Liefmans Goudenband 2006

A favorite beer of mine lately is Flying Dog's 20th Anniversary Ale called Raging Bitch. ChurchKey was having it on tap with a glass giveaway. They have been doing so many special cask tappings I thought it was on cask and I got excited. I dragged Teri along to check it out and it turned out to be a regular keg. I had a Pratt St Ale from one of their casks instead which is an English IPA.

We decided to have dinner downstairs at Birch & Barley. They don't have a huge menu and the items are unique but it is very good. To start dinner I ordered a beer off their vintage menu. It is not a menu they give out unless you ask for it. It is a two sided list of fine craft beers from the last five or ten years. I noticed a unique brown ale on the list from a familiar brewery that was on the less expensive side at $25. Michael Jackson, the great beer writer, is quoted on the bottle paper as saying "Surely the world's finest Brown Ale". That sold me being a brown ale fan.

It turns out that Greg Engert, the locally known beer manager, served the beverage himself. It is a very interesting beer. He served it and we talked about the beer, brewery, and style for a bit. It is technically a flanders oud bruin style and is a mix of different brown ale vintages from Liefmans. I forget the exact process but an aged mature vintage is blended with a newer sweeter vintage. Greg thought this 2006 version was the last one before the brewery went bankrupt and sold. It was pretty good. It has a bit of that mature aged taste along with a bit of sourness that has almost aged out. It was a fun experience being such an interesting beer.

Here is what Michael Jackson had to say about this style...

At their best, ales in the Oudenaarde style have a teasingly smooth, almost feathery, fluffy, body (from water low in calcium, high in sodium bicarbonate); a dry, complex, caramelish maltiness; a winey, nutty sherry, Montilla note [Oloroso sherry] (from long periods of maturation at ambient cellar temperatures); a light but distinct interplay of sweetness and sourness; and a spritzy finish. <...> [A] beer of around four months old is blended with stock two or three times that age. The blend is centrifuged, primed with invert sugar, given a dosage of the original yeast, and bottle conditioned in the brewery's cellars. Its characteristic sour wineyness, iron, saltiness and toastiness ... will develop with a few months, or even years, of cellaring.

Dinner started with a couple duck eggs that were steamed, deep fried, and served with asparagus and prosciutto. For the main course I had their pork cheek with wine onion pearls and parsnips in cheese grits. It was darn yummy. To go with my entry I choose a BrewDog Zeitgeist (schwarzbier). A good night out for the senses.

Hopslam cask

Churchkey got their hands on a cask of Bell's Hopslam. Being a fan of the beer I was quite interested. It is a hard beer to get even in the bottle. It is very expensive because of all the hops and the brewing process. Stores usually sell out of their annual stock in a few days. To taste all those honey and hop flavors from an unpasteurized fresh cask would be quite the treat. This was supposed to be the only cask in the DC metro area.

Churchkey was tapping it at 4:00pm on a Monday. I assumed this would go quick and wanted to be there before the 5:00 rush. Luckily Teri and I were able to escape the office around 4:30 or so and get there right on time before 5:00. All the seats were already full but there wasn't anyone standing around yet. And everyone had a light draft in front of them which is unusual for this craft beer bar. I ordered two pulls of the honey nectar and we smiled as we got the first whiff of hop floral aroma. I thought it tasted very good. It's a hop explosion beer so it is going to be bitter but I think they did a good job getting more of the floral aspect of the hops. Teri enjoys the bottled version but she couldn't drink this from the cask. I forget her exact description but it was as if it took off her taste buds. I've had crazy bitter beers and I didn't think this was that bad. I could of had a few more.

That was not to be the case though. At 5:26 the cask was tapped. It ran out in 86 minutes. Glad we got there early. I didn't realize there were that many beer geeks that had an interest in Hopslam, knew about the event, and could get there before 5:00 on a weekday.

Vegas and The Beatles LOVE Cirque du Soleil

Last year Teri met up with her high school friend, Emily, in Vegas for a Dave Matthews Band concert. This year they made plans to hit the town again and see The Beatles Love Cirque du Soleil show. Emily's boyfriend and I joined them for a weekend of fun.

