Its Beer Time!

So I said I would write a blog entry about beer, so now I am.
I found a cool little craft beer shop a few blocks from my apartment, so I've been going there and sampling all sorts of different beers. This is going to be reviews of 4 of them. I don't know where you can get all of these. I know you can find at least on at most Bev-Mo's if you are on the West Coast. But other than that, I dunno... Sorry.

First up is the Podge Belgian Imperial Stout.
This beer is an import from Belgium, and its not from a very big brewer, so you might have more trouble finding it. Their website, www.alvinne.be is all in dutch, so its also hard to understand, even with google translator.
I poured this 12 oz bottle into a pint glass, it had a very dark body, with a thin tan head. It was a very nicely carbonated beer, with some nice textures and tastes. It was smoother than I expected, with some dark, chocolate and a bit of coffee taste. However overall, it wasn't exceptional. It was a good beer, but I don't think it is completely worth the money. Being an import it runs about 5 bucks per 12 oz bottle, and if you want a comparable beer you can but the Rasputin Imperial Stout, from North Coast Breweries for less than half the cost. This beer would be great if it was cheaper, but as it stands, it is simply too expensive. It is a quality stout, but not good enough to warrant the price tag. I would gladly drink it again, but I won't be buying it.

The next beer is the Three Philosophers belgian-style ale by Ommegang. The website for this beer is http://www.ommegang.com/index.php?mcat=1&scat=4 However, I didn't like this beer too much. My main problem is that it is very sweet. Too sweet. I enjoy belgian beer, and all of its fruity after taste, but this beer was so sweet it was almost syrupy, and the cherry aftertaste was absolutely overpowering. As soon as you taste it, you get the taste of a nice mild ale, but then it gets completely washed away by the aforementioned cherry flavor. Its almost syrupy, its so sweet. It reminded me of drinking Port, or some other dessert wine. I can see this working better if it was a bit more bitter, or went easier on the sweetness. Overall, I wouldn't buy, or drink this beer again. Finishing off the 4 pack that I bought was kind of a chore, each time I though I would get a different, or better experience, but each time I was wrong. However, people who generally don't like beer because of its bitterness, might want to give this one a try, as it is basically the opposite of bitter.

On the subject of Belgians, I was redeemed by the Unibroue Maudite. This is a Canadian beer, brewed in Quebec, whose name, Maudite means Damned. (This was basically why I bought this beer, I mean its named Damned...) This beer was excellent. It was exactly what the Three Philosophers should be. A bit more bitter right off the bat, with a lighter, sweet aftertaste that tasted slightly of cherries (its the type of Cherry lambic malt that they use in Belgians). A very nice, easily drinkable beer. I really enjoyed it, and am looking forward to drinking the rest of the 4 pack. It was mildly expensive, but not excessively so, and I feel that I will be putting this one in the rotation of good beers I will buy regularly.

The final beer that I will be quickly reviewing is Mayflower Breweries Porter. This was another very good beer. I was looking for a nice strong dark beer, and I got it in the Mayflower Porter. It is a nice, decently bitter dark porter. It isn't immensely carbonated, but I didn't find that this detracted from the beer at all. Its rather smooth and has tastes both chocolate-y (but not overly so), and with a bit of coffee. It was a very good beer, and being a Massachusetts micro-brew, it was rather cheap. This is another one that I will have to be sure to keep stocked in my refrigerator, and I advice you to give it a try if you happen to run into it.

Well thats it for my beer reviews. If people liked this, I might keep at it, and do a regular sort of “What I'm Drinking” sort of thing...
So let me know! Also let me know if you find these beers, I'd be interested to see how far west some of these get.

The First in a Series of Posts

So I haven't blogged at all recently, but all of a sudden I have a bunch of things to say, so I'm going to spread them out over a few posts as opposed to one big gigantic uber-post.
This one is about my life! Subjects to come: Beer, Music, Kurt Vonnegut

So,
I moved to Boston.
That actually happened! Yay!
I arrived in Connecticut, and stayed with my family for about a week, seeing everyone and slowly moving my stuff up to my apartment in Boston, but about 2 weeks ago I took the whole plunge and made my permanent move up.
My apartment is nice. Its small, and only really has two rooms, but its good enough for me. I would like some more counter space, and maybe some more storage, but I really can't complain. Its going to work out just fine for me.

I also joined the Boston College "Screaming Eagles" Marching Band, so I had a full Band Camp experience for 10 consecutive days. That was incredibly exhausting, with me re-learning how to march and stuff. It was really long too, from 9am to 11pm every day. But at least they fed us, so not paying for food for that whole time was nice.
Its also interesting being at a school with a large, well-respected marching band that gets support and has facilities and all of the normal things bands should have, but that UCI does not. Like I have a band locker to store my trumpet. Thats a new concept. But the people are cool, and apparently never heard a trumpet player hit high notes before, so I get basically free reign on taking things up and stuff.
We had our first game on Saturday, which was quite the experience. I wake up at 7:30 to get to school by 8:45. I have to ride my bike so that tacks on some extra time there. First we eat breakfast, (Provided) then go out on the field for a quick rehearsal, then come back and do a "team walk" where the band marches around campus, through all the dorms and everything, meets up with the football team, and marches into the stadium.
Then we went back to the band room, eat lunch (provided again...) change into our uniforms and go warm up for our little pep rally thing we do. THis pep rally thing is basically the band standing on the steps outside the band room (which is adjacent to the football stadium) and play some pep tunes for the people that gather there. And people come and listen! They aren't just like "Meh, band, whatever..." People think its cool and come and hang out.
Also there is a whole shitload of tailgating thats going on, so thats kinda cool to watch. Its like actually being at a college gameday, as opposed to game day at UCI where only the band and the athletes know that there is a game going on.
Anyways, after that, we go march into the stadium, and play our little pre-game set, go into the stands, play for the game, do a halftime show, finish off the game and then go home.
Odd things about BC Football:
Their student section are called the "Superfans" and they all have yellow t-shirts that say "BC Superfan" on them.
BC colors are technically Maroon and Gold, but all of that red and gold I see still makes me uncomfortable, because, FUCK USC.
During touchdowns the superfans like to crowd-surf. In stadium bleachers. Its really safe and intelligent....
The fans fucking love the band, and shout out songs they want to hear. Like they know what songs we play, and want to hear certain ones, and they have dances and stuff they made up to go along with some of the songs we play.

So yea, thats about it for Band, I haven't started any of my grad student-y stuff yet, so it almost feels like I'm an undergrad still, but I have faith that it will all change and I will want to kill myself with all the work that I have to do soon.

I went grocery shopping today, and had to take the train/subway. It was weird not having a car to throw all of my crap into.

But I cooked my first real meal in my apartment today. Lemon-pepper chicken with tomatoes and onions over pasta. Yea, you're jealous of my skills...

So now I don't have anything really big to do until thursday. I mean I have band on tuesday, but its not really that big of a deal, just a few hours at night. I kinda want to go explore Boston, but I don't know where to start. Well, I'll figure that out tomorrow.

Thats pretty much it. I'm excited for grad school to start, and I hope I'm not getting too over my head, but whatever. It'll work out!