Day Three Hundred and Forty-Six - Drunk On A Beer

My love of beer is totally the fault of Joseph and my second year of university - therefore my beer tummy is also totally his fault. It's not to say that I was straightedge before my introduction to beer - but for 90% of my drinking I would just stick to spirits [the other 10% is champagne]. My dad was a beer guy [as was everyone really when I was growing up] and I could never get past the smell of beer [or the staleness of the cans/bottles sitting around waiting to be returned once the case was full again]. Even if desperate for a wild night out and beer was the only option - I really had to struggle with it [yknow - instead of just not drinking...not that I'm proud]. However, in second year Joseph arrived and as a group we all started actually going out and pitchers of beer were most plentiful and my bank account was rather...unplentiful. So, I grew accustomed. So much so that yes, I developed my amazing beer tummy and with it quite the taste for beer. And in recent years, beer has been elevated to a higher state in general - something I'm happy about as I don't drink wine. I wonder if beer snobs and beer sommeliers are far off? Anyway, having been thrwarted this morning from doing my original plans for the day [faulty alarm clock] today I arranged for a beer tasting. In my own house.


Most LCBO shops have a decent selection of beer, including some weirdo types of beer that are more expensive, but available by the bottle. Our closest LCBO isn't great on their selection [most people in this neighbourhood are most interested in getting as drunk as possible as cheaply as possible], but I selected three different beers, with the aim of sharing each with Joseph, so that we could discuss the flavours. Up first was the Smoked Oatmeal - our first impressions were the same - "this tastes like smoking!" because it really, really did. Surprisingly Joseph decided that this was perfectly acceptable [he has never smoked and really dislikes it - as do I]. For me though - it tasted too much like smoking...not enough smokey. Or oatmeal-y at all - although it was still an interesting flavour. Next up was the Chocolate Stout - we both agreed that in smell and appearance it was a lot like Guiness [which we both like]. Joseph thought that it did taste of chocolate. I thought that the description of chocolate referred only to the colour as I found this one pretty disappointing and unremarkable. Finally was the 666 Pale Ale. At 6% this is considered to be a strong beer, which I normally don't like as they taste too alcohol-y [if I want alcohol-y I will drink a martini or straight tequila]. It was shockingly good. A rich but mellow taste, it went down smooth [just like on a beer advert!] and didn't taste strong in alcohol at all. In the interest of full disclosure, I did start to develop a migraine soon after drinking this one though.