FlaSoxxJim

f*** s*** f*** f*** s*** division for the taking but Sox don't want it

QUOTE (G&T @ Aug 16, 2009 -> 07:20 PM) Poured the Bam Biere. This is something special. Fruity and funky. Nice tart taste. There's quite a bit going on here and I'm eager for it to warm up. Glad you're digging the Punpkin. Sounds like you'd really enjoy gueuze lambics and Flemmish browns and some of the other wonderfully tart styles, yes?

QUOTE (G&T @ Aug 16, 2009 -> 01:39 PM) Unfortunately, Stingo doesn't appear to be available around here. Nevertheless, my dinner was paired with something I've been meaning to try and just never did: Corsendonk Pater. I'm a huge Belgian beer junky, and the Corsendonk Christmas is not one to be missed (though it is decidedly on the sweet side), so I figured this deserved a go. Nice deep brown color with a fluffy head and great retention. Full of port wine aromas along with chocolate and some cherry and raisins. There's nothing like Belgian yeast. For a darker beer, it sits light on the palate and the carbonation makes the flavors dance. Very nice traditional abbey ale. I'd say the beauty of this one was balance. Plenty of abbey ales can turn out to be overly sweet, but this had just enough hops to keep it from becoming dessert beer. Of course, sweeter is always better to me. Hops don't do much for me (even though I keep trying). The beer that's waiting for me tonight is a bomber of Jolly Pumpkin Bam Biere. Traditional farmhouse ale weighing in at a light 4.5%, as it should. I didn't know that Jolly Pumpkin was even offered here, but I wandered the bottle shop and stumbled on it. Pretty excited about it. You're going to really like the Bam Biere I think. I had it a couple of weeks ago and can't wait to do another. Didn't rank up there with the best bière de gardes I've had, but very nice all the same. I don't think I've ever had a Corsendonk beer I didn't like, though unless it's a seasonal or other limited release other Trappist or abbey beers usually end up coming hoe with me instead. Hops can be an acquired taste for sure. I have a friend who is an avid craft beer enthusiast who for years only did the malty side of the beer world. We'd get him to try aggressively hopped beers just to see the icky face he'd make. Over time, though, he matured into a serious hophead.

QUOTE (knightni @ Aug 16, 2009 -> 01:11 PM) Flaxx likes his drinkees Nothing like getting toasted on high class hooch, yo This is true. However, I don't think you're entirely clear on the concept: White Sox haikus, not Flaxx haukus, please.

I suspect you could play a mean game of Edward Fortyhands with that.

Danks on da bump yo A sweep today would be nice Trevor Cahill blows

Last night's spotlight tipple was a magnum bottle of Dogfish Head's new limited seasonal, Theobroma. Intended as an homage to pre-Columbian Aztec alcoholic drinks using cocoa as a key ingredient, the label calls this an ale brewed with honey, cocoa, ancho chiles, and a spice called annato. As a disclosure, I adore Dogfish's straight-up hophead offerings—the excellent 60-, 90- and (yumm!) 120-minute IPAs. I usually don't find their more creative offerings like Midas Touch, Raison D'Etre, and Immort Ale to be as thoroughly enjoyable as the similarly complex left-field offerings from other breweries. Must be a a matter of taste and preference, because I know a lot of folks with well-honed beer palates that love these brews. And I give the brewery points for being adventurous in delving into historic beverages. Disclosure two, I'm not a big fan of honey in beer. I love honey as an ingredient in big rum drinks like navy grogs and rum barrels. And I think most well-made meads are terrific — having just yesterday afternoon enjoyed a glass of the outstanding Apis Jadwiga Polish mead courtesy of my pusher shopkeeper at the wine and spirits shop. But in beer, honey usually leaves me wanting. Nearly every beer made with honey to me tastes and feels like someone went and melted a Crayola crayon in an otherwise perfectly good beer. It just dominates the flavor and mouthfeel such that it's just not my cup of tea (something I do like to put honey in. . . go figure). At 9% abv, I was hoping the largeness of the Theobroma would stand up to the honey, and that the other interesting flavoring agents would add some balance as well. And to a degree, that was the case. But, the honey feel and flavor still ends up dominating this one enough that it would never be a personal favorite. Mostly well-balanced and with plenty going on in the flavor profile, but the honey fermenation notes are still a bit too front and center for me. My wife enjoyed this beer more than I did, and she does not share my honey beer aversion although she dislikes honey in rum concoctions. Hopefully some of the beer folks here who are more fond of honey as an ingredient will get a chance to try this on and offer an alternate perspective. A potential watershed beer for me tonight is a magnum of Cantillon kreik lambic that finally started coming into Florida in very limited quantities. The wife is a huge devotee of fruit lambics and so whether we crack this one depends on if she's in a beer mood this evening. If I drank this one without her I'd be in the doghouse for a week. Slainté

