Day 83, March 24 / Kona Longboard Island Lager

Day 83 / March 24, 2011

Kona Longboard Island Lager

Kona Brewing Company  /  Kailua-Kona, HI

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Here Come the Mummies!

Alright, let’s get the beer thing out of the way first.  I had a Kona Longboard Island Lager at Clare & Don’s Beach Shack.  It was a little flat, not a ton of flavor, and really not much better than Sunday’s Miller Lite.  Waitress:  “Would you like another?”  Me:  “No thanks, I’ll have a Sierra Nevada, please.”

This was just a warm up for the evening’s main event.  According to legend...

Over 5000 years ago, from the dry stretches of the not-so-fertile crescent, wandered a well-endowed, if foul smelling tribe, Expleticus Deleticus. They played upon musical instruments that, although crude, were nevertheless vessels of seeming infinite funkiness. Unearthed hieroglyphs tell a salacious story: a tribe possessing the power to groove most righteously, made drop the tunics of five luscious teenage daughters of the Pharaoh, who subsequently cursed them with a spell so vile, merely to repeat its name is to reduce your tongue to cinders inside your very head.

Thus begins the shtick that is Here Come the Mummies.  A few friends and I joined a couple hundred other Mummies fans for an evening of ancient funk at The State Theater in Falls Church, VA.  Nine guys in full mummy wrappings and accessories rocked the joint for a couple hours.  Two saxophones, trumpet, guitars, keyboards, percussion and drums sharing the stage with precision dance moves, costume changes, and suggestive lyrics.

Libido Kneivel

What a trip!  Even without the shtick, it would have been an awesome show.  Be sure to check out their website – they’ve got 8 songs available for free downloads, bios of each mummy, videos and upcoming tour dates.  Check out the Community Forum to see how rabid their fan base is!  I snapped a few pics of the Mummies in action.

Day 81, March 23 / Orval Trappist Ale

Day 81 / March 23, 2011

Orval Trappist Ale

Brasserie d'Orval S.A.  /  Villers-devant-Orval, Belgium

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Here’s to drunken monks!

Thanks to Stank at work for bringing me in an Orval Trappist Ale, one of his favorite beers.  I am only an occasional Belgian Ale drinker, but I can definitely appreciate the style.

So what's the difference between a Belgian Trappist beer and an Belgian Abbey beer?  Both Trappist and Abbey beers can be of many different styles - the terms are used to describe the beer's origin, not their style.

Trappist beers are beers brewed in a Trappist monastery. For a beer to qualify for Trappist certification, the brewery must be in a monastery, the monks must play a role in its production and policies and the profits from the sale must be used to support the monastery and/or social programs outside. There are only six Belgian monasteries that currently meet these qualifications - Achel, Chimay, Orval, Rochefort, Westmalle, and Westvleteren.

Abbey beers are made by commercial breweries, who take advantage of the positive associations of the Trappist breweries by imitating the styles and names of Trappist beers, and either brew under licence from an existing abbey, or brand their beers with the name of an abbey ruin or some other religious connection.

The Legend of Orval:  The story goes that the Orval monastery was born of an act of gratitude - Mathilda was a widow and her wedding ring had accidentally fallen into the fountain. She prayed to the Lord and at once a trout rose to the surface with the precious ring in its mouth. Mathilda exclaimed : 'Truly this place is a Val d'Or'! " In gratitude, she decided to establish a monastery on the site.

Shame on me for not having the proper glass to enjoy this beer in – Belgian beers are generally served in a wide goblet, which are designed to preserve the head in the glass and allow for deep sips.  Instead, I poured this into a Sam Adams glass, and as result I got a glass full of foam!  I had to wait several minutes for it to settle down.

The color was a little orange-ish, slightly cloudy.  The taste was quite good - a little strong, and a little sweet, with hints of spice.

Day 81, March 22 / Schlafly American Pale Ale

Day 81 / March 22, 2011

Schlafly American Pale Ale

The Saint Louis Brewery  /  St. Louis, MO

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Beer and Potato Chips.

