Weekly Recap

I took it easy last week since I was in recovery mode after Athens. I always have to suppress the urge to NOT rest since my race didn't go as hoped.

Although I knew I wasn't in shape to sub-2. You have to run those paces to expect to hit them for 13 miles on race day. Enough about that damn race.

• Monday: rest, glorious rest; I thought about taking a walk, but then I simply didn't feel like it
• Tuesday: NoBo run + 1-mile beforehand to see how I was feeling (4.33 miles)
• Wednesday: HM pub run + a little extra (5 miles in 48 min)
• Thursday: rest
• Friday: rest
• Saturday: 11.1 miles with NoBo & the HM group
• Sunday: 6.5-mile Buckeye Trail Run with Aaron (hard, but my fastest time yet)

So I ended up with roughly 27 miles, mostly at an easy pace. No pilates or strength. I didn't really intend to take Thursday and Friday off, but I just wasn't motivated to do anything (on Friday). This week will be different - and back to normal.

Sidenote: Last Thursday, we went to a Goose Island beer school at The Rail. We've attended several of those, and they're always fun, even if I spend too much money eating there afterward. Goose Island doesn't really try to break too much new ground; they like to make good versions of standards. It also seems that the InBev deal hasn't hurt them too much (yet?). The influx of money and resources was probably nice, and it seems like Goose Island is still able to be creative. Good for them.

Roundup

Let's do a quick weekend roundup before this week gets too out of hand.

Friday night: Aaron and I went to the gym after work. He lifted while I got my own fitness assessment and then walked a little on the treadmill. Secret: I am out of shape and the exercises to test my fitness ended up leaving me sore the next day. We stayed in Friday night because we had an early wakeup call on Saturday.

Saturday: We should have gotten up earlier, but we got up and were ready for our 11-mile run with just enough time before we had to meet someone. That was a fail -- the Towpath wasn't run-able so after 2.4 miles there, we went over to Sand Run for 6ish miles. 8.5 miles instead of 11. My pace was on target at least. We rushed home to get ready for the latest acquisition:

Yep, we bought another car -- a 2002 Jetta. It was a super deal and, obviously, Aaron knows these cars quite well. It's still shocking that we now have two German vehicles. Once Aaron gets it sorted out, it'll be nice to rack up fewer miles on the GTI.

As you can tell from the short sleeves, the weather was awesome on Saturday, so of course that meant for scooter riding! We pulled out the Sprint and the smallie for a quick jaunt to Kent. They're going to Durham this weekend, so it was nice to make sure that they were a-ok.

We couldn't stay too long (hello, Wild Earth Outfitters, where I have spent way too much money) because we had dinner plans with Aaron's dad at Bspot. I won't go into details about it because if you don't like Bspot, people think you're just being difficult. I think the restaurant is just being difficult and is overrated and overpriced. The food was decent (portion sizes were a little small for the cost), the beer list was good (nothing really unusual, but a nice mix... that was a little pricey, go figure) and the service was good (except for stupid rules like not being able to get anything as an appetizer). For my money, there are way better burgers (and I don't need a Michael Symon association to prove it). And the more I think about it, the less I like it. I can't imagine ever returning unless it's for the admittedly very good happy hour specials (that are over at 6 so obviously it's not likely that I'll ever check 'em out).

That reminds me, I should blog about the beer schools that The Rail does. (Their burgers are WAY better, btw.)

Afterward, Aaron and I caught the end of the Broncos-Ravens game <sad face> while having a microbrew at Cornerstone.

Sunday: There was talk of running, but the weather forecast said no. (We should have gone; the forecast was straight-up wrong.) Sleeping in was nice too. Then there was lunch at Earth Fare, followed by coffee, errands and whatnot. We ended the day with dinner at Baxter's (our third time there and it's getting better! AND, AND, AND! They have Hoppin' Frog's BORIS the Crusher ON TAP).

And then beer at Buffalo Wild Wings - Akron ($2 pints!).

Running is hard.

