Yes I’ve been slacking this week.  Only on the blog front though, I’ve actually been very busy.  I won’t bore you with the details for once;  You’ll just have to trust me.  So, lacking a summary of my past weekend, I’ll opt instead to sneak in a beer review.  Going through my copious notes, one of the more interesting entries I came across was Odell’s 90 Shilling.  “What? That’s a rather generic beer,” you may be saying to yourself.  (Or, more likely, you may not be saying that.)  Indeed, it is a rather everyday brew, albeit one of my favorites.  It’s a very nice representation of the Scottish Ale style.  I think it’s probably a bit lighter in body than most of the well-known examples, but as such I find it more drinkable for a go-to everyday brew.  On this particular evening though, it was also the subject (victim?) of the weekly “randalling” project at Bier Station.  In short, they select a beer every week and basically infuse it with whatever flavors they happen to think sound good.  Sometimes they do this inline with the tap, and sometimes using a French Press.  As it happened, the flavor of the day that evening was “90 Shilling Randalled with Smoked Black Tea and Wild Cherries.”  Wow, how can you go wrong with a name like that?  Well, for one thing, you could not like smoked beers.  I am going to estimate I’ve tried at least six smoked ales in my life, and I can without reservation say I’ve despised every one.  I tasted no cherries, no tea… Just smoke.  And, for whatever reason, I do not like it.  As best I can describe, they all have a rather “oily” taste to me, which is as unpleasant as it sounds.  While it certainly looked like my familiar pour of 90 Shilling, the flavors I usually enjoy were completely lost.  No nicely toasted malt, no nicely balanced sweet/bitter flavors;  Just oily smoke.  I don’t guess I need to carry on all day. Suffice to say I didn’t exactly care for it.  I haven’t given up on the Randall project:  I tried one a few weeks later that was very enjoyable.  I’ll save that one for another day.

Well that was a rather pleasant weekend, unfortunately punctuated by brief bits of work.  Friday, for instance, I got rather caught up at work and totally missed out on my standard outing with The Boys.  By the time things got wrapped up I was pretty sure they would be gone, so I just headed home for some TV.  Donette, meanwhile, was out carousing with some bunch of hooligans, and stayed out until the unholy hour of 10:00.  Crazy!

Saturday kicked off bright and early with a visit to the dentist.  What a way to start the day, ugh.  I got through that bit of misery, then we headed to Costco for some long-delayed shopping.  Amid the usual load of groceries, we picked up ten bags of mulch for a little yard work.  That project took a lot longer than estimated, as most do.  It turned out quite nicely though, the front of our house actually appears as if people live there now.  Of course, as we stood back admiring our two hours of hard labor, Kane (our bitter old tabby cat) sauntered into the mulch and promptly fouled the entire area.  Nice.  After that we got cleaned up and met my Mom up at 75th Street to celebrate Mother’s Day.  We had a very nice dinner, and while it may have been rather lame of me to ask her to drive  out to my ‘hood for dinner it was certainly appreciated.  As usual, I ate far too much, so I headed to the couch and moaned for the rest of the evening.

Sunday, we let the post-church crowds clear out and then headed north to meet Donette’s parents for another celebration.  While I did have minor reservations about crossing the river, I must admit Donette made a good pick with Bonefish Grill.  I opted for the “mixed grill,” which was scallops, shrimp, and a small sirloin steak.  Other than some curiously prepared zucchini, my dinner was delicious.  Two nice dinners in a row, I made out like a bandit for the holiday.  That outing effectively covered Sunday, we didn’t accomplish much the rest of the day.  Notably absent from the weekend activities was bike riding.  That little pastime is simply not getting off the ground this season, at least so far.

