mmm... beer
As requested, here is a post about one of my favorite things.... beer! For me it has been an acquired taste, but now I am the current expert resident of the Chick Pilot house (we also have a wine and cooking expert, all the necessities). I cannot say that I discriminate when it comes to the actual drinking, but when given a choice, I do like variety.
You can find a good history of beer here, but I'll include the highlights:
-The Sumarians discovered fermenting by chance (I think there was some divine inspiration)
-In the Gilgamesh Epic, some dude named Enkido drank seven cups of beer and went from being primitive to being cultured. Too bad today the opposite happens.
- The Babylonians brewed 20 kinds of beer, and made women do the brewing
- The Romans thought beer was barbarian after they discovered wine
- Monks drank the pleasant tasting, highly nutritious beverage when they fasted.
- When the brewing went wrong during the Middle Ages, brewers were accused of being "beer witches" (burn her!)
- The Germans enacted a Beer Purity Law in 1516, the oldest valid food law in the world
- When the first German railway line was opened in 1835, its first cargo was beer
Now for the most part, I'm a big wheat beer fan. Any kind of hefeweizen or maybe a Blue Moon with an orange in it is quite tasty. Lately however, I am drinking more ales. They have more complex tastes, and there are more to be had. I previously blogged about my current favorite beer, Rogue Dead Guy Ale. Rogue makes a nice honey brown also that has a surprising vanilla aftertaste. I have been drinking a lot of Leinenkugel's Sunset Wheat also, and it takes like blueberries.
For general drinking with the boys in the O club on a Friday night, we usually end up drinking your standard Miller Lite or Bud Light. I know they are not fancy, but they do put out some good commercials. Sometimes we'll go crazy and have some Shiner Bock, another good beer that goes down easy.
Please share your own favorite beers. Like I said, I enjoy variety, so I'm always looking for something new to try. Happy drinking!
Labels: beer
posted by chic[k]pilot @ 7:21 AM
13 comments
13 Comments:
I went to school at Minnesota -- 2 hrs from the Leinie's brewery. I've drank FAR more than my share of Honeyweise. You can tell the nubes from the experienced drinkers by how they pronounce that. Leinie's Sunset Wheat is a nice mixture, and I'm also a fan of their Red. Viva la Chippewa River Valley local.
Shiner Bock is a great beer.
ditto Rogue Dead Guy
My favorite: Samuel Adams Oktoberfest. A seasonal beer, alas.
Although I'm not a level 70 undead rogue - I guess I'm going to have to find out where I can acquire some of the aforementioned Rogue Dead Guys.
Hmmm - accidentally logged anonymously - and I haven't even been into the Landshark yet tonight.
That reminds me...
Leinenkugel's in Mississippi? I've never seen Leinie's more than a state or two away.
you must have connections.
Connections?
Back "in the old days" before Coors was available East of the Missipp, whenever we took a Huey to Depot maintenance in Kansas to trade for another machine, we always came back with the rear of the aircraft loaded with cases of yellow cans. I bet CP has similar "connections".
And if you ask either of us if it really happens, we'll deny it!
Just noticed most, including me, have ignored the request in your last paragraph-
As previously stated, I like my beer ice-cold.
I have found that I can taste subtleties in the first beer I drink, but for the second and beyond, cold and wet will suffice, and CHEAP becomes a major factor for this old skinflint.
I like Milwaukee's Best "ICE". I generally buy it in a 24 pack suitcase for less than $10. Funny thing is in spite of the cost I still like the taste, and it has a high alcohol content.
And about "Lite or Light" beers...
Talking with a brewmaster from one of the MAJOR breweries I found that their light beer was just their regular beer with added distilled water. To make your own at considerable savings, just add 20% club soda to your regular beer!
Just about any old beer will do! The more the better. Have a great weekend!
This is cool:
After World War II, American researchers did a lot of work to determine what personal characteristics were responsible for some pilots being exceptionally effective ("aces"), while most were not. In the course of this research, it was discovered, as some researchers suspected (no doubt in light of the Russian experience) that many women were potential aces. In due time, it was discovered that, if the same training standards were applied to male and female pilot trainees, the superior female pilots would emerge.
But did the Russian women drink beer, or vodka? ;>)
OK, we'll just have to vote for Yuengling. It just goes down smooth, and is a nice change from the daily workhorse, Bud Light. Also, in North Carolina the past week, discovered that Carolina Blonde is almost extinct from the shelves, whilst the Yuengling, unavailable here in Ohio, is near universal. Mind you, we can drive to the PA brewery after church on Sunday, maybe its the distance that makes the heart grow fonder.
All right, I'll have to be fair and plug the Great Lakes brewing company beers. You can still make Burning River Fest 07, and if the thought of our beloved Cuyahoga River on fire makes you sweat, why quaff a cold Burning River Pale Ale.
And, for this summer, I'd certainly be remiss to not mention the Butt Monkey ale, which indeed so transformed a friend who consumed a six pack last month.
Well, I guess some of you beer lovers probably never drank a Schlitz. When I was in flight training in Pensacola that was the first and second beer we drank. After that we switched to Lone Star because it was cheap and, after two decent beers, we didn't care how bad it was.
Used to enjoy San Miguel back in the 60s in the PI. Stuff was strange though. Sometimes you could drink a six pak and not feel a thing. Other times one bottle could knock you on your keister. I think they had a problem with the quality control of alcohol content.
Probably the best beer I ever drank was a Triple X in the courtyard of a hotel in Danang. Had to bingo to Danang because of a fouled deck at YS. No BOQ rooms, so we ended up in a fortified hotel downtown. We'd been airborne for six hours in A-1s. It was 3 AM. The temp was 85 with humidity to match. When that hotel operator showed up with a dozen ice cold Triple Xs they were like manna from Heaven. Can still taste that wonderful cold fire all these 42 years later.
Today it's either Guinness or Negro Modelo for me.
So when you get orders to DC go drown your sorrows for being in DC at the Brickskeller. Just about every beer known to man is there.
My, I like the heavy stuff: imperial stouts, Spaten Optimator, et cetera. Anchor Steam, Fat Tire and Sierra Nevada have been mainstays.
Used to be that beer was what women made, and dark beer was what women tended to like. Brewster := female brewer.
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