We all came in separately and I arrived about the same time as the ladies. The first stop before the hotel was the liquor store of course. This store in Vegas was giving out free samples of nasty flavored vodka. We had some drinks, ate some food, and finally made it out for the night. We ended up at a club called The Bank in the Bellagio. After waiting in line for awhile we paid $40 to walk in the door. Drinks were about $15 and the music was very loud. The ladies had fun and it was their trip. Afterwards Teri and I played roulette till about 6:30 in the morning while Emily and her boyfriend reacquainted themselves.

The next morning we were all struggling. Teri in particular was hating life. The other two weren't feeling very chippy but managed to make it down to the pool. Teri and I ordered some food later in the afternoon but neither of us could eat. She was still hungover and my stomach was upset from lack of food. The Cirque du Soleil show started around 6:00 or 7:00 and we eventually started getting ready. Emily and her man wanted to get all decked out and he brought his tux. Being that I don't have a tux and wasn't going to get one I wore a suit. We hit the buffet before the show but Teri and I couldn't eat after nibbling on our lunch.

They warned you that once the show started you had to wait for a break to be seated and I was cutting it close in the beer line. We paid over $100 for our tickets and we were in the last row. The place wasn't huge though and we had speakers in our headrests. The stage was in the center of the venue. It turned out to be quite an impressive set up. The show basically went through the different eras of 20th century London. There were all sorts of characters. It sorta had a circus theme with a short fat ring leader starting and ending the show

Almost as amazing as the dancing and athletic ability was the venue itself. There were big curtains going from ceiling to floor dividing the venue almost in to quarters at the start. There were also screens on two ends of the squarish venue above the seats. They would often show silhouettes of the Beatles on the curtains and screens while playing tracks of them talking and messing about. The most amazing part of the venue was the stage. It could basically move up and down in sections as well as open and close in any way they wanted. The stage floor changed for each song. Sometimes parts were raised, some parts were lowered, some places had open holes, and others were raised 10ft high. During some songs the stage constantly changed during the performance while the dancers all did crazy stunts in conjunction with the stage moving up/down and left/right. A 5' square section would open in the stage floor and someone would drop down through it from a rope attached to the ceiling.

They had all kinds of gimmicks to play with. Ropes from the ceiling, trapeze, cars, trampolines, and other odd objects were all used to fly/swing/jump on and around. At one point they ran out with the biggest sheet of cloth I have ever seen. They started at a bed in the middle of the center stage and brought it out and up the first 20 rows or so of the audience. It had a huge mushroom effect when the bed suddenly shot up towards the ceiling and dropped down again. In one scene a guy was on a swinging board/trapeze thing that allowed the guy to swing around in circles. He had some very impressive control over this swing. He moved around on it in risky positions while getting it to stall completely upside down. The scene where they had four trampolines around a typical British phone booth was entertaining. They also brought out two larger quarter pipes on the sides of the stage and another double sided quarter pipe in the middle. Four roller bladders do some very cool stuff. They had confetti falling from the ceiling and played with blowing bubbles. It was a great show with classic music and a sensory overload of acrobatics.

After the show Teri and I hit the roulette table again till about 5:30am. She did well during her first time at the game. I didn't do so well but had fun. Teri and I hit the airport together the next day but flew out separately to Dulles and Regan. During my layover in Atlanta I saw a giant. The guy was over 7 feet high and weighed at least 300 lbs. He wasn't at all fat just huge. He was wearing special moccasin shoes because his feet were over sized.

Strippers, gambling, and clubs aren't my thing but its hard not to have fun in Vegas.

my pics

Teri's pics (which include my pics and Emily's pics)

Emily's pics

C&O Park again

Everyone wants to get out when it starts getting warm and the closest cool place to escape the city is Great Falls. Great Falls Park is on the Virginia side and C&O Park is on the MD side. The falls and the rocky Billy Goat Trail are the popular destinations. Just ask my parents after their 2006 trip.

I wanted to show Teri the falls and trail but when we got there the Billy Goat Trail was closed off. We had to settle for a stroll along the canal and a view of the falls. The water was up higher than I've seen before. The satellite map only shows two or three waterfalls under the boardwalk but I took pictures of four or five. Exciting stuff.

GPS data from walk

pics and videos

The Legwarmers

After seeing them on the schedule at the State Theater for years I finally went to see the Legwarmers. They play many times a year and I think they sell out most shows. I've heard about people coming to the show in some nice 80's gear.

