You ever have one of those days?  It wasn’t exactly terrible, but there really isn’t a whole lot to show for it.  I started the morning by taking the Odyssey up to Wexford Honda for a recall.  I don’t know why (maybe it was my own attitude) but that place gives me the creeps.  I’m sure all the guys that work behind the counter are nice honest guys and all.  But this is the second trip up there and I just get those not so good feelings.  Like today, I paid nothing but I feel like I still somehow got ripped off.  I don’t know, either way, I had to find a place to work so I went up to the Wendy’s.  Not known for its “breakfast menu” though they have one – I sat there for about 1.5 hours.  The breakfast sandwich was not good.  And the store was depressing.  Not to mention I had to make an emergency stop to the Orthodontist today because of some issues with my braces this made my past day and a half of eating not all that happy.  And to top it off, it is 12:30 and I just hung up on a work call that I got last minute to fix something that I wasn’t able to do anything about.  On one note, I’m happy/glad my boss has the confidence in me to call me at 10:00 on a Wednesday night.  On the other, it sucks that I don’t have the knowledge/tools/ability (be it my fault or the fault of others) to be able to fix this and I hate not being able to fix things.  Enough about my day though, on to the beers.
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5/19 – Troegs Brewery - Sunshine Pils – The beer pours golden and clear in the glass.  I had this beer a bit later on a Saturday night.  The smell came through very strong hoppy malty pilsner kick.  The head on the beer was nice silky and smooth.  All told an enjoyable beer to drink in the summer time.  Nice medium body in the mouth feel.  I really did enjoy this beer.  Add on note - After writing the review of the Tommy Knocker below – I immediately felt like I was writing a similar review.  Upon some investigation I did find that this beer is categorized in the Saison style of beers.

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5/20 – Boulder Beer - Sweaty Betty – This beer almost had a glowing fluorescent yellow tint in the glass.  It was very cloudy in the glass added to the glow of the glass.  I really probably drank this a bit colder then it was originally intended to be drank but in general a nice beer.  Large amounts of banana and fruity ester smell flowing from the beer.  Definitely got the bready yeasty smell coming from the glass.  The malts and hops are there to support the main character of yeast in this glass.  It definitely had a nice amount of carbonation in each mouth full.  The funny story behind this beer is the kid behind the counter at Market District mentioned “wow, someone finally bought Sweaty Betty.”  I just asked him if it didn’t seem to be a big seller and why?  He said that he personally hadn’t sold any and that he wasn’t sure exactly why – if it had to do with the name or not.  Either way, it was sort of humorous to me.

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5/21 – Tommy Knocker Brewery– Saison –Back to these mischievous “impish, gnome-like men are the Cornish equivalent of Irish leprechauns and English brownies” otherwise known as Tommy knockers.  The Saison beer is often called“farm style ales” brewed in the cool months coming out of winter and preparing for the warm summer months working the fields.  This beer originates from the French-speaking part of Belgium <some notes I found at BJCP>.  You can find it more of year round now but traditionally brewed for the summer.  My initial impressions were that I viewed it as a cloudy yellow liquid.  This particular version gave me heavy degrees of me heart burn with every sip (some beers have done this and I haven’t figured out rhyme or reason to why).  It is refreshing and a bit tart for sure.  It definitely has some earthy grassy tastes in it.  I could see this being nice and refreshing after a long day in the fields but would have to overcome the huge amount of heart burn that it gave me in this glass.  As you can see in the picture, I’m beginning to day dream these days about my vacation in July.  I’m taking 2.5 weeks off and traveling south.  The Keys are a nice place to relax and unwind and I can’t wait to get that tropical breeze and a nice brew in my hand.  I hate to wish away June… but all these summer beers has me dreaming about my vacation get away in July!


 
So, the weekend is finally here.  What a week it has been!  Anyway, well here I at a place I find myself from time to time.  It is Friday after work, I have a sitter and and am exhausted.  I want to go out to "BE OUT".  But A does not seem interested in going anywhere.  How is it there are times we just do not sync up?  Seems like her week was just as hard as mine, and though I love hanging out with my family and relaxing as much as the next guy, sometimes getting out and having a beer and some apps at the bar is a needed vacation.  This is one of those times where I feel like that but A and I are not sync'ing in this thought process.  Guys seem to be wrong about these thoughts often.  Amazing I've gotten to where I am in life being as wrong as I feel like I am so often.  Its not a fight.  It isn't argument (at least not in my mind - I am not sure about what A is thinking now - I have given up trying to read her mind because I ALWAYS think completely wrong).  Ultimately, I want to do what makes my wife happy, always.  So, I guess that is staying in Friday night and falling asleep around 9pm on a Friday night when we have an available option to go out and be adults.  Sometimes I'm just confused because when presented with an option to escape if only for 2 hours the choice always seems to be weighted to the not escaping side.  Im exhausted, as I know she is.  It was a hard week.  Just seems like going out is the thing to do... conjure up the energy and get it done..  My view of this whole thought process is probably skewed as well I'm sure.  The funny thing is we are probably both right.  And we both have valid points but I never have the energy to explain mine and I just go with the flow.   So now, we have to determine what the best option for dinner is, do we order Pizza or subs or Wendy's or what?  I don't know?  Either way, I'm sure we'll have a good night!  Just getting to make a decision is always a tricky issue here.

So, for last nights beer I chose to drink Troegs Hop Back Amber Ale.  This was a nice beer.  But this beer is one of the beers that makes me remember back why I sort of got over hopped in the past.  This is their signature beer so I know it is a top seller.  And I know that people LOVE hoppy IPA style beers.  I guess this is an Amber not a Pale Ale.  Not sure exactly what makes this "different" if it really is different at all.  It is very hoppy.  There was a small amount of caramel malty flavors going on to balance it out but for me it wasn't quite enough.  This beer did pour a nice amber red color.  The texture was a medium body.  One nice note about this beer was that the more I drank of it the more the hops seemed to numb my taste buds a bit and I enjoyed more and more sips of it.  So, this is a hard beer for me to judge.  First impression, it was a bit hoppy for my likes.  That doesn't necessarily mean I want to rank it low either as I said the flavors did seem to work towards the end.

OK, so now I have to figure out what we are doing for dinner.  Andrea is finishing up her cupcake business purchase.  And we are sitting at table deciding what will be our dinner order.  Also, I guess I should start thinking about which beer will be reviewed tonight.  I hope to be able to blog that one tonight as well.

PS.  Seems to be the story of my week - this image is side ways because Weebly is being a little picky for me.  Oh well, I'll go with the flow.

PSS.  So did some quick editing about 3 hours later - and got the image SHIFTED!  Whatever?