Howdy Ho!
I have reached a milestone this week. I have reviewed 100 different beers on my Ratebeer.com account. I signed on to Ratebeer in Oct 2007 and have done my level best to drink as many different beers as possible. Thanks to establishments like Perfect Pour in Columbia, it's not very hard to drink a different beer every day of the year. However being of the limited income of a working stiff, i cannot afford to drink a 5 dollar bottle of beer every day. So on many days, I drink Yuengling Lager or Sam Adams Hefenweiss. Those two are my favorite everyday beers. Yuengling gets the nod for #1 everyday beer as it costs 20 bucks a case and actually tastes good. However I was at least fortunate enough to enjoy at least 80 to 90 different beers last year. Going over my list there is a definite trend toward beers from Belgium. My favorite styles seem to be Trappist Ales and Saisons. It might seem a bit strange, but there is no real middle ground for me. I favor dark and heavy (Bocks and Quads) or light and citrisy (Wheats and Saisons). My number one favorite is Saison Dupont. I've gone over my rate beer listing and have complied a list of all the beers I've rated at least a 4.0 or higher. 23 total beers got a 4.0 or better. That breaks down to 10 Belgians, followed by 8 German brews, 4 American micros and 1 Dutch brew. I didn't really go out of my way to rate Belgian beer higher, It came down to the law of averages. My purchases over that last 15 months have leaned toward Belgian brews. Of those mostly Saisons and Trappist Ales. This year I will be doing more reviews of American micros. Without further ado here is my top 23 of 2008. The list reads across; Beer name, Brewer (Country), Style and My Ratebeer rating.
1. Saison Dupont Vieille Provision -Dupont Brasserie (Bel)- Saison - 5
2. Ayinger Celebrator Doppelbock - Brauerei Aying (Ger)- Doppelbock - 4.6
3. St. Bernardus Abt 12 - St. Bernard Brouwerij (Bel)- Abt/Quadrupel - 4.5
4. Rochefort Trappistes 10 - Brasserie Rochefort (Bel)- Abt/Quadrupel - 4.4
5. Victory Storm King Imperial Stout - Victory Brewing Company (USA)- Imperial Stout - 4.4
6. Schneider Aventinus - Weissbierbrauerei G. Schneider & Sohn (Ger)- Weizen Bock - 4.4
7. Duvel - Brouwerij Moortgat - Belgian Strong Ale (Bel)- 4.4
8. Rochefort Trappistes 8 - Brasserie Rochefort (Bel)- Belgian Strong Ale - 4.3
9. Dupont Avec les Bons Voeux - Dupont Brasserie (Bel)- Saison - 4.3
10. Ommegang Abbey Ale - Brewery Ommegang (USA) - Abbey Dubbel - 4.1
11. Spaten Optimator - Spaten-Franziskaner-Bräu (Ger) - Doppelbock - 4.1
12. Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest Märzen - Paulaner Brauerei (Ger) - Oktoberfest/Märzen - 4.1
13. Paulaner Hefeweissbier - Paulaner Brauerei (Ger) - Hefeweizen - 4.1
14. Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier - Bayerische Staatsbrauerei Weihenstephan (Ger) - Hefeweizen - 4.1
15. La Trappe Quadrupel - De Koningshoeven - Abt/Quadrupel (Hol) - 4.1
16. La Moneuse - Brasserie de Blaugies (Bel) - Saison - 4.1
17. Ommegang Three Philosophers - Brewery Ommegang (USA) - Abt/Quadrupel - 4.0
18. Rogue Dead Guy Ale - Rogue Ales (USA) - Heller Bock - 4.0
19. Lindemans Framboise - Brouwerij Lindemans (Bel) - Lambic; Fruit - 4.0
20. Paulaner Salvator - Paulaner Brauerei (Ger) - Doppelbock - 4.0
21. Saison dEpeautre - Brasserie de Blaugies (Bel) - Saison - 4.0
22. Delirium Tremens - Brouwerij Huyghe (Bel) - Belgian Strong Ale - 4.0
23. Spaten Oktoberfest Ur-Märzen - Spaten-Franziskaner-Bräu (Ger) - Oktoberfest/Märzen 4.0
There is one glaring omission from the list. Chimay Gran Reserve. I have a bottle I will be opening in about 1 hour to start 2009.