Beer and Potato Chips.  Sure, they go great together, but they have something else in common.  They are a couple of the remaining food or beverage items that still have a strong regional distinction.  By that, I mean that there are certain brands that you can only get in certain areas of the country.  And you may look forward to visiting that part of the country just to sample these brands or enjoy them again.

I grew up on Wise and Terrell’s chips in Syracuse, New York.  And the Charles Chip delivery man.  Here in the DC area, we’ve got our Utz (and you don’t).  And Pennsylvania must have at least a dozen regional brands, including Herr’s, Gibble’s, Martin’s, Synder’s of Hanover and Snyder’s of Berlin.

Country Living Magazine has published a list of some of the best regional chips, and there’s even a Chip of the Month Club specializing in regional chips.

Despite this country’s grand farm-to-mega-market distribution system, there are some beers (and chips) that never venture too far from home.  And thank God for that.  Beers that make us come to them.  But every now and then, one escapes.  And courtesy of frequent commenter HHH, a Schlafly American Pale Ale made its way to my house.

Schalfly Beers are made by The Saint Louis Brewery in St. Louis, MO.  They claim to brew around 50 different style of beer each year, most of which are only available within 300 miles of St. Louis.  Actually, a couple styles are distributed in the Mid-Atlantic and New England regions.  I’ll have to see if I can wrangle a business trip to St. Louis to try me some fresh Schalfly.

The Schlafly Dry Hopped American Pale Ale was quite tasty, and had just about the right amount of bitterness for my liking.  Strong candidate for Beer of the Week!

Day 80, March 21 / Pollenator Pale Ale

Day 80 / March 21, 2011

Pollenator Pale Ale

Long Trail Brewing Company / Bridgewater Corners, VT

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Dude, where’s my blog?

Where did I go?  Did I fall off the 365 beer quest and I was ashamed to show my face in virtual public?  Fortunately, that was not the case.

But, as it can, life got in the way.  I got tied up working evenings with a project for work, and then the Mummies came to town (more on that in the post on Kona Longboard Lager).  But I will catch up this weekend, I promise.

I am also aware that for some reason, my dozen of followers, might look forward to my blog each day, and ask themselves, “WWJD?” or “What Would Jeff Drink?”  So going forward, unless I am incarcerated in a Mexican jail for a crime that I probably didn’t commit, I will try to post at least the name and rating of the beer within about 24 hours of the quaff, and follow up ASAP with a picture and my authoritative review.  OK?

So Monday night, as I worked editing a video for The Biggest Loser contest at work, I downed a Long Trail Pollenator Ale.  Pollenator is a good, crisp, slightly hoppy spring seasonal brew, and despite the name and the bee on the label, I do not believe there is honey in there, honey.  I would recommend you pick up a six pack while it’s still in season.

Day 79, March 20 / Miller Lite

Day 79 / March 20, 2011

Miller Lite

Miller Brewing Company  /  Milwaukee, WI

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Less Taste.  Less Filling.

Well, after all those beers yesterday, I really wasn’t up for anything too strong today.  In fact, I really wasn’t up for a beer at all today.  So I picked something as Lite as possible.

Remember the rules – Coors Light is the only beer specifically excluded by name from my quest.  Miller Lite is allowed.

I’m not even going to bother with a description of Miller Lite – it is what it is.  But hey, it does have a patented Vortex bottle.

Day 78, March 19 / Dixie Lager Beer

Day 78 / March 19, 2011

Dixie Lager Beer

Dixie Brewing Company  /  New Orleans, LA

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Oh boy.  Yes, several beers were had last night.  And a couple sazeracs.  And a couple more beers.  I didn’t get a chance to get a picture of my beer last night, so I took a picture of the remains this morning.

I had better beers than this last night, but I probably won’t come across Dixie beer again for a while, so it’s the beer of record for the day.

Dixie is a light lager, both in color and in taste, and made with adjuncts (corn or rice), like most mass market American beers.  Honestly, I can’t quite recall exactly how it tasted, but I do recall it was just sort of OK.  FYI, the Dixie Brewery was closed after it was severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina.  Dixie is now contract brewed at other locations.