Picked up a six pack of this ealrier in the week. I love seasonal beers and enjoy the occasional fruit beer/lambic. This is no exception. While it's not the best I've ever had it's certainly good. At it's base it's just a solid ale, medium brown in color. It's got just a hint of cinnamon and nutmeg when you crack it open. The pumpkin spice flavors don't interfere, in fact they're almost an afterthought unfortunately. The carbonation and head are both sufficient.

This would have been a much more positive experience with a bit more nutmeg or cinnamon or both. I have excellent memories of the Blue Moon Pumpkin Ale and I understand that Dogfish Head makes one as well. It's early in the season yet so I think a comparison is defintely possible and in order.

FAQs About Serving Guinness and Guinness Drinks

Add 8-10 ounces of BOTTLED Guinness to large English pub pint glass (20oz).
Allow a few seconds to settle so there is NO head.
Add several scoops of quality vanilla ice-cream very slowly.
Wait 1 minute, serve with a long ice-cream spoon.
Under no circumstances should the ice-cream be added to the glass first.
The drink is called the "Golden Cream" after the creamy golden colour of the result.

Why have I never tried this?

So the above (slightly blurry) cheesecake came from Chocolata, a chocolate bar (heh) down here in the Woodlands where I've been for a couple of days of training. I'd say it's representative of yesterday's sensory overload. It's a chocolate cheesecake topped with bananas, Nutella, and powdered sugar (and more Nutella). I don't even want to think of how many calories I consumed in just this one desert. This was after having dinner and a couple of beers at 221B Baker Street.

Oooooh, the beers. Okay, if you're a beer snob this may annoy you. If it does, well I guess you'll live. The first was a "Black Castle", half Guinness/half Newcastle. It was good. The topper though and a beautiful thing indeed was the "Snakebite". It was Guinness floated on top of what I'm thinking was Woodchuck Pear Cider. Looooovely No other word for it. These works of beer art/science/mixology accompanied three great little mini-burgers with home made chips.

I needed all of this rib-stickingly good food, beer, and chocolate because I had witnessed something that blew me away. I saw Cloverfield. No, that's not right. I experienced Cloverfield. This isn't a movie you watch, it's a movie that rolls over you, stomps you flat, wrings you out. It's not the greatest film ever made. Truthfully it's a bit gimmicky. Blair Witch did it first (that I know of). Cloverfield, however, did it better. I won't tell you any more than that. Okay that's a bit of a lie. I do need to mention that this is the only movie I've seen in this decade that I can remember that caused me to stomp my feet, wring my hands, anything to bleed some tension out. When it was over I didn't really want to get up, almost couldn't. I was literally shaking. Now let me tell you that this isn't so much because the acting was fantastic (it was good though) or that the story blew me away (we've all seen very similar stories). It was because this movie overloaded my sight, hearing and yes even touch. I was a wreck. So, if you consider this a ringing endorsement, then go see it. If you suffer from motion sickness or don't like loud noises or bright flashes, do NOT see this.

I'll quite likely be seeing this again. Let me know what you think.

I'm more of a dark beer kind of guy, but hey tradition's tradition.

"A man hath no better thing under the sun,
than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry."
~ Ecclesiastes 8:15 ~

And for that matter:

He makes grass grow for the cattle,
and plants for man to cultivate—
bringing forth food from the earth:
wine that gladdens the heart of man,
oil to make his face shine,
and bread that sustains his heart.
~ Psalms 104:14-15 ~

Have a merry and safe St. Patty's day!

ht to Dorian

And have some lovely music to celebrate by.

This is the five gallons of Belgian goodness that some friends helped me put together. Bottling it in 15 days. Drinking it in 1 month. Anticipa-ay-tion.

I could blog about the Pisgah Brewing Company where they have some of the best stout I've ever had and an open brewery night on Thursdays from four til eight and where three bucks will get you the freshest liquid bread this side of heaven.

I could blog about Perry's BBQ, a little hole in the wall joint in Montreat, where for seven bucks each our little group (which barely fit in their dining room), got us all the pork, chicken, and brisket we could eat along side hush puppies, slaw, buttered red potatoes, baked beans, and sweet tea that would make any true son of the south cry.

I could blog about My Father's Pizza, or the beauty of the mountains, or the wonderful folks at the Blue Ridge Assembly, or the great ride up and back I had, or the games of Catan played, or the music, or the hornet in my bed, or the hike topped off with cooling my head via a hat dipped in a mountain waterfall.

Oh wait, I sorta just did. More on some of that to come (maybe).

Mainly I want to say this. I went to the mountains hoping desperately that I wouldn't worry about who wasn't there and focusing instead on renewing relationship and hearing the gospel. That happened. Oh I worried a little. I'm a worrier in spite of what some may think. More importantly I connected with guys both old friends and new. We shared our pain and fears, but we also shared our triumphs. Men laughed and cried, some (including myself) who hadn't done enough of either in a long time.

I heard the good news again that the Kingdom of God is here, now and that as screwed up as all of its inhabitants are we can love one another and our wives and our Lord without shame or reservation. That's not something that we do often enough down here in the valley. I for one have resolved to change that. I've been disconnected from some of my brothers. Time is a precious commodity, but I need to refocus on how I've been spending that. There are enough hours in the day if I'm wise.

We talked about loyalty and transparency in our dealings with one another. I'm pretty good at both of those things, but there's always room for improvement. I honestly worshipped for the first time in months, maybe longer. God unlocked some doors and flung others wide open. I pray that they'll stay that way and more importantly that the "mountain top experience" doesn't just happen on the mountain.

Okay so first things first. Some of you may remember us getting Brownie the dog who fell in da pit. Well he and Tempe (our Pyrenes mix) love to play tag. The size ratio is 10:1.

Second of all if you'll look over on my flickr sidebar you'll see that I did indeed get my beer in the bottles. Once I'm sure they're reasonably stable and am able to taste one I may be sending some out to the universe. Rhodester, Pat, and Ben I'm looking at you guys. Send me your addresses if you want one. Quantities are limited. Operators are standing by.

Thirdly.you should try Festina Peche by Dogfish Head. It's about as tart as any beer has a right to be. This is not a fru-fru fruity beer. It's incredibly refreshing. It won't be my go to summer beer since it ain't cheap, but it's well worth checking out. What is my go to summer beer? Well in years past it's pretty much been Sam Adam's Summer Ale, but I tried Shock Top by A-B (I know I know) and it is indeed worthy and inexpensive.