Happy New Years!
FGR
Showing posts with label beer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label beer. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Friday, December 5, 2008
Fatguy Roller Pic of the Week - 12/05/08
This weeks photo is totally bogus (but was taken today). So is the fact that I have not ridden my Ducati for 2 months. Believe it or not, my training is getting in the way of a good moto ride.
I've been riding outside all week, so the rollers and my motorcycle have not been getting any love. Nor has my weights. For some reason I just don't feel like lifting. So 12 hrs cycling will have to do. Next week is rest and reco, So I'll do some lifting and motorcycle riding then.
As of this morning I'm down to 206.
For what it's worth, i didn't last 4 days until I had to have a beer. Those Spaten Oktoberfest were screaming out to be drank. So I did. And I bought more yesterday. I went to my local to get a 12 of Yuengling (my favorite budget brew) and saw they still have Oktoberfest. So I grabbed a six of that too. Unfortunately in my zeal I didn't realize I picked up Yuengling Light Lager. It's not bad for light beer, but I'll never make that mistake again.
Gimme a shout James! I ready for some drinking. We could do Max's Taproom during the afternoon next week!
Cheers,
FGR
Thursday, November 27, 2008
A Non Traditional Thanksgiving at Casa De Fatguy.
Turkey? We don't need no stinkin' turkeys!
Broiled crab cakes, steamed shrimp, homemade skin on fries and a Saison Dupont!
(Hey Dad, looks good eh?)
Oh and I rode my bike today. What a disaster that was.
Lemme recap it for ya:
I woke up later than I wanted, no time to eat or have coffee.
I got my stuff together for the 10am ride.
I left the house 1/2 before ride.
I turned around 2 miles from home to get water bottles and cell phone I forgot.
I left the house again.
I turned around again 2 miles from home to get seat bag and frame pump I forgot.
I ate a Cliff Bar en route and rolled into parking lot 5 min late. But no one left yet. Phew!
We all rolled out. Pace OK for first 1/2 hour.
I got dropped on first big hill. I not sure if they dropped me or if I wanted to get dropped. It's November and I have no desire to be hitting 92% max HR all morning doing the Hills of Crownsville.
I catch up to one other guy who dropped himself for same reasons.
I ride for next 1/2 hr at a nicer pace and chat awhile with my riding buddy.
My chain starts skipping, and doing that autoshift thing, but I ride on.
My chain is skipping on every pedal stoke now and we still have 10 to go to Park & Ride, but I'm 3 miles from my house.
I apologize to my bud and turn off and head home to either get another bike or quit and get my wife to take me to the Park & Ride to pick up Jeep.
I get home. 23 miles done and 1 1/4 hrs in the saddle. 1/2 hr more than was called for on today's workout schedule.
I ask wife to take me to get Jeep.
She says OK and I go get Jeep.
Still, It was a beautiful day for a ride. I lost 2 more pounds this week and I have beer!
Is that a pretty sight or what?
Cheers,
FGR
(photos: My crappy cell phone camera)
Broiled crab cakes, steamed shrimp, homemade skin on fries and a Saison Dupont!
(Hey Dad, looks good eh?)
Oh and I rode my bike today. What a disaster that was.
Lemme recap it for ya:
I woke up later than I wanted, no time to eat or have coffee.
I got my stuff together for the 10am ride.
I left the house 1/2 before ride.
I turned around 2 miles from home to get water bottles and cell phone I forgot.
I left the house again.
I turned around again 2 miles from home to get seat bag and frame pump I forgot.
I ate a Cliff Bar en route and rolled into parking lot 5 min late. But no one left yet. Phew!
We all rolled out. Pace OK for first 1/2 hour.
I got dropped on first big hill. I not sure if they dropped me or if I wanted to get dropped. It's November and I have no desire to be hitting 92% max HR all morning doing the Hills of Crownsville.
I catch up to one other guy who dropped himself for same reasons.
I ride for next 1/2 hr at a nicer pace and chat awhile with my riding buddy.
My chain starts skipping, and doing that autoshift thing, but I ride on.
My chain is skipping on every pedal stoke now and we still have 10 to go to Park & Ride, but I'm 3 miles from my house.
I apologize to my bud and turn off and head home to either get another bike or quit and get my wife to take me to the Park & Ride to pick up Jeep.