Last night after work, I hit a new-to-me trail. It's always an adventure trying to find trails that are long enough and are both challenging and runnable. I don't mind some stairs, but with my level of grace, I walk them, especially going down.

Anyhow, there's the Chuckery Trail that's supposedly 2.4 miles (those are always off, btw), so I did it twice with a little running on the access road to get to 5 miles. It was pretty nice. I saw how it connects to the Highbridge Trail so next time I can add in mileage that way. In any case, I don't take pictures and I don't run fast so my running updates are boringly lame.

Workout plan for the week:

MONDAY: 5-mile trail run, 30-minute weights session
TUESDAY: yoga, possibly a little extra cardio
WEDNESDAY: 6-mile run with the hill from hell, 30-minute weights session
THURSDAY: run, length TBD based on when I run
FRIDAY: longish run (8-10?), maybe an extra weights session depending on timing
SATURDAY: off
SUNDAY: off

(Impressed by that strength-training session yesterday? Me too. And my body's feeling it today!)

No running this weekend because it's the last rally of 2012! We're heading to Gettysburg as soon as possible on Friday for a weekend of scooting and debauchery. Or something like that. Good times will be had. And it's looking like there will be a side trip to here.

New feature!
(Haha - there are no features here, just ramblings and lists of activities.)

Did you see the "What am I drinking now?" section on the right-hand side of the blog? I added the RSS feed from my Untappd app. It's fairly up to date, although it's missing the beer I drank this weekend. A couple of different ones on Saturday, but nothing special, and Sunday and Monday's were football-watching beers, and that's when I tend to go for the good deals: $2 pints of Octoberfest beers on Sunday, $1 pints of Yuengling Light last night. It's not that I'm ashamed of my bargain beers -- I'm just not using the app to keep track of ALL the beers I drink, just the new ones.

Ohio beer map

This is a beautiful thing. So many good ones (Hoppin' Frog, Weasel Boy, Rockmill, Barley's, Fat Head's... the list goes on and on!).

Source: Ohio.com

It's the weekend wrap-up!

No complaints about this weekend.

Friday night: Stayed in, made tortellini with homemade tomato sauce. Drank a beer and went to bed early.

Saturday morning: 8-mile run with the group. The best thing about this is that I took it easy, had negative splits and felt like I could have kept going.

Saturday afternoon: The Ohio Pinball Show. Not really somewhere I thought I'd ever go, but we had friends from Columbus who were coming up for it, so we figured we'd stop by. And then we ran into another friend (from Pittsburgh, this time). Who would have thought so many people were into pinball? Also, there was a ton of BO in that place.

And Aaron played the biggest pinball machine ever, the Hercules.

Saturday evening: Dinner at Old Carolina (finished off the gift certificates I won from there) followed by a couple of beers and the watching of OU beat Akron to get to the NCAA tournament. Woohoo! (I was in an Akron bar watching the game, so I felt a little alone in my super-cute Ohio University retro-style t-shirt.

Sunday: Up early to get the Triumphs out of hibernation. It was beautiful out! We ate lunch at Earth Fare, rode out to Brunswick to look at a van, got coffee at Nervous Dog and then headed home. We helped a friend move a couch, I bought two more dresses from Revival (this one and a resale one) and then met Aaron's dad for dinner at PF Chang's. Then we followed that up with a trip to Menchies. Such a nice day.

The only thing lacking this weekend was some really good beer. Friday night, I drank an Ithaca Cold Front, which is really tasty, but Saturday, we slummed it with cheap Miller Lite. At least we followed that up with Delirium Noel when we came home. There won't be much beer this week - gearing up for Saturday's half-marathon - but there will probably be plenty of beer afterward on Saturday. It is St. Patrick's Day, after all.

