Fresh beer, fresh year

Hola Amigos!  Long time since I rapped at ya.

Been meaning to update but a lot has been going on, especially the Upper Mississippi Mashout last week.  I'll post about that soon.  Till then, a few things in no particular order.

1. While the Mashout was fun and adventurous, I'm really kind of bummed that I did not get to the Muddy Pig for their hoppy beer festival.  The idea is great -- they devote a substantial amount of their really substantial tap space for a certain kind of beer (here hoppy beers, duh) and offer smaller servings of them so you can sample your way though a bunch.  I went to the stout fest last winter and it was really great.  Particularly since there are a lot of the more brutal American and Imperial styles of stout that I'd much rather have a small pour of than a large one.  I think everyone I was around this weekend was sick of me saying "boy, I wish I could get to the hoppy beer thing at the Pig."  So...anyone go?  Any standouts I should look for?
2. I mostly keep personal life off the blog.  It's not facebook, man.  A-non-a-mouse.  But I have been waylaid with the problem of helping my mother move yet again.  This is only relevant because for the last few months she has lived extremely close to the Happy Gnome in St Paul.  And I'm realizing while this has been a hell year from hell, I have really liked slipping away for a pint or two.  Because when the going gets low, the low go for a beer.
3. Speaking of the Gnome, they still have on tap the Dark Horse One Oatmeal Stout.  It's really really really good, and if you have not had it, go out and get it while you can.  Limited...looks like DH are planning to do a set of five stouts, though I have not had the others.  This one says "chocolate, coffee and caramel flavors" in the menu blurb, but it's really also plum, raisin and "sultana" as a pal of mine would say.  Yes, it's good enough for a trip.  Get it.
4. Speaking of a pal of mine, one of the goals of this blog was not just to get down my own ideas but to also give a forum for the community of folks I'm already connected to.  Lots of those folks have lots of ideas too.  I wanted to get this blog off the ground -- not that anyone's reading it, but you have to start somewhere.  But expect to see other voices beginning to chime in here over the next month or so.



Pint and lunch and empty bar at the Gnome

5. And speaking of getting down my own ideas, I've got a few beery thoughts that I've been stewing on recently.  I've resisted doing a "mission statement" like some bloggers do since I have to be disciplined enough in my professional life that I don't really want to do it here. But I do like the blog format and I am committed to actually saying what I think here even if others aren't likely to like it.  So here's as close to a mission statement I'll get: this blog will be beer related.  I promise that I'll try to think though things before I commit them to the blog.  But it's a blog after all.  If I say it I mean it, and I'm happy to talk with you about it further.  Too cryptic?  Anyhow as my buddy Jim Anchower would say, Adios.