I get home. 23 miles done and 1 1/4 hrs in the saddle. 1/2 hr more than was called for on today's workout schedule.
I ask wife to take me to get Jeep.
She says OK and I go get Jeep.
Still, It was a beautiful day for a ride. I lost 2 more pounds this week and I have beer!
Is that a pretty sight or what?
Cheers,
FGR
(photos: My crappy cell phone camera)
Monday, November 17, 2008
211
That's what my trusty doctors office quality analog Health-o-Meter scale read this morning. I'll forget what Kyle's fancy digital scale was reading in the D'ville parking lot after we got done riding for 2 hours on Sunday afternoon.
I was expecting the worst as I dreadfully pulled the scale out into the middle of the bathroom floor. I really expected to see the weight go up, not down. It was a pleasant surprise to see 2 more pounds off from the week before. What ever I'm doing, I need to stick to it. I've lost 4 lbs in about 2 weeks since I started my 2009 season training on Nov 3.
What I've been doing is lots of zone 1, 2 and 3 riding and lifting weights. One the rollers during the week and outside on the weekend. On the dieting side I've been keeping track of food using the meal log feature in Training Peaks. I've been down the dieting path more than once, so using it is nothing new. Staying with it is the hard part. It does get tedious after awhile. In the past, whenever I have used a meal log to track food is when I've lose the most weight consistently. There is something to be said for accountability. It does keep a person honest. To a degree, of course. I can always omit something, but what good is lying to myself? The problem is sticking with the log. I should have done it all year. Maybe the fourth time will be the charm.
Week 3 is a rest week, so I have to eat light. I use the Virtual Coach feature of training peaks also and since I'm over 40, 45 1/2 to be exact, the training cycle reverts to 2 weeks on 1 week rest. I thought this was odd, so when I made my 2008 schedule I lied about my age so it would do the traditional 3 on, 1 off schedule. Looking back over the season and how effective my training was, I have to say I shouldn't have lied about my age. 2 on, 1 off may give the extra recovery time I need to keep from burning out.
On an unrelated note, Ratebeer.com has gone tits up. Seems they got hacked pretty viciously (from what I've gathered) and they will be down for quite a while. I was 8 beer reviews short of reaching the 100 beer club (not to shabby for being a member for less than 1 year and not turning into a real fat bastid) when they went offline. So I've got to keep track of them somewhere. Well why not here? Here's what I've sampled this week.
Rouge Dead Guy Ale - Awesome deep translucent amber color that was almost pearlesent. Big fluffy, merange like butterscotch head that unfortunately disappeared quickly. Aroma of sweet hops. Crisp and dry on the palate with a nice bitter hop aftertaste that didn't linger longer than necessary. Malt undertones are welcome presence. No trace of grassyness like you get with an over hopped ale or IPA. This is one very well balanced ale. One of the best i've had in a long time. A pleasant surprise for me, as I have avoided buying it for the longest time. I've often dismissed Rogue brews just because the bottles and beer names seemed too gimmicky. I glad I was wrong
Rouge Dry Hopped St. Rouge Red - Its a wonderful red ale. One thing I've noticed about Rogues brews is how great they look in a glass. And this one is no exception. It pours a pretty reddish copper color with a reddish creamy head. The carbonation is pretty high and the bubbles were beautiful as the climbed up the side of the glass. The aroma has a subdued hoppyness and the that carries over to the palate. Unfortunately the taste is average. It's not a bad brew by any stretch but the taste doesn't match up to the appearance. If Rogue could combine the appearance of St Rouge with the knockout taste of Dead Guy, I would be a fan for life.
Cheers,
FGR
I was expecting the worst as I dreadfully pulled the scale out into the middle of the bathroom floor. I really expected to see the weight go up, not down. It was a pleasant surprise to see 2 more pounds off from the week before. What ever I'm doing, I need to stick to it. I've lost 4 lbs in about 2 weeks since I started my 2009 season training on Nov 3.
What I've been doing is lots of zone 1, 2 and 3 riding and lifting weights. One the rollers during the week and outside on the weekend. On the dieting side I've been keeping track of food using the meal log feature in Training Peaks. I've been down the dieting path more than once, so using it is nothing new. Staying with it is the hard part. It does get tedious after awhile. In the past, whenever I have used a meal log to track food is when I've lose the most weight consistently. There is something to be said for accountability. It does keep a person honest. To a degree, of course. I can always omit something, but what good is lying to myself? The problem is sticking with the log. I should have done it all year. Maybe the fourth time will be the charm.
