WARNING: THIS IS NOT A RESOLUTION

I stopped making resolutions a long time ago because I don't really 'believe' in them. Changes can be made any time, on any day. If you really want to improve, it's something that you'll just start doing. The personal challenges to do and be better still come, but I try not to force it just because it's a certain day of the year. The early months of the year always make me feel hopeful, though - hints of spring start showing up around Denver, typically just before a large snow storm. The excitement of the changing seasons is energizing. The winter blues do their best to creep in, and I find myself looking for ways to improve - to do and be better than I was last year. There are a lot of things I plan to do and be better at in the future. Being a more mindful friend, truly getting my finances in order, learning Spanish, travel a little, maybe even blog or make fashion videos... Either way, Cheers to the New Year!

Swing-top obsession -

What is this? I googled "Moosebadier", which presented several articles about Moose and Badgers. That's not what I'm looking for! Anyhow, on my recent trip to the Liquor Barn I decided to just pick up some swing-top bottled beers for the tastin'. Yes, there is a Grolsch in there, too...

This beer was UH-MAZING. Clearly it's a wheat, that much we know. Whether it was made from the hairs of moose and badgers is yet to be determined. But if it was in fact made from moose and badger, I'm impressed.

The head on this beer was out of control. I still don't know enough about beer to know if it was the icy-cold temperature at which it was poured that caused this or what, but it took a solid five minutes to get this pour.

It had a great earthy wheat flavor, but also an incredible amount of sweet citrus. There was just a fantastic balance going on. As it warmed up it cleared a bit, but that is a beautiful hazy orange beer right there.

Dinner was homemade chicken noodle soup and havarti grilled cheese. I also felt like this paired well. I'm sure beeradvocate.com could tell us exactly what one might want to eat with this beer, but I'm going to say mild grilled cheeses are suitable.

....

Now, I've learned a lot about beer in the last few years, and I've even tried my hand at homebrewing... but I'm no expert and this is no blog to end all blogs about beers. But right now beers are what interest me, and beers are what I'm going to blog about. I would ABSOLUTELY love to hear comments from folks that have tried the beers I'm tasting, or might know more about the beers than I do... if this could be a way for me to learn something while maybe teaching someone else, that would please me to no end.

Treating myself to a new beer:

(Now, I'm no beer expert, but I'm going to give this a try. I know enough about tasty brews to tell you what a beer lover wants to know.)

*sidenote: I realize my blog is all over the place. I haven't posted a single item that I promised last month, and my most recent entry was poorly written. I will eventually figure out what I want to do (if anything) with my blog... but until then, enjoy the post of the moment... a beer review!!!


And now, on to the actual blog entry!
...
I recently received some very good news. I was told that my temporary job assignment would be transferred to a permanent position. I am extremely happy at my new company and very exicted to be a real live employee! It was cause for celebration... and what better way to celebrate good news than to try a new beer. I recently made it my mission to expand my beer pallate and step out of the sweet malty comfort of stouts, brown ales, and ambers. I've not ventured too far, although I'd never turn down a sour or belgian ale...

It has been quite a pleasant suprise to see that many craft beers are sold in a large single bottle, measuring 22 ounces. The pint-and-a-half-ish sized bottle of beer has always stuck in my mind as a means for young people to get a lot of Mickey's or Corona into their systems. My very first experience with beer was in the form of a large bottle of Mickey's, given to me by an older co-worker for my 17th birthday. That's the way we kept things exciting at the fast-food job: Underaged drinking and a lot of horseplay around open fryers.

On this particular beer-tasting occassion, I didn't stray too far from the norm... I had an American Bock Ale (Three Daughters, from Leieritz Brewing Company). The name of the beer struck my interest in the fact that it's called a Bock Ale. Bock beers are a type of lager, meaning they are fermented at colder temperatures and for longer amounts of time. An ale uses a completely different type of yeast, and ferments at a warmer temperature. Ales and Lagers are the two "parent styles" of beer. They just don't have the same parts, you know? This beer appeared from the name to be somewhat of an enigma.



Bocks are medium copper colored and tend to have little hop flavor. This beer certainly had a gorgeous copper color, and a nice head. The flavor was malty and smooth at first. The flavor finished with some dry bitterness.. which I'm guessing is where the ale characteristics come in. An interesting beer that I would probably enjoy with bratwursts cheeseburgers.

I noticed quite a few Rogue beers in the case on my last visit to the Liquor Barn (no really, it's a liquor store, shaped like a barn)... and I'll probably be trying one of the Rogue Ales next!

WEEKDAY WEENIES!!!

We dog-sat for Sean's parents recently, which means that our weenies parents and sister were over! They play pretty hard, so getting pics was pretty much only going to happen during nap time.

Falling Rock

Now, where were we? Hello? Does anyone come around here anymore? I wouldn't blame you if you didn't... I'm quite the lazy blogger.


ahhhh yes... GABF at Falling Rock!




As I promised... I'll tell you who this is. His name is Mark and he's the Director of Operations for New Belgium Brewery. He was friendly and smart, and talked with me at lenght about things he loves about New Belgium. It was truly an honor to have such a nice conversation with someone from the brewery.

New Belgium Brewery is located in Fort Collins, Colorado and has to be one of the most incredible companies around. They strive to be environmental stewards and take care of the land and environment that allows them to produce incredible beers. They have taken measure to reduce their carbon footprint, to treat their own waste water, and to use solar power. Read more here.


And why was Kelli being hugged to death?



