Operation Monthly

Vegetarian Month

2010-07-01T10:07:00.000-07:00

Vegetarian Month made me so weak I wasn't able to post to the blog. OK, it wasn't really that bad...I've just been busy, and still catching up on Disney Month posts, and...solar flairs. So to sum of this latest OpMo month of fun Stephanie and I didn't eat meat for the entire month of June, except for one little slip up. It was a challenging month, but not without rewards and new discoveries.

Vegetarian Month wasn't too bad when we ate at home. We were able to stock up non-meat foods we enjoy and some fake meat products to substitute. The more challenging part was eating at restaurants, events, and meals at other peoples' houses. The worst was a wedding we attended. They had some delicious looking steak and chicken, but the non-meat offerings were a little slim. I'm not crazy about Caesar salad so I didn't get much to eat. Some restaurants are nearly impossible to eat vegetarian at, although we mostly managed to avoid those.

The positive side of this was that it forced us to try some new food that we wouldn't have otherwise tried. I didn't find any fake meat I liked but I had some great vegetable, pasta, and fruit dishes. We learned that marinated mozzarella makes any pasta better and that even though I still don't like bell peppers enough to eat one on its own I now accept that they have their place in adding flavor to a dish. On the fake meat front it ranged from terrible to edible. The best was the rice burgers we picked up at S&S, and the worst was the boca burgers. There isn't enough BBQ sauce in the world to cover the wet sock flavor of a boca burger. Tofu is edible, but even if its cooked well I prefer chicken.

The other big benefit to Vegetarian Month has been the fantastic BMs. I think that's why vegetarians always seem happy. Now if only they weren't so smug. I didn't notice any other health changes. I didn't lose or gain any weight and my energy level was about the same.

Now that Vegetarian Month is over we'll return to eating meat, but we'll be having meals without meat much more often than before. Tonight Stephanie and I are going on a meat date to celebrate the end of Vegetarian Month. I'll be eating the largest steak that Sierra Nevada makes and loving every bite.

Homicidal Maniac Ravages Innocent Clam Family

2010-06-28T13:23:00.000-07:00

It a horrific display of carnivorous zeal a woman devoured an entire family of clams at a Red Lobster restaurant in Chico California. Witnesses at the scene of the crime were shocked at the brutality of the woman as she ate what she reportedly dubbed "clam chowder." The alleged crime involved chopping up a Daddy clam, a Mommy clam, a little boy clam, and a baby girl clam into small pieces. The remains of the victims were then dunked into scalding hot liquids before being eaten.

"There was a lot of snorting and squealing and she had a crazed look in her eye, kinda like that Charles Manson guy," described a Red Lobster employee. Authorities have asked that anyone fitting the description of the alleged killer be immediately reported. They warned that the suspect is likely armed with a butcher knife and soup spoon and could be very dangerous. "Do not approach her, we don't know who she will lash out at next. Just keep a safe distance and call 911," cautioned Police Chief Maloney.

Disneyland!

2010-06-22T09:30:00.000-07:00

Without a doubt the highlight of Disney Month was a trip to Disneyland. Stephanie and I had a lot of fun with with my parents and Jen & Karen. We had a three day pass for Disneyland and the new-to-me California Adventures with a day of travel on each end. Even with three full days in the parks we didn't come close to getting to everything, but we hit most of the big stuff. Unlike Stephanie I've been to Disneyland a few times before, but we found some stuff that I hadn't experienced on previous visits.

Day one was spent in Disneyland and we made it to a bunch of the classic rides: Pirates of the Caribbean, Indiana Jones, The Haunted Mansion, The Matterhorn, Space Mountain, Captain EO, and Star Tours. Pirates is the same old fun ride with the addition of a few Jack Sparrows. The addition of Jack didn't hurt the ride, although I couldn't work out why pirates were trying to capture him from the Spaniards in the big scene with the pirate ship and fortress. Indiana Jones was the big new ride last time I was in Disneyland and it is still really great. Haunted Mansion and Matterhorn were just as I remembered and as fun as always. Space Mountain is still awesome. The darkness and simulated star scape add a lot to this roller coaster and makes it one of my favorite rides at any amusement park. Captain EO is the original 3-D film that they brought back to make a buck off Michael Jackson's death with the addition of some 4-D effects that were added to the theater for Honey I Shrunk the Audience. The 4-D effects mostly consisted of the seats bouncing around to the music. I found the bouncing annoying and didn't think it added much to the show. Captain EO is definitely showing its age, but I couldn't help feel some nostalgia and almost bought a shirt on the way out. Star Tours is scheduled for a renovation and I'm glad I got to ride the original one more time. It was great hit all these rides in one morning with the short lines afforded by the off season and some cloudy weather. The lines were so short there wasn't much need for Fast Pass, which is new since my last visit.

Downtown Disney is also new to me. It's a series of stores and restaurants sandwiched between the parks and the Disney hotels. They must have decided that the parks were commercialized enough so they had to come up with a place to separate visitors from their remaining money. It was convenient to have someplace so close by with nice long hours, even if everything was overpriced and didn't quite have the Disney magic that Disneyland does.

Speaking of lost magic, we spent part of days two and three in California Adventures. There are some world-class rides like Soarin' Over California, Tower of Terror, and California Screamin' but there was a distinct lack of the Disney magic that is liberally spread about Disneyland proper. I really didn't enjoy the whole Paradise Pier section of California Adventures. They've tried to recreate the classic beach boardwalk feel of places like Santa Cruz. Maybe its because I've lived my whole life in California but if I want beach boardwalk I'll go to a real beach boardwalk. The carnival style rides in this section just made me nauseous.

I appreciate the variety of Downtown Disney and California Adventures and I really appreciate the booze (Disneyland proper is totally dry), but the whole time I was in either location I just wanted to run back to Disneyland. I feel like I should be concerned that I've turned into such a sentimental turd that I would pass up the thrills of a great roller coaster in favor of strolling down Main Street Disneyland, but I think I'm OK with it.

On day two we had dinner at Blue Bayou, the restaurant inside Pirates of the Caribbean. The dark atmosphere was exactly how I imagine an evening in New Orleans. Granted, this vision is mostly based on depictions from movies and purposely ignores hurricanes and oil spills (fuck you BP). The food and service were good, and the long meal provided some needed relaxation. I would recommend Blue Bayou, but be sure make reservations; they were turning people away even though the park wasn't very busy.

Day three brought some sunshine and larger but not unmanageable crowds. After getting Stephanie her Disney Princess photo-op fix we rode Grizzly River Run in California Adventures. Then we headed back to Disneyland to ride Indiana Jones a couple more times and go on a couple of the rides we missed like Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and the obligatory It's a Small World.

Even though we spent about twelve hours a day for three days in the two parks, and even though Splash Mountain was closed and none of evening shows like Fantasmic or the new World of Color were running we didn't manage to get to everything available. We realized this on the third day but I think we were all content with the trip, and we had a great time experiencing Disneyland together.

Mission 3: Vegetarian - Day 3

2010-06-17T10:46:00.000-07:00

As usual my first meal of the day was lunch. I don't know why I have this aversion to eating breakfast. I love breakfast food. I eat breakfast on the weekends. I think maybe it's the fact that I would rather sleep in than eat breakfast. I would rather sleep in than do most things in the morning, especially during the work week.

We had lunch at Uppercrust Bakery. This place is amazing. Our wedding cakes were made there. Most of my friends have had their wedding cakes made there, come to think of it. Anyway, they have a great lunch menu and a huge selection of salads to go along side your meal. I had the grilled cheese and a french herb potato salad. This was no ordinary grilled cheese, just thinking about it makes me hungry again. This was two thick slabs of focaccia with lots of cheese between them. What makes this grilled cheese special is the cheese crust. Prior to grilling the focaccia is coated in chevre cheese, it turns into a delicious cheese crust completely surrounding the sandwich! AMAZING! The potato salad was delicious, although the potatoes were cut so large it was a little difficult to maneuver in the small bowl. I could probably eat that lunch everyday. It was delicious. But as with most things, I paid a price for the deliciousness. Well my wallet did anyway. Uppercrust, like most downtown restaurants, is expensive. Tasty, but expensive. I would say it is worth the splurge.

Dinner was, as it usually is during the week, a rush. I was tired and stressed so I talked Keith into taking me to El Patron. El Patron is a favorite of mine. Their carnitas are out of this world. All of their food is really good actually. I had a bean, rice and cheese burrito. It was more than enough food to feed me. My only wish was that I would have chosen black beans. I didn't make any choice at all, I just ordered and re-fried was the default. I prefer whole beans in my food in general. I am not a huge fan of re-fried beans. Especially not from a can. If I am going to eat them I want them freshly made by someones abuelita, and full of lard. That is the only acceptable way. Even though I forgot to specify I was still happy with my meal. The chips and salsa and nacho cheese made things nice too. My customary side of sour cream was big help as well. I love sour cream. I think it might be my favorite condiment. I put it on almost everything.

Mission 3: Vegetarian - Day 2

2010-06-15T22:50:00.000-07:00

Day two of vegetarian month went pretty well. My meat cravings are still at a level six. They started out at a level six so I would say that's a positive. I still think about bacon a lot.

I almost never eat breakfast so my first meal of the day is lunch. We went to Johnnies for lunch. Johnnies is the restaurant in the Hotel Diamond in downtown Chico. It looks pretty ritzy and unlike most Chico restaurants I wouldn't wear my pajama pants there, but the prices are good. They are good for lunch anyway. They have "mini combos", half servings of most of their meals with a salad or cup of soup for $6.95. This is a great deal, especially downtown. I always get the minis, they end up being more food than the full size meals for less money. I had the mac and cheese and a caesar salad . Both were delicious. Johnnies has a decent variety for vegetarians. They have tempura asparagus that is amazing. The only problem with Johnnies is the inconsistency. The service fluctuates between super fast and too slow to eat during your lunch break. The food, while usually delicious is always different depending on the cook. This keeps Keith and I from going there as much as we might, considering the price.

I had a dinner meeting with the always lovely Jerry Miller. He took me to Kwando, a Chinese Buffet. The buffet is pretty good, but their sushi is really, really good. I wouldn't know because I can't eat meat, and aside from my vow of meat abstinence I am not crazy about sushi. There wasn't much of a selection for the non-meat eater. They have a very limited salad bar, and a handful of vegetable only dishes as well as a couple vegetable soups. I had salad, tasty, garlicky green beans and hot and sour soup. I got enough to eat, although I was wishing for more variety.

I was starving after rehearsals so when Keith picked me up I had him take me to Wendy's. I love Wendy's. They have the best fries and they also have baked potatoes! I got a sour cream and chive baked potato. It was delicious.

Mission 3: Vegetarian - Day 1

2010-06-15T22:40:00.000-07:00

I love vegetables. I always have. When I was really young and other children stole little candies from the bulk bins at the store I was grabbing mushrooms and broccoli. No joke. Ask my mother if you ever have the chance to meet her. I was a goofy kid.

June is vegetarian month. Day one wasn't too bad. I really want a steak though. I think the anticipation of not having steak or fish or ribs has intensified the craving. Yesterday, all I wanted to eat was a Basque Norte marinaded steak. There is some in my freezer right now, but it will have to wait until July! I only hope I don't make myself sick binging on meat in July.

I had miso soup with Isreali couscous and tofu with a side of brown rice for lunch at T Bar. T Bar, formerly know as Teaz Me has good vegetarian selections. I love their food and their tea. My only complaint is that the food is a little expensive for what it is. I had the miso soup which is 4.99 I believe, and Keith had a fusion bowl with tofu that was 8.95. I wouldn't complain about the price except the fact that there were only three smallish strips of tofu. It was very tasty though and the prices weren't so high that I would stop going there. I actually go there about five times a week. Sometimes multiple times a day. That is how much I like T Bar. It is my Cheers, where everybody knows my name(and my order!).

I was stoked to discover that the meal I had choosen for dinner was very easy and very quick to make. I was starving by the time I got home from the store with Keith and Sam. I made wheat pasta shells with asparagus, peas, spinach, garlic and marinated mozzarella. It took about 15 minutes start to finish. I used garlic olive oil instead of regular and that gave it a lighter flavor. I really liked it. The recipe called for mint and feta, but I am not crazy about mint and I wanted something with a little more texture so I went with the marinated mozz instead. my only regret with the mozz is that I put it in too soon and it melted. It was still super tasty but the pretty cubes were turned into blobs.

I am currently working on a new show, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Rehearsals are at 6:30 in the evening and that puts a serious time constraint on what I can cook. Good thing vegetarian food cooks quickly, for the most part. I was starving when I got home though. Oh man! I was hungry all day as a matter of fact. I made a boca burger in a skillet with garlic olive oil and toped it with cheddar cheese. It was pretty good. I had never eaten a Boca burger before. It tasted somewhat like a breaded chicken patty. The texture was pretty good too. I think I'll have another.

Mission 3 - Vegetarian

2010-06-15T22:30:00.000-07:00

Mission number three is Vegetarian. Operatives Keith and Stephanie will eat only vegetarian meals for the entire month of June. This includes breakfast, lunch, dinner, lunner, brunch, fourth meal and all snacks. They must not consume any meat. This will be a particularly difficult month. Can Operatives Keith and Stephanie resist the siren call of bacon for an entire month? Will Stephanie become cranky and sullen from meat withdrawl? Will Operatives Keith and Stephanie end up healthier than when they started? All will be revealed as vegetarian month progresses.

Mission 2: Disney - Wrap up

2010-06-13T10:35:00.000-07:00

Disney month was quite a challenge, for a lot of reasons. I really love Disney and have since I was a child. I think that my love for Disney at this point is two parts quality and three parts nostalgia at this point in my life. I will still watch the movies while I am cleaning or cooking and I will still feel the same glee when I hear a Disney song.

Most of the challenge for me with this month was finding time to watch Disney. May was a very busy month, much busier than I had expected. After having found the time to watch something I certainly didn't have time to write about it. I found that very stressful. I was constantly thinking about how far behind I was in posting. I still am way behind in posting. I enjoy the blog and am having a great time, but this month was the first month I felt stressed out about it.

Keith and I wrapped up Disney month with the Princess and the Frog. I really liked this one. I liked that it was heavier on story than recent Disney fare. I loved the music. I wasn't crazy about the alternate animation montages during some of the songs. They were distracting. I did get a little teary when Ray the firefly got smashed and died, ascending to heaven to be with his Evangeline. That was a nice moment. My biggest gripe was that the story of the Shadow man and his deal with his "friends on the other side" was lacking. I thought that was the biggest whole in the story. I really did like this one and will probably end up buying it at some point.

Disney has changed so much since I was a kid. The Disney Channel is awful. The writing in most of the shows that we watched is so condescending and devoid of real humor. I think it is unfortunate when cartoons have better writing and acting than live shows. I really enjoyed the cartoon Phineas and Ferb, I thought the writing was great and it made science and math seem fun and a little mischievous. Perfect for suckering young kids to study those hated subjects.

Disneyland was all I could have dreamed. I had a glorious time and I can't wait to go back. Did you know that you can not put just anything on your mouse ears? Disney Corp. won't let you put nicknames or even fake sounding names on your mouse ears. I bought my Grandma Biddy some ears and wanted her name on them. Her really name is Vivian but everyone calls her Grandma Biddy. I didn't even know her real name until I was 13. No joke. but they wouldn't let me put Biddy on the ears. Proper names only. LAME. Other than Disney's stupid and annoying ear policy, and way over inflated food and drink prices, Disneyland is the happiest place on Earth.

That wraps Disney month! On to Vegetarian month.

