Sunday, September 16, 2007

Tales from the Road, part 2

Fortunately, the remainder of Saturday night was looking up. We stopped in for a couple of hours at party #1 and wound up at party #2 around 10pm. Party #2 was hosted by friends Greg and Paula. If you get out to beer events around the Philadelphia area or especially a Dogfish bocce event, you likely have run into Greg. He and Paula are great people and huge beer fans. So, it's our loss (but their gain) that they're moving to Luxembourg for a couple of years. You know, it's that little country next to Belgium. And, yeah, Germany and France are nearby too! There'll be a lot of good beer (wine, too) in store for them over there. I'm looking forward to hearing about their travels into Belgium. In the meantime, though, they needed to empty out their beer cellar. That's a tall order. You've got to see it to believe it. Beers to cover the world map and vintages to cover the last ten years or so. What kind of friends would we be if we didn't stop by and do our part to help drain the likes of Russian River (various batches) Beatification, Supplication, and Depuration. Their 20th anniversary brew for the Toronado surfaced from the cellar as well! There's a beer I never figured I'd get a taste of. How about various vintages of New Belgium La Folie? Yup. A half dozen styles of Cantillon? Check! New Glarus fruit beers? Of course. And one of my favorite Southampton's...Cuvee de Fleurs, yee ha! Westvleteren, well it was there, but we didn't tap into it. Heavyweights, Surlys, Alesmiths, Stones Dogfishes, Achels, Orvals, Averys, Rocheforts, St. Bernarduses, Rogues, just to name a few (oh my!) were printed up on a tasting menu for the party people. And, you know what? Shh, don't tell anyone, there's still some left. Maybe Greg will take me up on my offer to play caretaker for the leftovers ;-) Thanks Greg and Paula....look forward to seeing you soon.....here or in Europe!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Bryan,

Thanks for the kind words. It was great to have you guys over last night to join in the tasting. I will put your gifts to good use for sure. Here is the final run down of what we tasted throughout the night. Some before you got there and a few after you got there:

Harpoon 100 barrel Peche
Russian River Depuration Batch 001
RR Temptation Batch 001
RR Temptation Batch 002
RR Beatification Batch 001
RR Beatification Batch PH1
RR Compunction (hand bottled)
RR Sanctification Batch 002
RR Toronado 20th Anniversary (my favorite of the night)
New Belgium 2004 and 2006
New Glarus Belgian Red 2004
New Glarus Raspberry Tart 2004
Southampton Cuvee De Fleurs
Surly Cynic
Surly Bender
Surly Furious
BFM Abbaye de Saint Bon-Chien 2004
Heavyweight Slice of Bread
Westvleteren 8
Homebrewed Irish dry stout
Lost Abbey Cuvee de Tomme
Alexander Rodenbach

Still about 60 to drink from the list but a very good dent was made overall. Thanks for your help in that endevor Bryan!

Greg