Buy yourself something pretty

I stopped by Batson on my way home tonight. Picked up some beer for the hubby, who had a full day, and 2 kinds of beer for me, who is having a full day/week/month/year. For him was the-beer-who-cannot-be-named, and for me, two little experiments:

An 8.45 oz bottle of Sam Adams Triple Bock. It cost $4.30 at Batson, and the hand written shelf sign read, "Poor Man's Utopia." I had no idea what it was, so I bought it. According to the Beer Advocate, it is something Sam Adams brewed for limited releases, with the most recent being 1997. So technically, this beer was brewed last the year I turned 21, if not before. Neat. Straight from the site:
We recommend serving it at room temperature in a snifter a few ounces at a time - one bottle should generously serve two to three. Its warming malt character and fruit esters make it an ideal after dinner aperitif. Due to legal restrictions, Samuel Adams® Triple Bock® can not be sold in the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Washington, and West Virginia.
It is a crazy, black, oily looking substance, that apparently many dislike and contains massive amounts of alcohol. So I need a crazy beer testing friend for sharing. The husband won't drink motor oil!

The other is a Fort Collins Double Chocolate Stout. Double chocolate stout just sounds yummy, and the site calls it decadent. I am hoping so. Decadent would be nice right now.

Replusive

The remnants of an irish car bomb in a plastic cup from the hooley I went to yesterday. Gross. How YOU doin'?

Boxty on the griddle

Boxty on the griddle, boxty in the pan, if you can't make a boxty, you'll never get your man.

I am drinking an Irish Ale right now. It is an irish red brewed by my friendly neighborhood brewer, Boulevard. I love the Irish Ale. I even love the Celtic-ish label. It pours a deep reddish/caramel color with a decent foamy head that settles into lacing for the entire beer. It smells like sweet caramel, a little bready and malty, and a bit fruity. The taste is also caramel malts and sweet, but has some nuttiness, and a tiny hint of hops. The body is fairly light, and sparsely carbonated, and basically I love this beer.

Tomorrow I am taking the day off of work. I plan to start the day with a boxty, because no matter what anyone thinks, I think it sounds delish for breakfast. And a fat plate of potatoes sounds like a good way to pad the hubby's stomach for a long day.

I don't have a written recipe. My family never did, you just make them on sight. A boxty is like a latke, but if you make them flat enough, you can stuff them with fillings. Basically, if you are feeding an army, you take a pound of peeled potatoes, and boil half of them, and then make mashed potatoes. The other (raw) half of the pound you grate as if for hash browns. You take the grated potatoes and put them in a tea towel, and squeeze out all the liquid. Then you mix the raw grated potatoes into the mashed potatoes, and add flour, between a 1/2 cup and 3/4 cup, about a teaspoon of baking powder, and milk. Maybe a half a cup? I tend to add in less flour and milk than any recipe ever calls for in order to make them more like hash browns and less like pancakes. Then I grease up a pan, and drop them in. When they are brown on each side, they are ready to eat! You can combine the boxty with fried mushrooms and onions, or with an egg and bacon for a more breakfast friendly option. Yum! Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Whitest things ever

Funny blog I lifted from Average Jane - Stuff White People Like

#23 Microbeweries
"White people don’t like stuff that’s easy to acquire. Beer is no exception.

They generally try to avoid beers like Budweiser, Labatt’s, Molson, Coors, and Heineken because if it’s mass produced it is bad. No exceptions.

So when they need a beer, they turn to microbrews who seem to be located almost exclusively in New England, Ontario, Quebec and Colorado. Being able to walk into a bar and order a beer that no one has heard of makes white people feel good about their alcohol drinking palate.

A friend of mine once met a white guy who brought a notebook with him to every bar. He would then keep a record of all the beers he drank and his experience with them. He called it his ‘beer journal.’

Also of note: most white people want to open a microbrewery at some point. One that uses organic hops."

YES, they totally forgot about the Pacific Northwest as a source of microbrew snobbery. Some commenters on the blog believe it is because the bloggers aren't white enough, but it could possibly be that they are Canadian. Either way, an oversight that I am sure was not done on purpose. :)

My other favorite entries are
#26 Manhattan (now Brooklyn too!)
#31 Snowboarding
#53 Dogs
#54 Kitchen Gadgets
#63 Expensive Sandwiches
#79 Modern Furniture
#86 Shorts

But they are all hilarious.