Disney Month Catch Up take 2

2010-06-06T15:35:00.000-07:00

Aristocats, not to be confused with Aristocrats, is an animated feature about a crazy cat lady, and her helpful butler. The kittens in the movie were cute, the jazzy music was fun, and the story had a nice pace. Unfortunately in the end the old lady doesn't receive the mental health treatment she needs and the butler loses his job and is deported.

Next up was Darby O'Gill and the Little People, a live action movie that was one of Sean Connery's first. This movie had an entertaining story and surprisingly good special effects for 1959. It chronicles Darby O'Gill's quest for riches which ends with him realizing he already had everything he needs.

The next few days brought us some animated shorts. First up, Trick or Treat, was about Donald Duck and his nephews who ask the classic question: trick or treat? Donald answers incorrectly and his nephews seek revenge by teaming up with a witch. The witch enchants various household items that harass Donald. Stephanie loves anything Halloween related since it's her birthday, but I didn't find this one to be too exciting. The next short was The Band Concert starring Mickey Mouse. Donald Duck interrupts the concert Mickey is conducting and they have a musical show down that is disturbed by a tornado. The mix of The William Tell Overture and the action of the tornado make for a fun short animation. The third short from this group was Disney's musical take on The Three Little Pigs. The songs were kinda stupid and Disney didn't bring anything new or interesting to this classic story.

With a bit more free time we were able to watch the full length live action musical Newsies starring a teenage Christian Bale. This was an entertaining musical with interesting subject matter and good music. Bale shined as always and was supported by a great cast of young actors. The characters were well developed and humorous despite being cliche. Skip this one if you don't like musicals...you've probably already seen it if you do like musicals.

Our Disney video adventure was interrupted by a trip to Disneyland which I'll cover in my next post.

Mission 2 - Disney - DISNEYLAND!

2010-05-27T20:28:00.000-07:00

After 26 years I have finally been to Disneyland. I have wanted to go my whole life and I finally went. My in-laws gave the family a trip to Disneyland for Christmas. That is the reason that we have been doing Disney things this month. We figured that it would be easier to accomplish this month's mission if we did Disney things since we were going to go to Disney land for a week.

It would be impossible to do a day by day so I will try to hit the highlights!

Downtown Disney: This was the first thing we did. Downtown Disney is outside the park and is basically a glorified strip mall. A very cleverly disguised strip mall. Everything has a Disney touch. Everything is also very over priced. Granted I come from Chico, things are cheaper in Chico. We ate several dinners in Downtown Disney. First was House of Blues. I wanted to eat there so badly. I LOVE blues music and the Blues Brothers. I was pissed to find Heavy Metal blaring in the speakers and a SHITTY beer selection. My father-in-law paid $7 bucks for a freaking Stella Artois. Give me a break. We also ate at the Rainforest Cafe, which thankfully had slightly better beer selection. There was also a Mexican restaurant with really good carnitas. Everything was over priced and for the most part mediocre. But that's not point, the point is the experience. Which was worth every penny.

Disneyland Rides: Are the best. They are best combination speed and ambiance. My favorite ride was probably Indiana Jones, but there were so many others that I really enjoyed. Haunted Mansion was such a trip for me. I used to wait every Halloween to watch Disney's Halloween Treat and the Haunted Mansion ride is in the opening! I was singing the opening song in my head as we went though the ride. Matterhorn is fun, but made for midgets. Keith and I snuggled into the car and my knees were up to my eyeballs. I also LOVED the Grizzly Rapids in California Park. Got soaked but I didn't care it was so much fun. Splash Mountain was closed which was a bummer.

Churros: Churros are all over the place in the park and I am pretty sure I ate at least ten. They are so expensive but so tasty. While waiting in lines a churros and my ipod touch kept me happy.

Characters: Being a Disney geek, the character experience was so important to me. I saw: Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto, Goofy, Chip, Dale, Terk(Tarzan, gorilla), Meeko(Pocahantas, raccoon), Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, Belle, Ariel, Tianna, Jasmine, Aladdin and the Fairy Godmother from Cinderella. The Parade we saw had Mary Poppins and Bert and Peter Pan and Wendy. It was so great to see all these characters but I didn't see the ones I really wanted to see. The character I wanted to see most was Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) she is my favorite princess. I also wanted to see Cinderella, Snow White, Maleficient, the Queen, Prince Phillip, Cruella and Mad Madame Mim. None of them were to be found. I went in thinking there would be characters everywhere. But there weren't, we found most of them by accident. I was so sad! I know it seems silly but I really wanted to see Aurora. I was super glad about all the others I did find and Keith and the family waited so patiently for me to get all my pictures and aside from one comment about making a shiv out of a churro everyone was super nice about it.

My trip to Disneyland was everything I could have hoped. Minus the lack of Aurora, it was perfect. I wish the shows would have been running but Keith and I got a sneak peek of the new water show via the glass elevator at our hotel, so that was cool. I definitely decided that should Keith and I have kids before we get to go to Disneyland again, we will wait until they are about 6 or 7 to take them. I saw too many parents with exploded diapers and exhausted faces. How can an infant appreciate Disney anyway?

My in-laws were so generous and fun during the trip. It was so cool to hang out with them and act like a bunch of kids. We really had a wonderful time. I also have to thank my sister for lending me her super fantastic small back-pac. It was the perfect size! It was the perfect accessory to the Disneyland trip. You can see most of our Disney pictures at Keith's flickr page

Mission 2 - Disney - Catch-up!

2010-05-23T12:40:00.000-07:00

As much as I hate to do one big post for multiple days, I find that I have no choice. The problem with doing something everyday and then writing about it is that, sometimes, by the time you are finished doing it you have no time to write about it. That has been the plague of Disney month.

Keith and I choose Disney for the month of May because we would be going to Disneyland in the middle of the month. It seemed that Disney would be the easiest thing to do or see everyday while we were in Disneyland. Unfortunately due MacBeth, work, packing for the trip and various other things we have had almost no time to actually sit down and watch a movie. We have mostly watched shorts.

My last post covered Aristocats. The next day's Disney was Darby O'Gill and the Little People. This is my favorite live action Disney movie. It has Sean Connery, he is so handsome and he sings! The special effects in this movie are pretty damn good for 1959. I love this movie, I watch it pretty often.

Over the next few days we watched shorts. We watched Trick or Treat and two Silly Symphonies. Trick or Treat is the short with Huey, Duey and Luey, Donald and Witch Hazel. Donald tricks the boys instead of treating them and witch Hazel helps them get even. It is also featured in the "Disney Halloween Treat" show that I used to watch every year on Halloween. It's my favorite of the funny Halloween themed shorts.

The first Silly Symphony was "the Band". This is the one with the William Tell Overture and the Storm. Mickey is the conductor of the band and Donald is a vendor with hopes of joining the band. He tries multiple times to play his flute and Mickey breaks them. Donald it seems has a never ending supply of flutes. A tornado comes and sweeps up the band, which doesn't stop them or Donald from playing. I love the Silly Symphonies and the exposure they give kids to classical music.

The second Silly Symphony was "The Three Little Pigs." Same old story, just this time they sing.

Newsies was the last thing that we watched before departing. I must say that I love Newsies. I love Christian Bale. Ilove everything he has every done and Newsies has him singing and dancing! In my opinion Christian Bale is one of the most under-rated actors. He is so versatile and talented. He's so little in Newsies too. He has such a lovely singing voice I wish he would do another musical.

Mission 2 - Disney - Aristocats

2010-05-13T12:17:00.000-07:00

Aristocats is one of my favorite Disney animated features. I just love it. I love the dynamic between the three kittens and their mother. I also love the music. It's jazzy and swanky, it really catches your ear and sticks in your head.

I have been finding that while I have been watching Disney my whole life, I have been more critical and paid more attention this month. Normally I watch these movies while cleaning or cooking so I am not paying super close attention to them.

Some people have said that the "Everybody Wants to be a Cat" scene with all the stereotypes is racist. I don't agree. Yes, the cats are from different countries and are drawn in identifiable cultural clothing but I didn't find that racist. I found it necessary to convey the point to children. The cats all have different accents but I think the clothes were necessary for children to put a country to an accent. There is some Disney that is falt out, without a doubt racist, but I don't think Aristocats is on that list.

I have always loved the line "You're not a lady, you're nothing but a sister." It always reminds me of the relationship I have with my siblings. We are constantly building each other up and then knocking each other down a peg. There is nothing quite like a sister or brother to keep you in check.

There was another line that I heard and it felt like I was hearing it for the first time. Duchess is out on the roof with Thomas and the kittens are watching the romance unfold. Duchess tell Thomas she cares for him but she must get back to Madame and their home and therefore can not be his girl. Berlioz says "Well, we almost had a father." I had never noticed that before, I was stunned. It's a pretty big comment. I am including a video of that scene. The voice of Duchess is obviously not Eva Gabor but it's all I could find.

Disney is big on the broken family thing. I can count on one hand the number of films where the main characters have both parents. Parents that love them and are there for them. It's a sick and twisted truth, maybe at some point Disney will decide that kids/animals from not-broken homes can get into trouble too!

Disney Month Catch Up

2010-05-13T09:02:00.000-07:00

I'm desperately behind here so I'm going to combine some of the Disney fun we've been having over the past week.

Ye Olden Days

This one was made in the olden days about the olden days' olden days. This animated short was made in 1933, making it a contender for oldest thing we will watch this month. It is set in the Middle Ages and follows Mickey's quest to get laid. I am concerned that Mickey and Minnie look so similar and have similar speech impediments; I suspect incest. The animation was primitive, even compared to Snow White which was made only a few years later. The story, silly animation, and songs were kinda fund, but I was glad it was short.

A Knight for a Day

I enjoyed A Knight for a Day. It's one of the animations with the amusing narrator starring Goofy. In fact, every character looked like Goofy. The only thing it was missing was the trademark Goofy Holler.

Mr Toad's Wild Ride

Mr. Toad is a wealthy sociopath with a need for speed, like an amphibious Richard Branson. This fixation is bankrupting Toad Hall, the pride of the community. The movie is based on Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willow and covers Mr. Toad's wrongful imprisonment, escape, and quest to clear his name. I enjoyed this one as well. The Wind in the Willow is a great story and Disney didn't ruin it.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

In Disney's version of the classic tale, Ichabod Crane's romantic rival stages a headless horseman attack to scare him off. Between Ichabod's interesting character and Bing Crosby's smooth voice this one wasn't too bad.

The Watcher in the Woods

For a thirty year old full length, live action Disney horror movie this was surprisingly good. By any other standard it was terrible. The movie takes place thirty years after some kids turned happy play time in the woods into creepy secret society ritual. This ritual coincided with a full eclipse of the sun and the combination caused cross dimensional magic to happen. The magic made one of the kids disappear. The missing kid has been replaced by and invisible being with poor communication skills. Now the main character Jan, who looks similar to the missing girl, is having strange experiences and tries to solve the mystery. The cross dimensional being gives her some really bad clues that convince Jan to recreate the ritual with the original attendees, now middle aged, with Jan standing in for the missing girl during another full eclipse of the sun. More magic happens and the missing girl reappears.

The biggest plot hole is the other worldly being is able to communicate by possessing people but refuses to just explain the situation to anyone. That other dimension must be a mess is everyone there is such bad communicators. This being might have been able to return home a lot sooner if it wasn't such a pain in the ass.

Mission 2: Disney - Watcher in the Woods

2010-05-11T10:18:00.001-07:00

I remembered Watcher in the Woods being super creepy when I was a kid. The Disney live action movies cover a wide range of genres. This particular movie is a supernatural thriller. I still like it, although watching it as an adult as brought up some interesting things.

First is the fact that as I child I had zero appreciation for things like plot and continuity. This movie is about a girl who must help correct a dimensional mistake that took place thirty years prior. The mistake caused an inter-dimensional rift that resulted in a being from another dimension switching places with a teenage girl named Karen. That is the cliff notes version. So here's my problem. There is something in the woods that is trying to stop the teenage girl, Jan, from correcting the mistake. The sinister something causes accidents and makes mischief. There is also something giving Jan clues. It is unclear if these are the same sinister something or not. However at the climax of the movie the the "watcher" comes to tell everyone what to do. It seems like Disney needed some more drama so they threw in some evil antics to ramp up the suspense. The identity of the evil doer never comes to light.

Second, how did they get Bette Davis to do this movie? Bette Davis had two Oscars before this movie was even conceived and then she gets a bland part. She brought the part of Karen's broken mother to life, despite the poor writing they handed her. She was pretty old in 1980 when this play was made, but she still has those amazing eyes and talent.

The last issue I have with this movie is that it hasn't been updated. There are so many movies getting the Disney take-two treatment. Most of them are the animated classics. Most recently though was a re-do of Escape from Witch Mountain. I really think that Watcher could use an update and would stand up well through the process. Maybe they could clean up some of the plot mistakes.

Mission 2: Disney - The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

2010-05-10T15:04:00.001-07:00

Once again I found myself on the floor in front of the television watching Disney and putting on my MacBeth make-up, stopping only to hurriedly eat dinner. I must say that a 6 o'clock call is brutal. I get off work at 5 o'clock and have to eat and have my make-up done so that I can have my fake, painted on tattoos touched up and my hair finished before people arrive. 1078 Gallery only has one bathroom and cast, crew and audience have to share it. It has certainly been an interesting experience.

I love Disney's version of The Legend Sleepy Hollow tale! It has been my favorite for as long as I can remember. I was born on Halloween and have had a love of scary stories and all things spooky ever since.

Disney's version is the second part of the "Ichabod and Mr. Toad" video. It is narrated by Bing Crosby. Bing also sings all the songs! I love it. There is something about Bing Crosby's voice that just warms my heart. I think Disney may have been on to something using a warm, friendly voice like Bing Crosby's for such a chilling tale. It's hard to be scared when Bing is crooning at you.

I am pretty sure everyone knows that Legend of Sleepy Hollow story. There have been so many incarnations a person is bound to have seen one. The Disney version is really focused on Ichabod himself. His gluttony, pride, and his superstitious nature are aptly portrayed. He is always eating! Always, yet he is so skinny. He is a funny man. I prefer to think that the Headless Horseman failed in getting Ichabod's head. Only in this version though. As I said nothing bad can happen when Bing Crosby is there.

I used to wait impatiently for the first day of October when I was little. That was when they started showing the Halloween cartoons. Disney's Halloween Treat was and still is my all time favorite show from my childhood. I still want to watch it on Halloween even though I am now twenty-six years old. Some things are just that good.

Mission 2: Disney - Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

2010-05-10T14:15:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh Mr. Toad. Every Disney fan's favorite lunatic. Unlike the other Disney crazies, Cruella or Madame Medusa for example, Mr. Toad is a perfectly lovely person. He is kind and funny and absolutely insane.

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride is half of the "Ichabod and Mr. Toad" video release. The story of Mr. Toad is narrate by Basil Rathbone. I love his voice. The story is from Wind in the Willows and is an interesting look into mental illness. Although I didn't see it that way as a child. I thought it was an adventure.

Mr. Toad has a obsession with transportation. He lusts after every means of conveyance that can be had. The story opens with the recent purchase of a gypsy cart and horse. Mr. Toad drives it at break neck speed through the area, stopping only when a motorcar drives by and he decides he wants that instead. It is explained that he suffers from mania. The cartoon makes it sound like a perfectly acceptable affliction. The only problem is that he is slowly bankrupting his estate with his excessive and constant purchases.

His friends try to stage an intervention but he sneaks away to fulfill his need for the motor car. Chaos ensues, Mr. Toad is arrested and the weasels take over Toad Hall. I am skipping some of the details in order to get to my point more readily.

Here's my point. This whole cartoon is about Mr. Toad's mania. A mania that affects his friends and his house. There is a failed intervention, an arrest, a jail break, a huge fight involving weasels and eventually the purchase of an airplane, followed closely by property damage. I think the lesson that children can take away from this is that being crazy is a jolly good adventure. Makes me wish I could be crazy too.

