Beer in the Garden of Good
February 27th, 2006I like beer. I don’t drink it that often, but it’s relatively cheap and has a flavor and texture that goes well with things like pizza, Mexican food and burgers. There have been some good micro brews from Utah, but the alcohol content is usually too low to provide much of a kick. When I moved to California in 1998, I figured I could just get by with my macro favorites and call it a day. One of my favorite pizza joints on 9th and Irving used to do a $1 beer night and a few of those set me up nicely for my walk back home to 4th and Irving. My first beer snob experience happened later that summer. I just didn’t get the anti-macro brew vibe against the likes Miller beer or Budweiser. People treated beer as if it was wine.
A few work parties later, I discovered Pacifico and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, both institutions at San Francisco bars and restaurants. Then I had Chimay, a poshy beer with a cork and price to match. Made by Belgian trappist monks, it’s a lovely beer. And the Belgians know their shit when it comes to beer.
In Amsterdam, I had a couple of good beers, Hoegaarden (which I can get at the state liquor store here!) and Barbar, both Belgian. I like the lighter, almost lager beers for their subtle taste. Imagine my surprise when I discovered Barbar has 8% alcohol. That is roughly double that of beer in Utah. After a couple Barbars, I took this photo:
So all of that, just for a photo. Still. Good beer is good beer. o
February 27th, 2006 at 1:36 pm
Up in my neck of the woods, they serve Hoegaarden in what looks like a two-pint glass.
Nuts.
My current fave is Big Rock Traditional from Calgary. Doubt you can get it down there.
February 27th, 2006 at 1:41 pm
i’ve been reading dooce.com and blurbomat.com for several months now and have recently started to feel compelled to comment. i started reading when leta was around twenty months old maybe, and in recent posts, it’s amazing to read daily evidence of her growing personality. it’s a testament to both your blogs that you can turn someone who has little interest in most children into a teared-up emotional fool reading about leta’s personal developments. because, my gosh, she’s just becoming such a little person!
i’m so glad stumbling onto dooce.com led me to stumble on to blurbomat.com because i love reading your political posts. it’s always nice to read opinions i agree with, but i particularly admire how you always show how the ridiculous policies our country is faced with truly effect your family and your community, rather then just commenting or griping at large like so many of us tend to do.
anyway, i have no choice but to comment now that your latest blurb is about beer. beer is indeed very good. i often joke and say the reason i moved to portland, oregon was for the beer (although i’m not really joking). there’s so many great breweries and brew-pubs and brew-pub movie theatres and brew-related places and events here. beer has even inspired me to write a haiku, which i will shamelessly include at the end of this comment.
anyway, just all the best to the blurbodoocery family. keep your stories coming. can’t wait to find out what your secret plans are for 2006!!!
haiku-
beer sure is tasty
seven syllables later
yep, it’s still tasty.
February 27th, 2006 at 1:43 pm
I love Hoehgaarden though the first time I drank it I was suspicious of the whole lemon and beer thing. I also like it because my friends and I would make obnoxious comments saying, “I need a hoe.” “Never could resist a hoe.” Even though it’s pronounced who.
February 27th, 2006 at 2:02 pm
If you ever travel to Montreal you will be overwhelmed by the amount of micro brews there. There is a maple beer that Iam positive is the nectar of the Gods. The only thing we bring back from Montreal is beer and bagels.
Theres a Belgian brewery called Floris that makes all these amazing beers.
Montreal has 10% beers. Its dangerous.
February 27th, 2006 at 2:25 pm
I’m ashamed to say I’m a Rolling Rock kinda girl. Even more ashamed that it’s really only because I like the green of the bottle.
February 27th, 2006 at 2:29 pm
If you ever get back to Vancouver, Granville Island has an amazing brewery. Thank goodness their stuff is available here in Ontario too.
February 27th, 2006 at 2:39 pm
I bartend at a Cleveland establishment where we have Hoegaarden on tap. We prefer to serve it with a wedge of orange. It has to be one of the best beer/fruit combos ever.
February 27th, 2006 at 3:22 pm
I never liked beer until I tasted Mexican beer. There’s nothing better with Mexican food (or on a hot day) than a cold Tecate with a lime!
February 27th, 2006 at 3:42 pm
No, No, No. German Beer is the best beer. Or so insists my husband. When it comes to beer - if it is not German, it is crap (he is German, you see, hence the strong stance). I am not a big beer drinker (frankly I prefer a Martini), but since moving to Germany, I have definitly opened up to it. If you can find it (and you can in South Carolina, so may be in Utah?), Franziskaner is a good choice.
February 27th, 2006 at 4:12 pm
I try not to be a beer snob, but if I’m out in the hinterlands and the waiter says they have Miller and Coors and Bud, I have water. I just can’t drink that stuff.
