A Sabbath Day's Drinking

10, 12, 14, 18 Kout Gold

Away From It All

Beer Geek or Pub Snob?
Something that has been going round my head a lot of late is the question of whether or not I am a genuine beer geek, a term I have come to loathe, or am I in fact a pub snob? I am fairly sure that the two are opposite faces of the coin when it comes to the beery world, and perhaps this is heresy but I don't particularly enjoy drinking in the comfort of my own home, without mates to chat with (real, live mates that is, rather than my online buds - as great as they are), barmaids to flirt with and the general buzz and hubbub of a good pub. Due to various, utterly boring and not worth repeating here, reasons, I have not really discovered much about pub life in Charlottesville, bu

Slacking off
Mrs Velkyal, myself and a friend from England have driven down from Charlottesville to Columbia, South Carolina to spend Thanksgiving with the in-laws. Of course making sure I had plenty of good beer was in order, thus a trip to the local booze store was in order, and the beer for the next few days comprises: Starr Hill Northern Lights (bought from home admittedly) Unibroue La Fin du Monde Unibroue Les Trois Pistoles Unibroue Maudite Unibroue Ephemere (made with apple juice, coriander and curacao!) Budvar A good triumvirate of beers there for the holiday, and I am sure some stuff will make it's way back up the Interstate.

Beer People Stand!
This part of Virginia sometimes seems to be booze central, with 4 breweries, plentiful vineyards, at least one cider maker (that's proper cider people, without alcohol it is called "apple juice"), and a newly operational distillery - all within about 30 miles of Charlottesville. One of the most interesting things about working a brewery tasting room is indulging in a little people watching, whilst talking with people about the b

End of Week Laziness
Tis the end of my first week back in gainful employ, and my mind it in overdrive as a result. Hence today's very lazy post just of pictures....

Right Regal Stout
Once again I succumbed to temptation about 10 days ago. I popped open a bottle of my imperial stout and was greatly encouraged by what I saw, smelt and tasted. Yesterday it was 3 weeks since I had bottled the beer, and so I decided to try it at its minimum conditioning, and the great encouragement became much joy. I poured the beer into my new Ev