Irish KC

I stumbled across this blog today, and I love it. It is also timely what with the white-people-drink-themselves-into-a-coma-holiday coming up and all. It is written by an Irishman living in KC, although at the moment back home visiting family, diligently updating the KC St. Pats 2008 Guide.

Check it out if you need to catch up on the activities round here. About.com has a decent list too. I'll be at the parade, hanging with friends downtown, and wrapping up my day at Lew's Hooley in Waldo. I can only imagine what will be spent in cab fare.

What's the deal with the spelling of hoolie? Is it hooley or hoolie?

Scooped by my mother-in-law

My MIL attended one of the private soft openings of the Gordon Biersch location in the Power & Light district last night. She knows one of the corporate peeps who flew in for the big opening, and got to try anything she wanted while the staff "practiced" serving for their grand opening this week. Officially, doors open on Monday, but they are having private openings all weekend. Because I think her enthusiasm is adorable, not to mention her turn by turn directions, I am copying & pasting her review below. Hope she doesn't mind! (She's not much a beer drinker, so I promise to provide my own beer feedback soon. )

We had dinner at a private party at Gordon Biersch at 200 East 13th Street. It doesn't officially open until Monday night, but our friends invited us to the private party. We could order anything free as it gave the staff "practice" for opening Monday. The food was great! You would like it. I especially thought the appetizer crab cake was the best in the city--large and moist with lump crab. I had the salmon with pecan topping and it was also good. Dessert we shared was the bread pudding with vanilla ice cream--again the best in the city I've ever had! We sampled their "beer sampler" of five little glasses of beer. All was good. We parked at the Town Pavilion Garage across from the HR Block one. Both were $10 last night because of the event at Sprint Center. No exceptions and validations after 6 PM didn't even count. I drove I-35 to 12th Street exit and went on 12th street to Grand. Turned right on Grand to 13th Street. Turned right again in the garage. Be sure to walk around a bit and see the "stage" area and also the pretty lighted blue trees. I think Gordon Biersch's is the nicest one on the block. Have a good time! Love, Mom

March Madness

I love March. I really do. And I love it more this year because the Big 12 Tourney is in KC, in the shiny new arena downtown. And my Jayhawks are on a tear. Which helps. And reminds me about the Alumni meet up next week:

Big 12 Tournament Kickoff Party
Young Alumni Members-only Event
5 p.m.
Thursday, March 13
The Cashew
2000 Grand Ave.
Kansas City, MO

I thought that I would do a PSA kind of deal for the locals. All of my suburban house-cat friends are askeered of the parking situation downtown. They seriously bring this up a deterrent to attending a concert, game, etc. Just because there isn't a parking lot that look like the mall or at the K doesn't mean you'll have to walk for miles in the dark & creepy downtown landscape. There are a TON of parking garages downtown. You just have to find 'em. It's like the Plaza, but with BIGGER garages! There are 2 garages below the district itself. They hold about 1,800 cars. There are garages EVERYWHERE. They cost a couple dollars. Welcome to being urban. You pay. To park. GASP! I know, right?

Having parents with conflicting religious beliefs can be beneficial

Because my mom & dad decided that they couldn't raise their kids in a Catholic household, this conundrum holds no water with me. Thanks Mom & Dad! Attending an Episcopal church (Catholic Lite!) in my formative years is making St. Patrick's Day a non-issue. For those of you actually grappling with this dilemma, I say you are Irish first, Catholic second.

I really am Irish, truly. I don't even have to wear a green t-shirt to prove it. Between 40-50%, in my extremely complex and totally unquestionable estimation. As my brother informed me this evening, we have a duty to celebrate our ethnic holiday. Check.

Is it spring YET?

The winter depression is so deep in my office right now that there were actual, audible moans, coming from cubes all over the floor, when it was announced that it seemed to be snowing again this morning. Only a flurry, mind you, nothing real. But what used to be pretty is now cause for grief. We're all just so OVER winter.

I noticed the beer industry has heard our cries. While it just isn't appropriate to think about beach beer yet, they are slowly inching us into seasonal mindsets. Here's the start of a decent to do list:

Sam Adams released the White Ale this year for spring. It is a milky, unfiltered, Belgian wheat.

New Belgium is bringing back it's Springboard Ale for the second year, another Belgian pale ale with a little zestiness built right in.