Mission 2: Disney - A Knight for a Day

2010-05-06T11:00:00.000-07:00

My MacBeth schedule is unforgiving. The show opens tonight though, so no more rehearsals! This brings up the problem that Keith and I have been facing with Operation Monthly. While it has been fun, it has been difficult to accomplish. Doing something everyday for a month in order to maintain a blog is one more thing that we have to add to the list of stuff we have to do. Everyday I look at my schedule and mentally add "watch something Disney" while trying to figure out how much time I have available and what fits in that amount time. It's tiring.

Thanks to MacBeth we once again watched a short. This is killing me because for every short we watch that is one less movie we get to watch and I love the movies. I love the shorts also, but the list of movies I want to write about is long. The short we watched was A Knight for a Day. It is one of the narrated Goofy shorts. There are a few with a narrator and Goofy doesn't really speak at all. Everyone else does, but not Goofy. Goofy acknowledges the narrator and performs the actions described. It's an interesting thing to watch.

In this short Goofy is "Cedric" the apprentice knight, who through an accident must compete in the tournament. The knight he is replacing in named Sir Loinsteak, and the knight he is fighting is named Sir Circumference. I think that is hilarious. Loinsteak and Circumference. Well done Disney, as a kid that went right over my head, as an adult I find it hilarious. Inappropriate, but hilarious. In my post about Ye Olden Days I complained about Goofy never getting the girl. Well this time he does, little Cedric (Goofy) defeats his opponent and gets the fair princess. Good for him. Now if only he could maintain the relationship.

Mission 2: Disney - Ye Olden Days

2010-05-04T11:10:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my theatre schedule we watched another short, Ye Olden Days. We watched this while I sat on the floor and started my crazy MacBeth make-up. This one is really old, like 1933 old. The one we watched is the original black and white version, they did remake it with color later. This is also a short where the characters sing. There is music throughout and a good portion of the dialouge is sung by the characters. The sound is WAY old school. Definitely a different technological time!

As the short begins there is a scroll that says "Ye Caste." Mickey and Minnie are there and "Ye Prince" is apparently Dippy Dog. Now I have to assume that Dippy Dog is the original moniker for Goofy. On IMDb the credit is listed as Goofy, it's listed that way everywhere else too.

Mickey is a wandering minstrel, Minnie a princess who is being forced to marry Goofy a prince. She refuses and is locked in the attic from where Mickey tries to rescue her. They are caught sneaking off and a duel for Minnie's hand ensues. Mickey wins (duh). They all live happily ever after. I really think that perhaps just once Goofy should get the girl. Goofy never gets the girls. Poor guy. Even decades later when Disney made Goof Troop. Goofy has a son Max but no wife, no girlfriend, he's a single dad and even his son is embarrassed by him. Goofy just can't buy a break. I suspect that his lack of success in the romance department is due to the fact the Disney never created a female dog. Goofy is a dog. Disney pairs off their couples by species, no inter-species love allowed. I guess Goofy will always be single. Lame.

Aside from the consistent neglect of Goofy, I love Disney. The last five days have been fun, well except Disney Channel day. That was awful.

Disney Month Day 3: Disney Channel

2010-05-04T11:08:00.001-07:00

On Monday we watched the Disney Channel from 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM. First up was Phineas and Ferb. From Wikipedia:

Phineas and Ferb (also known as Disney's Phineas and Ferb) is an American animated television series. Originally broadcast as a preview on August 17, 2007 on Disney Channel, the series follows two suburban[1] stepbrothers[2] on summer vacation. Each day the pair devise ambitious, involved plans and inventions to stave off boredom, often bringing them into conflict with their sister, Candace. The series follows a standard plot system; running gags occur every episode, and the B-Plot almost always features the boys' pet platypus, Perry, acting as a secret agent to fight an evil scientist named Heinz Doofenshmirtz (originally named "Meddleshmirtz" by Povenmire & Swampy). The two plots intersect at the end to erase all traces of the boys' project just before Candace can show it to their mother.

The two ~10 minutes episodes we saw both followed this formula precisely. It seems like regular watchers would tire of the repetitive plot line but maybe their target audience is into that sort of thing. The first episode was actually fairly witty at first before descending into chaotic nonsense by the end. I didn't get the whole story because I was making dinner but it involved a Father/Daughter competition that didn't seem to feature the title characters. I missed much of the second episode but it involved Niagara Falls and bananas.

Next up was a short claymation titled Shaun the Sheep. It had the unmistakable style of Wallace and Gromit creators Aardman Animations. I didn't follow the storyline and there was no dialogue but I love Aardman's work and enjoyed watching the action. I did notice a Dr. Who joke: a guest at a costume party was dressed as a Dalek.

Our final Disney Channel programming was an episode of Good Luck Charlie. From Wikipedia:

Good Luck Charlie is an American family television sitcom airing on Disney Channel in the United States. The series was created by Phil Baker and Drew Vaupen, who wanted to create a program that would appeal to entire families as opposed to children only. It revolves around the Duncan family as they try to adjust to the birth of their fourth child, Charlie (Mia Talerico). In each episode, Teddy Duncan (Bridgit Mendler) creates a video diary containing advice for Charlie about their family and life as a teenager.

This show was terrible. The writing was bad and acting was worse. The three older children are left to take care of their infant sister. They lose the sister. Contrived and unsuccessful attempts at hilarity ensue. Sister is eventually located and I supposed everyone learns an important lesson. I am dumber for having watched this show.

The Disney Channel was just about as bad as I imagined it would be but I am happy to report that each show we watched had at least one poop joke. Avoid this show if you value your brain cells and please don't inflict this drivel upon your children.

Mission 2: Disney - The Disney Channel

2010-05-04T11:07:00.001-07:00

What a bunch of crap. Keith and I watched the Disney channel for an hour today from 5:00 to 6:00 pm. That time frame contained three different shows, Phineas and Ferb, Shaun the Sheep and Good Luck Charlie.

Phineas and Ferb is a cartoon about a family with two genius level sons, a pet platypus who fights crime and a plain sister. The 25 minute segment was broken up into two episodes. The first involving a father daughter picnic/competition. The genius sons built a blimp to view said event. The family pet platypus battles his nemesis for some unknown reason. The second episode centers on the sister babysitting her crush's little sister, who teaches her how to manipulate her two genius brothers. Meanwhile the brothers are using a broken sprinkler to make a water slide resembling Niagara Nalls. I actually really liked this cartoon. I liked how the writers blended mischief and science. There were several fun facts written into all the scenes. It was nice to see science being promoted.

Shaun the Sheep faked me out big time. The cartoon as all the appearances of being just like Wallace and Gromit, a favorite of Keith's. Other than the clay-mation style and the obviously British grubulub it is not anywhere near as cool. There is no dialogue, just accented grunts and grumbles and the story was stupid. I should mention that the cartoon was 5 minutes long, so maybe I should forgive the stupid story.

Good Luck Charlie was a waste of a good half hour. I plan to write the Disney Channel and ask for my thirty minutes back! The story centers on a girl filming life and dispensing advice for her baby sister. I thought it was an interesting premise. The execution however is awful. The acting, the writing, everything about it was terrible. I was disappointed to see even the adult actors butchering their simple script. Yes, they are acting in a kids show, but last I check kids aren't stupid. I found the whole idea of over acting in order to act down to kids ridiculously condescending.

I am of the beginning era generation for the Disney Channel. I was born the same year Disney Channel was created, 1983. I watched KIDS Incorporated, Rescue Rangers, Mickey Mouse Club (the Aguilara-Timberlake years), Gummi Bears, Darkwing Duck and so many more. I can still sing, upon request the theme songs to most of the Disney afternoon line-up. Don't believe me? Ask me sometime. I wish I had seen that same spark of fun in the Disney Channel of today as I did when I was 6. Maybe you do really lose a little magic when you grow up. But seriously, today's Disney Channel sucks.

Disney Month Day 2: Through the Mirror

2010-05-03T15:33:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we watched Through the Mirror, the short cartoon that is in the Alice in Wonderland (1951) DVD special features. I was working on finishing up beer month posts so I didn't really pay attention to Through the Mirror. I caught that Mickey was having an out of body experience in some sort of hallucinatory wonderland. I suspect that it was induced by cardiac arrest as even in 1951 Mickey would have been twenty three years old, which is very old for a mouse. Pet mice usually only live to be about five years old. I was relieved to see that Mickey survived this trauma and woke up at the end of the short animation.

Mission 2: Disney - Through the Mirror

2010-05-03T15:32:00.000-07:00

I love the Disney animated shorts. They are so much fun. "Through the Mirror" is the Micky Mouse take on "Through the Looking Glass" which is a story in the Alice and Wonderland series by Lewis Carol.

Mickey wanders through his mirror into the magical version of his house. His furniture and possessions have come to life complete with faces and personalities. Mickey eats a walnut and shrinks. He is now tiny and fits in the mirror world more readily. He begins to tap dance his way through his house, dancing with his possessions and eventually the queen of hearts card. The joker, on his bicycle (funny) notices and alerts the king of hearts who fights for his lady. Chaos ensues and Mickey escapes to the right side of the mirror. Eventually he is awakened by his alarm and it has all been a dream. The Lewis Carol book sits open at his feet.

One of the things I love about the Disney shorts is the music. There isn't often singing but there is always music. In some cases I can tell you which short you are watching simply by hearing the music. Mickey's tap dancing and the sound effects are perfectly timed with the music.

Has anyone ever noticed that the queen of hearts card looks exactly like Marlena Detirch?

Disney Month Day 1: Snow White

2010-05-03T14:53:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed Disney fare as a kid but like most normal people I grew out of it a long time ago. Stephanie on the other hand still loves Disney. Well, not so much loves as has a rabid zeal matched only in kinetic energy by the fires of Mordor. Given this fervor and that we already had a trip to Disneyland planned it made sense to make May Disney month.

We kicked off the Disney festivities with the first full length animated feature Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Disney started their trend of having lead characters with parents that are either dead or maniacal with Snow White. Snow White's crazy Stepmother is out to get her. At first it is implied that the Stepmother's murderous tendencies are caused by criminal insanity but evidence soon begins to pile up that her hatred of Snow White may be warranted. The first evidence against Snow White comes after she takes a walk through the woods. She is soon hallucinating, clearly the result of illicit drug use. She has a bad trip and ends up sleeping it off curled in the fetal position in the woods for the night. When Snow White comes to, her criminal rampage continues as she breaks into the Dwarfs' house and vandalizes it.

At this point I have to be honest: we failed our mission on the first day out. There was drinking to be done at our local watering hole so we didn't finish the movie. I can only imagine that Snow White's crime spree continues through the rest of the movie. Clearly the Stepmother was only looking out for her husband's kingdom. What would become of the kingdom if something happened to the King and a miscreant like Snow White gained power? The Stepmother had take drastic measures for the greater good of the kingdom and she should be commended for her sacrifice and bravery.

The Dwarfs' story is an unusual one. Their first scene has them hard at work in their gem mine. Their haul of precious gems is spectacular. They had managed to pull a fortune out of the earth in one day's work. If the Dwarfs have access to such a mother load it is hard to imagine why they live in a small disheveled cottage. My theory is that the King has taken advantage of their low level of intelligence by making them into some sort of indentured servants or slaves. They have been enslaved by the monarchy and are forced to hand over their fortune to fund the lavish lifestyle of the royal family. In their stupor they must not have realized that Snow White is herself royalty or they would have torn her asunder and buried her in the woods in revenge. Perhaps they wise up and this happens later in the movie.

Walt Disney must have been a man with a dark side. Many children must have had their fragile minds warped during the past seventy three years by this woeful tale.

Mission 2: Disney - Snow White

2010-05-03T14:52:00.000-07:00

Disney month begins with Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Snow White was the first full length animated Disney feature. It premiered in 1937 and made history. It is the first of many Disney animated movies that helped shape my childhood.

Snow White is the story of a princess who is hated by her step-mother the Queen. The Queen has no name, she is simply the Queen. Snow White's crimes are her beauty and grace. To regain her place as fairest in the land the Queen tries multiple times to kill Snow White. She fails, the Prince saves Snow White and the Witch dies. Yes, I am telling you the ending. If you haven't seen it or read it, sorry.

The story comes from the Brothers Grimm, as do many of the future Disney animated movies. Disney takes a bit of license with the story. The Queen's death for example is different in the story. Rather than falling to her death from a cliff as she does in the movie, she dies from dancing in hot metal shoes. I guess that was too torturous for the eyes of children. The Queen visits Snow White three times in the Grimm tale rather than just the one time to deliver the poison apple. I supposed Snow White being laced too tightly into a corset was also too much for children.

I think Snow White is great. Though it's not my favorite. I find her voice annoyingly high pitched. Sometimes she sounds exactly like Shirley Temple. When she sings her natural vibrato is so fast and constant that I want to scream. The songs are fun and well written. I wish I could listen to the Prince sing more. Disney cut a lot of his stuff because he was difficult to animate.

Snow White was the first and is such an accomplishment. The animated movies that followed will always bee held to that standard. The movie coined the phrase "mirror, mirror on the wall who's the fairest one of all" although in the movie it is "Magic mirror" not "mirror, mirror" as it would later be quoted. I need to pick it up on DVD, I only have it on VHS.

Mission 2: Disney

2010-05-03T14:28:00.000-07:00

Mission number two is Disney. Operatives Keith and Stephanie will view or experience something from the Disney Corporation everyday for the month of May. This includes movies, animated shorts, the Disney Channel, and a trip to Disneyland theme park. They may not repeat a movie or cartoon. They must watch the movies in their entirety. This will be difficult given Keith's natural distrust for animated talking animals and Stephanie's insatiable love of singing along with the princesses.

Mission 1 Beer Debriefing

2010-05-03T14:27:00.000-07:00

Mission 1 has reached it's conclusion. Beer month is over. When I look back over the month I can not believe that it went by so fast. The process of drinking a beer every day for thirty days was surprising.

Everyone has been asking what my favorite beer has been. I can't say that I have a favorite beer. I like so many beers for so many reasons that I can't pick just one. Perhaps I could pick a favorite from each style, but even then it would be difficult. My top five beers for the month would be: Celebration, Racer 5, Arrogant Bastard, Rubicon Irish Red Ale and 90 Minute IPA.

I learned so much about beer this month. I tried beers that I normally wouldn't touch and found that I need to try new things more often. Brother Thelonious is a great example. I would not have tried that beer had it not been for beer month. I was forced to broaden my thoughts on beer and my palate. I have earned my beer snob membership card this month.

I don't think I could continue to drink a beer everyday. While I enjoy beer, I don't think my body is very happy about the increased alcohol consumption. For the past couple days I have felt like I may need to do a cleanse or something. My system feels a little sluggish. I didn't weigh myself at the start of this project, but I don't think drinking a beer every night after 10 o'clock made me more slender.

I have very much enjoyed having a project with Keith. He is an excellent partner in crime. It has been fun to write about something we are both passionate about. We both enjoy beer, the internet and each other, so beer month just made sense. Beer month may be over but Keith and I still love trying new beers. We have continued to pick up new and interesting beers when we are at the store. We will keep on posting about the new beers we try and love in the future.

Beer Month Wrap-up

2010-05-03T14:25:00.000-07:00

Beer Month was a fantastic way to start out Operation Monthly. We had a lot of fun trying new beers and revisiting some old favorites. My favorites for the month are Racer 5, Bigfoot, Celebration, Rubicon's Irish Red Ale and Arrogant Bastard Ale with honorable mention to Sierra 30 and Brother Thelonious. Surprisingly none of the beers we tried were terrible or without merit.

