainy.
But the light at the end of the Monday tunnel is a special dinner and beer tasting with my honey over at Patrick’s tonight.
In the meantime, please enjoy a retro rewind that pays tribute to my mid-90s goth phase and also one of the greatest artists of all time:
Thank you and have a nice day.
Hoboy.
I have been consuming some good food and beer today…
Trader Joe’s cranberry maple nut granola with bananas, TJ’s almond butter and TJ’s lowfat Greek yogurt:
RUBEN from an awesome local deli, Mid Day (hey, at least I went with the Baked Lays):
Three Floyd’s Beer Tasting at Patrick’s Kitchen:
Okay, I didn’t drink ALL of those beers — I drank one sip(ish) from each bottle, and each was delicious and special in it’s own way.
Here they are, from left to right (all from Three Floyd’s Brewery in Munster, IN):
Gumball Head
Alpha King
Robert the Bruce
Pride & Joy
Fantabulous Resplendence
Broo Doo
Black Heart
Dreadnaught
Oat Goop
Behemoth
Apocalypse Cow
Sorry — I’m feeling lazy tonight and I don’t want to go to the trouble of telling you about each beer, but if you like beer even a little bit, check out 3 Floyds on Beer Advocate. Their Dreadnaught is perhaps one of the best beers on earth.
Luckily, I burned off ALL of those calories and more with a horrible snowy trail run. Seriously, I wanted to die. We didn’t so much run ON snow as we did THROUGH snow. Sometimes a little bit of snow was packed down by the cross country SKIERS that generally use these trails during the winter time, but a lot of it was two and three and four inches deep, if we were lucky. It was like running in sand.
In a way it was beautiful. The sun was shining. The snow and ice were glistening out on the reservoir and the forest was still and quiet and heavy with a fresh layer of powder….except that I was running in it.
I can’t WAIT to find out how I’m going to feel tomorrow…
Yo! Happy Friday –
Yowza. Soooo full. I’ve had some great beer and food over the last two days but I can’t live like this! You’d think from reading this blog that I probably weigh 300 lbs. Okay, I don’t…yet. But I will if I keep this up. Following is a photo journal of all the calories I’ll be running off tomorrow…
Last night was another great Beer Geek Night at Pat’s – we tasted four of the Stone Brewing Anniversary beers – the 7th (made in 2003), 8th, 9th and 11th; then to keep it in the family, Tom also brought Stone’s Ruination, Double Bastard and another 06.06.06 Vertical Epic that we didn’t quite get around to.
Man, these beer’s were sooo good. I think the 8th Anniversary was my favorite, but I get them mixed up. These beers had so much flavor and complexity – it just kills me to think I spent all of my college years drinking Keystone in a can when I could have been drinking stuff like this (Okay, I wouldn’t have been able to afford it, but still…)
Everybody loves Patrick – his happiness is truly contagious!
And, yes, we all wore name tags because that’s how we roll.
And, this is a blurb from Stone about their Double Arrogant Bastard – it’s hysterical:
We also had this friggin’ awesome spinache-artichoke torta that was to.die.for. Seriously. The wee bit of discomfort I get from lactose (read: explosive diarrhea) was so worth it. This stuff is divine!
Then this morning I did an experiment in breakfast and played with my camera. Yeah. I seriously haven’t found anything that’s not good with Nutella. Once, my husband asked me if I’d ever considered dipping a banana in Nutella (he sometimes gets this look on his face that usually means he’s already done something and now he’s trying to get a feel for what my reaction will be). My reply was, “uh, yeah!” Is there any other WAY?
I did some grocery shopping on my lunch break and picked up a chicken wrap from Trader Joe’s, along with some goat cheese and…maple leaf cookies. Oh, bliss. I can’t even describe to you how good they are but you need to rush out and get some, like right now. They are the best cookies ever.
The wrap…meh, it was just okay. Not really that flavorful. I usually go nuts over everything I buy from TJs so it just kinda fell flat for me. The peanut sauce that came with it helped.
Then tonight I made some awesome fish tacos –
– two different kinds. They both had tilapia marinated and seasoned with jalapenos, garlic, olive oil and paprika; the one on the left had a slaw made with cabbage, red onion, mayo and greek yogurt. The guy on the right has goat cheese and the six-bean medley from TJs. Good stuff. The slaw taco was the better one in my opinion.
And I also had a little taste of this bad boy – Brew Dog’s Hardcore IPA. Went great with the tacos.
And now I’m off to bed so I can get up super early and run before doing volunteer stuff and then stopping by a Pampered Chef Party. I was hesitant to attend because it sounds too much like a tupperware party and that would just make me feel old and domesticated, but I’m told there will be booze, so I’m game.
Nighty night!
“You know, the day you open a ’61 Cheval Blanc, that’s the special occasion.” -Sideways (2004)
So, it wasn’t a ’61 Cheval Blanc, but then again we’re not wine snobs either…
Tom broke out five Stone Vertical Epics last night for a small group of loyal beer geeks at Patrick’s. He said he’d been saving them for a special occasion, which reminded me of the line from Sideways. Lesson: when you open a bottle of beer that was conceived on April 4, 2004 and has never seen the light of day, it’s a special occasion.
Each bottle-conditioned ale is released (for a limited time) one year, one month and one day from the previous year’s edition and are designed to be aged until sometime after December 12th, 2012. (They are meant to be enjoyed in a “vertical” tasting, according to the Web site.)
Tom had the 04.04.04, 05.05.05, 06.06.06, 07.07.07 and the 09.09.09. (If anyone has an 08.08.08, call me!)
A heated discussion…
Bob and Tom…
Craig, home brewer extraordinaire…
Rita Kohn, senior writer for Nuvo. (Patrick calls her a beer goddess…she really knows her stuff.)
Great time, good conversation, outstanding beer. If you’re putzing around Zionsville next Thursday, you should stop by.
Next week: Stone Anniversary beers.
(And tomorrow: a loooong run!)
The Dreadnaught is back on tap at Patricks!
Those who know about the mighty Dreadnaught understand that this is a Very Big Deal.
Dreadnaught comes from the Three Floyd’s Brewery in Munster, Indiana and Patricks is lucky -and hip- enough to have it on tap…no other bar in Indy has it.
In addition to this rare treat, I also got to meet Hans, who let us sample a couple of beers from his own private stash:
Cherry Lambic – first sour beer I’ve ever had. It was…interesting. I have never been a fan of “flavory” beers, but this one was so unique to my taste buds that I actually enjoyed the fruitiness. A few sips was just enough though – not something I’d sit and drink all night…
Also sampled Péché Mortel, a very dark, frothy, coffee-like beer that made for a nice contrast to the mighty Dread – the opposites definitely attracted. Never big on porters/stouts but I really liked this one. Again – little sips; this is not a chugging beer. (But if a beer is chuggable, is it even worth drinking??)
Sorry for the crummy photos – the mood lighting combined with my crappy camera didn’t make for great pictures!
And now here’s a discussion topic for you: why are there fantastic inexpensive wines, but you still have to pay an arm and a leg for a good craft beer? Talk amongst yourselves…
Cheaper Than Therapy 