Terrapin Coffee Oatmeal Imperial Stout
My wife's observation: "So what's the latest motor oil you're drinking?" That describes the look pretty well. Black as night, the head was about a finger, hung around for a while, but didn't leave any lacing for me.
Aroma really pops with the coffee. Good coffee too, not something that's been burning on the hot plate of your mechanic's all day.
Pretty straight forward flavor too. More coffee, a bit of burnt malt. Searching for something else, but not coming up with anything. Only the slightest bit of alcoholic warmth at the back of my throat, which is a good thing.
Unfortunately, the burnt flavor is what lingers to me, with that little alcohol burn too. I personally couldn't drink more than one of these at a time, that coffee is really almost overwhelming. I'd go with the Founders Breakfast Stout myself.
Overall rating: 4.05
Under The Dome
Under the Dome by Stephen King
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
You have to give Stephen King credit: he knows how to give his fans what they want. In the case of Under the Dome, he gets right out of the gate with some nice slicing and dicing, a few explosions, and keeps the pedal on the metal from there. Now, his critics would probably complain about the nice, neat ending, where the bad guys get theirs, and the good guys, minus a few casualties, "win," but I'm not one of those critics. This book may not have the classic horror aspect of some of his other books, but the absolute horror of human nature put under stress is far scarier than a lot of his classic horror.
Up next is The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris, book #4 of my 50 book challenge for 2010.
De Proefbrouwerij Van Twee
Collaboration beer with Bell's Brewery's John Mallett. Uses Michigan cherries, Belgian candi sugar, Brettanomyces yeast, and New Zealand hops.
The recipe for the tourtière we had for dinner tonight suggested pairing it with Unibroue Maudite, but I figured this was a close enough substitute.
Poured into a tulip glass: dark brown with a nice almost stout-like head. Actually froths back up a little when disturbed, good lacing.
Roasted malt aroma, bordering into chocolaty. Hint of fruit wafts up as well.
Well balanced flavor. More strong roasted malt, into coffee this time. Definite strong cherry flavor once you let it warm on your tongue for a little while.
There was a funkiness to this beer somewhere along the line, but also a fine sweetness too. Really interesting beer that I might have to pick up again soon.
Overall rating: 4.3
Jolly Pumpkin Baudelaire Eyo
Actually poured two glasses of this: once into a regular pint glass, then into a tulip glass. Ruby color shows through. Big saison frothy head (very big in the tulip glass) which dissipates quickly (more slowly in the tulip, again).
Light funkiness in the aroma, a little bit of something sour in there as well, hard for me to get much of anything, even with the tulip glass funneling it up.
Nice sour bite right off the bat, rolling around the top of my mouth. The usual Jolly Pumpkin funk is there as well, but it has to fight the tartness to get through. I honestly expected more earthiness for a Jolly Pumpkin saison, but I do like the balance achieved here. (Some might say there's a conflict, as I mentioned earlier, but I'm gonna go with balance.)
Pretty dry finish, that pucker hangs around a little bit too.
Overall rating: 3.85
Bell’s Hopslam Ale
Light orange color, just okay head and lacing.
Here comes the good part: one sniff and your senses start to light up. Bright and citrusy are the words that come to mind. I mean, even my sorry excuse for a nose can pick up the grapefruit and pineapple aromas.
The flavor is much more pine resin laden. Not a bad thing, just very different from what you pick up in the smell. Definitely lots of bitterness.
Like many other people, I wonder how this could possibly be a 10% ABV beer. It's big on the hops, but nothing like an imperial stout where you get a lot of vinous qualities from the alcohol. Very smooth and goes down easy. Dangerously drinkable.
Overall rating: 4.3
Second Ride
Things seem to go more smoothly when preparations are made the night prior. Chilly again, but sweating again by the end. More cars today, still only the few biking stalwarts.
Then it happens. Ride home begins, and stops abruptly. Flat tire! 25 minutes later, the ride begins anew, take heart in the warm weather. Home again, a water bottle is casually tossed... on top of sunglasses, breaking them irreparably.
Last ride for a while.
First Ride
The night before: Lunch is made, bags are packed. Shoes and gear are pulled from their hiding places.
The morning of: Trying to make sure nothing is forgotten. Fill the tires with air. Bundle up. Cold for the first five minutes, huffing and puffing. Remembering every pothole, crack, and bump. Lights blazing down the deserted trail. Passing old friends, just as crazy as me. Am I halfway there yet? Hard to remember. Sucking down the water, breathing harder. There's the old folks sitting out on their porch, as ever. Almost there, one more big hill. Sweating for the last ten minutes in spite of the 38 measly degrees. Relief: I made it.
The evening of: Much warmer now, stuffing the bags with the unneeded cold weather gear. Did I remember everything? I think so. Start down the road. My water! Always something forgotten. Pushing on, avoiding the sand and grit left over from last month's snow. Up the really big hill now, that wasn't so bad. More people on the trail this afternoon. New Year's resolution folks, they'll be gone in a couple of weeks. Stopped at a light, sunglasses fogging up. Hey, they repaved this formerly pothole infested road! Small miracles. Home again. Ready to do it again tomorrow? You bet.
The first bike ride of the New Year.
The Road
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
One might quibble with some of the convenient plot points of The Road (i.e. finding food just when they need it, repeatedly). But such quibbles would ignore the simple greatness that Cormac McCarthy has achieved here. Just a haunting look at human nature when all else is stripped aside. In short, The Road is the reason I read.
Jolly Pumpkin Ale Absurd (Baudelaire Series: Rye Tripple)
Picked this up over the holidays when I sadly missed out on their lambic limited release. My label specifically calls this a "Rye Tripple."
Poured into a tulip glass, and overflow into a pint glass. The bottle started spewing like champagne immediately, and even after pouring into the glass, foam continued rising out of the bottle so I had to pour it into another glass. So, in the glass was a hazy orange beer with half a glass of stiff white frothy head. It eventually settles down to a good head that stays with the beer, leaving some of that stiff stuff on the glass.
Funky aroma that you come to expect from the Pumpkin, but also a rather sweet aroma there as well. Kind of a sour aroma wafting up too.
More of a tart flavor than I might have expected. Some of the rye comes through too. Definitely peppery, in fact, that ends up being the dominant lingering flavor on my palate. Interestingly enough, turning the glass to drink in some of the lacing, you get a little bit of an extra funky flavor. There is a tiny bit of sweetness floating around there too.
Not sure that I'd drink a whole lot of this, but it is definitely an interesting experiment for the Jolly Pumpkin guys. Keep up the good work.
Overall rating: 3.85
Water For Elephants
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Not much new in the main plotline of this book: boy meets girl, girl is already married, boy gets girl with help of elephant. OK, so that last bit is the key: the world of the old circus train is so wonderfully described, it's hard not to get sucked in and see all these things happening (many of the stories actually did happen and were deftly woven into the book). That saved the book for me, since I thought it was otherwise a somewhat unremarkable plot.
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