What is in your cup?

[CRussel]

Don't know if you can get it down there, but try Alexander Keiths India Pale Ale. Not nearly as bitter as some, but one I enjoy quite a bit. I like a bit of hops, but not to where there's nothing left but bitter.

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Bell's Two Hearted Ale. As God is my witness, this will be the last Indian or American Pale Ale I ever buy. I give up trying to acquire the taste. From now on, my ales will be browns, stouts, porters, or Belgians ... or they will be lagers.

Bell's White Winter Ale is lovely, FYI.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

Bell's White Winter Ale is lovely, FYI.

I like a lot of Bell's offerings. That's why I was hoping their Pale Ale would help me turn the corner. I've not had their Winter Ale yet, so I'll have to give it a shot. Thanks. Right now I'm circling their Arabicadabra coffee stout waiting to pounce!

[Difflugia]

Tradition Dong Ding Oolong

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

It ain't for lack of trying that I haven't acquired the taste. I can tell you that. I've tried some dry-hopped IPAs, or ones that were hopped near the end of the boil, that weren't horrible, but most of them seem to pride themselves on crafting the most bitter brew imaginable by hopping early and often. Like assault-your-mouth bitter. Where's the fun in that?


Maybe. But if it's hopped up early in the brewing process, it runs the risk of being too bitter for me.

I understand a touch of bitter. I just don't understand bitter being the entire goal of the endeavor.

Maybe you're a supertaster. I really like bitter things, but I also can't tell the difference between saccharine and sugar.

No Campari on the rocks for you, then?

[CRussel]

Just normal bitterness in my morning Major Dickason's Blend coffee. But I've managed to move from milk + 5 sugars (!) to black with a single sugar. The goal being to get rid of that last one, eventually. (What's strange about the way I used to drink coffee is that I've always drunk even the most forthright breakfast blend tea with no milk or sweetener of any kind. )

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Yes, glad to have escaped that with no more than my nerves shattered! I ended up staying in a hotel/motel with no power for 6 hours, and it was hardly a 4-star hotel at the best of times, but I was able to pull into it, park my car, and just wait out the storm. And the power (and thus heat) came on in time to watch The National at 6PM. What more could you ask for?

Faux San Pellegrino.

You don't seem to have much luck with powered hotels.

I am drinking coffee.

[poohbear_nc]

No Campari on the rocks for you, then?

Ahh ... that's my summer drink of choice ... I call it 'pink lemonade'

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

You don't seem to have much luck with powered hotels.

I am drinking coffee.

Oh, I do quite well most of the time. My chain of choice is Fairmont, and they don't HAVE a bad hotel. Plus they have both Keurigs and real, honest to goodness, kettles in every room. So when I am travelling anywhere they are, I toss a couple of Major Dickason's Blend K-cups in the briefcase, along with my little bag of tea things (two small packages of loose-leaf tea, one Balmoral Blend and one Keemun, and some paper tea pouches.) It's when I am not able to stay at a Fairmont that the problems arise. And this? This wasn't even up to Best West standards. But it was clean and it was _there_. All I could ask for.

Lion Mountain Keemun this morning.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Oh, I do quite well most of the time. My chain of choice is Fairmont, and they don't HAVE a bad hotel. Plus they have both Keurigs and real, honest to goodness, kettles in every room. So when I am travelling anywhere they are, I toss a couple of Major Dickason's Blend K-cups in the briefcase, along with my little bag of tea things (two small packages of loose-leaf tea, one Balmoral Blend and one Keemun, and some paper tea pouches.) It's when I am not able to stay at a Fairmont that the problems arise. And this? This wasn't even up to Best West standards. But it was clean and it was _there_. All I could ask for.

Lion Mountain Keemun this morning.

I was thinking about when you couldn't check in due to a power or computer outage.

You stayed at the cheap Motel 6 in Dallas?

[CRussel]

Never. Haven't been to Dallas in >25 years. As for power outages -- I live where they're a part of life. I'm on a heavily forested coastal area with overhead power lines. There's ALWAYS some idiot hitting a pole, or we get some serious wind and it knocks a few trees over and we're down for a while. It's part of the price for living in Paradise. I'd guess we've probably got another month of potential problems, and then we're usually past them, though we have had outages in February. The big storms, however, are usually over by then.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Never. Haven't been to Dallas in >25 years. As for power outages -- I live where they're a part of life. I'm on a heavily forested coastal area with overhead power lines. There's ALWAYS some idiot hitting a pole, or we get some serious wind and it knocks a few trees over and we're down for a while. It's part of the price for living in Paradise. I'd guess we've probably got another month of potential problems, and then we're usually past them, though we have had outages in February. The big storms, however, are usually over by then.

We have the same idiots here. I remember one night a guy hit a pole. When I called the police and gave the location and told the dispatcher that my husband had gone to see if anyone was hurt, she was happy because they now had the location. They had gotten a half a dozen calls from numerous locations saying someone had just hit a pole behind their house. They were all over a kilometer (half a mile) away.
No one hurt, but the driver left the vehicle at the scene.

[sydmalicious]

Water!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[astrangerhere]

Just rowed a 6k, so lots of cold water.

[issybird]

Late to the party, but I have to cast an enthusiastic vote for IPAs, my favorite of beers - the hoppier, the better.

[cromag]

Just finishing my first tea on what promises to be a long weekend of mostly happy chaos.



Back in the early '70s I was a big fan of Balantine ale. I understand there is a reasonably serious effort underway to recreate the original recipes and relaunch the brand. That should be interesting.