Working on a charity cycling event has already started to teach me a ton about the cycling world. There are elite cyclists who are power athletes and could easily kick my ass. There are also the “messenger” cyclists who one sees on a day-to-day reeking havoc on the streets (aka not abiding by the rules of the road) and could easily kick my ass via running me down. Then there are the spinners – confined to the gym on stationary bikes listening to thumping music and adjusting resistance to simulate hills etc. They could probably kick my ass too, or at least find a big weightlifter to help out. I used to be a spinner, and have been seriously reconsidering getting back into a class. Anyway, while the pedestrian in me will always carry some sort of a grudge towards bikes and those who ride them, I have also found that I have one thing in common with all of these cyclists: beer.
While I do not condone riding under the influence, I do enjoy imbibing with this crazy group. One of the first events I worked while trying to recruit riders for the Audi Best Buddies Challenge was a time trial at the Harpoon Brewery. Basically, a time trial brings in the top cyclists to attatch their bikes to a stationary machine which also simulates a particular course, hills and all. The cyclists race each other in various heats, and the winners qualify to ride in a special Harpoon event. They also get to take home a glorious case o’ beer. The spectators, riders who have finished their heat and even the Best Buddies recruiters (hehe) get to visit Harpoon’s beautiful tasting room to test some of the freshest brews one can find. Personally, it was a Cider and a seasonal Celtic Ale for this cycling-world-newbie.
Beer is a fantastic way to strike up a conversation with people. It is an existing connection between people who seem to have nothing else in common. I think this might be one of my favorite things about my beverage of choice - the promise of a good discussion or a good laugh that comes with every pour.
I am fairly certain that this is just the first of many of my intersections of brews and bikes. Here’s a Stella Artois commercial that seems all too appropriate…Cheers!
Oh and just in case you were thinking about cycling in either of the Best Buddies Challenges, check out the Web site and we’ll get you signed up.
This is an extremely awesome post to write. I am currently in my new office at my new (fantastic) job taking a quick break to blog about all of this newness going on. After 3 months of lay-off induced unemployment, I was offered and accepted a position as a Rider Coach with the Audi Best Buddies Challenge. I will be working with riders and potential riders as they commit to participating, fundraising and training, all the while dabbling in a few marketing tasks along the way. Best Buddies is an incredible organization that I am really proud to be working with. I am part of a truly excellent team of experts and have already learned a ton. I’ll mainly be working on the California-based cycling event that is occurring this September, but also helping out with the Massachusetts ride which is fast approaching in May. I encourage you all to check out the web site – to see what I’m doing, see my name as a contact (so cool), and perhaps sign up for more info on riding.
As this is a blog about beer, I might also mention that I celebrated last night with a delicious bottle of Harpoon Brown Ale, which I think is one of my favorite varieties that Harpoon brews up. Very simple, but very tasty. I plan to do better with keeping up with brewnette than I did with the last job. Nag me if I don’t. Cheers!
With just days to go before the Pittsburgh Steelers take on the Arizona Cardinals in the Super Bowl, I still haven’t figured out where I will be watching the big game. The bf and I have toyed with the idea of having people over to our apartment to celebrate the end of the 2008/2009 NFL season. In doing a little research on what throwing one of these parties takes, I went right to my favorite how-to magazine’s Web site – RealSimple.com. I stumbled across games to play during the game, fun and easy snacks to serve that will make anyone’s mouth water, and even a decorating tip or two. I also found a witty little list that pairs each NFL team with a beer that best represents its mascot or location. Check out the list below…if we do wind up hosting our own football extravaganza, I will take their suggestion and provide Iron City Beer and Beermann’s Rip Roarin’ Red Ale and let guests drink to support their team. Do you have any other (better) ideas to pair with your favorite team? Let me know. Enjoy the game and cheers!
