Oregon recap, one last snow commute, and a new one from New Glarus

Sunday night I returned to Iowa from 9 days of riding bikes, drinking beers, and general adventure having in Eugene, Oregon. I don't have the time, nor the energy to recount my whole trip, and especially not all the beers I drank. Executive summary: had a ton of fun, drank a ton of new craft brews, many/most local to Oregon. When I was there in August I drank 37 different beers, this time i managed 49. If I'd known it was 49, I woulda definitely had one more to make it an even 50. Oh well, at least I've got a goal for the future. I will definitely write more about that in the future, and the Eugene and Portland riding we did, but for now I lack the brain power.

Today, I awoke to a couple inches of snow on the ground.

Lousy Smarch weather.

The pavement was clear and slightly damp, it was actually kinda pretty, but an unwelcome sight in late March, especially with the nicer weather we've had in the last few weeks (at least on and off). Anyway, I'm still riding in my big boots and most of my gear. Definitely ready for spring and hopefully some more riding, especially mountain biking.

Right before I left for Oregon, my buddy came back from a quick trip to Wisconsin. He brought back some more New Glarus stuff, including a new entry into the Unplugged line up: Smoked Rye Ale.

Smokey like you would not believe. Definitely a strong entry into the rauchbier category, though I tasted very little rye, the meaty smokiness probably covered the rye right up. Honestly this thing tastes like some fancy slow smoked beef. It was incredible. Yet again, New Glarus hits it out of the park with an "experimental" beer. Good for them. If you can get anything from New Glarus, you already know. If you can't, well, that sucks.