Teri and I took my bikes. I rode my road bike and she took my mt bike. We took the metro to Falls Church and rode the rest of the way after a short break. We got there a little early and the place was pretty full. For the next 20 minutes we were entertained by the crowd as people in sweet authentic 80's clothes would walk past. I wore my Slippery When Wet tour t-shirt and was asked to pose for a pic. Denim jackets and cut-off shorts were all about. Lots of ladies were in spandex. The hair was big and locked in place. Everyone was getting in to it. Before the screen was lifted on the stage I saw one of the back up singers with short cut-off jean shorts hike his short shorts up while pulling the front pockets down and out. The band played all the hits from the decade. With the full band they were able to change it up from hair rock to Madona to the Talking Heads. The crowd enjoyed singing along. It is quite the gig they have.

Teri and I rode all the way home on the W&OD/Curtis trail along I-66. We did pretty good although she wasn't enjoying my bike seat. Not sure I'll be back to see the Legwarmers anytime soon but it was fun entertainment to do once.

first ride

I went biking for the first time this year today. It's warm and dry this week, just under 70, after a week of melting snow and rain. I rode my bike to work and for a small loop after work. There was some semi-truck stopped on Washington BLVD near the Memorial Bridge where it is not supposed to be with police and a huge backup.

Looking forward to warm weather.

Matt's Bachelor Party

My sister's wedding is coming up this spring which means a bachelor party for her fiancé Matt. Sterling organized things and we ended up getting a house in N Topsoil Beach. Scott, Mark, and myself drove down after work on Friday with a large cooler of beer. On the way we found Gruntz Express which promised "All ratings". Not something you can pass up on your way to a bachelor party. We found some playing cards to keep us entertained for the weekend and a blow-up doll for Matt. Mini Mi Mi was cheaper than Sarah Palin so Matt would have to settle for the midget.

Upon arrival after dark most of the crew was there and feeling good. Matt and Eric and a good buzz after starting early. The chef in the group had cooked some baked zita which was pretty good. Everyone got to know each other over drinks and games. We had a great beer pong table in the main room. Someone decreed that all must drink a (half) yard of ale before the weekend is over. Before long we got a taxi to Cherry's which is one of the fine erotic female dancing establishments serving the local Marine base.

We got there a bit early, not that it got crowded, and had most of the place to ourselves. The ladies weren't all that bad for being in the middle of nowhere. There was some puking in the bathroom, strippers yelling from the stage for lack of payout, and of course the bachelor getting spanked and beat down in front of the whole club by all the dancers. It was a night to remember if possible.

The next day I woke up on the couch with the furniture moved around the room and large air mattresses deployed. I checked out the back tidal lake and the beach out front before most people woke. Breakfast was served and we took stock of who was standing and who was hurting. Matt seemed to be the one suffering the most rightfully so.

It was only about 50 degrees outside but some of the guys felt the need to start the summer party and went shirtless. Sacks were tossed while drinking beers and listening to tunes. The (half) yard of ale made a few more rounds. Once everyone was awake and drinking again the 40 oz'ers came out. We all posed wiger style. Nothing like malt liquor outside in the spring on the beach. The group even walked across the street and hung out on the beach for a few minutes. Only the occasional walker or runner was seen. Mark let the kite out all the way and tied it off to the pier in the backyard. We watched it fly in the front of the house and would check on it on occasion.

After the crazy previous night and a day of drinking Saturday night seemed to be an anti-climax. More games were played and beer was drank at the house. The nude playing cards and blow up doll got their share of fun. Some moonshine made an appearance. I passed out on the couch again but after my evening nap I was one of the last people up this time.

We had to be out on Sunday by 10:00. I was impressed that all the hungover guys were standing and the place was clean by the deadline. This included such things as the kite which was in the neighbor's fenced in yard. I think we were the last in the neighborhood to wake up that day and notice the kite string going over one house and two condo buildings before stretching across to our backyard. Somehow we all forgot about the kite. Mark wasn't feeling too good Sunday morning and I got to drive the boat home.

See public pics here. Ping me and if authorized you may get a URL to the full album.

Jack's Mannequin

Teri took me to see a guy she digs at the 9:30 Club. Can't say I've heard of him. Apparently he is quite different than last time she saw him. He obviously had talent. It was a good show. He was a bit odd dancing around and changing from one mic to another while playing piano. It was good stuff though.

Teri's pics