The timeshift that occurs when you have an eight-month old really is amazing. Gone are the days of sleeping in until 9 on the weekends, replaced by 6am squeals through the baby monitor. Sometimes, you get lucky and you wake up to see 7am or maybe even 7:30am on the clock, but the late nights of just a year ago are quickly replaced by the early mornings of today. Funny thing is, though, that even the nights seem to start later. Instead of sitting on the deck with the tiki torches lit having a drink with my wife at 6pm or 7pm, it’s dinner on the deck at 8:30 after the baby’s gone to bed. So, I’ve really begun to appreciate the downtime between fathering duties, because it’s amazing how quickly it flies by.
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It’s amazing how much life gets in the way of blogging. Between fantasy football drafts, putting our house up for sale and spending time with the family, I’ve been neglecting my self-appointed duty of bringing you the best beer ramblings I can come up with… *sniff*… but, don’t fret, as there’s tons to get caught up on in the coming days, including the official start of pumpkin beer season!
Before we get into that, a couple of quick, non-pumpkin updates:
While it’s not pumpkin-related, it runs a close second in my book: Samuel Adams OctoberFest!
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GlobeLife is reporting that InBev is giving Canadian drinkers an exclusive taste of Stella Artois Légère, a lower-calorie and, unfortunately, lower-alcohol version of the brew before a planned worldwide rollout.
“Consumers were ready in Canada,” said Martin Archambault, national marketing manager for international premium brands at Labatt Breweries, the Canadian unit of Belgium-based giant InBev, which makes Stella Artois and a host of other brands. He adds that Canada is perceived as a favourable testing ground for premium beers, particularly European brands such as Stella Artois. “[Canadians] are a little bit more educated in terms of what they drink, and the export segment in Canada is growing really fast.”
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My favorite pumpkin ale from Shipyard hits stores in a week or so, but I’m really looking forward to the end of September. That’s when my first batch of Mr. Beer pumpkin lager should be good to go.
Now, I know that Mr. Beer tends to get a bad rap from homebrew purists, but I have to honestly say that I’ve been using it for about four years now and have been pretty happy with most of the beer I’ve brrewed. So far, I’ve brewed West Coast Pale Ale, Bewitched Red Ale, Octoberfest Vienna Lager, Whispering Wheat Weizenbier and the Witty Monk Witbier I just finished was damned good. Of course, I did have one stinker in there as the Firecracker Red Ale was horrible, but I’m not sure if that was my fault because it was the first time I tried brewing with fruit. But, as any good brewer would, I sucked it up and drank the entire eight-liter batch myself because I didn’t want to see it go to waste.
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Before I get to the Früli, a quick story for the fellow husbands out there. Believe it or not, my wife told me earlier in the week that I can’t buy any more beer until I drink all the beer I have. Of course, I chuckled a little bit because that sounds like more of a challenge than a request to clear some space in the fridge.
Anyway, marital fun aside, who’s in the mood for some strawberry beer? Anyone?
That’s the kind of question that makes most of my “Miller Lite” friends look at me like I’m a little fruity, but this Früli sounds like it could be an interesting brew. And, we’ll no longer have to journey to Britain, Scandinavia or the Mediterranean to give it a try as it’ll be available this month in the USA.
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