AFC Teams
Baltimore Ravens: The Raven Buffalo Bills: Bison Brewing Cincinnati Bengals: Tiger Beer Cleveland Browns: Honey Brown Lager Denver Broncos: Dark Horse Beer Houston Texans: Alamo Golden Ale Indianapolis Colts: Colt 45 Jacksonville Jaguars: Jaguar High Gravity Lager Kansas City Chiefs: Tomahawk Pale Ale Miami Dolphins: Hurricane Reef Lager New England Patriots: Samuel Adams Boston Lager New York Jets: Terminal Gravity IPA Oakland Raiders: Rocky River Pirate Lite Pittsburgh Steelers: Iron City Beer San Diego Chargers: Electric Beer Tennessee Titans: Titan IPA
NFC Teams
Arizona Cardinals: Beermann’s Rip Roarin’ Red Ale Atlanta Falcons: Atlanta Brewing Company Red Brick Ale Carolina Panthers: Carolina Blonde Chicago Bears: Brown Bear Brewery Dallas Cowboys: Lonestar Beer Detroit Lions: Lionshead Beer Green Bay Packers: Green Man Lager Minnesota Vikings: St. Pauli Girl Lager New Orleans Saints: Saint Arnold Amber Ale New York Giants: Brooklyn Lager Philadelphia Eagles: Yuengling Traditional Lager San Francisco 49ers: 49er Red Seattle Seahawks: Black Hawk Stout St. Louis Rams: Ram Pilsner Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Old Buccaneer Reserve Washington Redskins: Indian Wells Brewing Co. Mojave Red Beer
For whatever reason, I have always been able to retain more useless facts than meaningful ones. My friends used to fight over me for their Trivial Pursuit teams…gosh am I modest or what? From pregnant pop stars to 90s TV shows and Olympic mishaps to what kinds of vegetables burn more calories than they have in them (celery, wow), I have this wealth of random details that only come in handy on Wednesday nights. With a fairly constant roster of 4 other trivia all-stars, I head to one of JP’s finest bars, the Jeanie Johnston, to compete for weekly trivia bragging rights (and a gift certificate). Many of Boston’s bars have weekly trivia nights hosted by Stump Trivia. Stump staffs the evening with a host and a slew of questions in topics that range from TV to Science (SCIENCE!) to US geography to The Simpsons and beyond. I like the Jeanie because the crowd is honest (read: they don’t use their iPhones to look up the answers…not okay for trivia!) and it’s right down the road from my apartment. Another benefit is the Seadog Hazelnut Porter on tap…deliciously nutty, dark and sweet.
If you are a Boston-area dweller and want to get away from your typical evening routine of take out and TV shows, get a group together (no bigger than 6) and find a bar that sponsors a trivia night. And if you show up at the Jeanie on Wednesday – the challenge is on! Cheers!
So the holidays have come and gone. I reluctantly took down my Christmas tree on Saturday and have taken out the last of 2008’s recyclable bottles. 2009 is in full swing and I am eager to move forward in my professional life. With new job opportunities popping up, my fingers are crossed that January will be a good month. I’m also attempting to improve my own balance (physically) by taking up yoga. Believe me, my coordination and posture need all the help they can get. Still, I am not big on resolutions. The ones I’ve made, I’ve broken. I’ve just held onto the idea that I don’t need a new year to try to change my life for the better or to try new things.
But I think its time to make a resolution on behalf of brewnette. On New Years Eve, I attended a little get-together at my friends’ place (Mark and Wyatt know how to do NYE well – think karaoke, Harpoon Brown Ale and an intriguing game called 4 corners). When discussing our mutual love for Boston beer, they discovered that I had never been to the Sam Adams factory tour. This is particularly sad as I am a Sam fanatic, a beer blogger and I live within a mile of the factory…seriously, it’s walking distance. Unlike me, these guys are proud tour aficionados. They know how to make the most of the tour and of the tasting the follows. They are even exclusive participants of the brewery’s monthly tasting series.
I’ve been thinking about this for a bit now and I am resolving to take this Sam tour so I can tell you all about it. I will also go to the Harpoon tour for comparison purposes. Perhaps I’ll take these guys with me, to show me how it’s done. I’ll report back on this stuff sometime soon. Until then, enjoy the last few weeks that the winter/holiday-inspired beers will be readily available. Happy New Year! Cheers!
The Wall Street Journal is a very serious, hard-hitting newspaper that apparently reviews beers. With Christmas literally around the corner, the time to celebrate with a spirited libation is surely presenting itself more than usual. I am a huge fan of seasonal brews, and as a winter storm is gearing up to hit Boston tomorrow, stocking up on the spicy & strong winter offerings from some of my favorite breweries does not seem like a bad idea.
The Wall Street Journal has presented its own preview of the cases they will be picking up for the staff holiday celebration. The two Boston breweries, and two of my favorite topics, Sam Adams and Harpoon, both made the list of four. Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout, another one of my (not-so-great) reviews was also featured. The fourth and final mention went to a brewery I’m not sure I can pronounce: Affligem Noel. With a 9% alcohol content, this one will keep everyone warm and toasty.
I’m working on a couple reviews of seasonal brews I’ve recently tried and will be back soon with my assessments. Until then, check out the WSJ’s take on some of my favorites! Cheers!
I came across this extremely helpful post on FitSugar this morning: Top 10 Highest-Calorie Beers (and the 10 Lowest!). With a slew of holiday soirees coming up, it makes sense to know some of the “health” info about what you are imbibing. A girl’s gotta watch her figure, right? I do not need a Santa-like belly.
Most of you probably know that I am usually a sucker for flavor and “good” beer, but knowing that Amstel Light (my preference of the “lights”) is very low in calories and still high in deliciousness certainly gives it a leg up on the tippy top of calories, and another friend, Sam Adams Lager. What will you be drinking at your next Ugly Sweater Party? Cheers!
