Tons of new beers and a snowy commute

No sense in wasting a lot of time and text with background info, been riding, been drinking. On with it.

Two Brother's Ebel's Weiss

A very nice weiss. Unfiltered and smooth drinking with plentiful malt sweetness, clove, vanilla, maybe a hint of honey, and a smooth finish typical of the style. One of the better weiss/white/wit/unfiltered wheat beers I've had that's made in this country. Not entirely right for the season, but whatever, good beer is good beer.

Ommegang Belgian Pale Ale

Ommegang is from Cooperstown, New York. Despite being located on the best side of the Atlantic, they make some very fine beers that are extremely old world in style, flavor, and approach. This pale ale is a bit different, in that it uses some new world hops, and has a bit more hop flavor than a traditional Belgian pale would. That is not to say they've gone full bore American style on it, oh no, it's light, subtle, a regular pale ale, not an IPA or extra pale or whatever other modifiers we can cram in front of it. I was very fond of this beer, with the pale malt sweetness balanced by the light earthy and citrusy hop character. The signature yeast give a few familiar notes, and a lingering finish that's quite nice. As you can see, the head is thick and laces very well. I tried to pour gently, but the beer had other ideas. The link above will inform you that this is not a full time offering, but is instead a test, and if the response is good enough, it could well find itself in year round/full time production.

New Glarus Spotted Cow

Hot damn do I love New Glarus. They're inventive, a bit quirky, and one of the best breweries in the country, and relatively close (mental note: plan a weekend visit/tour). I'm seriously proud to be from the midwest because of things like New Glarus. Sure Colorado and the whole west coast have quality microbrews up the wazoo, but few are as good as New Glarus. Spotted Cow is their incredible farmhouse ale. Somehow lighter, and more complex than most other similar ales, it must have something to do with the cask conditioning. If you've had it, you know. If you haven't: go try some. Sadly, that means you'll have to go to Wisconsin as they have no plans to expand.

Ale Asylum Hopalicious

A fine American pale ale from Madison, Wisconsin. As far as I can tell, they've only involved Cascade hops, which they add in eleven separate additions. With a single hop added at different times and in different ways, there's a layered flavor, that works better than you'd think, and with the hop being Cascade it's largely floral with some citrus, and a small amount of bitterness. If you want a mouth drying IPA, look elsewhere; this beer is all about a dense hop flavor in a surprisingly accessible package.

Photographing a heavy snow is tricky, especially with a cell phone.

We recently got quite a bit of snow, which made for a rather fun and enjoyable commute home. There was a light dusting for the ride in, and the snow never even thought of letting up all day. By the end of the day everything had a few inches (or more) on it, and the roads were terrible(for driving), the bike path was amazing.

Those streaks are falling snow caught in the flash. My tracks were 2-3 inches deep.

Seriously fun times. The snow makes everything a little more work, a little sketchy (though predictable), and riding in a snow storm is one of my favorite things to do. Honestly. All my gear worked flawlessly, and if anything I was slightly overdressed for the 20F or so. Until next time, keep drinking, and keep it rubber side down.