Beer Geekery: the chemicals that make up that hoppy goodness in beer have a taste threshold of about 12 mg/l. Most American-style lagers have enough hops in them to reach about 10 mg/l. So the hops are there, but you just can’t taste them.
February 27th, 2006 at 4:35 pm
I couldn’t get into beer until I went to Belguim. Hoegaarden and Leffe and Chimay . . . those were my gateway beers.
Now I like everything from Corona w.lime & salt to Guinness (uh, no lime, no salt). The only thing I can’t hang with is an India Pale Ale. I’ve never had an IPA that I liked.
St. Arnold’s is one of the better Texas (Houston, specifically) beers. They make one called Lawnmower and it’s the most perfect summer beer ever.
February 27th, 2006 at 5:12 pm
I think Dos Equis is my favorite beer, but my husband mainly buys Budweiser.
I’m afraid the beer snobs will look down on me. And deservedly so.
February 27th, 2006 at 5:17 pm
Terminator Stout! Nuff said.
http://www.mcmenamins.com/index.php?loc=75&id=415
February 27th, 2006 at 6:13 pm
“Sierra Pale Ale” should be “Sierra Nevada Pale Ale”. Made right here in good ol’ Chico.
February 27th, 2006 at 10:34 pm
heh! Thanks for the tip. I was looking for an excuse to try something new this weekend. I just hope we carry Chimay somewhere in this town. It’ll be fun hunting it down.
February 27th, 2006 at 11:17 pm
Hoegaarden - ah, many a hazy evening spent in its warm embrace. Fruity, alcoholic and just plain lovely.
Stella is another favourite close to my heart, although if you disrespect it, it makes you it’s b***h. We just got it in Texas, and I’m a happy man as a result.
If you’re sick of wimpy Utah beer Jon, try brewing some! It’s not all that hard, and it’s pretty darned easy to come up with something so strong that it’ll take chrome off a rusty bumper.
February 28th, 2006 at 12:02 am
I have to second (third?) the notion of Portland. I’ve lived here for a month now, and McMenamins is amazing. My boyfriend loves all the microbrews here. If you kids ever come up to Portland, let me know. I’ll take you on a McMenamins tour.
February 28th, 2006 at 7:53 am
Personally, I’m more entertained that the google ad is for a “octa beer bong”
I used to be a big beer snob until I went to graduate school. I still wouldn’t sink to the level of the Beast, but I was all about the $2 Miller Lites.
Having lived in PA, I’ve always been a Yuengling Black and Tan fan, but apparently you can get that everywhere now.
February 28th, 2006 at 8:21 am
I love Spaten, which I think is Czech? And Smtihwicks, which is the eldest beer of Ireland.
But, being a Ketucky girl at heart, there is nothing better than sittin’ in a lake, with a cold Bud in a coozy in hand!
February 28th, 2006 at 8:51 am
I don’t know how many beers you’ve tasted in the beer cafe in Amsterdam, but back here in Gent, Belgium, there are a few places where you can try over 150 kinds- going from sweet fruit beers to the heavier trappist stuff. And just for Heather there’s a place - Dreupelkot http://www.waterhuisaandebierkant.be/e7.htm - where you can get jenever in 200 flavours: vanilla is popular, but they also have jalapeno or fennel. Be my guests
February 28th, 2006 at 10:23 am
Delerium Tremens is another good one. Yes, it’s named after an acute alcohol withdrawal symptom. There are even pink elephants on the bottle. Don’t let that deter you; the husby is a die-hard beer snob, and it’s one of his favorites.
For just good ole’ fashioned dark brews, you can find Sam Adams brews all over the atlantic region. My favorite is the Cherry Wheat, but I think the Boston Lager is the most popular.
I don’t remember seeing either the last time we were in Utah. Especially the belgian brews, because Utah doesn’t believe in beers that will give you a real buzz, let alone something that can have you plastered halfway through your second round.
If you guys ever make it out to the DC region, I promise we’ll take you to the best Belgian place in the city. Beer and Waffles all under one roof - and we’re not talkin’ IHOP style, here - serious Belgian Waffles with some bulk to them. The perfect company to their selection of chimays.
March 2nd, 2006 at 3:00 am
Having spent four days in Brussels just after Christmas, I can attest to the fact the Belgians make good beer. We drank a lot of it.
They make the best beer in the world.
Try Duval and Orval if you can find them.
March 2nd, 2006 at 7:46 am
One night I tried a Duvel… Devil ish theme and a lot of alcohol content. Don’t remember much at that point. I believe it was the last one of the night.
March 5th, 2006 at 1:52 pm
Ahh, beer! I remember beer. Back before I started taking the evil Dopamax. . . err I mean Topamax, I used to love a nice cold beer. My favourite was a microbrew called Creemore Springs.