The weekend in beer

I consumed a few beers this weekend (of course), but nothing crazy. Of note, however, are the following:

• Founders Breakfast Stout - (home) This is hardly new to me, but a delicious post-dinner, pre-bed treat (paired with two Tagalongs) on Friday night. I consider this proper fueling for a long run. The price of this has come down in the past couple of years, which is awesome. It used to be about $15 or $16 for a four-pack, and now it's about $12.
• Nogne Saison - (101 Bottles) I tend to like Saisons, although I don't have them very often. They tend to be expensive, but I figure if you're only having a beer or two, it's worth it to get something good. This saison is from Norway, and it was really good. I'm not all that familiar with the style, but I think this one might have been a little more bitter than they typically are. Heavier on the citrus than the spice, but definitely different from a wheat beer. I loved it.
• Evil Twin Soft Dookie - (101 Bottles) This was my delicious dessert beer on Saturday night. This is kind of a dangerous beer in that it's an imperial stout, but I couldn't taste the alcohol at all. Very smooth. Not super-sweet. While you can pick out the coffee and chocolate, the vanilla is a little stronger, leading to a pretty smooth stout. I could drink it all night long. And then die from the next day's hangover, I'm sure.

I just love all of the unusual, tasty beers I can get at 101 Bottles in Kent. They're usually on the pricey side, but they're also often rare. Many times, it's something I've never seen before from breweries I've never even heard of. We had four beers, and the check, before tip, was $24. But it's worth it. Aaron agrees (the snifter is my Soft Dookie, and the sorta pilsner glass is actually Mojo Risin' from Boulder Brewing on nitro, which was really, really nice):

Sunday was the auto show with Aaron and his father, and in our annual tradition, we hit up Cornerstone Brewing afterward. Cornerstone doesn't tend to play in the super-high-alcohol sandbox, but they do develop good session beers. We had a couple of their seasonals (the Wallace Wheat is a greatwheat beer actually - not heavy on the sweetness or banana, definitely not playing around in the Belgian territory, but it had a really nice flavor with just enough hops).

Another night, another new beer

After running group last night, we needed dinner, and I was in the mood for a beer. Off to the Winking Lizard, of course. In Peninsula because the Macedonia one is lame.

Anyhow, the glass of the month appealed to me immediately. I misread it and thought it was $6.25; it was actually $9.75 with the glass. Oops - and I ordered one for me and Aaron. Oh well.


But what was this mystery brew, you ask? It was a Belgian IPA from Leyerth Breweries called Urthel Hop-It. At 9.5%, it's no slouch in the alcohol department, but I didn't think the alcohol was overwhelming. Belgian IPAs seem to be rather rare - Flying Dog's Raging Bitch is the only one I can think of right now - but I really like them. Both IPAs and Belgians tend to have citrus flavors, so I think they marry well.

I should have taken a picture when it was first poured. This glass was designed for this beer - lots of room for a foamy head. The IPA side of things makes the beer really clean and crisp, but Belgian (which is really a rather arbitrary description of anything) gives it depth and balances out the hops and bitterness. I wonder if this is really bitter to people who don't drink IPAs on a regular basis? I bet so.

Looks like IBUs are 180, which is really high. I must like bitter beers because I didn't find this bitter at all - went down really, really easily. I finished mine before Aaron, actually. I think the balance of other flavors must mellow out the bitterness.

And how cute is this glass? Good thing I have two of them now :)

All in all, I really liked this beer and will pick up some if I see it in the store.

P.S. OMG, I just found this blog: The Belgian Beer Odyssey. Adding to Google Reader right.now.

Night Stalker

Aaron and I are so romantic! Valentine's Day was spent sharing a bottle of Goose Island's Night Stalker stout and watching The Road (talk about a bleak movie! I should do a movie vs. book post).

But let's talk about the Night Stalker.

the original night stalker

We really bought it because Aaron calls Dallas the night stalker. See, we feed the boys (Winston, primarily) in the computer room. Dallas eats downstairs, but she's very sneaky and on more than one occasion, she's snuck (not a real word, I suppose) into the room when Aaron wasn't watching (or, more accurately, when Aaron was practically sleepwalking to feed the boys). She proceeds to eat all of Winston's food (and then vomit because she's gross).

