Beer Culture: October 2011

I am so excited that Fall has finally arrived! Although today was more like an ideal beach day in the summer, the much anticipated cool, crisp Fall weather has crept up with the setting sun. With the new season comes a whole new batch of pumpkin beers, stouts, and porters that I enjoy most on a chilly evening like tonight. Currently, I am sipping on a limited release "Oaked Jack Imperial Wood Aged Pumpkin Ale" that has the perfect balance of spices and sweetness with hints of bourbon. Mmm! Austin bought me four of these bad boys for the season!

It has been a productive and fun Saturday. Frank received a much needed bath, I got some school work crossed off the list, and had a great lunch at Cha Cha Chicken with Jessica and Austin. Jessica was fully prepared for our outing and called her order in before we got there and she got to skip the line and relax in the sun. While I waited in the not so long, but extremely slow line, I took my time deciding what I was going to get, to make sure I was ready when my time to order would finally arrive. After finding out my brunch choice of chilaquiles was not served after 2 PM, and it was 2:20, I had to quickly make a new choice. In the mean time I was getting nasty glares from the inpatient patrons behind me. Oh well! I settled with the guiso de puerco and was happy with my decision when it arrived with a healthy portion of fried plantains on the side. Good lunch and great company, coupled with some good beers (Cha Cha is BYOB, making it even more awesome).

Jessica and I made the journey to the East side on Thursday to see Furthur. Thanks again Daniel for DDing!! It was my first experience with The Greek Theater, and I don't think it could have been any better. We had to park about a half a mile from the venue down a mountain road in Griffith Park that made for a really funny and pretty walk to and from the show. We got there towards the end of the first set, so we decided to try to find a good spot close to the front, even though it was not general admission. We ended up dead center and up a level behind the soundboard (not sure if that is what you call it). Jessica claimed she recognized the two old dudes in front of us, which I figured was someone famous I didn't know of (I am really out of the celebrity loop). Turns out they were regulars from Pizza Fusion/Pour house. They had extra seats, which worked out perfect because I was informed by a paranoid husband that the seats we were occupying belonged to him and his wife would be back any minute, so we needed to move! The rest of the show was truly awesome. The set list was really great, and watching all of the beyond dedicated fans twirl around was quite entertaining as well.

Our show exit consisted of:

wearing a chicken head borrowed from a drunk fan, weaving our way through the masses of wookies trying to sell pipes and other oddities, almost scoring what Jessica claims is the most perfect jacket ever (it resembled something Paula Abdul would have worn in the 80's) from a woman who was about to the hand the thirty year old jacket over to Jessica before her 14 year old daughter decided she wanted the jacket for herself. Jessica reluctantly turned the sparkly jean bundle over to daughter. We did turn back to let Jessica try the jacket on and snap a picture. We decided that before we made the trek back to the west side we should pee. Since we were walking down a dark road on a mountain, there were plenty of good peeing spots. Thankfully, I chose a spot next to a trash can, because after I stood up from my squatting pee position, I realized I had soaked part of my cheap H&M purse in urine (at least the purse was already yellow before I pissed on it). I carefully collected the contents inside and tossed it in the conveniently located trash can. Jessica let me borrow a tupperware container in her car to act as my new clutch, which we decided was the new preschool chic style. We made it back to West LA safely with my purse being the only causality. It was an epic evening!!

Looking forward to the rest of this fall. I am feeling overwhelmed (in a good way) by all of the opportunities to travel that could be in my near future. Austin and I are talking about a quick weekend trip to Portland in a month, Jessica and I still have to follow through with losing our Vegas virginities together, and Kendra and I are discussing a Christmas break trip after Austin, Frank and I drive home for December (making brewery stops along the way, of course!). I am getting excited for the next few months!!!

I've got several old posts I need to finish, but I will get there in time. For now, here are some pictures of my trip to the Great American Beer Festival in Denver. It was a great weekend to say the least. I am detoxing and eating strictly veggies for a week (okay, at least two days). My stomach is NOT happy with the wide variety of beer, bacon, and cheese I consumed for four days straight. I don't think the person sitting next me on the plane trip back was very happy either!