Old faithful, Boulevard has released it's seasonal Irish Ale, my long-standing favorite.

Sierra Nevada has already released it's ESB for 2008 spring.

How can you lose? The lights are much brighter there...

The Pitch published a story just yesterday, written by David Martin, about beer, Kansas City entertainment districts, festival and open container laws. Interesting reading.

Lots of friends have been talking about whether the entertainment district downtown is sustainable. Is there enough visitor traffic downtown to hold them over when there is no big concert or sporting event? Will the people of KC actually change their habits and spend more time downtown? It's been promising for many of us to see places fill up on week nights and Friday, but sad to go almost anywhere on a Saturday and see everything empty. And even if the P&L district does succeed, what does that mean to areas like Westport? Someone's going to lose in this little game.

Snipped straight from the article:

Cordish, it appears, doesn’t want Waldo, 18th and Vine or Zona Rosa to enjoy the same sorts of privileges it won on an earlier trip to the capitol. Back in 2005, state lawmakers passed legislation making drinks portable in certain entertainment districts. The law was written in such a way that only the Power and Light District would qualify for the exemption.

Cordish’s unwillingness to share relaxed liquor rules is only the latest bit of discouraging news. Originally scheduled to open last October, significant pieces of the Power and Light District will still be dark when the Big 12 basketball tournaments come to town next month. Last November, Cordish announced that it wanted to charge $2 for parking in garages that were supposed to be free (“The Dance,” November 22, 2007).

Linky linky

After avoiding my Husband, who I cold-heartedly accused of suffering from manflu, all weekend, I think I am finally catching the creeping crud that has been passed around lately. Which means that I am going to share some of my favorite linkable stories from the past few days, rather than trying to type anything in complete sentences.

The Brookston Beer Bulletin makes some interesting points about our ginormous friends over in St. Louis. It's hard for giants to accept changes in paradigm.

Diageo might be getting thirsty for beer. They're eyeballing opportunities with big beer companies.

KU might bring back beer to the Jaybowl. Man. I don't think it's a bad idea, I just can't believe it has been 10 years. The article says they stopped selling beer in the Union in 1998.

Thank you sir, may I have another?

Bull & Wes over at the KCBeerBlog are the best little KC PR bloggers around. They pick up every downtown related story and post, post, post away. Which I appreciate. Because I sadly do not keep myself as well-informed. Oddly enough, a steady diet of the local FOX news morning show does not make for an educated person. Who knew?

The Big 12 tourney hits the new Sprint area on March13th, so everyone is in a race to get drinking holes ready for the crush. I am concerned that this is SO last minute. I can't imagine some of these places only being open for a few days before the hordes descend. Out of all the new stuff going in down at the new Power & Light District, the ones I am most excited about are below:

ChefBurger - Opens first week of March! Created by the same awesome dude (Rob Dalzell) who brought you 1924 Main, Pizza Bella and Souperman, so you know it'll be good. A locally owned build your own burger joint should do extremely well. Not to mention that you'll get to choose from 4 arty breads, different meat/veggie patties, 10 cheeses, 24 toppings, and 10 sauces!

Gordon Biersch Brewery - Opens March 10. Yes, another corporate brewery/restaurant, but variety is the slice of life, and I like options. This will be a full-scale brewery with a big outdoor beer garden.

Raglan Road Irish Pub - Opens first week of March! Another corporate, faux irish pub. Guess where this one comes to you from? Pleasure Island, Disney, Orlando, FL! Which fits, really, the whole feeling of the P&L district. Disneyland, KC. But lend credibility, KC chefs are being trained at the company's 5 star restuarant, Dunbrody House, in County Wexford, Ireland.

Flying Saucer Draught Emporium - Opening in early May. Lee posted a PR piece on the company before they opened in Austin. This is COOL. They will have 225 beers from more than 15 countries. They seek to "elevate beer."

Maker’s Mark Bourbon House & Lounge - No idea when this will open. Likely some time well after May. There will be an "upscale restaurant and swanky lounge subtly emphasizing the Maker's Mark Bourbon brand." End quote. All I know is that when I visited their main website, John Denver's Country Boy started playing thru my speakers. SWANKY!

The Living Room - No date yet. This will be seating area and prominent bar inside the LIVE! area, featuring plush cushions, ottomans, chairs and tables surrounding a flowing waterfall with a center flame. There will be space heaters and fire pits to keep everyone warm in the winter. When the KC smoking ban finally hits, I wonder if this will be a popular spot with people taking a break from the many bars & nightclubs.

