Inspired to write

Tonight I finally got a chance to stop by Toast and pick up a 6-pack of their beer of the month: Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Ale (2009). This is on my list of beers I wany to try. It is another barley wine, a style I have really been digging lately. Last friday I went to a beer tasting at Wine World and really liked the Uinta Anniversary Barley Wine (so I bought two- one for soon, one for later). Now I have a number of different barley wines aging in my fridge- and a few out of my fridge because I ran out of room. I really need to get a better place to store the beer that I am letting age. (I need a nice cool basement!)

Anyhow, in addition to the barley wine, I had a number of other good beers at the Wine World beer tasting. I had the Lion Imperial Lager, which was good for a lager- worth the purchase of a whole bottle to taste later. I also had an Uinta Angler's Pale Ale. A nicely hopped ale, also worthy of a bottle for later review. I also purchased a bottle of Morland Hen's Tooth. They are a respectable company, and I liked the taste I had of this. But the best suprise at the tasting was the Founder's Double Chocolate Coffee Oatmeal Stout. This stuff was great! I really thought it capture the taste that I am looking for when I SMELL coffee. The part I don't really like about coffee is how much of a letdown the flavor is compaired to the smell, but this stuff tasted much like what I thought coffee should taste like based on the smell. Very full and rich with smooth complex flavors. At least, thats what I got from my tiny little sample cup (after tasting 11 other beers). I definately bought one of these as well. I hope that it turns out as well in the full sized edition as my sample did.

I didn't take any notes at the beer tasting. I really like the beer tasting because I get a good idea of weather the beers are ones I want to try or ones I would rather pass on. However, I don't think that I really get a good sence of what the beer really taste like from 1-2 mouthfulls. Especially since I am going from one sample to the next, which I am sure effects how I taste each one. They do set it up so that you go from light to dark, but still, I don't get that solid experience with each that you get from sitting down to a full glass and enjoying it. And that is just fine. It is a great way for me to sample some brands I haven't heard of and would be reluctant to try otherwise. I never would have bought a Hen's Tooth without the tasting. Now that I know I won't hate it, I don't have a problem giving a full bottle a try and making a real determination based on that.

The beer tasting at Wine World cost $4, but they give you $3 off your purchase if you get 6 bottles of the featured beers. Since they always have enough good stuff that I want to get a full bottle to try, its basically $1 for a tasting. I wish they had these more than once every 3-4 months, but I guess I would just go broke if they did! As it is, I spent basically all of my spending cash for the month between Wine World last week and Toast today. But my fridge is definitely stocked full!