Off Topic Tuesday?

So any faithful readers I may have, have probably been extremely bored waiting for me to post something.

Ready, kids? Okay. Because I'm feeling totally social right now, and none of my friends are available to hang out, so now you're going to get to read all of my musings.

I am the worst at decision making. And I don't mean that in a trainwrecky way. Or maybe I do? Depends on your definition I guess. Did I mention my husband and I have been on opposite schedules for over a year now? I work days, he works nights, I get to spend maybe 36 good hours with him over the weekend, and there's no end in sight for this. I'm not a huge fan of this for many reasons, one being that he did a majority of the cooking. I promise these two points will tie in together.

I would love to do more cooking. I've kinda been forced to in the last year. But I cannot, for the life of me, meal plan worth a damn. This is where the bad decision making comes in, because usually I go out to eat. And I've gained some weight from it, especially after post wedding blues hit (we got married in June-- I managed to lose about 12 pounds during the month leading up to the wedding thanks to putting effort into it). Once my pants started getting a little too tight, I started to care about what I was eating again. But it's a never ending battle between my complete and utter laziness, my inability to decide what to eat, and then when I am health conscious, I eat a bag of raw vegetables for dinner because I can't decide what to cook.

Anywho, I'm supposed to be talking about beer, but today is National Drink Wine Day. So tonight I'm drinking this:

Not my photo. Stolen from goodfoodcheapwine.wordpress.com.

I had this at a wedding last summer. It definitely lives up to its name, and is very sweet. Tolerable for those who don't like bitter red wines. Like me.

I promise to review a beer this week! I purchased one on Monday that I'm really excited about, so hopefully it doesn't disappoint!

Laurelwood Espresso Stout

The Seahawks won on Saturday, and now we're going to face the 49ers in the NFC Division Championship. I can't wait, even if I'm watching from a friend's because tickets cost your first born child. I have to admit I'm nervous. I want them to win, not just because Seattle needs a championship (ok, so the NBA and WNBA have them-- unfortunately I'm not a fan of basketball), but because of all the Seattle hate. Even in our own city. I work with a Colts fan and an Eagles fan, and my husband is a Cowboys fan. My husband, as awesome as he otherwise is, feels the constant need to remind me that 20+ years ago, the Cowboys had a decent team. To which I always respond that he needs to stop living in the past and realize the Seahawks play in the present. Also, who went to the playoffs? Who's still in the playoffs? Who's going to win their first Super Bowl before the Cowboys win another? Booyah. Suck it.

Anyway, onto the point. I've found myself disappointed with many an espresso stout in the past. It either tasted too milky, too chocolatey, or had some sort of weird aftertaste. To this day, I've only found two that I enjoyed. The Laurelwood Espresso Stout is one of them.

Laurelwood brews in Portland, Oregon, so it only made sense that they collaborated with Portland Roasting to make this amazing brew. The coffee flavor is the strongest I've found in a coffee stout, and honestly what I've always expected other coffee stouts to taste like. You can smell the coffee in this beer with your glass at arm's reach. This one by far sets and raises the bar for coffee stouts to come. I like to describe it as a latte flavored beer.

I originally tried the beer at Laurelwood's tap room. However, you can find it at Pint Defiance off of 19th and Mildred. It's reasonably priced at about $5 for a 22oz bottle. It's a must try on my list!

Give it a try and let me know what you think. If you have a recommendation of another coffee stout, or really anything I should try, let me know that too!

Hello Tacoma! And 12 Man!

I've actually blogged before, but never about anything but myself. I started when I was 17 with Live Journal way back in the day. Back when you had to have a code to join.

I also got my facebook back when it was only for college kids. I'm so hipster. Bow to me.

Since I'm still talking about myself, I will go over my history with beer. I've been drinking beer since my early 20s, though until the last couple years I stuck to mostly domestics. Bud, Coors, Miller, Pabst. Every now and then I'd go to chain breweries like the Ram and BJs and drink their beer, but I never really learned to appreciate them, nor did I really branch out with beer until I met my husband, who is a self-proclaimed beer snob. He got me really into craft beer and the Seattle Sounders.

Since I'm still figuring the whole soccer thing out (this will be my third season attending Sounders matches), and I've been trying to start a blog I can be committed to for a long time, I figured why not beer. Sure, there are plenty of beer blogs, but not a lot that I've seen that truly go out and review beer. Yes, I'm trying to become a beer critic in  my own backyard. It won't be cheap. It won't be easy. But it will be fun.

PS: I'm not getting paid for this. I'm pretty sure if a lawyer came after me I'd have to say something like that. Maybe someday I'll get paid to be a beer critic. But not now.

Now, let's get started with some Dicks 12 Man, shall we?

This beer is all the rage in Washington State right now. Seriously. People are going crazy for it because Seahawks. And playoffs. Don't ask me where to find it... though I got mine at Metropolitan Market. It's labeled as an APA. Since I'm a huge fan of other APAs (Georgetown Manny's is my personal favorite), I had high expectations.

It's a very light taste from start to finish. If you're used to domestics or very lightly flavored beers, this will run in with them. There isn't a hoppy flavor. Or any really prominent flavor at all. It actually took me back to my Pabst drinking days.

In my opinion, this is a great collector's item, but not a really great drinking beer unless you enjoy low IBU counts. My husband mentioned this beer would probably taste better in the summer, too. I have to agree with that.

Have you had a chance to try Dicks 12 Man APA? What did you think?