Tuesday, November 28, 2006

It's all about the beer(d), man!

I've decided to take the (More) out of my blog name and just go with the original title. Why? Several things have changed over at the new and improved AOL GameDaily, one of which is the removal of titles from the blogs. So, with that... this now becomes the MAIN home for "Ramblings of a Mad Man."

Over the 4-day turkey festivus I was fortunate enough to try out some rather lovely new brews. Not only am I lucky to have my folks living in the area (aaaaah!) but they're also aficionados of fine beer... who just so happen to run a liquor store not five minutes from my house! Often times they get sample beers from the sales guys. In this case they dropped off two international dandies: Lion Stout brewed by the Ceylon/Lion Brewery in Sri Lanka, and Saxo Blonde Belgian Ale brewed by Caracole in Belgium. These two beers are complete opposites (Lion is a bold, dark stout, while Saxo is effervescently wheaty), but both are exceptionally tasty. If you can find them, give 'em a whirl.

My good friend Renee, who is also a beer connoisseur - just not the "beer snob" that I am - found a veeeery interesting brew from Fort Collins Brewery called Z. If you dig BBQ as much as we do, this is perhaps the best set o' suds I've ever stumbled across for just such an outdoorsy occasion. It tastes like BBQ, smoky flavor and all. I highly recommend this adult beverage for all your summertime get togethers (and wintertime if you're brave enough to fire up the Que)!

Beer Fact of the Day: "... in the religious mythologies of all ancient cultures, beer was a gift to women from a goddess... and women remained bonded in complex religious relationships with feminine deities who blessed the brew vessels." Hell ya! (taken from 365 Bottles of Beer for the Year)

Beer Quote of the Day: "Whoever serves beer or wine watered down, he himself deserves in them to drown." (a medieval slogan demanding all pubs of the day sell untainted beverages)

Oh, an while I'm on the topic... I'm but an amateur when it comes to beer knowhow. If you REALLY wanna talk brewski technicalities, you need to go check out Ed Sealover's Beer Run Blog. Ed is The Gazette's resident beer critic. When he writes about beer he does so in a way that makes you feel like you're drinking one down as you read his column.


Lastly... I'm sportin' a new contemplative, professorial, "thinking" Mountain Mad Man look if you will. OK, so I got tired of shaving every day - sue me! Plus, it's getting darn nearply here in Colorado. In fact, we're due to be hit by another right hook from Ole Man Winter tonight (temps dropping down into the minus regions, along with 6" of the white stuff). When walking Osa (our spoiled Alaskan Malamute) at 5:30 in the AM, it's kinda hard to keep the face warm and the beard helps!

Whatcha think?

1 comment:

Ed Sealover said...

Eli -

Sorry, I haven't meant to ignore you. But I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate another beer lover in Colorado Springs. Let me know if you ever found any Stone beer locally, and we'll have to grab a pint. And keep on bloggin'.

Ed Sealover (pronounced C-Lover)