Spice Beer

Over the weekend, Laura and I picked up a bit of pumpkin spice - some weird spice jar that is supposed to taste like pumpkin pie or something like that. Naturally, when I saw this, I immediately wondered how I could apply it to beer. So when I got home, I coated the rim of one of my glasses with pumpkin, cinnamon and sugar, then poured a beer in it, and gave it a whirl.

Overall, it was okay. I think I would have benefited from a better beer choice. I used Freaktober (Magic Hat, I think). I have to say I wasn't too impressed with the beer itself, which may have made me unhappy with my contraption. Willing to try it again, but I'd say my first attempt wasn't so good.

Pumpkin Ale

Last weekend, I took a trip out to my local beer store (how awesome is it to live in a part of town where there's a beer store just five minutes down the road). It was coming up on the football draft and I figured I'd bring a twelve to the draft and get another to replenish my stock at home.

I pulled out a cart in front of the store and walked in. Immediately on the right are all the new seasonal beers. I grinned big - my favorite beers are finally coming in season. Oktoberfest and Pumpkin Ale. And sure enough, there were many to choose from. I picked up one of our good stand-by's, and then another of them, so I could bring some to the football draft. And then I proceeded to check out all the other Pumpkin Ales I could find. Once I made it the twenty feet past the front door, I started heading to the back of the store past all the wines in order to pick up some beer for the draft.

I looked in my cart.

I already had 36 beers.

Well, no stopping there! I didn't want to bring all those to the draft because they were beers I actually wanted to try. Had to head on and pick up a few more. I ended up with a six of Hex, a Magic Hat Oktoberfest, and a six of our stand-by, Jack's Pumpkin Spice Ale.



Well, I've been slowly trying out all the other brews I bought, and I have to say, so far I'm enjoying the Williamsburg Alewerks Pumpkin Ale the best. It's much more spicy than most pumpkin ales I have, so you can't drink too much of it, but it tastes exactly like pumpkin pie smells (I don't actually eat pumpkin pie, though after drinking this beer, I'm thinking I might start). I recommend giving it a try if you're in a part of the country that can get a hold of it.

The Flood: Part Twelve

So yesterday was the huge step - the carpet got installed. I got to run around downstairs with bare feet without worrying about stepping on nails or getting covered in dust. I started moving some of the things back downstairs, just to get the feeling like it's an actual house again. Now instead of the kitchen being the one place that felt like it was a real house, the kitchen is the place that needs the most work.

So while I had the two workers over yesterday afternoon, I asked them if they'd help me move the TV back into place once the carpet was set up. It's a massive thing, so I was glad for the assistance. It would have been days before I could get it done myself.

With the TV in place, I decided to bring down all the various boxes of entertainment I had - the Wii, the DVD player, the speakers, etc. When I took them all apart, I figured I wouldn't need to worry too much about marking which wires go where because hey, I did it once, surely I could figure it out again.

Except that for the life of me, I couldn't figure out which piece went where. The video in goes here, the left speaker out goes there? No, that's not right.

So I sat down on my couch (which is on a new carpet now - did I mention?), and stared at the whole thing a moment, trying to remember why it was so easy for me before. Then I realized - I was probably drinking a beer when I put it all together the first time. So I went to the fridge, popped an IPA, and sat back down on the couch to look over the equipment. Within a half a minute, I remembered how it all went back together.

There you have it, folks. Beer IS good for the mind. At least mine, evidently.

Next steps, I'll have to move Laura's hutch from her parents' place to our place, and then we're looking at heading out to IKEA this weekend to try to find a couple of pieces of furniture that we've wanted. Once that's done, it's just a matter of moving things back downstairs and figuring out what we're keeping, what we're selling, and what we're just trashing.

Isvekata!

Last night Laura and I were flipping through channels and happened upon a show called 'Three Sheets' on the Fine Living network. The show follows a guy as he travels from country to country and learns about the various forms of alcohol they have there, and their customs. We're kinda interested when we hear his next destination: Lithuania! The home-country of the Kelmelis clan! So of course we had to watch.

It was pretty fun - they have a liquor called 999 (three nines) that blends 27 different ingredients together to create a strong blend of vodka. For centuries, it was also used as a medicine to cure stomach ailments.

Later he visited a spot where they make a 50 proof mead and the guy who owns the place accepts regular arm-wrestling challenges from his patrons. He even has a full padded table set up where he'll fight person after person. Evidently he's the strongest man in town and has yet to loose a match. I should buff up and head out there... show him a thing or two.

But the most bizarre stop came when he started looking for the strongest mead in the country. He found it at another bar. I wish I could remember the name of it, but it's a 150 proof mead. He found a local band to drink it with and he was down before the band even seemed to notice. I guess they build up a tolerance for it or something.

He also took a tour through some of the religious aspects. Formerly being a pagan country, Lithuania had several different gods and goddesses people could pray to about beer, wine and liquor. They even had a stone out in the middle of the city that was dedicated to one of them. People head over there to drink and pour out some to the god for good luck and fortune.

Beer Madness

Every March, the Washington Post runs a Beer Madness event. They take a bunch of applicants, 32 different beers from around the world, and set up a tasting bracket. This year they've got 8 Lagars, 8 Pale Ales, 8 Freestyles, and 8 Dark Beers. I managed to snag the section of the paper from my mom's house. Next step: head over to Total Beverage and see how many they've got and how many I'll need to sub in other brews for.

Oh, as an aside, one of the people who was selected for the testing is a pastor for the church across the street from the Brickskeller. I remember a time when I left the Brickskeller with Joe and felt a little sick when we reached the car parked in front of the church across the street. Hope the pastor wasn't too mad at me the next morning.