Mmmmm... Beer

Okay, I know, I know... You're wondering why you are reading about beer on our blog. I have a better question: Why wouldn't you be? For me, sampling new beer as I travel is as much a staple as trying new cuisine, or experiencing new cultures. I love arriving in a country and settling in at a pub with a cold beer and a map to plan my next move. Many years back I traveled to Europe for a few months with a very good friend of mine, and we made it our mission to drink a Guinness in every city we arrived in before doing anything else: Finding accomodations, eating, sleeping... you get the point. Anyhow, this philosophy coupled with my new favorite show Three Sheets inspired me to amass a list of some of my favorite brews. So, here they are in no particular order:

Guinness: An Irish stout. Best Guinness I've had: At a pub on the western side of the Sevilla Cathedral.
Caffreys Cream Ale: Another Irish brew. Unfortunately, my days of being able to pick this beauty up at the store are long gone as it is no longer available in the States.
Beamish Stout: One more Irish stout.... fantastic. Had a pint in London once with some fish and chips - best thing I did in that country.
Budvar: For any of you Czech Republic fans, you know that this is the real Budweiser.
Staropramen Granat: Staropramen's semi-dark pilsner. One of the best. Oh, and when you are buying them for 50 cents on the Vlatava River in Prague, it doesn't get much better.
Struise Pannepot : A strong Belgian Ale. Weird name, but trust me on this one.
Yebisu Black: This is a dark lager only found in Japan. Though not as good as Guinness, the fact that you can buy it at a train station and drink it with friends over a card game on the bullet trains is pretty neat.
1554: This Brussels Style Black Ale is my favorite from the New Belgiam Brewing Company in Ft. Collins, CO. Most of you are more acquainted with Fat Tire, another of their fine brews.
Delirium Tremens: One of my all-time favorites, this Belgian tripple has a nearly 9% alcohol content. The pink elephants on the bottles are a nice touch as well.
Pilsner Urquell Kvasnicový: This unfiltered Czech brew (Pilsner) is brilliant. By the way, the bottled version you may find at Von's is not what I am talking about here... Read more...

oktoberfest...second time is a charm

blogging in germany is harder than one might think. the f-ing german computers hate me. anyway....back to the real news! so after our first feeble attempt to experience oktoberfest, we decided to go back and this time is was so much better! as i have said before, i think a lot of things are fate and our random seating in the tent was one of them. these three woman sat down next to us and immediately began to speak to us in flawless english. not only that, but the younger girl just returned from a home-stay program in the united states....and where was she in the united states you ask? ontario, california. about 10 minutes from where dan and it went to college! she was telling us how much she loved montclair plaza (the main shopping mall in the area) it was crazy!

needless to say, we shared some radishes and beer. yes, radishes. a random thing to eat, but evidently part of the bavarian tradition. after that fun encounter, we headed off on some rides and then back to the lowenbrau tent where we sat on the second story overlooking oktoberfest, it was beautiful. dan was considerably intoxicated by that time which made the entire scene much more fun.

one interesting part about oktoberfest is all the traditional aspects which the majority of germans follow. for instance they have these cookies which are made from gingerbread and have sayings written on the front of them in icing. you wear the cookies around your neck.....well the girls wear the cookies around their neck. they say things like .....oktoberfest, i love you, kisses, etc. we referred to them as love cookies, although we have no idea what they are really called. dan bought me one which says ``ich habe dich sooo lieb``....we think this means, i have so much love for you, but in reality we are not all that sure.

so all in all...oktoberfest was rad. Read more...