Week 3 is a rest week, so I have to eat light. I use the Virtual Coach feature of training peaks also and since I'm over 40, 45 1/2 to be exact, the training cycle reverts to 2 weeks on 1 week rest. I thought this was odd, so when I made my 2008 schedule I lied about my age so it would do the traditional 3 on, 1 off schedule. Looking back over the season and how effective my training was, I have to say I shouldn't have lied about my age. 2 on, 1 off may give the extra recovery time I need to keep from burning out.
On an unrelated note, Ratebeer.com has gone tits up. Seems they got hacked pretty viciously (from what I've gathered) and they will be down for quite a while. I was 8 beer reviews short of reaching the 100 beer club (not to shabby for being a member for less than 1 year and not turning into a real fat bastid) when they went offline. So I've got to keep track of them somewhere. Well why not here? Here's what I've sampled this week.
Rouge Dead Guy Ale - Awesome deep translucent amber color that was almost pearlesent. Big fluffy, merange like butterscotch head that unfortunately disappeared quickly. Aroma of sweet hops. Crisp and dry on the palate with a nice bitter hop aftertaste that didn't linger longer than necessary. Malt undertones are welcome presence. No trace of grassyness like you get with an over hopped ale or IPA. This is one very well balanced ale. One of the best i've had in a long time. A pleasant surprise for me, as I have avoided buying it for the longest time. I've often dismissed Rogue brews just because the bottles and beer names seemed too gimmicky. I glad I was wrong
Rouge Dry Hopped St. Rouge Red - Its a wonderful red ale. One thing I've noticed about Rogues brews is how great they look in a glass. And this one is no exception. It pours a pretty reddish copper color with a reddish creamy head. The carbonation is pretty high and the bubbles were beautiful as the climbed up the side of the glass. The aroma has a subdued hoppyness and the that carries over to the palate. Unfortunately the taste is average. It's not a bad brew by any stretch but the taste doesn't match up to the appearance. If Rogue could combine the appearance of St Rouge with the knockout taste of Dead Guy, I would be a fan for life.
Cheers,
FGR
Monday, November 10, 2008
A Night Out With The Homies
Friday night as I was riding home in the car with my wife, Dana, I get a call from one Lance Lacy at around 4:30pm. He tells me some of us who live with 10 miles of each other were gonna be getting together with spouses and girlfriends for dinner at the Sakura Japanese Steakhouse on Housley Road (near Westfields Mall) in West Annapolis and follow it up with some drinking and fun at Stevie D's house in Millersville. My wife had a long day and didn't want to go, but I was up for it, so long as I got a ride in before. Dana gave me a pass and told me to have lot fun. So after doing a 45 min stint on the rollers, I got dressed, put on the sharp, new Team Latitude polo and headed on over to the restaurant. I got there and everyone except Sue Estes had already arrived. Ali, aka The Wheelsucker, was there sans date too. That's good, so now I wont feel like a total loser being by myself.
L to R: Amanda Wu, Amy Jones, Lance Lacy (partially hidden), Kyle Jones, Sherry Collison (Lance's girlfriend), Ty Wu (mostly hidden) and Ali Meller. Not shown, is me who took the picture.
They seated us pretty quick and took drink orders. I was kind of disappointed at the beer choices so I ordered the old standby, Sam Adams. Mind you they had every Japanese beer and Sake, but I'm not a fan of either.
They seated us a a really large grill horseshoe style. I took and end seat directly facing the Teppanyaki chef so as to get the best opportunity to get my eyebrows singed off. He did warn me...
Amamda, Ty, Sherry and Lance
Kyle, Amy and Ali
Me, and Amanda. Only Sue is missing.
That's Sue on the right.
I ordered the Filet Mignon and Chicken combo with Teppanyaki Shrimp and fried rice appetizers. The chef did all the usual stuff, the egg on the spatula trick and the onion volcano. It was pretty cool to see a Teppanyaki chef work the grill in person versus watching it on The Food Network. The food was excellent. I left nothing on my plate.
