Broadening Our Horizons VI

Yet another installment of this on-going EIP series entitled "Broadening Our Horizons."  Today it's a box of Cuba Libres, just off The Brown Truck O' Happiness:

A faux-rosewood box that is just lovely.

And then there are the beautiful red Corojo wrappers (this shot taken with flash to bring out the color).

And lastly, a detail shot of the interior box art.  I just love the work put into packaging cigars these days.

About the cigars themselves... I'll quote part of the advertising e-mail my Good Friend Tim at Cigar.com sent along:

Featuring a redolent Cuban seed, Corojo wrapper that is simply gorgeous, if you like medium to full-bodied cigars you'll love this flavorful treat. A chunky, box-pressed vitola, this Magnum size is a new classic. Made by Nestor Plasencia, this reminds me of the Decade by Rocky Patel crossed with Don Pepin Garcia's best. For fiddy bucks, this is a must!

Dang.  I am such a sucker for these sorts of e-mails.  But… on the positive side… I've yet to be disappointed when springing for one of these offers.  Happy Hour looks to be pretty good today.  I'll keep ya posted.

Update, 1520 hrs:  Mo Broadening:

We saw this in the cooler when we made our beer run this afternoon.  And now... The Great Outdoors beckons.  Prosit!


Update II, 2030 hrs:  Verdicts:


The cigar:  Worthy.  Nice construction... even burn, long lasting (i.e., 90 minutes).  From a third-party review:

It has an easy, slightly creamy prelight draw. Once I lit the sucker up, it peppered up a tad on me, but the spice was smoothed out by its nutty, almost earthy, sweet finish. (Gotta love that Corojo wrapper!) The Cuba Libre stayed this way through the end.


There were no burn, ash or draw issues here, as I smoked it down to the nub. (Through several of these, I’ve found they stay cool.)

Yup... gotta agree with that.  And now... the beer.

Decent.  Shiner's Black Lager pales in comparison to 1554, but that said... it's also worthy.  I wouldn't pass it up whenever it's offered, should it come to that.  And I might buy another sixer or two.  But as far as Black Lager goes... 1554 is till the "beer o' choice."  We are creatures of habit around here... and that ain't a BAD thing.

Broadening Our Horizons XX

We've called Happy Hour early this afternoon.  And we're broadening our horizons once again, this time with Hoptober, a Fall seasonal beer from New Belgium:

The usual, customary, and reasonable tableau

A close up of the label.  Pretty pagan, ain't it?

Our cigar this afternoon is an Acid Opulence Three, which is a fine stick with which we have a bit of experience.  Suffice to say we're feeling good enough to indulge and that's about as good as it gets, Gentle Reader.

Our soundtrack this afternoon... Little Feat:

Ah.  I've been a few places like that. 

And now... back outside yadda, yadda, yadda.

Broadening Our Horizons (Fail!)

So... we're just in from Happy Hour, which began badly but concluded on a happy note. Why the bad beginning? Well... we weren't in the mood to do a beer run all the way out to the base, so we decided to "broaden our horizons" by picking up a sixer of Santa Fe Hefeweizen while we were doing our shopping out at Wally-World, given as how we were "in the mood" for a hefeweizen. And so we picked up a sixer of these:

And we were NOT pleased, Gentle Reader. We drank but one of the above before we dived into what remains of the beer stock and pulled out a couple of Mothership Wits, which went down oh-so-much-better than the aforementioned "hefeweizens," which more resembles run-of-the-mill Budweiser than a hefewieizen. Truth be told... the Santa Fe Brewing Company ought be ashamed... and greatly so... for daring to append the name "hefewiezen" to this brew. This beer will remain in the fridge for a whole HELLUVA long time before it's finished. It might be suitable for foisting off on unsuspecting visitors (and non-discriminating beer drinkers) to El Casa Móvil De Pennington, but that would be about it.

