Ken's Ramblings

Blushing Monk

2011 Blushing Monk - Founders

So my local bottle shop got this in on Monday, but it also happened to be July 4th. Being the cool dude that I am, I had no plans, so I rushed down Rte 3 and pulled in to grab this. I also let the wife pick up a Southern Tier Mokha Stout, the nice guy that I am.

So far I really haven’t had anything bad from Founders, the Centennial IPA is a really strong single hopped IPA (Sam Adams take a note on how to do a single hopped beer), and the Crooked Tree will kick your ass, but in a way you don’t even realize. That being said I was excited about the Blushing Monk and was glad that Massachusetts got some. So enough bullshit, lets see what I thought about this beer.

The pour is probably the most shocking thing about this beer, it pours blood red, really dark red.  And then there’s the head, it’s an insane pinkish/purple color (and yes that’s a fucking color). The head lingers there a bit, long enough for me to spam Twitter with pictures of it. Every sip leaves a bit of lacing on the glass, which again is pink, there is a lot of pink involved in this beer.

When drinking this I think of one thing, “Raspberries gone wild”, but it’s not in a bad way. Every time I think of Raspberry beers I think of sticky, overly sweet beers, this isn’t that at all. There is a bit of sweetness, but it’s balanced out by a nice tartness in the end. The 9.2% ABV goes 100% unnoticeable, it feels like there is no booze in this at all. You could probably drink this all day, pass out in a puddle of raspberry vomit, wake up and drink some more.

Overall this is a pretty solid beer, but I feel like their are flavors I am missing, but the raspberries take it over, again this isn’t bad, but I am trying to find the rest. It feels about 200 degrees out today so I can attest that it is refreshing. The color is pretty crazy, but the flavor is solid. I would probably drink this again, at least to figure out what else is there and because on a hot day this is a solid beer.

Bandwagon Fans

So the Bruins won the Stanley Cup and just like every other sport in this area, miraculously they found about 10 million new fans in the last week.  I have a huge problem with these fair weather fans, and here is why.

A bandwagon jumper or fairweather fan is like a really shitty friend. They are like a friend that, when times are going good, are always around, hanging out, wanting to go out, but shit goes bad, and they are out.

Example, you call said friend, and the conversation goes a little like this.

You : Hey man my girlfriend just left me, and she took the dog. You want to go get a beer or something?

Him : Nah man, see I got things to do, you know like…shit I don’t know just laying low not really feeling the whole going out thing tonight, hope everything gets better. (Of course they fucking do, then they will want to hang out)

You : Ah, cool man, I will do my best not to kill myself, maybe I will just drink myself into a coma

Him : Cool man sounds good, give me a call this weekend, I might be around

An hour later you see a Foursquare update from this friend as he checks into a bar.

Now when things are going good, the converstation usually goes like this.

Him : Hey man congrats on hitting the lottery, when we hanging out, you never call me anymore.

You : FUCK YOU MAN! (At least that’s what you should say)

That’s how I see a bandwagon fan, and it angers me. Who needs friends that won’t stick through the good and the bad? What kind of friend is that?I have sat through a ton of shitty Red Sox games, and it was awful. Waking up everyday full of hope, and that hope being smashed around April 19th. I stuck through it, I wouldn’t just give up because times are bad.

Sadly it seems like all Boston sports teams are afflicted with the bandwagon/fairweather fan syndrome. Although I am happy for the Bruins fans that sat through the shitty years, and endured ridicule by mostly me on how much their sport sucks. Congrats, and relish this, and just remember tickets just became a lot harder to get.

American Craft Beer Fest

Had the pleasure of going to the American Craft Beer Fest, my goal in going was to try beer that I never really drank before.  Below is a list of my favorite beers, from what I remember.

Goose Island - Bourbon County Vanilla Stout - This was a huge beer, really good.

Duck Rabbit - Russian Imperial Stout. Wish I got to try more from there, but I never ended up going back

Surly - Darkness and Five. Five was probably my favorite beer of the Festival, soury greatness.

Jackie O’s - Bourbon Barrel-Aged Raccoon Dubbel and Dark Apparition. This and Surly were the two I was most excited to try. The Bourbon Barrel-Aged Raccoon Dubbel was really close to the Five as my favorite. The Dark Apparition was just amazing as well. 

Olde Mecklenburg - Capitan James Jack Pilsner, probably one of my new favorite Pilsners…

There were a few things that I did miss, that I wanted to check out.  Really looking forward to next years event.

First Post

I’ve had this Tumblr sitting here doing nothing for a while, so I figured I would start using it.

As my profile says, you will find me talking about things that don’t fit within the 140 character restraint of Twitter (BTW I can be found on Twitter at @kgoyette).  I like sports, beer, long walks on the beach, photography, and politics. I hope to get a post or two a day up, sometime that will just be pictures, sometime more.