After we were done, we all packed into our vehicles and headed to the beer store and then Steve's place. While at the Waterbury there was much discussion about the proper 40 to pick up. I was looking for a 40 of Bass, but ended up with a 24 oz Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Kyle Jones on the other hand went right for the good stuff. We all thought he was getting these for Amy, but he said they were for him. You draw your own conclusions...LOL. 
When we all got to Steve's he was out on his back deck blowing off fire crackers and bottle rockets at his neighbors. Seems the party was already going. After tiring of lighting off noisemakers a hasty retreat was made back into Steve's kitchen for some shots of Bourbon. Doetch went all out and picked up a bottle each of Makers Mark and 1792 Ridgemont Reserve. First up was the Ridgemont. I took my shot and slugged it down expecting the burn and gag, but not this time. It was like drinking a shot of ice tea. 1792 is probably the smoothest Bourbon I've ever had. I'm normally a vodka guy, but I will buy this. The Makers Mark was next and it was quite good also, but not nearly as smooth as the Ridgemont. Just to be sure we had another shot of Ridgemont. Did I mention this stuff is really smooth? After this I was ready for a beer so Steve handed me Grolsch to go along with the Sierra Neveda. Needless to say I drank them both and I think there was more Ridgemont too. After awhile things were getting really warm and fuzzy. I also think there was some guitar playing going on too, but I don't think I could call what I was doing guitar playing. It's been 13+ years since I played out with a band, and when I stopped gigging, I pretty much stopped playing for myself too. I've picked it up for longish stints on occasion over the years, but I'm very rusty to say the least and being drunk doesn't help.
All in all we had a great time and around 11 pm we all took off. I live 5 mins away from Steve, so my ride home, while not kosher, was not a big deal.
So now I've learned a few things about my teammates. Outside of racing, they're all great people and lots of fun to hang with. I need to start practicing my guitar on a more regular basis. And lastly I still get hangovers. I didn't do my 3 1/2 hour training ride until 1pm. By then I was able and the weather had cleared up. I did a pretty decent solo ride from the Park & Ride to North Beach and back. Using my TT bike I stayed mostly in zone 1-3 and came in with a nice 18 1/2 mph avg with 2500 feet of elev. gain for 60 miles. Maybe I should drink more often.
One last thing before I forget. There is no such thing as a free lunch when your married. Dana had off work on Sunday and her birthday is tonight. Happy 39 hon!
Even so I spent the whole day with her on Sunday and we went to Stitches 2008. A yarn and knitting expo at the Baltimore Convention Center. I think we actually spent more time at the light rail stops waiting for the damn train then we did at the expo. Still any day I get to spend with my wife is a good day.
Cheers,
FGR
(photos: Me-Casio Exilim Z600)
Also posted on the unoffical ABRT Blog.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Ready to begin anew
It's with no small amount of joy that I've managed to drop about 3 lbs in the last week or so. Riding 5 days out of last 8 will do that I suppose. Now I just hope I can keep the momentum going. My biggest hurdle I feel is going to be fighting the desire to say to heck with it and watch TV. For the next few months I will be doing most of my riding from my office door in west Columbia to take advantage of every minute of daylight available. I have several loops I can do in the area and Ellicott City's hills are a 20 minute ride away.
Sunday was the big end of season ABRT blowout. The day started with a ride from Doetsch's house (that's me, the big dude in the middle), which is about 5 miles from mine. I threw some clothes in a backpack and headed on over for the ride. I made sure to pack my 1 liter beer stein to enjoy the Spaten Oktoberfest that was reported to be on tap. The pace for the ride was predetermined to be slow. Slow being a relative term when talking about a ride with a bunch of hammers. True to their word, it was a good ride and stayed calm. I only had big trouble on St. George Barber and Huntwood Road. Serves me right for leaving the house on a empty stomach. It's serves me even more right for slacking off in August and September and gaining 10 lbs instead of losing 10 lbs. I downed both water bottles and my gel flask, but it wasn't enough to prevent the legs cramps that would keep me from getting dropped on the hills in the last 10 miles of the 35 mile ride. Since it was a no-drop ride, they waited and I got back on. I was OK on the flats, but I had nothing in the tank to get up the short steep rises that are all over central Anne Arundel County. After about 2 hours the ride ended where it started. My only concern was getting to that keg! One thing I know for sure is that beer is a cure for leg cramps. I found this out a couple years ago after a hard and fast Seagull Century ride. The Beer Garden saved my life that day. I never had a single cramp that day or the next. So once we got it tapped it was bottoms up!