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Aug 15, 2009 -> 03:22 PM) I also found out he had 12 kids with 9 different women. Really altered my perception of the guy. Maybe he couldn't tell they were different women.

QUOTE (SnB @ Aug 15, 2009 -> 11:43 AM) good lord, i can't stand gin. I'm not a big fan of drinking something that tastes like a christmas tree. Not a huge gin fan either, other than in a martini or as a component of some vintage cocktails like the original Sheperd's Hotel Suffering Bastard.

Saturday baseball there is none in store for me Fox mutherf***ers

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Aug 15, 2009 -> 11:28 AM) Alexei homerun Yet we whine about Mike Huff Lighten up Francis Amazingly, I haven't heard that line in months and have heard/seen it twice in the last 3 hours, first on the radio on the drive into work and now here. Haven't watched Stripes in ages.

So many great little brewpubs worth seeking out. The Yorkshire Stingo is limited to 2,000 cases production, and was released August 1st, so hopefully you can come across one. I hope you do to compare notes. The Merchant du Vin product page for the Stingo mentions raisin and dried fruit notes on the flavor profile but doesn't make a point of pointing out barrel aged tartness. Then again, this year's vintage may have some more of that character than hat of previous years. I never had an opportunity to try it before yesterday so I can't say. "Stingo" was also a name given to Watney's Cream Stout on the old get bottle design, but I think they dropped it (I can't it or Mackeson's with any regularity any more which makes me sad). Watney's now does a Stingo Dark old ale (haven't had it) which is more aptly named. Stingo appears to be a Victorian era slang term for old ale or strong ale.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Aug 15, 2009 -> 12:58 AM) I had high expectations when I opened this thread. You did not disappoint, Flaxx. Ideally, you all will chime in and turn me on to some must-try beers and spirits too. Equally exciting is the idea of several of us sampling the same brew in the same evening and comparing tasting notes. Now that decent nationally distributed beers actually exist, this is certainly possible.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Aug 15, 2009 -> 01:45 AM) He's also saying we don't know whose starting Tuesday when it is a foregone conclusion that Frederico will be back on the mound. Freddy Fever — Catch It!

I've been stuck working three straight Saturdays so I keep losing my coveted Friday nights were I'll typically stay up and enjoy a little home field drinking and depressurising from the week. Crud, look at the time. Better cal it a night.

lost cause in the field you make me cry Alexi 10th inning blast heals

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Aug 15, 2009 -> 01:24 AM) Rios makes it look a lot easier and seems to cover more ground. He's likely not going to beat the s*** out of the wall like Aaron did either.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Aug 15, 2009 -> 01:21 AM) Rios is going to be a better defensive CF than Rowand right? Just making sure. Nobody loved Arow's balls-out defense more than me, but count me as excited to see what Rios is going to do out there.

I knew there was a reason I didn't go to bed early.

QUOTE (son of a rude @ Aug 15, 2009 -> 01:16 AM) Didnt get to see this game. How did Rios look in CF? Like a real CF

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 15, 2009 -> 01:11 AM) God the defense was TERRIBLE. Nice to see the team stick in it. The pen was awesome. Watched some Little League World Series tonight and I swear the 12 year-olds are fundamentally better in the field than these guys are of late. Brutal is too kind a word to describe it.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 15, 2009 -> 01:10 AM) How can anyone hate Nomar? He went to the Cubs and absolutely sucked. He has my respect for that. Being a pork fan I guess I can respect the fact that Nomar's junk smells like Hamm.

QUOTE (Felix @ Aug 15, 2009 -> 01:09 AM) Huff ruined my enjoyment. Nice win, though. Huff was an irritant, but I'm loving the win.