Family, Friends, Food, Beer

Saturday ended up being a full day that started off with lunch at Ansari’s Mediterranean Grill & Bar, the new tenants of the former Baker’s Square building in Eagan, with the McDowells. They did an amazing job remodeling the interior, removing all traces of its past life. Add to that great food and the fact that it’s actually within walking distance of our house. For now they only have a handful of taps with the local representatives being Summit and Finnegans however the manager that was on duty yesterday (and also father of the owners) said he would look into getting Surly in there. Here’s me with my fingers and toes crossed!

Next up was a stop at Cellar’s for their beer tasting, which I was pleased to see was packed. I did a little sampling before making my decisions and taking home a bomber of Southern Tier Choklat Imperial Chocolate Stout and six packs of Dark Horse Crooked Tree IPA, Lagunitas Brown Sugga and an old favorite, Schells Schmaltz’s Alt. Mmmm…more goodies to add to the beer fridge.

A quick stop back at the house to drop the purchases off and grab Mag and we were off to Pint Club at Town Hall. With the holidays and all I think it may possibly have been a month since we were last at Pint Club. No matter, falling back into the routine was easy and we spent an enjoying afternoon with our fellow beer lovers. I tried to start off easy with the cask Scotch but it just wasn’t doing it for me so I dove into the hops with the Masala Mama, regular and on cask. I don’t recall who first ordered the DuPont but all of us agreed that it smelled like cows/hay/manure and yet was still quite tasty and subsequent glasses of it were consumed.

Once we had exhausted the liquid menu there we decided some food was in order and went to check out Black Sheep Pizza just down Washington Ave a bit. Although parking was available, the place was packed and not being interested in waiting we had to figure out Plan B. With the pizza seed already planted, and growing, the decision was made to head across the river to Pizza Nea. I’ve never been there before and although the beer selection isn’t great the pizza is outstanding! My Diavola good, but Mag’s Capricciosa was even better, I think because of the porcini mushrooms. Tons of flavor, a great crust and a sauce that my picky-pizza-sauce-palate approved of. All in all, a great Saturday.

Trees

Last night we cracked open the growler of Flat Earth’s Trees, the hazelnut infused Cygnus from their infused series at the end of ’08. This one was released the week of Thanksgiving, so had been aging for about six weeks in our beer fridge. I don’t recall the specifics of how the growler came to be mine but I do know that both Kat and Mike were instrumental in making sure it came into my possession. THANK YOU!!! This stuff is amazing! And of course, thanks to Jeff and whomever else was part of creating it.

I first had a hazelnut beer years ago at Papago in Scottsdale, Arizona while visiting Mag, who was there for work. I remember pulling up to Papago, sandwiched between some other businesses in an unimpressive strip mall, and both of us having our doubts about the place. Since we’d been to other iffy looking in the places in the past with good results we put those doubts to the side and headed in. In Arizona they allow “on-sale” and “off-sale” at the same location so it was part bar, part cooler lined liquor store. I’m sure we tried more beers than just their hazelnut but it was so good that’s all I can remember.

Since then, I’ve had a soft spot for hazelnut beers, which are few and far between. There have been a few, with Rogue making one of them, and they vary from the outstanding flavor I recall at Papago to one that is only vaguely hazelnut in flavor. I’m thrilled to say that Trees falls into the former category and I’m looking forward to enjoying the rest of the growler. I don’t know if there are any more growlers of this fine brew floating about but I’ll be keeping my eyes open for ‘em.

Happy New Year!

By now everyone should be back to work, facing the reality of no holidays until possibly Memorial Day unless you’re one of the lucky ones that gets days like Presidents Day and Good Friday off. And then there’s the let down from all of the great beer happenings we were treated to at the end of the year. This seems to be one of the slower times of the year for us, the beer consumer, although I have no doubt that the brewers are busy bees replenishing their supplies and planning more tasty treats for us in the coming year.

On the bright side, we rang in the year with friends and a keg of Bell’s Two Hearted. Then two days later celebrated Kat’s birthday with more good beer. Thanks to those that helped us kill our keg and to the generous folks that contributed goodies to Kat’s celebration. Two great parties in one week is a great way to start the year as far as I’m concerned.

Hope your New Year is off to a good start and I’ll try to do some interesting drinking soon so you can read about it.