Is that a mug or what? I only had one. Honest.
My lovely bride, Dana, came by later after she got off of work from the evil ice cream factory. We both chowed down on the excellent BBQ that was catered by Red, Hot & Blue. I love their food. We've eaten often at the Cape St. Claire location, off Rt-50 before the Bay Bridge. She was tired so we didn't stay long after eating. In fact we kinda scooted out of their with a few goodbyes. On the way home she expressed a craving for a Krispy Kreme donut. I told her to go for it and we went to Glen Burnie and picked up a dozen. She got 9 chocolate creme filled and I got 3 pumpkin spice. I love those. I only ate one and took the other two to work the next day. Once we got home she was sound asleep on the couch by 8 pm.
Today will be the first time I've ridden in the Columbia area in about 4 months. I think the last time was a 3/4 century ride I did with some friends back in early June.
My real program for 2009 begins on November 1st. Right now I'm riding in that period known as a transition. The transition is giving me the chance to get all my gear, goals and routines in order.
Next week I will need to test for FTP. I haven't done a test ride in months. I'm thinking of heading to the Eastern Shore and doing it on the Church Creek TT course. It's not that far from home and it's about as controlled an environment as you can get outdoors. It'll be good to get some hard fast numbers.
Cheers,
FGR
Sunday was the big end of season ABRT blowout. The day started with a ride from Doetsch's house (that's me, the big dude in the middle), which is about 5 miles from mine. I threw some clothes in a backpack and headed on over for the ride. I made sure to pack my 1 liter beer stein to enjoy the Spaten Oktoberfest that was reported to be on tap. The pace for the ride was predetermined to be slow. Slow being a relative term when talking about a ride with a bunch of hammers. True to their word, it was a good ride and stayed calm. I only had big trouble on St. George Barber and Huntwood Road. Serves me right for leaving the house on a empty stomach. It's serves me even more right for slacking off in August and September and gaining 10 lbs instead of losing 10 lbs. I downed both water bottles and my gel flask, but it wasn't enough to prevent the legs cramps that would keep me from getting dropped on the hills in the last 10 miles of the 35 mile ride. Since it was a no-drop ride, they waited and I got back on. I was OK on the flats, but I had nothing in the tank to get up the short steep rises that are all over central Anne Arundel County. After about 2 hours the ride ended where it started. My only concern was getting to that keg! One thing I know for sure is that beer is a cure for leg cramps. I found this out a couple years ago after a hard and fast Seagull Century ride. The Beer Garden saved my life that day. I never had a single cramp that day or the next. So once we got it tapped it was bottoms up!
Is that a mug or what? I only had one. Honest.
My lovely bride, Dana, came by later after she got off of work from the evil ice cream factory. We both chowed down on the excellent BBQ that was catered by Red, Hot & Blue. I love their food. We've eaten often at the Cape St. Claire location, off Rt-50 before the Bay Bridge. She was tired so we didn't stay long after eating. In fact we kinda scooted out of their with a few goodbyes. On the way home she expressed a craving for a Krispy Kreme donut. I told her to go for it and we went to Glen Burnie and picked up a dozen. She got 9 chocolate creme filled and I got 3 pumpkin spice. I love those. I only ate one and took the other two to work the next day. Once we got home she was sound asleep on the couch by 8 pm.
Today will be the first time I've ridden in the Columbia area in about 4 months. I think the last time was a 3/4 century ride I did with some friends back in early June.
My real program for 2009 begins on November 1st. Right now I'm riding in that period known as a transition. The transition is giving me the chance to get all my gear, goals and routines in order.
Next week I will need to test for FTP. I haven't done a test ride in months. I'm thinking of heading to the Eastern Shore and doing it on the Church Creek TT course. It's not that far from home and it's about as controlled an environment as you can get outdoors. It'll be good to get some hard fast numbers.
Cheers,
FGR
Friday, June 20, 2008
I Have Found The Garden Of Eden in Columbia, MD
It's next to the new Trader Joe's in the Columbia Crossing Shopping Center.
http://www.perfectpourcolumbia.com/
I had read about it on Ratebeer. So I had to go and check it out since it's a five minute drive from my office.