The day was saved (as noted above) by pulling out two Mothership Wits. I sense there will be a beer run out to the Cannon AFB Class VI store in my most immediate future. All that said.... Happy Hour was indeed a success. We began with a soundtrack provided by Pandora... to wit, "Hot Tuna," followed up with "Motown." About which... one of the better tunes we enjoyed this afternoon:



 
That just HAS to be one of the songs Arthur Conley was talking about when he asked the musical question "Do you like Sweet Soul Music?" Oh, yes... indeed. Yes, we DO.

Broadening Our Horizons XIII

It's an indoor Happy Hour today... and the reason why is at right.  It's miserable outdoors; we've been out and about a couple of times today but only briefly and mostly to move the sprinkler to a different area of the lawn weeds.  Our shades are drawn tight against the penetrating rays of Ol' Sol and the AC is gettin' quite the work out.  But we'll survive... thrive, even.

So... the Class VI store was out of our favorite suds when we made our beer run out to Cannon Airplane Patch a couple o' days ago... so we brought home a sixer of this stuff:

About which... it's OK.  It won't get a spot in our starting line-up, tho.  It's merely OK, not super... as the general consensus at Beer Advocate indicates.  And life is just too short to drink mediocre beer.

Our cigar this afternoon is a Casa Magna Oscuro and this stick falls into the same category as the beer:  OK, but not a starter.

Speaking of starters... our soundtrack is the roar of a disappointed but hopeful crowd at the Bell Centre in Montreal.  The Flitterers are up 2-0 with about 13 minutes left in the third period... but the Habs are goin' on the powerplay as we type.  I hope I don't have to write another damned crow post.

Back to the game...

Broadening Our Horizons XXIII and Other Stuff

I remain impressed with the Cannon Airplane Patch Class VI store, which is among the very best I've ever seen.  Well, mebbe not evah, as the beer and alcohol emporiums on European bases were outstanding, given the selection of local wares available.  But here in the US?  "Best in Class," it is.  I'm open to contrary and divergent opinions unless your name is SN1... coz I've shopped your Class VI stores.  Forgive me, but they suck.

Cannon's Class VI, however, sucketh not.  Case in point:

That would be a super bomber... the B-52 of beer bottles, if you will... of La Fin du Monde, which is rated A+ (World Class) by the Bros.  An excerpt from one of the Bros' reviews:

Taste: This brew is very smooth and sweet up-front with loads of malt mouth-feel. A warming sensation begins in the back of the tongue and turns into a spicy, almost pepper, flavour. This flavour is the 9% alcohol which cleverly camouflages itself until consumed. A very light hop flavour is left behind, with warming esters in the mouth.

Notes: Truly a potent and delicious brew with many hard to achieve complexities. Unlike other brews of this strength, this one is extremely drinkable due to its balance of alcohol and dextrins. Outstanding.

"La Fin du Monde" is French for "the end of the world."  I'm thinkin' you'd experience a reasonable facsimile of that feeling if you consumed a whole bottle... as above... in a single sitting.  That's 750 ml (one pint and nine+ ounces) of 9% ABV beer, yanno?  It's a Great Good Thing the bottle is resealable.  Those Canuckians are very clever and thoughtful folks.

Oh.  The other bottle?  That's a Franziskaner dunkel... a variation on a theme of our favorite beer, rated B+ at Beer Advocate.  I'm thinkin' Happy Hour will be MOST excellent for the next few.

―:☺:―

We had a follow-up visit with our doctor yesterday and like most everything in this world there was both good and bad news.  

Good:  We got our meds re-prescribed and they seem to be working, i.e., I can breathe freely enough to walk across a parking lot without keeling over.  This is a significant improvement over where we were six months ago.  That which will ultimately kill me will be delayed for a bit.

Better:  My doc sez my lungs "sound better than last time."  Improvement is a good thing, nu?

Best:  We began on an up-note, whereby the sweet young thang of a nurse sez to me as we're walking to the exam room: "You're looking very good today, Mr. Pennington... and quite a bit younger, if I may so, than the last time you were in."  OK.  That does it.  The beard stays OFF.