Along the way a few friends outed themselves as beer geeks and we met some folks from the craft beer community like Peter, Ashley and Josh. We also learned a lot about beer and the beer industry through our research for our posts, beer blogs, and by watching the documentary Beer Wars. The view of the of beer industry in Beer Wars is both inspiring and depressing. Seeing craft brewers like Sam Calagione from Dogfish Head doing what they love and making amazing beer was inspiring. Seeing the collusion between macro-brewers like Anheuser-Busch, politicians, and distributors that forces small brewers who want to make a quality product out of business was depressing. This movie is entertaining and definitely worth checking out.

Our beer adventures will continue beyond beer month, just not every single night. Along with trying new beers and going to an occasional brewfest we will be making our own beer for the first time thanks to my awesome sisters who got me home brew equipment for my birthday.

Here are few remaindered beer related items I picked up in April:

Mario Rubio » Reactions to Anchor Brewing’s Sale

Brooks on Beer: Aging beer - San Jose Mercury News

20 Things Worth Knowing About Beer - The Oatmeal

Beer Journal - 33 Beers

Brewers Association | Brewers Association Releases 2009 Top 50 Breweries Lists

Makers Market: Windy City Glass

Josh Christie » Mandles – Perfect for the Beer-Drinking Dude in Your Life

National Beer Day

Sierra Nevada Turns 30: An Interview with Ken Grossman

Beer Month Day 30: Sierra 30 Fritz & Ken

2010-05-03T13:11:00.000-07:00

It's appropriate that I'm getting around to my Sierra 30 post today since I turn 30 years old today. Hopefully Sierra Nevada and I both have many good years ahead of us. Fritz and Ken's Ale is the first of four beers Sierra Nevada is releasing this year in collaboration with some icons of craft beer to celebrate their thirtieth anniversary. Fritz Maytag owned Anchor Steam (sale recently announced) brewery for the last 45 years and Ken Grossman started Sierra Nevada.

Fritz & Ken's Ale is the best stout I've ever tasted. Take that for what it's worth as I've only tried a handful of stouts and it isn't my favorite style, but the beer geeks over at Beer Advocate agree with no one giving it less than an A-. It poured black with a frothy tan head. It smelled like malt and coffee. The rich and complex flavors included chocolate, coffee and roasted malts with a solid hop background, particularly at the finish. It was very creamy and surprisingly smooth considering the 9.2% ABV. I had no problem downing my half of our 750 ml bottle.

Peter over at BetterBeerBlog was lucky enough to attend the 30th Anniversary dinner hosted by Fritz and Ken at Anchor Steam and has graciously offered to let me include some of his recap of the event. The Fritz & Ken's Ale was paired with warm TCHO Chocolate-Old Foghorn Cake, caramel, Old Foghorn ice cream and raisin compote. Peter had this to say about the beer:

Very dark brown, nearly black with a brown head. The aroma has a deep roasted, nearly burnt quality with a moderate level of smokiness. The flavor is slightly sweet; the malt character is mellow with burnt and smoked malt character. Hop bitterness is a surprising medium-high/high level. This is a full bodied beer with medium-high carbonation.

I was pleasantly surprised by this beer. Knowing what I know about Fritz, I find him to be a man of tradition, especially when it comes to the beers he brews. That being said, I fully expected the stout to be strongly rooted in the Russian Imperial Stout style. I didn’t expect the smokey character of the beer at all but I like it’s inclusion. The beer changes character as it warms up and will change over the years, at least that’s what the majority of the brewers I’ve spoken with have said. Anchor head brewer Mike Lee told me that a couple of test batches were developed at Sierra Nevada’s pilot brewery and the 30th Anniversary Ale – Fritz and Ken’s Ale is the result of the tasting process. It’s a straight-up recipe, no blending with any of the other test batches.

Peter also provided some audio of Fritz and Ken talking about their collaboration:

Big thanks to Peter for the insider input! This was a fantastic beer to end Beer Month with and I look forward to the next three Sierra 30 brews.

Mission 1: Beer 30 - 30th Anniversary Ale

2010-05-03T13:10:00.000-07:00

The last day of beer month is upon us. The last beer is Ken and Fritz Ale or as it is more commonly known 30th Anniversary Ale. This year is the 30th birthday of Sierra Nevada. Keith and I both had the day off and drank our last beer in the middle of the afternoon.

30th Anniversary is a stout. I think I have made my stand on stouts pretty clear. I don't favor them. This one is better than most. I found it to be very drinkable. It pours out black with a grey-brown head. The first thing I noticed was the chocolate smell and coffee flavor. I found the coffee flavor to be very strong. Thankfully for me, there is an unusual hop presence in the beer. I enjoyed it more than any other stout I have ever had.

The 30th anniversary of Sierra Nevada will bring three more specially made, collaborative beers throughout 2010. I am so excited. I have been very fortunate to grow up in a town with a business like Sierra Nevada. They have set the standard for what a garage based business can someday grown into. Sierra Nevada is always innovative and strives to be a good environmental citizen. They are proving that a business can go almost completely green and still turn a tidy profit. They do not seem to have compromised any of their craft brew integrity and to my mind are the best brewery in the nation. I know I am biased, but well, I'm still right.

The next 30th Anniversary beer to be released will be Charlie, Fred and Ken's Lager. It will be available in mid May. Put it on your calendar. These beers sell out fast!

Beer Month Day 29: 90 Minute IPA

2010-05-03T11:28:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned before Dogfish Head likes to experiment with their beers. Their 90 Minute IPA pushes the boundaries of hopped up beers. The name comes from the brewing process:

90 Minute IPA was our first continually-hopped beer, which is a method of hopping that allows for a pungent, but not crushing hop flavor.

It poured an amber color and had a piny citrus hop aroma. It had a similar taste with the addition of sweet malt. This beer is a must for hop heads. It has an odd complexity with lots of similar flavors. It's a constant guessing game between various citrus fruits, peach, and apricot flavors. My only complaint is the sweet malts and strong citrus hop flavor doesn't necessarily compliment each other. The combination can be overwhelming and might prevent me from having more than one 90 Minute IPA in a sitting.

Mission 1: Beer 29 - 90 Minute IPA

2010-05-03T11:06:00.000-07:00

90 Minute IPA is the third Dogfish Head brewery beer on our list. I love Dogfish Head. I don't always like their beers, but I love their passion. I wasn't crazy about the Palo Santo Marron but I am damn glad they made it. They are known for their highly experimental brews. They look at what the ancients drank and make it into beer for the modern man. They take ingredients from around the globe and make a beer that is truly international.

They make a delicious IPA. I was very pleased with the 90 Minute IPA. The 90 Minute is continuously hopped for 90 minutes during the brewing process, and is also dry-hopped. There are other incarnations, the 60 Minute, 75 Minute and 120 Minute. I will be trying each one in the future. The 90 Minute was refreshing, more so than your average IPA. IPA's aren't really beers you would reach for to relieve your parched throat. Well, I would, but I'm a freak. The hop flavor was fully developed beyond just the initial punch. I could drink this beer all day, any day, any season.

Beer Month Day 28: Eye of the Hawk

2010-05-03T10:12:00.000-07:00

Mendocino Brewing Company's Eye of the Hawk poured a deep amber color with noticeable sediment. Stephanie commented about how nice it looked in the glass and I agreed. It started out with a nice malt flavor but then finished with an odd yeasty sour flavor that I didn't enjoy.

This beer is smooth and you don't notice the 8% ABV but I didn't like bready flavor or the weird finish. I wouldn't rule out Stephanie's speculation that our bottle was bad, especially since Eye of the Hawk is rated so highly on Beer Advocate.

Beer Month Day 27: Boddingtons

2010-05-02T21:11:00.000-07:00

I found Boddingtons to be mostly flavorless. It is a typically underwhelming English import compared to the adventurous American craft beers I usually enjoy. It has a watery malt flavor with a hint of bitter hops. The nitrogen ball gives it a creamy feel but there isn't much flavor to back that up. It has a grainy/grassy flavor throughout and finishes like dirty water. If I'm going to go for an English import I would rather have a Smithwicks or any red ale.

We helped wrap up beer month by watching Beer Wars. I'll get into that more in a later post but we were disappointed to learn from the movie that brewing behemouth Anheuser-Busch bought Boddingtons which had its roots dating back to 1778 in England.

Beer Month Day 26: Arrogant Bastard Ale

2010-04-30T22:12:00.000-07:00

This is an aggressive beer. You probably won't like it. It is quite doubtful that you have the taste or sophistication to be able to appreciate an ale of this quality and depth. We would suggest that you stick to safer and more familiar territory - maybe something with a multi-million dollar ad campaign aimed at convincing you it's made in a little brewery, or one that implies that their tasteless fizzy yellow beer will give you more sex appeal. Perhaps you think multi-million dollar ad campaigns make a beer taste better. Perhaps you're mouthing your words as you read this.

These bold words are printed on the back of the Arrogant Bastard Ale bottle and pretty much sum up what craft beer drinkers think to themselves, but don't actually say, about their "tasteless fizzy yellow beer" drinking friends. The best thing about Arrogant Bastard Ale isn't the rude and hilarious disclaimer; the best thing is that it totally lives up to this brash statement.

Stone Brewing Company from the San Diego area makes some of the best beer I've ever had and Arrogant Bastard Ale is one of their best sellers. The bold names and fantastic art work make Stone's brews stand out but it's whats inside the bottle that really makes them shine.

Arrogant Bastard Ale poured a dark brown with a light tan head. The head lasted throughout leaving a lot of lacing on the glass. It has generous amounts of the piney hops that I am so fond of but there is a lot more going on here as well. This a complex beer with hints of caramel, chocolate, citrus and roasted malts.

I really enjoyed this beer. The only real problem I could find with it is that it will ruin your taste buds for any other beers for a while and I'm not sure I would want to drink multiple 22 oz bottles.

Beer Month Day 25: Mammoth IPA 395

2010-04-30T14:50:00.000-07:00

According to the bottle Mammoth Brewing Company's IPA 395 is an "ode to the Eastern Sierra and the Highway 395 corridor, this double IPA is distinctively bolder than our Epic IPA and is brewed with wild local hops (when available), desert sage and mountain juniper." The sage and juniper really dominated the flavor of this beer, even overpowering the hops. At first this was a nice surprise but it soon grew tiring. By the time I finished my half of our 22 ounce bottle it had warmed a bit and the sweet juniper/hop flavor had completely taken over. I appreciate the effort Mammoth made to incorporate some unusual ingredients, I just think they could have backed off a bit on the juniper and sage to make a more drinkable beer.

Beer Month Day 24: Rubicon Irish Red Ale

2010-04-29T15:32:00.000-07:00

I learned about Rubicon Brewing Company when I tried their IPA at our local brewfest. As the Beer Whench would say I: had a craft beer epiphany. Rubicon's IPA cemented my love for IPAs and my status as a hop-head. After tasting their IPA and learning that they're located in Sacramento (~90 miles South of us) we had to make a trip to the brewery. We had a great time then and on subsequent trips. All their beers are great and I think it's cool that they have beers from other breweries on tap as well. It shows a sense of collaboration and love of craft beer in general when breweries are willing to serve beers that they appreciate from other breweries.

Red Ales are one of the most balanced styles of beer with their roasted malts countering their hops. I don't think Rubicon is real big on balance. Every beer we've tried from Rubicon has had big hops. If you've read any of our past posts you'll know that we love big hops. I don't think they were serving their Irish Red Ale when we visited Rubicon in the past so this was a new one for us and it didn't disappoint. It poured a deep red amber color with foamy off-white head. Like their other beers the Irish Red Ale was full of delicious hop flavors...way more hops than any red ale I've tried. This is more like an IPA with roasted malts. The flavors were complex with citrusy hops throughout and a roasted malt finish. I really enjoyed this beer and will grab another next time I see it on the shelf. As I said, this seems like a departure from typical red ale style; but that is quite alright with me.

On a side note: big thanks to Peter at BetterBeerBlog for the mention!

Mission 1: Beer 28 - Eye of the Hawk

2010-04-29T13:30:00.001-07:00

I didn't like this beer. I am seriously thinking the bottle we had may have soured. I really wasn't in the mood to drink last night. We didn't start until eleven mostly because we just weren't in the mood and subconsciously put it off. Keith said "you know what we still have to do? Drink a beer." I seriously considered not drinking and then just posting that we had. My integrity won out though. I drank the beer and we watched Top Gear.

Watching Top Gear was very much reminiscent of the night we drank a beer and watched Blazing Saddles. We didn't want to drink that night either. Top Gear cheered us up and made the unwanted drinking more entertaining. Top Gear is a BBC show and we love it. Who knew that a show that is essentially about high-end cars practically nobody can afford would be so damn entertaining? Well it is. My favorite episode is still the "lorrie" episode. "Lorries" are British semi-trucks. It was too funny to describe, I cried and may have almost peed, I laughed so hard.

When Keith poured the beer he called from the kitchen that there was sediment floating in the beer. I looked and sure enough the dark golden beer was speckled with floating sediment. I waited a while for the sediment to rest but it never went down. I don't know if this a purposeful thing or not. When I took my first drink I noticed a very metalic taste. This was my first indicator that the beer may be bad. The beer also had a sour finish. I have had one or two beers that were no longer fit for drinking and this reminded me of those occasions. I can't really properly review this beer. The bottle we had was a recent purchase, but sometimes these things happen. Maybe some day I will give Eye of the Hawk another try and be able to give it a proper review.

Mission 1: Beer 27 - Boddington's

2010-04-29T10:32:00.000-07:00

Boddington's was a suggestion from our friend Betty. Even before Betty said we should try it I had been planning on putting it on our list because my friend Allen loves it. Allen is a good friend of ours, he performed our wedding ceremony. To date that was the best wedding ceremony ever performed. When we met with him to discuss what we wanted our ceremony to be like he asked " Do you want a lot god, a little god or no god?" and "robes or suit?" He really gave us a ceremony that meant something and reflected who Keith and I are as a couple. So I figured I should try the beer I am always buying for him. Betty's suggestion that we try Boddington's sealed the deal.

I have had more English beers during this month than I have ever had in my whole life. I find them all very interesting and Boddington's was no different. It has an interesting taste. I didn't know before drinking that Boddington's is imported and distrubuted by Anheuser-Busch. I find it interesting that a company as big as Anheuser-Busch would import beers that are far superior to theirs. Boddington's is a light version of a pale ale. It is creamier in flavor and has a slight hint of honey at the finish. I enjoyed it, it's a very easy beer to drink.

Boddington's, like many UK imports is shipped in a nitro-can. There is a small plastic, nitrogen filled ball inside the can. This sounded like a terrible idea to my uneducated mind. I know little to nothing about UK beers and their precious heads. The nitro ball is there to ensure that the beer pours from the can as it would from a draught, or as close as possible. So now I know.

Mission 1: Beer 26 - Arrogant Bastard

2010-04-28T13:43:00.000-07:00

Finally a Stone Brewing Company beer! Yes! I love everything about Stone. I love their labels, logos, apparel, and mostly their beer. Keith and I pour for the Chico Soroptomist brewfest every year and I aspire to pour for Stone. I would love to pour for Sierra Nevada, but I know that won't happen, that slot is coveted and I don't feel like fighting to pour my home town beer. So that leaves me with Stone as my goal. Maybe someday.

Arrogant Bastard is one of my favorite beers. I love the challenge that Stone issues to their drinkers. "Try this beer, I dare you, you probably won't like it, it's too much for you, but go ahead and try it." Just go to the website and see for yourself. Some beers make big statements and can't follow through. Arrogant Bastard is not one of them. This beer is a hop punch in the mouth. Arrogant Bastard will ruin your mouth for other beers, so plan on drinking it all night. This beer takes dedication and courage. It doesn't let up in flavor. There's no watery, mellow finish, no touch of weakness. This beer is aptly named.