Hello hello. I know this post might seem a bit belated, but I wanted to write about how beer could be integrated into a big holiday feast (in a different way than simply drinking it). If you are anything like me, you are just crawling out of the food coma that was Thanksgiving and smiling at the fun times had with family and friends. I love this holiday because it centers around food and there are no other requirements then to conquer a huge feast and enjoy the company of the people you love. In my house, my mom handles the cooking and tries to keep it exciting by attempting new ways to cook the turkey every year. Usually, mom doesn’t think too hard about the experiment, she just acts on an impulse and voila! It’s been upside down, right-side up, stuffed, unstuffed, and basted with numerous concoctions.
This year, I must’ve inspired my mom as when she was preparing 26-pound “Tom the Turkey” and she asked me to grab a beer from the fridge. I passed her a Saranac Scotch Ale and she popped off the top and poured it into the already full pot. The beer served as a baste base as well as a primary gravy ingredient. Everything turned out deliciously. It was a really simple beer-integration but it added a fun kick to the meal and I swear that the turkey was extra moist. If you are thinking about adding some brew to your next turkey dinner, my suggestion would be to make it a darker beer with a noticeable spiciness to it. The winter seasonal brews out now are a good place to start.
I found a few other recipes/blogs that offered some mouthwatering (and legit) recipes. Check them out!
Hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving! I am very thankful to still be posting and to have great people still reading Brewnette (like your gorgeous self). So thanks! and Cheers!
Getting my first “big girl/real” job was a major step in my life, and one that I am very proud of. I think one of the most exciting, and probably trivial, job steps for me was the day I got my first stack of business cards. For whatever reason, that was when I truly felt like I had made it and was a legit grown up. Of course, I stuffed a small stack of these little guys into my wallet and properly distributed them to all of my friends and family, and the occasional stranger when I wanted to prove that I was employed.
The most effective use of these wastes of paper, I’ve found, is dropping them in the little boxes/jars are bars and restaurants in hopes of winning a free meal/drink. While this is not a helping me further my career or my network, it’s a simple act that happened to pay off for me and a group of my friends.
Turns out I won a party at one of my favorite Boston bars, the Pour House! Free food, trivia, prizes, and the notoriously “cheap” drink menu were all selling points for a party on a Tuesday night. They even blocked off a section of the bar for just my guests. All in all, it was the most fun I’ve had on a Tuesday night that I can recall. It was so fantastic to see people who I hadn’t in a while, and to feed my entry level and law student friends.
So there isn’t much of a moral or message to this post, but I had a good time and wanted to tell you out there to check out the Pour House. It’s a simple bar with good beer and a laid back atmosphere. Oh and if one of your business cards wins a party, I’m there. Cheers!
So somehow, winter has descended on Boston. As usual, it came without warning and is showing zero remorse for those of us who tend to enjoy the mild autumn months. People keep warm in numerous ways: heated seats in cars, those fancy glove warmers that skiers typically need, excessive intake of Starbucks’ hot chocolates and mocha-something-or-others, burying oneself in electric blankets, parkas, wool everything, etc. The list goes on and on. As you may have thought, I enjoy a good beer when it gets cold out. “What?” you say, “Aren’t beers cold themselves?!” Maybe so, but when sipping the right ones next to a particular fireplace or in front of a big game (or, let’s face it, anywhere with heat) it warms you up easily.
Anyone who has read earlier posts of mine knows that I am a huge Guinness Fan and will say that it is best sipped pretty much in any situation. While this is true, and other Guinness-ites will concur, I think Guinness has the perfect thickness and depth to make you frozen fingers alive again and bring feeling back into your too-exposed ears. Stouts have that way about them. Knowing that Guinness is the King of Stouts, I thought I might give another a try, just to see if it had the same warming affect.
Last night at Brendan Behan’s, one of my favorite JP spots, I ordered a Brooklyn Brewery Black Chocolate Stout as I shivered in from the cold. Honestly, it did not stand up anywhere near to my love for the “King.” It was very thick and not terribly cold (I am strange, maybe, because I love all kinds of beer ice cold, the colder the better, even if people tell me thats not how its supposed to be). There was a chocolatey essence to it, but nothing overwhelming or helpful to the overall dark, even smoky, beverage. The Web site says that this beer was once exclusively brewed for Catherine the Great…kind of cool that my name is Catherine too, but I’m not sure what my namesake was thinking. Maybe she has something against the Irish, because she was missing out.
Serves me right, straying from old faithful. I must say though, the seasonal Winter Lager from Sam Adams has kept me warm and happy this past week. It’s not a stout, but it has a dark richness with even a berry taste to it that appropriately combats the brisk winds that seem to follow me around. Try it, it will not disappoint. Cheers!