Bad:  I received a gentle yet firm dressing down from my doc after we discussed my near-death experience of last August (and I exaggerate only slightly).  I also feel I must apologize to Kath and my other lady friends who badgered me to get to the doctor shortly after the onset of the-cold-that-came-to-stay.  That's because my doctor chastised me in no uncertain terms for failing to come in when I was sick... words to the effect of "you have COPD, asshat... that could have KILLED you.  I've seen it happen."  He went on to describe the grisly mechanics of death-by-phlegm, arrested breathing (which I thought needed no explanation, given my recent experience), and other macabre and less than wonderful stuff.  I left his office resolved to hie my old ass directly to the hospital should something like that ever happen again.  Which it most surely will.  We may be old but we are (a) not stupid and (b) we DO learn from experience.

And I got a flu shot.

Update, 1720 hrs:  Well, we couldn't wait.  Or we waited a couple o' hours until the beer was sufficiently chilled, in our hasty opinion, before we poured about a half-pint of La Fin du Monde for sampling.  And it is GOOD.  That said, we also discovered that re-corking the bottle is a fool's errand of the highest order.  Curses!  

Shorter: it looks like it will get seriously freakin' drunk out this evening.  It's either that or a goodly portion of excellent... not to mention pricey... beer will go to waste.  I think you know which side of that line we'll fall, Gentle Reader.  Prosit!

Broadening Our Horizons, Episode LVIII

All the way from Illinois...

That would be a Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat Ale, about which my go-to guys say...

Decent for what it is, there are clearly some other American Wheat Ales that are a few notches up. I'd still gladly order this if the selection looked dismal.

Damning with faint praise, in other words.  I concur, in that I've had better wheat beers.  The beer is worthy, though, and shall be consumed without prejudice and without a thought o' foisting it off on unsuspecting guests here at El Casa Inmóvil de Pennington.  Mine!  ALL mine!

Our cigar today is a Kuba Maduro from Drew Estate.  We were just ever-so-slightly worried about the other half o' Happy Hour today, seein' as how we put fire to our very last cigar this past evening during After Dinner Whiskey Hour.  Not to worry... the USPS came through and we are moderately Happy Campers.

I say "moderately happy" because that shipment o' cigars that went missing is still MIA.  We went down to the PO earlier today and they still haven't found the missing package.  And they admitted hope was slim to non-existent of EVER finding it, to their everlasting credit.  Oh, well.  Stuff happens.  I can afford to be ambivalent now that the humidor is fat once again.  That and the fact I rest easy knowing Tim will make everything right, even when the post office cannot.

In other news... our windows and door are wide open and we're enjoying yet another beautiful day (81 degrees with moderate breezes) out on the verandah.  We have a couple o' Stones albums, a Norah Jones album, and two Joan Osborne albums in the CD player, so all is right with the world.

With that in mind... here's today's semi-rhetorical question:  who would you rather spend a lost weekend with?  Norah?  Or Joan?  MY jury is out...

Broadening Our Horizons XXI

About a year and a half ago... in February, 2009... I put this up:

(Sigh)

This is why I sometimes wish I lived in Colorado... and one of the better things I've ever read about Valentines Day (apropos of nothing):

Dark Kriek

For many years we’ve celebrated Valentine’s Day at New Belgium Brewing by creating a special small batch beer for our family and friends. These beers tend to be a little funky, fruitful and straight from the heart. This year we decided to share the love.

New Belgium Brewing’s Dark Kriek is a limited edition Belgian kriek or cherry beer. Much darker than a traditional kriek with a dash of sour cherry up front, our Dark Kriek is actually a blend of two beers. We start with a light, dry, tannic beer aged two years in oak barrels and combine this with a heavier, dark ale and cherries to create one smooth cherry blast of love.  8% ABV

(ed note: "share the love" is rather limited... from a New Belgium Tweet: "lowdown on location for Dark Kriek (cases by state) CO 500, CA 500, WA 150, OR 150, IL 25 - and 25 cases to our Liquid Center")

But then again... Colorado has all that danged snow. Never mind. Priorities, yanno.

We no longer have to worry about all that danged snow as we enjoy a Lips of Faith.  Witness:

Lips of Faith, accompanied by an Acid Opulence 3

Apparently New Belgium has broadened their distribution channels this year; I picked up a couple of these 22-ouncers out at the Class VI Store earlier today.  A full verdict will be forthcoming but my initial impressions... after a couple o' sips... are good.  The cherry flavor is pronounced but in an oh-so-good sorta way.  This beer is more like a fine red wine than the run o' the mill brewery output.  And the deep dark red color is magnificent in the sunlight!