Every time I look at their site I go to their apparel store. I want everything in there. Seriously. Keith and I send each other links to the items we want and then lament the fact that we can't really afford to buy everything we want. It's a oddly enjoyable torture. If you like strong, knock your palate out beer, go get you some Stone. I recommend the Arrogant Bastard or the Ruination IPA. Do it at your own palate peril, though if you are like me you'll love every minute of it.

Beer Month Day 23: Avery India Pale Ale

2010-04-28T10:18:00.000-07:00

Avery Brewing is a small brewery in Boulder, Colorado with a wide selection of beers. Their IPA poured a hazy golden color with a fluffy white head. It had a hoppy citrus aroma. While the hop profile doesn't compare in strength to the California IPAs I'm used it was the dominant flavor at 69 IBU. The citrus I smelled was in the flavor as well with a malty finish.

This beer was good and very drinkable but I didn't find anything special here. There isn't a lot of complexity and it isn't very unique. I imagine it would pair nicely with a meal that a hoppier IPA would overpower, something like fish or herb chicken.

Mission 1: Beer 25 - Mammoth 395 IPA

2010-04-27T14:27:00.000-07:00

There are specific days I have looked forward to in the beer calendar we made. They are nearly all IPAs. I'm funny that way. Mammoth 395 Double IPA, isn't my favorite IPA ever, but it's still an IPA so I was happy to have it.

The bottle says that 395 is a double IPA. I don't believe them. It definitely tastes more like a simple IPA to me. The double IPA is supposed to have more malt flavor and twice the hops power. That wasn't the case with 395. It is a good IPA and has a nice sharp, clean hop flavor with a hint of juniper and sage. The juniper and sage are what make the beer I think. The combination of the juniper and sage gives the 395 an herb taste. This flavor was strongest at the finish for me. I prefer a citrusy hop finish to a piney hop finish in general so this herby finish was a nice change of pace.

I think the 395 needs to go back to the recipe book to reach that true double IPA flavor. If you ignore the label and just enjoy the beer you will be pleased with this IPA.

Beer Month Day 22: 2009 Celebration Ale

2010-04-27T10:32:00.000-07:00

While I'm not ready to make the definitive statement about Celebration Ale that Stephanie did it is easily one of my favorites. After taking the first sip I asked Stephanie "why have we been drinking all those other beers?" I've enjoyed beer month and I enjoy trying new beers but Celebration really blows most of the beers we've tried out of the water. The complexity and balance of this IPA is fantastic. Celebration is a seasonal offering from Sierra Nevada and is available through the winter months.

Our Celebration poured an amber color with a fluffy white head. It started out with a mix of piney and citrusy hops, moved to a smooth malty flavor with a hint of spice, and a bitter hop aftertaste. Celebration isn't ideal for a hot summer day, but it almost makes me look forward to the rainy winter months.

Mission 1: Beer 24 - Rubicon Irish Red Ale

2010-04-26T14:42:00.000-07:00

It is so hard to find a good red ale these days. There are not many breweries that make them. I was so excited that one of my favorite breweries, Rubicon, has one! Rubicon is a small brewery near the capitol in Sacramento. The food is great, the beer is great and the atmosphere is pure California pub.

We were supposed to go to Sacramento for a day trip to visit Rubicon and Pyramid, but fate conspired against us and we had to cancel the trip. Don't feel too bad for us. We were treated to dinner at a great Japanese steakhouse and karaoke at the bar in our home town. We spent the evening with my family and their best friends the Comptons. It was a good time. I must say though, I am very glad that I am of strong will and not easily embarrassed. Dinner with my family and the Comptons always turns into drunken laughter over horridly inappropriate jokes and behavior. Mostly the behavior is on the part of my dad and Craig Compton, but Cassy and I can't stay out of the fray too long. Needless to say I have great memories of the evening and am not likely to forget it any time soon.

We got home fairly early and lounged on the couch drinking the most delicious red ale I have ever had! Rubicon really knows how to please people's palates. Their restaurant has great food and their beer is excellent. I am a huge fan. The red ale poured a lovely cooper amber color. The roasted malt added a nutty, mellow quality to balance the aggressive hop flavor Rubicon brews have. I love the nutty, smooth quality the red ale had without being sweet.

With beer names like Monkey Knife Fight (their pale ale) and Hop Sauce (double IPA and my personal favorite) there is a lot to appreciate about Rubicon Brewing. I would strongly suggest you include it on your list of things to do in Sacramento. You'll thank me for it. Photo of Rubicon brewery by brewpublic.com

Mission 1: Beer 23 - Avery IPA

2010-04-26T14:30:00.000-07:00

Avery IPA is not my favorite IPA ever. I probably wouldn't buy it unless it was the only IPA in stock. It just doesn't measure up to my IPA standard. It is too well balanced, too bland, too, well, boring. IPAs should light up your palate. They should leave your mouth feeling fresh and piney.

The Avery IPA is a neat package with little acutal substance. The bottle is cool but the beer is mediocre. The only thing that I found interesting was the unusal fruity after taste, not citrus, not berry, maybe apple. That I found interesting, but even that wasn't strong enough to warrant too much notice. I didn't hate it. I haven't found an IPA I hate yet. I don't think I will be eager to try it again though. It just didn't quite make it to the levels of Torpedo, Racer 5 or Ruination.

Mission 1: Beer 22 - Celebration Ale

2010-04-26T12:43:00.000-07:00

Celebration Ale is the best beer ever made. Period. End of story. I have been waiting for this beer all month! Cele (pronounced Sell-y around here) is a seasonal brew from Sierra Nevada. It typically comes out around my birthday, Halloween. It's like Sierra Nevada is giving me a gift every year. My friends know to bring a box with them to my house when we are having a gathering. It is pretty much all I drink from October to January, longer if I can stock pile. A few years back, for my birthday, everyone who brought beer brought me a box of Celebration, I have never loved my friends more.

I think everyone has that beer, or drink, that just goes right to their happy place. Whether it's the taste of the beer itself or the memories made while drinking with friends, everyone has that one special beer. Celebration is mine. The Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas gambit is my favorite time of year. I wear jeans and sweatshirts, hang out with my huge family and drink Celebration. We take it by the case to our family gatherings.

So now that you understand how much I LOVE this beer we can move on to the taste. Celebration is a seasonal brew and as such is subject to change from year to year. The flavor is just a little different every year. I am a hop head, I love a bitter, fresh, hoppy beer. Celebration is what really started me off on that path. When I first tried it, back in 2001 or 2002, it was the most powerful beer I had ever had. The piney, hop flavor punched you right in the mouth. That punch stays until the end. Just a hint of malt smoothness comes through at the end to soften the blow.

That is how it used to be anyway. The last three or four years I have noticed a more balanced flavor to the Celebration. The power punch of hops has receded from an Ali or Lennox level knock out to perhaps a Chris Brown level. I am all for balance in my life, but leave it out of my Celebration! I still love this beer, it is still the best.

I wouldn't recommend that all you habitual Coors, MGD, or Corona drinkers take on a Celebration. It's too big for you, maybe when you're older and can drink big kid beer you should give it a try. I was so happy to have this beer in April, but I was so sad to drink my last one, knowing I have to wait until October to have another!

Beer Month Day 21: Bard's Gold

2010-04-26T12:20:00.000-07:00

Bard's Gold is a vegan beer made from sorghum instead of wheat, barley, oats or rye like most beers. As many as three million Americans have celiac disease, and even more have less extreme versions of gluten intolerance. I often season my gluten with more gluten, but we tried Bard's for everyone who's body hates ~~flavor~~ gluten.

This lager style beer had a floral aroma and poured a clear golden color. Bard's is the only sorghum beer I know of and it has an unique flavor. It tasted sweet and a bit grainy with a hint of carmel. There's not much hop flavor and overall Bard's is pretty thin. The malt-like flavor is not bad, but it is very odd. If the choice is between not having beer and chronic diarrhea I would have Bard's again. Thankfully that is not a choice I have to make so I think I'll skip Bard's in the future.

*Sorghum photo by jdpage

Mission 1: Beer 21 - Bard's Gold

2010-04-23T13:43:00.000-07:00

Bard's Gold is the beer our friend Jenney recommended, Bard's Gold is the only gluten-free beer on our list. That makes it unique.

This is one of the only beers Keith and I have consumed separately. He had his during dinner and I had mine after rehearsal. I love the label. I am a sucker for labels and advertising. I like how simple it is, it's so clean. I have been looking forward to this beer for the simple fact that it's different. I had no idea what to expect. This is a first for me. The previous beers were different takes on a specific style, brown ale, IPA, stout and so on. This beer is completely different, it's gluten-free. It is made with malted sorghum. It still has hops and yeast, but no barley. Sorghum is basically a type of grass. They use it to make all sorts of things that need gluten-free substitutes.

I liked the beer. It had a subtle, sweet flavor. More saccharine sweet that any other beer I have ever had. It tasted more like table sugar had been used. It had a very low hop impact and the yeast flavor was there but very mild. I think that if I couldn't tolerate gluten and wanted a beer I would definitely reach for a Bard's. As a lover of all things gluten-filled I am going to stick with my barley malt beers.

Mission 1: Beer 20 - Twentieth

2010-04-23T10:40:00.000-07:00

Ah yes 4/20, if we had been thinking we would have purchased Hemp Ale, or maybe one of the beers from Weed, CA. We were not thinking about the MJ holiday when we made our calendar. We match beers with numbers in their names to the date that corresponds, we're clever like that.

I very much enjoyed my April 20, 2010. I worked, had lunch with my handsome, wonderful husband, went to Spiteri's and had pitchers and food with the boys, then birthday dinner for cousin John, ending the evening with Idol and beer with my sisters-in-law. It was a nice day. We took our bottle of Twentieth over to their house.

Twentieth is made by North Coast Brewing Coompany in honor of their twentieth anniversary. It is an oak barrel aged Belgian style ale. I didn't like it. Agave nectar was also an addition to this beer. It poured out a pretty color, light gold and the bottle is neat. I like the label. That is about all I can say in a positive way about this beer.

I am so glad the North Coast Brewing Company exists. I love most of their beers. Twentieth wasn't one of them.

Beer Month Day 20: Twentieth Anniversary Ale

2010-04-23T09:30:00.000-07:00

The saleswoman at the brewery practically warned me that I wouldn't like this beer. She doesn't know that I'm a little odd and don't mind spending a bunch of money on a big bottle of beer that I won't like. It's more about the experience for me, and trying a rare and unique beer is my idea of a good time even if I don't end up liking it.

The dire warnings about North Coast's Twentieth Anniversary Ale were well founded. This is an odd beer that probably turns a lot of people off.

XX is a unique beer, pale and lightly hopped, brewed with agave nectar and fermented with a special yeast strain. Some of the lots were aged in oak barrels and then blended to perfection so the final is a complex, subtle new direction in brewing art.

We could smell the agave as the beer was poured. It poured a clear golden color and in addition to the agave it had a floral odor with a hint of apples and white wine. The flavor was crisp and alcoholic, almost like white wine. This white wine flavor verged on a tequila flavor with the agave influence. The high yeast and alcohol content with the agave and lack of hops didn't make for a good blend for me. It's great to see North Coast experiment though, and I hope they continue to make interesting beers for many years to come.

Mission 1: Beer 19 - Midas Touch

2010-04-22T11:07:00.000-07:00

Most people know the story of King Midas. The man gifted with the golden touch after returning the wayward Selinus to Bacchus. Midas himself didn't have much to do with alcohol, but Bacchus and Selinus did. The story of how Dogfish Head came to make the beer is far more interesting.

A little over ten years ago the contents of King Midas's tomb, mostly dishes, were chemically analyzed. What they found in the drinking cups would eventually become Midas Touch beer. This beer is based on a 27,000 year old recipe. It is possibly the oddest ingredient list I have eve heard of for a beer. Then again, Dogfish Head is one of the most experimental breweries in the US, maybe even the world. I think it is entirely possible they would have worked their way around to using muscat grapes, honey and saffron in a beer someday.

Midas Touch has a very wine like flavor, undoubtedly from the grapes and honey they use. It has a very light flavor, a little spicy but overall it is a subtle beer. It doesn't really taste like beer. There is a slight malt flavor at the beginning but that is about the only thing that says "I'm a beer." Dogfish Head is big on recreating historical booze. I am pretty sure they are working on,or may have finished, an Aztec chocolate, chili beer.

This beer was interesting. I wouldn't run out to the store to buy it for everyday drinking, but I am very glad I tried it. I can now say I know what King Midas drank and roughly how it tasted. That's pretty cool.

Beer Month Day 19: Midas Touch

2010-04-22T10:47:00.000-07:00

This recipe is the actual oldest-known fermented beverage in the world. The recipe showcases the known ingredients of barley, white Muscat grapes, honey & saffron found in the drinking vessels in King Midas’ tomb. Somewhere between a beer, wine and mead, this smooth, dry ale will please with Chardonnay or I.P.A. drinker alike.

...

This recipe is the actual oldest-known fermented beverage in the world! It is an ancient Turkish recipe using the original ingredients from the 2700 year old drinking vessels discovered in the tomb of King Midas. Somewhere between wine & mead; this smooth, sweet, yet dry ale will please the Chardonnay of beer drinker alike.

Beer from King Midas' tomb? This is why I love Dogfish Head, they're always pushing the boundaries of craft beer. Whether its their seriously over-hopped 90 Minute IPA that we'll be trying later this month or their brown ale aged in wood barrels made from the Paraguayan holy tree that we tried on Day 9 they keep experimenting and the results are usually delicious.

Midas Touch poured a golden yellow color and had odors of spices, fruit and honey. This is a very unique beer with an odd spicy flavor; hints of papaya, banana and grape; and a mead or white wine quality to it. Sweet and spicy flavors dominated with an alcoholic burn from the 9% ABV.

This beer was an interesting experience but I don't know that I'll buy it again. I'm not big on mead or white wine but the story behind this brew is worth the price alone.

Beer Month Day 18: Sapporo

2010-04-22T08:49:00.000-07:00

Sapporo is a rice lager named after the city it originated in: Sapporo, Japan. This is one of a couple departures we took from American craft beers to add some international flavor. I don't know if Sapporo is a good representation of Japanese beer, but it is probably the best known Japanese beer in the US.

I think Sapporo compares favorably to American macro-lagers. It didn't have the dirty dishwater aftertaste you get with Coors or Budweiser. It was very smooth and very easy to drink. Like its American counterparts it is mostly flavorless and really doesn't compare to the craft beer selection that we're used to at Operation Monthly.

Sapporo isn't something I'm planning on drinking often, but if I'm having some sushi and the choice is between it and sake I'll gladly order a Sapporo.

Mission 1: Beer 18 - Sapporo

2010-04-21T22:05:00.000-07:00

Sapporo is one of the most boring beers I have ever had. I am not even sure where to begin. The can was cool and surprisingly sturdy. The beer was just a complete waste. We drank this beer while Keith's sister Jen made us dinner. Keith's sister is not big on beer. Her wife Karen however loves beer so we shared the Sapporo with them. They didn't like it either. Jen made carne asada and veggies. It was delicious. Keith and I taught them how to play Shanghai Rummy and we drank beer that we like. Karen drank Kellerweis and I drank Apricot Ale.

Drinking a beer every night has now become routine. That is actually the easy part now. Even though I don't always want to drink alcohol I can totally put down a half a glass. Some beers are harder than others. We are beyond the half way point and there have only been a couple beers I just couldn't drink. I have liked most of the beers. I have been surprised by how much I liked some of them. I have not been surprised by how difficult it is to keep up on our posts. I am desperately trying to get caught up this week.