I've never been a huge fan of Goose Island's regular beers, but some its special or seasonal beers have been pretty good when I've had them at tastings. I tend not to get them in bars because they are expensive.

picture from The Perfectly Happy Man

In any case, the Night Stalker is an imperial stout (11.7%!) that paired nicely with my tiny container of Ben & Jerry's chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. It's pretty smooth - I didn't find it to be bitter at all. It doesn't have a ton of chocolate or coffee flavors, just deep maltiness and roasted flavors.

It's not as good as, say, Hoppin' Frog's BORIS the Crusher (which is an oatmeal imperial stout), but it's pretty good. And it's retired - last packaged in 2011. I feel like I should check the bottle date. Apparently this is a good beer to age - and it likely was already aged!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Aaron at Thirsty Dog
Originally uploaded by adrienna
My parents are the sweetest! They sent me a Valentine's Day card with $25 so we could go out for a beer. So we did.

On Saturday, after being super-productive, we rewarded ourselves with a late-afternoon trip to Thirsty Dog Brewing. Two Saturdays in a row - it's becoming a habit! First round, Aaron had the Stud Service stout and I had the Bicentennial ale. The Bicentennial is kind of neat because I think it's the first pale ale that Thirsty Dog has done. Thirsty Dog brewed it for the city of Cuyahoga Falls in celebration of its - you guessed it - bicentennial.

Then, finally, the keg of Thirsty Dog's pumpkin beer kicked, and the bartender put on the beloved (to me, at least) saison. Aaron probably had another beer, but I don't remember - the saison is that important to me.

Following these delicious beers, it was time for dinner, so off to Old Carolina we went - I love getting the turkey and brisket minis.

3 Fonteinen Zwet.be

I had a pretty interesting Belgian beer this weekend.

Many, many years ago, we had friends who were really into this local band. The band did mostly 80s/90s pop covers. They weren't great, but it was a way to spend a couple of hours. So occasionally, we would meet our friends when the band played. Once, we went to Stampers in Fairview Park. It was an unremarkable evening, but Aaron recognized the name "Stampers" when he was reading Buzz Bin recently. Turns out, the bar has transformed a bit and is now kind of a mini-gastropub.

We had dinner at Fat Heads, which happens to be down the street from Stampers, so on the way home, we went that way and stopped in for a beer. The beer list isn't huge, but is pretty extensive, with several Belgians included. So of course I had to try the craziest one, the one I'd never heard of: 3 Fonteinen Zwet.be

It's a black beer with some of the characteristics I love from a Belgian (complex flavors), but it also was a little tart/sour - which are the Belgians I tend to stay away from. Turns out, it has lambic yeast! I think that's what I was tasting. It was really neat - roasty and malty and sweet and nicely carbonated - and I would recommend trying it if Belgians are your thing. Don't trust me? See what RateBeer.com has to say. One person described it as a full-bodied lambic, and while I see where the reviewer was coming from, he/she is off-base. It's nowhere near as sweet as lambics - the people I know who drink lambics would hate this beer - and it's not like a porter at all. At all. It was interesting, and I'm glad I tried it, but I probably will not buy one again. Cost: $7/chalice.

I'm looking forward to returning to Stampers to try another beer I've never seen before - doesn't happen often! - and to sample some food.

New imports coming to Ohio

Some interesting beers to keep an eye out for:

New imports coming to Ohio
Latis Imports has teamed up with Stagnaro Distributing in Cincinnati and Superior Beverage in Columbus and Cleveland to bring several new beer brands into the Buckeye State. Ohioans will soon see PALM, the top selling ale and specialty beer in Belgium; Steenbrugge Abbey Ales, including Steenbrugge Blond, Dubbel Bruin, Tripel and Wit-Blanche; Rodenbach, a Flemish sour ale from Brewery Rodenbach; and Brouwerij BOON, which produces BOON Kriek, BOON Oude Geuze and BOON Framboise. Stagnaro announced the partnership Thursday and said the imports will hit the Cincinnati market in bottles and draft in March. But people can try them today and Saturday at the Cincy Winter Beerfest at the Duke Energy Convention Center in Cincinnati.