So it's back outside to continue as we've begun.

Broadening Our Horizons XXII

We've been laboring under an oh-so-rare internet outage for the last hour or so and that has cramped our style, to say the VERY least.  But, Hey!  These things happen.  In the meantime we've been enjoying a Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Ale, 2011 edition.  And this beer, Gentle Reader, is meaty, beaty, big and bouncy... to say the VERY least (again).

Given the stout ABV of this beer (9.60%) I'm thinkin' we'll do only one before moving on to sumthin' a lil less potent.  But it IS most tasty!  Our cigar today is a Cuba Libre One, in the Churchill size.  Most excellent.

―:☺:―

I don't have a helluva lot more today, other than to mention the Osama killin' has taken up most of my time.  Details continue to come out in dribs and drabs but we'll prolly never know exactly what went down in any great detail.  I suppose that's as it should be, but still... Enquiring Minds™ wanna know, eh? 

And then there's the weather.  We had a rather severe cold snap over the last 48 hours... including a freeze... which necessitated us breakin' out the electric heater and runnnin' it nearly full time over the last couple o' days.  But that's in our immediate past and today is just a brilliant sorta day: 69 degrees and gentle breezes out of the west.  It doesn't get much better than this, Gentle Reader.

Ah, Civilization!

We were out and about earlier today and did some touristy things about which I'll prolly post later, mostly having to do with military bases (read as: fighters! and boats!).  The high point o' my day, however, came when Buck mentioned he knew this cool lil pub where we could grab a pint and some lunch.  So we did just that and what follows is a photo essay on that subject.

So, here's the sign on the sidewalk outside the pub:

Heh.  We not only love our enemy, we hold him (her?) quite close.  Our enemies come in varied and different uniforms, to wit:

A cheesy mePhone pic and out o' focus, at that.

The on-tap menu, there were at least 100 other choices in bottles.

We opted for a pint of Left Handed stout, mainly coz of the tag line that reads "As black as your ex-girl friend's wife's heart."  (Yes, we did a minor edit there... why do you ask?)  Here's what it looks like in a glass:

Note the bar top: those are genuine corks under an epoxy layer.  Cool, eh?

That would be my new best friend Crystal, who not only took great good care of us while we were ensconced at the bar but also gave us a couple o' few samples of the other beers on tap.  I would've been happy to spend the rest of the afternoon right there at the bar... so many beers! so little time!... but we had people to do and places to see.  So... one pint and lunch, while we were at it.  Here's what I had:

That would be a sashimi plate of barely-braised tuna in a soy-based sauce with pickled ginger on the side.  Buck had a burger and said it was delicious.

So we left and motored on to our next destination, which is about as close to beer heaven as I've seen in a good ten years.  Witness:

That would be but ONE aisle of four with beers from all over the country and all over the world.  We were in the store for at least a half an hour and left about 50 Yankee Dollars lighter, evenly split between SN1 and myself.  I MIGHT do a "Broadening Our Horizons" post in the next couple o' few, but OTOH I might not.  We shall see.  One more thing: yes, I DID buy a sixer o' that Left-Hand stout.  It's great good stuff.

Finally... a teaser o' things to come (mebbe):

Boats!

Broadening Our Horizons LXI

It almost feels like summer outdoors (73 degrees; bright, brilliant NM sun; and NO wind!) and it felt that way when we made our bi-monthly beer and commissary run out to Cannon Airplane Patch earlier today.  So, there we were...  perusing the beer selection at the Class VI store and we see New Belgium released its summer seasonal offering.  Well, yes.  Hell, yes!  Grab a sixer, go to the check-out, and then RTB to unload and such.