Hands down this place beats Chevy Chase Wine and Spirts and Corridor Wine by a country mile. Astor's? Forget about it. Bay Ridge in Annapolis? Not even close.
Since gas is expensive, I'll have to wait until I'm up Elkton way again to hit up State Line. From what I've read, they are the closest to Perfect Pour for sheer volume of selection. Maybe even better. I may never make it there. Perfect Pour is just too close to me to even wanna bother. I don't even have to go to Village Liquors in Waugh Chapel any more with their modest but quality selections (a little less than Astor's or Bay Ridge).
There were so many choices, I had a hard time deciding what I wanted. I ended up getting a untried 750 ml bottle conditioned brew from Brasserie Dupont called Avril, a 6-pack of Leffe Blond and a 500ml of Saison Dupont Vallie Provision, my favorite beer in the whole world (right now). Apparently it's a favorite of many other people because they were fresh out of the big 750 ml bottles.
Once I got all this beer home, I salted up a bucket of ice water and threw a couple of those warm bottles in. After an hour the Leffe was as ready to pour and drink. I also bought a Leffe glass too. Leffe is good stuff and it's and not expensive as other Belgian brews. Its right up there with Duvel.
Go check this place out. You wont be disappointed.
Cheers,
FGR.
http://www.perfectpourcolumbia.com/
I had read about it on Ratebeer. So I had to go and check it out since it's a five minute drive from my office.
Hands down this place beats Chevy Chase Wine and Spirts and Corridor Wine by a country mile. Astor's? Forget about it. Bay Ridge in Annapolis? Not even close.
Since gas is expensive, I'll have to wait until I'm up Elkton way again to hit up State Line. From what I've read, they are the closest to Perfect Pour for sheer volume of selection. Maybe even better. I may never make it there. Perfect Pour is just too close to me to even wanna bother. I don't even have to go to Village Liquors in Waugh Chapel any more with their modest but quality selections (a little less than Astor's or Bay Ridge).
There were so many choices, I had a hard time deciding what I wanted. I ended up getting a untried 750 ml bottle conditioned brew from Brasserie Dupont called Avril, a 6-pack of Leffe Blond and a 500ml of Saison Dupont Vallie Provision, my favorite beer in the whole world (right now). Apparently it's a favorite of many other people because they were fresh out of the big 750 ml bottles.
Once I got all this beer home, I salted up a bucket of ice water and threw a couple of those warm bottles in. After an hour the Leffe was as ready to pour and drink. I also bought a Leffe glass too. Leffe is good stuff and it's and not expensive as other Belgian brews. Its right up there with Duvel.
Go check this place out. You wont be disappointed.
Cheers,
FGR.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Next up - Carl Dolan Circut Race on 4/20/08
And I'm bringing the beer.
I cant wait. I love this race. The Gateway Loop in Columbia, Md is a course I know like the back of my hand. I've been training and racing on it for 15 years. I think I have one DNF here and that was due to a crash. I'm signed up for the 3/4 race in the afternoon. The 4/5 race filled to quick for me to get in. The last time I did this race was in 2006. I finished mid pack. It was my first real race after a 5 year layoff and it was the 40/50+ race to boot. Very fast. This year they combined the 40+ with the 30+. That might be more than I can handle at this stage of my training so far season. I think the 3/4 might be a better choice for me. Since I want to upgrade to Cat 3, I'd like to get a feel for it. This is the kind a race circuit where I can sit in the wheels, stay out of trouble and help a teammate with a lead out at the end. And if I'm still there at the end, maybe go all out for myself. The finish hill is not an issue as the pack literally sucks you up. All I have to do is spin a 53x19 at a high cadence and it's over. 12 times. I hope so anyway. The killer will be the end sprint up the same hill. In 2006 I went way too early after being in the top 10 at the bottom of the hill. I gave it all I had and I blew in spectacular fashion half way up the hill to the line and drifted in mid pack. I was spent. It was a wonder i made it to the line at all. I think I keeled over when I got there. It was an immensely satisfying race.
