Daily Archives: January 22, 2009

Czechvar

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CzechvarBeer-a-Day #22

The beer known as Czechvar in the United States and Canada is known as Budweiser Budvar in Europe and Budějovický Budvar in the rest of the world.

Yes, this is the “other” Budweiser.

Pours pale yellow, with plenty of head that quickly dissipates.

Sadly, it’s lightstruck. It seems that Europe really needs to stop sending us beer in green bottles. I can smell the skunkiness from three feet away.

It’s a shame, too, because it seems like it would have been a rather nice beer. I won’t be finishing it.

Czechvar

(blogosphere)


Forty Plus Blessings

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I am officially an old man -40 years old- at least according to old standards. In reality I don’t think these standards apply to me as I still feel young, I’m in the best shape I’ve been in my life, and I have many things that make me feel alive like my family, children, work, sports… and good beer. As a matter of fact, the only thing that makes me aware I’m 40 years old is all of the experiences I’ve gained over the years and the blessings I have to count.

Ron and his forty gifts

Speaking of blessings, my friends gifted me with a whole selection of craft beer… the best of the best. A group of them (including Al at Hop-Talk) got together to find 40 unique brews that I never had before AND were of my favorite styles. Impossible… I know. But would you believe that 38 of the 40 I’ve never tried? They were even individually wrapped!

Some that I am particularly looking forward to are: Sierra Nevada’s Harvest Wet Hop Ale, SlyFox’s Odyssey Imperial IPA, Clay Pipe’s Pursuit of Happiness Winter Warmer, Founder’s Breakfast Stout and Avery’s Mephistopheles’ Stout. And that is just a few of them.

I am now fully stocked and I can’t wait for the weekend when I get to browse my beer cellar to find something I’m in the mood for. I may not even wait that long.

All of these brews were delivered at a party my wife put together for me; a low key party with my close friends who traveled from near and far to join me in celebration. It was perfect… no over-the-hill gags and not a huge gathering of people I barely knew.  We had lots of great beer and great beer food  like Dubliner cheese, dried meats, garbage bread, deli pickles, etc. We had great fun doing plenty of things I don’t do often enough like playing ping pong, cards, and just sitting back to chat. It must have been more than a decade since we played The Great Dalmuti which was a blast. (and, “it is good to be the king”)

So as I begin my run at the other side of the “hill”, I have plenty of good beer to get me started; certainly more than 40 blessings to count. So let me start with my wife, my children, my family, my friends… and keep counting from there.