Pratik is the gentleman above. He and his cousin Jay were sitting in a booth when Kelli and I arrived at the bar. I'll spare you the boring details, but I rochambeaued someone for the honor to share their booth. *side fact: getting a booth past 6:00pm on a Saturday night: nearly impossible. getting a booth past 6:00pm on a GABF Saturday night: incredibly impossible. Unless you know someone. Or know how to smooth your way into sharing.

So, now we are sharing a booth with Pratik and Jay, and being talking beer with them, as people at Falling Rock tend to do. Pratik decided that Kelli was very smart about beer and she's one of very few people that get that his name is "Pratik" and not "Patrick". (and I think maybe he took a fancy to her cuteness as well.)

And was was that exciting thing that happened? Well, do you want a build-up or do you want to just know?

I had La Folie Love beer. It was amazing. It made me see angels. It tasted like sugar-coated stars. Now to the details:

La Folie is a sour beer. Sour beers are ales that have used a specific type of yeast and are aged in wine barrels. The brewery took some La Folie, aged to magical perfection, and put it in to blueberry whiskey barrels for an additional aging.

So, here were at at Falling Rock, Chris is getting ready to introduce the special kegs they are about to tap, and I'm standing on our booth seat, waiting on baited breath.



Chris proceeds to tell us about the Love beer... that it's been aged in the Colorado-local blueberry whiskey barrel... and before he can set down that microphone, I've turned to our watier, Paul and said, "PAUL. PLEASE. La Folie and Love."

He brought our beers, and I didn't know if I should start tasting or continue taking pictures... but, for the sake of blog, I took a picture:



And then Kelli took a pic while I kissed my beers:



And while the beers kissed each other:



And then I had to taste it, and it was like a rollercoaster of wonderful... Sour and clean, it has a slight hint of vinegar. Then the blueberries hit your tongue and it's sweet and smooth, and at the end, the whiskey gives you that warming burn.

"Whhhooooaaaaa..... this beer is awesome...."



Keene then ordered a Love for himself, exclaiming, "This might be important."



ZHANG.

Falling Rock Tap House and the GABF

I didn't actually attend the Great American Beer festival, but I did attend a pretty sweet 'after party' at Falling Rock Tap House. The Great American Beer Festival takes place in the fall in Denver every year. Apparently it used to be a pretty classy event... nice commemorative glasses and fun times. The word is that now you get little plastic cups for your tasting, and the number of sheer drunk people has gotten humongous. I understand the plastic cups though, as the liability of hundreds of drunk people toting around glassware was probably just too much for GABF. I don't blame them... the liability of one drunk girlfriend with glassware is more than Sean's homeowners policy can handle.

This year GABF came a little earlier than usual and caught me by suprise. Falling Rock always has great events in the week leading up to the GABF. It was Thursday and GABF was in full swing before Kelli and I realized that we were missing Falling Rock parties.

Now, I've been meaning to check out a bunch of things on the internet:
O roadsideamerica.com for places to stop on me and Kelli's next roadtrip.
O Information on the proper documents for custody change of a teen. The best way to store dry pastas.
O A recipe using artichokes (which I really need to do before the artichokes go bad)...
O But the only real internet search I've done in weeks was finding out what kind of stuff was going on at Falling Rock. In case it's not been apparent through the course of my baby-aged blog, beer is a high priority for me. I'm not a drunk, I just think beer is freaking amazing. There's a great history and culture in the beer world.. a history and culture I could go on about all day.

But enough of this rambling on about my crush on beer. Let's get to the pictures!!

Falling Rock is located in the heart of LoDo, just a half block south of Coors Field. It's always a happenin' place on Saturday nights... but on a GABF Saturday night, it's actually chock full o'people that love beer. Not just drunk chicks that accidentally wander in when they get lost on their way to some club on Larimer Street. Look at all those beer geeks!!

Chris is one of the owners of the bar, and he's a super friendly guy. He's also SUPER SMART about beer and seems to love his job. When you spend your days around tons of great beers and have beautiful women asking to take pictures with you, consider yourself a winner. I'm pretty sure Chris does.




Really, doesn't that guy look like one happy dude?

I really could go on all day about this event and the fun I had and the people we met and the beers I drank, but I think this will have to suffice for the moment. I have quite the short attention span, so the actual act of creating a blog post can sometimes take me a while. It makes me wonder if I'm actually cut out for this blogging thing. Which, I have great stories, so I feel I'm a good candidate for blogging.. but wonder if maybe this is why some people have others write their memoirs. A friend with ADD will be with you through good times, help you find the fun times and, oh... have you seen my keys?

So without further adieu, I'm going to give you some teasers and get on with my other various tasks that I may or may not finish in any certain terms. I'll post another thread in the extremely near or possibly very cose future... You'll just have to wait and see if anything amazing happens later in the night (something does.)

You'll find out who this guy is:

Why Kelli is being hugged to death:




And what a beer named "Love" tastes like... (It's not as bitter as you'd imagine)

May 22? Really?

Apparently it was May 22 the last time I posted a blog entry. I warned everyone it would be a while, but I didn't realize just how long I'd be. I got busy, ok?

Luckily I'm back with a new camera, a more promising employment status, and more piss and vinegar than I thought possible.

Coming up:

Roller Derby and why I want to be a Roller Rebel
Retro Denver - Where I go to get my vintage on
DINER REVIEWS!! -Annie's -Pete's Kitchen - Pete's Cafe
An ode to my boyfriend
I like airplanes and birds - a look into my eight-year-old mind