greenspandan

the cynic in me will be astounded if this isn't struck down 5 to 4, which is really unfortunate. people who don't have health insurance reduce the quality and increase the cost for those of us who do. i wholeheartedly reject the conservative argument against health insurance. how many of those arguing against the mandate would want to go without health insurance? none, of course. it's some convoluted slippery-slope principle that i think really boils down to a complete misunderstanding of the implications: if conservatives truly understood that this was in their own economic best interest, their objections would melt away. i do not buy that their outrage is based on anything other than that.

seems almost unanimous in favor of burgundy over gold for the home unis. hope it doesn't change again! away, i don't really have an opinion. white over whatever.

you guys gotta try Dragon's Milk from New Holland. absolutely delicious. it's a thick, creamy imperial stout with notes of vanilla and oak. shot into my top five immediately.

realyl hoping to see burgundy shirts / gold pants again. loved that look last year.

it's my favorite seasonal of all breweries, all seasons. it's a spicy, hoppy, moderately strong IPA.

me too!! i wish i could get it in 12-packs on its own instead of just as part of a variety pack. ALERT: Trader Joe's has their annual Vintage Ale out now. it is brewed and bottled by Unibroue. It is an unfiltered belgian style ale a little bit similar to Maudite, but darker and with a stickier head. 8%. very very good stuff. definitely tastes like a Unibroue, but it doesn't have that trademark champaign head like La Fin Du Monde. I watched the first episode of Brew Masters, the new reality show starring Dogfish Head's founder, Sam Calagione. very entertaining! next week's episode is about Midas Touch, so it should be fascinating. (Dogfish Head is currently my favorite brewery)

said it a few pages back, but it bears repeating -- Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale is the best seasonal around

Out!

i dunno, something about Magic Hat beers rub me the wrong way. they're too sweet or watery or something. particularly the #9. i'll take a palo santo instead.

i just bought a 6-pack of that lancaster milk stout. haven't tried it yet. did try DFH's Punkin Ale last night. ehhhh a little too sweet and pumpkiny for me.

last night, i had Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary Black Barleywine. congratulations to Sierra Nevada, both on the 30 years and on this fantastic brew. this stuff is very tasty, and remarkably well balanced for a barleywine. the pour yields a sticky, brown, aggressive head. the beer is not cloudy -- it's completely opaque. the smell is a pleasant blend of roasted caramel, hops, and alcohol. the taste is an excellent balance between the hops, sweets, and fermentation. all three are clearly present, but none are overpowering. it just tastes good. i looked forward to every sip. at over 10%, a single 750ml bottle put me in a great mood all night. grade: A+

Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale is the best seasonal.

With high hopes, the other night i tried the Vanilla Java Porter by At-water. It smelled delicious. vanilla, coffee, beer ... three aromas that go great together. unfortunately, the taste did not quite live up to the expectation. although it was sweet, it was not rich. there was little to no hoppiness to it. normally, that's fine by me -- i don't demand a hoppy beer, but in this case some pronounced hops might have cut the dessertiness of it. it was a little thinner than i expected as well, but perhaps i'm just getting too used to all those muddy imperial stouts i've been loving lately. This beer did not taste bad. I just couldn't help feeling it should have tasted better. Overall Rating: C+ NOTE: usually after an evening of moderate drinking (i had 4 of these) i sleep like a baby, but this night i simply tossed and turned fitfully and anxiously all night long, and what little sleep i did get was very light and easily disturbed. i suspect this beer's "java" element contains significant caffeine, which overpowered and outlasted the depressant effect of the 6% ABV. edit: are you kidding me? the server censored the image url because of the word at_water? sheesh.

yeah, i'm not a beer snob, i'll drink anything, and give it a fair shake. sometimes sam adams falls flat, but occasionally they hit it out of the park. the sam adams cream stout is ok. there's just not a whole lot to it. a little weak, but agreeable enough flavor. the noble pils is actually pretty good -- i actually found that on tap at red robin, of all places. i am in love with the Sam Adams Imperial Stout though. i agree completely with the reviewer. it's absolutely delicious. it's an incredibly bold product for such a large brewer. smells wonderfull, too. avoid the Imperial White, though, it starts out too sweet, and the sweetness rises during the aftertaste. yuck. my favorite beer these days is Palo Santo Marron by Dogfish Head. it recently replaced my former favorite, La Fin Du Monde. This is quite an accomplishment, because La Fin Du Monde actually holds sentimental value for me: my first trip to canada, with my future wife. the summer of 1997. at the time, i knew nothing of microbrews. "icehouse" was about as exotic as i'd ever gotten with beer. we stopped at a little country store in the Quebec wilderness, and i saw these beers with these amazing evocative labels, by some company i'd never heard of called Unibroue. Eau bénite, and La Fin Du Monde. well, i bought them totally not knowing what to expect. i was very leery of the 9% abv listed on the bottle, but i was shocked to discover that these beers tasted better than any i'd ever had. i had no idea, before that day, that beer wasn't supposed to taste like watered down metallic urine. sitting there in the canadian wilderness on the porch of my girlfriend's cabin, it was love at first sip.

it's an acquired taste. most people start off drinking the lightest stuff they can find because it has the least flavor. i'm not being snobby - beer tastes gross at first. i'm not gonna lie. after a while though, people get used to it, and then after a while they really begin to like it, and then if they become enthusiastic about it, they refine their tastes and seek out richer, higher quality, or more adventuresome brews. notice the big-business beer commercials are CONSTANTLY talking about how COLD their beer is. the colder it is the less you can taste it. or they tout their "drinkability" or how they're "less filling". all these marketing tactics are crappy american macro-brew euphemisms for "it has no taste" because for some reason the big brewers think people don't want to taste their beer. i don't know ... maybe most don't. personally i really like the feeling of being almost but not quite drunk. and i also love the taste of a complex and original beer. there is a huge amount of variety to be experienced from belgian tripels to cream stouts and the million variations in between. a beer can be crisp or thick, bitter or spicy, sweet or mean. my favorites are mostly in the 9% range of alcohol, because that way i only have to drink 2 or 3 to be in that "almost drunk" state i love. i'd have to drink 6+ miller lites for the same effect, but then that comes with that gross bloated "gotta pee every five minutes" feeling too.

anything from Unibroue is liquid gold.

i hope this is true. burgundy on burgundy would look great. if burgundy with gold pants were an option, i'd be into that, but i don't think that's allowed. it would constitute a uniform change, which has to be approved by the league and probably involves a ton of red tape. those throwback uni's from a couple years back with the burgundy top and gold pants are the best-looking uniforms the redskins have ever worn, by a wide margin. all burgundy will be pretty cool!