So we're enjoying one of these, as we speak.  Like this:

Here's how NB bills the beer:

A delightful summer ale for easy sipping and a classic Belgian yard game for easy enjoyment, Rolle Bolle is how we roll. Brewed with monk fruit and soursop, this beer pours a brilliant blonde, with a fluffy, white head. Earthy and tropical tones carry the aroma and the taste follows accordingly. Rolle Bolle’s hint of tartness is backed with the citrus bite of Cascade and Centennial hops. Oats add some creaminess to the mouthfeel, and it finishes dry and clean. Time to get in the yard, crack a bottle and start rolling. 

Well, we ain't gonna roll... as in Rolle Bolle, the game.  But we shall roll with this beer, which is everything NB sez it is and then some.  I'll be adding another sixer or three into our fridge o' many charms before summer's even here.  As I've said before: I've hardly ever met a New Belgium beer I didn't like.

Our cigar today is a Partagas Spanish Rosado, a favorite here at El Casa Inmóvil De Pennington.

And what are we listenin' to?  Well... this, for starters: 



Sorry... but I just couldn't help myself.  Rolle Bolle just sounds TOO much like Wooly Bully.  Rock on.

Broadening Our Horizons (X4), Episode LXIX

We made a trip down to our local likker locker day before yesterday for to replenish the barley pop section of our Fridge O' Many Charms and were greeted in the parking lot by big-ass signs advertising O'Dell's Summer Sampler.  "Well, cool," sez I, "I think I'll pick one of those up."  And we did.  Here's what's in that 12-pack:

A couple o' days have passed and I've sampled all four of the beers... Loose Leaf (a session or saison beer), 90 Shilling Ale (an amber ale), St. Lupulin (a very hoppy pale ale), and their IPA (which is about par for the course for that genre) (there are great lil videos about the beers at a couple o' those links, btw)... which I've listed in order of my preference, the latter two bein' tied for dead last.  I'm not an IPA fan in that I don't like hoppy bitterness to overpower the malt flavor in my beer.  It goes without sayin' that your mileage may vary, the corollary bein' taste is ALL in our mouths.

So, that said... I really like the Loose Leaf and the 90 Shilling but I won't be buyin' another of these 12-packs... mainly coz I don't care for half of the contents.  I'm hopin' against hope my likker locker will stock the 90 Shilling but when the Loose Leaf is gone... it's gone, seein' as how it's an experimental brew and is only available in the summer 12-packs.  I hate it when that happens, mainly coz Loose Leaf is a damned near perfect summer brew (I'm drinkin' one right now, as we speak).

Oh, well.  It's always sumthin'.

Broadening Our Horizons LVII

We're not much on stouts as a rule (we DO like our porters, stout's brother-in-arms), but given the fact our weather has taken a wintry turn we figgered we might do a stout or two today.  We saw a sixer o' these at the local beer emporium and brought one home to grace our fridge.

This is great good stuff!  Lemmee quote my go-to guys:

Nice opaque black colour with a tight & patchy cream/foam head. Aromas include roasted, day old coffee/coffee beans, black liquorice. Tight lively carbonation. Smooth, creamy and robust with an astringent roasted barley flavour, smoked malts, wood, black liquorice and molasses. Sweetness is mild. Hop bitterness is thin with a limey backbone that peaks and puckers for a brief moment. Dry, crisp, grain and raw on the edges of the palate. Finish brings some dryness to the mouth, as well as some lingering burnt flavours.

Dry, complex and damn tasty ... a real nice stout.

What more could I add?  Well, this:  it doesn't take all day to pour a pint, like SOME stouts we know (but don't necessarily love).  Heart of Darkness is RIGHT up my alley: malty, smooth, and there's no overpowering hoppiness to be found.  This is a very well-balanced brew.

While I was makin' the beer run I noted with great appreciation that the WX, while on the chilly side at 52 degrees, is entirely suitable for an outdoor Happy Hour.  The bright sunshine and lack o' wind makes the al fresco beer-drinking experience quite tolerable... and downright enjoyable.  So we shall now continue as we've begun.

Broadening Our Horizons LXXXII

Another offering from Left Hand Brewing...

