This has been a good weekend. I had taken a short break from beer, with a couple of exceptions the last couple of months. That break is done and it was time to refill the fridge. I think the funny thing is that will all this new beer in the house that I like, I'm drinking a Sam Adams Octoberfest as I write this and I'm really enjoying it. Even though it may be my least favorite Octoberfest so far, it's still a good beer. So what did I learn from this? Something I already knew - there are no bad beers, only better beers. And every beer has its place. Right now, the Sam Adams Octoberfest's place is in my hand.
We did some Christmas shopping yesterday and some grocery shopping today, so I used it as an opportunity to restock. We stopped at World Market yesterday and I picked up their winter sampler. I'm really looking forward to it. It has both beers I've had and ones I haven't. Then we went to Ray's Liquor in Wauwautosa to pick up some wine for a party we went to last night and we picked up a 4-pack of Sprecher IPA² for myself and a case of Leinenkugel's Berry Weiss for Amanda (she's been out for some time now and she was eyeing me up while I was drinking a beer last week, so it was time to get her some more).
In between we took a break at Applebees and I asked if they had any beers that were not on the menu. Fortunately for me, they did - and it was one I hadn't had before. It was AleSmith Brewing Company's Old Numbskull. It was a real nice combination of malty and hoppy with a pleasant pale color. Fantastic with the asian chicken salad I had.
Today we did some grocery shopping and we picked up the New Belgium "Folly Pack". It has Fat Tire, 1554, 2° Below, and Trippel Belgian Style Ale. 2 of which I've tried and love, two of which are new to me.
Add to that the Milwaukee Brewing Company Hoptoberfest (delicious!) that I picked up recently and we have a fridge prepared for me to do some sampling, some dinner time sipping and some curl-up-with-a-book-on-a-cold-snowy-day drinking. Maybe winter isn't so bad after all!