Beer Month Day 17: Bigfoot 2010

2010-04-21T09:16:00.001-07:00

I liked Sierra Nevada's Bigfoot so much that I immediately ran out and got a tattoo. OK, well maybe not quite that much...but it is one of my favorite beers.

Bigfoot pours a dark reddish brown with a strong aroma of malts and hops. It has a robust alcoholic flavor that is wonderfully complex. It is well balanced in the sense that everything about this beer is big. It is very sweet, hoppy, and malty; all at the same time.

It seems to me that Sierra Nevada has mellowed out Bigfoot just a little bit each year. Maybe I'm just getting used to it but I remember Bigfoot being much harder to drink. It now has a much nicer balance than years past when the hops would punch you in the face and the alcoholic burn would follow with a kick. I've stashed a six pack in my basement for comparison with future releases.

Mission 1: Beer 17 - Bigfoot

2010-04-20T13:40:00.000-07:00

I love Sierra Nevada. I know I am from Chico and that makes me biased but that doesn't make it any less true. Sierra Nevada has so many beers to choose from, one for every palate. Bigfoot is a Chico favorite. Everyone has a "I can drink this many Bigfoots without blacking out" claim. I myself have topped out at four without puking or blacking out. I was seriously drunk though! It was also over the course of an entire evening of partying.

Bigfoot is a barley wine. The Bigfoot we had was bottled in 2010. There are some beers that are always changing in flavor, Celebration and Bigfoot are the first to come to mind. Bigfoot is different every year. It always has that huge hop flavor that punches you right in the mouth. It is a hugely flavorful beer. Some years, when the AVB is higher the alcohol finish can some what taint that pure flavor, but not this year. I thought this years Bigfoot was remarkably smooth and easy to drink. Maybe that's because it's only at 9.6% AVB this year.

I can't say that the smoothness is all the lower AVB though. Celebration (my favorite beer ever) has also been getting progressively smoother. Maybe it's a sign of Sierra Nevada perfecting the recipe, maybe it's an attempt to appeal to the bigger market. Either way Bigfoot is a beautiful barley wine.

Beer Month Day 16: Acai Berry Wheat

2010-04-20T10:48:00.000-07:00

Day 16 brought us Eel River's Acai Berry Wheat and it brought me a case of the sinus crud. The two don't mix well. Doctors rarely prescribe beer and I wasn't really feeling up to drinking anything alcoholic. Sometimes you have to go to war with sinus congestion you have, not the sinus congestion you might want...or something like that...clearly the copious amount of snot has leaked into my brain.

I bravely sacrificed my health for you, our loyal reader, and gave the Acai Berry Wheat a try. My illness was effecting my sense of taste so my review of this beer is useless. I couldn't taste much of anything. It tasted like a very light wheat beer to me and I couldn't find a hint of any kind of berry. I've had this beer before and remember enjoying the berry taste so my taste buds were clearly not functioning correctly.

Mission 1: Beer 16 - Acai Berry Wheat

2010-04-19T12:31:00.000-07:00

There are a few beers on our list that are a part of my normal beer buying routine. Eel River Brewery's Acai Berry Wheat is one of them. I love Eel River Brewery. They are located in Fortuna, CA. I love everything about them. The make great beer, great food and they have natural pest control. Cats. That's right, cats! There are a few cute, friendly cats roaming the restaurant and beer garden. They don't get on the tables or really come too close to you, they mostly lie around in the sun. It was something I have never seen before.

The Acai berry is the latest super fruit. It is everywhere. I love the juice, although it is so tart I prefer it mixed with something like cranberry juice. Keith prefers blueberry-acai juice combos. I would not have thought to mix acai with beer. I would think that the extreme tart flavor of the berries would pair badly with yeasty, bitter beer. Wheat beer seems to be the only variety that would work.

This beer is subtle. When you first drink you notice the crisp wheat taste, perhaps there's a little more bite than normal. The finish is all berry, with almost no yeast taste at all. I drink this beer year round, but I love it in the summer. The Eel River is an organic brewery, their slogan says it all "Be Natural, Drink Naked." It is my favorite beer slogan ever! I also think it's great advice.

Beer Month Day 15: Murphy's Stout

2010-04-18T17:15:00.000-07:00

We have had good luck with the darker beers so far so I was optomistic about Murphy's Stout. That optimism immediately began to fade as we poured it and I got a whiff of its strong coffee odor. It poured a dark brown with a toffee colored head. It looked thick and creamy, partly due to the nitrogen ball used instead of normal carbonation.

The Murphy's stout started out with an ashy roasted malt flavor. It then moved to a coffee flavored finish with a hint of bitter dark chocolate. The stout I have the most experience with is Guinness and I didn't like Murphy's nearly as much as I like Guinness on tap. However, Murphy's reminded me of Guinness out of the bottle which I do not like.

Mission 1: Beer 15 - Murphy's Stout

2010-04-15T23:25:00.000-07:00

I don't like it. I was feeling really good after the Taddy Porter. I was thinking that I could handle the Murphy's, but I was wrong.

It pours out black with a mocha head. That was my favorite part, pouring it out. It has a nitrogen ball in it to make it pour correctly. It starts out cloudy and swirly brown then settles into clear black. It is really cool to look at. I would pour it for anyone just to watch it. Just don't make me drink it.

It has a smooth start, maybe a hint of chocolate, but the finish is all coffee. I think that at this point it is safe to say I don't like stouts. Porters I can handle, but please keep stouts away from me. I think this may mean I can only call myself a beer lover, not a beer snob or even connoisseur. It is sad.

Trying to keep up with my posts has been the most difficult part of this whole process. The thing about doing something everyday for the purpose of sharing it with other people is that you have to share it! Who knew. Over the weekend I ended up much busier than I had planned and fell way behind. I am writing tonight as I drink, I feel very accomplished right now. Goodnight.

Beer Month Day 14: Honey Red Ale

2010-04-15T14:58:00.000-07:00

This beer was confusing. Before opening it I tried to pull up the URI printed on the bottle, www.redbranchcompany.com, and a webmail interface came up. After some googling I found a company claiming to make day fourteen's beer: Rabbit's Foot Meadery. Fair enough, must be a small brewery that hasn't worked out their web identity yet. Then I poured the beer and it wasn't really red, it was more of a golden orange color. Then I tasted it. Even with honey in the name, and even coming from a meadery, I couldn't imagine how this was a red ale. Red ales usually have a roasted malt flavor and this tasted like a watered down mead. I googled up the interwebs some more and found a few scant mentions on sites like Beer Advocate and none of the reviews sounded like what we were drinking. At this point I'm starting to wonder if this was mis-bottled.

I enjoyed this beer, it just wasn't at all what I was expecting. It had a sweet and alcoholic flavor like a mead or white wine and pretty much none of the roasted malt flavor I was expecting. The few meads I've tried were a bit much for me, tasting too much like wine. The Honey Red Ale was like a lighter, more beer-like version of the meads I've tried and I enjoyed this balance. If anyone has had this beer before please let us know what your experience was. I'm curious to know what the story is with this beer and if this was really supposed to be a red ale.

Mission 1: Beer 14 - Honey Red Ale

2010-04-15T13:05:00.000-07:00

Red Ale!! I love red ales. They are hard to find. Not many breweries have one that they mass produce. Sierra Nevada for example did a limited edition red ale called Red Taxi that was only sold on tap at the pub. I loved it. I was peeved that Sierra Nevada didn't bottle it or continue to make it. I only had two pints! I still pine for it, obviously. I insisted that we get a couple red ales for Operation Monthly if we could find them. We only found two and bought them both.

The Honey Red we had was unlike any red ale I have ever had. Red ales are essentially pale ales with roasted malt added. The roasted malt adds a mellow sweetness, a light nutty quality to soften the hop punch. The particular red ale was made by a company that makes mead, Rabbit's Foot Meadery.

I was so excited to have red ale and had been thinking about it all day. When Keith poured it and brought it to me it was a beautiful copper color. Despite my excitement, I had a headache and wasn't quite ready to drink alcohol so I let it sit there for a bit. When I finally drank it, I was so disappointed! It tasted like mead. I was expecting the honey flavor, but it actually felt like drinking wine. It tasted like someone poured mead into my beer while I wasn't looking. It wasn't awful, but it wasn't a red ale either. The mead taste completely covered the nutty, hoppy flavor red ale should have. In my opinion red ales are the perfect balance of hop and malt flavor. None of that balance was evident in this beer.

I like mead. I like honey flavored ales. There is a local brewery that makes one that I really like. I don't like mead ale. Mead and Ale are two different kinds of alcohol and should stay in their corners.The only thing I liked about this beer was the bottle and the label art. I am a sucker for pin-up art. If you are curious about red ales, skip this one.

Mission 1: Beer 13 - Audacious

2010-04-14T23:05:00.000-07:00

I was so stoked for tonight's beer. I have loved Apricot Ale, now known as Audacious, since the first time I tried it. It is probably one of the beers I drink most often. We always have some in our fridge.

I have one small problem with Pyramid Brewery at the moment. They are one of my favorite breweries, their food is great and their beer is even better. However they are breaking a cardinal rule: if it ain't broke, don't fix it! They are currently completely re-branding their beers. Apricot Ale is now "Audacious," as if an alliteration will attract more buyers! Their labels used to be clean and clever. The new labels are clumsy and ridiculous. Who drinks beer while biking, or surfing. It makes them look like energy drinks. I loved the old labels, so much in fact that I have always wanted a Curve Ball tap. The Curve Ball label now has a guy playing FRISBEE on it, not a baseball as the name implies! You knew what you were getting with the old labels, the pyramids clearly visible, the beers name evidenced in a subtle clever way. I am posting a picture of the old Snow Cap and Apricot Ale labels and some of the new stupid labels to prove my point.

Pryamid can't seem to pull their heads out of their asses when it comes to their branding and advertising. They still make one hell of a beer though. I refuse to call it "Audacious," never the less, the Apricot Ale is tops. It is so refreshing and crisp. The apricot flavor stays with you. It is technically a hefeweizen, but that yeast taste is beautifully masked by the apricot. It's still there but it is well balanced. Anyone who likes a nice, light, fruity beer should pick up the Apricot Ale.

Beer Month Day 13: Audacious Apricot

2010-04-14T20:37:00.000-07:00

I've had Pyramid's Apricot Ale before. It was the first fruity beer that I liked. Until Pyramid I assumed all fruity beers were bad after tasting a few duds from other breweries. Pyramid has since renamed this beer Audacious Apricot Ale and it continues to please.

I'm not sure what most other breweries are thinking with their fruity beers. The fruit flavor never comes out tasting like their namesake fruit. You end up with weird artificial fruit flavors that ruin the beer. The apricot flavor in Pyramid's Apricot Ale tastes like actual apricots. It is a hefeweizen and one of my favorite versions of the style. I also like Pyramid's Haywire Hefeweizen; I imagine their recipes are similar. The apricot and hefeweizen flavors are really well balanced making for a very tasty and refreshing beer.

Beer Month Day 12: Taddy Porter

2010-04-14T10:30:00.000-07:00

Like Newcastle, Samuel Smith Brewery has been making beer in England for approximately eleventy billion years. Stephanie and I were both hesitant about Samuel Smith's Taddy Porter. Neither of us drink a lot of porters or stouts but we added it to the list for some variety and to expand our horizons a bit.

The Taddy Porter poured a dark brown and had a sweet coffee smell. It had a smokey coffee flavor with a caramel finish. The coffee flavor that is usually characteristic of porters and stouts is the main reason I avoid them. Surprisingly despite the coffee flavor in the Taddy Porter I actually enjoyed it. I think the caramel finish really mellowed it and left a nice aftertaste.

Honestly, if you gave me a Taddy Porter and told me it was a Guinness I might believe you. My porter/stout palate is completely unrefined. I occasionally enjoy a Guinness on tap and after trying the Taddy Porter I will be more open to try other porters in the future. I have a feeling that the relatively mellow flavors of the English imports we've tried may be characteristic of UK brews...a porter from a California micro-brewery may still be a bit much for me.

Mission 1: Beer 12 - Taddy Porter

2010-04-13T15:20:00.000-07:00

There are a number of beers on our list that I am afraid of. I am the kind of person that sticks to what I like. I enjoy experiments, but in truth my experiments are never that far out of my comfort zone. Porters and stouts are outside my comfort zone and we have a few on our list. Beers that have coffee, espresso or creamy in the description are a turn off. Beer number twelve was certainly a lesson in why I should experiment more often and more broadly.

Taddy Porter from Samuel Smith's Old Brewery was a beer that I was not pleased to buy. I really was not thrilled by the prospect of drinking a porter and the purchase only happened because we felt we needed to have a variety of styles for our mission. It poured out nearly black in color with a walnut colored head. It had a moderate coffee scent and I almost put it down and refused to drink it. I hate coffee. Seriously. I tried to like it when Starbucks was first getting really popular and all the cool kids drank mochas. I lasted for part of my eighth grade year before I gave it up. Coffee is my beverage nemesis. Lucky for me and my mission the Taddy Porter only smelled of coffee. The taste was smooth and malty with a nice caramel finish. I was shocked. I liked it.

I am noticing that when it comes to the dark beers (browns, porters, stouts) I prefer the English imports to the American craft brews. In truth the English beer taste like the watered down versions of the American beers I have tried. I wonder however if they only taste watered down because they are not overly flavored with hints of this and notes of that. The flavor is simple, coming in easily identifiable layers. The Taddy Porter has a clear begining, middle and finish.

Much like the Newcastle, I won't be drinking the Taddy Porter frequently, but I certainly won't be afraid to experiment on English imports anymore!

Beer Month Day 11: Red Tail Ale

2010-04-13T10:04:00.001-07:00

The flagship ship of Mendocino Brewing Company was drinkable but it didn't really do anything for me. Red Tail Ale poured a amber color and smelled sweet and malty. The malts dominated the watery flavor with a touch of citrusy hops. This malt flavor had a muddy washed out taste with a bit of caramel, reminiscent of ice tea.

Like I said, this beer is drinkable. It just doesn't have much of the flavors I like, and the the flavors that are there seemed a bit off to me.

Mission 1: Beer 11 - Red Tail Ale

2010-04-12T14:34:00.000-07:00

Sunday was a busy day! Our friends Storey and Marcus got engaged over the weekend and were on their way home from Mendocino so we had to hurry to get their welcome home present set up. Then it was off to MacBeth rehearsals for me and dinner with the Adams clan right after rehearsals. We got home at a decent time, around nine o'clock actually, but we were so tired. It has been a long couple of weeks and the exhaustion seems to be taking over. We arrived home and went to the fridge to open beer number eleven, Red Tail Ale.

Red Tail Ale is made by the Mendocino Brewing Company. It is not our favorite brewery. It hurts me a little to put that thought in writing, but it's true. They use two different kinds of malted barley and two different hops. I blame the use of two different kinds of malted barley combined with their "special proprietary yeast strain" for the overly earthy almost dirt like taste. It just doesn't taste right. My sister-in-law loves it, so does my father-in-law. I think that the bottle we drank is one that my sister-in-law brought over to our house.

Don't get me wrong, I drank it all. I didn't hate it. I just don't really like it. There are so many other "clean" tasting beers that I prefer. If you like Lagunitas, you will love Red Tail Ale. They have very similar qualities.

Mission 1: Beer 10 - Brother Thelonious

2010-04-11T23:30:00.000-07:00

We finally reached our tenth beer, Brother Thelonious from North Coast Brewing Co.! Keith and I love Fort Bragg and go there whenever we are able. One of our favorite places to eat once we are there is the North Coast Brewery. The food is excellent and the beers are delicious and the atmosphere is classic Fort Bragg. I love the slow, easy pace there, it's like life slows down just a bit. We almost always get the beer sampler so that we don't have to choose which beer we want until we have tried them all.

