a brew or two for you!

It's a special time of year, which calls for a special kind of beer!

Here are a couple of my recommendations, taste-tested, of course!

Deschutes makes an annual winter beer, and I would have never picked it out of the crowd normally.  But, they put some cool art on their labels and boxes that are especially appealing to the quilter in me, and my thoughtful son gave me some.  In 2014 it looked like an appliqued scene.  I missed 2015, but last week I was able to pick up the 2016 release.  The label is by Karen Ruanne, an artist of marbled paper, and that is what is shown on the beer label.  Would be very nice to have on fabric!  The beer itself, once I get past the pretty label, is dark and flavorful.  I'm not a connoisseur of beer, I couldn't tell you whether it has notes of apple, spice or dustballs, but I do like it for a change from the routine.

Next up, an even darker beer--

This is a real departure for me, since I always choose a lighter beer.  I don't like the real light ones, or the lite ones, but a medium is fine for me.

This beer, however, is a special one.  It's crafted by a young guy I know since he was just a little kid, Pete Stacy.  His mom, Leisl, is one of my best quilting buddies, and we have been on many a trip and retreat together.  Since he started working at Summit a couple years ago (roughly), she has been able to share some Summit brews with us.  This beer, Dark Infusion, is a special release in a line of "Unchained" beers.  Pete is the brewer, and the label bears his name and signature!  It is a coffee milk stout, which didn't sound too promising at first.  I remember Bob getting some stout beer in Germany or England, and one sip was enough for me!  So I was very happy when I sampled Dark Infusion and liked it!  Very strong coffee flavor, so a good choice for breakfast!

So there you go--my beer review for the year!

friends in high places

There is that old saying "It's good to have friends in high places".  Well, I have a friend at the tippy top of the high places.  At the Summit!

At our quilting retreats, we all supply our own food and beverage for retreat, and have a shared snack table to graze between feeding times.

This time, in addition to the snack buffet, Leisl offered to tap into her connection to Summit Brewing in St. Paul.  She brought an assortment of beers for us to sample.

So I did.

My problem is, I am not a very good sampler.  They all were very drinkable, so I really can't rate or compare them to each other!  The Maibock and Porter are varieties that I probably would not have purchased because my pre-conceived notion would tell me that I would be wasting my money on something I would end up passing over to Bob to consume.  (He'll drink anything!)

Well, they were actually very tasty, and I would not have shared with Bob!

And then, while shopping at the local little Gordy's Groceries in Augusta, I spied this--

I was not familiar with a "malt specialty" liquor.  I did buy this and brought it home to share with the previously mentioned guy.  It was probably the marketing that made it for this beverage.  The patriotic theme of the name, complete with eagle flying and mountain peaks on the horizon.  The flavor "apple pie" is like the trademark of America!  The folksy chalkboard-art-looking graphics, which remind us of the good old school days of our childhood.  The description at the bottom states it is brewed in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, evoking a picture of the beauty of nature all around us as we sip our drinks.  And then, bottling it in a mason jar really completes that moonshiney backwoods down home feel!  After sampling it straight, I'm not a fan.  But it has been suggested to me that I might like to try it mixed with ginger beer or cranberry juice.  Sounds like a good idea!  As I did a little more research into the making of this product, I found that it is made by Stout Brewing Company.  My first thought was that it had a connection to the nearby University of Wisconsin - Stout in Menomonie, nowhere near the Blue Ridge Mountains.  But it's a different Stout.  In North Carolina.  Not far from Charlotte, in the city of King's Mountain.  42.4 miles from Ballantyne, the home of the Carolina branch of our family!  Maybe a field trip on our next visit there!  It's a small world after all!  (And now I will have that earworm in my head all day!)

designworks

I just happened to find an interesting article about fabric design and wanted to share it with you.  

With my work at the quilt shop and related activities, the topic of fabric designers often comes up.  When a fabric company representative is showing us samples of 20 new designer groups, we pick and choose and critique freely.  We generally have an idea of what styles and looks will be interesting to our customers.  Most of the time we are familiar with the name of the designer and the concept she/he brings to the collection.  That can help a lot in referring to past sales of that designer's fabrics and how well the past designs sold in our store.  Most often, we don't really pay attention to the name of the designer as a factor in the final decisions.  But it is nice to know about the background of the person behind the designs.  And it's nice actually know some people who do the designing, and hear about their process.

Now, for a completely different kind of design, but quilt-related nonetheless.  Lauren is quite a connoisseur of beverages, and has a sharp eye for detail.  She brought me a 6-pack of special beer called Jubleale from deSchutes brewery.  She told me to take a closer look at the label and the package.  Wow!  It's quilted applique!  Isn't that cool?!

Cheers to you!

home is good

So nice to be back home, after feeling cooped up in the car for 2 days!  Even though we drove a
l-o-o-n-g time Sunday (about 12 hours or so) that meant that we had an easy day (about 8 hours) on Monday and arrived at home with some time to unpack, start the laundry, mow the lawn and even take a walk!

I forgot to tell you much about our time at Glacier Distillery.  They use cherries in some of their products, and it is prime time for cherries.  Lauren showed us the huge vat of Rainier cherries that were fermenting and bubbling away.  Yes, there are bits of foreign material in there since they do come from a tree, not a lab!  But all that is filtered off so you won't end up with a stem in your cocktail!

I bought a cherry brandy liqueur, Daughter of the Sun, as well as Little Cottonwood which also has some cherry flavor along with other good seasonings.  I had a delicious cocktail at the Whiskey Barn tasting room--Daughter of the Sun mixed with sparkling apple juice (at least I think it was Daughter of the Sun, but to be honest I might be mistaken about that after inhaling all those fermentation fumes!)

And since I have a special place in my heart for a good gin and tonic, I sampled and purchased the Glacier Distilling gin.  I like that fresh flavor, like a little pine tree in a glass!

I'm not sure why the gin doesn't get a beautiful label like the others, there's one more question for me to take back to Lauren.

On our last day of vacation, we had a bird's-eye view of the Flathead River valley.  It was pretty cloudy so the picture isn't the best, but I liked to look all the way over Whitefish, down to Flathead Lake and Columbia Falls just off to the left.

Also, on that last afternoon, we went to Brewfest in the Depot Park in Whitefish.  There were several (12-14?) microbreweries present serving up samples of their brews.  Not only did it taste good, and we had fun meeting more of the Whitefish folks, but the glass was really cute, too!

my ticket to paradise

Here's an example of a very good idea. Finnegan's Beer, which is brewed by Summit (local brewery) exists solely to support good works. All profits from the beer-making go back into the community. They focus on charities and projects that make a difference for homeless and working poor populations. Luckily, I do not fit into those groups, but bad stuff happens to good people who need a little help. I love Finnegan's philosophy, and the beer tastes really good, too! Just the idea of getting a box full of credits in heaven is making me think that life is good!

My lovely beer glass, above, is from Mammoth Mountain in California. Beautiful place, fabulous snow sports, nice people and my favorite son all combined in one special spot. Which was the scene on Sunday for their annual Pond Skim, a good excuse for a party! This is not the first time Dan has attempted to slide across the water, but it was the first time dressed as Uncle Sam! Helping promote the fact that they are open for skiing and snowboarding through the 4th of July--it's a tough job, I know. The pictures look like it was a great day. Sadly, Uncle Sam didn't make it all the way over the pond, needed water skis, I guess. I hope the suit and hat survived!