west coast adventures: beer

My mom and I ate, drank, walked, drove, and boated our way from San Francisco to Victoria, British Columbia. The mission was to not have one. Accomplished with joy and relaxation.

Somebody forgot to pack summer so we found fall out west. Within an hour of arriving in San Fran, we found ourselves in jackets sipping Anchor Steams and slurping chowders. It sure was nice to drink this old standby of a beer in it's hometown.

(8/100)

Most of the beer that we drank was consumed, appropriately, in Portland, Oregon. We drank some very nice local beer at the LaurelThirst while listening to some bluegrass with my dear, Cindy. Unfortunately, the good beer escapes my mind because we followed them with tallboys of Hamm's (9/100). Happily predictable, Hamm's.

We toured all over Portland and Sauvie Island with one of my oldest friends, who goes by Caroline but I know as Carrie. To sustain us on our island travels, we got some Beer Chips and Henry Weinhard's Root Beer (10/100). The root beer was amazing - just what I want real-deal root beer to taste like. Carrie cautioned me against the alcohol-containing Weinhard beers. I didn't drink any cuz I trust my friend.

I trust her because she's got good taste. Carrie took us to Pambiche, a Cuban restaurant, for dinner. I washed down my Ajiaco, a delicious stew, with their Michelada Cubana (11/100). As advertised, it was "an ice cold Dos XX Amber beer prepared with special spices, fresh lime and clamato juice served on the rocks with salt." It packed a bit more citrus-y punch than I wanted, but started me on a Michelada kick that's sure to last all summer.

The last beer I had was at the Bard and Banker, a Scottish pub in Victoria. The inside of this place is quite fetching. I'd love to reserve one of their snugs for a session. After a morning of shopping and touristing in the sunshine, the pint of Vancouver Island Brewery's Sea Dog Amber (12/100 ) with a side sit in the cool was a real winner.

first bike ride downtown

I drank some Bushmill's with a few ice cubes and decided to, as Nike once advised, just do it. On the way, the tires spun liquid courage, liquid courage, liquid courage.

Rewarded:




6/100

anticipation

Just last week, we had some of the first days of real spring. In the evening, I could kick-back with my feet up on the porch, sipping a tasty brew. Fat Tire's malty, caramelly goodness sits well with the shitty-pretty view from the deck of alleyways and, if you look hard to the left, the whatcha-talkin-'bout-Willis tower. On the porch, my mind and mouth are free to wonder beyond the sometimes strangling realm of social policy.

Once I finish school, I swear I won't spend all my time relaxing on the porch singing the praises familiar beers and letting my mind get flabby. Nay! I will challenge myself with the discipline of continuing education. I will learn about bitters and vermouths and liqueurs. Like a fool, I have overlooked these quiet sidekicks of classic cocktails. I too firmly fawned over the seeming heroes of these drinks - your whiskeys and gins. Yes, these get you drunk but that's reductive. What makes classics classic are the roundness and depths of these pack-a-punch drinks. Thank you, Longman and Eagle, for reminding me and letting me revel in your Vieux Carré, an earthy mix of Old Overholt rye, punt e mes, Landy cognac, Bénédictine, and aromatic bitters.

kindred

Two sets of dear friends visited in January. Visited Chicago in January. Clearly, I am loved.

Eben and I are truly at our best together on a porch, beers in hand, music playing, and time stopped or spread. Alas, the Adirondack chairs are yet to be purchased and snow's all that sittin on the porch. So when Eben and Anna visited, I had to plan some indoor activities. Many of them involved beer including a tour of Half Acre Brewery.

Half Acre's brewery tour was free yet they still pumped us full of free beer. Amazing, tasty, complex free beers. The kind of beers that you wouldn't want to have as an everyday beer but you would because the Half Acre folks are so knowledgeable and charming. The beautiful foamy head on this hoppy afternoon was that Half Acre doesn't want to expand. They don't want to get big. They don't want you to drink their beer everyday. Hallelujah.

i'm a fan

I love to root root root for the home team. In any sport really. Man, living in a city with 5 professional sports teams is awesome. Especially when you can score some free tickets to a game thereby off-setting the cost of the $7.50 Heinekens.

a-muse-ing

I'm not sure that I've ever been inspired to create art by beer, but I am quite fond of PBR. I wish I had an artsy bent so I could win a year of free beer.