We like Left Hand's Milk Stout so very much we figgered most all of their brews would be worthy, so we picked up a sixer of their Sawtooth All-American Ale.  Our go-to guys like this beer a LOT, giving it a "94" rating.  An excerpt from their review:

Taste: A malty brew with caramel, light chocolate, toasted and some biscuit malt flavours. Very firm mouthfeel, medium-bodied. Pleasant fruit flavours follow and mingle oh so nicely with the even malt sweetness and complexities. Hop bitterness is mild, but balances the malt with light citrus and raw hop flavours that linger through to the end. Mineral-like flavours can also be detected. Finishes a bit dry with light grain tannins and faint background chocolate malt.
Notes: A freagin' spot on ESB, and a very impressive ale. I thoroughly enjoyed tasting this beer, and only wish I had more. 

I'm drinkin' my second Sawtooth this afternoon and I have to say that familiarity breeds sumthin' other than contempt.  My first Sawtooth encounter, i.e., yesterday, left me thinkin' the brew was too hoppy for my taste but I don't find that to be true today.  It remains to be seen if this beer will earn a spot in our rotation, but the sticks seem to be lining up that way.

And now it's back out to the verandah to enjoy our moderate temps and interesting Spring skies.

Broadening Our Horizons XXIX

We're just in from a re-supply and provisioning run out to Cannon Airplane Patch where we bought the essentials:  beer and single-malt.  No, wait... no single-malt this time; we opted for another one of Mr. Walker's high-end blends seein' as how we were suitably impressed with that Johnnie Walker Gold.  So we're gonna try what you see at right during tonight's After Dinner Whiskey Hour.  About which, this:

Four signature malts provide the key taste influences for this 15-year-old whisky. Talisker™ introduces power and depth of character, Caol Ila™ contributes mystery and intensity and, at its heart, Cragganmore™ provides a sweet maltiness, while Linkwood™ adds a final touch of finesse.

Blending exclusively with malts produces a rich, powerful whisky, with each one giving its own intense flavor and aromas to create a perfect combination.

With its rich gold amber appearance, this medium-full malt summons up a multiplicity of complex natural aromas. It starts on the seashore and drifts inland over moist moss and through evergreen forest. Then come the exotic notes of orange peel, stewed peaches, cooked black fruits and sour cherry.

I've had Talisker and Cragganmore before; I've never sampled the other two components of the blend.  The bottle is in the freezer as we speak, gettin' all nice and chilly for its debut here at El Casa Móvil de Pennington.

Oh, one more thang... we bought food, too.  Life ain't all beer and skittles single-malts now, izzit? 

Added, somewhat later:  So... there I was, surfin and lookin' for reviews of JW Green, when I came across this:

Empty glass:

Interestingly when smelling the empty glass after letting it dry on the table for a while there is a sweet smell similar to marijuana.

I know this because I once had marijuana flavoured lollipop which smelled exactly like this only a little stronger.

Heh.  And, like Clinton, I'm sure our reviewer did NOT inhale (and it was a pot-flavored lollipop, besides).  We shall not wash our glass when we're done with ADWH tonight... and I'll be sure and get back to you on the "smells like pot" thang.  I'll know from whence I speak, too... coz, unlike the Big Dog, I most certainly DID inhale once upon a time.  But we don't do that any longer, Gentle Reader.  Our abstinence doesn't come from a sudden attack of morals or respect for dumb-ass laws; no, it's a matter of health.  My lungs, wracked with emphysema as they are, do not need any more tars or other foreign substances fouling up the airways. 

―:☺:―

I don't know what to make of this... 

Is that a Pro-Perry or Anti-Perry cartoon?  On the one hand, one could interpret this as Miss America likes Good Ol' Boys... macho-men... in the Oval Office instead of nerds (think: present occupant, who is a pseudo- or wanna-bee nerd).  OTOH, one could view this as "Mitt The Serious One" while Perry is just a Good Time Charlie.  One thing is certain, though... Mr. Holbert is a DamnYankee (all one word).  Nobody wears their Levis tucked into their boots... NO-Frickin'-BODY... except for foreign rock stars who don't know any better.

Broadening Our Horizons XXVIII

Kinda-sorta, in that we do this Octoberfest thang every year around this time...

