Pickles & Beer

Last night was a No Boys Allowed Club meeting wherein we pickled things, drank beer, and discussed the merits of Britney Spears.

Pickling things: not as hard as you might have thought.  One absent member of the club who had to go hang out with her boyfriend (the Club did not approve) was going to bring strawberries, but without her we were also without berries, so we pickled WAY too many cloves of garlic, some radishes that I kept calling beets, and one lone cucumber.  Basically you put the soon-to-be-pickle in a jar, heat up water with salt & sugar & some other spices in it, pour the "hot brine" in the jar, and seal it up.  Ta da!  Pickles.

The Pickle Pact states that we cannot open the jars until all have agreed.  I will keep my one Tulsa reader posted on how they turn out.

My new friend Thor brought a number of beers to the party, so I got to try some new things.

First up!  Brasserie Fantôme Printemps (Saison, 8% ABV).  It was a little more sour than I was expecting, but I found it delicious.  A hint of lemon (Thor pointed out that saying "a hint of" instead of just "lemon" makes me sound much more worldly), and not too watery.  I vote yes on this saison for spring/summer weather.

After that, we tried a beer I found at Trader Joe's when they were out of my beloved Oatmeal Stout.  Black Hart Stout (Dry Stout, 5.5% ABV).  It was only $6 for a 6-pack, so I figured this was a poorman's version of Guinness, but I was pleasantly surprised!  I found it way better than Guinness (which I'm not that big a fan of anyway).  Full-bodied, nice coffee flavour.  Slightly syrupy, but not too thick.  The best part was its low ABV - it makes a good session beer.  As far as cheap stouts go, this one's now my favourite.

I recently discovered a delicious Belgian Trippel from Green Flash, a southern California brewery.  And last night, my new friend Thor introduced me to an awesome combination of that Trippel with an IPA!  Green Flash le Freak (Abbey Tripel, 9.2% ABV).  It was SO GOOD.  I generally don't like IPAs, but I thought the hoppiness added a really interesting flavour to the Belgian style.  I really loved this beer, to the surprise of the Lumberjack who texted me "Who are you and what have you done with my girlfriend?" when I told him what I was drinking (right before the Club informed me that No Boys also meant No Texting - picklers are a harsh group!).  I really like this beer, and think it would go well with any meal - it would match a nice dinner just as well as an outdoor picnic.  Oh, picnics.  I miss you.

Finally we were on to Ommegang Hennepin (Saison, 7.7% ABV).  I wasn't too impressed by this one.  Maybe it's because I had it last, after the other beers that I was so crushed out on, but it just didn't seem that exciting.  It tasted slightly sour in the bad way, and wasn't very engaging.  But I also don't think I gave it much attention since I was going to be driving home shortly thereafter so I only wanted to taste it and not drink much.

End result: hooray for pickles, Thor picks out good beer, and Trader Joe's really does have good bargains.

Sidebar - Oakland

There are still SF Beer Week events to write about.  I know.  I am sure all my zero readers are dying to know what the Lumberjack and I have been up to.  You will have to wait!  Because I'm lazy.

While you wait, I will tell you about a few other beers that I had with my friend who I have to call "Spitfire" until she comes up with a better pseudonym for herself.  Apparently when I'm tipsy, "spitfire" is the best I can come up with.  So, Spitfire she is.

We went to the grand opening of Heart and Daggers Saloon (yes, I promise I hate the name just as much as, if not more than, you).  It's a fun little bar, but the beer list made me want to cry (the big seller was the extra-large cans of PBR).  So after awhile we headed down to Sidebar, a restaurant near my house that I had a hunch might serve some good beers.

Behold!  A very small photo of their beer list.  Ahem.

First up, Spitfire chose La Fin du Monde (Abbey Triple, 9% ABV).  I had tried it once before, and still like it a lot.  Kind of fruity, with a solid base.  Smells like bananas.  Very tasty!

I had the Sierra Nevada Porter (Porter, 5.6% ABV), which was pretty decent.  In the greater Sierra Nevada context, I give it an A, but compared with my favourite porters and stouts like Speedway, more of a B+.  It was a little too watery, although it had a great light flavour of raisins and coffee.  For a relatively cheap beer, it was great.

I had been to Sidebar once before for dinner, and liked it a lot - it has a very cozy and hip feeling - dark wood, sparse decorations, friendly (and kinda hot) staff.  This time we sat at the bar and the bartender was very kind to give us his beer suggestions.  My favourite bartender is the kind who has an opinion and wants to share it with you...but then follows up afterward to see if he was right.  SOMETIMES THEY'RE NOT.  This time he was.

So, at his suggestion, Spitfire then had Saison du Pont (Saison, 6.5% ABV), which I had also had before, and was not a fan of - it just tastes a little off to me.  The hops are kind of sour, and not in the good way.  But I think she liked it.  I had Hopf Dunkle Weisse (Dunkelweizen, 5% ABV), which the ratebeer people seem to hate.  I thought it was pretty good.  It tasted kind of fruity, slightly of prunes and dried cherries with a syrupy aftertaste.  It also faintly tasted of sour milk, although that wasn't bad (hard to explain, but true).  It was a little too wheaty for me after awhile - I think if I only had a little of it I would like it, but 500ml was too much.  It's a good beer to share with someone else.  Speaking of which...

The best part of the evening was making a new drinking friend!  Oh Spitfire, look how happy she is with her beer and notes.  It's so much more fun to taste beer and compare notes than to...not.