The Brother Thelonious is a relatively new brew for North Coast. North Coast makes great beer, but unlike Sierra Nevada or Dogfish Head they don't experiment much. Brother Thelonious is the newest creation but has been available for a few years. The bottle says it's a "Belgian Style Abbey Ale" but the website says it's a "Belgian Dark Strong Ale" whatever it is, I like it. I was nervous about this one. A beer that comes in a wine-esque bottle and has a cork is usually too dark and malty for me. Brother Thelonious poured out a clear brown color reminiscent of Pepsi or Coke. It was just as bubbly as soda too. The taste was very mellow for a beer with a 9.3% AVB. It was very drinkable.

Most people don't know this, but I can't drink alcohol while eating. It's a very odd thing, but it's true. I will open a beer before dinner and then switch to water while eating, going back to my beer once the meal is finished. I may sip my beer, but I have to have something non-alcoholic while eating. Weird. The reason I bring this quirk of mine up is that I was able to drink the Brother Thelonious during dinner. Although I didn't drink much, I didn't feel like I had to get up and get water or a soda. I was rather amazed actually.

I most likely would not drink Brother Thelonious regularly, but I thought it was tasty. I also enjoy the benefit of my beer drinking doing something good for the world. A portion of the sales of Brother Thelonious are donated to the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz.The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz is a nonprofit education organization. It was founded by the Monk family and Maria Fisher, an opera singer. Its mission is to offer the world's most promising young musicians college level training by America's jazz masters and to present public school-based jazz education programs for young people around the world. All of these programs are offered free of charge to the students and schools. So you should go and get a bottle, enjoy the beer and help some kids get the musical education they desire!

Beer Month Day 10: Brother Thelonious

2010-04-11T23:25:00.000-07:00

I have some catching up to do. We drank Brother Thelonious on Saturday and I'm just now getting around to writing about it. I've found that drinking beer every day isn't hard. Writing about it every day is a bit more difficult. I've slacked off the last few days so now it's time to get back into it.

We bought the big bottle of Brother Thelonious on our last trip to North Coast Brewery along with their 20th Anniversary Ale that we'll be drinking in another week. Visiting North Coast is always a priority when we make a trip to Fort Bragg. Stephanie and I have been to a lot of breweries and North Coast is one of our favorites.

The Brother Thelonious poured a clear dark brown with lots of bubbles. It smelled strong, malty and sweet. A 9.4% Belgium style ale has no business being so smooth and delicious. I didn't take notes and I drank this beer a couple days ago so I can't provide minute details but I really enjoyed this beer. It had a fantastic balance of malt, hops and yeast with a very complex flavor. My recommendation may be a bad indication of how true this brew is to the Abbey/Belgium style since I'm usually not a fan but I thought Brother Thelonious was fantastic. And just look at that label, that has to be one of the coolest looking beer bottles out there!

Mission 1: Beer 9 - Palo Santo Marron

2010-04-11T23:19:00.000-07:00

We had beer number nine while eating dinner with our friend Sam. We were quickly eating our Chicken Satay so that we could make the second night of my friend Duch's show Keeper of Fury. Duch wrote and directed the show. I wanted to buy him flowers to give to him after the show so I was in a hurry to get going.

We drank the Palo Santo during dinner which was a first for us during this project. The Palo Santo Marron is a brown ale. A very strong brown ale at 12% AVB. You can taste every percent of that alcohol. I had the same reaction to this beer as I did to the Old Stock. I didn't like it and barely managed to drink any of it. I dumped the rest of mine into Keith's glass as a matter of fact.

I have stated before that I am a IPA fan, a hop-head, a lover of the bitter. I have had strong ales and double IPAs with ABVs that were almost as high as Palo Santo Marron and consumed them with glee. I can't however seem to tolerate the malt heavy, sweet beers with a high AVB. The combination makes my head shake and my face look like the inspiration for the bitter beer face commercial. I always thought that commercial was funny, but inaccurate. I get the malty beer face. I just can't seem to like them.

I keep hoping that I will find a malt heavy beer that I will like enough to drink the entire bottle. I guess I am going to have to turn in my beer snob club membership card until I do.

Beer Month Day 9: Palo Santo Marron

2010-04-11T23:13:00.000-07:00

Dogfish Head Brewery is known for their gutsy experimental brews. Their Palo Santo Marron is a great example of this. This 12% ABV brown ale was an experience. It poured a dark opaque blackish brown with a brown head. Dogfish Head describes it as having a caramel and vanilla complexity, but this beer is so over the top and so complex I had a hard time picking out any particular flavors. The flavor was defintely dominated by roasted malts. This beer has all the nutty, earthy malt flavors that our previous brown ale Newcastle was missing, and then some. I can understand the caramel description, it was definitely sweet...maybe even a molasses flavor. The bottle also states that this brew is aged in wood barrels and you can taste this influence. The Palo Santo Marron would likely pair a lot better with steak than it did with the chicken satay we had for dinner. I wouldn't drink something so strong and overwhelming on a regular basis but I enjoyed giving this unique brew a try.

Mission 1: Beer 8 - Pacifico

2010-04-09T23:21:00.000-07:00

I drank my Pacifico at 10:45 last night. Keith enjoyed his while playing poker with the boys, I had MacBeth rehearsals.The show is going well thus far. Unfortunately somebody came into the building while we were rehearsing and stole my friend Delisa's bike. Asshole!

I pretty much only drink Pacifico at Mexican restaurants, so drinking it at home is an interesting experience. I really like Pacifico. I don't think I have ever poured it into a glass. When I got home I went to the fridge, pulled out my Pacifico, opened it and flopped down on the couch. Once I was seated watching the end of the Mentalist I realized that I hadn't poured it out into one of our wedding or brewfest glasses. I was comfy on the couch so I didn't bother to get up to pour it into a glass.

I have never been to Mexico but the first thing I want to do when I get there is lay on the beach with a book and an ice cold Pacifico. I know that sounds dangerously close to a commercial for Pacifico but it's the truth.

Beer Month Day 8: Pacifico

2010-04-09T10:16:00.000-07:00

There is a time and place for Pacifico. Poker night isn't it. The proper environment for Pacifico involves a bucket full of ice nestled in a sandy beach on a hot day.

Pacifico is a Mexican lager. Compared to the other Mexican lagers Pacifico is my favorite, and I give the Mexican lagers a slight edge over the US made macro-brewery lagers. Compared to most other beers, it is crap.

I didn't bother pouring the Pacifico into a glass. Like I said, Pacifico is meant for a hot beach and you drink from the bottle on a hot beach. As you can imagine it is the same pale fizzy yellow color as other Mexican lagers. Where Pacifico departs from the likes of Coronoa, Sol and Tecate is that it actually has some nice flavors hiding in there. It has some citrus flavors with just a hint of some hops. It absolutely must be cold as the quality degrades quickly as it warms.

I followed the Pacifico with a Sierra Nevada Torpedo and was congratulated on graduating to a real beer from the Sierra Nevada junkies at poker night. The Torpedo tasted like chewing on a Christmas tree compared to the Pacifico and was a needed salvation from my warming lager.

Beer Month Day 7: Kellerweis

2010-04-08T14:08:00.000-07:00

Kellerweis is one of Sierra Nevada's more recent releases. It is a hefeweizen style beer. Hefeweizen is an unfiltered, bottle conditioned variety of wheat beer characterized by low hop content, high carbonation and malty sweetness. Being unfiltered the yeast is left in suspension, adding to it's characteristic flavor and cloudy appearance.

From Sierra Nevada's Kellerweis press release:

Several years ago, the brewers began working with a unique Bavarian hefeweizen yeast strain unknown in this country. This amazingly flavorful yeast was so exciting that they began working on a recipe for a traditional German hefeweizen with the Sierra Nevada twist. Traditional hefeweizen is a style that seems deceptively simple, but in reality is devilishly complex. For years the brewers weren’t satisfied with the beer; something was missing. In a flash of inspiration, an epic trip was arranged. The brewers took a whirlwind tour through the legendary Bavarian wheat breweries to see what they were doing. It was there they realized the advantages of making wheat beer using the traditional system of open fermentation.

...

Using shallow open fermentation, the yeast has space to build layers of flavors and aroma that would otherwise be impossible.

Generally I'm not a big fan of hefeweizens. Although I appreciate the unique and complex flavors they offer I think it's all that yeast that disagrees with my palate. I sometimes even feel a bit congested after drinking a hefeweizen. My uneducated theory is I'm having an immune reaction to all that fungi.

Kellerweis is one of the few (Pyramid's being another) hefeweizens I've enjoyed. It poured a hazy golden color with a large white head. Banana flavor dominates with a hint of clove. This beer is sweet, smooth, and very refreshing.

Mission 1: Beer 7 - Kellerweis

2010-04-08T12:52:00.002-07:00

Beer number seven was Kellerweis! Kellerweis is Sierra Nevada's latest edition to the year round line up, known in Chico as the flagship. I don't know why the year round beers are the flagship, but I like it. Kellerweis is a hefeweizen. I love the Kellerweis but I was sad to see the Wheat go. Sierra Nevada is no longer bottling the Wheat, but you can find Chrystal Wheat on tap at the local bars and restaurants. I have always loved the Wheat, especially when I am out at the bars and don't want anything heavy or on a hot day in August.

I think the Kellerweis is a good beer, but I don't think it was a worthy substitute for the Wheat. The Wheat is a kristallweizen and has a nice clean flavor. The kristallweizen means that it has been filtered and is a clear golden color. I could drink it all day long and not feel full. Kellerweis is a hefeweizen and has strong banana and clove flavors. Hefeweizens are unfiltered and are a cloudy golden color. As you drink it you get that nice yeasty hef taste, followed closely by a strong banana and a clove finish. I hate cloves, so I always try to drink my Kellerweis before it gets warm. When it is cold all you taste is the yeast and the banana. You can smell the cloves as you drink but you can't really taste them. After the beer gets warm however the cloves take over. I love it when it's cold, but after it has gotten warm I won't even pick it back up. The sweetness of the beer is lovely but I never have more than a couple. I always feel like I need to cleanse my palate after having one, so I reach for an IPA.

I would have the Kellerweis as a nice, light dessert beer. It would be a nice end to any spring or summer evening.

Mission 1: Beer 6 - Newcastle

2010-04-07T21:35:00.000-07:00

I have never had Newcastle before. I am not particularly fond of Brown Ales. I enjoy them more than stouts, they lack that creamy coffee or chocolate taste. I was very surprised by Newcastle. I honestly was not expecting to like it at all. It tasted very much like a super dark Pale Ale. It lacked that nutty, sweet flavor that brown ales are known for. Ironically it is the lack of those flavors that makes me like it. I wouldn't buy it to drink for myself, but if someone offered me one I wouldn't refuse.

This mission has been very different than what I had originally envisioned. I love beer and I figured that drinking only a few ounces everyday would not only be easy but very fun. So far it has been fun, but not easy. Despite my love of beer I am not much of a drinker. I drink on the weekend with friends or occasionally when I am cooking dinner. I can count on one hand the number of times I have been drunk in the last five years. I have two jobs and am currently in MacBeth with the Rogue theatre company so I haven't been getting home until later at night. Our beer drinking has started around 10 or 11 o'clock. Most nights I have been tired and not feeling that great, I sit down and think "oh shit, I still have beer to pour, photograph and drink!"

I think that doing something you love everyday is great if it's a choice. It's not so great if it's something you have to get done when you would rather be doing something else. For me this experience has been a lot like the assigned readings when I was in school. I love to read, I do it all the time, but as soon as I was "assigned" a book I couldn't seem to make myself read it. I love to drink beer, but sometimes I just don't want to drink. The entire project has been an adventure. Even when I don't want to drink, I enjoy sitting with Keith and talking about the beer of the day. I have enjoyed the variety of beers that we have had thus far as well. I don't tend to stray too far from my favorites.

The process of pouring and photographing and drinking the beer has been fun. Doing this project with my husband has been great. It is nice to have a shared project. I am very much looking forward to every night of this month, even if it isn't always easy.

Beer Month Day 6: Newcastle Brown Ale

2010-04-07T14:29:00.000-07:00

What can I say about Newcastle Brown Ale that hasn't already been said? Brewed for 85 years in England it is one of the oldest and most popular beers we will drink this month. Popularity has it's price though and with beer that price is usually a very mellow flavor that appeals to the masses. Newcastle is the smoothest brown ale I've tried. Deliciously smooth. And that's why it isn't one of my favorite brown ales. I prefer my brown ales to have more of the nutty and/or earthy malt flavor that is typical of the style. Newcastle is a great session beer, and it's great for someone that normally doesn't drink darker beers who wants to venture out.

The Newcastle poured a clear, dark brown with a light brownish-white head. It smelled sweet with a slight hint of chocolate. The flavor started out somewhat bitter, with a watery finish, and sweet malty aftertaste. Like I said Newcastle is far from my favorite brown ale, but it is often on tap at locations with limited selection and you could definitely do worse.

Mission 1: Beer 5 - Racer 5

2010-04-06T13:46:00.002-07:00

Racer 5 is one of my favorite beers. I am admittedly partial to IPAs and Racer 5 is among the best in that category. This particular beer was consumed before 10 o'clock at night which was a departure from the previous four nights. It was also the first beer on the list that is a favorite to both Keith and myself.

I have loved Racer 5 since my first taste, which I believe came after a random, "let's try something new" selection at the store a few years ago. It has been a very satisfying love affair. The taste is both refreshing and strong, a good balance for an IPA. Most IPAs have a very strong hop profile. When drinking an IPA a person can sometimes feel as though a lovely green hop has walked up and punched them in the mouth. It's delightful.

The Bear Republic Brewing Co., which makes Racer 5 is located in Healdsburg, CA. Most people think of the Sonoma County area (Santa Rosa, Healdsburg, Sebastipol) as wine country. They're right. However, Sonoma County has many craft breweries that a beer lover can enjoy! There are several right in downtown Santa Rosa! Having been to a few of them I would say a craft brew lover would be remiss if they did not tour Sonoma County breweries!

When I poured out the Racer 5 I was thinking about the four beers we have had and how this was the only one I really wanted to drink despite being tired, and not really feeling well. It is a wonderful amber-copper color and I love the way the foam laces the glass as you drink it. Admittedly, I don't pour properly, I try to have as little head as possible, but this time I decided to enjoy that little part of the beer.

There are only a couple beers on our list that I enjoy more than the Racer 5. Out of thirty beers Racer 5 had me the most excited. I like it a lot, but don't drink it a lot. I find that odd. Perhaps it's because I really only drink at bars, which never have it on tap, or house parties, to which I bring beer that I think will be more universally pleasing. Either way, the infrequency of Racer 5 consumption has nothing to do with my enjoyment of this very fine ale!

Beer Month Day 5: Racer 5

2010-04-06T10:20:00.000-07:00

I've had Bear Republic's Racer 5 before and it is one of my favorites. This bottle from the Healdsburg California brewery did not disappoint. Racer 5 is an India Pale Ale, a beer style known for its large hop content. The story goes that in the 18th century the English had to add hops to keep beer from spoiling on the long sea voyage to India. Craft brewers, particularly in California, have taken this style and run with it creating aggressively hopped beers that only a hophead can really appreciate.

Racer 5 is a beautiful example of this style. It poured a deep amber color with a pearly white head. The flavor started out very refreshing and bubbly and finished with a sharp hop finish that is an excellent mix of pine and citrus. At 7% ABV Racer 5 isn't technically a session beer but I could still drink it all night.

If you don't like IPAs you probably won't like this hoppy brew but Racer 5 is a must for the hopheads. Bear Republic is one of the excellent breweries hiding out in Sonoma County making some world class brews.

