Category: Beer

Categories
Beer Food

St. Patrick’s at Rose & Thistle

St. Patrick's Day at Rose & ThistleHappy St. Patrick’s Day everyone! I took the day off and slept in, played some Call of Duty 4, watched some TV, and then met Mr. & Mrs. Ghost Dog at Rose & Thistle at a bit after 3:30pm. We were joined briefly by Snooks, and then later Kelly, Miranda, and my brother Travis and his wife. Had a great time hanging out, drinking several pints of Guinness, eating some delicious food, and playing darts. One more day off (tomorrow) and then it’s back to work. I love vacation.

Oh, the kegerator (hereby known as The Precious) is doing well. The keg that came with my purchase ran out that night (there wasn’t much left in it) so yesterday Snooks went with me to go pick up a fresh keg of Great White. I spent last night fiddling with the CO2 regulator pressure, and reading up on all the bits I’ll need to run Guinness, which is my ultimate goal. Mmmmm… Guinness.

Categories
Beer

I gets Kegerator

Kegerator!Today around noon I went down the street to my friend JB‘s place to buy her kegerator from her. She’d had it for a year or so, and then developed (or discovered she had) a gluten allergy (which sucks). Seeings how she can’t really have beer much anymore, the kegerator was left lonely and derelict. I couldn’t let that continue, so I took it off her hands. It even came with the remnants of the last keg she’d picked up at the end of last summer, Lost Coast Brewery‘s delicious Great White. So I got it home, cleaned it down really good, cleaned the lines, cleaned up a spot in my garage for it, and then got it hooked up and poured myself a pint. Deeelicious!

Now I’m at Kennedy School with Kelly, who just finished her LAST DAY OF CLASS. Now she’s all fancified with an MBA. Congratulations Kelly! 🙂

Categories
Beer Entertainment Music Work

End of the week & Bon Iver

Last night I was out with my brothers at Moon & Sixpence for some beers and dinner. Fortunately I got home at a reasonable hour, though I still ended getting to work late this morning, however it had nothing to do with last night. Kelly took today off from work (tomorrow is her last day of school for her MBA, and she has a big project to finish up) and as my alarm went off at around 6:30am, I shut it off, rolled over, and both Kelly and the cat were curled up all cute and warm. I remember thinking awww, and then must have fell back asleep because when I next opened my eyes another hour and a half had gone by. Drats!

After work I got to have a couple beers at the Rialto with my good friend MB. Afterwards he drove me homeward, dropping me of at the local grocery store.

After getting home and cleaning the house a bit, I remembered a song that caught my attention the other day. I subscribe to the RSS feed of MP3’s from Stereogum, and often discover ‘new to me’ bands I like. Earlier this week I ended up with a song by Bon Iver (an alias for musician Justin Vernon) that I liked quite a bit, so tonight I did a bit of hunting. I discovered a good writeup and a site where you can stream the album. After listening to a few tracks (including the one that originally caught my ear, Skinny Love) I decided to see if Amazon’s MP3 store had it available. And they did. So I bought it. It’s really really good.

The album was conceived in a cabin in the snowy woods of a wintry Wisconsin, and the songs seem to capture the setting. A lot of introspective, sad, and beautiful songs, all a bit muted and folky. Just the kind of thing for today’s rainy, cold weather. I can certainly imagine it being the perfect soundtrack to a drive in a snowy landscape, with no particular destination in mind. Check it out, it’s good stuff.

Categories
Beer Entertainment Movies Work

Mash Tun, and a quick recap

Met my good friend JB at the Mash Tun tonight after work. It’d been a bit since we last caught up, and had a good time hanging out, and I greatly enjoyed sipping on the cream ale the Tun is still pouring. I asked the server (nice fella named Tim) whether he knew if they were planning to keep that particular beer going (as it’s my favorite beer they’ve ever brewed) and he said he wasn’t sure, and didn’t suspect so. It’s the Tun’s habit to perpetually brew new things, and several times since they’ve started pouring their own brews have I found one I like that hasn’t returned. I hope that’s not the case with the cream ale. If you’re into fine (and not stupidly hoppy) ales, I suggest going and having a pint before it vanishes into beer history. (Beeristory? Bistory? whatever)

Quick recap of the past, oh, several days: Saturday Kelly and I spent the evening with some friends for dinner and had a great time. Sunday we got outside and did some yard work, including me climbing on the roof of my shed to trim dead / dying branches from my ailing (and non-fruit producing) apricot tree. Still sore from that day. Monday my Comcast-provided DVR died on me, fortunately, just after finishing last week’s LOST. I have to go swap it tomorrow morning (before LOST tomorrow night, because it’s all about LOST, you know). Watched Elizabeth: The Golden Age, which was good (pretty much as good as the first one, so if you liked that one, you’ll probably enjoy it). Work’s been very busy, but less so than a couple weeks back. Taking next Monday and Tuesday off (yup, the day of and after St. Patrick’s day, so I can really do it up and recover without worry). Whew! And now you’re all caught up.

Categories
Beer Food Work

Gold Dust and the Moon

Tonight Kelly and I joined several others to celebrate our friend D’s birthday at a relatively new bar in Southeast Portland called Gold Dust Meridian. Kelly and I shared the bus down Hawthorne, but were early for the birthday gathering, so we decided to swing into McMenamins Back Stage Bar for a drink before walking down the street.

Gold Dust Meridian is a dimly lit, moderately swanky bar that’s not overpriced and has good food and a decent beer selection (including the delicious Terminal Gravity ESG). The staff were friendly, and our server was both attentive and organized (he had the foresight to preemptively split up the bill for the table by people who’d arrived together, which meant the confusion usually associated with big groups was avoided).

My brother was sitting at Moon & Sixpence and I’d told him I’d stop by, and fortunately Miranda was with us and wanted to go that way herself, so she drove Kelly and I over there and we hung out for a few beers.

Fun night. Needed it pretty badly after the week… the fun of software development and release deadlines never ends. 🙂