Here’s a tasty entry from a few weeks ago.  I’ve been leaning towards the lighter end of the scale lately with summer coming on, and I generally enjoy the offerings from Green Flash, so I figured this one to be a winner.  It was on the board at the Bier Station, so I gave it a go.  It was poured from a tap in a 12 oz snifter for $4.50;  Very reasonable as their price scale goes.  This probably isn’t everybody’s favorite style, with all the push towards the super-hopped brews lately.  They are usually much less bitter (I think,) with a lot of fruitiness and seem to work well with other flavors mixed in too.  For instance, I tried an awesome ginger-saison a while back…  But that’s for another day I suppose.  Back to this one.  While it was served with a good two fingers of bright white head, that quickly subsided and it really didn’t leave a lot of lacing.  The color was a light golden, moderately hazy.  The taste made up for the somewhat boring appearance though, at least for me.  Very Belgiany (it’s my blog and I’ll make up adjectives if I want to) with prominent yeast flavors, and a lot of fruit, although as usual I’d be hard-pressed to pick out which ones.  If I was going to guess I’d go with lemon and maybe a little orange.  Definitely rather tart though, so I’ll throw out grapefruit too.  If I was going to give it a small knock, I’d say it was too carbonated for my liking.  Maybe that’s an indicator of the style, I don’t know;  It was just a bit much for me.  Definitely enjoyed it though, it made me feel like summer is coming, even if it did snow last week.

I’m officially on vacation, limiting my liability for a weekly posting. We flew to DFW on Friday evening with the Martins, and have been hanging out with our friends Jill & David since then. Saturday consisted of sitting by the pool playing jenga all day, and grilling some tasty fajitas. Sunday was spent in much the same fashion, although we did manage to break away from the house long enough to go out for dinner. If I was a gambler, I would guess today will be a repeat of the previous two. Could be worse.

Time to get all crazy and add something new.  I’ve decided to add a weekly update featuring a new beer I’ve tried.  I might move these entries to the all-but-defunct “recipes” page, I might leave them here…  I haven’t got that all figured out yet.  A little background on this earth-shattering decision:  I’ve always enjoyed tasting the occasional new, different, and even sometimes odd beer.  This penchant was made a bit easier to accommodate when a new shop opened around the corner from my house, the aptly named Bier Station.  It’s an interesting concept: They have several coolers full of every kind of beer imaginable.  Most have two prices listed, one if you purchase a bottle “to go” and another if you would like to enjoy it there.  In addition, they have about 15 taps which rotate very frequently.  Often times they may only have one or two kegs of a particular brew.  I follow them on Twitter where they post new beers, and if something sounds good, you want to get up there and try it because it may be gone in a few days.  As to the place…  Well I’ve got somewhat mixed feelings on it so far.  It is often too crowded for my liking, and usually too loud.  In addition they are, to put it mildly, beer snobs.  I do indeed enjoy new beers, but I don’t want any staff or patrons quizzing me on “what flavors I’m picking up,” like some Northlander fawning over a glass of pinot noir.  (Direct shot at Martin there.)  I prefer to just sit at the bar and enjoy my pint, maybe jot a few notes about it in my phone.  And heaven forbid somebody order their favorite American Lager;  That is not well received at all.  Personally I think they would be better served to just reply “I’m sorry but we don’t carry that brand,” and leave out the snide comments.  But, those negatives aside, it is a way cool shop and I’m glad to have them in the neighborhood.  So, I bring you…  MY FIRST BEER REVIEW.  I’ve kept a small log of everything I’ve tried there and other places for a few months now, so I should have ample material even if I miss a week or two at the Bier Station.  I recently made the decision that pictures would be a nice addition though, so I’m a bit lacking there.  I’m shooting for brand, style, some tasting notes, and maybe the price.  It’s a start.  My selection for this week is Deschutes Obsidian Nitro Stout. This pitch-black beer was served from a nitrogen-pressurized tap in a standard 16 oz pint glass for $6, at the aforementioned Bier Station. They do pour a proper pint there;  It arrived with a nice 1/2″ of dark tan head and at the perfect temperature. At my first taste I was bit surprised at the bitterness. Not overwhelming, but definitely more pronounced than most beers of this style. This was nicely offset by what must have been about a ton of toasted malt, giving a nice sweet/bitter balance. I’m not very good at picking out flavors, but coffee and chocolate were unmistakable in this one.  Definitely a more complex flavor than your standard Guinness.  It was quite enjoyable, and the heavy lacing on the glass made for a nice first pic here.  Overall very enjoyable;  If you are a fan of the style this is a must-try, and if possible on the nitro tap, as I do think it adds a bit of character to the pour.