Friday at last

I spent the day in St. Paul in the company of a band of bureaucrats at the department of education. I don't want them to google themselves and blackball me from any future jobs or my well-earned retirement earnings so I'm being careful not to name them or their true place of employment. Oh my god. Those people, for the most part, are the most boring pompous-assed stiffs I have ever spent time with. One man was very interesting and somehow managed to make fiscal news almost, well barely, palatable. But the rest of them...one woman said it was the obligation of their organization to promulgate rules. Well, I guess.

Regis and I went to do some errands when I got home and realized that in a half-mile radius from our house, we can go to the bank, the drug store, the bar, the food coop, and the liquor store. Not bad. We didn't go to the bar since we had a beef roast in the crock pot at home, but it's nice to know a guy could if he wanted to.

Last night we went to Irish Stews and Stouts, a real community education class. It was very interesting and educational. For food we had Irish stew with veal (no lamb), Irish soda bread, a cabbage dish with bacon, and Guinness chocolate cake. The beers were many and varied; some we liked and some we didn't. The one in the picture is called Unibroue Ephemere Raspberry beer. It's almost like a liqueur and you can see by the label, it's brewed by angels. Or maybe fairies. Many of the beers came from brew houses, like the Town Hall Brewery in Minneapolis. It was interesting to hear about the beers and then try them in little tiny plastic glasses.

Here's one we weren't so fond of: King Boreas Imperial Wit which the guy said is a strong wit ale. Lots of Curacao bitter orange peel, coriander, and a hint of star anise. Brewed with German pale wheat malt and Golden Promise barley. This is our Winter version of a Belgian white beer. Medium bodied, amber colored, and unfiltered. We also weren't so fond of the Brau Brother's Cream Stout. Some of their beers are good, but not this one. Too bitter.

There you go, all the news that's fit to print on beer. Well, off to the weekend. Leaving the bureaucrats behind...