No Mixed Drinks

Lotta stuff

• Furthermore Fallen Apple. Half cream ale, half apple juice. Wow. Definitely the color of apple juice, with a thin bubbly head. What does it smell like? Cheese fondue, the first time, about four days after arrival. From the same tap about a week later, it faded to bready. Still nice: tart and sweet, and if loving a yeast-forward liquid sour apple Jolly Rancher is wrong, I don’t want to be right.

• Brau Brothers Scotch Ale. That’s Scotch and not Scottish, where Scotch is code for tastes like peat. I’m conflicted, though; the smoky peat comes first and is kinda gross, but gives way to syrupy dark ale flavors that aren’t at all unpleasant. I think I’m keeping one for a rainy day and giving the rest to a Scotch-loving friend who will enjoy it peat and all.

• Chatterbox Speakeasy Lager. Hyper-local to me! The menu’s got no insight about exactly what kind of lager this is. It’s dark, a little reddish, starts malty-sweetish, finishes easy. Made to pair with bar food. I had sweet potato fries.

• 2006 Target cabernet/shiraz. Yes, that Target. Apparently it is the new two-buck Chuck! Kept me warm on a rooftop at sunset.

• What did I drink right after that? 1996 Dom Perignon. Yup, true story. Split a bottle about twenty-five ways. Paired with some delicious Middle Eastern appetizers. Um, it tasted like champagne. Crisp and sparkly delicious. Fermented grape? Sorry, I am a rube and I got nothin’.

• And then some Grenache, I forget what kind, with dinner proper. A fair bit of black pepper flavor to go with a well-seasoned red lentil/yellow split pea soup.

• Dibon Brut Reserve Cava. Nice light lemony flavor made this a good match for wedding cake.

• Some kind of Barbera d’Asti, with a garlicky spinach pizza. On the fruity side, making it one of the nicer pairings I’ve had with pizza, where something more astringent would have been gross with the spinach.

Surly Darkness gets its own post later.