Keith’s “I’m Just Saying…” Blog – The Rain, A Dark Beer, and Other Things

I love a rainy night.  I write that because it is such a treat to have a little rain and cold weather when I thought that was all behind us for at least a few months.  It (the first sentence and the title) also gave me a chance to make a few song references, which I always enjoy.  I have been over thinking my fourth blog post for way too long now, so I thought I would break the ice by just writing a few words about some of the things I have been enjoying lately.

In the last month, my choices have been all over the board, with an emphasis mostly in the beer arena.  I have enjoyed some really good darker beers such as Port Brewing’s Old Viscosity, Guinness’s Foreign Extra Stout (FES), and Grand Teton’s Trout Hop Black IPA.  At a family gathering, we had a great seasonal porter from Nimbus and we put a new twist on a old favorite by making a margarita with Hendricks gin.  We found after a quick search on the internet that we were not the first to try this combination, but I really like the name that we came up with for it; The Lovely Rita.  If you have not tried this combination, I whole heartedly invite you to Give It A Shot sometime.  It was really good! 

As the weather has begun to warm up in Arizona, I have been looking to fill my beverage cellar (aka the dorm fridge in my garage) with more seasonally appropriate styles of beer such as pilsners, ales, and IPA’s.  Well, I guess for me, IPA’s transcend all seasons, but that is another story.  I have some of Stone’s Cali-Belgique IPA in there along with one of my staples, the Mission Street IPA (hard to beat for 6 bucks for a 6 pack).  Fortunately for me when tonight turned out to be rainy and cold, I still had a beer on hand that made quite an impression on me the first time I tried it, the Sea Monster Stout from Ballast Point Brewery.  It has some wonderful coffee and hops notes, a really nice smooth body, and almost a barrel-aged quality to it.  But that is beside the point.  What the point is, is that I am glad that I had a variety of options still to choose from because although an IPA would have been tasty tonight, it would not have been the perfect choice. 

What I’m Just Saying is that while the balance of beverage styles I have on hand may lean more heavily one way or the other depending on the season, I will always make sure that I always have options to choose from.