Pizza and Beer Pt. 3

For the latest Chicago-style pizza and beer tasting, we went to Pequod's. The mascot for the restaurant is a whale standing on its hindfins, one hand-fin on hip, mouth tugged down in a slightly peeved expression. He also looks looks like he might be wearing panties on his head. Perhaps that's why he's peeved. Maybe he's quietly judging the customers for not having read Moby Dick. In any event, the pizza the whale oversees (overseas?) is mighty tasty - buttery blackened carmelized crust, cheesey saucy deliciousness.

Great Lakes Brewing Company's Dortmunder Gold Lager coupled with the pizza well in its light Pilsner-y-ness. And in that there's fictional character of the same name in some books I have never read.

lesson 1 for the upcoming festival season

Two Miller Lights is not sufficient alcohol intake to deal with a bouquet of college kids budding in a beer garden.

combinations and divisions

Coincidentally, the day I bought tickets to see Vetiver, Marcus's co-worker recommended a place with amazing steak tacos that was right around the corner from the venue. Vetiver & awesome tacos? Plans made.




It turns out there are actually three locations of La Pasadita within 50 feet of each other which is confusing. Which is the best? What caused the break-up? Family feud? Should we get one taco from all three? We picked the closest one and got a bag fulla carne asada tacos for take-out since there was limited seating. We walked down the street to Rite Liquors which is a bar/liquor store with a big, neon cocktail lounge sign and divey feel. It's the kinda place where the guy beggin for change outside eventually wanders in and has a drink and the bar staff is sweet as schnapps.


Bellied up to the bar, chowin on tacos, and sipping Dos Equis, it felt like drinking in a combination ABC store and my dad's (or perhaps your vaguely creepy uncle's) house. You know, in the good way.



Vetiver played at Chopin, a beautiful theater space in with an Eastern European leaning. While I'm not much of a thee-ah-tah goer (except for of the cheesey musical kind), I would go back to see one of the plays just so I could sit in the space and enjoy another one of the beers they stock in the cafe. I liked the Warka I tried which advertised both a "unique taste beer" and a tribute to Polish revolutionary Kazimierz Pulaski on the label.


Perhaps for our next outing we'll get banh mi, drink Caipirinha, and fly a kite by the lake. Ah, yes, it's all coming together.

leather and lace

It's all connected you know. The Thermals played at the Bottom Lounge. When we got there, I ordered a Two-Hearted Ale, a hoppy delicious beer that reminded Marcus of his friend Chris. When Chris drinks Two-Hearted Ale, he sings Neutral Milk Hotel's "Two-Headed Boy" along with the name. When I walked in to see The Thermals, I thought of Portland which made me think of Emily and Cindy and Aaron and Carrie. Then as the band started rocking, I reminisced sitting in Andrew's car and hearing this band. I could go on and on...

Beer and Pizza: Pt. 2

I'm anticipating summertime with my mouth watering for heirloom-tomato-and-basil-with-garlic-rubbed-bread sandwiches. After becoming convinced that it doesn't actually get warm and sunny in Chicago, I semi-satiated my longings with Oberon, Bell's light seasonal wheat beer, and pesto, sausage, and spinach pizza covered in a thick tomato sauce. Caffe Florian's cozy, dark wood charms and thick and crispy not doughy pizza crust almost make it ok that I'm not lake beaching and BBQ-ing.

happy hour

At a faux pub, I ordered a decent but fairly boring beer for an afterwork gathering. Both beer and event exceded expectations. Perhaps influencing each other?

am so am grateful for - april 10, 2009

Poets of triple fermentation.

Poets of 70's songstress obscurity & fame.

Poets of words.

tourists/townies - april 9, 2009

Like many Chicago tourists, Marcus and I took advantage of Thursday evening free admission to the Art Institute. We got cultured, but didn't belabor the process by seeing everything or staring meaningfully at pieces that held no interest. It turns out that I'm excellent at naming the nameless "Untitled" pieces.

Like many Chicago tourists, we followed-up our art outing with Chicago-style pizza. I'm making it one of my missions to find beer-and-pizza masterpieces.




Pizza: Giordano's Famous Stuffed Pizza - special sans 'shrooms. Okey dokey.

Beer of choice: Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat. I'm a fan of this simple everyday beer.