Tragic day today in Athens, GA as a fire all but demolished the landmark Georgia Theater. I was downtown this morning snapping photos (really trying to get to work) which you’ll see below. Also, myself and my boss Gabe were caught snapping photos by Fox 5 news. Morgan, our co-worker was interviewed. The entire Eben Design office was on television today!
Here are some pics from this morning. See all of them here.
I went to Pauley’s after work today to enjoy a beer or two before heading home to do some work. This actually worked out pretty well because it allowed me to wind down from my busy day at work, but it also allowed me to knock two more beers off my beer list leaving me with 6 more. I’ll hit the 100 mark next Wednesday. I could finish early but I’m waiting until friends get in town to make a big thing of it. Maybe I’ll be #60…
Okay, so the two beers I tried tonight were the Duck-Rabbit’s Amber Ale and Dogfish Head’s Apirhop, a fruit-infused IPA.
Duck-Rabbit Amber Ale
This beer was served chilled in a 12oz bottle that was poured into a pint glass. The head was slightly off-white and thin with very little lacing left on the glass. Lacing is a sign of both a clean glass and fresh beer. However, when beers don’t have much lacing it doesn’t always mean the glass isn’t clean or that the beer isn’t fresh, some beers just don’t have much of it. Ales though, usually have at least some. It could have been the way it was transferred from the bottle to the glass. It had a nice, warm caramel color.
Initial smell was that of caramel and malt; very little hop notes showing through. Subtle, but not primary. The malts however, were very apparent in both smell and taste. This brew had a medium body and was very drinkable. With an average alcohol by volume (ABV) content of 5.5% it’s a beer you can enjoy more than one of. It wasn’t very bitter, probably due to the malt to hop ratio. For an ale, I’d say this one was on the lighter side. both in weight and taste.
It’s spicy, hitting the sides of the tongue first, then the back. The hops show through in the aftertaste aligning properly with other ales. It poured with above average carbonation.
If you like beers that aren’t too much but have a lot of flavor and little hops (bitterness), I recommend the Duck-Rabbit Amber Ale.
Dogfish Head Aprihop
Dogfish Head is one of my favorite American craft breweries. Never a boring beer, this apricot infused brew is definitely no exception. Being that IPAs are my favorite types of beer, I had to give it a shot despite the fruit.
Straight from the bottle to the pint glass this beer poured a caramel color with a tinge of orange (probably the fruit). It had a very thick head with tiny bubbles that lingered for a while. The head was about a finger and a half high with solid lacing on the glass.
The beer was fairly thick and heavy, and with a 7.0% ABV it’ll give you a little kick. This is fairly typical for IPAs though. The smell of fruit overpowered the smell of hops and malts, though that’s not a negative. It’s hard to say whether or not the beer was balanced as any beer with fruit (personally) is never balanced. I’m somewhat biased though. Smell was different from taste though.
The taste was hoppy with a generous hint of apricot, though it was more mellow in the taste than the smell. It bathes the tongue with a nice mix of hops and fruit, hitting the back of the tongue first.
While I’m not a fan of fruity beers I will say that Dogfish Head did a fantastic job finding a nice mix. If you’re a fan of the fruit but are looking to try new and exciting beers, this one’s for you.
A good friend of mine recently suggested I start writing about beer, especially since I thoroughly enjoy talking about them. Being that my blog hasn’t gotten much attention lately, but that I do have time to consume quality craft beers frequently, we’ve decided it’d be best to merge the two practices. Once (or more?) a week I’m going to blog about particular beers that I’ve enjoyed. I’d begin with last night’s Moylan’s Hopsickle Imperial IPA, since it was so memorable, but I’m going to refrain and blog as I’m drinking to bring the most accurate notes.
Be on the lookout for weekly postings, probably on Mondays.
And if you’re a fellow craft beer conosoir feel free to add me to your buddy list over at BeerAdvocate.
I was recently “forced” to use Comic Sans on a project at work. I despise the font, as does I’m sure any other designer out there, but a client recently wanted to use a “handwritten font that was web safe”. I tried to forget Comic Sans, but he saw it and decided to use it. Sigh. So I twittered about it, which posted a status update to Facebook, which resulted in several of my friends seeing it. Which resulted in me getting a hard time. Just take a look at Melissa’s blog post. Funny stuff. Thanks to Melissa and Ann Marie.