New beer is out!

Would always love to have more to say about records management, but the thing is, as much as I love it I love food and drink even more!!

Today was a great adventure: forays to my 2 fave pubs in the ATL and a pre stop to one of our favorite beer stores.

1. Hit Brew City - No Dogfish Head Bitches Brew or Squall available; no worries, we procured some wittekirke (wit AND framboise), Allagash Interlude, Yakima Glory, Double Bastard, Tres Pistoles, Weyerbacher Fireside Ale, and Terrapin Moo-Hoo. Yes, we have a problem.
2. Hit The Porter Beer Bar - as always the food here is incredible. We only ordered a cheese tray and were 'gifted' some spent Sweetwater grain bread, but it was very lively and the local cheeses were incredible (thanks sweet grass and my fave flat creek dairy). They were out of the listed Dogfish Head Bitches' Brew (but luckily we had already procured a couple of 750ml bottles earlier in the year when the first distribution was released - btw it's tremendous!) So I ordered a Rodenbach 2008 vintage. It came in a 4 or 8 oz glass, which seems pretty small, but it is a vintaged version and I must say a bit smoother than the regular or Grand Cru you might get in a bottle. Have to agree with some frequent beer reviewers on Beer Advocate that it would be nice for the US to advocate bottling/production dates on beer so we could compare these types of things, especially because I've had some Rodenbach Grand Cru in the past which has been a mere one click sweeter than salad dressing!

Next was the Mikellar Green Gold. You can procure this at Hop city, but it will run you about 5.50$ a 12oz. And it will be totally worth it. It was served in a beautiful tulip glass and was honey colored with a dense, high tan head. The smell was floral and fruity and the hops were quite evident. This IPA is extremely well balanced; it is supposedly made in the style of an "american ipa" but it is super hoppy without being overpowering and tasty from the first to the finish. Try it.

Last was an out on a limb beer for me, the Kasteel Cuvee Du Chateau. Listed as a Belgian Strong Dark Ale, it is not exactly in my wheelhouse, but the Porter's description listed it as fruity and complex. It was MUCH lighter than expected, despite the dark color, and had a tremendous cherry presence and very disguised alcohols. It was served in a chalice which gave it a large surface area for aeration.

Somewhere in there I think I had a taste of someone's WakeNBake and Stone Cali-Belgique - nothing disappointed.

After The Porter we moved onto:
3. The Brick Store - Looking for Bitches Brew, but none on the main menu. I had to settle for Stone Vertical Epic 101010; Very nice balance, and I was able to take my time with this one, but in between that and the Dogfish Head Squall we spotted in a 750ml in the cooler, we had nice spinach, chick pea and potato soup, with the most incredible pierogies on the side....I always consider The Porter the winner in a food war with Brick Store, but that soup was an unexpected surprise...

The Squall was even better than we'd expected: it is basically a bottle conditioned 90 minute ale, and the smoother for it. That's all I can really say. 90 minute WAS my favorite beer, and this is my favorite incantation of it so far. Good luck finding it if you are in the ATL.....

4. Home and a standard Brooklyn Chocolate Stout from the stash. Spouse hit the Oban, and that was OK by me. We checked out the movie "Up in the Air". Don't watch many movies, but I'm so glad we picked this one. Great acting, great story, great message, script and execution....wow. Love to see it when Hollywood exectues well. If you haven't seen it, you should check it out.

Anywhoo, overall, a great day.

Talk atcha later: tomorro is an NFL day, so a good day to report on Local ATL beer offerings!! Stay tuned.