Physics & Beer

Everybody has seen the "trick" where you use the base of one bottle to tap the top of another bottle of beer and it foams up like crazy.  Have you ever wondered why?  You don't even need to know fluid mechanics!!

Why does a beer bottle foam up after a sudden impact on its mouth?

Beer can make physics fun :)

Five facts you may not have known about India Pale Ale for #IPAday

Yeah, this is WAY late for IPA Day, but I found it late!!

Five facts you may not have known about India Pale Ale for #IPAday

Still, who knew stories told around the pub may have been wrong??  Still, fun story though!

Untappd ... 1,000 Check-Ins

I became a part of the Untappd family last December.  Since then, I have dutifully entered my beers.  As much as I love the Flying Saucer's loyalty program, I also love getting badges on Untappd.  This post is NOT about a badge on Untappd ... but it is about 1,000 check-ins for beer since I started.

Yep, that is a lot of beers!

As was stated on one of my plates, "It is not an obsession, it is a hobby"

Great American Beer Fest 2013

I was totally blown away at the 2012 GABF; Joe and I moved to Denver in July, and there we were going to the greatest beer event EVER.  The 2013 event?  Damn!  The app was improved, the number of brewers was up by 20, and the number of beers increased by 200.  What's a girl to do?

Our friends Judy and the Reverend came up to go with us, and, boy, did we have a time. Hell, we're still drinking!  

We had two evenings to cover an enormous convention center floor full of beer.  We decided to start on the far side of the hall and work our way back to the merchandise wall, then back up. On Thursday, we planned to only hit the 10 islands on the west side of the floor...there are about 40 beer vendors on each island...and the east side of the floor on Friday night...god jesus...how will we ever?

Let me tell you...there's just no way.  I don't care how much you plan, how much you can drink in a given time, how easily you can snake your way through the crowds...you just can't do it.  I think next year (yes, we're already planning for that) we've decided that the best way is to attack this is to choose your "must haves" and then rank them.  Head for those first, because several of the most popular beers began running out early.   I'm kicking myself because there was a candy bar stout that I really wanted to try, but by the time I got to the brewer, they were out...worse...they won a medal for it.  Shit.

All in all, we drank a lot.  And, for the most part, rated our beers in upper starage (three or four stars).  And I guess one of the best parts about having the GABF in Denver is, that, even when you're not at the festival, there are a ton of good beers to drink in Denver.  Quite a few in our own neighborhood!

We had a great time at the festival, and I'm looking forward to next beer.  I mean, next year.

My First GABF

My friend Judy earned her 10th plate at the Flying Saucer and thus earned airfare for two and tickets into the Great American Beer Festival in Denver Colorado.  I was lucky enough she asked me to be her travel companion for the trip.

The Saucer bought tickets to the Friday night session and Tracy and Joe bought tickets for us for the Thursday night session too!

This isn't my first beer festival, but it is surely the biggest one I have ever been to.  But, it is well run and with the GABF app, you can preplan the breweries you want to visit and it has maps to show where you have been and where to head for your next choice!  The app also allows you to rank the beers and make other notes.  Very handy when the next morning you are entering information into Untappd for long term beer tracking.

There were breweries from all around the country.  When I was entering my beers into Untappd, I was surprised how many were very small breweries that had a small number of total entries.

My goal was to visit breweries that you can't get in Texas and have beers I hadn't had before.  Of course, no matter how careful I was, I found several I had previously.  Still, I have added at least 150 beers I haven't had before, so that is a huge win.

I am so glad we had tickets for two nights because there is just NO WAY to make a dent in one night.  There are over 580 breweries with over 2,700 beers.  Two nights isn't enough, but I hit every brewery I had planned on and many more.

I will earn my 10th plate before the 2014 GABF and I will be back!!

We Did Some Damage Last Weekend

Joe and I picked up another couple at a bar not too long ago, and we've become good friends.  (Yes, we have other friends than you.)

Last weekend we had them over for dinner.  We knew they liked beer, now we know they love beer...just as much as we do.

Here's a picture of the damage.

Flying Saucer - Oskar Blues Dinner

Last Thursday, September 26th was the Oskar Blues Beer Dinner at the Addison Flying Saucer.  Luckily, I had none of these Oskar Blues beers on my current plate.

The OB rep was Brent Hodgson.  You gotta appreciate a man who loves beer as much as Brent.  He was happy to talk about the various beers and let us know what had happened at the brewery with the flooding in Colorado.

We were welcomed with a can of Mama's Little Yella Pils.  A nice light pilsner that is made like European pilsners ... with just german malts, yeast and Saaz hops.

The next beer, Dale's Pale Ale was paired with a spicy cioppino.  The cioppino was made spicy with the addition of Oskar Blues hot sauce.  I loved this pairing and especially LOVED the soup.  So simple and so good.

Next we had Old Chub Nitro paired with fried chicken tender and waffles with a rosemary bourbon dipping sauce.  The chicken and waffles were very nice and the rosemary bourbon dipping sauce was worthy of drinking itself.  Others thought the rosemary was too much, but I thought it was great. I generally like nitro pour beers.  The nitro adds such a creaminess, but in this case, I think it somehow takes away from the maltiness of the Old Chub.

Next was what I had been looking forward to the most, 2012 Oskar Blues Ten Fidy paired with grilled lamb chops with a root vegetable hash and a Ten Fidy pan sauce.  One reason I don't do well in "finer company" is that I had no qualms picking up that chop and finish getting the meat off the bones with my teeth.  So good and the vegetable has was such a nice compliment to the lamb.  And what can I say about Ten Fidy that, please sir, may I have another!  It is said that Ten Fidy refers to the 10.5% ABV.  But, there are others who refer to a shirt worn by Dale Katechis where Fidy is an acronym for Fuck It Do it Yourself!

For the dessert round, Kevin did an unusual pairing ... Deviant Dale's India Pale Ale with a carrot cake parfait.  The big hops were tamed by the cream cheese icing and earthy carrot cake.  The parfait was a very nice presentation in that it came in an Oskar Blues shaker pint glass that we got to take home.

It was yet another great beer dinner done by Kevin Bartley and all the fine folks at the Addison Flying Saucer.  I can only image what Kevin will be able to do when they finally get a REAL kitchen in Addison.