I had started the day really well for Remembrance Day. I had booked in to give blood at the Red Cross at 11:15, which meant after riding my bike into town on a lovely looking day, I could have my minute silence at 11am, seeing the city stop for a bugler playing near Bourke Street mall, before walking in to give blood.
Riding home I stopped at Mountain Goat to sort out work for next week before recovering at home with a good book (yes, it is about beer). Heading back into Mountain Goat early 'just for a couple', but after a couple with Crafty and Naz, it turned into more than a couple. With the Goat IPA going through Seven Seeds coffee beans in Randy, and getting a taste of it early when the beer had been steeping in the beans for a couple of days (tasted really good...and I don't drink coffee...it was nearly as good as Stass' latest coffee beer attempt) I then stepped up to the Double Hightail (mistake) before Naz and I moved over to the Royston for a Moon Dog Pumpkin Porter (still roasty...actually, I think I saw the Moon Dog boys at Mountain Goat...and Damo [which reminds me, I need to ask Damo when we are sharing in our spoils from the Festival of the Frothy trivia night]) and then tried a Mornington Penninsula IPA (which I have to say, is probably the best beers I have ever tried from this brewer). Somehow I ended up back at Mountain Goat (ok, it isn't hard when it is just across the road). leaving there to go home, I saw Naz was at his place with a few of the boys, and so stopped in for one or two more before getting hit in the balls by his girlfriend and finally deciding to call it a night at 2am. Phew!
8 hours later I was making my way out to Stass' place to keg the beers I was trialing for my brother's wedding in a few weeks, and of course, this meant drinking more beers. Firstly, we had to finish a keg to have 2 that we could use to keg the beers, then there was tasting the beers while doing a final gravity reading. After that Stass decided he wanted to taste his coffee beer again to see how it is aging, then seeing he had a taste for roast we cracked open a Stone's Smoked Porter, which while went down a bit like barbed wire, I could still appreciate a good level of smoke that was balanced well in the beer...not as big as what I would expect from an American brewer.
With a bit of 'hair of the dog' in me, I made it back into the city and managed to do some chrissy shopping before heading over to Mick's place to trial the beers with him and Nicolette and have them chose one for the big day.
So, it is fair to say, I will be off the beers for today, and may only be keeping to one tomorrow after a bottling session at the Goat.
My apologies for connecting Remembrance Day to my conduct that night. It is only through those that have given what they have in the past that allows me to pursue the life I am leading today, and while it may seem that I do not appreciate it through this post, I do feel very fortunate for what I have, and to paraphrase Midlake, I realise my path in life is not solely my own.
Cheers,
Beefy
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