This weeks training has been good in quality even if i haven't been feeling very motivated to do it. I did some L7 work with 6x2 min intervals on Monday and 2x15 L4 threshold intervals on Tuesday. All my work was completed above the prescribed wattages. I think i need to test soon, lest I waste too much training time not going hard enough. Strange enough though, when i was doing the rides on Monday and Tuesday, I didn't feel like I was firing on all cylinders. I was sure my numbers would be low, but WKO says no. My wattages were higher than the minimums.
I think I'm just having a bad week. Yesterday i didn't feel like riding at all and I had another L7 tempo sprints workout scheduled. I didn't do it. I knew something was up when on Wednesdays active recovery ride i felt awful. My stress levels have been high all week and I have not been resting as much as I should. Maybe it was the 2 Sam Adams I drank the night before at Italian Bike Night with my other hooligan Ducati riding friends from the Ducati Monster List. I bet I was just pissed that the Rhodeside was so crowded I only got to do one song. But it was a good one though. Gimme Three Steps. I love karaoke. Dont tell anyone.
I feel good today. I weighed myself this morning and I'm down another 2 lbs to 214. About 2 lbs heavier than i was the 2006 race. The loss is a nice morale booster. I thought I was hitting a plateau. I'm still on track to make my power to weight goals. Taking the book advice about not making up missed workouts, I'll do the scheduled active recovery ride tonight, do the group ride tomorrow with some tempo and threshold efforts to open up the legs and then the race on Sunday.
I hope to do well. At the very least I hope help a teammate do well. I know i'll be drinking beer one way or another. Isn't that what it's all about anyway?
Cheers,
FGR
I cant wait. I love this race. The Gateway Loop in Columbia, Md is a course I know like the back of my hand. I've been training and racing on it for 15 years. I think I have one DNF here and that was due to a crash. I'm signed up for the 3/4 race in the afternoon. The 4/5 race filled to quick for me to get in. The last time I did this race was in 2006. I finished mid pack. It was my first real race after a 5 year layoff and it was the 40/50+ race to boot. Very fast. This year they combined the 40+ with the 30+. That might be more than I can handle at this stage of my training so far season. I think the 3/4 might be a better choice for me. Since I want to upgrade to Cat 3, I'd like to get a feel for it. This is the kind a race circuit where I can sit in the wheels, stay out of trouble and help a teammate with a lead out at the end. And if I'm still there at the end, maybe go all out for myself. The finish hill is not an issue as the pack literally sucks you up. All I have to do is spin a 53x19 at a high cadence and it's over. 12 times. I hope so anyway. The killer will be the end sprint up the same hill. In 2006 I went way too early after being in the top 10 at the bottom of the hill. I gave it all I had and I blew in spectacular fashion half way up the hill to the line and drifted in mid pack. I was spent. It was a wonder i made it to the line at all. I think I keeled over when I got there. It was an immensely satisfying race.
This weeks training has been good in quality even if i haven't been feeling very motivated to do it. I did some L7 work with 6x2 min intervals on Monday and 2x15 L4 threshold intervals on Tuesday. All my work was completed above the prescribed wattages. I think i need to test soon, lest I waste too much training time not going hard enough. Strange enough though, when i was doing the rides on Monday and Tuesday, I didn't feel like I was firing on all cylinders. I was sure my numbers would be low, but WKO says no. My wattages were higher than the minimums.
I think I'm just having a bad week. Yesterday i didn't feel like riding at all and I had another L7 tempo sprints workout scheduled. I didn't do it. I knew something was up when on Wednesdays active recovery ride i felt awful. My stress levels have been high all week and I have not been resting as much as I should. Maybe it was the 2 Sam Adams I drank the night before at Italian Bike Night with my other hooligan Ducati riding friends from the Ducati Monster List. I bet I was just pissed that the Rhodeside was so crowded I only got to do one song. But it was a good one though. Gimme Three Steps. I love karaoke. Dont tell anyone.
I feel good today. I weighed myself this morning and I'm down another 2 lbs to 214. About 2 lbs heavier than i was the 2006 race. The loss is a nice morale booster. I thought I was hitting a plateau. I'm still on track to make my power to weight goals. Taking the book advice about not making up missed workouts, I'll do the scheduled active recovery ride tonight, do the group ride tomorrow with some tempo and threshold efforts to open up the legs and then the race on Sunday.
I hope to do well. At the very least I hope help a teammate do well. I know i'll be drinking beer one way or another. Isn't that what it's all about anyway?
Cheers,
FGR
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