I lived in Denver, not far from the Coors Brewery, and I was there when Anheuser Busch was building their plant in Ft. Collins. I thought all beer came from giant plants with huge stainless steel vats.
Not so. Microbrews are today's news. If you travel anywhere, you gotta search out the local brew.
So back to my new favorite shady market I went in search of a local microbrew. Rogue beer must be good because it was twice as expensive as Deschutes Brewery.
Since I really know nothing about beer, I bought a bottle of Black Butte Porter because it had the best label.
Now that was some dark beer, but check out the foam. So I thought I would go back to the shady market and find a lighter beer.
I discovered that they actually have YouTube videos on pouring beer. You have got to be kidding me.
As if drinking a beer isn't enough, layering beer is it's own art form and I came across a video to pour a black and tan. First you pour the amber and then ever so carefully our a spoon you pour a stout.
During the last critique, Don suggested I pour a beer over my beloved crystal ball. In my feeble brain I'm thinking the crystal ball instead of a spoon. This meant another trip back to the store, I'm almost on a first name basis with the store owner and it no longer appears to be a shady place at all, it's almost like home at this point.
I searched up and down the aisles for Guinness, not so easy when there are a million types of beer, I don't know where it is from and I only have eyes for the labels. Eventually found it. Deschutes Brewery had Mirror Pond Pale Ale. Since I wanted to recreate the foam I achieved with the Black Butte Porter, I thought I could kill two birds with one stone. I bought two bottles of Pale Ale.
The black and tan was a fail. Trying to find a glass big enough to hold the crystal ball and light up the dark beer created reflections from everywhere in the kitchen. I thought for sure the crystal ball would throw some really cool light but apparently drowning a crystal ball in beer is not the right thing to do.
The Mirror Pond Pale Ale poured well, but the foam just kept building on top of the glass. No matter how hard I tried, it wouldn't drip down the edge.
I gave this beer thing one more chance. Again, searching for a label I liked, I picked up a bottle of Fat Tire Amber Ale. Nearly foamless.
Now here is the really sad part of the story. I really don't like beer. I tasted every bottle I brought home and unlike coffee, they all tasted the same.
Our kitchen sink smell like a brewery as I dumped glass after glass after glass down the drain. Since I bought the beer based on the labels however, the kitchen window is lined with beer bottles adorned with some really fabulous labels.
Next time, I'm buying a case of Keystone.
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