I plan on spending a bit more time downtown to check it all out. Yes, it'll be tourist trap themed. There will be more nightclub concepts and Lucky Strike bowling lanes, and other silly things to compliment the other places. I don't care if any of those places attract, "douches," as some call them. I am pleased that the downtown bars are gaining traction. I am happy that there are young people living and working in our downtown, and I am glad that there will be more stores and services moving in to support them, like more regular restaurants, dry cleaners, and grocery stores. I hope that the area doesn't feel the pinch too badly AFTER the Big 12 tourney ends, and people go home. I'm just very excited to see it all roll out, and hopeful it is sustainable.

I already know what Bull is going to say

...but at least the McFaddens crew will have another stop in their tour of downtown establishments. Howl at the Moon opens this Friday! If you don't know, Howl at the Moon is a terribly popular place for Bachelorette parties in other markets. And like McFaddens, it is a chain. They sell strange colored liquid shots in test tubes, and jello shots in these weird, syringe-like contraptions, designed to shoot booze-laced jello down your throat. There's hardly a beer tie-in here, except that I know they sell it by the bucket. So head on out to the newest spot in town to watch large groups of drunken girls.

Six years ago...

Six years ago was crazy. The farther away that day gets, the more I forget how crazy it was. So I look at this and I laugh. And I think I have to call my brother and thank him again for kneeling in ice in a rented tux to hold up the train of my silly, big, im-a-bride-look-at-me dress, just so we could get these totally staged photos. My family rules, and my husband is the best. Happy six years to us.

Rogue Post, or Don't Cry Over Spilled Beer

I bragged about my pretty bottle of Rogue Imperial Stout that I had waiting for me at home. I came home BEFORE 9 PM! OK, not because I'm balanced, but because someone has to let the dog out, and no one else is in town. But I digress. I was so looking forward to cracking open that Imperial Stout. Seemed like a wonderful thing to do on a cold and lonely Wednesday night. I even took a picture with the crappy camera phone and everything. (Side note, remember how I bitched about needing a new camera? And then I got one? Yeah. guess where it is? With The Husband. Out of town. For biz. Explain to me again why everything becomes "ours" once you are married?) ANY way.

I poured. I drooled. I plugged in my laptop power cord, set my beer on a side table, settled in for a loser's night of excel, powerpoint and tasty beer. But then. THEN. I watched one lonely hyper dog get tangled in said cord and knock over previously mentioned side table, sharing my precious stout with the not-so-appreciative carpet. Nooooooo! Dammit. I didn't even take a SIP, people. This was tragic. I almost cried. But I was too busy cleaning up the floor before my dog got tipsy.

I had about 2/3 of another pint left. I drank it like it was the last water available on earth. Slowly. Carefully. While glaring at the dog. Poor little dude.

I poured this from the ceramic 0.75 litre bottle (2007 Edition) into a pint glass to produce a thick tan head of about 1-1/2". The beer is DARK. And sticky. And has an incredible aroma of chocolate and coffee and caramel. The head had incredible retention. The taste is not as sweet as some of the beers I have been drinking lately, but has a caramel sweetness contrasted with an espresso bite. I wish I had more. But I managed to restrain myself from doing anything disgusting to the carpet, even though that would also result in getting very interesting search traffic. That's the amount of self control I have. Impressed?

Wexford Irish Cream Ale...and Friends!

I have 2 cans of this deliciousness sitting in my fridge, waiting for me tonight. It means I have to share one with The Husband, but since he is actually in town for ONE! MORE! WHOLE! NIGHT! I'll be ok with it. I already drank the first 2. :)

I love creamy ales. I love nitro pours. I love the fact that the thing in the beer can that creates this is called a widget. (I say that word too many times a day at work already. Different context.) I love watching the beer swirl around and generate a giant fluffy white head that reminds me more of a latte than a lager. The Wexford pours a light amber, with a thick, off-white nitro head, that leaves mild lacing along the sides of the glass as I sip. The scent is sweet, mild, and maybe a little malty. The first thing I notice isn't taste as much as the overall feeling this beer has. It is slippery and smooth and creamy and feels like dessert. It tastes very mild, almost buttery. I heart it. It makes me want to eat at O'Dowd's, though. Sigh, I will eat a boxty again soon, I am sure.