That's a Sammy Adams Octoberfest, about which one of the Bros has this to say:

T&M- Very malty, not overly sweet. Lots of bready notes, lightly toasted crust comes to mind. Kiss of hops to balance, slight herbal flavor. Finishes semi-sweet with a lingering maltiness.

D- A tasty choice this year, its good to have a fresh O-fest rather than getting burned by a stale imported O-fest that has been sitting around since last year.

Yup... fresh.  And good.  That's the remnants of a Rocky Patel Decade you see idling in the ash tray.  The reason you see a remnant is we're just in from runnin' our errands depleting our bank account; we got a head start on the cigar thang while runnin' our errands for the comfort that was in it.  This buyin' new furniture might be fun for some people but I hate what it's doin' to my bank balance. 

No Broadening Our Horizons Today

Nope.  Our Happy Hour is graced with the presence of a couple of old faves... a CAO Italia Novella and a couple (mebbe more) o' Shiner Hefeweizens.  We've gone on about both before, the Shiner Hefe here and here, and the Italias here (among other places).  Just to refresh your memory...

The cigars.

The beer.

We are most comfortable in our habits, we are.  We're also Green (heh) in that we choose to recycle our pixels, the photos bein' from Current Happy Days Recently Passed.

Broadening Our Horizons LIII

We're on sumthin' like a posting roll today, this bein' my fourth.  And My!... aren't we chatty?  I HAD to go out earlier, seein' as how the cupboard was nearly bare and we weren't in a mood to play Old Father Hubbard.  Besides that we were nearly outta beer, which is about as close to "crisis-mode" as we get these days.  So we put on our Big-Boy pants and ventured out into the cold cool, sumthin' we don't do unless pressed.  "Nearly outta beer" = pressed.

So our first stop was the Local Likker Locker where we checked all the coolers for sumthin' new and different, deciding on this:

(The bottle is capped coz I already threw the empty away)

That would be a Sierra Nevada Kellerweis, about which this:

Absolutely remarkable that this beer has flown under my radar for so long. Giving the Germans a run with this one.

That would be Jason Alström, one of the Beer Bros and my go-to guy for all things involving barley, hops, and water.  Mr. Alström rates Kellerweis as "World-Class" and I have to agree with him.  This beer has earned a place in my fridge as a regular from now on, displacing the ever-popular Franziskaner when it comes to Weiss Bier.  I really lucked out today! 

Today is the kinda day when a cigar will mysteriously experience spontaneous combustion when placed in an ashtray.  The weird thing is this ONLY happens when the ambient outdoor temperature is below about 55 degrees.  The cigar in question is a Drew Estate Undercrown, a remarkable cigar that's paired with this equally remarkable beer.  From a review by the Stogie Guys:

The resulting cigar is very impressive. It’s slightly milder than the Liga Privada, placing it solidly in the medium (maybe medium-full for some people) spectrum. It’s toasty with nutty flavors and coffee bean. As it develops, roasted tastes dominate and there’s a little spice in the final third.

I suppose our bottom line is Happy Hour is VERY happy.  This is why I'm pretty chatty today, I guess.

Broadening Our Horizons XXXIV

We're just in from the local beer emporium where we picked up a couple o' sixers to get us through the weekend.  Like this:

What you see is a good ideer from that lil ol' brewery in Shiner, Texas... which is a sixer of six different beers from Spoetzl, two of which... the Kosmos Reserve and the Brewer's Pride... will be new to me once I get around to drinking 'em.  Variety packs from breweries ain't exactly a new thang, but ya usually see 'em in 12-packs, not sixers.  And those 12-packs almost always have two bottles of sumthin' you don't like so I usually give 'em a pass.  But a sixer?  Yeah, I like that ideer... coz if I don't like one of the beers it ain't no biggie.  Are ya listenin', Sammy Adams?

But that said, our broadening exercise today is Alimony Ale, a name which intrigued me seein' as how Mother's Day is fast approaching (you know: pay this mother, pay that mother, yadda, yadda, not the least o' whom is the Mom of the adult boys, who gets a sizable chunk of my USAF retirement every month.  But we digress.).  And it's an IPA, of which there are very few of those I've met that I didn't like.  One of the Bros... Jason, specifically... likes it:

Presentation: 12oz brown. Turn of the century cartoon of a small man, big mouth character holding a sign. On the sign it states, "The Bitterest BREW in America."

