wow its been a while

Before I start, I got the coolest book from my best friends in Seattle, "The Big Book of Beer", and it is cool as hell. Thank you Mr. and Miss X, I miss you guys like crazy.

Haven't posted anything in long time, but I have been drinking many many beers. Some news before I post about some recent tastes...Fat Tire is coming to Chicago this month. It will be available at my favorite local watering whole, and my corner beer getting shop. Yummmm....If you haven't had it before you should try it. Last time I had Fat Tire was at Flipside down in Texas. It is a great Amber with the absolute perfect level of carbonation, tingly, yet smooth on the throat. Like a nice bubbly massage.
Speaking of Fat Tire, going to be brewing a new batch of beer this weekend, and planning on doing a fat tire clone. This will be very different from the Attrill Surprise, which was dark, packed some serious punch, and had enough head for 2 normal beers. I'll post a few status reports as it comes along.
Now onto some recent beer intakes....
Lets see the local watering hole has had a ton of stout lately
Avery Left Hand and Breckenridge Avalanche. Both are fantastic Colorado breweries and both of these were fantastic.
They also have been keeping the bells stout and Anderson Valley oatmeal stout on draft, and what can I say, I've been drinking both in mass quantity. Anderson Valley Oatmeal is my favorite stout of all time. I actually put it above the equally amazing Sam Smith Oatmeal Stout (to bad you can't get this on draft).

Spent my New Years out in California, and ran a small beer tasting for the folks of Gigsville (what an amazing group of people by the way). Got to try a couple nice California brews of which I can't remember what, but I did get to introduce them to some fine midwest beers. I don’t think people realize what fantastic beers we have here, but then they try them and say things like, "Simply Great!!!!". I brought the Capitol Winter Skaal, Lakefront Eastside Dark, and the ever amazing Bell's Two Hearted. With the Two Hearted I prefaced by saying, "do you like hops?", thus everyone that tried it, really loved it. Speaking of bell's see the following paragraph. Back to NYE, well if you read this blog from beginning to end, you would notice that I had a bit of life changing and rather crazy 2005, its subtle but its all in there. I have to say, NYE this year really brought me back to the overly positive, motivated and self-radiating person that I know and trust. Being with gigsville, on an amazing, and familiar piece of land, was like plugging myself into source of energy greater then most. What a seriously amazing group of people. I always feel welcome, but beyond that I always feel that being myself, is not only encouraged, its demanded, and then celebrated. Ohhhh man that is just a rejuvenating feeling when you've had a couple months of internal strife.....Thank you gigsville, thank you cabin five, and extra thanks to those that made it extra special for me (I don't name names in the beer blog). By the way, can you tell that I'm in love with Gigsville?

Back to the beer.....
January was a month to enjoy the Attrill surprise and boy was that fantastic. Really settled down into a nice malty and rather complex beer. An american brown crossed with an austrian dark perhaps
Also had the last six pack of the Bells 7,000 batch, holy shit that is a strong beer. Like two hearted that has been condensed, and aged for a bunch of time, and comes out like a bock of some sort. Yummmmmmmy!!!!!

Recently went up to Madison and had lunch at the Great Dane, which is a local brewpub. I was up there looking at houses, saw one that was like a beetlejuice house, and one that was perfect. Could this be it, could Shoebocks be moving to Madison.....
Oh yeah beer, had the velvet hammer and the cascade mountain porter. I'll say this, the dane is inconsistent, but man when they get it right, they get right. The velvet hammer is one of the smoothest bocks I have ever had. Much like the beloved Spaten Mai Bock, it packs a punch, and has enough flavor to go around the table and then some, yet when you drink it, it feels as though you could just drink it forever. Smooth is an understatement. The cascade is as one would expect, a porter with a nice cascade hopp, and if you know me, that is a combo I just love. I love sweet; slightly in your face hopp combined with a rich full bodied dark beer, and this porter is right there.

Well that about does it. I will get back to posting consistently, and hope to enjoy some new and interesting beers, and find new and interesting ways to use them to describe my life, in the coming weeks and months.