In other beer news, we went to "beer school" at The Rail last night. (BTW, my burger was delicious at The Rail was delicious! I've been there a few times, and it gets better every time - and it's never been not good. That's encouraging.) The featured brewer was Matt from Rockmill Brewing, which is located near Lancaster, Ohio. I first had Matt's beers at a beer fest in Columbus last year, so when I saw Rockmill on the schedule at The Rail, I was pretty excited. We tried five beers: a pretty basic wit, a saison, a dubbel, a tripel and a barrel-aged tripel. They were all pretty good, but the dubble or the tripel would be my favorite.

Here's Matt enjoying his barrel-aged beer:

Sorry for the shitty picture!

I even have a task to complete today - I'm going to take a four-bottle (750ml!) box to a local business so they can try out the beers. I'm hoping for more distribution up here. Apparently you can find Rockmill's beers at some places up in Cleveland and at all of the Heinens locations. I'm hoping for some Akron/Kent distribution, so of course, I had to provide some suggestions. I love me a Belgian-style, and it's really neat to have an Ohio brewery that focuses on them.

Cellar Rats to distribute Black Rat Imperial Stout

From the Beer Blog:

Cellar Rats Brewery in Madison will start distributing its Black Rat Imperial Stout in four-packs in mid-February. The beer — which will retail for $10.99 – has been available in bottles only at the brewery. The 9.2 percent alcohol beer also will be on draft at select bars and restaurants. Cellar Rats describes Black Rat this way: “This imperial, milk stout is big and full of flavor and may remind you of an Irish coffee with lots of cream and sugar.” The brewery also plans to start distributing Piper’s IPA in bottles in March in six-packs.

Aside from the pale ale, I haven't seen much of Cellar Rat's stuff around, but it seems like they're picking up speed. Maybe one day I'll take a pilgrimage to Madison to visit the brewery. But anyhow, I love milk stouts, I love imperial stouts, and I love local beer. So I guess I need to keep an eye out for this one! I hope Ray's has it on tap.

Not meant to be.

Well, the trailer wasn't meant to be.

We had the holiday party on Friday night, which was fun (pictures to come... eventually). We stayed the night at the Hyatt at the Arcade, which is a pretty cool building with shops and stuff.

We stayed up late, but still got up shortly after 7 am on Saturday. We were on the road by 8, which was perfect timing. We anticipated a six-hour trip. The dealer closes as 2, but would stay open later for us if necessary. With the time change in Illinois, we figured it wouldn't be necessary, and it wasn't.

We stopped a few times for drinks and food and gas, and we arrived right on time in Morris, IL. Pulling into to the dealership, we saw the trailer and it was perfect.

But it wasn't. This was a brand new trailer, yet the lid was misaligned. And it seemed too flimsy to haul our precious cargo. And just because we spent a bazillion in gas and got up early after partying - well, that wasn't reason enough to buy it. It was kind of depressing to go all that way and come home empty-handed, so we didn't. We headed to Three Floyds!

We did the tour and then a friend came down from Chicago to eat dinner with us. And drink a few beers, of course. I had three at the brewpub: the Rune Priest, a bourbon-barrel-aged stout and...  I'm drawing a blank. I remember considering the Sand Pebbles, but I'm pretty sure I went another way. Maybe the Arctic Panzer Wolf?

The bourbon barrel one was good, but - and this is my fault - it had a really pronounced anise flavor, which was fully disclosed in the description; I just ignored it. The anise scent mixed with the bourbon scent was pretty appealing though. The Panzer Wolf is kind of their classic IPA, and it's pretty good - very clean. The Rune Priest is a Belgian-style pale ale, and it was good, although there was some flavor that I couldn't quite place that made me not buy more.

We also bought some to take home with us, so I had another beer before crashing hard in the hotel. The Gumballhead wheat beer isn't your typical wheat beer. Nice carbonation, although I like my wheat beers a little yeastier.