Appearance: Very dark with ruby edges and a nice looking thin lace that retains.

Smell: Big and malty with caramel and rum notes.

Taste: Extremely smooth, rich malt sweetness that transforms into a roasted grain dryness becoming almost tart. Hop leaf flavours finish at the end, mixing well with the complexity of malt afters.

Notes: Not the bitterest brew, but, very malty and complex. The malts definitely reign in this brew. Very unique and enjoyable.

He gives the beer a B+ and I'm in agreement.  The beer is plenty bitter enough, though.  And now it's time to take this show out to the verandah where we can actually enjoy Alimony.  And a cigar.

Broadening Our Horizons XIX

I could mine this vein from now until the day I die and prolly WILL... for as the unnamed sage so wisely noted: "So many beers, so lil time."  Today it's a Leinenkugel Sunset Wheat...

This weissbier is sweeter than most and that's not an entirely bad thing.  The characteristic that leaps out at you as you bring the glass to your lips is its nose, most commonly described by the readers at Beer Advocate as reminiscent of Froot Loops or Fruity Pebbles.  That might be off-putting to some beer drinkers but it pleases me... today.  Tomorrow might be an entirely different story.

Today's cigar is a Drew Estate Tabac Especial Red Eye, which is rapidly becoming the cigar of choice here at El Casa Móvil De Pennington.  Well, one of the cigars of choice, anyhoo.  We're still quite partial to the Acid Deep Dish.  

Speaking of...  I bought myself a box of Deep Dishes for Christmas and that box remains largely untouched, as I'm engaged in a lil experiment.  I read somewhere that aging a cigar has much the same effect as aging fine wine... as in "the older, the better."  That presupposes you keep the cigars properly humidified, of course, which I'm doing.  So, we pulled one of the now three-month old Deep Dishes out of the humidor yesterday, fired it up, and I couldn't tell if it was any better or not.  There may be two things in play here: (1) I haven't given the cigars enough time to age properly or (2) I just don't have an educated palate.  As far as (1) goes... I'm not sure if I have the will power to let the cigars age for a year or more.  And there ain't no fixin' (2).  It is what it is.

―:☺:―

We're taking today's Happy Hour indoors as it's not a nice day outside.  What the hell happened to Spring, anyway?  I suppose I shouldn't bitch, as some of you Gentle Readers have had snow in the last day or three.  That said, the recent good weather (read as: temps in the 80s) left me somewhat spoiled and not very tolerant of our 51 degree temperature, as we speak.  We'll be back to normal in a day or two, though.

―:☺:―

Here's my next musical purchase:

From one of the reviews at Amazon:

Alligator Records celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2011 with the release of The Alligator Records 40th Anniversary Collection. The 2-CD set clearly lays out Iglauer's wide-ranging blues vision. From the ragged glory of Hound Dog Taylor to the raw Chicago blues of Koko Taylor, Son Seals, Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials, Lonnie Brooks and Eddy Clearwater to the harmonica workouts of Charlie Musselwhite, William Clarke, James Cotton and Rick Estrin to the guitar pyrotechnics of Guitar Shorty, Albert Collins, Johnny Winter, Michael "Iron Man" Burks and Tinsley Ellis to the front porch roots-rock of JJ Grey & Mofro to the gospel soul of Mavis Staples, the one constant is Alligator's dedication to releasing what has been dubbed "Genuine Houserockin' Music."

From the early days of recording only Chicago blues artists to the addition of national and international artists to the label's commitment to younger roots acts who are creating new blues for a new millennium, Alligator continues to forge ahead. Even after 40 years, Alligator is committed to discovering great new talent, proving that the passion, soul and redemptive power of blues and roots music is alive, well and genuine, capable of rocking the house for many more years to come. 

Now is that right up our alley or WHAT?  You should peruse the track list at Amazon, Gentle Reader, to see why I'm so enthused.