Prelude to a beer tasting...

Sat down last night and read the ending of Garden of Eden again. Hemingway's last work. Whet I never realized was that there is. or was to be, a second part of this that never was published. It was unfinished when he killed himself, and came to Charles Scribner Jr in a paper bag, along with the mostly finished manuscript of Islands in the Stream, and most of A Moveable Feast. I can only imagine the gold mine he knew was in that bag, and being the first to delve into the final workings of that mind...



Anyway, Unibroue tasting tonight! If anything you'd have to love them just for the names of their beers:
La Fin du Monde (the end of the world)
Maudite (Damned - named after French-Canadien trappers who sold their souls to the devil to make it home in time for a party)
Trois Pistoles (named for a small town's cathedral in peril)
Eau Benite (holy water)
Quelque Chose (literally, Something - a beer that can be served chilled, warm, or mulled, and is delicious all 3 ways)
Sans Nom (no name)
Quatre-Centième Brassin Commémoratif (25th Anniversary Beer - what is the big new one tonight!)

...plus a bunch of Anniversary beers that age extremely well. I missed the last Unibroue night they put on, which was back in fall of 2001. That one had Paul Arnott, the head brewer, as guest speaker - this one we get their national rep, which is still fine by me. 7 years I've had to wait for this tasting. Most of the regularly available ones i've had multiple times, but the big draw tonight will be the 25th anniversary beer and the multiple years of previous anniversary beers that will be poured. Last time I had a vertical line-up of these anniversary beers it was 10, 11, 12, 14, and 15, and that was a year ago. Somehow they seem to jump around with the numbering of the years, since i think the entire 20's have been skipped to go straight to 25...i'll figure out why that is and write about it tomorrow, provided i remember.

No riding today, since i have the beer tasting. Yesterday made for a decent evening ride though, about 10 miles and still made it back before dark. Tomorrow's another slog up Blackstar Canyon, 8 miles of climbing a fire road. But it makes for a good training ride, which is what i need. 5 months to the day until Vision Quest. I'll take all the training i can get.

That's it for now...I'll probably have more after the beer tasting!