Mercy, whatta week. I took Marie out to dinner last night, and I didn't even order a beer. I simply felt too lousy. The doctor says I'm fine, so I'm probably just suffering from lameness. Marie and the kids are leaving for the weekend. I'll use the time to catch up at the office and catch up on my sleep. I should use it to be catch up on my beer drinking, but I simply don't feel up to it, plus Holy Week is approaching, and I'm leaving for California in ten days. I'm speaking at the Catholic Professional & Business Club of the Fresno Diocese on April 17th (I'll try to provide more details later). Marie and I are making a mini-second honeymoon out of it, leaving three days early and going to San Francisco. It's the first time we've gone any place without children in 17 years. I'm sure I'll do some drinking then. (Don't worry, Fresno, I'll be fully sober and alert when I arrive to speak Friday morning.)
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Man, there's always something new to learn in the beer world. This week, I learned for the first time that there's such a thing as "smoked beers" (you'd think the beer would put out the fire). This guy really gets into it:
Barrel Aged Smoke a Ciggy is a beer very much on the extreme side of the house. The nose doesn't really hint at what lies beneath, offering a double IPA warm hoppiness with just a mild earthiness from the wood and smoke. On tasting, the massively heavy, thick body with its mouth-coating texture could pass for even stronger than the 11.5% ABV, and there's no room for any fresh meaty rauchmalz flavours. Instead, there's a super-concentrated smokiness adding a spicy new dimension to vanilla wood notes and the sort of massive hop bittering I associate with an American barley wine.
("Hey, you drinking that beer or doing an autopsy on it?")
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Beer in the Great Recession of 2008-2009. A two-minute video from Reuters. Summary:
The recession has caused a dip in beer volumes in the U.S., but analysts say beer is regaining market share as consumers shift to lower-cost drinking options.
Domestic shipments are down so far this year, but with consumers spending more time at the supermarket and less time dining out, analysts expect beer to fare better in the economic downturn.
Conclusion from the video: The growth area in beer is in craft, specialty beers, not lite beers.
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Name that bottle. Neat little quiz.
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Beer Picture of the Week
