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The low quality can look and amusing labeling of Peter’s Brand Classics Imported Lager Beer (A Dutch Style Pilsner) prompted me to spend the US$6.99 to try a six-pack of it from Trader Joe’s. It’s not bad, but it’s not really great. This wouldn’t be bad to keep around for summer days and eating with random spicy food and pizza, but it’s nothing great. Still, it’s not bad.

New Holland’s Charkoota Rye Smoked Doppelbock Lager is quite interesting. It’s very smokey, somewhat malty, and has an interesting dry taste that I figure comes from the rye. The beer’s website claims that it is an homage to all things pig, including their just-happened Porkapalooza cookout. I’m almost tempted to cook up some bacon to eat with it, just because.

Here is a Caledonian Brewery’s Great Scott Pale Ale poured into a glass. It’s $2.99/bottle at Trader Joe’s, and is quite decent. There’s an unexpected earthy (almost dirty green) undertone to the whole thing, but nothing bad. I’d definitely purchase this again.

Trader Joe’s Simpler Times Lager is a very good, cheap yellow beer. Advertised as a corn and rice-free 6.2% ABV lager costing $3.99 for a six-pack, I thought I’d give it a try. In short, buy this. It’s basic, but good. There’s no funky or off tastes typically associated with a cheap lager; just basic refreshing yellow beer.

There’s a very good chance I’ll buy this again.

Up until today I was under the impression that Bell’s Third Coast Old Ale was not bottle conditioned. However, after pouring this glass tonight and seeing the dregs in the glass (as seen above), I’m thinking otherwise.

First introduced to me by pathwalker around 2003 or so, I found this Bell’s beer to be a really nice, thick, almost-sweet version of a brown ale. It’s 9% or so, and is definitely the sort of beer that one sips. The last time I had it was back in 2005 or so, but when up at Red Wagon after a bike ride on Tuesday I decided to get some. As I remember, it’s really quite tasty, even with the lumps…

(For what it’s worth, here is a photo of this beer in 2005, sans lumps.)

Instead of a post talking about something in particular, I’ll talk about the last 28 hours or so of my day:

To start, as seen above, Danielle and I came across both Deluxe and Old Fashioned hot dog buns from Aunt Millie’s in VG’s. When comparing them, there was no substantial difference. Beyond the price (about $1/package difference) only a few things at the very bottom of the ingredient list, vitamin supplements mostly, varied.

This photo shows the large wrapped stack of boxes waiting on my front porch when I got home. These are CD-sized outside tuck corrugated mailers from Planned Packaging of Illinois Corp. which I will use to box my CDs and store them in closets in the basement. The CD rack in my office (see this fisheye photo) will then be removed and replaced with a bookshelf to hold both my and Danielle’s books.

After work I went for a ride around the mountain bike trails at Stony Creek. I hadn’t eaten properly today, polishing off a bag of trail mix before leaving the office, and this made it really difficult to ride. Despite this I pushed myself quite a bit, and thus I kept having cramps in my lower back. I think that lowering my handle bar will help with this, because most of the cramping came with trying to stand and pedal, but with the bar relatively high I could pull on it properly and likely overdid things.

Dinner tonight was two garlic chicken sausages from Trader Joe’s, along with salad, potato chips, a bunch of spicy cheese popcorn, and a bottle of Le Fin du Monde. I made a point of drinking the dregs from this bottle to experiment with the gastrointestinal results of ingesting a quantity of yeast. My next experiment will likely involve a teaspoon of bread machine yeast. Danielle says that I’m not allowed to do this when she is around, so it’ll probably happen next week.

Per section B.02.131 of the Canadian Food and Drug Regulations, Canadian versions of Dogfish Head’s 60 Minute IPA must be labeled as Strong Beer, or in French, Bière Forte. This is a bottle that I brought back from Canada when Danielle and I went there to visit Dominic.

Here’s a table describing how strengths of beer in Canada must be labeled, taken from the aforementioned section B.02.131:

Percentage alcohol by volume	Qualified common name or Common name
1.1 to 2.5	Extra Light Beer, Extra Light Ale, Extra Light Stout, Extra Light Porter
2.6 to 4.0	Light Beer, Light Ale, Light Stout, Light Porter
4.1 to 5.5	Beer, Ale, Stout, Porter
5.6 to 8.5	Strong Beer, Strong Ale, Strong Stout, Strong Porter, Malt Liquor
8.6 or more	Extra Strong Beer, Extra Strong Ale, Extra Strong Stout, Extra Strong Porter, Strong Malt Liquor

(Please also note that Canada’s Food and Drug Regulations also state that Wieners and Beans must contain no less than 25% wieners, while Beans and Wieners must contain no less than 10% wieners.)

This morning the stitches were removed from my face (photos later), and while initially painful from the jostling and tugging during the removal it already feels quite a bit better. I’m going to wait a few more days before attempting to shave, but I think that it’ll go well. After the doctor’s office visit this morning I ended up having a rather busy, but good day at work.

This evening I did some work on my multi-speed (Specialized) bike, fitting a new crankset (more on this later) and ensuring that shifting was working as it should. I then set out for a ride through one of my typical local routes on the single speed (Bianchi), just to get back into the swing of things. It was nice to get back out and ride some after almost a week of not doing so, and the route up through River Bends Park and on some dirt (and single track) stuff went very well. It was a nicely uneventful ride; one which I hope to follow up with a ride through Stony Creek this weekend which, hopefully, will not be eventful in any way which causes me (or others) injury or pain.

This evening was then capped off with some Pirate Booty clone stuff from Trader Joe’s and a bottle of New Holland’s Dragon’s Milk while watching most of the second season of the US version of The Office. I’m actually finding that this US version is quite a good adaptation of the UK series. I think I’ll try and watch all of the episodes currently available via Netflix’s streaming stuffs.

And now? Bed.

Being his favorite beer, a friend of mine’s girlfriend’s brother drives purchases a few cases of New Glarus Brewing Company’s Spotted Cow whenever he is in Wisconsin. I ended up with a bottle, so here it is.

I’m not sure what to make of this beer, as it reminds me a bit of both Bell’s Oberon and Blue Moon. While I can see how it’d be well liked, it’s just not for me. New Glarus does have quite a few other beers which look nice to try, unfortunately I can’t get any of them here in Michigan.

Tonight I’m having a bottle of Lagunitas Brewing Company’s Brown Shugga Ale. It’s a really brown sugar-tasting, moderately hopped brown ale. It’s also 9.5%.

This is definitely a nice beer at the end of a nice, but productive, day. Danielle made an absolutely wonderful dinner of bean, cheese, and onion enchiladas, complete with freshly made refried beans. She also made the kitchen nicely clean, as I spent lots of time doing laundry almost to completion and beginning to straighten up the basement.