Other random items:

It's snowing here again. It's kind of pretty, but it is cold. And getting colder by the minute. Barack Obama is landing in front of my office somewhere around 5 pm. This is the view from my office window. Yes, it is the downtown airport. In the snow.

I have a big bottle of Rogue Imperial Stout, also in my kitchen, pending a review later in the week. That is thanks to my superfly Saturday brunch date that convinced me to eat crepes, get my toes painted in January, and then totally derailed me in Cellar Rat. I have a wonderful friend.

How are you holding up?

Torn from the Times Online:

It’s official: today is the worst day of the year. Hang on – wasn’t that supposed to be last Monday? A psychologist has calculated the most depressing day with a formula that includes “lousy weather, post Christmas debt, failed new year’s resolutions and the desperate need to have something to look forward to”. Incidentally, this is also the most depressing week of 2008. We don’t care any more – we just want to go home.

So I am just checking in on my peeps. You doing ok? Getting enough sleep, not letting the zero degree weather kill your spark, are you? Work isn't TOO overwhelming, is it? We're super busy, but we can see the light. If you need something to look forward to, let me list a few positives coming up here in the middle of the middle of the middle:

1. The projected high for this Saturday is 46 degrees, and that is the same day as the SCION OPEN Snowboarding Tournament over at Snow Creek. You know you want to get out and enjoy a little of this winter weather, just not when it is below 10 degrees! It's going to be awesome, with Miles Bonny spinning, snowboards flying, and a few adult beverages and a snack waiting for you after you finish skiing, boarding or even sitting in a tube, riding down the hill. I'm definitely tubing this year!
2. One last appeal, as if you needed more – the Weston brewery O’Malleys is a hop skip & a jump away from Snow Creek. After an afternoon of skiing/tubing, what could be better than a Weston Brewery Irish Cream Ale. Uh, nothing I can think of! Ha ha ha. I will be there most of the day, so give me a shout if you’re headed out there.
3. AND, it is supposed to be 52 degrees here by Sunday!
4. Boulevard's Irish Ale should be available by now.
5. If you are in advertising in KC, and live in a cave or something, let me remind you that the Addy Awards are on Feb 16th. If you don't know, it's like an awards show & prom all rolled into one event. Hilarity ensues.

Beer snobbery is spreading

I was racing into the office today, running late, as one certainly isn't capable of showing up to work EARLY after a 3 day weekend, when I heard the local radio station DJ say something that actually interested me. Normally I listen to my own music, or surf stations anytime someone starts talking, but I stopped button pushing when I heard the DJ admit that he is a total hop-head. (Listening to Dick Dale on 96.5) And that he is actively organizing a strike team to go capture all of the available Bell's Hopslam 6 packs from the ONE store in this whole city that sells it. (They limit to one 6 pack per person.) What I did NOT get out of this limited conversation snippet I heard during my 12 minute long commute, is WHAT STORE IN KC CARRIES BELL'S HOPSLAM?

Still funny, 12 years later

Lee posted this, and I laughed. Because I was 19 when The Onion first published it. I loved and still love The Onion. And my friends looked like this. Hell, I looked like this. I drank microbrews because that is what my non-greek, art school, flannel wearing, indie music loving, grubby concert attending, coffee barfly, hacky-sack playing, hippie-grunge-wannabe older friends drank. So I had access.

Two thousand and eight?

Happy New Year! Yeah, ok, I am a little late on that. A little late on a lot of things, I am afraid. I still have a Mexico mindset, which apparently means saying "Gracias," to the gas station clerk after receiving my change, and avoiding my endlessly buzzing smart phone by imagining having another something-made-with-tequila and just not worrying about it right now. I had some beer, I did. Sol, Dos Equis, and Tecate. But mostly I stuck to the fruity confections that seemed most appropriate to the locale. See? It looks slightly out of place, doesn't it? Like it should be a giant glass rimmed with salt and a slice of lime festively garnishing the side. Not a lonely little beer can, sweating in the sun.

I am sorry that I missed the beer blogger meet up. Hope you all had a blast. When I saw that you guys left me a voicemail, I was half hoping it would be psuedo-drunken slurring. And then I remembered that we're grown ups, and it is just really really nice to be missed. I can't promise no more trips to Mexico, but I am wishing really hard that I get to meet you all for reals sometime.