We have gone and hidden the “shark medallion” at the WC trail system (pictured above).  If you find it, then bring it back into the shop for an instant $75 in store credit on anything we carry.  Our plan is to keep this running for a while.  We’d love to see the info spread through you friends and riding circles so that this thing can get found and re-hidden many times.  We’d really love to hand out some in store credit. Think of this as our own little HH scavenger hunt….or better yet, getting paid to ride your bike. Go here for clues and details – good luck!

So the beer sessions aren’t all about beer, in fact they aren’t nearly as much about bikes as one would think. It seems to be a slowly developing rule that real “bike” talk not take place (sort of a work stays at work attitude). It really is just dudes hanging out and so far a token female each week, without a lady present who would I apologize too after making an insanely inappropriate comment for mixed company? I did not imagine having a crowd for these things at all, especially not on our second attempt, it was awesome to be in good company with good brews.

I thought I would give an “ancillary post” to show a bit of what goes on besides, during, and in-between the beer’ing. For one we realized that Eminem can really bring together a crowd of white boys and unite them. You may recognize this gangsta’ as the PT help at the shop and furniture creator extraordinaire. Thats right a room full of white boys “rapping” and “dancing” (granted I am using both verbs loosely).

Several great comments came out that night lets hit the highlights:

Sergio: “Oh it hurts, it hurts bad” (In regards to the last sample)

Sean: “Just keep drinking you will be able to eat it soon enough”

Tyler: “I just blew my load all over the shop floor” (notice the huge amount of head on the Saison in my earlier post, well it exploded and shot out all over the floor when I opened it)

At one point it was noted that there was a great chasim in those of attendance. We had Josh, Esper, Sergio, and a few others outside working pulling the ramming defense post out of the ground. While the rest of us (I deem us the smart group) were inside imbibing and having a great time. Eventually we let the workmen come inside but not before wiping their feet.

Its a great time each week, I encourage you to grab a sixer of something decent, preferably something you haven’t tried before and come join us. Just be prepared for a good time.

I know many of you have been sitting idle by your computer staring at a nearly blank beer blog waiting for my glorious sentence structure, and photography skills to appear before you. Well my friends now you can go check on your kids, get some sleep and perhaps return to work tomorrow. (Don’t worry my ego is just short of 9’ I can turn sideways, duck and still fit through most doorways, those that are too small get demolished.)

As I was showing up unannounced to Sean, and I didn’t think I would be back in town in time for the tasting I was without a pint glass. I quickly said no big deal I will use Styrofoam, apparently this is a no-no in the beer tasting world. I decided to remedy the situation and use Cody’s water glass but after my eagerness to use Styrofoam my fellow tasters decided it would be my punishment and learning experience to go ahead with the elegant white cup. So lesson learned, and not necessarily because I noticed a taste or texture difference  but because I don’t like being made fun of.

So the beer: To start with we kept it light at 8.5% the wonderful Ommegan Abbey Dubbel. Your first question might be the same as mine: “What the hell is an Abbey Dubbell” I generally speak to what a beer is based on color and thickness. I have very limited knowledge of styles, regional differences, blah blah. This one was brown which equates into me having a positively correlated bias. I found the flavor to be a very smooth and mild. The end had a nice warming effect not to the degree of a “vodka burn” but you could tell the beer was packing a little bit of a punch. I enjoyed this beer very much.

Saison – First thing I do with all of these beer tastings is take a sniff (I think it makes me look like what I am doing). This isn’t a light girly man sniffing, this is a nose opposite side of the glass really get in there type of smell. The Saison fired back with a almost skunky Heineken-ess smell, I suppose I wouldn’t want some dude that close up on me either. The taste was nothing like the smell, it was very light bodied with a sour finish. Normally I can pick out 4 or 5 or so stages to a beer’s flavor, with this one however I struggled to find 3 stages. It was an easy drink but certainly not something I would ever seek out. BTW it makes drinking this beer much more fun if you say Saison with a heavy French accent.

Blanche De Naure – with Coriander, Licorice, and Orange peel in the brew it made for a very explosive taste. In fact the first words I used to describe the beer were “It bursts in my mouth”  This also finished with a sour flavor, however this was a more natural citrus sour vs. the sweetarts “manafactured” type sour of the Saison. Good beer but a very polarizing flavor I figure its a love it or hate it type of beer.

Chouffe – was up next I don’t have a lot to say about it. It is Dobbelen IPA Tripel (or something to that effect). I have been trying to like IPA’s for the last several months with no luck. In fact I decided I am done trying, however if I had to pick one to drink this would be at the top of my list. Without a doubt the hops hit you hard and furious on the front end, but it finished very smooth. At 9% in the big bottle it would make for a nice relaxing evening as long as you aren’t pulling posts out of the ground that night.

Urthel Samaranth – Smelled strongly like alcohol, Cody “This smells like whiskey.” This one hurt. It had a definite nuttines taste, which as Sean explained was part of the malt roasting process that brought out that flavor. I also noticed much like I did in the Old Rasputin a raisin fruitiness in stage three of the flavors. My first thought as I turned and looked at Cody “I love this” he responds with a disguisted look on his face “Really?” I took another sip “Well maybe not.”     “Nope” So it started out with high remarks and a few sips took it down to: glad that one is gone.

So the 5-5-50 Reference = 5 Tasters, 5 Beers, 50 bucks. It was a good night we all left feeling happier and more carefree than before, well if you don’t count the anger that Eminimem instilled in a few of us, alas that is for another post. Expect a non-beer related, beer blog post soon. That’s right a 2fer, they said it couldn’t be done but that was before the man with the 9′ ego.