We should have bought more beer, I think! I really wish we'd brought the Alpha Klaus (holiday porter) home with us. We have a Christmas beer tasting to go to soon, and it would have been nice to bring some of that. We didn't know it was happening until yesterday afternoon. Oh well.

Founders CBS

Oh, Founders CBS, you are, indeed, amazing.

Tuesday night, after a delicious burger at Metro Burger, we headed over to Lockview to drink the CBS. I'm not sure that it's really worth $38, but it's definitely one of the best beers I've ever had. And it's gotta be the best stout I've ever had.

The deal with it is that it's Canadian Breakfast Stout is an imperial stout "brewed with a blend of coffees and imported chocolates, then aged in spent bourbon barrels that have most recently been aging pure Michigan maple syrup." It's, of course, served in a snifter, which makes it easy to get the coffee, chocolate and bourbon scents. As pretentious as this sounds, it finishes with a mild maple syrup hint. Just enough sweetness to keep the alcohol (10.6%) and bourbon from taking over.

Unfortunately for us, that's going to be our only bottle. It's pretty hard to come by. Lockview only got a case, and they're being careful with it. No bottles to go, and you can only have one. (Price-gouging is going on - check eBay to see what the going rate there is.) I think that's fair.

Genesee 12 Horse Ale

Genesee 12 Horse Ale back from glue factory | The Beer Blog

Not sure that "It’s considered by some to be the best beer ever made by Genesee Brewing" is really all that encouraging. But it's cool that they're making an occasion out of it - complete with horses and buggies!

The only thing I really know about the Genesee is that is was the only "local" beer at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo - and that's pretty pathetic. Full disclosure: I drank a cream ale there, though.

Founders Canadian Breakfast Stout

Saturday night, Aaron and I went to dinner at Lockview (mac and cheese was totally required before the half-marathon). Because we go there fairly often, the bartenders know that we like to try new stuff (and that we also like to be warned if it's pricey). We found out that they have Founders Canadian Breakfast Stout, which is a very limited release, seemingly delicious beer.

Being big fans of the regular breakfast stout, we were quite interested until we learned of the $38 price tag for the 750-ml bottle. We opted out.

Flippantly, later, I said, "If I come in under 2:15 for the half-marathon, I'll buy you that bottle Tuesday night."

Well, I came in at 2:14:09, so guess who's getting CBS on Tuesday? We are!

(And yes, I realize that I don't know how to make deals at all. Shouldn't it have been "if I come in under 2:15, will you buy the CBS?" Oh well, we all still win. Review of the beer forthcoming!)

Yuengling fans rejoice; beer enters Ohio markets

Yuengling fans rejoice; beer enters Ohio markets: The beer has a major cult-like following, and there are plenty of stories about Ohioans making special trips to Pennsylvania to stock up. Its arrival has elicited comparisons to Coors, which for years wasn’t sold on the East Coast.

And like Coors, it's not very good beer. At best, it's session beer. It's good when it's $2 or $3 a pint - and isn't worth more than that.

Instead of Yuengling galore, I'd love to see more Ohio beers like Rockmill Brewing in the grocery store (for Belgian-style beer made in Ohio, it's pretty damn good), and I'm looking forward to seeing Fat Head's in the store. And Hoppin' Frog, please do kegs, growlers and 12-ounce bottles someday soon.

But it's true: Yuengling is better than Coors Light, Bud Light or Miller Lite.

Little Sumpin' Wild

OMG, I ran a half-marathon yesterday! In under 2:20 (just barely, of course). Recap coming later because I have work to do and because I'd like to give it a little more thought than usual.

And I'm still evaluating the aftermath :)

In the meantime, enjoy this crappy cell phone picture of a delicious beer: the Lagunitas Little Sumpin' Wild, which is a Belgian-style strong ale first enjoyed at Lockview and then at home after procuring our own six-pack from 101 Bottles.

BTW, the reviews of 101 Bottles are interesting. I've never once felt the staff was condescending; mostly they've been really helpful or pretty clueless... but maybe I'm a beer snob these days? Nah, I drank Sam Adams Oktoberfest last night and Miller Lite last week.