sine qua non

This weekend was a good start to the summer with some long rides on the mountain bike, setup rigid and fixed. Two of the rides were group rides with the Lyons Fat Tire Fest. Great fun: see some pictures and words at the blog of host Dave’s Redstone Cyclery as well as on MTBR (including some of my pix from Friday and Saturday). Dave lined up some killer but fun rides and has a great attitude– he clearly loves bikes, Lyons, and spending time with friends and family (not necessarily in that order).
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Session 3 is about mild ales. Finally, a real session beer topic! It’s a type of beer I love, and next to a low gravity stout, might be my favorite. I see it as a malty, not too bitter, red-brown beer that I can drink an Imperial pint with lunch and still function at work. And maybe that’s the real key- I live close to work and usually walk home for lunch. While I don’t drink at every lunch (or every day for that matter), it sure is nice to have the option.
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For the second time, I’ve just missed the official day of The Session, this time about dubbels. I have a good excuse– immediately after work I hustled over to the Avery Strong Ale Festival, returning home sorely in need of sleep. I did plan ahead a bit, and sampled some homebrewed abbey-inspired 6 and an Easter beer on Thursday. Then quads and the like to start the fest on Friday. I’ll post a few pictures on Monday…
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On Friday and Saturday I had a couple of nice bike rides to get to beer. Friday I went up to Lefthand [no link since it’s a lame all-flash site], 12+ miles, for an Alers social. They had a nice oak-aged imperial stout on and a decent smoked beer. I thought the Twin Sisters Double IPA on cask was a bit too much alcohol in a cough-syrupy way. They might be making brewing systems out of their scrap kegs- watch for it.

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So this blog is new and I missed the official debut of The Session, but coincidentally here’s a stout-like thing I brewed on the following Sunday. Kitchen-sink/leftover kinda beer, and certainly doesn’t fit a BJCP or GABF stout, but the sweet wort tasted oh-so-good: a rich, coffee-like, chewy/spicy-sweet conglomeration. The fermenter is throwing a wonderful mix of hop aromas. Maybe I’ll be drinking it while I brew a abbey-inspired ale for the next session (a 6 and 12 are long on my to-do list anyways).
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