That's a good slogan. You should print it up on t-shirts!

Thanks to Peter for the great write-up of our get-together! Indeed, a great time was had by all. Nolan enjoyed some same-age company, and I'm glad to see Peter support my local tax base with his beer purchases. We had so much fun outside in the perfect weather that we didn't do any Axiom listening or calibration. Peter, I promise that the speakers are indeed hooked up and work great!

You guys are great. Wish I could have been there.

Coincidentally, I had some Old Guardian myself yesterday at the Parkway Barleywine Festival. The Stone was about the 10th best beer we had of the ~35 we tried. As it was last year, there was general consensus that the 2005 Hale's was amazing. We also really enjoyed the S/N Bigfoot and the offering from Avery (even though it was more like an imperial IPA than a barleywine). I continue to adore just about everything from employee-owned Full Sail brewery, including the 2006 Old Boardhead. I'll try to get my notes; one of my friends confiscated everyone's so that she could compile them to inform future purchase decisions at the excellent pub where she works (Jake's in Steilacoom, WA).

They all look tasty...and very opaque.

I've slowly moved back to having a few beer lately in between the afternoon snacks on a weekend before wine and dinner. Unfortunately the selection is still rather slim at the local MLC comparative to some other provinces in which i've shopped, but now and again there is something interesting i've never heard of before, and usually never see in the store again after i bought it once.

ONE of these days i will try to remember what the heck it is i'd been drinking.

I just enjoyed the Gouden Carolus Cuvee van de Keizer Root (red label) pictured above, and here on the left (for the lazy scrollers):



For those who have had the blue label, which is one of my all-time favorite beers and I cannot recommend it highly enough, this one is a must try. I poured it straight from the fridge and the head was an unfortunate obstacle for my first 15 minutes of sipping. It was frothy, tall, and delicate, but it just would not subside. As the beer warmed up (de-chilled), the head dissipated and the flavors started to release fully. It's a very flavorful, well-balanced, and refined blonde Belgian ale. One caveat, though. If you've had the blue label -- as I have -- you can't help but compare the two and you may wish you had bought the blue label. I prefer the blue, but I prefer darker beers, in general.

I am still buzzed. I started the (late) evening with a 12oz bottle of Harpoon IPA (tasty!), and then had to drink the whole 750ml of 10% belgian beer myself.

You sound drunk.

Had a Hoegarden White on tap tonight. It was pretty good. Tasty, but not particularly complicated. Good with dinner.

Tried one of these on the weekend - fantastic stuff. You have to like rum and beer - what a combination of flavours!

Innis & Gunn Rum Cask Aged Beer

Sounds fascinating. Where did you find it?

Found it at certain LCBO stores - that's the Ontario government's way of making money on alcohol purchases! I have no idea where to find it outside of Ontario.

The liquor store guy told me it's a limited run as the casks cannot be used again once the beer is aged in them. So they have to do another batch of rum in new barrels then take those rum barrels and do another batch of beer. He said another run was going to be done but he didn't know when. I was lucky to find a few bottles left at a store not too far from me (in fact I bought their last 4!).