Beer Month Day 4: Tangerine Wheat

2010-04-05T13:20:00.000-07:00

I'm always suspicious of fruity beers. The fruit flavoring often seems like a gimmick that was thrown in and is rarely well done. Lost Coast Brewery is one of my favorites though so I was willing to give their Tangerine Wheat the benefit of the doubt. Besides, citrus and wheat beers generally work well together.

The Tangerine Wheat poured a cloudy golden color, had a pure white head and smelled similar to its namesake fruit. At first the tangerine flavor hits you like you're chewing on an orange creamsicle. It mellows out quickly and moves to a refreshing flavor typical of wheat beers before finishing with a lightly alcoholic flavor. Wheat beers really are great for their complex flavors relative to their refreshing lightness. The Tangerine Wheat is no exception. I really enjoyed this beer, although I imagine if I had more than one the tangerine flavor would get tiring. It is definitely one of my favorite fruity beers.

Drinking beer at odd times because of our busy schedule continues be, well, odd...but otherwise I continue to enjoy beer month. My health remains unchanged and I have yet to become a burden on society, so score one for the 21st Amendment.

Mission 1: Beer 4 - Tangerine Wheat

2010-04-05T12:57:00.000-07:00

This drinking a beer everyday business has not been as easy as I thought it would. We have yet to drink one of our beers at a normal hour. Once again we were facing our daily beer at around 10 o'clock. Our Easter beer was Lost Coast Brewery's Tangerine Wheat. I was very excited about this beer. I am often excited about beer, but this one gave me a sigh of relief when I saw it on the calendar. I was glad to see a fruity wheat beer was in my future.

I have had the Tangerine Wheat on only one other occasion and that was when I was actually at the Lost Coast Brewery. We had lunch, which was delicious and my beer of choice was the Tangerine Wheat. I remember thinking that it was delicious and I would very much like another. When I saw it on the calendar the memories of a character filled brew pub and a crisp citrus beer came rushing back, fueling my excitement.

In general, I love fruity wheat beers. The wheat beer just seems to go very well with fruity flavors. I love drinking fruity wheat beers in the summer! They are refreshing and flavorful. I poured the Tangerine Wheat in rapt anticipation. I was however, disappointed. Perhaps it was the memory of my first taste, or my expectation of a fruity beer but I just did not like this one. Maybe it was that I wasn't feeling all that great and my palate was off, who knows. I just wish I had liked it better. When I took my first drink I could taste the tangerine flavor as if I just eaten the fruit itself, but the finish left me feeling like I had drank cough syrup. Beers don't come with ingredients so I couldn't see what it was that left that taste in my mouth, but after several swallows the taste did not abate. When I was at the brewery the beer tasted as it should: fruity start, beer finish. That's the classic fruity wheat beer taste. That is what I was hoping for, but not what I got. I was surprised that Keith liked it as much as he did.

I would certainly recommend this beer to anyone who likes fruity wheat beers, if you are going to the Lost Coast Brewery. When I had it there it was delightful. I feel like I experienced a "Tale of Two Beers".

Mission 1: Beer 3 - Noble Pils

2010-04-05T11:56:00.000-07:00

Noble Pils is one of the beers I really wanted to try. I have never had a Samuel Adams beer and have been curious. Samuel Adams is one of the largest craft breweries in the nation. I have shied away from Samuel Adams for years, mostly because of their size. I frequently lump them into the same disdained category as Coors, MGD, and Budweiser. Noble Pils was the beer that made me decide to give Samuel Adams a shot.

I must admit, I judged the beer by it's cover. The label says "brewed with all 5 Noble hops", there is not a beer sales pitch that could work better on me. I bow to the altar of hops. I was unaware that there were "noble" hops, but hell, they had me at "five hop varieties" they could have been pauper hops for all I cared. I was very excited to try this beer, in fact I had to stop myself from opening one the day we went shopping for all our beer.

We drank this beer before heading out to the Ubar. My best friend Jill and her husband Dan were in town from Monterey. While Jill was freshening up from a long traveling day, Keith and I opened the Noble Pils. Keith was not a fan, he didn't hate it nor did he like it. He said it was ashy tasting. I disagree. I was disappointed in the beer but I didn't taste cigarettes like Keith claimed, I thought it was dry.

My biggest problem is that I think Samuel Adams falls into the mass market trap. They are a nationwide, large scale distributor, and that I think affects their craft. I thought the Noble Pils was bland. The punch I expected from "Five Noble Hops" was no where to be found, although it is a pilsner and they are notoriously light in flavor, I still expected something with a little more bite. It had more flavor than Coors or Budweiser, but not by much. I think the problem is that when you cater to the masses you have more people to consider and your product becomes more bland to accommodate all those palates. The smaller craft brews are focused on the craft and the tastes of a small sampling of people in their area. I would say that people in Chico are conditioned to Sierra Nevada and that is the standard to which all other beers are held. I am sure people in Fort Bragg are the same with North Coast Brewing and so on. Samuel Adams has Boston and the entire nation and I think some of the craft has gotten lost in the growth of their company. Take this commentary with a grain of salt, I have never had any other Samuel Adams beer and I am making a big generalization towards the character of their other beers. I feel comfortable doing so based on the one beer I tried and the standard I have for something that claims to have "five Noble Hops"

On the positive side, if you are a craft brew lover and know someone who is a Coors fan, give them a Samuel Adams and see if they like it. It might be a good craft brew to cut their "good beer" teeth on.

Mission 1: Beer 2 - Old Stock

2010-04-05T10:28:00.000-07:00

Beer number two Old Stock was the beer I was dreading the most. The particular bottle we drank was a special edition "Cellar Reserve" that had been aged in bandy barrels and was bottled in 2005. Needless to say it is now 2010 and I was terrified. A gift of beer is a beautiful thing in my opinion, but our friend Jeff may have found the one beer I will flat out refuse to drink. Our mission, defined by myself as being the consumption of at least four ounces, was a failure. Well, I failed, Keith did splendidly.

After an interesting dinner at La Hacienda with my family Keith and I went over to my sister Cassy's house to try our Old Stock and play cards. My family plays Shanghai Rummy, it can get pretty crazy. Keith and I brought the Old Stock as well as a few other beers to the house. Cassy and her fiance Justin were our "guest operatives" for this beer. At first everyone was excited, but once we got the bottle open and we all smelled it, the level of willingness dropped dramatically. Cassy and Justin were only willing to try a shot glass full (one ounce) and I was practically in a cold sweat thinking about the four ounces I would need to consume.

We sat down to play cards and we all tried the beer. With scrunched faces and that uncontrollable head shake unique to alcohol consumption we began to describe the beer. Soy Sauce, poop, awful, and many other unflattering descriptors were bantered back and forth. Cassy and Justin refused to drink any more and I agreed with them. I did try a few more sips, but I just couldn't finish my four ounces. Epic fail.

Old Stock is a dark mahogany color normally, and this bottle was a cloudy, making it more of a chocolate color. The North Coast Brewing website says: "Old Stock Ale is well-designed to round-out and mellow with age." Mellow with age my ass. This beer kicks you in the back of the throat. I must admit that not liking this beer makes me feel like less of the beer snob I thought I was. As my dad would say "No sir, I just don't like it".

I appreciate the craft that goes into making these types of beers. The layers of flavor are so clear, giving a person the ability to taste all the ingredients that went into the beer. I am awed by the talent and craft it takes to make that happen. Unfortunately my palate is too pedestrian to appreciate the taste.

Beer Month Day 3: Noble Pils

2010-04-04T22:28:00.000-07:00

Day three's beer provided the pre drinking before heading to The U Bar to hang out with some friends visiting from Monterey. We had purchased a six pack of Samuel Adams' Noble Pils so a few of us each tried a bottle. No one else was complaining but I didn't like this beer.

Samuel Adams, a.k.a. The Boston Beer Company, is one of the largest American craft breweries and Noble Pils is one of their seasonal brews. The bottle boasts that it is "made with all 5 Noble hops from the world's oldest growing regions." I didn't know there were precisely 5 Noble hops but it sounded impressive.

Pilseners are a very light beer and generally not one of my favorites. Noble Pils poured a dark yellow with moderately sized head and a sweet hoppy smell. This beer was typically light but with a bit of an extra hop bite to it. What really turned me off about this beer was its odd ashy flavor. It was kinda like someone had ashed a cigarette in my drink when I wasn't looking. I've heard good things about Samuel Adams' wide range of craft brews, and their lager is deservedly world famous, but I didn't like the Noble Pils. Thankfully U Bar had Lost Coast's Indica on tap to save the day!

It's getting late so I'll tell you about Day 4's beer later. So far Beer Month has been a lot of fun!

Beer Month Day 2: 2005 Cellar Reserve Old Stock Ale

2010-04-04T21:57:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy weekend of eating hobo brains to commemorate Zombie Jesus so I have some catching up to do on blog posts. Friday's beer was a gift from Jeff: North Coast Brewing Company's 2005 Cellar Reserve Old Stock Ale. The corked bottle has spent the last few years in my basement. At an impressive 14.7 % ABV it should have aged well. The bottle says "ale aged in brandy barrels" but doesn't mention how long it was aged before being bottled.

After some initial resistance the cork slid out easily and foam rose to the top of the bottle. The aroma from the bottle was very strong...and disturbingly like the smell of soy sauce. The Old Stock poured out a very dark and cloudy brownish black and didn't seem to have lost any carbonation, still producing a small head. The strong smell and the high ABV were a bit intimidating.

I've had Old Stock Ale at the North Coast Brewery on visits to Fort Bragg in the past and it isn't one of my favorites. Let's just say my palate must not be sophisticated enough for such a hardy brew. This aged bottle of Old Stock really brought out many of the characteristics of Old Stock that I've struggled with and added a few that were even worse. It tasted like a mix of raisins, brandy and soy sauce to me. I drank about two thirds of the 12.7 ounce bottle but I can't say I enjoyed it. I really appreciate the thoughtful gift but this bottle may have gone past its prime since I received it.

Mission 1: Beer Calendar

2010-04-02T16:54:00.000-07:00

Here is the calendar of what beers we will drink this month. Click on it to embiggen.

Mission 1: Beer 1 - Glissade

2010-04-02T15:51:00.000-07:00

Operation Monthly has begun with Mission 1: Beer! April first was no joke for Operatives Keith and Stephanie, it was a very busy day that resulted in the first beer of beer month being consumed at 11pm. Our mission requires us to drink at least four ounces of one beer each everyday. I can honestly say that although I love beer, I was in no mood to drink when I got home at 11pm. Not the best mood in which to start a project that I think will be very fun!

Our first beer was Sierra Nevada Brewing Company's Glissade, a suggestion from our friend Betty. This beer is a new release from Sierra Nevada and has been a hit. Sorta. Glissade is a Bock, for a more detailed description of the Bock style check out Sierra Nevada Brewing or Wiki! When I say it has sorta been a hit I mean that most people love it and other people (extreme beer snobs) hate it. I like it. I really do. I was very relieved to come home, look at the Beer Calendar and see Glissade in the April 1st slot.

Glissade is a very pretty amber color similar to dark honey. It is very refreshing despite it's 6.4% AVB. It has a very mainstream taste for a craft brew. Some have dubbed it a gateway beer, meaning the Coors, Budweiser, and MGD guys might like it and explore more craft beers. Although Sierra has lighter flavored beers (Crystal Wheat, Summerfest) I think Glissade is the best balance of refreshment and bite. I hope it's still out in the summer, although being a Sierra Nevada Seasonal what's in stores right now is probably all there is.

As we were pouring our first beer we were both tired, a little cranky and one of us had a headache (me), however the good folks at AMC had a remedy: Blazing Saddles! That's right folks: an April fools, Mel Brooks movie marathon. We sat down just in time to see my FAVORITE part, Lily Von Shtupp "I'm so Tired"! It was an instant mood lifter. It was a nice way to start a new project as well as end a long day!

Beer Month Day 1: Glissade

2010-04-02T13:06:00.001-07:00

Welcome to Operation Monthly! For an explanation of what this blog is about check out the About Monthly page. I'm excited to get this blog started. The idea for the blog was inspired by movies like Super Size Me and these people. We haven't worked out what each month's "operation" is going to be yet but I think we have a plan for May. More on that later.

April is here and we've declared it Beer Month! Stephanie and I will try a different beer every day in April. When we decided on this I went through our fridge and cellar (basement) and found that we already had half the months beer on hand. We went shopping for the rest at Chico Natural Foods and Mangrove Bottle Shop. I think we came up with a very interesting mix of craft brews and imports. A friend once told me: "A beer connoisseur will drink a Coors if it's the only beer available. A beer snob would rather go thirsty." Put me squarely in the snob category. If a beer isn't a least somewhat flavorful I would rather not bother with it. I'm confident that I'll be able to appreciate, if not thoroughly enjoy, almost all of the beers we selected.

Beer month got off to a slow start with us not getting around to drinking the day's beer until 11:00 PM. April 1st brought us Sierra Nevada's 2010 Gilssade. This is Sierra Nevada's most recent seasonal release. We decided to kick the month off with the this beer because there are a few beers from Sierra Nevada in our stockpile and we want to space them out. Glissade is a Golden Bock style beer. From Wikipedia's article on Bock:

Bock is a type of strong lager beer, first brewed in the 14th century in the Hanseatic town of Einbeck, Germany, from which it gets its name (originally "Einbeck" / "Einbock"). The original Bocks were dark beers, brewed from high-colored malts. Modern Bocks can be dark, amber or pale in color. Bock was traditionally brewed for special occasions, often religious festivals such as Christmas, Easter or Lent.

Bocks have a long history of being brewed and consumed by Roman Catholic monks in Germany. During the spring religious season of Lent, monks were required to fast. High-gravity Bock beers are higher in food energy and nutrients than lighter lagers, thus providing sustenance during this period. Similar high-gravity Lenten beers of various styles were brewed by Monks in other lands as well.

Sounds appropriate for a Spring release. I've had Glissade a couple times since its release earlier this year but I don't have much experience with Bocks in general. They are definitely not my favorite style as I prefer my IBUs upwards of the Pale Ale range.

I don't usually drink beer immediately before going to bed and I had work early the next morning so the Glissade was poured with some trepidation. It poured a light golden color with minimal head. We sat down with our beers and found a April Fools Day Mel Brooks marathon on TV. As Gene Wilder and company shot up the old west in Blazing Saddles we sipped on our Glissades. It had a light and smooth body with a somewhat disproportionate alcoholic bite. Despite the 6.4% ABV Glissade is still refreshing. This beer has a lot less hops than much of Sierra Nevada's lineup, instead relying on malts for much of the flavor. The Glissade bottle read:

Glissade is remarkedly mellow, sliding across the palate with layers of subtle malt flavor balanced by a touch of delicate European hops.

While I enjoyed this beer I don't see myself drinking it very often. While flavorful for such a light beer it isn't robust enough for my taste, but it may be a bit too strong for a hot summer day or session beer. This beer replaced Early Spring Beer (ESB) in Sierra Nevada's seasonal lineup. I vote for returning to ESB or trying something new next year.

Having a beer before bed cuddled up on the couch with my lovely wife was very relaxing. I am optimistic that beer month will be very enjoyable. I leave you until the next beer with these words from Blazing Saddles: "Mongo only pawn in game of life."

Mission 1: Beer

2010-03-30T14:20:00.000-07:00

April is Beer month. Operatives Keith and Stephanie will drink one beer every day for the month of April. They must consume at least four ounces of each beer. They must not repeat a beer. For example they can have only one Sierra Nevada Torpedo. They must sample a variety of breweries and beer styles. This will be difficult given their passionate love of IPAs and their distaste for the often coffee hinted Stouts.